Star.
London, England, 1827-02-06 00:00:00

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[PlucE SEVENPENCE.
EVENING FEBAttAity 6, 1827.
TUESDAY
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might pass a winter in London. Don't shake the bottle,
and draw the cork gently—he has been seven years
confined—there's a bouquet, old boy, and a bee's wing ;
none of your hard-crusted, port for me ;.—there is
strength without brandy—flavour without thickness ;
smack your lips,the second bottle will be better- anal,let
me tell you. there is no head-ache in a hogsl.ead ohly
Is. 3J. You understand these are tavern prices; you
can buy all these wines 20 per cent. less ate as -chant's ;
and if you go beyond the Barriers, where the city duty
of 21. lOs. a hogshead on all wine that comes into Lis-
bon is pad, you can have them still cheaper. the Por-
tuguese wine is generous, palatable, and stomachic.—
The dark eyes of the women, and the light price of the
grape, will in time reconcile one to the country.
The two Officers on whose account I have taken all
this trouble, were obliged to dine at the tavern, in con-
sequence of the poor accommodations which have n
provided for them in their quarters. Even the Guar
the Hussars, and the Lancers, are so badly tented, tb t
many of their proud Commanders are already oblicid
to submit to all the sorry expedients which they are
introduced to in that *coarse of a campaign, and
which you always find a soldier pretend to turn
into ridicule, from the dread of meeting with it from
others. They are compelled to draw rations, which
two or three will let accumulate for four or five OM
in o der to make up a joint. Then, there bring no tegu-
lar mess-table, .these threp form a club, and dine to-
gether in style, with beef and gieens on Monday; hied
and carrots on Tuesday; beef and. brocoli on Wednes-
day ; beef and potatoes on Thursday; beef and salad
on Friday ; and bare beef on Saturday. Oil Sunday we
all dine out. The Gentleman who can cook is a d.r-d
clever fellow—every one, perhaps, can make a soap,
but he that can manage to Wail a steak on the tome
and toss a pancake on a fire-shovel, must be made a
Major in the next brevet. Very few of the Portuguese
Nobility have paid attention to our Officers. Lord
Emilius Beauclerc,SirWzn. A'Court, and Mr. Matthews,
the Consul General, give frequent dinners, and make
up as much as possible for the neglect of the natives.
Lord Emilius, the Admiral, receives them on board the
flag-ship with a pressure and warm hospit4lity so be..
coming an English Nobleman and British sailor. Sir
William, the Ambassador, opens, almost every day,
his fine hotel in the Rua Francisco, to dinner parties, to
which not only the Officers of rank, but every Gentle-
man properly introduced at Lisbon. is invited. Polities
apart, the attention which Sir William A'Court pays to
British subjects deserves most honourable mention ; and
strangers have also much reason to thank the Gentle-
men of the Embassy for their politeness. Mr. Matthews,
who occupies one of the most princely houses in Lisbon,
in the Rua Formosa (the beautiful street, in reality tke
ugliest, though some palaces are in it), is also forward
in receiving his friends, public characters. and strange,*
presented to him by letter. At each of those tables the
good things of English, French, and POrruguese living
are combined, as well as the best wines of the latter
country. The wine is circulated freely during dinner
and the dessert ; but it is not the custom to indulge in
it for more than an hour after the substantials are re.
mov • At eight o'clock coffee is brought in, and then
th company form parties either at music or cards, go
t the opera, or dispose of the evening as they please.
e higher English dine at six o'clock, the Admiral at
half-past tour—hours not to be understood by the na-
tives, who dine, even the Regent and Princesses, at two.
. If you have private lodgings, you breakfast at home,
and go out to dinner at the Coxa do Pasta, or eating-
house, which answers to our tavern or the Paris restau-
rateur. Tae best is over the cafe Nicolo, in the square
of the Bosch), a place not tar from the Exchange. It
contains several small rooms, each having a long table,
at which the guests sit down indifferently, stranger near
stranger. The waiter brings you a list of dishes with
the prices marked to each—you select, suppose, a soup
with Maccaroni, a boilli, rout pork (the best description
of meat in Portugal), boilecttongue, and end with apple
fritters and cheese, taking a pint of Lisbon red wine at
dinner, and a bottle of the real supernaeolum of as fine
old Port as the best hotel in London. I mean you and
a friend do all this, for temperance is a necessity as

