The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-02-15 00:00:00

THE GREAT HORSE DINNER IN
LONDON.

A large dinner was held on Thursday night in last
week, at the Langham Hotel, in London, and it differed
from the preliminary banquet given at Francatelli's
(and which, no doubt, will be fresh in the recollection
of our readers) in several essentials. Both were RUC.
cessful : both converted opponents, confirmed waver.
era, satisfied friends. We get the following particulars
of the banquet from the Dail y News

At the first dinner opponents and waverers were in •
minority, and the party was limited to twenty-two. On
Thursday night the largest room in the Langham was
crammed, and artists, surgeons, physicians, litterateurs,
members of parliament, barristers, club mess, and men a'sout
town assembled to discuss in a fair but decidely impartial
spirit the dishes set before them. There was little to
conciliate beforehand. A guinea and a hall is a full price
for any dinner, and those who paid it probably did so in the
spirit, cynical or otherwise, of gastronomic inquiry. . .
The room was admirable, the tables sufficient; but the
decorations were lii false taste. To transfer the models of
hones' heads from saddlers' shops to a Wising room, and to
hare them grinning with wooden sarcasm while you est the
bodies of their prototypes, is a decidedly dreary joke. To
have these heads some dark-coloured, others grey, and
others again white, as it they were bleached, is a certain
way of provoking criticism and jests which would be better
missed. This is precisely what was done at the Langham
lioteL To the left of our seat a horse's head in harness
loomed from above the doorway the heads of other steeds
were stuck in has relief from the walls to right and left, and
all rejoiced in that peculiar rocking-horse expression with
which every buyer of saddlery is thoroughly familiar.
. . . . ..

We were an eminently good-natured but; of critics Vu'
derlying the inesitable jocularity of the occasion was • deep
feeling that the new food might prove serviceable to the
community, and that it was the duty of all present to givu
It a trial, withour " fear, favour, or affection." So keenly
was this felt, that some earnest philanthropists thought the
jests is the following bill of fare too light, and complained
that a grave philosophic experiment should be ansociated
with either playfuliims or humour. For our own part, it
seems clear that as hone.eating is not put forward as •
religion, but a useful social adjunct, stern criticism is mis-
placed, and this was evidently the feeling of the great bulk
of the company. A strong disposition to be pleased; that
great desideratum in a pleat, the willingness to take • fa-
voidable view, was plainly soundest, and from the soup,
which was excellent, to the hors &mows, which were un-
exceptionable, the verdict, se far as we heard it, was unani-
mously favourable. The following carte was ornamented
with sporting pictures as a border. Homes' heads in gilt
crowned it. Guns, game, hags, sportsmen, and hounds
decorated it; and it WAS, perhaps, perused more eagerly and
Its different "pointy," such as " Purge de destriers," " Le
filet de Pegase,- " L'Aloyau de cheval farci, ' were dwelt on
with more curiosity than is often excited by a billet tare.
We give this carte without abbreviation.
" Les prejuges lout des maladies de l'esprit hornets."
AIEN U.
in rrA.F.S.
Le consomme de chevalA_P Al 3 C. Ala puree de destrlcre.

AMONTILLADO.
PODISONS._

Lei Mete de soles I nano
hlppophagique.
VIN DE RHIN.
110133 DIEU VRES.
Les terrines de Tole malcre chevallne&
Les unctuous do cheval aux plstaches Syriagnes.
XERES.
• RELEVES. .

Le saumon A Is sauce-
Arabs.

Le rude Itgase rOti nun porumes de terre A In crPme.
Le dinde aux chataignex
L'Aloyan fie cheval farci A in Centaur nun Choux de Bruxelles.
La culotte de cheval bra sPe nun chevanx-de.frise.
CHA M PACE E SEC.
ENTREES.
Les petits piles A In moidle Ruciphale.
Kromeskys his Gladiateur. Les pnulets geniis a Thippogriffe.
Las longues de cheval A Is Troyeune.
CHATEAU PERAENE.

SECOND SERVICE.
Lea canards 'enrages. Les Pluviers.
VoLNAT.
Les mayonnaises de homard 3 rhulle Eminent.
Les petits pots Ila FrAliclige. Les choux Sean an parmesan.

ENTRENIETS.
La gelhe de plods de cheval au marsaquin.
Les zin.phirs suuUs a rhuile Le gateau viderinalre li
ellevalresque. la Ducroix.
Les teuillantiues sax pommel des Hesperides.
BT. FERAY.
GLACEi.
De creme sue cutter. Sorbets contre-prilusks.
LIVEns.
DgiSbat
Vies fins de Bordeaux. Madtre.
CAFE.