2495. Be not too negligent, nor too studied, in your attire.
2496. Let your behavior and conversation suit the clothes you wear, so that those who know you may feel that, after all, dress and external appearance is the least portion of a lady or gentleman.
MANNERS.
2497. It is sometimes objected to books upon etiquette, that they cause those who consult them to act with mechanical restraint, and to show in society that they are governed by arbitrary rules, rather than by an intuitive perception of what is graceful and polite.
2498. This objection is unsound, because it supposes that people who study the theory of etiquette, do not also exercise their powers of observation in society, and obtain, by their intercourse with others, that freedom and ease of deportment, which society alone can impart.
2499. Books upon etiquette are useful, inasmuch as that they expound the laws of polite society. Experience alone, however, can give effect to the precise manner in which those laws are required to be observed.