] The total absence of any do's or don'ts in my mind suggests to me that people didn't worry too much about whether one did, or did not, talk with one's mouth full. But I could be wrong on this.

I can't think of an instance in any of the novels where JA describes a character as talking with a mouth full of food. Can anyone else?

However, at dinner at the Netherfield Ball in P&P2, Mrs. Bennet's embarrassing (and loud) comment that Jane is likely to catch Mr. Bingley soon, which will throw her sisters into the path of 'other rich men', is spoken with her mouth full of food. Mrs. Bennet's comments are in the novel, but not the food-filled mouth. I suppose the mouth-full-of-food delivery was a choice of either the actress or the director, to underscore the grossness of Mrs. Bennet's remarks. It certainly looks un-genteel to 21st century audiences - but based on Caroline's perusal of the etiquette books, maybe real-life Regency people wouldn't have thought so?

J. Dillehay, where else have you seen this, and do you think it is being used in the films to characterize unsympathetic characters like Mrs. Bennet? I haven't seen any of the adaptations besides P&P2 so I could be way off here.

But.... I just can't BEAR to think of Darcy and Lizzie together at Pemberley, shouting at each other across the table with their mouths full of dinner! ;-)