Betrayed by one’s manners

This is an old maxim by which a person’s upbringing and values can be ascertained. It is often attributed to William of Wykeham whose motto was, “manners maketh man”. The concept, however, of being betrayed by one’s manners was first coined by Edmund Spenser in his epic poem The Faeirie Queene (1590) “For a man by nothing is so well betrayed, as by his manners.” To this day, manners, especially table manners, reveal considerable information.