But it is otherwise with the superior pecuniary class, with which we are here immediately concerned. For this class also the incentive12 to diligence and thrift is not absent; but its action is so greatly qualified13 by the secondary demands of pecuniary emulation, that any inclination14 in this direction is practically overborne and any incentive to diligence tends to be of no effect. The most imperative15 of these secondary demands of emulation, as well as the one of widest scope, is the requirement of abstention from productive work. This is true in an especial degree for the barbarian16 stage of culture. During the predatory culture labour comes to be associated in men's habits of thought with weakness and subjection to a master. It is therefore a mark of inferiority, and therefore comes to be accounted unworthy of man in his best estate. By virtue18 of this tradition labour is felt to be debasing, and this tradition has never died out. On the contrary, with the advance of social differentiation19 it has acquired the axiomatic20 force due to ancient and unquestioned prescription21.
In order to gain and to hold the esteem22 of men it is not sufficient merely to possess wealth or power. The wealth or power must be put in evidence, for esteem is awarded only on evidence. And not only does the evidence of wealth serve to impress one's importance on others and to keep their sense of his importance alive and alert, but it is of scarcely less use in building up and preserving one's self-complacency. In all but the lowest stages of culture the normally constituted man is comforted and upheld in his self-respect by "decent surroundings" and by exemption25 from "menial offices". Enforced departure from his habitual26 standard of decency27, either in the paraphernalia28 of life or in the kind and amount of his everyday activity, is felt to be a slight upon his human dignity, even apart from all conscious consideration of the approval or disapproval29 of his fellows.
The archaic30 theoretical distinction between the base and the honourable31 in the manner of a man's life retains very much of its ancient force even today. So much so that there are few of the better class who are not possessed32 of an instinctive33 repugnance34 for the vulgar forms of labour. We have a realising sense of ceremonial uncleanness attaching in an especial degree to the occupations which are associated in our habits of thought with menial service. It is felt by all persons of refined taste that a spiritual contamination is inseparable from certain offices that are conventionally required of servants. Vulgar surroundings, mean (that is to say, inexpensive) habitations, and vulgarly productive occupations are unhesitatingly condemned35 and avoided. They are incompatible36 with life on a satisfactory spiritual plane __ with "high thinking". From the days of the Greek philosophers to the present, a degree of leisure and of exemption from contact with such industrial processes as serve the immediate everyday purposes of human life has ever been recognised by thoughtful men as a prerequisite37 to a worthy17 or beautiful, or even a blameless, human life. In itself and in its consequences the life of leisure is beautiful and ennobling in all civilised men's eyes.
This direct, subjective39 value of leisure and of other evidences of wealth is no doubt in great part secondary and derivative40. It is in part a reflex of the utility of leisure as a means of gaining the respect of others, and in part it is the result of a mental substitution. The performance of labour has been accepted as a conventional evidence of inferior force; therefore it comes itself, by a mental short-cut, to be regarded as intrinsically base.
During the predatory stage proper, and especially during the earlier stages of the quasi-peaceable development of industry that follows the predatory stage, a life of leisure is the readiest and most conclusive41 evidence of pecuniary strength, and therefore of superior force; provided always that the gentleman of leisure can live in manifest ease and comfort. At this stage wealth consists chiefly of slaves, and the benefits accruing42 from the possession of riches and power take the form chiefly of personal service and the immediate products of personal service. Conspicuous43 abstention from labour therefore becomes the conventional mark of superior pecuniary achievement and the conventional index of reputability; and conversely, since application to productive labour is a mark of poverty and subjection, it becomes inconsistent with a reputable standing44 in the community. Habits of industry and thrift, therefore, are not uniformly furthered by a prevailing45 pecuniary emulation. On the contrary, this kind of emulation indirectly46 discountenances participation47 in productive labour. Labour would unavoidably become dishonourable, as being an evidence indecorous under the ancient tradition handed down from an earlier cultural stage. The ancient tradition of the predatory culture is that productive effort is to be shunned49 as being unworthy of able-bodied men, and this tradition is reinforced rather than set aside in the passage from the predatory to the quasi-peaceable manner of life.
Even if the institution of a leisure class had not come in with the first emergence50 of individual ownership, by force of the dishonour48 attaching to productive employment, it would in any case have come in as one of the early consequences of ownership. And it is to be remarked that while the leisure class existed in theory from the beginning of predatory culture, the institution takes on a new and fuller meaning with the transition from the predatory to the next succeeding pecuniary stage of culture. It is from this time forth51 a "leisure class" in fact as well as in theory. From this point dates the institution of the leisure class in its consummate52 form.
During the predatory stage proper the distinction between the leisure and the labouring class is in some degree a ceremonial distinction only. The able bodied men jealously stand aloof53 from whatever is in their apprehension54, menial drudgery55; but their activity in fact contributes appreciably56 to the sustenance57 of the group. The subsequent stage of quasi-peaceable industry is usually characterised by an established chattel58 slavery, herds59 of cattle, and a servile class of herdsmen and shepherds; industry has advanced so far that the community is no longer dependent for its livelihood60 on the chase or on any other form of activity that can fairly be classed as exploit. From this point on, the characteristic feature of leisure class life is a conspicuous exemption from all useful employment.
The normal and characteristic occupations of the class in this mature phase of its life history are in form very much the same as in its earlier days. These occupations are government, war, sports, and devout61 observances. Persons unduly62 given to difficult theoretical niceties may hold that these occupations are still incidentally and indirectly "productive"; but it is to be noted63 as decisive of the question in hand that the ordinary and ostensible64 motive65 of the leisure class in engaging in these occupations is assuredly not an increase of wealth by productive effort. At this as at any other cultural stage, government and war are, at least in part, carried on for the pecuniary gain of those who engage in them; but it is gain obtained by the honourable method of seizure66 and conversion67. These occupations are of the nature of predatory, not of productive, employment. Something similar may be said of the chase, but with a difference. As the community passes out of the hunting stage proper, hunting gradually becomes differentiated68 into two distinct employments. On the one hand it is a trade, carried on chiefly for gain; and from this the element of exploit is virtually absent, or it is at any rate not present in a sufficient degree to clear the pursuit of the imputation of gainful industry. On the other hand, the chase is also a sport—an exercise of the predatory impulse simply. As such it does not afford any appreciable69 pecuniary incentive, but it contains a more or less obvious element of exploit. It is this latter development of the chase—purged of all imputation of handicraft—that alone is meritorious70 and fairly belongs in the scheme of life of the developed leisure class.
