(To THE Hones or rim " Becomes") Sin.—Thy following extracts
are from The Honours of the Table, or Rules for Behaviour during Meals: For the use of Young People. London: Printed for the Author at the Literary Press, No. 14 Red Lion Street, Clerkenwell. 1708:—
"When dinner is announced, the mistress of the house requests the lady first in rank, in company, to chew the way to the rest, and walk first into the room where the table is served; she then asks the second in precedence to follow, and after all the ladies are passed, she brings up the rear herself. The master of the house does the same with the gentlemen. When . . . they enter the dining-room, each takes his place in the same order; the mistress of the table sits at the upper end, those of superior rank next her,
right and left . . tben the gentlemen, and the master at the lower end. . . . Custom, boss-ever, has lately introduced a new mode of seating. A gentleman and a lady alternately round the table, and this for the better convenience of a lady's being attended to, and served by the gentleman next her."
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