The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-05-12 00:00:00

The host and hostess ste

formal recepton ensues. Hung.
awaits the summons to dinner, whit;
three quarters of as hoar, for Cie non-pu►zctx4ts, is
announeetl.

thirsty, the guest
fter waiting patiently
last

. ,
The guest is seated ; probably p!aced opposite to a top or
centre dish, the relation of which, to the proportion of those
to eat it, at once absorbs deep abstraction of thought, with
the wonder ho v s diminutive a production can, by any art
or skill on his part be resolved into making the ends of
things meet.
But to return. The company are seated. White and
gravy soups are handed ; so far so good; At top and
bottom, it is observed, are two descriptions of fish ; but the
is in .
supply of each miniature. Something is handed, bat
the helping is almost imperceptible. It must be recollected,
too, that on this day in particular, luncheon has been
specially avoided, and the appetite is keen set. The first
suggestion which occurs to the mind is, that the servant, on
tendering a plate to you, has min?e a mistake, or that
the helping must have been intended for the
parlour cat or the favourite lap-dog, whose dimensions of
rotundity it has been found necessary to keep within
but, no ; a glance round the table gives
prescribed bot;:.',oB
evidence of the fac being otherwise. Courses follow in
t:.
rotation, but the same system s:lf parsimony marks the whole
1.1
procedure ;it is true the table fignrs,v decked with hand-
...
some silver plate; and, in imitation of contleon.— manners, the
dessert is placed upon the table, consisting, at this s,,,L"a
of
the year, of forbidden fruit—(appropriately so tc
applicable to the circumstances)—oranges, apples, bon-bons,
&c., harmonising, but indifferently, with the fat gravy of
the saddle of mutton, hard-bye. Dinner draws to a close,
and the guest still feels that his' mission is entirely incom4
plete ; the last chance is at hand ; and having failed in
securing a sufficient quantity of dead weight, he is obliged
to apply himself in order to "fill up" in obtaining as much
light freight as possible; this is to be found in, what is
termed, the 2nd, or, more probably speaking, the 3rd course,
consisting of Russian and other creams, jelly, pastry, &c.,
a duckling at the bottom, and two or three golden plover at
the top, fora party of sixteen. Then the wine—duringdinner
champagne has been handed (not always tho real thing),
with the addition of sherry; greater impositions are practised
with this wine than any other, and, too often, a very cheap
and indifferent article holds the place of a better one; it is
always understood sherry should have a sort of bitter taste,
and hence great liberties are taken with it, even to the
extent of 303. per dozen first cost. After dinner the decay
taro wry .Ivyrly U.l """ "

med, ab

put V. 4 wove; the claret aria port are
good; this feature is quickly discovered, sometimes to the
dismay and consternation of the host, who finds that ringing
the bell for a fresh bottle is likely to become an onerous
task ; " the feast of reason" (the only plentiful article) and the
flow of soul" are clearly on the increase, but it is observed
there is a lack of a corresponding ratio in the movements of
the host to ring the bell (lOs. or 12s. a bottle may he taken
as the cost of each fresh order). At list, one of the host's most
amiable and intimate friends, seeing how the land lies, sug-
gests an adjournment to the drawing-room. This, perhaps,
is not heard, as the thirsty guests turn a deaf ear to it.
Another voice, from one who evidently feels that each fresh
bottle is like extracting a tooth from mine host, exclaims,
(somewhat heedless of truth), "Is not tea ready ? —we have
had plenty of wine !"

Empty compliments are not calculated to appease
the appetite, nor, indeed, do they offer any mode of
paying the cab fare. By a strict system of miserable
economy, a dozen dinners may thus be given for the cost of
one decently abundant repast; and this is called hospitality,
where a sense of fear, that there may be nothing left for any
other person, inculcates positive abstemiousness and denial,
to a craving appetite.—l am, sir, your obedient servant,
May 5, 1856. SHORTE CUMINS.

LONGFORD ELECTION.—Captain Shuldam has retired
from the contest, and Mr. H. G. Hughes, Q.C., will have a
walk over.

SHERIFF OF LONDON.—We are informed that at a court
of Lord Mayor and Aldermen, held at Guildhall on Mon-
day, John Joseph Mechi, Esq., of Tiptree-hal and
Leadenhall_street, was nominated as sherid for the ensuing
year.

