The Sun.
London, England, 1870-04-05 00:00:00

RECEPTIONS

It is always a great relief to discover that there are
stages of incapacity and of inferiority below our own.
The Spanish poet who thought himself the most miserable
person in the world discovered another poet making tea
out of the tea-leaves which he had just thrown away.
The hare in the fable was reassured by the flight of the
frogs at his approach, and so by analogy we may hope
and even believe that somewhere or other there exists a
class of entertainments which are more ill-managed than
what ure called English " receptions." It would
be interesting, though dangerous, to discover their
locale, for undoubtedly, after ascertaining in what
point she could deteriorate, the first impulse of
the English hostess would be to act upon the
knowledge thus acquired. In other branches of
study, if we have not made any progress we
have at least been subject to variations. London, as
Macaulay said, has its periodical fits of morality, " Once
in every six or seven years our virtue becomes outrageous."
If the fashions of dress are absurd, at least the absurdities
attract notice to different portions of the human body.
But in the character of receptions but one feature is per-
ceptible—a gentle but persevering decay. We use the
word receptions, instead of parties, with the view of atin-
vestin?; the subject with a little majesty and solemnity
while it is still open to discussion ; for it is quite possible
that some garrulous person will, during the next century,
relate with zest how she had seen a woman who remem-
bered being taken to see her grandmother dress for a poli-
tical reception, and then this heterogeneous institution
will acquire that amount of interest which antiquity gives
to all things which are no longer capable of being
produced. One of the causes at work is doubtless the be-
lief of society, with Dogberry, that "to read and
write comes by nature," and, we may add, the
knowledge of most arts. Man is born able to
dance, the result of which apophthegm and the belief in
it may be found in the infliction of a long series of kicks
upon the unhappy partner of the escaped undergraduate
or Eton boy, till the suffering uncle regrets the existence
of vacations and holidays. Grammar is self-evident, and
the consequence is the production of those strange vul-
garisms In the letters of writers of all classes, with
examples of which the newspapers teem. Special phrases
may be deemed slang, but a misuse of ordinary verbs and
a complete ignorance of concords can hardly merit that
appellation. Every child knows French, yet by some
strange infelicity there• are' not above ten Englishmen
living who are able to talk the language fluently and cor-
rectly. Conversation, indeed, is perfected, unless by
chance the object in view be the interchange of
ideas, and not the expressions of assent and dis-
sent. Therefore, perhaps it is no wonder that decade
after decade sees the gradual extinction of the salon
that one generation appeals to Holland House, another to
Cambridge House, but no one has the courage to quote
any existing specimen ' • there is a faint confession that the
race has almost passed away, and yet in the midst of cries
for the employment of women an obvious outlet for some
superfluous ability is opened. All possible arts and
sciences are ingredients in the making of the ideal hostess ;
and even these would be useless had the fairies at her
birth withheld the gift of tact, which disposes and applies
them. It would be something if even a few attempts
were made. But what takes place at the present moment
is hardly to be dignified with the name of an attempt or
