I've had an idea for a novel set in the 1800s, but since I am nothing if not anal retentive scrupulously detail-oriented, I've started researching the time period in earnest.

Having just begun reading Routledge's Manual of Etiquette, I'm astonished at how different the social customs were (of course, he was writing for English society, with its rigid class system). Merely introducing two people to each other was a weighty matter, and not to be undertaken lightly — your own reputation was on the line, for an introduction carried with it a voucher of good character. If you met someone in an acquaintance's drawing-room and he or she failed to introduce you, the next time you encountered each other, you should not in any way act in a manner which suggested acquaintance.

I particularly enjoyed the instructions for ladies on acceptable conversation:

Remember that all "slang" is vulgar. It has become of late unfortunately prevalent, and we know many ladies who pride themselves on the saucy chique with which they adopt certain Americanisms, and other cant phrases of the day. Such habits cannot be too severely reprehended. They lower the tone of society and the standard of thought. It is a great mistake to suppose that slang is in any way a substitute for wit.

The use of proverbs is equally vulgar in conversation; and puns, unless they rise to the rank of witticisms, are to be scrupulously avoided. A lady-punster is a most unpleasing phenomenon, and we would advise no young woman, however witty she may be, to cultivate this kind of verbal talent. [...]

Do not be always witty, even though you should be so happily gifted as to need the caution. To outshine others on every occasion is the surest road to unpopularity.

I do like the differentiation between witticisms and puns. I had been, in my misspent younger days, an inveterate punster; but ever since seeing the movie Ridicule, I have developed an appreciation for the true play on words, as opposed to the cheap pun. Pity puns are so much easier to make.