Abstention from labour is not only a honorific or meritorious act, but it presently comes to be a requisite38 of decency. The insistence71 on property as the basis of reputability is very naive72 and very imperious during the early stages of the accumulation of wealth. Abstention from labour is the convenient evidence of wealth and is therefore the conventional mark of social standing; and this insistence on the meritoriousness73 of wealth leads to a more strenuous74 insistence on leisure. Nota notae est nota rei ipsius. According to well established laws of human nature, prescription presently seizes upon this conventional evidence of wealth and fixes it in men's habits of thought as something that is in itself substantially meritorious and ennobling; while productive labour at the same time and by a like process becomes in a double sense intrinsically unworthy. Prescription ends by making labour not only disreputable in the eyes of the community, but morally impossible to the noble, freeborn man, and incompatible with a worthy life.
This tabu on labour has a further consequence in the industrial differentiation of classes. As the population increases in density75 and the predatory group grows into a settled industrial community, the constituted authorities and the customs governing ownership gain in scope and consistency76. It then presently becomes impracticable to accumulate wealth by simple seizure, and, in logical consistency, acquisition by industry is equally impossible for high minded and impecunious77 men. The alternative open to them is beggary or privation. Wherever the canon of conspicuous leisure has a chance undisturbed to work out its tendency, there will therefore emerge a secondary, and in a sense spurious, leisure class—abjectly poor and living in a precarious78 life of want and discomfort79, but morally unable to stoop to gainful pursuits. The decayed gentleman and the lady who has seen better days are by no means unfamiliar80 phenomena81 even now. This pervading82 sense of the indignity83 of the slightest manual labour is familiar to all civilized84 peoples, as well as to peoples of a less advanced pecuniary culture. In persons of a delicate sensibility who have long been habituated to gentle manners, the sense of the shamefulness85 of manual labour may become so strong that, at a critical juncture86, it will even set aside the instinct of self-preservation. So, for instance, we are told of certain Polynesian chiefs, who, under the stress of good form, preferred to starve rather than carry their food to their mouths with their own hands. It is true, this conduct may have been due, at least in part, to an excessive sanctity or tabu attaching to the chief's person. The tabu would have been communicated by the contact of his hands, and so would have made anything touched by him unfit for human food. But the tabu is itself a derivative of the unworthiness or moral incompatibility87 of labour; so that even when construed88 in this sense the conduct of the Polynesian chiefs is truer to the canon of honorific leisure than would at first appear. A better illustration, or at least a more unmistakable one, is afforded by a certain king of France, who is said to have lost his life through an excess of moral stamina89 in the observance of good form. In the absence of the functionary90 whose office it was to shift his master's seat, the king sat uncomplaining before the fire and suffered his royal person to be toasted beyond recovery. But in so doing he saved his Most Christian91 Majesty92 from menial contamination. Summum crede nefas animam praeferre pudori, Et propter vitam vivendi perdere causas.
It has already been remarked that the term "leisure", as here used, does not connote indolence or quiescence93. What it connotes is non-productive consumption of time. Time is consumed non-productively (1) from a sense of the unworthiness of productive work, and (2) as an evidence of pecuniary ability to afford a life of idleness. But the whole of the life of the gentleman of leisure is not spent before the eyes of the spectators who are to be impressed with that spectacle of honorific leisure which in the ideal scheme makes up his life. For some part of the time his life is perforce withdrawn94 from the public eye, and of this portion which is spent in private the gentleman of leisure should, for the sake of his good name, be able to give a convincing account. He should find some means of putting in evidence the leisure that is not spent in the sight of the spectators. This can be done only indirectly, through the exhibition of some tangible95, lasting96 results of the leisure so spent—in a manner analogous97 to the familiar exhibition of tangible, lasting products of the labour performed for the gentleman of leisure by handicraftsmen and servants in his employ.
The lasting evidence of productive labour is its material product—commonly some article of consumption. In the case of exploit it is similarly possible and usual to procure98 some tangible result that may serve for exhibition in the way of trophy99 or booty. At a later phase of the development it is customary to assume some badge of insignia of honour that will serve as a conventionally accepted mark of exploit, and which at the same time indicates the quantity or degree of exploit of which it is the symbol. As the population increases in density, and as human relations grow more complex and numerous, all the details of life undergo a process of elaboration and selection; and in this process of elaboration the use of trophies100 develops into a system of rank, titles, degrees and insignia, typical examples of which are heraldic devices, medals, and honorary decorations.
As seen from the economic point of view, leisure, considered as an employment, is closely allied101 in kind with the life of exploit; and the achievements which characterise a life of leisure, and which remain as its decorous criteria102, have much in common with the trophies of exploit. But leisure in the narrower sense, as distinct from exploit and from any ostensibly productive employment of effort on objects which are of no intrinsic use, does not commonly leave a material product. The criteria of a past performance of leisure therefore commonly take the form of "immaterial" goods. Such immaterial evidences of past leisure are quasi-scholarly or quasi-artistic accomplishments103 and a knowledge of processes and incidents which do not conduce directly to the furtherance of human life. So, for instance, in our time there is the knowledge of the dead languages and the occult sciences; of correct spelling; of syntax and prosody104; of the various forms of domestic music and other household art; of the latest properties of dress, furniture, and equipage; of games, sports, and fancy-bred animals, such as dogs and race-horses. In all these branches of knowledge the initial motive from which their acquisition proceeded at the outset, and through which they first came into vogue105, may have been something quite different from the wish to show that one's time had not been spent in industrial employment; but unless these accomplishments had approved themselves as serviceable evidence of an unproductive expenditure106 of time, they would not have survived and held their place as conventional accomplishments of the leisure class.
