of bad manners. At an entertainment given years ago by
Prince Edward and the Princess of Wales, to which only the very cream
of the cream of society was admitted, there was such pushing and
struggling to see the Princess, who was then but lately married, that,
as she passed through the reception rooms, a bust of the Princess Royal
was thrown from its pedestal and damaged, and the pedestal upset; and
the ladies, in their eagerness to see the Princess, actually stood upon
it.

When Catherine of Russia gave receptions to her nobles, she published
the following rules of etiquette upon cards: "Gentlemen will not get
drunk before the feast is ended. Noblemen are forbidden to strike
their wives in company. Ladies of the court must not wash out their
mouths in the drinking-glasses, or wipe their faces on the damask, or
pick their teeth with forks." But to-day the nobles of Russia have no
superiors in manners.

Etiquette originally meant the ticket or tag tied to a bag to indicate
its contents. If a bag had this ticket it was not examined. From this
the word passed to cards upon which were printed certain rules to be
observed by guests. These rules were "the ticket" or the etiquette.
To be "the ticket," or, as it was sometimes expressed, to act or talk
by the card, became the thing with the better classes.

It was fortunate for Napoleon that he married Josephine before he was
made commander-in-chief of the armies of Italy. Her fascinating
manners and her wonderful powers of persuasion were more influential
than the loyalty of any dozen men in France in attaching to him the
adherents who would promote his interests. Josephine was to the
drawing-room and the salon what Napoleon was to the field--a preeminent
leader. The secret of her personality that made her the Empress not
only of the hearts of the Frenchmen, but also of the nations her
husband conquered, has been beautifully told by herself. "There is
only one occasion," she said to a friend, "in which I would voluntarily
use the words, 'I _will_!'--namely, when I would say, 'I will that all
around me be happy.'"

"It was only a glad 'good-morning,'
As she passed along the way,
But it spread the morning's glory
Over the livelong day."

A fine manner more than compensates for all the defects of nature. The
most fascinating person is always the one of most winning manners, not
the one of greatest physical beauty. The Greeks thought beauty was a