In 1818 the formidable French etiquette writer Madame de Genlis (1746-1830) reminded proper ladies that when lounging on a divan, chaise longue or daybed, they’d better hide their feet under a couvre-pieds. “Decency demands it because, stretched out like that, the smallest movement may uncover the feet and even the legs. Besides, a pretty couvre-pieds [...]
http://www.encyclopediaoftheexquisite.com/?p=1138
French silk merchant Jaques le Saige was scandalized by the sight of men taking up forks to eat their dinner when visiting Venice in 1518. Forks were a symbol of decadence for centuries, used in the 10th century in Byzantium, and later adopted in Venice when the 11th century Doge Domenico Selvo married Constantine Ducas, [...]
http://www.encyclopediaoftheexquisite.com/?p=462
