If you have any defect, so striking and so ridiculous as to
procure you a _nickname_ then indeed there is but one
remedy,--renounce society.

In the morning, before eleven o'clock even if you go out, you
should not be dressed. You would be stamped a _parvenu_ if
you were seen in anything better than a reputable old frock
coat. If you remain at home, and are a bachelor, it is
permitted to receive visitors in a morning gown. In summer,
calico; in winter, figured cloth, faced with fur. At dinner,
a coat, of course, is indispensable.

The effect of a frock coat is to conceal the height. If,
therefore, you are beneath the ordinary statue, or much above
it, you should affect frock coats on all occasions that
etiquette permits.

Before going to a ball or party it is not sufficient that you
consult your mirror twenty times. You must be personally
inspected by your servant or a friend. Through defect of
this, I once saw a gentleman enter a ball-room, attired with
scrupulous elegance, but with one of his suspenders curling
in graceful festoons about his feet. His glass could not show
what was behind.

If you are about to present yourself in a company composed
only of men, you may wear boots. If there be but one lady
present, pumps and silk-stockings are indispensable.

There is a common proverb which says, that if a man be well