Custom and Convention
‹ 1 · Outline · 3 ›
2.The diversity of customs among peoples
2a.Travellers' and historians' accounts of strange peoples
See also: National Character 7b · Man 9a · Exploration 6b · Race and Nationality 6b
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 117–118The Cyclopes lack councils and laws, each ruling his own wives and children and heeding none other.read · scan
- p. 119–120Polyphemus dwells apart in lawlessness, unlike men who live by bread; Odysseus expects one ignorant of judgment and justice.read · scan
- p. 132The Laestrygonians' town customs, drawing water at the spring and herdsmen hailing one another, are described.read · scan
Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13
- p. 260Peoples differ in dress and armament: slingers in wolfskins, one bare foot, a bull's hide.read · scan
Luke, The Acts of the ApostlesVol. 44
- p. 453Lycaonians take healers for gods and prepare sacrifice according to their pagan custom.read · scan
- p. 479Agrippa is expert in Jewish customs and questions.read · scan
Plutarch, CoriolanusVol. 12
- p. 156Roman and Greek naming customs derived from achievements, appearance, fortune and birth circumstances.read · scan
Plutarch, CiceroVol. 12
- p. 218A name vulgarly reproached is retained by descendants, and Cicero jestingly engraves a vetch instead of his third name.read · scan
Tacitus, GermanyVol. 33
- p. 95Border Germans value coin for trade while remote ones barter; preferred old coins.read · scan
- p. 101–102Describes German dwellings, scattered villages, unhewn materials and underground shelters against winter and invaders.read · scan
- p. 102–103Describes clothing of mantles and beast skins, the women's dress, and how commerce affects apparel.read · scan
- p. 105–106Daily habits: late rising, bathing, separate tables, going armed to affairs and banquets; simple food.read · scan
- p. 118–119Tacitus compares dress, dwellings, mobility and habits of the Peucinians, Venedians, Sarmatians and Fennians, judging tribes German or Sarmatian by their usages.read · scan
Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus AureliusVol. 2
- p. 270–271Consider the varied lives of herds of men and barbarous nations.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 143–144Friday congregational prayer and travellers' talk of foreign wonders frame the family's world.read · scan
- p. 238The Indians describe their races: the noble Shakiriyeh who oppress no one, and the wine-abstaining Brahmans.read · scan
- p. 238–239He learns that Indians are divided into seventy-two classes and marvels at the strange customs and creatures.read · scan
- p. 261The islanders' ritual of feeding and anointing strangers to fatten them for the king.read · scan
- p. 277The city's inhabitants habitually pass every night at sea, out of fear of the apes.read · scan
- p. 278The townspeople nightly take to boats to escape the apes, returning to their occupations by day, as always.read · scan
- p. 296Strange people with different speech and habits live in caves, unmoved by the marvel.read · scan
- p. 322A people clad in hides, with unknown language, live secluded in caves.read · scan
The Voyages to VinlandVol. 43
- p. 14Neither people understands the other's language when the Skrellings appear; trade proceeds by gesture.read · scan
Christopher Columbus, The Letter of Columbus to Luis de Sant Angel Announcing His DiscoveryVol. 43
- p. 22–23The natives' generosity, unsuspicious ways, and lack of clothes are observed as their habits.read · scan
- p. 23He observes little difference in the people's habits and language and notes their marvellous kindness.read · scan
- p. 23He notes the sharing of goods and food, women's labor and the endurance of cold from habit.read · scan
Amerigo Vespucci, Amerigo Vespucci's Account of His First VoyageVol. 43
- p. 28Naked natives shy of the clothed strangers are won over by trade in trifles like rattles, mirrors and beads.read · scan
- p. 28Describes the natives' nakedness, bodily features, hairlessness, swimming and weapons as their manner of life and customs.read · scan
- p. 28Describes eating at any hour on the ground from earthen basins or pumpkin halves.read · scan
- p. 28Communal huts, moving villages every few years, and burial practices show alien customs of a native people.read · scan
- p. 28Strange funeral custom of abandoning the dying in a forest hammock, and other barbarous customs, including cannibalism, astonish the European.read · scan
- p. 28He has seen many things diverse from European customs and has written them in a commonplace-book.read · scan
- p. 28Another tribe differing in speech and customs eats roasted serpent-like creatures and fish bread; the Europeans taste and approve.read · scan
- p. 28Describes the natives' ceremonies, dances, songs, hospitality and honoring of strangers, customs strange to the Europeans.read · scan
- p. 28Vespucci says he observed many customs and ways of living, recorded in a geographic volume.read · scan
Michel de Montaigne, Of FriendshipVol. 32
- p. 72Some nations by custom had children kill parents or the reverse.read · scan
William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35
- p. 307Ancient Britons grazed in movable villages, dividing ground by lot.read · scan
- p. 314–315Ancient Britons dyed bodies with woad for war and sacrifice.read · scan
Sir Francis Drake, Sir Francis Drake RevivedVol. 33
- p. 148–149Men pass leisure with archery, bowls and quoits; the Indians trade cattle willingly for things they value.read · scan
- p. 167Cimaroon customs of marching, resting by rivers and building lodges are described.read · scan
- p. 168Cimaroons' habits of eating otter, and Pedro's rebuke of Drake's scruple show differing custom.read · scan
- p. 169The Cimaroon town is clean and orderly, with dress after the Spanish fashion.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 270–271Sancho notes people take surnames from their birthplace and supposes Guinea princes do likewise.read · scan
- p. 392The Turks give nicknames from bodily defects or virtues, and only four lineages have surnames; the Great Turk inherits from the dead.read · scan
