Friday, July 10, 2020
Rather Rude
Boswell on the Grand Tour: Germany and Switzerland, 1764, ed. Frederick A. Pottle (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1953), p. 306 (December 30, 1764):
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We supped in a great town hall, and eat and drank considerably. After which they pelted each other with the crumb of their bread formed into little balls. This was rather rude in a large company and in presence of a stranger. I however threw with the rest, partly to keep them in countenance, partly to indulge my whim. I asked if this was the common custom at Geneva. They said they did so only among friends. They were monstrously familiar, the men pawing the sweaty hands of the women, and kissing them too, as the minister slabbered the greasy, unwashen hands of a married woman. Had I been the husband, I should have kicked the fellow downstairs. I was disgusted much, and only consoled myself that I beheld a nauseous example of the manners of republicans. I was glad to get home.
