LETTER VIII.

LETTER-WRITING.

Importance of this Branch of Education--Its Frequent Neglect --Usual Faults of the Epistolary Style--Applicability of the rule of the Lightning-Tamer--Variety of Styles appropriate to varying Subjects and Occasions--Impossibility of laying down all-inclusive General Rules--Requisites of Letters of Business--Legibility in Caligraphy--Affectation in this respect--Avoidance of Servile Imitation--Advantage of possessing a good Business-hand--Time-saving Importance of Rapidity--Letters of Introduction--Form Suitable for Ordinary Purposes--Specimen of Letters Introducing a Person in Search of a Business Situation, Place of Residence, etc., etc.-- Introduction of Artists, Professional Men, etc.--Presenting a Celebrity by Letter--Proper Attention to Titles, Modes of abbreviating Titles, etc., etc.--Letters of Introduction to be unsealed--Manner of Delivering Letters of Introduction-- Cards, Envelopes, Written Messages, etc., proper on such Occasions--Appointments and due Courtesy, etc.--Form of Letter to a Lady of Fashion--Etiquette in regard to Addresses --Letters Presenting Foreigners--Personal Introductions-- Common Neglect of Etiquette in this respect--Proper Mode of Introducing Young Persons, or those of inferior social position--Of Introducing Men to Women, very Young Ladies, etc.--Voice and Manner on such Occasions--Explanations due to Strangers--Common Social Improprieties--American Peculiarity --Hotel Registers, etc.--Courtesy due to Relations as well as to Strangers--Impropriety of indiscriminate Introductions-- Preliminary Ceremonies among Men--In the Street--At Dinners --Evening-Parties--Receptions--Conventional Rules subject to Changes, dictated by good-sense--Supremacy of the Law of Kindness--Visiting Cards--European Fashion of Cards--Style usual in America--Place of Residence--Phrases for Cards --Business Cards: Ornaments, Devices, Color, Size, Legibility, etc.--Letters of Recommendation--Moral Characteristic--Proper Style of Letters of Condolence-- Form of Letters of Congratulation--Admissibility of Brevity --Letters to Superiors--Ceremonious Form for such Communications--Proper Mode of Addressing Entire Strangers --Common Error in this respect--Punch's Sarcasm--Diplomats and Public Functionaries should be Models in Letter-writing --An Enigma--Diplomatic Letters--Letters of Friendship and Affection--General Requisites of Epistolary Composition-- Letters a Means of conferring and Receiving Pleasure-- Distinctive Characteristic of the Epistolary Style-- Peccadilloes--Aids facilitating the Practice in this Accomplishment--Notes of Invitation, Acceptance, Regret --Observance of Usage--Simplicity the best _ton_ and taste --Etiquette with regard to Invitations to Dinner--Courtesy in Matters of Social Life--Error of an American Author-- Ceremony properly preceding taking an uninvited Friend to a Party--Abstract good-breeding the best Test of Propriety --Proper form of Ceremonious Notes of Invitation--Use of the Third Person in writing Notes--Mailed Letters--Local Addresses, Form of Signature, etc., etc.--Requisites of Letter-Superscription--Writing-Materials--Small Sheets, Margins, etc.--Colored Paper, Fanciful Ornaments, Initials, &c.--Envelopes and Superscription--Wax, Seals, etc.--European Letters--Rule--Promptitude in Letter-writing--Study of Published Models beneficial to the Young--Scott, Byron, Moore, Horace Walpole, Washington--Sir W. W. Pepys, etc. --Curiosities of the Epistolary Style--Anticipated Pleasure, 241

ILLUSTRATIONS.

THE WARNING--A SKETCH OF NILE-TRAVEL.--A Group and a Dialogue amid the Ruins of Thebes--Mustapha Aga and the Temple of Karnac--The Arrival--The Distribution--Delights, Disappointments, and Despair, 268

Anecdote of the Mighty Wizard of the North, 273

A DRAWING-ROOM COTERIE OF CRITICISM.--The Library and the Intruder--Paternal Authority--Condemnation--Comments and Criticisms--A Compliment--A fair Bevy--Wit and Wisdom-- Sport and Seriousness--A Model Note and a Fair Eulogist-- Paternal Approbation--What American Merchants should be --An Anecdote--Discoveries and Accessions--_Apropos_--Fair Play and a _Ruse_--A Group of Critics--An Invitation--A Rival--An Explanation and an Admission--A Rescue and Retreat --An Old Man's Privilege--Seventeen and Eighty-two--May and December, 273

The First Billet-Doux, 284