Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour In Company and Conversation
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour In Company and Conversation is the name of a list best known as a school writing exercise of George Washington, who became the first president of the United States of America. Most of the rules have been traced to a French etiquette manual, dating from the late 16th Century.
They include:
*1st Every action done in Company, ought to be with Some Sign of Respect, to those that are Present.
*2d When in Company, put not your Hands to any Part of the Body, not usually Discovered.
*3d Shew Nothing to your Freind that may affright him.
*4th In the Presence of Others Sing not to yourself with a humming Noise, nor Drum with your Fingers or Feet.
Note: What we would today consider spelling errors such as freind or shew are from the original papers. Some words and sentence constructs have also become archaic.
The complete list of 110 such rules may be found here.
