Routledges Manual of Etiquette | Page 8

and enjoying the dance, should cause their dresses to be
made short enough to clear the ground. We would ask them whether it is not better to
accept this slight deviation from an absurd fashion, than to appear for three parts of the
evening in a torn and pinned-up skirt?
Well-made shoes, whatever their colour or material, and faultless gloves, are
indispensable to the effect of a ball-room toilette.
Much jewellery is out of place in a ball-room. Beautiful flowers, whether natural or
artificial, are the loveliest ornaments that a lady can wear on these occasions.
At small dinner parties, low dresses are not so indispensable as they were held to be some
years since. High dresses of transparent materials, and low bodices with capes of black
lace, are considered sufficiently full dress on these occasions. At large dinners only the
fullest dress is appropriate.
Very young ladies should wear but little jewellery. Pearls are deemed most appropriate
for the young and unmarried.
Let your jewellery be always the best of its kind. Nothing is so vulgar, either in youth or
age, as the use of false ornaments.
There is as much propriety to be observed in the wearing of jewellery as in the wearing of
dresses. Diamonds, pearls, rubies, and all transparent precious stones belong to evening
dress, and should on no account be worn before dinner. In the morning let your rings be
of the more simple and massive kind; wear no bracelets; and limit your jewellery to a
good brooch, gold chain, and watch. Your diamonds and pearls would be as much out of
place during the morning as a low dress, or a wreath.
It is well to remember in the choice of jewellery that mere costliness is not always the test
of value; and that an exquisite work of art, such as a fine cameo, or a natural rarity, such
as a black pearl, is a more _distingué_ possession than a large brilliant which any rich
and tasteless vulgarian can buy as easily as yourself. Of all precious stones, the opal is
one of the most lovely and least commonplace. No vulgar woman purchases an opal. She
invariably prefers the more showy ruby, emerald, or sapphire.
A true gentlewoman is always faultlessly neat. No richness of toilette in the afternoon, no
diamonds in the evening, can atone for unbrushed hair, a soiled collar, or untidy slippers
at breakfast.
Never be seen in the street without gloves; and never let your gloves be of any material
that is not kid or calf. Worsted or cotton gloves are unutterably vulgar. Your gloves
should fit to the last degree of perfection.

In these days of public baths and universal progress, we trust that it is unnecessary to do
more than hint at the necessity of the most fastidious personal cleanliness. The hair, the
teeth, the nails, should be faultlessly kept; and a muslin dress that has been worn once too
often, a dingy pocket-handkerchief, or a soiled pair of light gloves, are things to be
scrupulously avoided by any young lady who is ambitious of preserving the exterior of a
gentlewoman.
Remember that the make of your corsage is of even greater importance than the make of
your dress. No dressmaker can fit you well, or make your bodices in the manner most
becoming to your figure, if the corsage beneath be not of the best description.
Your boots and gloves should always be faultless.
Perfumes should be used only in the evening, and then in moderation. Let your perfumes
be of the most delicate and _recherché_ kind. Nothing is more vulgar than a coarse
ordinary scent; and of all coarse, ordinary scents, the most objectionable are musk and
patchouli.
Finally, every lady should remember that to dress well is a duty which she owes to
society; but that to make it her idol is to commit something worse than a folly. Fashion is
made for woman; not woman for fashion.
* * * * *
VIII.--MORNING AND EVENING PARTIES.
The morning party is a modern invention. It was unknown to our fathers and mothers,
and even to ourselves till quite lately. A morning party is seldom given out of the
season--that is to say, during any months except those of May, June, and July. It begins
about two o'clock and ends about five, and the entertainment consists for the most part of
conversation, music, and (if there be a garden) croquet, lawn billiards, archery, &c. "Aunt
Sally" is now out of fashion. The refreshments are given in the form of a _déjeuner à la
fourchette_.
Elegant morning dress, general good manners, and some acquaintance with the topics of
the day and the games above named, are all the qualifications especially necessary to a
lady at a morning party.