These accomplishments may, in some sense, be classed as branches of learning. Beside and beyond these there is a further range of social facts which shade off from the region of learning into that of physical habit and dexterity107. Such are what is known as manners and breeding, polite usage, decorum, and formal and ceremonial observances generally. This class of facts are even more immediately and obtrusively108 presented to the observation, and they therefore more widely and more imperatively109 insisted on as required evidences of a reputable degree of leisure. It is worth while to remark that all that class of ceremonial observances which are classed under the general head of manners hold a more important place in the esteem of men during the stage of culture at which conspicuous leisure has the greatest vogue as a mark of reputability, than at later stages of the cultural development. The barbarian of the quasi-peaceable stage of industry is notoriously a more high-bred gentleman, in all that concerns decorum, than any but the very exquisite110 among the men of a later age. Indeed, it is well known, or at least it is currently believed, that manners have progressively deteriorated111 as society has receded112 from the patriarchal stage. Many a gentleman of the old school has been provoked to remark regretfully upon the under-bred manners and bearing of even the better classes in the modern industrial communities; and the decay of the ceremonial code—or as it is otherwise called, the vulgarisation of life—among the industrial classes proper has become one of the chief enormities of latter-day civilisation113 in the eyes of all persons of delicate sensibilities. The decay which the code has suffered at the hands of a busy people testifies—all depreciation114 apart—to the fact that decorum is a product and an exponent115 of leisure class life and thrives in full measure only under a regime of status.
The origin, or better the derivation, of manners is no doubt, to be sought elsewhere than in a conscious effort on the part of the well-mannered to show that much time has been spent in acquiring them. The proximate end of innovation and elaboration has been the higher effectiveness of the new departure in point of beauty or of expressiveness116. In great part the ceremonial code of decorous usages owes its beginning and its growth to the desire to conciliate or to show good-will, as anthropologists and sociologists are in the habit of assuming, and this initial motive is rarely if ever absent from the conduct of well-mannered persons at any stage of the later development. Manners, we are told, are in part an elaboration of gesture, and in part they are symbolical117 and conventionalised survivals representing former acts of dominance or of personal service or of personal contact. In large part they are an expression of the relation of status,—a symbolic118 pantomime of mastery on the one hand and of subservience119 on the other. Wherever at the present time the predatory habit of mind, and the consequent attitude of mastery and of subservience, gives its character to the accredited120 scheme of life, there the importance of all punctilios of conduct is extreme, and the assiduity with which the ceremonial observance of rank and titles is attended to approaches closely to the ideal set by the barbarian of the quasi-peaceable nomadic121 culture. Some of the Continental122 countries afford good illustrations of this spiritual survival. In these communities the archaic ideal is similarly approached as regards the esteem accorded to manners as a fact of intrinsic worth.
Decorum set out with being symbol and pantomime and with having utility only as an exponent of the facts and qualities symbolised; but it presently suffered the transmutation which commonly passes over symbolical facts in human intercourse123. Manners presently came, in popular apprehension, to be possessed of a substantial utility in themselves; they acquired a sacramental character, in great measure independent of the facts which they originally prefigured. Deviations124 from the code of decorum have become intrinsically odious125 to all men, and good breeding is, in everyday apprehension, not simply an adventitious126 mark of human excellence127, but an integral feature of the worthy human soul. There are few things that so touch us with instinctive revulsion as a breach128 of decorum; and so far have we progressed in the direction of imputing129 intrinsic utility to the ceremonial observances of etiquette130 that few of us, if any, can dissociate an offence against etiquette from a sense of the substantial unworthiness of the offender131. A breach of faith may be condoned132, but a breach of decorum can not. "Manners maketh man."
None the less, while manners have this intrinsic utility, in the apprehension of the performer and the beholder133 alike, this sense of the intrinsic rightness of decorum is only the proximate ground of the vogue of manners and breeding. Their ulterior, economic ground is to be sought in the honorific character of that leisure or non-productive employment of time and effort without which good manners are not acquired. The knowledge and habit of good form come only by long-continued use. Refined tastes, manners, habits of life are a useful evidence of gentility, because good breeding requires time, application and expense, and can therefore not be compassed by those whose time and energy are taken up with work. A knowledge of good form is prima facie evidence that that portion of the well-bred person's life which is not spent under the observation of the spectator has been worthily134 spent in acquiring accomplishments that are of no lucrative135 effect. In the last analysis the value of manners lies in the fact that they are the voucher136 of a life of leisure. Therefore, conversely, since leisure is the conventional means of pecuniary repute, the acquisition of some proficiency137 in decorum is incumbent138 on all who aspire139 to a modicum140 of pecuniary decency.
So much of the honourable life of leisure as is not spent in the sight of spectators can serve the purposes of reputability only in so far as it leaves a tangible, visible result that can be put in evidence and can be measured and compared with products of the same class exhibited by competing aspirants141 for repute. Some such effect, in the way of leisurely142 manners and carriage, etc., follows from simple persistent143 abstention from work, even where the subject does not take thought of the matter and studiously acquire an air of leisurely opulence144 and mastery. Especially does it seem to be true that a life of leisure in this way persisted in through several generations will leave a persistent, ascertainable145 effect in the conformation of the person, and still more in his habitual bearing and demeanour. But all the suggestions of a cumulative146 life of leisure, and all the proficiency in decorum that comes by the way of passive habituation, may be further improved upon by taking thought and assiduously acquiring the marks of honourable leisure, and then carrying the exhibition of these adventitious marks of exemption from employment out in a strenuous and systematic147 discipline. Plainly, this is a point at which a diligent148 application of effort and expenditure may materially further the attainment149 of a decent proficiency in the leisure-class properties. Conversely, the greater the degree of proficiency and the more patent the evidence of a high degree of habituation to observances which serve no lucrative or other directly useful purpose, the greater the consumption of time and substance impliedly involved in their acquisition, and the greater the resultant good repute. Hence under the competitive struggle for proficiency in good manners, it comes about that much pains in taken with the cultivation150 of habits of decorum; and hence the details of decorum develop into a comprehensive discipline, conformity151 to which is required of all who would be held blameless in point of repute. And hence, on the other hand, this conspicuous leisure of which decorum is a ramification152 grows gradually into a laborious153 drill in deportment and an education in taste and discrimination as to what articles of consumption are decorous and what are the decorous methods of consuming them.
