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Oct. 18th, 2005 08:34 am| The Potion Maker |
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Oct. 18th, 2005
(no subject)
Oct. 18th, 2005 09:14 amDoing some research on Victorian etiquette for a fancy dinner party we're hosting at work next month. I get to play the housekeeper/head servant, and I want to be able to rattle off some of the more amusing social customs. Here are a few points of interest thus far:
If a marriage engagement is broken, it should be done by letter. The reasons can be given more clearly than in person. All presents, letters, etc, should accompany the letter.
When on the street, the gentleman should always carry the packages; likewise, the husband should always carry the baby.
Married couples must never be seated together at a dinner party.
It was not unusual for some 24 pieces of silver to be at each place setting. As many as eight forks might be expected, from a fish fork and dinner fork to an ice cream fork. Knives could add up to eight: for butter, cheese, game, roast, and fruit, all accompanied by individual knife rests. A complete formal setting also included a butter pick and individual game shears. All the stemware that would be needed through the meal was placed on the table beforehand. It was arranged in two rows: top row. from left to right: water glass, glass for chambertin, glass for latour, champagne glass; bottom row, from left to right: green glass for sauterne, sherry glass, and a red glass for Rhine wine.
More as I continue to read.
If a marriage engagement is broken, it should be done by letter. The reasons can be given more clearly than in person. All presents, letters, etc, should accompany the letter.
When on the street, the gentleman should always carry the packages; likewise, the husband should always carry the baby.
Married couples must never be seated together at a dinner party.
It was not unusual for some 24 pieces of silver to be at each place setting. As many as eight forks might be expected, from a fish fork and dinner fork to an ice cream fork. Knives could add up to eight: for butter, cheese, game, roast, and fruit, all accompanied by individual knife rests. A complete formal setting also included a butter pick and individual game shears. All the stemware that would be needed through the meal was placed on the table beforehand. It was arranged in two rows: top row. from left to right: water glass, glass for chambertin, glass for latour, champagne glass; bottom row, from left to right: green glass for sauterne, sherry glass, and a red glass for Rhine wine.
More as I continue to read.
(no subject)
Oct. 18th, 2005 11:48 amI will knit some sort of hip knitted thing for the first person who can tell me exactly how to get grad photos taken for the University of Manitoba class of '06. I'm talking dates, places, and times, y'all. Possibly this month. My faculty is grad studies, if that helps. (It didn't when I was trying to find the information.)
Some Victorian home remedies.
Oct. 18th, 2005 12:28 pmFor painful bug bites:
"Many people use little sticks of butter of cocoa as a cosmetic. If a little cocaine (2 per cent.) be added to it, and the sting rubbed with the stick, it will procure immediate relief, and the irritation will diminish at once."
For you night owls out there:
" Pillows stuffed with camel's-hair, and covered with the skin of the same animal, are useful against insomnia.
Hops have the same properties, and so have onions. Sleep on a mattress of the former, and inhale the latter."
I'm not sure quite how this one figures, but okay...
"Constipation should be avoided, and all the functions of the body should be kept in good order. Women should avoid wearing very tight sleeves, which impede the circulation, make the hands cold, and in consequence bring on the slight but disagreeable disorder of which we are speaking."
And for the zaftig lady:
"The corset is absolutely necessary for a very stout woman. It controls the exuberance of her bodice, and it is impossible for a fat woman to have any pretence to being well-dressed without it."
--The Lady's Dressing Room
For new parents:
"The Treatment in all cases of painful teething is remarkably simple, and consists in keeping the body cool by mild aperient medicines, allaying the irritation in the gums by friction with a rough ivory ring or a stale crust of broad, and when the head, lungs, or any organ is overloaded or unduly excited, to use the hot bath, and by throwing the body into a perspiration, equalize the circulation, and relieve the system from the danger of a fatal termination."
--Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management
For "dandriff":
"Dandriff or Scurfiness is a common and troublesome complaint affecting children and grown-up persons alike. The skin scales over very freely, bran-like pieces being constantly shed, and there is more or less itching; occasionally heat and redness are present. The scalp is the part most usually affected. The ointment should be made of five grains of the nitric oxide of mercury to the ounce of lard, or three drops of carbolic acid to the ounce of lard. The wash should be of the following ingredients :-Spirits of wine, two drachms ; spirit of rosemary, one ounce; strong ammonia solution, a teaspoonful ; glycerine, a drachm ; and rose-water, sax ounces. Where the disease is obstinate, medical advice must be sought. A lime-water and olive-oil embrocation may be scented according to taste, and is the best application for general use. It should be mixed in small quantities, because it does not keep long in warm weather."
For warts:
"They may be congenital, solitary, or in the form of a regular crop of extensive nature. In the latter case a long course of arsenic is needed for their removal. When they are few, they may be got rid of readily by caustics. Mason Good, an eminent writer, says that in Sweden they are destroyed by the wart-eating grasshopper-the Gryllus verrucivorus - with green wings, spotted brown; the common people catching it for this purpose: and it is reported to bite off the wart, and discharge into the root which is left behind a corrosive liquid."
--Cassell's Household Guide
"Many people use little sticks of butter of cocoa as a cosmetic. If a little cocaine (2 per cent.) be added to it, and the sting rubbed with the stick, it will procure immediate relief, and the irritation will diminish at once."
For you night owls out there:
" Pillows stuffed with camel's-hair, and covered with the skin of the same animal, are useful against insomnia.
Hops have the same properties, and so have onions. Sleep on a mattress of the former, and inhale the latter."
I'm not sure quite how this one figures, but okay...
"Constipation should be avoided, and all the functions of the body should be kept in good order. Women should avoid wearing very tight sleeves, which impede the circulation, make the hands cold, and in consequence bring on the slight but disagreeable disorder of which we are speaking."
And for the zaftig lady:
"The corset is absolutely necessary for a very stout woman. It controls the exuberance of her bodice, and it is impossible for a fat woman to have any pretence to being well-dressed without it."
--The Lady's Dressing Room
For new parents:
"The Treatment in all cases of painful teething is remarkably simple, and consists in keeping the body cool by mild aperient medicines, allaying the irritation in the gums by friction with a rough ivory ring or a stale crust of broad, and when the head, lungs, or any organ is overloaded or unduly excited, to use the hot bath, and by throwing the body into a perspiration, equalize the circulation, and relieve the system from the danger of a fatal termination."
--Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management
For "dandriff":
"Dandriff or Scurfiness is a common and troublesome complaint affecting children and grown-up persons alike. The skin scales over very freely, bran-like pieces being constantly shed, and there is more or less itching; occasionally heat and redness are present. The scalp is the part most usually affected. The ointment should be made of five grains of the nitric oxide of mercury to the ounce of lard, or three drops of carbolic acid to the ounce of lard. The wash should be of the following ingredients :-Spirits of wine, two drachms ; spirit of rosemary, one ounce; strong ammonia solution, a teaspoonful ; glycerine, a drachm ; and rose-water, sax ounces. Where the disease is obstinate, medical advice must be sought. A lime-water and olive-oil embrocation may be scented according to taste, and is the best application for general use. It should be mixed in small quantities, because it does not keep long in warm weather."
For warts:
"They may be congenital, solitary, or in the form of a regular crop of extensive nature. In the latter case a long course of arsenic is needed for their removal. When they are few, they may be got rid of readily by caustics. Mason Good, an eminent writer, says that in Sweden they are destroyed by the wart-eating grasshopper-the Gryllus verrucivorus - with green wings, spotted brown; the common people catching it for this purpose: and it is reported to bite off the wart, and discharge into the root which is left behind a corrosive liquid."
--Cassell's Household Guide
Comment of the day
Oct. 18th, 2005 01:46 pmNot actually a comment, but still pretty hilarious... Alan just came over and put a sticky note on my computer screen. It's one of those "Things to do" notepads, and under the heading he's written
- take over the world.
ETA: I just wrote "- eat chocolate cake" on it and stuck it on his desk.
- take over the world.
ETA: I just wrote "- eat chocolate cake" on it and stuck it on his desk.