Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1826-09-11


agreeing without struggle to a dinner. But
sucb is man. Not wife in the whole parish OF
bloomsbury but knows, that in most matrimo-
NAL struggles c'est lie premier pas gun coufe, and
that as rat hole will let in water enough to
ruin dixie, so woman, if she can once lnsln-
uate the point OF her tongue into crevlce In
her husbands obstinacy, will soon drive coach
and six through his opposition. D'aiAears, Stub
shaw liked a good dinner himself; he had
choice batch of claret in his cellar; that wanted
nothing but drinking: and was possessed OF a
magnificent service Of plate, with pompous IN
scriptions TO his own praise and glory, from an
insurance company, whose charter he haa pro-
fessionally forwarded through stormy oppo-
sit;on in the House Of Commons. No difficult
~ therefore remained but to fill up the table
DWELL" said Mr. S. advancing in his turn his
claim 10 nomination, "won't you ask some OF
those friends to whom you saw we owe SO
mucb3 What say you to the Ihoms, or the
Turnpennys? There is no one sets oil a party
half so much as pretty Mrs Jenkinson, with her
bright ewes and her diamond drops Not the
Thoms, my dear, this time They go out four
in family, and what can we do with two thin,
hole faced, addressed idiots taking up the ia
bic? The rurnpennys, indeed, might do; but
IL,
piye mauvais ton to the whole entertainment.
AS for Mrs. Jenkins, as she's your favorite,
we'll have her by all means, if her husbands on
circuit, but he, poor man, is absolutely not pre-
senta6le. l think the Dunstanvilies and dear La
DIV Betty would do much better. 10 be sure,
Lady b. is good soul, and would not mind be-
ing left out at dinner, if there was any body vsry
particular to take her place. What think you
of Sir Whirligig Logarithm! He talks ma
thematics to the blues, and fox-hunting to the
philosophers, and is at every thing that is good.
should indeed prefer the Rev. Peter Plimpton,
but he'll certainly not come Very good, Mrs.
Stubshaw, very good, said Mr.. 5. thereby
meaning very bad,-'you quite forget the Red
tails, with whom we have dined three times
running; and he, besides, is very useful to me
in the way of business 'Oh, Mr.. S. ask an at
torney to meet such company, impossible! The
poor creatures themselves too, would know no.
body; and then what will you do with his squint-
ing wife, who will commit the false heraldry OF
placing flowers upon feathers, which go toge-
Their as i'll as her singing the Minstrel boy
does with the accompaniment she plays one key
in the bass and another in the treble mo, dear
Stu5by-no Redtails, if you love ne
In this manner the Jones', the Ihoms, the
Jenkinsons, the Babcocks, The Hickerthrfts, &
the Turnpennys, were successfully put in no.
mination, and rejected, for some mode OF other
of that CONSTITUTIONAL offence mGuraiS Ion, so
diEicelt to define, so impossible to pardon; Mrs.
Stubshaw declaring that anconUenance was the
greatest fault person could possess in society;
and persisting, with something like show OF
reason, that the harmonizing OF guests requires
as much tact and nicely as the assortment OF CO.
lors in the furniture of room, or a ball dress.
Nothing could be finer than the dinner, which
followed with the strictest nicely, the prescrlb-
ed rules. Four chased silver wine coolers, drip
ping with dew, stood Gentry at the four corners
of the table, while detachment of two, kept
watch and ward over the pink and white cham
paipn on each side Of the plateau. There were
two SOUPS, white and brown, removed by tur-
bot and salmon, and these again by stewed
turkey. and roast saddle Of mutton. There
were the usual coleIettes, and the customary pat
ties. There was fiicaudeau, bristling like
quilts upon frefu porcupine,' with sweet
breads to match on opposite corners There
we're wild fowl and game, and sea-kale and JON
du and charlotte, and caramel edihces, which beat
the tower Of Babel or the new churches IN ke-
peut-street, 'all Lombard street to an egg-shel'
Then there were ices and pines, and Creme de
Peko and preserved ginger:-eVery thing, IN
short. which makes one dinner as like another
as the daily courses Of the mutton eating collie
gers Of Eton Every body was fashionably late,
except the dining lord, who was punctual-the
dandyr who came in with the woodcocks-the
Lady Seraphina Duns,anvile, who did not come
at all. For such arrangement of time and OPP
portunity Mrs. Stubshaw's cook was not pre-
pared; her mutton consequently was scarcely
warm through, for like the man who would have
written shorter letter if he had more time, she
would have roasted her meat enough, had she
been more pressed for punctuality. Fin re0anehe,
the woodcocks were burnt to cinder, and the
whole economy of the serving so deranged as
almostto verify Quin's sarcastic description OF
dinner, of which he said, the soup was cold,
the ice hot, and every thing sour in the house
except the vinegar Such being the physique,
the arrangement of the morale was in perfect
keeping with it.
The most rigid etiquette being observed in
the "order of their going" TO the dinner par
lour the guests were hot seated either according
to previous acquaintance, or 10 the similarity
of their tastes. Particular care, indeed, was
taken that husbands should not sit near their
wives, and that ladies and gentlemen should al
ternate. like beef and bread on pile OF sand
IlAs