Chapter IX: 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