a failure. One might as well call a modern portrait a
failure, which never in any state suggested the conception
of a picture. A failure implies an original, a standard,
an attempt, and is only second to success. What the
hostess of 1870 is pleased to call an evening party almost
baffles definition. A few salient facts may be glanced at,
but there is little that is tangible. The common type
seems to be the result of an accident, and that not a
happy one. We cannot imitate Continental manners,
and the repugnance of Englishmen and Englishwomen to
being introduced to one another is an insuperable objec-
tion to attempts of this kind. In proportion, too, to the
smallness of the numbers is the difficulty of egress, for
which every facility ought to be afforded by the English
hostess. On the other hand, some degree of sympathy
must be felt for her. Nothing can be more impos-
sible than to make a silk purse out of the constituents
of an ordinary party. The motives which urge them to
leave their houses are varied in the extreme. The three
following classes always have a certain number of repre-
sentatives—young men who wish to make acquaintances;
women who, having two or more unmarried daughters,
will brave the most cruel of east winds, and go anywhere
at any time ; and lastly, a small number of persons who
can think of no other way of spending that difficult hour
which intervenes between a dinner and a ball. For them
the present supply is good enough, and nothing better can
be expected. Competition might effect something, for
the attention paid by the roturierswho burst upon society
to the suppers at their balls is of great use in raising the
general standard. The blasé man in one of Disrael's
novels gives as an excuse for dining at a country inn that
he "is so tired of good wine." He could not complain of
such a state of things at the present day. In the absence
of all other merits the character of the food becomes an
important item, and any improvement must
be hailed with satisfaction. To sum up, what
is most wanted in this matter is a confession
of incapacity ' • a sense of shame would be an invaluable
auxiliary. The neglect of ordinary duties, so far from
rising to the dignity of originality, falls to the level of
commonplace stupidity. The use of names is to distin-
guish, not to confound the owners of them. Society does
not mean the aggregation of individuals. Though we do
not live to eat, at any rate we do not eat to live. Such-
are some of the simplest rules for the guidance of those
who with good intentions practise wild civility, and who
inveigle human beings into their houses under false pre-
tences. We appeal to anyone who is conversant with
the salons of even small • Continental towns whether
we gain by comparison with them, and whether
animal spirits do not sink to zero upon entering the
half-lighted London drawing-room, in. order to be a frac-
tional part of what the hostess is pleased to call " small
and early "—strange epithets, which apply to the house
as much as to the character of the entertainment. The
first sensation of pleasure is probably due tohe discovery
of a back staircase, down which a perilons escape may be
effected. Yet society should not consist in hairbreadth
adventures. The tendency is to hurry everything. If
some great singer cannot be induced to come, Punch.and
Judy supply his place at the last moment. The sensation
of thinking and the labour of talking must be destroyed,
and an evening party may in time resemble the stage pro-
cession of a company of ill-dressed supernumeraries.
Perhaps even this hypothesis of its future.existence mar
seem to some the result of a too sanguine m—Baturday
Review.

