[This post originally appeared in Dullicious, where I blogged as Barbie-dull for several years.]
Fact worth knowing #2865:
No subject in this work is more important, and certainly none wil be studied with as much attention, as that of the present section. Love is the universal passion, courtship is the most interesting evocation of human life, and marriage one of the great ends of existence. As our wives are not purchased as in China, nor stolen as in some parts of Africa, nor in general negotiated for by parents, as in some countries in Europe, but wooed and won by polite attentions, the manner in which a gentleman should behave towards ladies is a matter of the greatest importance. Charms, filters, and talismans, are used no longer –the only proper talismans are worth and accomplishments.
From the excellent “Inquire Within for Anything You Want To Know or Over Three Thousand Seven Hundred Facts Worth Knowing” of 1858.