18th Century TextsThe Rich

Translated to modern language

To blow your nose publicly at the table, without using a napkin; to wipe away sweat from your face with a handkerchief; to itch your head; to burp, to vigorously clear your throat and tear anything up from the bottom of your stomach are things so intolerable that they could easily make someone vomit in front of you. You must not be unreasonable and unwilling in your eating, but eat quietly without any sign of excitement and slowly, neither showing your greed nor eating so much you get the hiccups. If you finish eating first, it’ll be so much better unless the Master of the House (who tells his servants not to clear away until everyone has done) requires for you to continue eating. People who eat with eagerness and impatience will become out of breathe and pant like a broken-winded horse and they are not to be tolerated. Some people are always finding fault and criticising the meals and sauces, their complaints are about nothing but their diet. These people are certainly just foodies that have a narrow education. You must neither eat nor drink slyly in a corner, you must not be the first to ask for a drink as it is better to stay put until your masters are served. When you do call, you mustn’t do it aloud but privately if the servant is close by. If he isn’t close by, make a small gesture. You mustn’t drink so much where you get to an unfit, humiliating state. You must never directly big someone up, unless it is begun by somebody else. In that case, if it’s a wife or another important relative you must do it by HER titles, not his. For example, ‘my lord, a good health to my lady duchess”. If we are speaking to his Lordship, and he takes a drink, we must pause for the duration where he drinks and then continue when he’s done. You must always wipe your mouth before you drink and never let your glass be too full because it could spill.

Audience, genre and purpose.

Audience: Middle class. Predominantly men. Must be middle class as the lower class wouldn’t be able to dine with “lordships” etc. but upper class wouldn’t need to learn about etiquette as they’d be taught it from a young age. Purpose: To advise/instruct readers on how to act at dinner with people who are more important than youGenre: Advice book

Pragmatics This text outlines the bad habits that the lower classes have and what to avoid in order to gain a higher status. It suggests that anyone who doesn’t stick to the rules are inadequate in society. It shows that a lot of people from the middle class were progressing and wanted to be of a higher class. It shows a difference to modern day society as people today no longer care about classes as much and aren’t afraid to “lack etiquette”. Some people today still do look down on lower classes, so there is a similarity in that sense.

LexisThere is a lot of old fashioned lexis used• ‘thus’ • ‘ ‘tis’ • Fordid• Forbear• Insatiable• ‘oblig’d’

Orthography• ‘publickly’• ‘oblig’d’• Sawces• The use of the long ‘s’

Semantics

• ‘to eat soberly’ – they use it as a modifier in relation to food. Now we use it in relation to alcohol

• ‘certainly epicures, sensual, and of mean ungenerous education’ – sensual now means sexy voluptuous and tactile. In the context of the sentence it means ‘materialistic’

• “will paint like a broken-winded horse” – might relate to the audience who are middle class.

If the text was written now it may contain a picture and perhaps colour. The font may be different. The text doesn’t look that different or old fashioned, maybe because it was so formal. Also it is an extract out of a book, so wouldn’t necessarily have any pictures or graphological features.

GRAP H LOGYO

Grammar• The use of capitals on nouns and important words. E.g.

“Nose, Man, Head, Handkerchief, Sweat, Diet, Drink, Wife, Case, Person, Glass, Lordship..etc.”

• “so much the more civil” nowadays we’d say so much more civil.

• “some there are who eat” – wouldn’t say this nowadays• “when you do call you must do it aloud, but privately if

the servant be near” doesn’t make sense. • Exclamative sentences – shows the power they have on

the readers and the importance of the topic.

Links to the background of the era

In 1667 Daniel Defoe stated that he was in favour of the upper classes and thought that standards should be produced so that “absurdities” would be removed. It could be suggested that this text may have had an influence of the rising of the middle classes and etiquettes being created such as “the rules of civility” in order to get rid of bad habits that people had, not just relating to language, but even in the way that they acted. The rules of civility made it very clear what was acceptable and what was not and this is reflected as it outlines many of the bad habits that the lower classes had. In this era it was shown that the things were really set the rich above the rest was the fact they could afford the best food (even to eat out) and to have the best clothes, so the uprising middle class had to learn that wining and dining was seen as fashionable for the rich and that they would need the table manners to go with it in order for them to have a higher status in society.

Links to shopping and the rich• The advertisement for Samuel Penistone’s Leather Breeches in

1775 also suggests that clothing and fashion was high important for the rich and that for them, having the newest and most expensive clothes showed off their wealth and set them aside for the lower classes. It shows how all workman wanted their product to be of the best quality in order for it to appeal to the higher classes as they knew they were the people would be interested in buying it, as they were the ones that could afford it. “As a proof of my abilities, any gentleman may make trial of a pair and if in quality or workmanship can be excelled, or pleasure is not found in wearing the item, they may be returned”. This also shows that the workman are aware of the standards they must meet and in this era there was great competition between businesses to set themselves above others.

• This was due to them all battling for business from the rich. It is shown that increasingly from the late 1600’s, men of all classes were wearing breeches with a waistcoat and a long coat, which explains why there was so much competition and need for selling points in advertisements to sell these items as many men were after them e.g. the fact that Penistone was offering returns for people who were not satisfied with their breech.