"David Hume - Of the Rise and Progress of the Arts and Sciences" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hume David)

companions, and to yield the superiority to them in all the
common incidents of society. In like manner, wherever a
person's situation may naturally beget any disagreeable
suspicion in him, it is the part of good-manners to prevent
it, by a studied display of sentiments, directly contrary to
those of which he is apt to be jealous. Thus, old men know
their infirmities, and naturally dread contempt from the
youth: Hence, well-educated youth redouble the instances of
respect and deference to their elders. Strangers and
foreigners are without protection: Hence, in all polite
countries, they receive the highest civilities, and are
entitled to the first place in every company. A man is lord in
his own family, and his guests are, in a manner, subject to
his authority: Hence, he is always the lowest person in the
company; attentive to the wants of every one; and giving
himself all the trouble, in order to please, which may not
betray too visible an affectation, or impose too much
constraint on his guests.[16] Gallantry is nothing but an
instance of the same generous attention. As nature has given
man the superiority above woman, by endowing him with greater
strength both of mind and body; it is his part to alleviate
that superiority, as much as possible, by the generosity of
his behaviour, and by a studied deference and complaisance for
all her inclinations and opinions. Barbarous nations display
this superiority, by reducing their females to the most abject
slavery; by confining them, by beating them, by selling them,
by killing them. But the male sex, among a polite people,
discover their authority in a more generous, though not a less
evident manner; by civility, by respect, by complaisance, and,
in a word, by gallantry. In good company, you need not ask,
Who is the master of the feast? The man, who sits in the
lowest place, and who is always industrious in helping every
one, is certainly the person. We must either condemn all such
instances of generosity, as foppish and affected, or admit of
gallantry among the rest. The ancient Muscovites wedded their
wives with a whip, instead of a ring. The same people, in
their own houses, took always the precedency above foreigners,
even[17] foreign ambassadors. These two instances of their
generosity and politeness are much of a piece.

Gallantry is not less compatible with wisdom and prudence,
than with nature and generosity; and when under proper
regulations, contributes more than any other invention, to the
entertainment and improvement of the youth of both sexes.
Among every species of animals, nature has founded on the love
between the sexes their sweetest and best enjoyment. But the
satisfaction of the bodily appetite is not alone sufficient to
gratify the mind; and even among brute-creatures, we find,
that their play and dalliance, and other expressions of
fondness, form the greatest part of the entertainment. In