In this connection it is worthy of notice that the possibility of producing pathological and other idiosyncrasies of person and manner by shrewd mimicry154 and a systematic drill have been turned to account in the deliberate production of a cultured class—often with a very happy effect. In this way, by the process vulgarly known as snobbery155, a syncopated evolution of gentle birth and breeding is achieved in the case of a goodly number of families and lines of descent. This syncopated gentle birth gives results which, in point of serviceability as a leisure-class factor in the population, are in no wise substantially inferior to others who may have had a longer but less arduous156 training in the pecuniary properties.
There are, moreover, measureable degrees of conformity to the latest accredited code of the punctilios as regards decorous means and methods of consumption. Differences between one person and another in the degree of conformity to the ideal in these respects can be compared, and persons may be graded and scheduled with some accuracy and effect according to a progressive scale of manners and breeding. The award of reputability in this regard is commonly made in good faith, on the ground of conformity to accepted canons of taste in the matters concerned, and without conscious regard to the pecuniary standing or the degree of leisure practised by any given candidate for reputability; but the canons of taste according to which the award is made are constantly under the surveillance of the law of conspicuous leisure, and are indeed constantly undergoing change and revision to bring them into closer conformity with its requirements. So that while the proximate ground of discrimination may be of another kind, still the pervading principle and abiding157 test of good breeding is the requirement of a substantial and patent waste of time. There may be some considerable range of variation in detail within the scope of this principle, but they are variations of form and expression, not of substance.
Much of the courtesy of everyday intercourse is of course a direct expression of consideration and kindly158 good-will, and this element of conduct has for the most part no need of being traced back to any underlying159 ground of reputability to explain either its presence or the approval with which it is regarded; but the same is not true of the code of properties. These latter are expressions of status. It is of course sufficiently160 plain, to any one who cares to see, that our bearing towards menials and other pecuniary dependent inferiors is the bearing of the superior member in a relation of status, though its manifestation161 is often greatly modified and softened162 from the original expression of crude dominance. Similarly, our bearing towards superiors, and in great measure towards equals, expresses a more or less conventionalised attitude of subservience. Witness the masterful presence of the high-minded gentleman or lady, which testifies to so much of dominance and independence of economic circumstances, and which at the same time appeals with such convincing force to our sense of what is right and gracious. It is among this highest leisure class, who have no superiors and few peers, that decorum finds its fullest and maturest expression; and it is this highest class also that gives decorum that definite formulation which serves as a canon of conduct for the classes beneath. And there also the code is most obviously a code of status and shows most plainly its incompatibility with all vulgarly productive work. A divine assurance and an imperious complaisance163, as of one habituated to require subservience and to take no thought for the morrow, is the birthright and the criterion of the gentleman at his best; and it is in popular apprehension even more than that, for this demeanour is accepted as an intrinsic attribute of superior worth, before which the base-born commoner delights to stoop and yield.
As has been indicated in an earlier chapter, there is reason to believe that the institution of ownership has begun with the ownership of persons, primarily women. The incentives164 to acquiring such property have apparently165 been: (1) a propensity166 for dominance and coercion167; (2) the utility of these persons as evidence of the prowess of the owner; (3) the utility of their services.
Personal service holds a peculiar168 place in the economic development. During the stage of quasi-peaceable industry, and especially during the earlier development of industry within the limits of this general stage, the utility of their services seems commonly to be the dominant169 motive to the acquisition of property in persons. Servants are valued for their services. But the dominance of this motive is not due to a decline in the absolute importance of the other two utilities possessed by servants. It is rather that the altered circumstance of life accentuate170 the utility of servants for this last-named purpose. Women and other slaves are highly valued, both as an evidence of wealth and as a means of accumulating wealth. Together with cattle, if the tribe is a pastoral one, they are the usual form of investment for a profit. To such an extent may female slavery give its character to the economic life under the quasi-peaceable culture that the women even comes to serve as a unit of value among peoples occupying this cultural stage—as for instance in Homeric times. Where this is the case there need be little question but that the basis of the industrial system is chattel slavery and that the women are commonly slaves. The great, pervading human relation in such a system is that of master and servant. The accepted evidence of wealth is the possession of many women, and presently also of other slaves engaged in attendance on their master's person and in producing goods for him.
A division of labour presently sets in, whereby personal service and attendance on the master becomes the special office of a portion of the servants, while those who are wholly employed in industrial occupations proper are removed more and more from all immediate relation to the person of their owner. At the same time those servants whose office is personal service, including domestic duties, come gradually to be exempted171 from productive industry carried on for gain.
This process of progressive exemption from the common run of industrial employment will commonly begin with the exemption of the wife, or the chief wife. After the community has advanced to settled habits of life, wife-capture from hostile tribes becomes impracticable as a customary source of supply. Where this cultural advance has been achieved, the chief wife is ordinarily of gentle blood, and the fact of her being so will hasten her exemption from vulgar employment. The manner in which the concept of gentle blood originates, as well as the place which it occupies in the development of marriage, cannot be discussed in this place. For the purpose in hand it will be sufficient to say that gentle blood is blood which has been ennobled by protracted172 contact with accumulated wealth or unbroken prerogative173. The women with these antecedents is preferred in marriage, both for the sake of a resulting alliance with her powerful relatives and because a superior worth is felt to inhere in blood which has been associated with many goods and great power. She will still be her husband's chattel, as she was her father's chattel before her purchase, but she is at the same time of her father's gentle blood; and hence there is a moral incongruity174 in her occupying herself with the debasing employments of her fellow-servants. However completely she may be subject to her master, and however inferior to the male members of the social stratum175 in which her birth has placed her, the principle that gentility is transmissible will act to place her above the common slave; and so soon as this principle has acquired a prescriptive authority it will act to invest her in some measure with that prerogative of leisure which is the chief mark of gentility. Furthered by this principle of transmissible gentility the wife's exemption gains in scope, if the wealth of her owner permits it, until it includes exemption from debasing menial service as well as from handicraft. As the industrial development goes on and property becomes massed in relatively176 fewer hands, the conventional standard of wealth of the upper class rises. The same tendency to exemption from handicraft, and in the course of time from menial domestic employments, will then assert itself as regards the other wives, if such there are, and also as regards other servants in immediate attendance upon the person of their master. The exemption comes more tardily177 the remoter the relation in which the servant stands to the person of the master.
