Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1878-12-14

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The Lord Steward i. commanded:
bv the Queen to invite n -. to:
dinner ON the. at y O'Clock.
Full Dress.
Windsor Castle.
The card is 615 inches. Such is the
,,vlc If invitation 10 dinner with the
Omen Of England. The guests all as
semhle III the drawing room and there
await her Malestys entrance. There is
10 regular announcement made. but the
guests are generally notified II the APP
roach If the sovereign lady, AMI all
form themselves into crr scent TO re-
GIVE her. She does not greet each
guest 10y Offering her hand. but usually
extends her hand to the ladies present.
She is always accompanied 10y her
laughter. When the guest Of the day
i not Of royal blood the arrangements
asst prece ,ence are generally privately
arranged.
The enest of the day. howsver, sits
on her Majesty's right hand and the
royal family on the left. At the table
there are al a avs three servants to every
siN guests; one to place the plates and
the other to fetch the eatables. Her
Majesty eats at state dinner without
gloves. and when she finishes every one
is expected 70 stop Immediately. When
the meal is over the Queen leaves the
room first and is followed by the rest Of
Nihe guests.
J 1t is optional in England whether the
hostess is present at u gentleman's din.
ner, but they usually are. and will often
have another la1y for company. The
lady of the house receives her hus-
bands guests with him. In England
the gentleman always offers his right
arm to escort lady from the drawing
room to the dinner-table. This point
is now automatically decided by tho
highest authority in the world.
A family dinner differs from state af-
fairs in every essential point. was
presented to nobleman-an earl-who
was considered tirst-class authority on
such matters, and stating what de-
sired, was treated Nith the greatest
courtesy. Without TAXING up your
valuable space with the questions, I
will simply give the answers. They
will certainly be plain enough to the
class of readers who will peruse my
poorly written letter.
The master Of the house leaves the
drawing-room first, and the mistress
last. To digress little, will state
that of late years there have been so
many changes in dinner etiquette, that
one has to keep we'll posted or be con-
sidered old fashioned. I will give O
part Of the old and all of the new
styles. 1t used to be the fashion of the
hostess to ask the guest whether he
would take soup or fish, but now the
soup is sent around whether the guest
wants it or not, and of course every
body has it before them whether they
4 cat it or not. If the servants do not 20
kound with the wine, the gentlemen
"gAelp~ the ladies and themselves. It
used TO be the fashion for the hostess
to say, "Shall help you to piece of
the chicken or duck?" mot fowl. Now
everything is passed by the servants.
1t used to be the style for the first
served to wait until every one was
served before he began to eat, but now
every one begins Immediately that he
is helped.
Young ladies are limited to three
glasses Of light vine, while married
ladies accustomed to good society often
drink six.
1t used also to be the fashion for gen.
tleman to ask the ladies to drink with
him, but not so now.
The different wines with different
dishes are US follows:
With fish or soup use sherry or sau-
terne.
With roast meat use hook or claret.
With turtle use punch.
With whitehall use champagne.
With game use port or burgundy.
Between the roast and confectionery
use sparkling wines.
With sweets use madeira.
With dessert use port, tokay, madeira,
sherry or claret.
Ice is never put in red wines, even in
summer. Burgundy should he slightly
warmed. Claret cup and champagne
cup should always be iceland these
are the only two wines in which ice is
used. Every kind of wine has its diff.
ferent kind of glass; champagne glasses
for champagne only; goblets for claret
and burgundy; ordinary wine glasses
tor sherry and madeira; green glasses
for hook; large bell-shaped glasses for
port. Port, sherry and madeira are
decanted in the late style, but hook and
champagne appear in their native bot.
ties. Claret and burgundy are always
handed around in claret jugs.
The servants all leave the room when
dessert is on the table, and the coffee
and liquors are handed around about q
quarter of an hour after dessert has
been on the table-after this the ladies
retire.
The old-fashioned way of refusing
the Inst piece of bread in dish, or the
last glass OF wine in decanter, il now
obsolete.
The precedence OF rank at private
dinner is as follows: Foreign embassa-
doris take precedence of the English
mobiles, archbishops rank with dukes.
bishops rank with earls. Ordinary for
eign counts take no precedence in Eng
land. but rank with English baronets.
An earl's grandson and all near relations
(untitled) Of the aristocracy. prece.)e the