Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-03-04
English Country Houses.

If Charles Lamb had been in the habit of
| spending the winter in the country, and of pay
| ing visits during that season to his neighbors,
or indeed to anybody else's neighbOrs, it is more
| than probable that he would have added another
/ to his list of falacles. Some paragraph would
| have borne for its heading, "That a country
| house must be pleasant" There are various
| methods by which human beings are enabled to
| guage their progress in the world, and to ascer-
tain their social age. One of these is the loss of
| Illusions. 1t may take place very gradually,
| but before the age of thirty-five has been at
| tanned the pleasure of mere visiting is apt TO
| prove very problematcal. Hospitality has lost
so much of its historical character that the
| whole arrangement sayors of contract for two
or t rec days between host and guest. At Il
particular time of the year, three four patches
| Of twenty or thirty men and women succeed one
| another in the common fashionable country
| house.
Different reasons induce different people to
| accept the invitations which are issued. Some
| go because it IS on their way home from Scot
| land, some because they have no home; others
because Caserta Is show house, and they i'm.
| agne that they will see more of it when staying
there than when they are under the tuteage of
the house-keeper. Ii is true that the hostess is
not equally well informed about her ancestral
pictures, or the royalties who have inhabited the
spare rooms, but then it must be remembered
that she can be got rid of, while to evade the
eyes of the h0uSe-keeper never entered the con-
cepuon OF even the British tourist in his widest
moments. We always feel tempted, like Mr.
Pendennis's FRIEND to eXclaim at last: CANT
now, madam, will you show lis the closet where
the skeleton Is r In order to secure the active
services of ten men, at least thirty-five must be
invited; and on one occasion an unfortunate
hostess, ignorant of these great social statistics,
was seen to enter provincial ballroom at the
head of seven girls destint d to dem )nstrate for
once the usefulness of man. 1t is needless
to rem lrk that the ten men and ten women
AZ
one another have probably borne a peculiar
hatred 3anSt each other tor past seasons,
general sense of antagonism prevails; not that
it matters much, as the visit does not probably
extend over three or four nights, during which
| time cultivated man with good memory may
employ his whole faculties in a successful en-
| deayor to recolect the nam s Of the guests.
| Nothing perhaps ls more trying to the nerves
than the arrival, and the entry into halflt
| drawing room, where through the fog can be
seen dimly teacups and bonneled women. You
| search for your hostess in vain and eventually
| discuss the dangers of the journey with your
| host, whom it is needless TO say you have never
| spoken to before. Aft seeing lour relays of
| women drink tea, the unhappy guest is con-
| Quoted through innumerable cataeombs, up
| countless stairs, down corridors like the gal
| leries of a coal-pit, TO what proves to be
| somebody else's bedroom. The search
continues, and is at last rewarded by
| success More troubles may, however, attend
| him. A neighboring grandee has been waited
for and dinner does not take place till half-past
eight. 1t is sad to think that there should be
people who care about their dinner; the ances-
| TORS restored and vanished looked down with
proper contempt, saying, owe dined in the mid
| die of the day, but we were nobles you are
| b0urge0isie living in a fashionable middle
age" If the wine is bad, a magnificent crea-
| ture doles it out, and the Imagination NAV
dwell with pleasure on the fact that the cold
| entree first assumed consistency in a me
| dlsayal kitchen. In fact, excuses without num-
| Der present themselves. The itch man labors
under many disadvantages in comparison with
| the owner Of five or six thousands year. His
| dining-room is often at greater distance from
his kitchen. His illogical dOwager of unrea-
| sonable gormet may, notwithstanding, often be
seen in state Of painful depression and partial
| indigestion.
The ball takes place on the following evening.
| Hostesses declare that they must hold out some
| attraction, and offer some excuse for the forma-
| ton of party. II is cruel TO drag q man away
| from his business or his pleasures in order that
| he may take part in rational conversation, live
with agreeable people, or see a beautiful coun-
try. He must either shoot away three hundred
| cartridges each morning, and thus retire to
| bed with the consciousness of well-spent day
| or he must be taken to ball. He may con-
| graduate himself If the ball is given in the
| house at which he is staying, though, should it
| take place at the country town, he may employ
| himselfto advantage by studying the component
| parts of the society in which he finds himself
Relics of real leudalism are often to be observed
in provincial ball rooms. There is privileged
end of the room, with privileged seats, where
the daughters of the neighborng baronet and
the recently ennobled squire monopollze the fire
and recognize the dog. Alteration can go no
further. Lady Barney treats the local autbori-
ties with that contempt which they expect, and
without which the evening would lose It's pc
cular zest. Her daughter shows her nicetv bv
stipulating that her vs-a-vis should belong to
the unlettered classes, aud occasionally
sits down on the floor with her head in her
mothers lap. in order to show the country peo-
pie that all things are permitted to persons who
have spent three months of the year in town.
Men in queer coats write their partners names
on queer little cards and look excited. The
wax candles fall fast upon them and the dust
from the floor gradually envelopes them. Odd
dances are gone through, in which the monoto-
ny of the quadrille is pleasantly broken, and
great originality prevails. Happily for every
body, Caserta withdraYs It's august presence al