"Play Not the Peacock": Manners in the Ballroom

Fans were an essential ballroom accessory. Martha Washington is known to have been particularly fond of fans. This example, ca. 1790, was likely acquired during George Washington's presidency. MVLA, Gift of Mrs. Charles A. Conrad, 1894.

The Washingtons attended balls after they were married, throughout the war, during the presidency in New York City and Philadelphia, and in Alexandria, Virginia near their Mount Vernon home.

From an early age, General Washington knew how to have a good time while maintaining the proper social conduct of the day. Personal deportment manuals abounded in the 18th century. As a boy, Washington copied the Rules of Civility of Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation, an edifying penmanship exercise which also undeniably shaped his public conduct. Below are two excerpts from the Rules of Civility that offer advice on proper comportment:

1: “Every action done in Company, ought to be with Some Sign of Respect, to those that are Present.”

54: “Play not the Peacock, looking everywhere about you, to See if you be well Deck’t, if your shoes fit well, if your Stockings sit neatly, and Cloths handsomely.”

In addition to instructive publications, most youngsters in the Virginia gentry would have been taught how to dance properly by a Dance Master. The Dance Master would have provided instruction similar to this passage from Francis Nevelon’s, The Rudiments of Genteel Behavior, 1737, with specific directions for young ladies:

“Keep the Head not quite upright, but incline it a little with graceful Motion and all imaginable Ease; let the Eyes appear lively and modest, and the Face express neither Mirth nor Gravity but the Medium, which will form an amiable Mein and always be agreeable; the Neck to the Shoulders, and from them to the Elbows and Wrists are truly proportion’d, and a genteel Attitude plainly shewn in this Figure; each Forefinger and Thumb must hold the Petticoat, and the other fingers must be a little separated; the Body should have a little Swing in its Motion, just to avoid the appearance of Stiffness, and let the Feet appear well turn’d and without any Affectation, as in this Figure which shows certainly the proper Behavior in Dancing, it appearing from Head to Foot modest, light and easy.”