Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (27)

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339 If your wife is a sensible woman make her your private secretary but if she is a gossip tell her no more than you wish the whole world to know 2 340 Place no confidence in a reviler of religion He who is faithless to his God will never be faithful to man 341 If the distemper classically called scribendi cacoethes afflict you conquer it if possible before it impels you to become an author I remember an unfortunate youth who bore a good reputation till he published himself a simpleton 342 Keep a book in which should be entered the transactions of the day At the end of the year it will tell you how you have spent your time and bring to your recollection some things that you had lost the memory of 343 Hide your blushes with both hands when you are about to change an old friend for a new one
344 Relations should resemble a bun dle of rods firmly bound together 345 A well bred man who marries an ill bred woman is condemned to live under a November sky all the days of his life 346 Merit like a maiden's blushes is soonest discovered when it labours most to be concealed 347 That man is sure to be ill served who cannot find employment for all his servants 348 A thirst for military glory is sel dom a young man's inducement for going nto the army 349 Children generally forget the civi lities they received when at school but their parents should not forget them 350 When a woman takes the trou blesome office of dissipation upon herself

she must leave the regulation of her fa mily to a housekeeper who in her way is often as dissipated as her mistress

This is the twenty-seventh post in our Men and Manners, Maxims for life by a Gentleman (Men and Manners ; Or, Concentrated Wisdom. 4th Ed. Much Enlarged, 1809) series.  For the first twenty-six posts:

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners 

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (2) 

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (3) 

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (4) 

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (5) 

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (6) 

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (7)

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (8) 

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (9) 

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (10)

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (11)

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (12) 

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (13)

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (14) 

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (15)

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (16)

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (17)

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (18)

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (19)

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (20)

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (21)

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (22)

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (23)

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (24)

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (25)

Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (26)

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2 Responses to Regency Culture and Society: Men and Manners (27)

  1. Anonymous says:
    March 16, 2025 at 9:19 am

    These are so amusing to read, I would love to know what ‘under a November sky’ (no. 345) means, undesirable in some way? Curious!

    Reply
    • Anne says:
      March 16, 2025 at 10:25 am

      It is not a common expression, so my assumption when I read it was perhaps a reference to the Sir Walter Scott poem Marmion “November’s sky is chill and drear,” or some similar sentiment. Other era poems used turns of phrase like “gloomy as November sky” and I found a letter from the late 18th century that wrote: “We left you in the midst of summer and delightful warm weather, but found winter and a November sky at this place.” In other words, marry a women of uneven temperament and it’s not going to spring flowers and sunshine, but wintery and dreary.

      Reply

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