Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 November 1880 — Mansers Two Hundred Years Ago. [ARTICLE]

Mansers Two Hundred Years Ago.

A curious little book, called “The Rules of Civility,” which was published in 1675, throws amusing light on the manners of our ancestors two centuries ago. “Being in discourse with a man,” we read on one page, “’tie no less than ridiculous to pull him by the buttons, to play with his band rings, belt or to punch him now and then on the stomach.” Again, “It argues neglect, and to undervalue a man, to sleep when he is discoursing or reading. Therefore, good manners command it to be forbid; besides, some thing may happen in the act that may offei d. as snoring, sweating, gaping or dribl Hag *’ More explicit are tne rules for bti a / ior at table. “In eating observe to let your hands be clew. Fefcd not with both your hands, nor keep year knife in your hand. Dip not your fingers in the sauce, or lick them when you have done. If you have occasion to sueeie or cough, take your hat, or put your napkin before ▼oar lace. Drink not with your mouth rail nor unwiped, nor so long till you are forced to breath in the glass.” There are rules also for the drawing-room. “If a Krson of quality be in the company of lies, tis too juvenile and light to play with them, to toes or tumble them, to kiss them by surprise, to force away their hoods, their tans, or their ruffs. It is unhandsome among ladies, or any oJier serious comjiany, to throw off one’s cloak, to pull off one’s peruke, to cut one’s nails, to tie one’s garter, to change shoes if they pinch, to call for one’s slippers to be at ease, to sing between the teeth, or to drum with one’s fingers.”