As a schoolboy in Virginia, George Washington took his first steps toward greatness by hand copying a list of 110 "Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation." Based on a 16th-century set of precepts compiled for young gentlemen by Jesuit instructors, the Rules of Civility were one of the earliest and most powerful forces to shape America"s first president. Most of the Rules are concerned with details of etiquette, offering pointers on such issues as how to dress, walk, eat in public and address one"s superiors. But these maxims are much more than "mere" etiquette; they address moral issues, but indirectly. They seek to form the inner man (or boy) by shaping the outer. This edition of the Rules, which Moncure D. Conway compiled a century and a half after Washington wrote them, are taken from his original papers. Conway"s research results in a collection that includes not only 110 maxims, but their histories and origins as well. His detailed...