If the pecuniary situation of the master permits it, the development of a special class of personal or body servants is also furthered by the very grave importance which comes to attach to this personal service. The master's person, being the embodiment of worth and honour, is of the most serious consequence. Both for his reputable standing in the community and for his self-respect, it is a matter of moment that he should have at his call efficient specialised servants, whose attendance upon his person is not diverted from this their chief office by any by-occupation. These specialised servants are useful more for show than for service actually performed. In so far as they are not kept for exhibition simply, they afford gratification to their master chiefly in allowing scope to his propensity for dominance. It is true, the care of the continually increasing household apparatus178 may require added labour; but since the apparatus is commonly increased in order to serve as a means of good repute rather than as a means of comfort, this qualification is not of great weight. All these lines of utility are better served by a larger number of more highly specialised servants. There results, therefore, a constantly increasing differentiation and multiplication179 of domestic and body servants, along with a concomitant progressive exemption of such servants from productive labour. By virtue of their serving as evidence of ability to pay, the office of such domestics regularly tends to include continually fewer duties, and their service tends in the end to become nominal180 only. This is especially true of those servants who are in most immediate and obvious attendance upon their master. So that the utility of these comes to consist, in great part, in their conspicuous exemption from productive labour and in the evidence which this exemption affords of their master's wealth and power.
After some considerable advance has been made in the practice of employing a special corps181 of servants for the performance of a conspicuous leisure in this manner, men begin to be preferred above women for services that bring them obtrusively into view. Men, especially lusty, personable fellows, such as footmen and other menials should be, are obviously more powerful and more expensive than women. They are better fitted for this work, as showing a larger waste of time and of human energy. Hence it comes about that in the economy of the leisure class the busy housewife of the early patriarchal days, with her retinue182 of hard-working handmaidens, presently gives place to the lady and the lackey183.
In all grades and walks of life, and at any stage of the economic development, the leisure of the lady and of the lackey differs from the leisure of the gentleman in his own right in that it is an occupation of an ostensibly laborious kind. It takes the form, in large measure, of a painstaking184 attention to the service of the master, or to the maintenance and elaboration of the household paraphernalia; so that it is leisure only in the sense that little or no productive work is performed by this class, not in the sense that all appearance of labour is avoided by them. The duties performed by the lady, or by the household or domestic servants, are frequently arduous enough, and they are also frequently directed to ends which are considered extremely necessary to the comfort of the entire household. So far as these services conduce to the physical efficiency or comfort of the master or the rest of the household, they are to be accounted productive work. Only the residue185 of employment left after deduction186 of this effective work is to be classed as a performance of leisure.
But much of the services classed as household cares in modern everyday life, and many of the "utilities" required for a comfortable existence by civilised man, are of a ceremonial character. They are, therefore, properly to be classed as a performance of leisure in the sense in which the term is here used. They may be none the less imperatively necessary from the point of view of decent existence: they may be none the less requisite for personal comfort even, although they may be chiefly or wholly of a ceremonial character. But in so far as they partake of this character they are imperative and requisite because we have been taught to require them under pain of ceremonial uncleanness or unworthiness. We feel discomfort in their absence, but not because their absence results directly in physical discomfort; nor would a taste not trained to discriminate187 between the conventionally good and the conventionally bad take offence at their omission188. In so far as this is true the labour spent in these services is to be classed as leisure; and when performed by others than the economically free and self-directed head of the establishment, they are to be classed as vicarious leisure.
The vicarious leisure performed by housewives and menials, under the head of household cares, may frequently develop into drudgery, especially where the competition for reputability is close and strenuous. This is frequently the case in modern life. Where this happens, the domestic service which comprises the duties of this servant class might aptly be designated as wasted effort, rather than as vicarious leisure. But the latter term has the advantage of indicating the line of derivation of these domestic offices, as well as of neatly189 suggesting the substantial economic ground of their utility; for these occupations are chiefly useful as a method of imputing pecuniary reputability to the master or to the household on the ground that a given amount of time and effort is conspicuously190 wasted in that behalf.
In this way, then, there arises a subsidiary or derivative leisure class, whose office is the performance of a vicarious leisure for the behoof of the reputability of the primary or legitimate191 leisure class. This vicarious leisure class is distinguished192 from the leisure class proper by a characteristic feature of its habitual mode of life. The leisure of the master class is, at least ostensibly, an indulgence of a proclivity193 for the avoidance of labour and is presumed to enhance the master's own well-being194 and fulness of life; but the leisure of the servant class exempt24 from productive labour is in some sort a performance exacted from them, and is not normally or primarily directed to their own comfort. The leisure of the servant is not his own leisure. So far as he is a servant in the full sense, and not at the same time a member of a lower order of the leisure class proper, his leisure normally passes under the guise195 of specialised service directed to the furtherance of his master's fulness of life. Evidence of this relation of subservience is obviously present in the servant's carriage and manner of life. The like is often true of the wife throughout the protracted economic stage during which she is still primarily a servant—that is to say, so long as the household with a male head remains196 in force. In order to satisfy the requirements of the leisure class scheme of life, the servant should show not only an attitude of subservience, but also the effects of special training and practice in subservience. The servant or wife should not only perform certain offices and show a servile disposition197, but it is quite as imperative that they should show an acquired facility in the tactics of subservience—a trained conformity to the canons of effectual and conspicuous subservience. Even today it is this aptitude198 and acquired skill in the formal manifestation of the servile relation that constitutes the chief element of utility in our highly paid servants, as well as one of the chief ornaments199 of the well-bred housewife.
