Polynesian., 1855-02-03

Dinner HoURs.-In Henry WIS time the court
dined at eleven in the forenSon. But even that
hour was considered so shockingIy late in the
French court that Louis XII. actually had his gray
hairs brought down with sorrOw TO the grave by
changing his regular hour Of half-past nine for eev
en- in gaantry to his young English bride. He
fell victim 70 late hourS in the forenoon. In
CrOmwe's time they dined at one P. NJ. One
century and a half had carried them on by two
hours Doubtless, old cooks and sculllons wonder
ed what the world would come TO next. Our French
neigh5ors were in the same predlcament. Butthey
far surpassed US In veneration for the meal Ihey
actually dated from it. Dinner constituted the great
era of the day. L'GPres diner Is almost the sole
date which You find IN Cardinal de Retzs mem
oirs of the Frollde. Dinner was their Heg1rG-
dinner was their Hye in traVersng the ocean OF day;
they crossed the equator when they dIned Our
English Revolution came next 1t made some little
difference, have heard people say, in church and
state dare-say did, like enough, but It's great
effects were perceived in dinner People now din
ed at two So dlned Addison Cor his last thirty
years; so, through his entire ife dined Pope, whose
birth was coeval with the Revolution. Precisely
as the rebellion of l745 arose. did people (but OBJ
serve, very great peOple) advance to four p. NJ
Philosophers, who watch the " semina rerumf' and
the first symptoms of change, had preceived This al
teratlon singing in the upper air like coming
storm some little time before. About the year
I740 Pope complains of Lady SutfOlk's dining so
late as four Young people may bear those things,
he observed; but to myself, now turned OF nifty,
if such doing went on, if Lady Suffolk would adopt
such strange hours he must really absent himself
J from Marble Hill. Lady Suffolk had right to
/ please herself; he himself loved her, But, IT she
would persist all which remained for decayed
poet was respectfully cut his stick ami retire.
Whether Pope ever put up with four O'Clock din
ners, have vainy sought to fathOln. Some things
advance continuously, like food or tire, which
4 = - hotrn
they 90 on TO B. Other things advance per sutu1H
they dc not silently canter their way onwards,
bu, lie as still as snake after they have made some
} uobIe conquest then, when uBobseryed, they make
themselves up "for mischief" and take flying
bound onwards. 1 bus advanced Dinner, and by
these fits got into the territory of evening. And
even as II made motion onwards, IT found the na-
ton more civilized ese the change could not have
been effected) and co-opersted IN raising them to
a still higher civilization. The next relay on that
lime of road the 1t repeating fngaie, Is Cowper
IN his coem on Conversation lie speaks of four
o'clock as stli the el'gant hour TOR dInner-the
lbuur for lautiOrts and the lepidl homlaer- Now
this might be written about 1880, or little earlier;
perhaps. therefore, Iust one generation after
Pnpf's Lady Suffolk. But then Cowper was living
amongst the rural gentry, not IN high llte yet,
, lapaIp Cowper nearly connected by OlOod WIZ
the eminent Wing house of Cowper, and acknnwi
edsed as kInsnan. About % years after this
we NAV take oxford as GOOD eXpOnePl Oi tue Ha
rlnnaI advance. As magnificent body OF found
= atoms, endowed by kings, nursed by queens anc
resorted To by the flower Of the national oafh Ox
ford ought 10 De elegant and even splendid IN hs
. habits. Yet, on the other hand, grave seat o
learning. ana feeling weight Of her POSITION II
the commonwealth, she il slo~ 10 Rove she IS IN
srt as sbs ouid b. having the functions OF res1s
tanoe assigned 10 her against the popuiar instlDc
!, lur,Iy sciive enough) o. Increment. Nov, IN Ox
n tlfd about 15C4-5 there was general move Il
is IN. dinner hour Those colleges who cined a
q t,res. n1 whien there were several. no" begsn z
: dine AZ four those ho md dined az toas, trans
= I'd their hour 10 sp. THese continued good gen
d era hours I'll about waterloo. Alter that era So
ID which had been so,neW bat OF gsa hour, was Pre-
noted 10 the fixed station Of dInner-tine 10 0rdin
q sry aud there perhaps will rest throughout cen
lmues For more fsstll dinner. seven. eig ht pine
o. ten have ell been in requsroD since them Out AZ
not aware Of any mans habituaily dining later ina
b ten, P ~ except IN that classical case reeoros
rs ioy Mr.. oseph sii4ef, Of an Irfshrnan who f8u'
n. nave dinsd much later thsn ten, becanss hls Sc
of want protpstsd, when Others we're eEtoreing IN
Of thsir mistsrs By the lateness OF th'
dinner hours that his lste. invariably dIned III
rno-rUw."--lDe Qnnesy.
on o Ioquacious tailor asked a Qnlker 70 VII
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