A snuff-taker should not take out his box at table; his neighbor will be little pleased at receiving the stray grains in his plate.
Indiscreet questions are impertinent, as well as unseasonable harangues.
You should be ready to act the knight, if a lady in your company is attacked. If she give offence, and that without reason, your office is that of mediator. You should even ask pardon for your companion. A bully would act otherwise; but it is absurd to get into a quarrel for the sake of maintaining that a person who is insolent has a right to be so, and that because he is of your company. You will show yourself, in acting thus, as ill-bred as he.
If, in doing an obliging act, you make people feel the obligation, you deprive it entirely of its value.
If you speak of a friend to a person who is not intimate with both him and you, preface his name with the word Mr. It would not be proper to say to a servant or a porter, "Is Julius here?" You must say, "Is Mr. Julius here?"
A servant who understands propriety, always speaks of his superiors in the third person.
When you receive a present, it would be an offence to the donor to dismiss the porter without a gratuity.
If the honor of a woman be attacked, you should always defend it. It is not allowable for any one to assail the reputation of a lady, even if she be open to censure.
In walking with a lady in the street, leave her the inner side of the pavement. If you meet friends in a narrow passage, or on a footpath, be careful not to block up the way. It would be very impolite to inconvenience the passers-by in this manner.