[COURTESY.]
By ELIZABETH A. S. DAWES, M.A., D.Lit.
“Plus fait douceur que violence.”—La Fontaine, vi. 3.
“A beautiful behaviour is better than a beautiful form; it gives a higher pleasure than statues and pictures; it is the finest of the fine arts.”—Emerson.
have chosen “courtesy” as the subject of my little address this time, as it is a virtue which is perhaps somewhat in danger of being forgotten and overlooked in these modern days of continual hurry and bustle; and yet it forms such an essential part of a beautiful character that nobody can justly claim the title of “gentleman” or “gentlewoman” if he or she neglects the practice of it, which is, too, the opinion of our Shakespeare, for he writes, “We must be gentle now we are gentlemen” (Winter’s Tale, v. 2).
The derivation of the word, which really means the manners and behaviour to be observed at a royal court, is neatly given by Spenser in his Faerie Queene, Book vi. 1.