“Nobody Shall Have a Napkin?”

 

                                  

Adam Badeau was and American Diplomat, Author and a Union Army officer of the American Civil War. – “Sometimes governesses and tutors are seen at this hour, the latter often very accomplished and agreeable people; but I never knew them to appear at dinner, as they do in novels, and make love to the young ladies.”

– Public domain image of Adam Badeau with Ulysses S. Grant

Meals in England

 

The morning lasts till 2 o’clock, and lunch is as informal as is breakfast. The men are still in the covers, or if some have returned, they come to table in their shooting boots, and boast of their achievements. 

The meal is a plain dinner; all the dishes are set on the table at once, and it is a rigid and intolerable etiquette that nobody shall have a napkin. The children of the family are often allowed to be present, and if the party is not very large, they sometimes carve for the guests, that they may learn betimes the hospitable accomplishments of after life. 

Sometimes governesses and tutors are seen at this hour, the latter often very accomplished and agreeable people; but I never knew them to appear at dinner, as they do in novels, and make love to the young ladies. — Adam Badeau’s Letter, 1886

 

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