New-York tribune., 1878-07-05


Consomme dc Volatile la Royale. Bsque d'Ecrevisses
HJRS-D VARIES.
RELIEVES.
Filots Ge BUuf a la Rchelicu.
ENTREES.
Croustades q Ia Parisienne.
COtelettes d'Agneau Regepce. HOmards IL Russo
PUNCH A LA ROMANO.
Pouardcs TruG6es.
Aspics de FOles GTas In BruEellOsc.
sALADEs.
RNTREMETS.
Harlcots Verts PAngaise Peuts POis a Ia Franease.
BOmbes Suedoises Fruits.
NOugats COngres. CrOquantcs Iniernationales
DESSERTS VARIES
Mad6re. Chateau-Lasson.
Bordeaux Carafes. Champagne Frappe.
Nuts 1869 Tlsanc en- CaTafes.
CAFE IIQUEURs AND CIGAREs
Now il may or may not be that DelmonlcO would
furnish a better dinner than that on great Occa-
siOn but would lac do it as cheapyf We paid here
Is francs C$3) each including wines, coffee hqueurs
and cigars. There were abont 300 guests. 1t could
not or would not, be done in England for the
money. The common price in these days for din
ner at Williss in London is 80 shillIngs 81 so;
and for dinner in every respect inferior to this.
Nor is it often done in Paris so cheaply. The Brit
ish exhibitors were made to pay just five
times the price for the banquet they offered
to the Prince OF Wales weeks ago at
the Hotel de Louvre. But then they were British.
The Louvre, moreover, is an old hotel, and takes
liberties of ali kinds The Continental is but just
opened and may be glad Of an opportunity to adj
vertise itself little by supplying dinner at less
than the usual profit. don't suppose the proprie-
tors were out OF pocket by it, II not, the difference
between 10 francs and - francs multiplied by $50
Cthc number Of guests" at the Louvre dinner
makes a very pretty sum indeed. At the Continent
al the cuisine and service were really good. The
.tai md lao
Hotel du Louvre in size, and to eclipse them in the
gorgeousness Of its decoration. II the travelling
American thinks it indispensable to his comfort to
be lodged with barbaric splendor in vast ediGce,
amid a medley of Byzantine and Moorish and
Renaissance embelishment the longing5 Of his soul
may bc satisfied at the Continental. And Judging
from Mondays performance, should say that the
more legitimate lOngings of his stomach would also
be satisfied.
At an English dinner, every guesthas his assigned
seat and plan of the hall, submitted to his inspec
ton in the antc-rOOm, enables the dulest to find his
place without too much hunting. The arrangement
il often purely arbitrary and gives you queer neigh
bor- but II is better than II you are planted
between two strangers aud their names on their
card. IN front OF the plates tell you nothing, YOU
are at hbrety TO amuse Yourself by guessing at
their identity or revealing your own; or not reveal
II, II YOu prefer nave Scluoul loUilu
lishuan thus thrown into contact with for
cigncrS, so silent or 50 savage rs the Continental
European believes him to be- lie viii sometimes
impart his opinions 20 you with quite astonishing
freedom. ] think did not tell you at the time Of
an incident which befcl me at the GeOcraphical
dinner to Mr. Stanley; perhaps because !
should have had to tell the story at my
own expense. My neghbOr the left was
an Englishman; We were perfectly unknown 10
each other and as l had been talking all the
evening TO an acquaintance ON the other SIDE,
bc-the lcft-had not even found out thar AmeTi-
can was next him. He did not like Mr. Staney'S
speech, and be opened conversation with me 10y
remsrking that Stanley was good fellow but with
too much bounce. Then after pause " But that.
you know, is due partly TO his nationality and
partly to his profession"
No such casualty occurred on Monday few
places at the top Of the table were awarded to dis
tmcuished people. The great majority were al
lowed to sit where they liked, where they could
find places The American colony, including even
President White marshalled its forces the road,
and took up a position in solid body about half
way down an arrangement which was thought to
promote tho flow Of conversation
No English public dinner is complete without a
toast-Inastcr functi0nary who bears 10 a grand |
banouet about the same relation that drum-major
bears to a brass band. might reverse the compar-
SON and liken the toast-master to the band. The |
drummajor is only the cause Of noise in others the
toast-naster has the lungs of StentOTa and them
He is human trombone. He appears to /
have a kind of authority over the walters |
and the company. When he cries Pray silence |
my lords aud gentlemen for your chairman" the |
clatter of plates and voices is hushed When the |
chairman has risen and the toast-master goars out
- IL, l.. L. h.ll - Irao f,yo
time There ID routine which is never broken |
into. The Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales, |
and the rest of the royal family are invariably |
toasted; sometimes with speeches, sometimes with
out. If the chairman happens to be particularly |
incaDabe orator, I've is sure to run into discourse
on the domestic virtues of Her Majesty heard |
such an one lately in London. He could not get from
one end of a sentence TO another without losing his
way, and his substantiyes and verbs were seldom on
GOOD terms with each other. So he rambled on end
lessly. where clever man would have been content
with. "Tho Queen. God bless herr
But here in Paris the toast-master seems to be |
unknown and long may il be before they invent or |
import him. There is grace before dinner, and |
nobody proposed the health Of the President after |
There was a chairman, no less a chairman than |
Victor Hugo, with Edmond About on one side and |
Jules Simon Oh the other But he made no
speech and gave no toasts. He never once
rose from his chair. After dinner he took |
a paper in his hand whereOn were inscribed |
the names of certain speakers, and from
time to time he called on one of these gentlemen.
But it happened more than that other orators.
not inscribed but big with speeches, were too quick
for him. aud were their legs and delivering them
selves before they could be stopped. Some men |
even pulled manuscripts out and read them,
ghastly feature which l never saw in England.
Most of the speakers were foreigners. The pro-
gramme, so far as there was a programme, APP
peared to be drawn up on the theory that some
representative of each foreign country which had |