- p. 395Captives make courtesies in Moorish fashion; Moors prize renegade Christian wives above their own women.read · scan
- p. 404Moorish women shun the sight of Moors and Turks unless they are husband or parents' choice, yet mingle freely with Christian captives.read · scan
Captain Walter Bigges, Drake's Great ArmadaVol. 33
- p. 239Describes the Dominica natives' nakedness, painting, foods and kindly barter with the English.read · scan
Edward Haies, Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Voyage to NewfoundlandVol. 33
- p. 273Music, morris-dancers and trinkets are brought to delight and win over the 'savage' natives by fair means.read · scan
Sir Walter Raleigh, The Discovery of GuianaVol. 33
- p. 311–312Lists the island's various native nations and their names.read · scan
- p. 325–326Native peoples wear crescent-shaped gold ornaments of a common Guianian form.read · scan
- p. 337Natives gather to trade once assured no violence is intended; first meeting between strangers governed by restraint and barter.read · scan
- p. 338Hostage-taking and exchange, native hunting of intruders with deer-dogs, and the names of the peoples show local usages.read · scan
- p. 339–340The Tivitivas live in trees in winter floods, eat only what nature provides unplanted, and speak manly, deliberate speech.read · scan
- p. 360Cannibal nations and a trade in women are described as local practice.read · scan
- p. 365Polygamy is described, with lords having ten or fifty wives.read · scan
- p. 373Surveys the nations of the Orenoque, their castes, worship of the sun, enmities and governance, even by a woman.read · scan
Sir Philip Sidney, The Defense of PoesyVol. 27
- p. 7–8Diverse nations, however unlearned, share reverence for poets and their songs of ancestors and gods.read · scan
Francis Pretty, Sir Francis Drake's Famous Voyage Round the WorldVol. 33
- p. 203Natives trade by having goods cast on the ground and dance to greet strangers; described as comely, strong and swift.read · scan
- p. 204Describes natives' dress of skins, painted faces and horned headdress, and their dancing and taking of Drake's cap.read · scan
- p. 213Describes the natives' houses, dress, bedding and women's obedience to husbands, as observed by the English.read · scan
- p. 214Ceremonial orations, ambassadors, face painting and gifts mark native diplomatic usage.read · scan
- p. 217Describes islanders' ear ornaments, long nails, blackened teeth and finely made canoes.read · scan
- p. 222Describes the islanders' dress, bracelets, trade in linen and civil, just, courteous behaviour toward strangers.read · scan
- p. 223Describes Javan dress, communal meals in village houses, rice cooking, and hospitable manners toward strangers.read · scan
Francis Bacon, The New AtlantisVol. 3
- p. 158–159American nakedness and love of feathers originate from ancestors' mountain life.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The TempestVol. 46
- p. 439–440Gonzalo says the strange islanders' manners are gentler than those of many humans; travellers' tales of marvels are vindicated.read · scan
John Milton, Paradise LostVol. 4
- p. 281The banyan fig leaves and the naked American Indians of Columbus offer comparison to their covering.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 148Many extravagant customs show the corruption of reason.read · scan
Benjamin Franklin, His AutobiographyVol. 1
- p. 115–116Describes Indian treaty-making and drunken revelry as a scene resembling hell.read · scan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality among MankindVol. 34
- p. 201–202Sexes adopted different manners and customs; women stayed home, men sought subsistence.read · scan
John Woolman, The Journal of John WoolmanVol. 1
- p. 255Notes Indians sold their inheritance for small consideration to the settlers.read · scan
- p. 262Woolman reads the Indian's readiness with the hatchet as self-protection, not hostility.read · scan
- p. 267–268Description of Indian houses, town, farewell handshaking and travel practices.read · scan
- p. 268–269Reserved Indian companions grow sociable through friendly conduct and fair returns for service.read · scan
Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10
- p. 28Different peoples used varied commodities as instruments of commerce, such as salt in Abyssinia and tobacco in Virginia.read · scan
- p. 177Natives of Cuba valued gold as mere pebbles, astonished at Spaniards' passion for it; value depends on social conditions.read · scan
- p. 294Egyptian and Indian superstitious antipathy to the sea explains their neglect of foreign commerce.read · scan
- p. 311Different peoples, Tartars and Spaniards, hold different conceptions of wealth according to their usage.read · scan
Friedrich von Schiller, Letters upon the Aesthetic Education of ManVol. 32
- p. 283–284Across all peoples, love of appearance, dress and games marks escape from animal state.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 70–71Description of Don Rodrigo's hamlet reveals the fierce, defiant character and customs of his retainers.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-RelianceVol. 5
- p. 80Compares civilized American with naked New Zealander to show refinement's costs.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, MannersVol. 5
- p. 199Contrasts customs of cannibal and cave-dwelling peoples with civilized nations, half the world not knowing how the other lives.read · scan
Hans Christian Andersen, TalesVol. 17
- p. 284–285Chinese officials are beaten with bamboo yet thank their benefactor insincerely.read · scan
- p. 318The warm lands' customs of shutters by day and lively street life at night contrast with the northern learned man's habits.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Origin of SpeciesVol. 11
- p. 44–45Breeding practices among ancient peoples and savages, such as matching cattle by colour, and old English laws on horses.read · scan
- p. 46–47Fuegians value dogs above their old women, killing the women in famine, showing how usage sets values.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29
