SOURCE: “Courtesy, Conduct and Etiquette: An Overview,” in Manners, Morals and Class in England, 1774-1858, pp. 8-31. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994.

In the essay that follows, Morgan defines different types of English social conduct books—including those for men, women, and children—in the late eighteenth century.

Considering the importance that English people themselves attached to manners, it is surprising that the literature written to promote proper behaviour has remained, until recently, largely unstudied by serious scholars. Only the courtesy book managed to escape this traditional neglect. John Mason's Gentlefolk in the Making (1935) provides a comprehensive account of English courtesy works during their extended heyday from Thomas Elyot's The Governour (1531) to Lord Chesterfield's Letters to His Son (1774). His study, although thorough, makes no attempt to place the courtesy literature discussed in a larger social context.¹

More recently, scholars have explored behavioural literature with an eye toward revealing...