The first requisite of a good servant is that he should conspicuously know his place. It is not enough that he knows how to effect certain desired mechanical results; he must above all, know how to effect these results in due form. Domestic service might be said to be a spiritual rather than a mechanical function. Gradually there grows up an elaborate system of good form, specifically regulating the manner in which this vicarious leisure of the servant class is to be performed. Any departure from these canons of form is to be depreciated200, not so much because it evinces a shortcoming in mechanical efficiency, or even that it shows an absence of the servile attitude and temperament201, but because, in the last analysis, it shows the absence of special training. Special training in personal service costs time and effort, and where it is obviously present in a high degree, it argues that the servant who possesses it, neither is nor has been habitually202 engaged in any productive occupation. It is prima facie evidence of a vicarious leisure extending far back in the past. So that trained service has utility, not only as gratifying the master's instinctive liking203 for good and skilful204 workmanship and his propensity for conspicuous dominance over those whose lives are subservient205 to his own, but it has utility also as putting in evidence a much larger consumption of human service than would be shown by the mere23 present conspicuous leisure performed by an untrained person. It is a serious grievance206 if a gentleman's butler or footman performs his duties about his master's table or carriage in such unformed style as to suggest that his habitual occupation may be ploughing or sheepherding. Such bungling207 work would imply inability on the master's part to procure the service of specially6 trained servants; that is to say, it would imply inability to pay for the consumption of time, effort, and instruction required to fit a trained servant for special service under the exacting208 code of forms. If the performance of the servant argues lack of means on the part of his master, it defeats its chief substantial end; for the chief use of servants is the evidence they afford of the master's ability to pay.
What has just been said might be taken to imply that the offence of an under-trained servant lies in a direct suggestion of inexpensiveness or of usefulness. Such, of course, is not the case. The connection is much less immediate. What happens here is what happens generally. Whatever approves itself to us on any ground at the outset, presently comes to appeal to us as a gratifying thing in itself; it comes to rest in our habits of though as substantially right. But in order that any specific canon of deportment shall maintain itself in favour, it must continue to have the support of, or at least not be incompatible with, the habit or aptitude which constitutes the norm of its development. The need of vicarious leisure, or conspicuous consumption of service, is a dominant incentive to the keeping of servants. So long as this remains true it may be set down without much discussion that any such departure from accepted usage as would suggest an abridged209 apprenticeship210 in service would presently be found insufferable. The requirement of an expensive vicarious leisure acts indirectly, selectively, by guiding the formation of our taste,—of our sense of what is right in these matters,—and so weeds out unconformable departures by withholding211 approval of them.
As the standard of wealth recognized by common consent advances, the possession and exploitation of servants as a means of showing superfluity undergoes a refinement212. The possession and maintenance of slaves employed in the production of goods argues wealth and prowess, but the maintenance of servants who produce nothing argues still higher wealth and position. Under this principle there arises a class of servants, the more numerous the better, whose sole office is fatuously213 to wait upon the person of their owner, and so to put in evidence his ability unproductively to consume a large amount of service. There supervenes a division of labour among the servants or dependents whose life is spent in maintaining the honour of the gentleman of leisure. So that, while one group produces goods for him, another group, usually headed by the wife, or chief, consumes for him in conspicuous leisure; thereby214 putting in evidence his ability to sustain large pecuniary damage without impairing215 his superior opulence.
This somewhat idealized and diagrammatic outline of the development and nature of domestic service comes nearest being true for that cultural stage which was here been named the "quasi-peaceable" stage of industry. At this stage personal service first rises to the position of an economic institution, and it is at this stage that it occupies the largest place in the community's scheme of life. In the cultural sequence, the quasi-peaceable stage follows the predatory stage proper, the two being successive phases of barbarian life. Its characteristic feature is a formal observance of peace and order, at the same time that life at this stage still has too much of coercion and class antagonism216 to be called peaceable in the full sense of the word. For many purposes, and from another point of view than the economic one, it might as well be named the stage of status. The method of human relation during this stage, and the spiritual attitude of men at this level of culture, is well summed up under the term. But as a descriptive term to characterise the prevailing methods of industry, as well as to indicate the trend of industrial development at this point in economic evolution, the term "quasi-peaceable" seems preferable. So far as concerns the communities of the Western culture, this phase of economic development probably lies in the past; except for a numerically small though very conspicuous fraction of the community in whom the habits of thought peculiar to the barbarian culture have suffered but a relatively slight disintegration217.
Personal service is still an element of great economic importance, especially as regards the distribution and consumption of goods; but its relative importance even in this direction is no doubt less than it once was. The best development of this vicarious leisure lies in the past rather than in the present; and its best expression in the present is to be found in the scheme of life of the upper leisure class. To this class the modern culture owes much in the way of the conservation of traditions, usages, and habits of thought which belong on a more archaic cultural plane, so far as regards their widest acceptance and their most effective development.
In the modern industrial communities the mechanical contrivances available for the comfort and convenience of everyday life are highly developed. So much so that body servants, or, indeed, domestic servants of any kind, would now scarcely be employed by anybody except on the ground of a canon of reputability carried over by tradition from earlier usage. The only exception would be servants employed to attend on the persons of the infirm and the feeble-minded. But such servants properly come under the head of trained nurses rather than under that of domestic servants, and they are, therefore, an apparent rather than a real exception to the rule.
The proximate reason for keeping domestic servants, for instance, in the moderately well-to-do household of to-day, is (ostensibly) that the members of the household are unable without discomfort to compass the work required by such a modern establishment. And the reason for their being unable to accomplish it is (1) that they have too many "social duties", and (2) that the work to be done is too severe and that there is too much of it. These two reasons may be restated as follows: (1) Under the mandatory218 code of decency, the time and effort of the members of such a household are required to be ostensibly all spent in a performance of conspicuous leisure, in the way of calls, drives, clubs, sewing-circles, sports, charity organisations, and other like social functions. Those persons whose time and energy are employed in these matters privately219 avow220 that all these observances, as well as the incidental attention to dress and other conspicuous consumption, are very irksome but altogether unavoidable. (2) Under the requirement of conspicuous consumption of goods, the apparatus of living has grown so elaborate and cumbrous, in the way of dwellings221, furniture, bric-a-brac, wardrobe and meals, that the consumers of these things cannot make way with them in the required manner without help. Personal contact with the hired persons whose aid is called in to fulfil the routine of decency is commonly distasteful to the occupants of the house, but their presence is endured and paid for, in order to delegate to them a share in this onerous222 consumption of household goods. The presence of domestic servants, and of the special class of body servants in an eminent223 degree, is a concession224 of physical comfort to the moral need of pecuniary decency.