- p. 12–13Observes the black townspeople, the ruined colonial church and heraldry, and the Spaniard's remark that the priest's colour made no difference.read · scan
- p. 29Describes Brazilian roadside vendas and the host's habit of answering every request with 'no, sir'.read · scan
- p. 36–37Universal habit of carrying knives among Brazilians, boys practising knife-throwing, is linked to frequent murder.read · scan
- p. 53–54Universal human passion to mark the highest point with stone heaps, as by Indians and in Wales.read · scan
- p. 71Describes Indians living near the town, their dress and habits, and the observer's judgment of their immorality and idleness.read · scan
- p. 75Ritual offerings are made by all ages and sexes, poor and rich alike, while Gauchos steal them.read · scan
- p. 78Describes Indian dress, riding habits, weapons, ornament and pride in silver as customs of a people, comparing them with Fuegians.read · scan
- p. 106–107Depicts the savage bivouac of Indian allies drinking cattle blood, contrasting their customs with civilization.read · scan
- p. 116Contrasts the Indians' heavy salt eating with the Gauchos' habit, citing Mungo Park on vegetable diet and craving for salt.read · scan
- p. 122Favourite local dishes, and Indian custom of trapping wild horses in a corral.read · scan
- p. 122–123Gauchos live on meat alone, eating much fat; Indian toldos and woven goods show local manners of life.read · scan
- p. 133–134Peculiar local customs such as leaving patches on the head until they fall off.read · scan
- p. 154Taste for beads and necklaces common to savage and polished nations alike.read · scan
- p. 209Fuegians greet the ship with shouts and waving cloaks, a savage welcome.read · scan
- p. 209–210Describes Fuegian dress, body paint and gestures of greeting.read · scan
- p. 210–211Gestures of friendship such as patting and slaps, exchanged with the old man.read · scan
- p. 213Fuegians examine the strangers' skin, beards and dress, and invite Jemmy to stay; mixture of surprise and imitation.read · scan
- p. 216–217Fuegians live on shell-fish, moving constantly, and are ignorant of the use of local plants.read · scan
- p. 223–224Savages disgusted by tinned meat as Europeans would be by putrid blubber; begging habits of 'yammerschooner'.read · scan
- p. 225Naked natives sweat by the fire while clothed Europeans are comfortable; they join in sailors' songs.read · scan
- p. 227Women work while men lounge; natives beg and steal; astonished by white skins and washing.read · scan
- p. 231Darwin observes Fuegian habits, exchange of trinkets, two wives, and the strange word 'yammerschooner'.read · scan
- p. 236–237Patagonians' manners, dress, barter, and half-civilized state from contact with sealers and whalers.read · scan
- p. 262Compares Guaso and Gaucho in dress, food, hospitality and manners, showing how usage differs across the two countries.read · scan
- p. 277Families make and dye their own woollen clothes; bartering ways of life described.read · scan
- p. 282–283Islanders barter for tobacco and indigo, use gunpowder for saints' days, and show humble manners; the constable submits to sentinel rules.read · scan
- p. 291–292Native superstition makes a comical little bird their prophet.read · scan
- p. 296Travellers act in hail-fellow-well-met fashion, without firearms; custom has made horses agile on the log road.read · scan
- p. 302Polygamy and the honour of being a cacique's wife among wild tribes.read · scan
- p. 334Darwin notes the lounging manners, dress and habits of Mendoza's lower orders resembling the Gauchos, and the townsfolk's idleness.read · scan
- p. 412–413Compares Tahitian fire-making with the Gaucho's method, showing differing native techniques.read · scan
- p. 421Contrast between neat English mission cottages with English flowers and paltry native hovels.read · scan
- p. 423Warlike spirit shows in customs, such as returning even a joking blow.read · scan
- p. 424–425Tattooing, filthy dress and habits of the natives described.read · scan
- p. 444–445Aborigines trade with settlers for dogs and offal, blind to the white man's coming displacement.read · scan
- p. 461Describes the Malay settlers' houses, poverty and mixed origins, all speaking one language.read · scan
- p. 487Convicts' faithful observance of strange religious rites and imposing appearance change Darwin's view of them.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23
- p. 45Observation of idle Chilean settlers and their habits of the paseo.read · scan
- p. 60–61Sailor's remark that this is no Christian city and the strange Spanish rider show foreign ways.read · scan
- p. 82Describes Californian houses, furnishings and domestic arrangements, including crucifixes and religious daubs.read · scan
- p. 82–83Horsemanship, gambling, cock-fighting and amusements characterize Monterey life.read · scan
- p. 139–140The Islanders' carnival life on the beach shows their own habits of idleness.read · scan
- p. 143Islanders are given names from vessels, captains or resemblances, and answer to 'Kanaka'.read · scan
- p. 143–144Islanders' customs, such as knocking out teeth in grief, and their communal sharing of goods, contrast with Yankee habits.read · scan
- p. 145–146Their way of sharing pipes and smoking differs from Europeans' custom.read · scan
- p. 200The islanders tattoo and paint him and give him wives; he refuses marks on face or hands.read · scan
- p. 200–202George, painted like a native, is distinguishable only when he speaks; then he is washed and clothed.read · scan
- p. 314–315Carpenter recounts Finnish customs, trade, government and his courtship and marriage.read · scan
Henry David Thoreau, WalkingVol. 28
- p. 409–410Contrasts civilization's gentility with the raw diet and habits of Indians and Hottentots.read · scan
2b.Customs reversed or opposed between nations
Aeschylus, AgamemnonVol. 8
- p. 40–41He rejects Eastern-style prostration and effeminate pomp as unfitting a Greek warrior.read · scan
Herodotus, An Account of EgyptVol. 33
- p. 20–22Egyptians' manners are said to be opposite to other men's in nearly everything, matching their unique climate and river, including reversed sex roles.read · scan
