Though it be evinced, in part, by the
carriage of the body, that carriage should be the fruit of the
operation of the mind. Even when it be assisted by external
garniture such as special clothes, and wigs, and ornaments, such
garniture should be prescribed by the sovereign or by custom, and
should not have been selected by the wearer. In regard to speech a
man may study all that which may make him suasive, but if he go
beyond that he will trench on those histrionic efforts, which he
will know to be wrong because he will be ashamed to acknowledge
them. It is good to be beautiful, but it should come of God and
not of the hairdresser. And personal dignity is a great
possession; but a man should struggle for it no more than he would
for beauty. Many, however, do struggle for it, and with such
success that, though they do not achieve quite the real thing,
still they get something on which they can bolster themselves up
and be mighty.
Others, older men than Silverbridge, saw as much as did our young
friends, but they were more complaisant and more reasonable.
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