THE PEACE HOLIDAY.—The Lord Mayor is said to be
concerting measures with the committee of bankers, in
London, to make the 29th instant a holiday as well as a
day of rejoicing, and it is intended to urge employers to pay
the wages for that day.
THE NORTHERN FORTS OF SEBASTOPOL.—A letter from
Kamiesch says :—Visits to the northern side of Sebastopol
are made every day, boats plying regularly from one side
of the bay to the other for a small remuneration. The
northern side, however, offers but little that is worth
seeing. The forts are casemated, but in so massive a
manner that it is difficult to conceive how many artillery-
men could remain in them, after some sharp firing, without
beirg suffocated. The Russians always show the utmost
politeness to all visitors from the allied camps.
DISSOLUTIONS OF PARTNERSHIP.—F. T. Goodall and G.
H. Goodall, Manchester, accountants. F. Harper and A.
Caspari, Hulme, Lancashire, fancy confectionsrs. J. Ives,
J. White, and J. Exley, Mexbrough, Yorkshire, coal mas-
ters, W. Hobson and W. B. Hindle, Leeds, estate agents.
G. Grant, R. Gladstone, and A. Kelso, Liverpool, so far as
regards G. Grant. W. Storry and J: Walker, Huddersfield,
grocers. T. Stevenson and T. Cookes, sheffield, brass
founiers. J. Braithwaite, J. H. Braithwaite, and F. H.
Braithwaite, Warrington, Lancashire, tobacco-pipe manu-
facturers. J. Baker and W. Aspinall, Shaweross, York-
shire, cloth washer manufacturers. T. 0. Lingard and C.
J. Townley, Manchester, insurance agents. John Rushforth
and James Rushforth, Bradford, Yorkshire, ironfoundere.
W. Rigby, N. Rigby, and J. Lees, Whittakor, Lancashire,
and Manchester, firebrick manufacturers. H. P. Barry and
J. Parsonage, Sheffield, wine merchants,
PHOTOGRAPHY UNDER WATER.—III this weeks number
of the Journal of the Society of Arts, Mr. Thompson (of
Weymouth) gives an account of the means he adopted
for taking a photograph of the bottom of the sTa ir.
Weymouth Bay, at a depth of three fathoms. It appears
that the camera was placed in a box with a plate-glass
front, and a moveable shutter to be drawn up when the
camera was sunk to the bottom. The camera being
focussed in this box on land for objects in the fore-
ground at about ten yards, or other suitable distance, was
let down from a boat to the bottom of the sea, carrying
with it the collodion plate prepared in the ordinary way.
When at the bottom the shutter of the b as. was raised, and
the plate was thus exposed for about ten minutes. The
box was then drawn into the boat, and the image
developed in the usual manner. A view was thus taken
of the rocks and weeds lying in the bottom of the bay.
Mr. Thompson anticipates that it will be a ready and
ilexpensive means of arriving at a knowledge of the
condition of piers of bridges, piles, structures, and rocks
under water. _ _ _

SMOKING IN RAILWAY TRAINS.-At the Lambeth police
court on Saturday, Mr. G. F. P. Sutton, solicitor to the
Brighton Railway Company, and to the Mercers Company,
was summoned at the instance of the South Western Rail-
way Company for smoking in a railway carriage. The
defendant did not appcar, but sent a note, offering to pay
the penalty and the expense of the summons. Mr. J. H.
Palinen, a clerk in the House of Peers, said on the 14th of
March last he got into a first-class carriage of the 8.5 train,
in which there was but one gentlemar. As soon as the
train began tc move, the gentleman asked him if he had
any objection to his smoking, and he replied that he had.
The gentleman upon this said,
" Oh, I see how it is ; you
got in on purpose, be I shall smoke notwithstanding."
Witness said if he did he should inform the guard, to
which the person replied, he should know what to do, and
immediately lighted his cigar and commenced smoking.
At Vauxhall station he informed the guard, and got into
another carriage). The guard proved that be took the
address of Mr. Sutton, and cautioned him, but that he
smoked after being cautioned. Mr. Elliott inflicted
penalty of 20.5. and costs.

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