- p. 22Lists Egyptian usages reversing those of other peoples: mourning, food, dress, writing direction, circumcision.read · scan
- p. 23Particular dietary and washing customs, such as avoiding beans and fish, mark the priests.read · scan
- p. 24Egyptians uniformly refuse to eat the head of any animal.read · scan
- p. 28–29Swineherds barred from temples and marriage outside their caste; Egyptian festival practice compared with Greek usage.read · scan
- p. 36Offices of animal-keeping pass from father to son.read · scan
- p. 37–38Sacred status of animals varies by district.read · scan
- p. 40Egyptian manners compared with Greek: the young yield to elders, reverence by lowering the hand, and dress rules.read · scan
- p. 45Fen-dwelling Egyptians share other Egyptians' customs and, like Greeks, live each with one wife.read · scan
Euripides, The BacchaeVol. 8
- p. 385–389Greeks are set against barbarians who already keep the dance; worship by night or day differs from Theban ways.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, On Old AgeVol. 9
- p. 67Marks of respect to the aged differ among peoples; Sparta honors age while Athenians fail to act on what they know is right.read · scan
Plutarch, ThemistoclesVol. 12
- p. 28Artabanus says the laws of men differ and each should honor their own; Persian custom of prostrating and seclusion of women contrasts with Greek liberty.read · scan
Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36
- p. 171–172All fifty-four cities share one tongue, manners, institutions and laws, and are built alike.read · scan
- p. 183Common dining and seating arrangements set by usage, with women serving as cooks by turn.read · scan
- p. 189–191Utopian laws and customs differ from ours, so their use of gold seems incredible to those judging by their own habits.read · scan
- p. 191Utopian customs on gold and jewels differ from other nations and shape different fancies, shown by the ambassadors.read · scan
- p. 192Different customs of dress make the proud Anemolians misread how they will be received.read · scan
- p. 239–241Many Utopian customs, in chivalry, sacrifices and laws, seem unreasonable to More; ideals rather wished than hoped for.read · scan
Francis Bacon, The New AtlantisVol. 3
- p. 168Bensalem people detest European tolerance of stews and courtesans; customs differ sharply between nations.read · scan
- p. 169–170Bensalem's civil custom is preferred over More's Utopia, where couples see each other naked, since it avoids scorn of refusal.read · scan
John Dryden, Dedication of the AeneisVol. 13
- p. 35–36Leaving one wife for another was mere gallantry among the Romans.read · scan
Samuel Johnson, Preface to ShakespeareVol. 39
- p. 217–218He ignores distinctions of time and place, giving one age the customs and opinions of another.read · scan
2c.National character and manners
See also: Man 9b · National Character 3c · Race and Nationality 5a
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 105Alcinous defines Phaeacian ways: they excel in running, seamanship, banquet, harp, dance, baths, love and sleep, not boxing.read · scan
Aesop, FablesVol. 17
- p. 13–14Contrast of town and country manners.read · scan
Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9
- p. 200–201Brixia retains old modesty and frugal simplicity of manner, while prevailing manners rank men by possessions.read · scan
- p. 379–381Trajan remarks the Greeks' immoderate fondness for gymnastic diversions and lavish buildings.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, PurgatoryVol. 20
- p. 239–240Forese contrasts Florentine women's bare dress with modesty of barbarous Sardinia, so that even Saracens needed no discipline to cover themselves.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, ParadiseVol. 20
- p. 350–352Simple dress, modest ways and domestic manners of old Florence contrasted with present degeneracyread · scan
William Caxton, Prefaces and EpiloguesVol. 39
- p. 9Women's nature differs by country: Greek women unlike English ones.read · scan
Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31
- p. 197Cellini generalizes about the French nature, and the scrivener cares more for his writings than his rescued life.read · scan
- p. 302He describes French customs of buying lawsuits and Norman false witnesses.read · scan
- p. 314–316Ruberta dismisses the girl's tricks as French manners, claiming every French husband has his horns.read · scan
William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35
- p. 271Eating habits of English, Welsh and Scots shaped by climate, imitation and assimilationread · scan
- p. 276–277Beer brewing and aging habits; the best wine called theologicum because supplied by the clergyread · scan
- p. 286Regional drinks such as cider, perry and Welsh metheglin, and the country wives' imitation mead.read · scan
- p. 286Changing English meal customs from Canute and the Normans, who spread long stately feasts; old usage overgrows new constitution.read · scan
- p. 287Mealtimes vary by rank and place; nations of antiquity began and ended meals differently, as do the English and Scots.read · scan
- p. 295English houses plain outside but roomy within, unlike foreign cities' showy fronts.read · scan
- p. 298Old men note changes in chimneys and lodging: earlier generations slept on straw and logs, content with base furniture.read · scan
- p. 350–352Englishmen train mastiffs to bait bears and bulls, art aiding nature; Caspians used dogs as tombs.read · scan
Sir Philip Sidney, The Defense of PoesyVol. 27
- p. 27–28Greek custom prized trivial victories so highly that Philip reckoned an Olympic horserace among his felicities.read · scan
John Milton, AreopagiticaVol. 3
- p. 190–191Contrast of Greek humanity with barbaric northern stateliness.read · scan
- p. 221–222Praises the English national character, quick and ingenious, and its ancient learning.read · scan
John Dryden, Dedication of the AeneisVol. 13
- p. 53National character is seen in tongue and poets: French trifling, English weighty.read · scan
- p. 62Poetic licenses treated as inherited English liberties, a 'Magna Charta', contrasted with French and Italian regularity.read · scan
