Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1891-07-04

demands nearly every moment of their
lives. The remaining seven months of
home life is q ceaseless round of enter
| tainment of titled and other guests. The
| selection of these guests is of course occa-
| sionally with view to, and in the autici-
| patton of, pleasure to be obtained from
congenial society. AS rule it is merely
| In repayment of similar entertainment re-
ceived in London and in all parts of the
| world, feom the Shetland Islands to Brit
ish India. Whether guests are invited for
day, q week or a month, the invitations
are for period absolutely limited in du-
ration; and no social law of the British
arlstocracy is more inviolate than this.
The etiquette of reception of guests is
most simple. Indeed there is less formali-
ty shown in the actual relation OF host to
guest in a British nobleman's home than
Will be at any time confronted in the
house of Hoboken brewer or a Kansas
City merchant in hogs. The first coach
man, with the family close carriage. If
rainy, and with the wagonette, If in fine
weather, brings the titled guests from the
station, traps following after with the lug
gage; and the groom, with another car
riage, attends to the guests servants. Nj
lords valet and milady's maid meet the
arriving guests at the castle entrance and
conduct them at once to the drawing
| room, where the host and hostess receive
| and welcome them; but they are not de-
layed in being shown to their apartments.
Meantime the housekeeper is attending to
the guests servants. Every gentleman
brings his valet and every lady her maid,
and often her own footman, unless an ex-
press request TO the contrary has been
made in the invitations. The visiting val
ct is assigned a room in the servants hall,
and bridesmaids are provided with sepa-
rate rooms, usually ensuite with their mis-
tresses' apartments. There are few of the
British castles or country seats that are
not able to house from forty to one hun
dred guests, with separate apartment for
each, and equal accommodations in the
servants hall for guests servants. The
service in all respects docs not materially
differ from that in our best-class semi-pri- |
vate hotels; save that each occupant of the |
castle has the exclusive attention of his or |
her own servant, in addition to the gene
raj service of the castle, always on call at
any hour of the day or night
Whatever number of guests may be
found at any one time at these great es-
tablishments-and except on special occs-
sions they will not exceed dozen or
twenty-in provision for the cuisine, in
complete staffs of servants and in the
number of servants employed, they are at
all times, during the occupancy of MILFORD |
and milady, or either, as well prepared for
entertainment of the highest as the least
number. That is one of the penalties of
being a nobleman. But to illustrate de-
tails of the ordinary regime, we will sup
pose that dozen or a score of guests are
already gathered at the castle and the in
vitations read for "a week"
The usual hours for meals are: Break
fast at nine to ten; luncheon at two; tea
at five; dinner at eight; and supper at
from eleven o'clock until midnight |
Whether guests have arrived before lunch |
con or before dinner, etiquette requires |
that all shall gather in the drawing room |
for introductions. This is absolutely the |
first and last of formslity among these IT, |
tied people during their sojourn. What |
ever the difference in rank, none whatever
is thereafter recognized. The stofy-books |
do not put ii this way, but the fact re-
mains. 1t is the unwritten and inviolable |
law of such occasions that, while mere |
distinction in rank, in form of address is |
adhered to, for the time being, the often |
sive distinction of precedence is wholly |
abolished. Socially and ethically while |
you are his lordship's guest you are neith- |
er his superior nor inferior. Otherwise |
you would not be there. Not only is this |
true, but there can be only two possible
occasions for extreme dressing. Those are
at dinner, where of late years everything
savoring of full dress has been tabooed,
and in the event of ball being given to
which neighboring nobility are invited.
There is probably no other place in the
world where guest for a week is so much
the master of his or her own inclinations.
Etiquette and form make no demands
whatever upon you. You are as free TO
follow your own whims, either for rest or
activity, as though quartered in glen
side cabin. Remain up all night; sleep all |
day; never appear at a meal save the first |
luncheon or dinner; and there is none to |
wonder, question or criticize. The entire |
motif of the hospitality of the British no.
bility is, in short, the dignifed but COM
plete indulgence of the guest in rational
activities, simple pleasures or complete
rest.
There are many sources of amusement
There is certain to be one or more grand
"meets," where the ladies Join in the ex-
citing hunt across country to the music of
the yelping hounds. Often the occupants
of near castles join in these. Then there
will be return sport of like nature and
delicious "hunt breakfasts" are given.
For the gentlemen exclusively there will
perhaps be a pheasant shoot" on the
grounds, or the more sportsmanlike pleas
ure of grouse-shooting on the moors The
ladies often join 10 fishing parties to some
distant stream, when lunch is served in
the open wood beside some spring. Even
when there is no riding after the hounds,
the pleasant roads and lanes swarm with
merry cavalcades of horsewomen and men,
distant bits of scenery, castle ruins or his
toric abbeys being thus visited. The
drives are the finest in the world, and most
brilliant intercourse is had between castle
and castle Within and without the great
establishment itself there is always provi-
sion for almost every imaginable sport
| Billiards and ten-pins are as great favor
| ties with ladies as with gentlemen. There
| is always a superb cricket field. Ere
quently football matches are gotten up be-
tween the lordly old boys. The tennis
| courts are nowhere excelled. Nearly eve
| ~ castle demesne has its well stocked
streams of trout and its reaches of natural
or artificial lakes for sailing and rowing.
But in every feature of all this high-class
life at ths British nobleman's home there
is an utter absence of theatric show, so in
| sufferable in the American lordero's home
| AS before stated, cave at dinner and at
balls, you will find lordly frames almost
| exclusively hung with old clothes. What
ever is comfortable is in form. The bsggy
| pajama for room-lounging; the ancient
slipper, cap and jacket for the lawn, the
lake and the tennis-court; the loosest and
most ancient of toggery for the breakfast
| table, and, among real noblemen, the most
| faded, spotted and ragged old pink jackets
| for the meet" are the rule rather than
the exception, despite those whose pens
cannot but run riot in portrayal of British
high life. The truth is that, despite the
immense establishments, the great retin-
ues, and the enormous general outlay as