From Antoine de Courtin’s The Rules of Civility, published in London in 1685

Orders of the Day, Volume 35, Issue 2, Apr/May 2003

What we are to observe at the table

You must not strip yourself of your Cloak and your Sword to sit down at the Table, ‘tis more decent to keep them on. When you are at the Table, you must sit up right and not loll upon your Elbows. You must not by any awkward gesture show any signs that you are hungry, nor fix your Eyes upon the meat as if you would devour all.

It is not civil to call for anything you like, especially if it is a dainty. ‘Tis not manners as soon as you are set at the Table to bawl out, “I eat none of this, I eat none of that; I care for no Rabbit, I love nothing that tasts of Pepper, Nutmeg, Onyons, &c”.

If you happen to burn your Mouth, you must endure it if possible, if not you must convey what you have in your Mouth privately upon your Plate, and give it away to the Footman; for though Civility obliges you to be neat, there is no necessity you should burn out your Guts.

You must cut your Meat into small pieces, and not put great Gobbets into your Mouth that may bunch out your cheeks like a Monkey. To blow your Nose publickly at the Table without holding your Hat or Napkin before your Face; to wipe off the Sweat from your Face with your Hankerchief; to claw your Head &c. to belch, hawk, and tear anything up from the bottom of your Stomach, are things so intolerably sordid, they are sufficient to make a Man vomit to behold them; you must forbear them as much as you can, or at least conceal them.

If the Person to whom you present the Plate be near you, and much above your Quality, you may put off your Hat the first time you present him, but afterwards you may forbear, for fear of being troublesome.

No man is to be press’d to drink, for excess Wine does no body good; others are disorder’d with a little; others are oblig’d to sobriety by their Characters and functions, as the Clergy, Magistrates, &c. If we be speaking to his Lordship, and in the meantime his Lordship puts the Glass to his Mouth, we must stop till he has drunk, and then go on with our discourse.

It savours of too much familiarity to sip your Wine at the Table, and to make three or four draughts before you come to the bottom; ‘Tis better to drink it off at once, not rambling up and down with your Eyes, but keeping them fix’d at the bottom of the Glass; nor tumbling it into your Throat as into a Tun. You must have a care as it goes down of gulping so loud that the Company may notice; or to drink so long, that when you have done, you be forc’d to fetch a profound sigh to recover your breath.

On Visits to a Great Person

You must enter with your Gloves on, and sit quietly upon your seat, not playing with your Bandstrings, your Hat, or your Gloves &c. nor picking your Nose, or scratching &c.

You must forbear hawking, or spitting as much as you can, and when you are not able to hold, you must turn your back, and rather spit into your Handkerchief than the Room.

If you see Tobacco before him, either in snuff or cut, you must not run to his Box, and either chaw, or thrust it up your Nose; you must rather expect till he offers it, and in that case ‘tis civil to pretend to take it, though of yourself you have no inclination.

If his Lordship chances to sneeze, you are not to bawl out “God bless you, Sir”, but pulling off your Hat, bow to him handsomely, and make that obsecration to your self. If you be constrain’d, and cannot forbear sneezing, you must do it as gently as possible, and not shake the foundation of the House, as many people do, which is offensive to those who are present.

In Conference with a Person of Quality, it would be sawcy and ridiculous to pull him up by the Buttons, Bandstrings, or Belt, and most of all to punch him on the Stomach. ‘Tis a pleasant spectacle sometimes to see Persons so handled retreating from one place to another, and the other insensible of his rudeness, pursuing him into a Corner, and forcing him at last to cry Quarter.