solitude, or he may suffer the deepest remorse for an undetected crime,
but he will not blush. I blush, says Dr. Burgess,[1330] in the
presence of my accusers. It is not the sense of guilt, but the thought
that others think or know us to be guilty which crimsons the face. A
man may feel thoroughly ashamed at having told a small falsehood,
without blushing; but if he even suspects that he is detected he will
instantly blush, especially if detected by one whom he reveres.
On the other hand, a man may be convinced that God witnesses all his
actions, and he may feel deeply conscious of some fault and pray for
forgiveness; but this will not, as a lady who is a great blusher
believes, ever excite a blush. The explanation of this difference
between the knowledge by God and man of our actions lies, I presume, in
man s disapprobation of immoral conduct being somewhat akin in nature
to his depreciation of our personal appearance, so that through
association both lead to similar results; whereas the disapprobation of
God brings up no such association.
Many a person has blushed intensely when accused of some crime, though
completely innocent of it. Even the thought, as the lady before
referred to has observed to me, that others think that we have made an
unkind or stupid remark, is amply sufficient to cause a blush, although
we know all the time that we have been completely misunderstood. An
action may be meritorious or of an indifferent nature, but a sensitive
person, if he suspects that others take a different view of it, will
blush. For instance, a lady by herself may give money to a beggar
without a trace of a blush, but if others are present, and she doubts
whether they approve, or suspects that they think her influenced by
display, she will blush. So it will be, if she offers to relieve the
distress of a decayed gentlewoman, more particularly of one whom she
had previously known under better circumstances, as she cannot then
feel sure how her conduct will be viewed. But such cases as these blend
into shyness.
_Breaches of etiquette_. The rules of _etiquette_ always refer to
conduct in the presence of, or towards others. They have no necessary
connection with the moral sense, and are often meaningless.
Nevertheless as they depend on the fixed custom of our equals and
superiors, whose opinion we highly regard, they are considered almost
as binding as are the laws of honour to a gentleman. Consequently the
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