The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1872-12-20

lduu, III - Only u6CSSSdIJ W GULL
preheDd single one of its two
hundred constituent elements, an
English dinner. The true London
dinner consists of fiom twelve to
twenty courses, the half of which
are substantial meats, fish, fowls and
game, braced up and interpolated
with pattiS, soups and entrees. Then
follows & vista of sullen puddlngs
and soddon sweets, cakes, custards
and mixed ices whose consumption
points toward death and the hours
of midnight. And still the ponder
.ous feast is not over. There remain
piles of green nuts and other nur-
ished fruits, insiduous entrees of late
dessert with foreign flavor, and last
ly that inevitable fatal comesible,
crowning the goal of every British
dinner,and whose very look and odor
are suggestions of the graye-a Still
ton cheese! But the London dinner
is not mostly a thing of eating. After
all has been said, 1t is an affair to be
drank rather than masticafed, its
succeeding courses appearing to be
introduced mainly fer the object OF
clearing the palate for a fresh flavor
of wine. A delicate Hook is placed
beside the plate of microscopic, but
finely favored English oysters thst
begin the meal. Sauterne or Moselle
succeed to the Hook, with the fish
that follow the oysters. Moselle
and Sautere give way to the substan
tial sherry and Hungarian in tht
third course. The sherry is carried
forward with a red Burgundy to &C
company the piece de resistance, o.
the heavy roast of English sirloir
that breaks the first shock Of sppe
tite in the process of dining. Cha
teau Yquem or white Toksy at
tends the fowl that replaces the roast
Game is introduced, with claret anC
champagne. A succeeding dish il
supported by a glass of Madeirs
The Madeira, in turn, Is contrasted
with a Gre, K wine; and q bottle oi
MsDzanilla is deity inserted to
brace the tagging stimulant of the
Tenedos. With the dessert appear
the massive Southern wines-pori
and Spanish, while the heavy Eng.
lish favorite, sherry, has not once
disappeared from the cloth. The
black wines are carried through the
dessert and fruits; Bordeaux is
slipped with the cheese, after which
the guests drink all round liqors
Chatreuse or Masochino, fer better
digestion, and the ladies retiring,
after the English fashion, the cloth
is drawn, Cognae and whisky intro
duced, and the regular drinking Of
an English dinner party begins.
To support this enormous and
massive eating and drinking, one
would suppose that the English
would find it convenient if not ab-
solutely necessary to recline, like
the old Romans, at their meals. The
inference is as absurd as the fancy
of an Anglo-Saxon in a classic posi-
ton. An Englishman is never
steadier than when he rises from five
hours of dining. He appears to car
ry of his tons of food and gallons
of wine as lightly as if they we're a
biscuit and a cup of tea.l And as
for the enormous poculation that
follows the ordinary English dianer,
the aristocratic Londoner appears
simply as a porous membrane
through which liquids disappear
with the simplicity of the endosmose
process in nature-or rather cognaC
and whisky sink into his organiza-
ton as gracefully as if the British
stomach were the proper receptacle
and destiny of the alcohols.
The upper class English are un-
doubtedly the best dined and best
wined race in the world; and there
appears to be dispensation in the
moist, unsteady atmosphere of the
English climate that atones for its
disagreeableness by allowing an i'm
punity OIL appetite to the inhabitants
which exists nowhere else. The eli
mate is a soaking one literally. An
American arriving in England finds
that he can add one third to his ra-
ton of the spirituous beverages with
out apprehension. But the stomach
of Crassus would not suffice Mark
Twain to enjoy even a moiety Of the
substantial good will which he is
finding among his doughty English
friends. British hospitality has al
ways had something deadly about
it. Whether in barrack room, coun-
try house or city club, it pours out
its administrations to the flesh with
a meaning intent to kill. Twain is
already complaining that his London
dinners have long sinced cease to di-
gest, but continue to stratify, while
his friendly entertainers, apprehend-
ing that he may recover from their
first shock-"No man dies of din
ners," they say-and live to reach
his friends, are preparing for him a
fox hunt.-LOndOn Cor. Cincinnati
Commercial.