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1879, April 9. Paine Bequest,

772

145038.02

VARD
CRSITY

APR 23 1975

SKETCHES

OF THE

HISTORY, OF MAN.

THE

BOOK I. Continued.

SKETCH VII.

PROGRESS OF MANNERS.

HERE are peculiarities in the appearance, in the expreffion, in the actions, of fome perfons, which, in oppofition to the manners of the generality, are termed their manners. Such peculiarities in the bulk of a nation, by which it differs from other nations, or from itfelf at different periods, are termed the manners of that nation. Manners therefore fignify a mode of behaviour peculiar to a certain perfon, or to a certain nation. The term is not applied to mankind in general; except perhaps in contradiftinction to other beings.

Manners are diftinguifhed from morals; but in what respect has not been clearly explained. Do not the fame actions relate to both? Certainly; but in different refpects: an action confidered as right or wrong, belongs to morals; confidered as characteristical of a perfon, or of a people, it belongs to manners.

Manners, peculiar to certain tribes and to certain governments, fall under other branches of this work. The intention of the prefent sketch is, to trace out the manners of nations, in the different ftages of their progrefs, from infancy to maturity. I am far from regretting, that

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manners, produced by climate, by foil, and by other permanent caufes, fall not under my plan: I fhould indeed make but a poor figure upon a fubject that has been** learnedly difcuffed by the greateft genius of the prefent age (a).

I begin with external appearance, being the first thing that draws attention. The human countenance hath a greater variety of expreffions than that of any other animal; and fome perfons differ widely from the generality in thefe expreffions. The fame variety is obfervable in human geftures; and the fame peculiarity in particular perfons, fo as to be known by their manner of walking, or even by fo flight an action as that of putting on or taking off a hat: fome men are known even by the found of their feet. Whole nations are diftinguishable by the fame peculiarities. And yet there is less variety in looks and geftures, than the different tones of mind would produce, were men left to the impulses of pure nature: man, an imitative animal, is prone to copy others; and by imitation, external behaviour is nearly uniform among those who ftudy to be agreeable; witnefs people of fashion in France. I am acquainted with a blind man, who, without moving his feet, is conftantly balancing from fide to fide, excited probably by fome internal impulfe. Had he been endowed with eye-fight, he would have imitated the manners of others. I reft upon these outlines: to enter fully into the fubject would be an endless work; difproportioned at any rate to the narrownefs of my plan.

That

Drefs must not be omitted, because it enters into external appearance. Providence hath cloathed all animals that are unable to clothe themfelves. Man can clothe himfelf; and he is endowed beside with an appetite for drefs, no lefs natural than an appetite for food. appetite is proportioned in degree to its ufe: in cold climates it is vigorous; in hot climates, extremely faint. Savages must go naked till they learn to cover themselves; and they foon learn where covering is neceffary. The

(a) Montefquieu.

Patagonians, who go naked in a bitter cold climate, muft be woefully ftupid. And the Picts, a Scotch tribe, who, it is faid, continued naked down to the time of Severus, did not probably much surpass the Patagonians in the talent of invention.

Modefty is another caufe for cloathing: few favages expofe the whole of the body without covering. It gives no high idea of Grecian modefty, that at the Olympic games people wrestled and run races ftark naked.

There is a third caufe for cloathing which is, the pleafure it affords A fine woman, feen naked once in her life, is a defirable object; defire being inflamed by novelty. But let her go naked for a month; how much more charming will she appear, when dreffed with propriety and elegance! Cloathing is fo effential to health, that to be lefs agreeable than nakednefs would argue an incongruity in our nature. Savages probably at first thought of cloathing as a protection only against the weather; but they foon discovered a beauty in dress: men led the way, and women followed. Such favages as go naked, paint their bodies, excited by the fame fondness for ornament, that our women fhew in their party-coloured garments. Among the Jews, the men wore ear-rings as well as the women (b). When Media was governed by its own kings, the men were fumptuous in drefs: they wore loose robes, floating in the air; had long hair covered with a rich bonnet, bracelets, chains of gold, and precious fones: they painted their faces, and mixed artificial hair with that of nature. As authors are filent about the women, they probably made no figure in that kingdom, being shut up, as at prefent, in feraglios. Very different was the cafe of Athenian ladies, after polygamy was banished from Greece. They confumed the whole morning at the toilette; employing paint, and every drug for cleaning and whitening the fkin: they laid red even upon their lips, and took great care of their teeth: their hair, made up in buckles with a hot iron, was perfumed and spread upon the fhoulders: their dress

(b) Exod. xxii. 2.

was elegant, and artfully contrived to fet off a fine fhape. Such is the influence of appetite for dress: vanity could not be the fole motive, as Athenian ladies were never feen in public. We learn from St. Gregory, that women in his time dreffed their heads extremely high; environing them with many treffes of falfe hair, difpofed in knots and buckles, fo as to refemble a regular fortification. Jofephus reports, that the Jewish ladies powdered their hair with gold duft; a fashion that was carried from Afia to Rome. The firft writer who mentions white powder for the hair, the fame we use at prefent, is L'Etoile, in his journal for the year 1593. He relates, that nuns walked the streets of Paris curled and powdered. That fashion fpread by degrees through Europe. For. many years after the civil wars in France, it was the fafhion in Paris to wear boots and spurs with a long sword: a gentleman was not in full drefs without thefe accoutrements. The fword continues an article of drefs, though it diftinguishes not a gentleman from his valet. To fhow that a tafte for drefs and ornament is deeply rooted in human nature, favages difplay that tafte upon the body, having no covering to difplay it upon. Seldom is a child left to nature: it is deprived of a tefticle, a finger, a tooth; or its skin is engraved with figures.

Cloathing hath no flight influence, even with refpect to morals. I venture to affirm, at the hazard of being thought paradoxical, that nakedness is more friendly to chaftity than covering. Adultery is unknown among favages, even in hot climates where they have fcarce any covering. A woman dreffed with tafte is a more defirable object than one who always goes naked. Dress, befide, gives play to the imagination, which pictures to itfelf many fecret beauties, that vanish when rendered familiar by fight; if a lady accidentally difcovers half a leg, imagination is inftantly inflamed, though an actress appearing in breeches is beheld with indifference: a naked Venus makes not fuch an impreffion, as when a garter only is difcovered. In Sparta, men and women lived together without any referve: public baths were common to both; and in certain games they danced and

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