The largest manifestation of vicarious leisure in modern life is made up of what are called domestic duties. These duties are fast becoming a species of services performed, not so much for the individual behoof of the head of the household as for the reputability of the household taken as a corporate225 unit—a group of which the housewife is a member on a footing of ostensible equality. As fast as the household for which they are performed departs from its archaic basis of ownership-marriage, these household duties of course tend to fall out of the category of vicarious leisure in the original sense; except so far as they are performed by hired servants. That is to say, since vicarious leisure is possible only on a basis of status or of hired service, the disappearance226 of the relation of status from human intercourse at any point carries with it the disappearance of vicarious leisure so far as regards that much of life. But it is to be added, in qualification of this qualification, that so long as the household subsists227, even with a divided head, this class of non-productive labour performed for the sake of the household reputability must still be classed as vicarious leisure, although in a slightly altered sense. It is now leisure performed for the quasi-personal corporate household, instead of, as formerly228, for the proprietary229 head of the household.
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1
emulative
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| adj.好胜 | |
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2
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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3
pecuniary
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| adj.金钱的；金钱上的 | |
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industrious
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| adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的 | |
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frugal
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| adj.节俭的，节约的，少量的，微量的 | |
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specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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imputation
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| n.归罪，责难 | |
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emulation
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| n.竞争；仿效 | |
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thrift
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| adj.节约，节俭；n.节俭，节约 | |
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parsimony
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| n.过度节俭，吝啬 | |
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11
circumscribe
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| v.在...周围划线，限制，约束 | |
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12
incentive
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| n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机 | |
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qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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15
imperative
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| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
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barbarian
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| n.野蛮人；adj.野蛮(人)的；未开化的 | |
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17
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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18
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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19
differentiation
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| n.区别，区分 | |
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20
axiomatic
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| adj.不需证明的，不言自明的 | |
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21
prescription
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| n.处方，开药；指示，规定 | |
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22
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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23
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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24
exempt
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| adj.免除的；v.使免除；n.免税者，被免除义务者 | |
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exemption
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| n.豁免，免税额，免除 | |
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26
habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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decency
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| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
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paraphernalia
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| n.装备；随身用品 | |
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29
disapproval
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| n.反对，不赞成 | |
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30
archaic
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| adj.(语言、词汇等)古代的，已不通用的 | |
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honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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32
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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33
instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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repugnance
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| n.嫌恶 | |
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35
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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36
incompatible
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| adj.不相容的，不协调的，不相配的 | |
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prerequisite
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| n.先决条件；adj.作为前提的，必备的 | |
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38
requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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subjective
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| a.主观(上)的，个人的 | |
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derivative
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| n.派(衍)生物；adj.非独创性的，模仿他人的 | |
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conclusive
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| adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的 | |
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42
accruing
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| v.增加( accrue的现在分词 )；（通过自然增长）产生；获得；（使钱款、债务）积累 | |
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43
conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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44
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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46
indirectly
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| adv.间接地，不直接了当地 | |
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47
participation
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| n.参与，参加，分享 | |
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48
dishonour
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| n./vt.拒付（支票、汇票、票据等）；vt.凌辱，使丢脸；n.不名誉，耻辱，不光彩 | |
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49
shunned
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| v.避开，回避，避免( shun的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50
emergence
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| n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体 | |
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51
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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52
consummate
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| adj.完美的；v.成婚；使完美 [反]baffle | |
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53
aloof
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| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
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54
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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drudgery
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| n.苦工，重活，单调乏味的工作 | |
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56
appreciably
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| adv.相当大地 | |
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57
sustenance
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| n.食物，粮食；生活资料；生计 | |
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58
chattel
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| n.动产；奴隶 | |
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59
herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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livelihood
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| n.生计，谋生之道 | |
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61
devout
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| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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unduly
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| adv.过度地，不适当地 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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ostensible
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| adj.(指理由)表面的，假装的 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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seizure
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| n.没收；占有；抵押 | |
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conversion
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| n.转化，转换，转变 | |
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68
differentiated
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| 区分，区别，辨别( differentiate的过去式和过去分词 )； 区别对待； 表明…间的差别，构成…间差别的特征 | |
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69
appreciable
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| adj.明显的，可见的，可估量的，可觉察的 | |
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70
meritorious
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| adj.值得赞赏的 | |
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71
insistence
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| n.坚持；强调；坚决主张 | |
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72
naive
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| adj.幼稚的，轻信的；天真的 | |
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73
meritoriousness
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74
strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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density
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| n.密集，密度，浓度 | |
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76
consistency
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| n.一贯性，前后一致，稳定性；(液体的)浓度 | |
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impecunious
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| adj.不名一文的，贫穷的 | |
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precarious
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| adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的 | |
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discomfort
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| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
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80
unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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81
phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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82
pervading
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的现在分词 ) | |
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83
indignity
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| n.侮辱，伤害尊严，轻蔑 | |
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84
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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85
shamefulness
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86
juncture
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| n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头 | |
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87
incompatibility
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| n.不兼容 | |
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88
construed
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| v.解释（陈述、行为等）( construe的过去式和过去分词 )；翻译，作句法分析 | |
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89
stamina
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| n.体力；精力；耐力 | |
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90
functionary
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| n.官员；公职人员 | |
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91
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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92
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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93
quiescence
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| n.静止 | |
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94
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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95
tangible
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| adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的 | |
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96
lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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97
analogous
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| adj.相似的；类似的 | |
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98
procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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99
trophy
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| n.优胜旗，奖品，奖杯，战胜品，纪念品 | |
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100
trophies
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| n.（为竞赛获胜者颁发的）奖品( trophy的名词复数 )；奖杯；（尤指狩猎或战争中获得的）纪念品；（用于比赛或赛跑名称）奖 | |
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101
allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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102
criteria
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| n.标准 | |
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103
accomplishments
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| n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就 | |
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104
prosody
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| n.诗体论，作诗法 | |
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105
Vogue
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| n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的 | |
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106
expenditure
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| n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗 | |
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107
dexterity
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| n.(手的)灵巧，灵活 | |
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108
obtrusively
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| adv.冒失地，莽撞地 | |
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109
imperatively
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| adv.命令式地 | |
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110
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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111
deteriorated
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| 恶化，变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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112
receded
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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113
civilisation
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| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
