10 Pick-Up Lines From History That Wouldn't Work Today
3. "I Like To Keep It In Your Family"
It is very common today for a young man to say, 'I see where she gets her good looks from', or 'you two could be sisters' when meeting his girlfriend's mother for the first time. It is not particularly common, however, for that young man to then attempt to marry as many members of her family as possible. In the 17th century it seems to have been somewhat more acceptable. The 2nd Earl of Manchester was a well-respected politician and an important commander in the English Civil War, but when it came to women, he was either very lazy or weirdly picky. Of his five wives, three were related to the Earl of Warwick, perhaps because of a particularly appealing genetic trait that ran in the family. Who knows. First he married his daughter, then his niece, then when the earl died he married his widow. Warwicks poor elderly mother no doubt wondered when it would be her turn.
