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COURSES IN POLITENESS: THE UPBRINGING AND EXPERIENCES OF FIVE TEENAGE DIARISTS, 1671–1860

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2002

Anthony Fletcher
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Abstract

The paper examines the upbringing of five teenagers between 1671 and 1860. It is based on close reading of their diaries. It deals with the relationship between these teenagers and their parents, siblings, friends and tutors or governesses. Politeness, it is argued, was a framework of behaviour which, learnt and observed, made sense of social life. For boys it was rooted in a training in the classics; for girls it meant a training in manners and the social accomplishments which were believed to guarantee a good marriage. English politeness was inculcated across the board in the higher social ranks. The paper considers a few of the human stories that lay behind this inculcation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 12 , December 2002 , pp. 417 - 430
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society2002

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