John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning EducationVol. 37
- p. 126Contrasts the calm civility of Indians in conversation with European disputatiousness; ill custom settles into habit through neglect.read · scan
Jonathan Swift, Hints towards an Essay on ConversationVol. 27
- p. 98Remarks on national habits of talking, noting Scots' attention to minute circumstances and peculiar accent.read · scan
Voltaire, Letters on the EnglishVol. 34
- p. 80–81Custom sanctions clergy taking a glass at the tavern; national manners differ between England and France.read · scan
- p. 81–82Sunday sanctification forbids work, plays and concerts; national manners of sect and clergy contrasted.read · scan
- p. 139–140Comedy paints a nation's follies and foibles, so only those acquainted with the people can judge it.read · scan
Benjamin Franklin, His AutobiographyVol. 1
- p. 100Marked change in the manners of the inhabitants, psalms sung in every street.read · scan
- p. 105–106Governor Clinton yields cannon after drinking bumpers of Madeira, as was the custom of the place.read · scan
- p. 122Londoners live by candlelight and sleep by sunshine, yet complain of the candle duty.read · scan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality among MankindVol. 34
- p. 203Nations form united by a uniform manner of life and climate, not laws.read · scan
John Skinner, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 568–570Scottish reel and strathspeys preferred to Italian music; national taste and sociable mirth against stiff decorum.read · scan
Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10
- p. 120English custom obliging a family to hire a whole house raises rents and makes lodging cheap.read · scan
- p. 263The general character of inhabitants, industrious or dissolute, is shaped by how they are maintained.read · scan
- p. 431–432National character differs with economic circumstance: liberality in landed nations, meanness and selfishness in mercantile ones.read · scan
- p. 549Feudal landholders' rustic hospitality and long-lasting family estates show a general disposition to live within income.read · scan
Oliver Goldsmith, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 526–527Manners pass unaltered from sire to son; fashion draws the French mind.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Hermann and DorotheaVol. 19
- p. 396–397Dorothea recalls French courtesy, once common to noble, burgher and peasant, and children's morning curtseys and hand-kissing to parents.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 96–98Depicts Scottish country manners at a sacramental fair: dress, food, collection plate and crowds.read · scan
- p. 100–102Scottish country manners after the sacrament: grace at meal, drink, cheese and bread.read · scan
Friedrich von Schiller, Letters upon the Aesthetic Education of ManVol. 32
- p. 220Modern manners are unnatural and refined, in contrast with Greek simplicity.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 407–408Violent, uncouth popular manners of honoring a bishop, requiring swords to restrain the press.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, Sir Walter ScottVol. 25
- p. 410A country accent in thought and character never forsakes a man; national setting forms him.read · scan
- p. 411–412Scottish national character traced to Saxon stock and John Knox's Presbyterian Gospel; how national temper shapes thought and its forms.read · scan
- p. 413Scott learns the living manners of unsophisticated Border districts, with hospitality and rustic ways.read · scan
- p. 414Primitive Border hospitality: shared beds, whisky-punch, pipe music and ballad collections show local manners of the district.read · scan
- p. 415The old Scottish custom of household Bible reading, as in Burns's Saturday Night, meets rough Border hospitality.read · scan
Thomas Babington Macaulay, MachiavelliVol. 27
- p. 375–376National circumstances shape what each people prizes: valor among rude nations, intelligence among commercial, lettered Italians.read · scan
Victor Hugo, Preface to CromwellVol. 39
- p. 350–351The grotesque passes into manners, court jesters, heraldry and the strange customs of medieval institutions.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5
- p. 331–332English thoughts, manners and civilization dominate other nations, including America; the traveller asks why England is England.read · scan
- p. 337–338Races preserve character over ages, as Jews, French Canadians and Germans resembling American frontiersmen.read · scan
- p. 338–339Civilization, sect, trade and English circumstances modify racial traits and stamp faces and manners.read · scan
- p. 340–341English traits narrow to London; provincial manners differ in Scotland and Ireland; popular categories used for convenience.read · scan
- p. 346Boxing, bear-baiting, school fagging and the sale of wives show brutal English manners.read · scan
- p. 349–350English habits of diet, exercise and field sports as national custom and pride.read · scan
- p. 354English national character: hate of craft, fair play, open contest, shaking hands after fighting.read · scan
- p. 364England's law, classes, church, manners and education are factitious constructions, a nation that is a work of art.read · scan
- p. 368English manners of reserve: each man is an island, introductions are sacraments, eccentricity freely allowed yet strangers unacknowledged.read · scan
- p. 369English love routine, formality, cleanliness and propriety, insisting on points of form.read · scan
- p. 371–372English manners: rigid propriety, decorum and repressed tone rule court and cottage; 'bad taste' is the gravest censure.read · scan
- p. 372–373The English dinner, its dress, hours and rituals, is the capital social institution and honors strangers; American dinners copy it.read · scan
- p. 380Clubs and inns shape social habits; travelling bagmen characterize England to foreigners.read · scan
- p. 381–382English travellers are proverbial for offensive manners, forgetting every man's right to his own ears.read · scan
- p. 383–384Emerson portrays English national character: staid, contrary, dominant over other races, assimilating them rather than being assimilated.read · scan