The TOWS Is authorised to contradict absiately
..he statements which have appeared as to the reasons for
the present closing of the Guards' Club-house. The total
liabilities are said to amount to one-tenth only of the
yearly income.
The lerench Prime Minister is a candidate for the
eat in the Academy vacant by the death of Lamartine.
ft is stated, however, that pleading the official demands
pon his time, M, 011ivier has not followed the course,
aitherto regarded as indispensable, of calling personally
ipon. each member of the Academy and soliciting his vote.

The National Union of Conservative and Consti-
mtional Associations has arranged to hold its annual
.inference in York on Wednesday in Easter week, when
relegates from the numerous Working Men's Conserva-
.lve Associations in the kingdom are expected to be
,resent. The Earl of Feversham is to be President of
:he Conference.
Mrs. M‘Farland keeps -very secluded at her house
in Massachusetts. Reporters are constantly endeavour-
ing to interview her, hut she hides herself in the garret,
while her mother does battle at the front door.

The strike at Creuzot seemed at one time to be
decreasing but it has since assumed formidable propor-
tions, and great violence has been displayed. The women
have taken a prominent part in the affair, arid reproach
their husbands, brothers, and sour; for the tame manner
in which they have acted. The men on strike have con-
signed their powers to seven delegates who demand that
the miners shall receive five francs a day. A squadron
of Lancers has arrived, and more troops are shortly ex-
pected. M. Schneider will, it is said, receive the delegates
from the men on strike.
Too BAD.—The Daily News says that a practical
joke of a harmless kind has been played off in Wales. It
being known that the bishopric recently vacant would pro-
bably be filled up by the appointment of a Welsh clergy-
man able to hold an ordination in his native tongue, every
local Boanerges, from Holyhead to Cardiff, became at once
agape. And no doubt, if the ability to take a conspicuous part
at an Eisteddfod were all that was wanted in a Welsh
bishop, many of these gentlemen had a very good claim.
Some of them, however, who were indiscreet enough to
express their disappointment at the fact that the piece of
preferment in question had not been awarded as they
themselves could have desired, have received by postd a
lawn pocket-handkerchief, with a deep mourning borer,
and in each corner a bishop's mitre reversed, with the
motto. " Paradise Lost." encircling it.
A Bristol paper says that a variety or rumours are
current respecting the petition against the return of Mr.
Robinson. One is to the effect that the effort to obtain
evidence has proved so fruitless that a 21,000 cheque,
given by " a lady," as the secnrity, and now held by a
prominent mover in the matter, is to be returned forth-
with, and the proceedings abando
id Another is to the
effect that a section of the party loos upon the movement
so coldly that it has been deemed desirable not to
proceed.
The Freeman's Journal says that a crucial test is
preparing for all parties with reference to the Land Bill,
which will at least develops the animus of the Govern-
ment„ if it do nothing else. Having refused to extend
the Ulster custom to the rest of Ireland, the Government
will be asked to allow such Irish gentlemen as may desire
it to create a parliamentary tenant-right, such as that
suggested by Mr. Gregory in his speech on the
second reading, and embodied in amendments by Sir
John Gray in some of the notices already published.
James Lowe, a convict at Melbourne, has confessed
to a murder committed at Bridgnorth 27 years ago. He
informed a fellow convict that he shot Wiggins, and threw
the gun into the hole under the shearing bush in the river
Severn. He was arrested for the offence at the time, and
committed to gaol, but escaped at the time. In commu-
nicating these circumstances to the Police authorities at
Whitehall, the Chief Commissioner at Melbourne asks to
be informed whether the evidence now available renders
it expedient to proceed against the alleged offender.
The Echo says it is generally reported that when
Lerd Clarendon appears for examination as a witness
before the Diplomatic and Consular Services
Committee, he will be pressed with the question
which was put to Mr. Hammond as to the
disposal by the Foreign Office of the Secret Service
Money. "Ifhe is asked whether any portion of it is ex-
pended in pensions, we do not see how he can be tho-
roug,+dy justified in refusing to give an answer. NATa
believe that a portion of the money is spent in this way,
and there is an obvious impropriety and no bcmfil
iiitAteyer in allowing such patronage to be secret,"

OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE BOAT RACK;

(THIS DAY.)
PUTNEY, Tuesday, Noon..

We are on the eve of the great boat rt tce, and
opinions vary ro as to the probable result that we
long ,for the finish at Mortlake, and set at rest the
doubts and fears that take possession of some of our
minds. The Cautabs are certainly being heartily
backed for genuine money, but the Oxford trial
seems to have given great satisfaction to those in the
secret; and however confident the supporters of the
light blue may be, the backers of Oxford must have
more if they lay 6 to 4 and 11. to 8, as they are doing
now.

To-day is the day of rest for the crews, who only
have taken some geatle exercise, while Putney is in
a state of commotion, and all along the line of con-
test barges are being moored, stands erected, and
every preparation made to accommodate sightseers.
At Putney, Mr. Lord, the surveyor of the Thames
Conservancy, is busy at work, and the police, under
Mr. Inspector Hayes, of the V Reserve, are barri-
cading the tow-path, so as to do away with the in-
tolerable nuisance of equestrians annoying and
injuring the foot passengers.
Both crews are quite well and very sanguine.
Although Oxford have won for the last nine years,
and many persons think that a Cambridge victory
will be a kind of

" Rara avis in terris, nigroque simillima cygno,"

. _
a sort of prodigy, we are not so sanguine as they.
Oxford has become a household word with them, but
we must give the Cantabs their due; they have worked
hard, and very many who for years found fault with
their rowing have now come forward among the
number of their supporters.
Theweights remain unaltered, and the start will
take place about a quarter to five from off the Star
and Garter.

.
PUTNEY, Monday Afternoon.

