Post by Admin on Dec 27, 2020 17:19:05 GMT
General Information for Young Ladies 1 2
General Information for Men 1
Ball Etiquette 1 2 3
Planning a Ball
What the dancing looks like!! 1 | 2 | 3
- Slouching or leaning back was regarded as slothful unless one was infirm in some way. A well-bred young woman walked upright and moved with grace and ease.
- Young, unmarried women were never alone in the company of a gentleman, save family and close family friends.
- Except for a walk to church or a park in the early morning, a lady could not walk alone. She always needed to be accompanied by another lady, an appropriate man, or a servant.
- Until a formal acquaintance was recognized, individuals could not interact. Once the man of the house performed introductions for the women in his household, they could socialize with their new acquaintances.
- Once introduced, it was essential for a lady to politely acknowledge that person with a slight bow of the shoulders anytime she encountered them in public. Not to do so is a 'cut.'
- During the late Georgian and Regency eras, there were few public spaces that could be enjoyed by women of good reputation, but limited means. Tea, coffee, and chocolate houses might be enjoyed if one could afford them. But women had no clubs like men did—a place to offer refuge from the day to day.
- They did though have the possibility of the circulating library. Though libraries did require a subscription in order to rent books, one could go to the library whenever she wished without paying a fee beyond that subscription. Not surprisingly, circulating libraries became fashionable meeting places for women to see and be seen by others.
- Critics, like Fordyce, suggested that the novels that made up as much as seventy-five percent of a circulating library’s business were responsible for encouraging idleness as well as corrupting the taste and morals of young ladies especially. (Kane, 2011) Many believed that reading novels would give impressionable (and somewhat irrational) young ladies unrealistic expectations about life. (Hilden, 2018)
- Minerva Press Circulating Library in London, created by John Lane, was the largest circulating library in the 18th century. The library advertised over 20,000 titles, compared to the 5,000 titles most libraries averaged, with 1,000 considered works of fiction. (Hilden, 2018)
- Minerva Press became known for printing Gothic horror and sentimental romance novels, including The Mysteries of Udolfo by Mrs. Radcliffe (that Catherine Morland read during Northanger Abbey.)
General Information for Men 1
- Mothers and governesses would provide a boy’s first education, often teaching him the basics of reading and writing. Usually, by the age of seven, he would graduate from being taught by women to being educated by men.
- A male tutor might be brought into the home to teach the child, preparing him for the next step in his education. This could continue for just a few years until the boy was deemed ready for a boarding school, or it could continue until he was ready for university study, depending on the educational philosophy of the family, usually the father.
- Small schools might be run by clergymen out of their homes. The man's wife would help to care for the boys as a sort of surrogate mother while they were in the home.
- In larger schools where the teaching staff consisted of ordained clergymen, teachers could make as much as £200-400 a year, giving them a comfortable middle-class income.
- By modern standards, the preparatory school curriculum was very limited. It consisted mainly of Latin and Greek classical texts (both prose and verse), modern and ancient history, some mathematics, and the use of globes to locate nations. French and Italian might be taught as extras (for additional fees), along with handwriting, dancing, drawing, and a smattering of scientific subjects.
Ball Etiquette 1 2 3
Planning a Ball
What the dancing looks like!! 1 | 2 | 3
- At a public ball, the master of ceremonies would introduce gentlemen and ladies to enable them to dance, as a lady could not dance with a gentleman to whom she had not been introduced. At a private ball, though, all guests were assumed to be introduced and a lady could dance freely.
- A young woman did not dance more than two pairs of dances with the same man or her reputation would be at risk. Even two dances signaled to observers that the gentleman in question had a particular interest in her.
- Professional dancing masters were employed to ensure that a young lady and gentleman learned the steps to a variety of intricate dance movements.
- The most important lady present would open the ball by dancing the first set...The other couples in a country dance set would follow the lead of the top couple, and progressively work their way down the line. Sets of five to eight couples were popular during this period, with partners standing opposite each other as the other couples completed a sequence of movements.
- "Gentlemen must not enter the Ballroom in whole or half-boots or with sticks or canes [This also applies in today's ballroom to protect ladies feet and the surface of the dance floor] nor are pantaloons a proper dress for a Ballroom." [Knee breeches and stockings were a correct dress, though this began to relax after about 1826.]
- "No two Ladies must dance together without permission of the Master of the Ceremonies."
- "In the absence of Ladies, Gentlemen sometimes form couples. In that case, they must always stand at the bottom."
- "Ladies or Gentlemen being without partners should make an application to the Master of the Ceremonies as it is his place if possible to provide them."
- Every dance required a partner. At a private ball, unlike a public assembly, everyone was considered introduced, so any young man could ask any young woman to dance. A young lady signaled she was interested in dancing by pinning up the train of her gown. If asked to dance, she could not refuse unless she did not intend to dance for the rest of the night.