I am a bit behind with my thank you letters.
“Dear Mrs Fulham Neighbour,
It was more than sweet of you and Mr Fulham Neighbour to send me such a lovely book. Thank you very, very much.
Looking forward to seeing you on the … ,
Very sincerely, CB”
Wow! That didn’t take long; Emily Post’s epistolary style is exiguous. Robert, Bertie and I have two weekends in the country in our diaries, although Robert and Bertie don’t keep diaries as such. Hoping our hostesses don’t read this post, I can reveal our bread and butter letters.
”Every moment at Great Estates was a perfect delight! I am afraid my work at the office this morning was down to zero in efficiency; so perhaps it is just as well, if I am to keep my job, that the average week-end in the country is different – very. Thank you all the same, for the wonderful time you gave us all, and believe me
Faithfully yours, CB”
”Every time I come from Great Estates, I realize again that there is no house to which I always go with so much pleasure, and leave on Monday morning with so much regret.
Your party over this last weekend was simply wonderful! And thank you ever so much for having included us.
Always sincerely, CB”
Etiquette, published a hundred years ago, may seem dated but, in 1946, her hefty tome was credited with being part of “the levelling-up process of democracy”: an attempt to resolve the conflict between the democratic ideal and the reality of class. Interesting that levelling-up was used.
“The phrase (and the phrase ‘level up’) appears intermittently in the parliamentary records since the 19th century. It took particular prominence during the 1860s in a debate about the relative positions of the Anglican and Catholic churches in Ireland. In this debate, one member of the Lords made the useful observation that ‘you must arrive at equality either by levelling down or by levelling up’.” (UK in a Changing Europe)