- p. 384–385Describes English temper as churlish yet tender-hearted, stolid and enduring, unlike Latin nations or swifter Americans.read · scan
- p. 385–386Portrait of national temper: slow, deep, obstinate, blunt, with long-remembered wrath, illustrated by the Norse Haldor.read · scan
- p. 405–406The English are stable in manners and firmly retain old words.read · scan
- p. 415–416Ancient grace before meals and nightly lock-up show English use and wont; no duel among the aristocratic students.read · scan
- p. 432English national character: practical, materialist, mercantile, loving tools and plain reality over fancy.read · scan
- p. 454Contrasts English exclusiveness and culture with American traits; Emerson foresees England, like a parent, strong only through her American children.read · scan
- p. 454–456British character whimsical in choice of objects, neglecting Stonehenge while excavating pyramids and Nineveh.read · scan
- p. 461In England everyone is on good behavior and dressed for dinner at six.read · scan
- p. 465–466England as an old pile of repairs and makeshifts; national character of private truth and public untruth.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25
- p. 40English society has a low moral tone, sneering at high feeling and professing no high principles, unlike Continental life.read · scan
- p. 40Contrasts French frank sociability and living elevated sentiment with English reserve, where everyone treats others as enemy or bore.read · scan
- p. 95–97National character: other countries take sympathies for granted while English thinkers treat them as necessary evils.read · scan
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1334Quaker Thee and Thou recalls Acadia where all were equal, brothers and sisters.read · scan
- p. 1337–1338Acadian peasants keep Norman caps, homespun and wheel and loom, retelling Evangeline's story by the fire.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29
- p. 49–50Gauchos' excessive politeness and dress contrasted with readiness to cut throats; customs of the pulperia.read · scan
- p. 144The old Spaniard would rather have his countrymen thought traitors than cowardly or unskilful, which Darwin finds characteristic.read · scan
- p. 152Local pride in Buenos Ayres ladies and their large combs; hospitality rewarding flattering answers.read · scan
- p. 156–157Local callousness to animals: humanity and self-interest not united, estanciero uncomprehending of pity for a horse.read · scan
- p. 159Riding a mare is thought ridiculous in this country.read · scan
- p. 160–161Darwin describes Gaucho manners: hospitality and politeness alongside knife-carrying, gambling, feast-days and moon superstition shaping conduct.read · scan
- p. 161–162Polite, dignified manners in every rank and social equality strike the traveller as features of a new country.read · scan
- p. 303–304Contrasts the independent manners of Valdivian Indians with the humble politeness of Chilotans, attributed to their wars against the Spaniards.read · scan
- p. 371Darwin judges the racially mixed inhabitants of Callao and Lima depraved and drunken, and the city decayed.read · scan
- p. 486The island remains French in character under English rule; opera and bookshops signal civilization.read · scan
- p. 500Contrasts Brazilian rudeness to strangers with Spanish courtesy.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23
- p. 48Describes Spanish Americans as loafers, idle yet politely courteous, characteristic manners of the island people.read · scan
- p. 130Owner's easy generosity over the ruined saddle, 'No importe!', reflects local manners.read · scan
- p. 156–157Sailors of many nations sing national songs at a gathering, each expressing its own tradition; national oaths abound.read · scan
- p. 169Describes the manners and morals of Californian people.read · scan
- p. 220Russian crew's grease-saturated diet and heavy clothing, oddly unchanged in warm weather, shown as national habit and contrasted with American sailors.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Twenty-Four Years AfterVol. 23
- p. 377–378The congregation and service are the same as in eastern cities, and afternoons go to visiting and Sunday schools.read · scan
Matthew Arnold, The Study of PoetryVol. 28
- p. 84–85Scotch drink, religion and manners shape Burns's subject matter.read · scan
Edward Augustus Freeman, Race and LanguageVol. 28
- p. 248–249Adopted members are assimilated into a community's speech, feeling, thought and habit; a dominant element sets the national character.read · scan
- p. 252Rule and exception: we take conformity for granted and ask special historical causes for departures, as with French in Belgium.read · scan
- p. 255–257Assimilation to a national type has been the rule in western Europe, producing the French and British.read · scan
- p. 262Contrasts Western uniformity with the Eastern mixture of peoples as absurd in the West but real in the East.read · scan
- p. 272Adoption, as in Roman law, makes members of a stock for practical purposes despite lack of physiological kinship.read · scan
Ernest Renan, The Poetry of the Celtic RacesVol. 32
- p. 137Contrasts the character of Celtic peoples with Norman populations, marked by reserve, depth of feeling and religious delicacy.read · scan
- p. 147–148Contrasts the mild manners of Celtic tales with the brutal vengeance of Teutonic epics such as Beowulf.read · scan
- p. 166–167Popular songs reveal Breton character: gentleness, fidelity, resignation and reserve.read · scan
- p. 170–171Contrasts Celtic and Teutonic racial character and how each received the new faith, Icelandic conversion being expedient and insincere.read · scan
- p. 171Celts kept national usages and characteristics, resisting Rome and Teutons' resentful, forced conversion.read · scan
- p. 173Irish submissiveness to the abbot and popular instinct shaped peculiar usages.read · scan
Hippolyte Taine, Introduction to the History of English LiteratureVol. 39
- p. 410–412Poets' manners, dress and society reveal the age behind their works.read · scan
