EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ENGLISH CHILDREN ARE TOLD HOW TO BEHAVE CORRECTLY

Abstract

Children's books during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in both England and this country frequently contained detailed instructions on what polite society considered to be good manners for children. This passage from an English children's book written in 1762 was read and committed to memory by many children in England and also in this country: Of Behavior Before you speak make a Bow or Curtesy, and when you have received your Answer make another. Be careful how you speak to those who have not spoke to you. Nothing shows the difference between a young Gentleman and a vulgar Boy so much as Behavior in eating. Never touch your Meat with your Fingers. Pick your Bones clean and leave them on your plate; they must not be thrown down. Seldom blow your Nose and use your Handkerchief for that Purpose, making as little noise as you can. Never spit in a Room. Never sing or whistle in Company: these are the idle tricks of vulgar children. Take care not to make Faces nor Wink. Keep your Hands quiet, and use no antick Motions. Never laugh immoderately at a Story told by another Person. Never laugh at all at what you tell yourself. Never talk about any Thing but what you know. How foreign all this would seem to the contemporary child!