George Washington's Rules of Civility: Traced to their Sources and Restored by Moncure D. Conway

In Short

This volume presents the hundred and ten maxims on conduct transcribed by young George Washington in 1745, paired with editor Moncure D. Conway's scholarly investigation into their origins. Tracing the text from Washington’s damaged manuscript notebook back through an English translation by Francis Hawkins to a 1651 French Jesuit manual by Father Périn, the book reveals how classic European standards of civility were transmitted to colonial Virginia. It has endured as both a revealing historical artifact of Washington’s early moral self-formation and a clear, timeless primer on practical courtesy, self-restraint, and respect for others.

The Story

The book opens in the State Archives at Washington City, examining an authentic thirty-page manuscript notebook dated 1745. Written in the boyish hand of a fourteen-year-old George Washington, the document contains legal forms, receipts, poetic fragments, and a list titled "Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation." Editor Moncure D. Conway highlights the physical state of the original leaves, noting that Mount Vernon mice gnawed the bottoms of the pages before their archival preservation, damaging nine of the rules. Conway observes that early biographers often suppressed or edited these maxims out of concern that a future military deity writing gravely about deferring to lords, avoiding bad company, or using toothpicks properly might diminish his grand reputation. Antiquarian Dr. J.M. Toner later transcribed the text literally without altering Washington's rustic spelling or punctuation.

Conway then executes a painstaking comparative analysis to uncover the lineage of the text. He evaluates an earlier English translation published by Francis Hawkins and compares both English versions directly against the original 1651 French text, Les Maximes de la Bienséance et de la Civilité Honnête, written by a French Jesuit priest. By measuring subtle phrasing differences—such as Washington rendering French concepts like "moderation et douceur" as "Sweetness and Mildness"—Conway demonstrates that Washington’s manuscript reflects a closer affinity to the original French phrasing than Hawkins's version does.

This textual link brings the narrative to Rev. James Marye, a French Protestant Huguenot born in Rouen who abjured Catholicism, fled to England, and ultimately emigrated to Virginia in 1729. Settling in Fredericksburg, Marye established a small school attended by local children. Conway posits that Marye brought Father Périn's French rules of civility to his Virginia classroom, teaching them directly to young pupils, including Washington, James Madison, and James Monroe.

The narrative culminates in the full presentation of the 110 rules alongside their French originals and Hawkins's variants. The collection progresses systematically through physical posture, table manners, speech habits, respect for authority, and moral duties. It moves from elemental rules against humming, drumming fingers, or eating in the street to refined principles regarding conversational moderation, accepting criticism without anger, and deferring to the majority in disputes. The work concludes with Washington’s final rule: keeping alive "that Little Spark of Celestial fire called Conscience."

How It Unfolds

The archival discovery Conway examines Washington's 1745 manuscript notebook in the State Archives, describing its mouse-gnawed pages and noting how earlier biographers suppressed or altered the text to protect Washington's public image.

Tracing the French roots Comparing Washington's phrasing with Francis Hawkins's English edition and Father Périn's 1651 French Jesuit text, Conway proves Washington’s manuscript preserves subtle French idioms that Hawkins omitted or altered.

The Huguenot schoolmaster The background of Rev. James Marye is detailed, tracing his flight from Rouen to Virginia, where he established the Fredericksburg school that instructed future presidents in good manners and self-restraint.

Everyday physical decorum The text details the initial maxims, covering basic personal hygiene, clean nails, moderate gestures, and avoiding annoying habits like humming, drumming fingers, or showing unsightly body parts in public.

Social deference and speech Middle rules outline proper greetings, walking positions alongside superiors, bowing, keeping quiet while others speak, avoiding aggressive contradiction, and showing respect to magistrates, elders, and parents.

Dining etiquette and conscience The concluding maxims detail proper table manners—such as using napkins, avoiding large morsels, and refusing to lick fingers—before ending with a call to honor God and preserve conscience.

The People

George Washington The central figure whose boyhood notebook forms the core of the volume. As a teenager in 1745, he diligently transcribes rules on restraint, deference, and decorum, absorbing habits of self-discipline and modesty that later shape his public leadership and national legacy.

Moncure D. Conway The editor and historical researcher. He seeks to restore Washington's authentic juvenile text without literary tampering, using comparative scholarship to trace the rules back to European origins and demonstrate the impact of moral education on character.

Rev. James Marye A French Huguenot minister educated at Rouen who fled religious alienation, emigrated to Virginia in 1729, and taught school in Fredericksburg. He serves as the vital link who introduced the French maxims of civility to Washington, Madison, and Monroe.

Father Périn The French Jesuit priest whose 1651 treatise Les Maximes de la Bienséance et de la Civilité Honnête supplied the foundational principles of manners and social consideration that were eventually translated, taught, and transcribed across the Atlantic.

In Its Own Voice

"The book had been gnawed at the bottom by Mount Vernon mice, before it reached the State Archives, and nine of the 110 Rules have thus suffered, the sense of several being lost."

Moncure D. Conway describes the fragile physical condition of George Washington's original 1745 manuscript notebook.

"Every action done in company ought to be with some sign of respect to those that are present."

Young Washington transcribes his foundational first rule governing daily social interactions and public consideration.

"Labour to keep alive in your Breast that Little Spark of Celestial fire called Conscience."

The final rule in the manuscript summarizes the core moral objective underlying the entire collection of behavioral guidelines.

What It's Really About

The book explores how external etiquette serves as an instrument for internal moral discipline and social cohesion. Rather than viewing manners as superficial pretension, the text presents civility as an act of empathy that restrains individual arrogance for the common good. By examining how a set of seventeenth-century French Jesuit maxims traveled to a small Virginia classroom, the work illustrates how the deliberate training of youth in self-control, deference, and modesty shapes the ethical foundations of public leaders and democratic institutions.

Why Read It Today

This volume offers a fascinating, unvarnished look into the early education of America’s first president. Readers who enjoy historical detective work will appreciate Conway's meticulous tracking of the text through French and English sources. The book presents a striking contrast to modern instructional literature, offering simple, concrete demands for self-mastery rather than vague advice.

The reading experience balances scholarly commentary with the raw charm of Washington's teenage prose. The manuscript's period orthography—featuring inconsistent capitalization, archaic spellings like "curtesie" and "infirmaties," and eighteenth-century punctuation—requires light patience, but it preserves the authentic voice of a young student at work.

What lingers long after reading is the realization of how deeply daily habits shape personal character. The maxims remind us that genuine civility is not about rigid social posturing, but about cultivating quiet consideration, listening attentively, curbing self-importance, and tending to the quiet demands of conscience in everyday life.