[MR] Soundings of the Conch - On Your Feet!

[Terri Morgan]

> Most of us know that it is traditional to have a
> round of toasts (or to use a more period term,
> healths) at some time during any feast. 

<snip>

> Most of us also should know that all ought to rise
> for these healths.  There is a belief in some quarters
> that ladies need not rise, but in fact they should.
> Exempting ladies from rising is a modern, probably
> American, innovation.

Truly, Master Donal, I would be interested in the basis for your statements
on this.

I am a lady who does not rise except when making the toast myself. Drinking
the health of one's social betters is a time-honoured tradition, but so far
as I have seen, it is a military one that carried over into the social
dining room. Ladies did not rise because it would then mean that they would
have to be seated again, wrestling with their gowns, while their dining
partners were also attempting to do so. To create such havoc at the table
was déclassé.

Perhaps you could enlighten us on the source of your very expressively
written views?


Hrothny
--
Dame Hróðný Rognvaldsdóttir, OP, OL
Great Dark Horde, Barony of Marinus
Misericordia Fortitudo Suprema Est
online2much at cox.net