Tea at Trianon: Manners in the Time of Shakespeare

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, March 11, 2011

Manners in the Time of Shakespeare

From the children's page on the Folger Shakespeare Library website.

Most people ate three meals a day: breakfast between 6 and 7am, a midday meal, and an evening meal served between 5 and 8pm. Hands were generally washed before eating, either before sitting down, or, if at a fancy dinner, in water brought to the table by servants.

Each person had a plate or trencher, a spoon, and a knife. Trendy people might use forks, which were introduced to England from Italy, but forks were not common. Cups and goblets were shared. For this reason, it was important to swallow your food before taking a drink!

It was bad manners to lick your hands, so polite people either wiped them on the tablecloth, or used a cloth napkin if one was provided.

Amanda Borenstadt said...: Very cool info! My kids thought it was "So weird" that people shared cups and wiped their hands on tablecloths. LOL; March 11, 2011 at 1:24:00 PM EST
elena maria vidal said...: Thank you for visiting, Amanda. It's quite interesting, isn't it?; March 11, 2011 at 1:59:00 PM EST
Colleen Hammond said...: Thank you for sharing this, Mary-Eileen. It's commonly thought that there were no table manners "back in the day", so it's encouraging to see stories such as this.

Manners are just common courtesy and (quite frankly) charity to those around us...especially chewing with your mouth closed! ;-); March 12, 2011 at 8:06:00 AM EST
elena maria vidal said...: I agree, Colleen!; March 12, 2011 at 11:53:00 AM EST