I  have  known  men  with  the  richest  natural  and  ac-
quired endowments  of  the  head  and  heart,  who  moted  as  if  all  their
limbs  ^ere  extraneous  appendages ;  who  shook  hands  like  some  machine
moved  by  springs  and  puUies ;  and  who  bowed  and  straightened  them,
selves  again  with  as  little  grace  as  a  closing  and  opening  jack-knife. I
have  seen  them  in  an  elegant  assembly  sit  in  shy  and  monosyllabic
awkwafdness,  while  shallow-pated  coxcombs,  mceful  and  vain  as
peacocks,  and  senseless  and  chattering  as  jackdaws,  were  the  '  C3mo-
sure'  of  many  a  sparkling  eye,  and  the  magnet  for  many  a  fluttering
heart. I  have  seen  them  leave  the  scene  of  their  '  dim  eclipse'  in  a
perfect  perplexity  of  passions ;  a  mood  to  curse  ajid  despise  themselves,
the  ladies,  their  species,  and  the  world. But  whose  was  the  fault  ?  Why
had  they  not  acquired  some  of  those  lighter  graces  which  would  have
served  as  Corinthian  pillars  to  adorn  the  strength  and  set  off  the  fair
proportions  of  their  noble  temple  ?  He  who  is  fearful  of  the  face  of
man,  and  unable  to  communicate  his  knowledge  to  others  with  the  ease
of  freedom  and  the  graces  of  persuasion,  is  but  half-educated,  I  care
not  what  may  be  his  erudition. And  did  all  our  men  of  science  and  of
letters  superadd  to  the  acquirements  of  the  closet  the  aooomplishments
of  the  drawing-room,  they  would  fulfil  a  high  vocation,  and  delight,
embellish,  and  ennoble  that  society  which  they  now  enter  with  reluctant


1845.]  The  Polygon  Papers. 939


terror,  divert  by  their  causeless  embarrassment,  and  leave  with  feelings
mingled  of  regret,  disgust,  and  shame. For  who  that  has  witnessed
the  delight  with  which  even  children  imbibe  the  tricklings  '  sweeter  than
honey  or  the  honey-comb'  that  drop  from  the  lips  of  an  eloquent  con-
verser,  can  suppose  there  is  anp  company  ^so  frivolous,  as  not  to  admire
the  reflections  from  the  surface  of  a  brilliant  and  many-sided  niind  in
its  familiar  hours ;  as  not  to  watch  with  rapture  the  colloquial  shower
of  glittering  fancies,  upspringing  by  their  own  impulse  from  a  capacious
and  ever-flowing  fountain  ?

It  is,  then,  abundantly  evident  that  every  one  who  does  not  purpose
turning  anchorete,  should  become  at  least  moderately  well  acquainted
with  the  character  and  forms  and  usages  of  the  world  he  lives  in. 