Eastern times., 1855-09-13
Wtstellanp.
Royalty at Table.

and service of what he called listening lac
queys. His taste was not an imperial one
He loved, and most frequently ordered, for his
own especial enjoyment, soup with four cab
bages in it; Cruel pig, with sour cream for
sauce; cold roast meat, with picked cucum-
bers, or salad lemons and lampreys; salt
meat, ham and Limbaugh cheese. Previously
to addressing himself to the 'consummation' Of
this supply, he took glass of aniseed water.
At his -epast he quailed quass, a sort of beer,
which would have disguised an Egyptian
and he finished with Hungarian or French
wine. All this was the repast of man who
seemed, like the nation of which he was the
head, in transition state, between barbarism
and civilization; beginning dinner with cab
bage water, and closing the banquet with COB
lets of Burgundy.
Peter and his consort had stranger tastes
than these. This ilustrious pair once arrived
al Stuthof, in Germany, wheve they claimed
not only the hospitality Of the table, but a
refuge for the night The owner of the coun-
try house at which they sought to be guests
was Herr Schoppenhauer, who readily
agreed to give up 10 them a small bedroom,
the selection of which had been made by the
emperor himself 1t was room without a
stove or fireplace, had a brick floor, the walls
were bare; and the season being that of rig
orous winter, a difficulty arose as to warming
this chamber. The host soon solved the diff
ficulty. Several casks of brandy were emp
tied on the floor, the furniture being first re
moved, and the spirit was then set fire to-
The czar screamed with delight as he saw the
sea of flames, and smelt the odor of the
Cogniac. The fire was no sooner eXtin-
gushed than the bed was replaced, and Peter
and Catherine straightway betook themselves
TO their repose. and not only slept profoundly
all night in this gloomy bower, amid the
fumes and steam OF burnt brandy, but rose in
the morning thoroughly refreshed and delight
ed with their couch, and the delicate vapors
which had curtained their repose.
The emperor was pleased, because when an
emergency had presented itself, provision TO
meet il was there at hand. Napoleon loved
TO be so served at his tables when in the field
He was irregular in the hour of his repasts,
and he ate rapidly and not over deicately.-
The absolute will which he applied 10 most
things, was exercised also in matters apper-
tanning to the appetite. As soon as sensa-
tion of hunger was experienced, it must be ap-
peased and his table service was so arranged
that, in any place and at any hour, he had but
TO give expression to his will, and The slaves
Of his word promptly set before him roast
fowls, outlets, and smoking coffee. lie dined
off mutton before risking the battle at Leipsic !;
and it is said that he lost the day because he
was suffering so severely from indigestion that
he was unable to arrange, with sufficient cool
ness, the mental calculations which he was
accustomed to make as helps to victory.
As Napoleon, the genius of war, was served
in the field Louis XIV, the incarnation of sell
fishness and vice, was served in his mistress s
bower. That bower, built at Choisy for
Pompadour, cost millions but it was one Of
the wonders of the world. For the royal en-
tertainments, there were invented those little
tables called Servants, or walters : they
were mechanical contrivances, that immortal
lied the artis, Loriot At Choisy, every
guest had one of these tables to himself
No servant stood by to listen, rather than lend
aid Whatever the guest desired to have, he
/ had but 10 write his wish on a paper, and
touch a spring, when the table sunk through
the flooring al his feet, and speedily reap
peared, laden with fruits, with pastry, or with
wine, according to the order given. Nothing
had been seen like this enchantment in France
before and nothing like il, il is hoped, will
ever be seen there or elsewhere. again. The
guests thought themselves little gods, and
were not jot more reasonable than Augustus
and his companions, who sat down to dinner
attired as deites.
/ Perhaps Louis XIV, never looked so little
like king as when he dined or supped in
public-a peculiar manifestation of his kingly
character. The Parisians and their wives
used to hurry down to Versailles on Sunday.
to behold the feeding of the beast which it cost
them so much to keep. On these occasions
he always had boiled eggs before him. He
was uncommonly dexterons in decapitating the
shell by single blow from his fork and this
feat he performed weekly at his own table, for
the sake of the admiration which it excited in
the cockney beholders. But an egg broken by
the king, or Damiens broken alive upon the
wheel and torn asunder by wild horses,
was sight gazed upon, even by the youthful
fair, with a sort of admiration for the execu-
toner.
The glory of the epicureanism of Louis XIV.
was his magic table, and the select worthless
people especially invited to dine with him
thereat In 1880 the countess of Oberkirch
saw this table, even then relic and wreck o
the past. She and a gay party of great peo-
pie, who hoped that God had created the
world only for the comfort of those whom he
had honored by allowing TO be born noble
paid visit 'to the apartments of the late king
in the Tuilleries. There, among other things
she saw the-celebrated magic table, the springs
of which, she says, 'had become rusty from
dsuse.' The good lady, who had not tn,
slightest intention in the world to be satirical