Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-07-14
GOOD SOCIETY.
The Law Of Etiquesse--The Peculiari-
ties of GOOD socIs ~ in the Days of
Our Ancestors.

Il
"Good Society," 8 little volume
lately issued by George Routledge
&Sons, Of London and New York.
The work is written .sby the Right
Hon. The Countess of **Fsss's*p-
what more of externals could be de-
| sired to secure for it favorable re-
ception? The very look of it in
the hands of lady argues for her
a certain good taste; and upon an
examination of its contents we lind
that "Good Society is the exact
literary opposite of the ordinary
manuel of etiquette. Not that it
does not run er accessible rei into
the absurdity which is inevitable to
the essays whose object it is to
make ladies and gentlemen out OF
snobs and parvenues; but then the
absurdity is quite delightful, and
the Countess of Eight Asterisks is
so uniformly amiable and well-bred.
Before entering upon the task OF
telling people how they should be-
have themselves, the charming
Countess, in an Introductory chap
ter, gives us history Of Good
Manners in General" which is so
entertaining that we must draw
upon it for a few extracts ist
Let US take the passage which
tell us how William the Conqueror
made love to his Queen I
THAT the code of etiquette be-
tween Lord and Lady, squire and
dame, was not very refined may
readily be conceived. Take, for
example, the strange, barbaric WOO
ing, and the still stranger winning,
of the beautiful and graceful NATL
da of Flanders by William the Con
queror. The lady, we are told, was
at first disinclined to entertain him
as lover. She preferred another;
but this noble sutton would take no
refusal. He. resolved to win the
lady. Having so resolved, how
ever, what course did he pursue ?
Did he, compass her with sweet OBJ
servancesf Did he fatter, per-
suade, entreat9 Nothing of the
kind. The old chronicler who
hands the story down to US, relates
that Duke William, infuriated by the
lady's refusal, coupled as it was with
an allusion to his illegitimate birth,
made his way into her fathers pal
ace, seized the fair Matilda by her
long tresses, dragged her by these
gentle means about the chamber,
struck her repeatedly, and ended by
fiinging her upon the floor at his
feet. o " 7 '..-. Ban
-"And this vigorous manner of
wooing, strange to say, produced
the desired effect. Matilda accepted
him at once; and, on being ques-
toned by her father as to her sud-
den change of opinion, SAID pleas
antly: Il did not know the duke SO
well then as l do now, for he must
be man of great courage and high
daring who could venture to come
and beat me in my fathers own
palace -.
In these days of waterfalls the
manner of courtship of the Norman
King would obviously be less effica-
cious, though our Matthias would
escape the suffering of the Flemish
princess. Times change, however,
and many gentle readers will be
scandalized to learn that in the reign
Of Elizabeth
-'the social intercourse of the
sexes was characterized by great
outward freedom. Kisses, not
upon the cheek but on the lips,
were ordinary modes of salutation.
When Elizabeth, ayoung uncrowned
girl, was surreptitiously courted by
Seymour, then Lord High Admiral,
the wooing consisted principally OF
hiding, pursuing, screaming, laugh
ing, kissing, tickling and strugg-
ling; and years after we read Of
her, when Queen of England, as
openly tickling the Earl of Leices
ter, as he knelt before her during
the ceremony of his inyestiture.
"The standard of domestic hap
piness must have been low, for we
are told that children stood or knelt,
trembling, in the presence of their
parents, and were frequently chas-
tised with blows, irrespective of sex:
Drinking was also carried to excess,
and even ladies had fallen into the
habit of smoking tobacco, then but
lately introduced into this country"
This is very dreadful, beyond a
| doubt, yet "good society" had un-
dergone but little Improvement in
Walpole's time, if we may Judge
from the citation which our excel
lent Countess makes from his cor
respondence:
''In another letter, describing q
party given at Vaulxhall, by Lady
Caroline Petersham, he goes on to
say how Lord CRANKY arrived
home drunk from Jenny's Whim,
where, instead Of going to old Stat
ford's catacomb to make honorable
love, he had dined with Lady Fans
nv, and left her and eight other
women, and four other men playing
at bragg He then proceeds to mar
rate the events of the evening: we
minced seven chickens into china
dish, which Lady Caroline stewed
over lamp, with three pats of but
ter and fiagon of water-stirring,
and rafting, and laughing-we, ev-
cry minute, expecting to have the
dish flying about our ears. She had
brought Betty, the fruit girl, with
hampers of cherries and strawber-
ries from Rogers, and made her
wait upon us, and then made her sup
by us at little table. The CONVEX
sation was no less lively than the
whole transaction. In short, the
whole air of our party was suffi'
Gent as you will easily imagine,
to take up the whole attention OF
the garden. 1t was three O'Clock
before we got home.
Coming down to a more recen'
period, we have a somewhat free an
ecdote of William the Fourth, a:
Duke of Clarence, which shows
how he carried the manners OF the