Society is divided into sets, according to their breeding. One set may
be said to have no breeding at all, another to have a little, another
more, and another enough; and between the first and last of these, there
are more shades than in the rainbow. Good manners are the same in
essence everywhere--at courts, in fashionable society, in literary
circles, in domestic life--they never change, but social observances,
customs and points of etiquette, vary with the age and with the people.

A French writer has said: "To be truly polite, it is necessary to be, at
the same time, good, just, and generous. True politeness is the outward
visible sign of those inward spiritual graces called modesty,
unselfishness and generosity. The manners of a gentleman are the index
of his soul. His speech is innocent, because his life is pure; his
thoughts are right, because his actions are upright; his bearing is
gentle, because his feelings, his impulses, and his training are gentle
also. A gentleman is entirely free from every kind of pretence. He
avoids homage, instead of exacting it. Mere ceremonies have no
attraction for him. He seeks not to say any civil things, but to do
them. His hospitality, though hearty and sincere, will be strictly
regulated by his means. His friends will be chosen for their good
qualities and good manners; his servants for their truthfulness and
honesty; his occupations for their usefulness, their gracefulness or
their elevating tendencies, whether moral, mental or political."

In the same general tone does Ruskin describe a gentleman, when he says:
"A gentleman's first characteristic is that fineness of structure in
the body which renders it capable of the most delicate sensation, and of
that structure in the mind which renders it capable of the most delicate
sympathies--one may say, simply, 'fineness of nature.' This is, of
course, compatible with the heroic bodily strength and mental firmness;