- p. 414National minds differ: German pliancy, English matter-of-factness, French drawing-room analysis, each shaping historical study.read · scan
- p. 417Northern race's temperament produces its characteristic conscience and its blunt taste.read · scan
- p. 422–423Climate disposes peoples to social habits, political organization and arts, or to drunkenness and coarse feeding.read · scan
- p. 428Contrasts national habits of French sociability and Germanic respect for rank and past, all flowing from race and environment.read · scan
2d.Prejudice against foreign customs and national pride
See also: National Character 3c · Race and Nationality 9c
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 90–91Athene warns that the Phaeacians do not gladly suffer strangers, so he must be silent and question no one.read · scan
Confucius, The Sayings of ConfuciusVol. 44
- p. 47Kuan Chung saved civilised custom (hair and dress) from barbarism.read · scan
Herodotus, An Account of EgyptVol. 33
- p. 24Egyptians refuse Greek knives, utensils or kisses because of ritual purity.read · scan
- p. 42–44Egyptians reject Hellenic usages, though Chemmis holds athletic contests in Greek fashion for Perseus.read · scan
Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13
- p. 305Contrasts hardy warrior-farmers with Phrygian dress, dance and rites, judged unmanly.read · scan
Luke, The Acts of the ApostlesVol. 44
- p. 445Peter states it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with another nation, yet God showed him to call no man unclean.read · scan
- p. 446Circumcised believers object that Peter ate with uncircumcised men; Peter answers that God's vision made no distinction.read · scan
- p. 458Accusers claim the Jews teach customs unlawful for Romans.read · scan
The Song of RolandVol. 49
- p. 158–159The poet dwells on the Saracens' black faces with contempt, as an abhorred race.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, HellVol. 20
- p. 121Dante mocks the Sienese as vain and frivolous, and the shade replies sarcastically about their lavish spendthrift customs.read · scan
Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31
- p. 42He rails at Spanish rashness and haughtiness, and Roman gentlemen side with him against the foreigners.read · scan
- p. 119–120The Milanese say the French lack culture and will not appreciate Benvenuto's excellence.read · scan
Michel de Montaigne, Of the Institution and Education of ChildrenVol. 32
- p. 43Parochial thinking, like the priest blaming God's wrath for village frost, mistakes local events for universal ones.read · scan
William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35
- p. 293Contrasts English rough houses but good fare with Spanish palaces and thin diet.read · scan
- p. 352–354Mocks Irish habits through the anecdote of a chieftain's wife eating ship's candles thinking it a banquet.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 69–70Ascribes lying to the Moorish nation as a supposed national trait, coloring the narrator's suspicion of the chronicle.read · scan
- p. 397She distrusts Moors as deceitful and would be punished cruelly by her father.read · scan
Sir Thomas Browne, Religio MediciVol. 3
- p. 313–315Nations abuse one another with opprobrious epithets, inferring a habit in all from a few.read · scan
- p. 315National stereotypes wound a whole people by a word, an uncharitable logic from a few to all.read · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15
- p. 92–93Fair people find pilgrims' dress and speech strange; the men of this world and the language of Canaan seem barbarous to each other.read · scan
John Dryden, All for Love; or, The World Well LostVol. 18
- p. 90–93Ventidius and Antony denounce Egyptians as an entire nation of traitors tainted by soil and heaven.read · scan
Voltaire, Letters on the EnglishVol. 34
- p. 92English custom lets peers' brothers be merchants, which seems monstrous to Germans.read · scan
- p. 93–94English and other Europeans call each other fools or cowardly over inoculation; Circassian custom seems singular.read · scan
David Hume, Of the Standard of TasteVol. 27
- p. 203Nations call barbarous whatever departs from their own taste, yet find the reproach retorted.read · scan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality among MankindVol. 34
- p. 215–216Judging by familiar slaves misleads; Brasidas says Persians cannot know the pleasures of Sparta.read · scan
Oliver Goldsmith, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 520–521Each nation boasts its own land as best; patriot pride in home is universal.read · scan
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24
- p. 204–205Contrasts the triumph with a civilized martial nation's pomp, comparing it to American savages.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Tragedy of Faust, Part IVol. 19
- p. 92–95Brander remarks the German hates the French yet enjoys their wine, a national prejudice.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 254–256Scorns those who sneer at plain Scottish fare, saying the haggis-fed rustic is the stronger man.read · scan
William Wordsworth, Essay Supplementary to PrefaceVol. 39
- p. 318National tastes shape misreadings of Shakespeare among French, Italian and German critics.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 287–288Bergamascans habitually call Milanese 'blockheads'; Bortolo says the foolish custom must be borne, since the generation has acquired the habit.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5
- p. 334Nations flatter themselves that their city is the center of the world.read · scan
- p. 387–388English insular self-regard, patriotism and dislike of foreigners, shown by Swedenborg and the Venetian traveller.read · scan
- p. 388–389English think all the world outside England rubbish, and each man has too good an opinion of himself to imitate anyone.read · scan
- p. 389–390English self-regard and brag are secrets of their power, giving frank bearing and making each man do his utmost.read · scan
- p. 390–391English conceit and incuriosity about foreigners, from the Times to Eton boys, expressed in anecdote and economists' boasting.read · scan
