with his arrangements by rendering _unhelped_ a person whom
he supposes attended to.

The same avoidance of too much attention to yielding place is
proper in most other cases. Shenstone, in some clever verses,
has ridiculed the folly; and Goldsmith, in his "Vicar," has
censured the inconvenience, of such outrageous formality.
These things are now managed better. One person yields and
another accepts without any controversy.

When you are helped to anything at a dinner table, do not
wait, with your plate untouched, until others have begun to
eat. This stiff-piece of mannerism is often occurring in the
country, and indeed among all persons who are not thoroughly
bred. As soon as your plate is placed before you, you should
take up your knife and arrange the table furniture around
you, if you do not actually eat.

As to the instruments by which the operation of dining is
conducted, it is a matter of much consequence that entire
propriety should be observed as to their use. We have said
nothing about the use of silver forks, because we do not
write for savages; and where, excepting among savages, shall
we find any who at present eat with other than a French
fork?. There are occasionally to be found some ancients,
gentlemen of the old school, as it is termed, who persist in
preferring steel, and who will insist on calling for a steel
fork if there is none on the table. They consider the modem
custom an affectation, and deem that all affectation should
be avoided. They tread upon the pride of Plato, with more