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114
depreciation
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| n.价值低落，贬值，蔑视，贬低 | |
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115
exponent
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| n.倡导者，拥护者；代表人物；指数，幂 | |
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116
expressiveness
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| n.富有表现力 | |
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117
symbolical
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| a.象征性的 | |
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118
symbolic
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| adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的 | |
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119
subservience
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| n.有利，有益；从属（地位），附属性；屈从，恭顺；媚态 | |
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120
accredited
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| adj.可接受的；可信任的；公认的；质量合格的v.相信( accredit的过去式和过去分词 )；委托；委任；把…归结于 | |
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121
nomadic
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| adj.流浪的；游牧的 | |
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122
continental
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| adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的 | |
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123
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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124
deviations
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| 背离，偏离( deviation的名词复数 )； 离经叛道的行为 | |
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125
odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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126
adventitious
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| adj.偶然的 | |
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127
excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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128
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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129
imputing
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| v.把（错误等）归咎于( impute的现在分词 ) | |
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130
etiquette
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| n.礼仪，礼节；规矩 | |
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131
offender
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| n.冒犯者，违反者，犯罪者 | |
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132
condoned
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| v.容忍，宽恕，原谅( condone的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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133
beholder
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| n.观看者，旁观者 | |
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134
worthily
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| 重要地，可敬地，正当地 | |
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135
lucrative
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| adj.赚钱的，可获利的 | |
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136
voucher
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| n.收据；传票；凭单，凭证 | |
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137
proficiency
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| n.精通，熟练，精练 | |
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138
incumbent
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| adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的 | |
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139
aspire
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| vi.(to，after)渴望，追求，有志于 | |
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140
modicum
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| n.少量，一小份 | |
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141
aspirants
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| n.有志向或渴望获得…的人( aspirant的名词复数 )v.渴望的，有抱负的，追求名誉或地位的( aspirant的第三人称单数 )；有志向或渴望获得…的人 | |
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142
leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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143
persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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144
opulence
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| n.财富，富裕 | |
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145
ascertainable
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| adj.可确定（探知），可发现的 | |
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146
cumulative
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| adj.累积的，渐增的 | |
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147
systematic
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| adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的 | |
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148
diligent
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| adj.勤勉的，勤奋的 | |
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149
attainment
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| n.达到，到达；［常pl.］成就，造诣 | |
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150
cultivation
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| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
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151
conformity
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| n.一致，遵从，顺从 | |
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152
ramification
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| n.分枝，分派，衍生物 | |
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153
laborious
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|
| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
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154
mimicry
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| n.（生物）拟态，模仿 | |
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155
snobbery
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|
| n. 充绅士气派, 俗不可耐的性格 | |
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156
arduous
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| adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的 | |
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157
abiding
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| adj.永久的，持久的，不变的 | |
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158
kindly
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|
| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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159
underlying
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|
| adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的 | |
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160
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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161
manifestation
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| n.表现形式；表明；现象 | |
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162
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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163
complaisance
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| n.彬彬有礼，殷勤，柔顺 | |
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164
incentives
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| 激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机 | |
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165
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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166
propensity
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| n.倾向；习性 | |
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167
coercion
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| n.强制，高压统治 | |
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168
peculiar
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|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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169
dominant
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|
| adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因 | |
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170
accentuate
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| v.着重，强调 | |
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171
exempted
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| 使免除[豁免]( exempt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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172
protracted
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|
| adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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173
prerogative
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| n.特权 | |
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174
incongruity
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| n.不协调，不一致 | |
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175
stratum
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| n.地层，社会阶层 | |
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176
relatively
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| adv.比较...地，相对地 | |
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177
tardily
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| adv.缓慢 | |
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178
apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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179
multiplication
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| n.增加，增多，倍增；增殖，繁殖；乘法 | |
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180
nominal
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|
| adj.名义上的；(金额、租金)微不足道的 | |
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181
corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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182
retinue
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| n.侍从；随员 | |
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183
lackey
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| n.侍从；跟班 | |
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184
painstaking
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| adj.苦干的；艰苦的，费力的，刻苦的 | |
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185
residue
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| n.残余，剩余，残渣 | |
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186
deduction
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| n.减除，扣除，减除额；推论，推理，演绎 | |
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187
discriminate
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| v.区别，辨别，区分；有区别地对待 | |
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188
omission
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| n.省略，删节；遗漏或省略的事物，冗长 | |
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189
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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190
conspicuously
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| ad.明显地，惹人注目地 | |
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191
legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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192
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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193
proclivity
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| n.倾向，癖性 | |
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194
well-being
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| n.安康，安乐，幸福 | |
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195
guise
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| n.外表，伪装的姿态 | |
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196
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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197
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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198
aptitude
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| n.(学习方面的)才能，资质，天资 | |
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199
ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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200
depreciated
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|
| v.贬值，跌价，减价( depreciate的过去式和过去分词 )；贬低，蔑视，轻视 | |
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201
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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202
habitually
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| ad.习惯地，通常地 | |
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203
liking
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| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
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204
skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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205
subservient
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| adj.卑屈的，阿谀的 | |
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206
grievance
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| n.怨愤，气恼，委屈 | |
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207
bungling
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| adj.笨拙的，粗劣的v.搞糟，完不成( bungle的现在分词 )；笨手笨脚地做；失败；完不成 | |
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208
exacting
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| adj.苛求的，要求严格的 | |
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209
abridged
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| 削减的，删节的 | |
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210
apprenticeship
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| n.学徒身份；学徒期 | |
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211
withholding
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| 扣缴税款 | |
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212
refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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213
fatuously
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| adv.愚昧地，昏庸地，蠢地 | |
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214
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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215
impairing
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| v.损害，削弱( impair的现在分词 ) | |
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216
antagonism
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| n.对抗，敌对，对立 | |
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217
disintegration
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| n.分散，解体 | |
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218
mandatory
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| adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者 | |
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219
privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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220
avow
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| v.承认，公开宣称 | |
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221
dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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222
onerous
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| adj.繁重的 | |
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eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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224
concession
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| n.让步，妥协；特许(权) | |
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225
corporate
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| adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的 | |
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226
disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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227
subsists
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| v.（靠很少的钱或食物）维持生活，生存下去( subsist的第三人称单数 ) | |
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228
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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proprietary
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| n.所有权，所有的；独占的；业主 | |
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