A lady cannot be alone with a gentleman who is not either a very close relative (father, grandfather, brother, uncle) or guardian in a closed room or a closed carriage, or a carriage that either the lady or the gentleman is not driving.
A lady must have a chaperone of some sort (friend, maid, footman) when she is walking with a gentleman.
A lady may not speak with a gentleman if he has not been properly introduced to her.
A lady who must accept a dance offer from a gentleman if she has an open set left. If she does not, she cannot dance that set with another gentleman. Unless, of course, a gentleman strolls up and says, “My dance I believe.” Thus saving her from the man she doesn’t wish to stand up with.
A lady may not dance more than twice in one evening with a gentleman. This could get interesting as there could be as many as four entertainments in one evening.
A lady may ride in a sporting carriage with a gentleman without a chaperone to some place like the Park. She may not take off to Richmond (for example) alone with him.
A lady may not accept jewelry or clothing from a gentleman. She may accept trifles such as flowers, poems, a fan, etc.
#RegencyTrivia #HistoricalRomance #ReadaRegency
ellaquinnauthor
Ella Quinn ~ Author 
Many heroines of Regency romances completely ignore these restrictions! I suppose we wouldn’t have conflict and action if they didn’t. Still, don’t you think more of our heroines should get in trouble for disobeying these social dictums?
My rule is that all my heroines know the rules, and if they decide to break them they understand the consequences. Ergo, the reader does too.
Good reference post. It seems the rules applied only variably to widows who are not married.
The post actually is only for young ladies. I’m not sure there were many rules for widows as long as they were discreet.