. •
Both crews have been Out this afternoon, the
Oxonians, under the care of Mr. F. "Milan, as far as
Hammersmith," and the Cantabs, half an hour later,
under Mr. Geo. Morrison.
The Oxford crew went at racing pace, about 39
strokes per minute, and on the way home against the
last of the flood were eased several times, and ex-

hibited better form than ever ; the same too must
be said of their opponents, who rowed more leisurely
at about 36, their trainer evidently thinking they
were in capital trim without more hard work.
Cambridge partisans are very sanguine, and are
picking up all the 6 to 4 bets they can get hold of.
There will be no hard work to-morrow, being the
day prior to the race.
Betting 6 to 4 and 11 to 8 on Oxford, taken freely.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

TATTERSALL'S—LAST EVENING.
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE STAKES.
100 to 30 agat Briton (taken)
7 to 2 agst Midsummer (taken)
9 to 2 agst Douglas (taken and offered)
7to 1 agst Falkland (offered)
10 to 1 agst Free Trade (taken and offered)
25 to 1 agst Clemence (offered)
30 to 10 agst Douglas with start (taken)
EARL SPENCER'S PLATE.
100 to 15 agat Orphan (taken)
7to 1 agst Douglas (offered—take 8 to 1)
100 to 8 agst Albuera (taken)
100 to 8 agst Catamaran (taken)
100 to 6 agst Sunflower (taken)
25 to 1 agst Tripthong (taken)
CHESTER CUP.
3to 1 agst Sabinus (taken and offered)
1000 to 60 agst Siderolite (taken and offered)
18 to 1 agst Glenfalloch (taken to £150)
.33 to .1 agst P.ho3bui(taken)
40 to 1 agst John Davis (taken)
40 to 1 agst Wild Plower (taken)
BOAT RACE.
CO to 50 on Oxford (taken and offered)

_
• • TWO THOUSAND.
sto 2 agst Kingcraft (offered)
9to 1 agst Astolfo (taken and offered)
10 to 1 agst Stanley (taken and offered)
10 to 1 agst Camel (taken and offered)
20 to 1 agst Normanby (offered)
1000 to 60 agst Claudius (taken and offered)
1000 to 60 agst King o' Scots (taken and offered)
25 to 1 agst Asterope (taken)

DERBY.
Bto 1 agst Kingcraft—(taken to £200)
10 to 1 agst Camel (taken)
16 to 1 agst Sunshine (offered)
100 to 6 agst Stanley (offered)
20 to 1 agst Captivator (taken)
25 to 1 agst Astolfo (taken and offered)
25 to 1 agst Exciseman (taken and offered)
2000 w 80 agst King o' Scots (taken)
25 to 1 agst Bridgewater (taken and offered)
1000 to 30 agst Palmerston (taken)

SCRATCHINGS.—Benbow, Anlace, Ladas, Panopticon, and
all Mr. Gilby's horses, out of Northampton engagements.
The following are the " tips" for to-morrow :
W EDNESDAY.--6T. LIZ HANDICAP,—BeII's Life, Field,
and Sunday Times—Miss Dayrell or Thor. Sporting Life
—Miss Dayrell or Jewel. Sporting Gazette—Miss Dayrell
or Scarboro'. Sporting Eimes—Dunbar, Thor, or Lady
Blanche filly. Era—Miss Dayrell or Adelaide.
EARL SPENCER'S PLATE.—Bell's Trip-
thong, Orphan, or Douglas. Sporting Life—Plttd or
Douglas. Sporting Gazette—Douglas, Prato, or Salliet.
Add—Bosworth, Orphan, or Sunflower. Sporting Times
—Anlace or" Mount Pleasant Sunday Times—Orphan,
Douglas, or Patti. Era—Vex or Me.
ALTHOEP PARK STAKES (Handicap, for three-yr-olds).
—Sorting Gazette—Newsman, Algeria, or Simplon.—
Field—Cruiskeen'or Algeria. Sporttng Times—Simplon.
Sunday Times—Newsman or Algeria. Era—Newsman.
WAKEFIELD LAWN STAKES.—BeII's Life—Lord of the
Valley or April Morn. Field—Knutsford or April Morn.
Sporting Gazette—Badsworth. Sporting Times—April
Morn. Sunday Times—April Morn or Bachsworth. _ - _