Old Fashioned Table Etiquette Victorian Dinner Etiquette
Dinner by Albert von Keller, 1891.
With the holiday flavor well under way, it seems an appropriate time to review a few of the many Victorian era rules for dining in company. The etiquette of the table hasn't changed a great deal over the years. Some rules are merely a affair of basic mutual sense. Nonetheless, we could all do with a refresher now and then. To that cease, I've gathered ten tips from various Victorian era etiquette books and articles addressing the basics of dining etiquette. I present them to yous below.
1) Remove Your Gloves
"At the time of taking refreshment, of grade, they must be taken off. No well-educated person would swallow in gloves."
Etiquette for Ladies, 1843.
ii) Don't Swallow Too Much or As well Petty
"Exist conscientious to avoid the extremes of gluttony or over daintiness at table. To eat enormously is disgusting; merely if you eat too sparingly, your host may think that you lot despise his fare."
The Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness,1874.
three) Eat and Drink Quietly
"It is decidedly vulgar to make a noise, either in taking the food into the oral fissure, in its mastication, or in swallowing."
Good Housekeeping, 1893.
4) Don't Chew with Your Mouth Open
"Do not fill up your mouth and so full that yous cannot answer if you are addressed; nor open up your mouth so wide during the process of chewing that your opposite neighbor may encounter the semi-chewed viands, which, if she exist a delicate lady, might destroy her appetite altogether."
The Gilded Dominion and Oddfellows Family unit Companion, 1847.
5) Don't Abstain from Taking the Final Piece
"Avoid as well, that most vulgar habit which prevails among one-half-bred land people, of abnegation from taking the final piece on a dish. It amounts nigh to an insult toward your host, to practice whatever thing which shows that you fearfulness that the vacancy cannot be supplied and that there is likely to be a scarcity."
Etiquette for Gentlemen, 1847.
6) Don't Blow Your Olfactory organ at the Table
"If the handkerchief must be used, let information technology be very quietly; in case that is non possible, leave the table for a moment, which may be done in case of a sharp attack of coughing, sneezing, or the like, without asking permission, the cause beingness manifest."
Good Housekeeping, 1893.
seven) Don't Pick Your Teeth
"Information technology is a mark of rudeness to pick your teeth at the tabular array, and it should ever exist avoided. To concur your hand or napkin over your rima oris does not avert the rudeness of the act."
Our Deportment, 1882.
8) Don't Monopolize the Conversation
"For one or ii persons to monopolize a conversation which ought to be general is exceedingly rude."
Our Deportment, 1882.
9) Avoid Controversial Topics
"No argumentative or in any style unpleasant topic should be broached at the tabular array."
Skillful Housekeeping, 1893.
10) Refrain from Reading at the Tabular array
"Letters, newspapers or books should never be brought to the tabular array; though a very of import message may be received and attended to, permission beingness asked of the hostess."
Good Housekeeping, 1893.
There are countless others rules for Victorian dining, including those on what to serve, what to habiliment, and how to utilise one's knives and forks. At some bespeak in hereafter, I'll become into those in more depth. Until then, I hope the above rules—nearly of which are yet applicative today—have given y'all a pocket-size gustation of how Victorian ladies and gentlemen comported themselves at table.
Sources
Etiquette for Gentlemen; or Short Rules and Reflections for Conduct in Order. Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston, 1847.
Etiquette for Ladies: A Transmission of the Nearly Canonical Rules of Acquit in Polished Society for Married and Unmarried Ladies. Philadelphia: J. & J. L. Gihon, 1843.
Expert Housekeeping, Vol. XVI. Springfield: Clark W. Bryan Co., 1893
Hartley, Cecil B. The Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness. Boston: J. S. Locke & Company, 1874.
The Aureate Rule and Oddfellows Family Companion, Vol. VII. New York: E. Winchester, 1847.
Immature, John. Our Actions: Or, the Manners, Carry, and Dress of the Near Refined Society. Springfield: Westward. C. Male monarch & Co., 1882.
About Mimi Matthews
The states Today bestselling author Mimi Matthews writes both historical nonfiction and award-winning proper Victorian romances. Her novels have received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist, Kirkus, and Shelf Sensation, and her articles have been featured on the Victorian Web, the Journal of Victorian Civilization, and in syndication at Bosom Mag. In her other life, Mimi is an attorney. She resides in California with her family, which includes a retired Andalusian dressage horse, a Sheltie, and ii Siamese cats.
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