While using napkins in connection with eating a meal has been around for over 600 years, it wasn't until the mid-1700's that napkins were placed across the lap. Prior to that time, the fashion in the French court was for men to wear stiff ruffled collars, and napkins were tied around the neck to protect the lace. (This also makes a lot of sense when you consider the lace falls men would wear, as modeled by His Majesty, King Louis Roman Numeral Something or Other.) His Emperial Ettiquetteness was the first to use formal, individual place settings with designated utensils at Versailles, and napkins went from small-blanket-sized to the now standard 30"x36". They were folded and placed across diners' laps in rank order, most-important person to least. As with most fashionable activities, aristocratic classes in European countries followed the French.
It is likely, however, that for the lower classes napkins would still be regularly tied around the neck, even for the following 100+ years. For Jean, he might tie the napkin around his neck to protect his uniform, or he might put it across his lap as a learned, deliberate mannerism. Miss Julie is more likely to automatically put a napkin on her lap without conscious thought.
Source: http://whatscookingamerica.net/EllenEaston/Napkins-History.htm
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