" Get dinner for two, d—n your eyes—any thing at
all—have it ready in an hoer," was the order I heard
given by two young, very young, Officers of 'our army
yesterday at the tavern. The waiter, with his best bow,
had handed them the bill of fare. Not understanding
Portuguese, both looked at the list for tin instant, then
thundered out their commands, and left the room.—
Manuel, not comprehending Englbh, .tared after them
in amazement. They came back in an hour—no dinner
was got ready—they d—d Lisbon again, and would
have h .d nothing but a d—n for dinner, had not a per-
son present interfered, and told the waiter what they
wanted. Lest you, my kind reader, should have to
come to Portugalrd meet the same annoyance, I take
it on myself to spew you how to choose your meal.—
In the first place, you must nut lose your appetite, be.
cause the entrance to the Cue do Pasta (house of eating)
is just as abominable as the passage to every other
house in Lisbon—perhaps within a few doors the porch
is occupied, though it opens to a man of fortune's mi.
dome, with three or four operative cobblers, who stitch?
spit, and hammer quite independent of the owner; and
should you turn up your nose, because, in the corner of
your case, is a place where " commit no nuisance" is
' not written, or because on the first stair a black beggar
and his family are particularly obliging to each other
—clear the stairs with a good heart, enter the first floor
front rooms—l assure you I have brought you to th
first house in Lisbon, both in reputation and realit .
You n ill complain that the waiter does not give you
napkin, nor a silver fork. The former you can get,
as white as snow by calling for it—the latter it is
not the custom of Lisbon to use—evert at tables
above the common run you do not see them.—
There is salt, powdered cheese, French mustard, Engt
lisp mustard, oil, vinegar, and black pepper before you.
—After you have fared well and subdued a bottle of
the common wine at dinner, and, as a true Briton,
another of good port after it, you descend to the cafe,
where a cup of excellent coffee and a little glass of
brandy, both for three halfpence, make you quite
comfortable and fit for the Opera, or the society of
your friends in the evening. Believe no one that tells
you you will be annoyed with garlic or onions; the
cookery, though not equal to the French, is is good as
our Haymarket houses. Whatever opinion you may
have formed of your dinner, you are certain to be
pleased with the wine. The common sorts of Portugal
are as much superior to those of France as they are in-
ferior in [nice. No doubt your grand Bordeaux claret
is better, as well as dearer, than our humble port. Your
Burgundy and Champagne, as yet, we certainly can-
not touch, but, for all that can clear the head, please
the palate, and strengthen the system, our ordinary
wines are before yours without comparison. The
cheapness, too, is all in our favour. Port wine has had
a name in England, to the prejudice of other Porte•
guese red wines. We shall by-and-by find oat that
there are qualities as good at half or one-third of the
price, which will suit us just as well in their pure state
as they do at present mixed and adulterated, and
charged one hundred per cent. above what they ought
to be. The seine every body drinks at dinner, in small
goblets, is the birsho do Form, wine of the country,
which you get at the first tavern for sd. a bottle. It
has body and flavour, and, in my opinion, is not ex-
ceeded by the most costly kind. Then you have the
Lavradio, the name of the district where it is made, at
10d. Then the Colorer, which comes from the coast
near Cintra, red and white, at 10d. The red is not
inferior to claret—indeed, some people tell you that it
has more generous qualities, with the agreeable pointed
flavour of claret; the white is not so good—it has the
acid without the spirit. Next is the Barra a Barra,
grown on the bill above the Bar of the Tagus, 10J.
In a clever merchant's hands this rich wine can be
easily passed off as Burgundy. It wants the bouquet
which your Closcosteot exhales, but it possesses the
strength, quantity, gird fulness en the palate.
Tire Carcaredos red, at 101 is also a pleasant liquid ;
the white, at is. Bd. is better and dealer. The Muscatel
is very fine mid toothsom'e, but it is monstrous dear at
3.. 6.1. and so is the Malmsey imported from Madeira,
which would win the heart of any Lady in the land,
i Irons its velvet sweetness, 35.6 d. The Madeira genuine,
flogs your East and West Itaa stocks all to nothing,
at ffs. 61. Lastly comes your old acquaintance, Signe
Porto, with whom, a clear tire, and funny friend, one

well as a virtue in a warm climate. Dinner for two,
with the wine, will amount to 2s. 6d. each; the wise to
a Londoner is worth the money. You tlien descend to
the cafe, and procure a cup of coffee with a glass of
liqueur, for which you pay sixpence, and you go away
as happy as if the streets between you and your lodging
were strewed with roses and violets.

Brussels Papers state, that the Coronation of the
Emperor of RUSSIA, U King of Pow's°, was to take
place early in the Spring atlVarsaw, with great military
pomp and a succession of brilliant fetes.
A letter from La Guayra, of the 29th November, to
a firm in this town, of which we have been favOured
with the perusal. contains the following passage, worthy
of attention :—" It is supposed that a two years' supply
of English goods is actually in Venezuela, with the ea-
ception of particular wants. The great means of Eng-
ligh merchants have induced them to over-do things.
If a small assortment pays 100 per cent. which it often
does when well selected. they have therefore argped
that its duplicate, and even au increase upon it, would
I do still better, and the profits of the first have been sunk
in the second speculation. These markets cannot be
I forced, and must not be overflowed, and then a profit-
able business will be carried on ; because when leisurely
bought, produce can be gradually gathered at paces
which will not only save exchange, but pay a profit.
The importers have, however, lost their advantages by
selling at long credits, and when the produce came in
they could not buy it of first hands; when, therefore,
they wished to remit by a vessel for England, it has
been by credit purchases made at an advance from
second hands.Of Cloths not more than five pieces of
each of the favourite colours, say blue, black, scarlet,
bottleween, and claret, should at any one time be sent
hither ; yet a consignment of 125 pieces byre and Mace
was lately received here. No other qualities than those
of very light texture, and of 235. to 28s. per yard in
England will sell, yet the consignment was of thick
coarse cloths; the goods were most prudently reship.
ped." This is One out of *many instances of injurious
shipments to this country.

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