Tea at Trianon: Table Manners

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

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Table Manners

Time for a refresher from Southern Lady:

Q: Cloth napkins add lovely touches to dining. What are the rules for napkin use during and after the meal?

A: The use of the napkin seems a simple thing, but opinions vary. After consulting several etiquette books, we find there are common guidelines for all to follow.

Place the napkin in your lap after you are seated. (If a blessing or prayer precedes the meal, place the napkin in your lap afterward.) A napkin is used for blotting your mouth, not wiping, and should never be used as a substitute handkerchief.

Should you need to leave the table during the meal, simply place the napkin in the seat of your chair until you return. Do not put the napkin on the table during the meal. After the meal, place the napkin loosely on the left side of the plate. It should never be placed on the plate or refolded.

Q: After the fork, knife, or spoon has been used during the meal, is it ever placed on the table?

A: The flatware should never return to the table after it is used. A fork should rest on the dinner plate during the meal. The dinner knife should be placed across the top of the dinner plate once it has been used. The salad fork, spoon, dessert fork, and butter knife should rest on their respective plates.

At the end of the meal, the knife and the fork are placed diagonally across the middle of the plate. Never leave a piece of flatware in a cup, glass, or bowl. Always return it to the service plate. (Read more.)