- p. 391–392National distinctions are accidental; individual traits triumph, and national pride is punished by nature and history.read · scan
- p. 462–464English complacency about national character: Plato's Republic would find no readers, yet they claim to have embodied it.read · scan
Hans Christian Andersen, TalesVol. 17
- p. 261–262Manners and national differences are satirized: Norwegian sons put their feet on the table, thinking their conduct becoming.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, On LibertyVol. 25
- p. 279–280Antipathies over differing religious abstinences, like Muslim disgust at pork, resemble instinctive feeling.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29
- p. 132–133Guides view with satisfaction a hung Indian skeleton, showing frontier attitudes to Indians.read · scan
- p. 345–346Inherited fears and tales shaped attitudes to Englishmen; townspeople fled at cry of 'Los Ingleses'.read · scan
- p. 346–347Natives feel no shame at fear and scorn indifference, calling unmoved Englishmen heretics.read · scan
Ernest Renan, The Poetry of the Celtic RacesVol. 32
- p. 139Isolation preserved the Celtic race's individuality and hatred of the foreigner; it resisted Roman and Teutonic influence.read · scan
2e.Judging and adopting foreign ways
See also: Education 9e
Herodotus, An Account of EgyptVol. 33
- p. 18–20Ethiopians became milder in manners from learning Egyptian customs from the deserters.read · scan
- p. 29Rites spread between peoples by borrowing rather than accident.read · scan
- p. 30Athenians took the Hermes images from the Pelasgians; Egyptians do not worship heroes.read · scan
- p. 32–33Festival customs of Egypt older than Greek; Greeks learned them from Egypt.read · scan
- p. 50Circumcision, flax-working and manners shared by Colchians and Egyptians serve as evidence of common descent and cultural borrowing.read · scan
Plutarch, AlcibiadesVol. 12
- p. 126–127Alcibiades adopts Spartan, Ionian, Thracian and Persian habits in turn to win men's affections.read · scan
Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36
- p. 139–140Raphael knows the laws and customs of every country and the good and bad among them.read · scan
Martin Luther, Address to the Christian Nobility of the German NationVol. 36
- p. 290Roman judges do not know the manners, laws and customs of other countries.read · scan
- p. 331Commerce brings few good manners into a land.read · scan
Michel de Montaigne, Of the Institution and Education of ChildrenVol. 32
- p. 37Travelers should observe the humors and fashions of foreign countries, not trivia.read · scan
- p. 45Diverse laws and fantastical customs teach us to judge our own rightly.read · scan
- p. 55–58Conforming to the manners of different peoples, as Alcibiades did in Sparta and Ionia.read · scan
William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35
- p. 223Foreign manners are imported, such as pages and apparel and proud behaviour.read · scan
Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and MoralVol. 3
- p. 46–47The returned traveller should keep his own country's manners, grafting on only some flowers of foreign customs.read · scan
Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, Philaster, or Love Lies A-BleedingVol. 47
- p. 668–669Megra scorns untravelled men who cannot make a leg or converse; manners and foreign fashion.read · scan
René Descartes, Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason and Seeking the Truth in the SciencesVol. 34
- p. 7–8Knowing other nations' manners keeps us from thinking contrary customs ridiculous.read · scan
Sir Thomas Browne, Religio MediciVol. 3
- p. 254–255Ceremonies of Greek, Roman and African churches may be used well; national interest and climate shaped different Reformations.read · scan
- p. 310He has no national prejudice or dietary repugnance, adapting to French, Jewish and other customs and honouring men by actions.read · scan
John Milton, Tractate on EducationVol. 3
- p. 245Milton objects to sending youth to Paris where they return as mimics and apes.read · scan
John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning EducationVol. 37
- p. 179Travel teaches by seeing people with different tempers, customs and ways of living.read · scan
- p. 179–180Travellers admire the worst foreign practices and fashions instead of learning what would make them wiser.read · scan
- p. 181A traveller should inquire into the customs, manners, laws and government of the country he visits.read · scan
Voltaire, Letters on the EnglishVol. 34
- p. 65Baptism traced to older Hebrew practice, like Mahometan pilgrimages imitating the Ishmaelites.read · scan
Friedrich Schiller, William TellVol. 26
- p. 406Attinghausen rebukes him for despising the good ancient customs and simple ways for foreign show.read · scan
- p. 411–412Laments that foreign manners warp the primitive, guileless ways; new generation thinks unlike their fathers.read · scan
William Ellery Channing, On the Elevation of the Laboring ClassesVol. 28
- p. 362Americans lack moral independence and will servilely imitate the institutions and manners of the Old World.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 628Don Abbondio says one's country is wherever one is well off.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, PoliticsVol. 5
- p. 243Political forms suit particular peoples and are not transferable to other societies.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5
- p. 445–446Hastings urges judging Indian writings free of European standards of propriety, habits of judgment and tenets.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25
- p. 42Mill's Continental contacts freed him from judging universal questions by a merely English standard.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23
- p. 106Narrator learns the customs of the country and harbors from acquaintances on shore.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Twenty-Four Years AfterVol. 23
- p. 379–380European Continental fashions in cooking, meals and Sunday prevail, and emigrants adapt to them.read · scan
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