| <The Saturday Review, Dec. 22, 1855>
| <Manuel de l'homme et de la femme comme il faut.>
| <pb n="140">
| <quotation> <foreign lang="french"> 
| </foreign> </quotation> 
| Such is the aphorism which M. de Marennes has chosen for 
| the text of his <hi rend="italic"> Manuel de l'homme et de 
| la femme comme it faut; </hi> and the commentary which 
| he has given us upon it is admirable. There are few things 
| more difficult of definition than the first-named of these 
| three so-called theological virtues ~~ elegance; but there are 
| few persons who, by nature and education, will be found 
| more capable of understanding and teaching us the 
| aesthetics of the matter than a Frenchman. In order to dispel 
| the cloudiness which veils from our English eyes a distinct 
| perception of the nature of this mysterious attribute of 
| people <hi rend="italic"> <foreign lang="french"> 
| </foreign> </hi> we purpose to give our readers an 
| abstract of M. de Marennes's theory.
| Elegance, according to our author, has its seat in the 
| manners ~~ in the way, for example, in which a native of 
| Buenos Ayres smokes a cigarita, or in which a lady of the 
| <p> "premier arrondissement" </p> of Paris handles a fan. Its 
| cause is to be sought in the character; for, in the absence of 
| distinguishing traits, or of a certain style belonging to the 
| individual, there can be no elegance. Thus a child is never 
| elegant, because he has no style of his own ~~ he is simply 
| graceful. Those who have taste without elegance are 
| persons of no individuality of character; they may be able to 
| give good advice to others on the choice of a colour, or the 
| style of a dress, but they are incapable of applying their 
| knowledge for their own use. In former times, society was 
| separated into distinct classes, each of which had its own 
| individual stamp and thence arose what M. de Marennes 
| terms <p> "relative elegance." </p> 
| At the present day, <p> "we have changed all that" 
| </p> ~~ confusion reigns paramount amongst 
| us. And one symbol of this state of things may be seen in 
| the invention of the paletot ~~ a garment which has been 
| universally adopted, in spite of its 
| being made for <reg orig="no one"> no-one </reg> in 
| particular, and fitting everybody ill. Relative elegance 
| having thus become almost impossible in our times, 
| absolute elegance is all we have left. It may more properly 
| be termed the ideal of elegance, and it is subjected to 
| inflexible conditions ~~ those conditions being, the 
| doctrines of proportion, grace, and suppleness in the 
| movements of the body; and as regards moral 
| characteristics, benevolence, simplicity, delicacy, 
| magnificence, and that untranslatable <hi rend="italic"> 
| <foreign lang="french"> </foreign> </hi> the 
| essence of which is forgetfulness of self. If we wish to seek 
| for the realization of this ideal elegance, we shall be most 
| likely to find it in a lady belonging to the highest class of 
| society, who has received the early part of her education in 
| England, and completed it in France.
| M. de Marennes further defines elegance to consist in a 
| careful choice of ideas for subjects of conversation, and, as 
| regards manners, in employing the exact shade of 
| expression or gesture which suffices to convey our 
| meaning, and no more. <quotation>  
| <foreign lang="french"> </foreign> 
| </quotation> says M. de Balzac, <quotation>  
| <foreign lang="french"> </foreign> 
| </quotation> <top line of next column unreadable>
| walk quickly, or speak loudly, or much; and when she 
| laughs, it will not be immoderately. She will also control 
| the play of her features, and never allow herself to be 
| violently excited by either joy or sorrow.
| Dress is the next thing which M. de Marrennes takes into 
| consideration. He begins by observing that amongst the 
| nations of antiquity it was looked upon as one of the fine 
| arts ~~ its principles were laid down, and its influence 
| rightly appreciated. In fact, it is very evident that if it be one 
| of the aims of the fine arts to produce varied impressions 
| upon the mind, the costume, or decoration of the human 
| body, cannot be omitted from the classification. If we 
| consider the matter for a moment, we shall perceive what 
| power it has of expressing sentiment, feeling, and 
| disposition, so that, given a man's style of dress, we shall be 
| able to form a very good guess at his character. It matters 
| little, as in the case of black constituting a symbol of 
| mourning, that many of our ideas about dress are purely 
| conventional; it is sufficient that they should be generally 
| received, in order to raise costume into a kind of 
| mathematical science, in which each detail has its 
| expression and fixed value. Elegance in costume consists 
| mainly in the intimate and harmonious connexion which 
| ought to subsist between the individual and his style of 
| dress. M. de Marennes gives an illustration of the carrying 
| out of this principle, which we will extract just as it stands, 
| not doubting but that it will instruct, as well as amuse, our 
| readers: ~~
| The principles of elegance, continues M. de Marennes, 
| equally well apply to the furnishing of a house as to the 
| costume of an individual. However enormous may be the 
| sums expended in purchasing the most elegant and 
| beautifully finished pieces of furniture, it must not be 
| imagined that by these means alone a man can acquire a 
| title to elegance. He will of course have succeeded in 
| obtaining an elegant room in the abstract, but the moment 
| he begins to do the honours of it, its prestige will vanish. 
| Society at the present day abounds in examples of the 
| inelegance which is the result of incompatibilities, 
| incongruities, and almost imperceptible antitheses. One 
| reason amongst a thousand for this state of things is thus 
| stated by a writer quoted by M. de Marennes: ~~
| <quotation> </quotation>
| <pb n="141">
| <quotation> </quotation>
| Reverting to the subject of dress, M. de Marennes observes, 
| that if elegance in costume, and the time we spend at our 
| toilettes resulted in nothing else than in preventing us from 
| looking old, the study of it ought to be attended to on that 
| account alone. But <next line unreadable> constantly being 
| made as to this point, for example, there are many ladies 
| who imagine they make themselves look younger by 
| dressing like those who are more juvenile than themselves 
| whereas they produce a quite contrary effect.
| In the same way that elegance in individuals is associated 
| with their distinguishing traits, the ideal of elegance in a 
| nation is associated with its peculiar characteristics. Thus 
| the English style and standard of elegance differs from that 
| of the French, the Spanish from that of the German nation. 
| But it is in the paletot that M. de Marennes conceives we 
| are to seek for an illustration of the spirit which actuates 
| costume everywhere at the present day; and he shows how 
| the invention of it sprang from the principle of equality, 
| which has resulted in reducing all costume to the same dead 
| level, or rather has annihilated it altogether, as one of the 
| fine arts: ~~
| <quotation> </quotation>
| But we cannot afford space for any further abstract of this 
| little manual, and we therefore refer our readers to the book 
| itself for what the author has to say on elegance as 
| connected with the two <p. "theological virtues" </p> of 
| conversation and <hi rend="italic">  
| <foreign lang="french"> </foreign> </hi> ~~ assuring 
| them that in his pages they will find a great deal which is 
| suggestive, and not a little that is amusing. We cannot 
| conclude without a word of commendation on the manner in 
| which M. de Marennes has carried out his principles of 
| elegance in his getting up of his book. The paper is 
| excellent, the type clear and well-formed. In addition to this, 
| the price at which it is offered to the public is very moderate 
| ~~ fifty centimes in Paris, and sixty centimes 
| <foreign lang="french"> </foreign>