The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-05-14

ton; and If society was then vigllant in Ignoring all allusion to money and com merce, we have now gone far in the contrary direction Everybody quotes the prices of stocks and shares, and I have lived to see the day when a beau- tiful scion of noble and distinguished house produced from his pocket at din- her sample bundle of silks to show how cheaply they could be bought at his establishment
 Great changes in dinners occurred during the forties, Formerly a large turbot with red festoons of lobster was an inevitable dish al a London dinner party; a saddle of mutton at the head of the table, which was carved by the host; and couple of chickens with white sauce and tongue in the middle was necessity, and led to various con- ventional compliments as to whether the hostess or her nelghbor should carve them. Sir David Dundas used to tell of a chicken being launched on his lap, and the woman with a sweet smile saying: Would you kindly give me back that chicken?" With six side dishes and two bottles of champagne in silver coolers the table was complete. The champagne was only handed round after the second course, and was drunk in homeopathic doses out of small tubes of glass which contained little but froth. Lord Alvanley was the first who had courage to protest, saying: You might as well expect us to drink our wine out of thermometers" After din- no hn lntI [, nd ha wi and dessert put on shining mahogany table. The Bishop of Oxford at Cud- desdon used to drink the health of each candidate for holy orders, but as he did not like drinking so much himself, he always kept by him a bottle of toast and water. On one occasion a bump tious young man, on being asked what wine he would have, replied. "A little of Your Lordships bottle, if you please thinking to get something of superior excellence. Take my bottle to him." said the bishop to his butler But now the good old habit of the master of the house asking his guests to drink wine with him has passed away; yet in the early days of the reign it was so much the fashion that when the change be-
 
 drank no wine, she replied, Do you ex- pect me to drink 1t with the butler?"
 It was at Lady Sydney's hospitable table in Cleveland Square that I gained my first experience of what was then called diner la russe, when the viands were carved off the table, and the fruit, and probably flowers, were on the cloth, which was not removed after dinner tea always following coffee,
 Thanks to the introduction by the Prince of Wales of smoking after din- ner, wine drinking is now over. What 1t was in old days appears almost in credible. The late Lord Clanwilliam told me of one occasion when he had dined at friends villa near Putney. The dinner was extraordinarily late for those days-at eight o'clock. When they at last rose from the table and went up to their rooms Lord Clanwil- liam flung open his window and saw the haymakers coming into the field. T wonder" he thought, what hour they begin work" and on consulting his watch he found 1t was half-past eight. The haymakers were returning to work from their breakfasts MT. Gladstone recoilects that on one occasion when a host put to bishop who was dining with him the ordinary formulae, will Your Lordship have any more wine?' the bishop replied in solemn voice, Thank you not till we have drunk what we have before us.'
 When l first entered the Admiralty as boy, about every three weeks the chief clerk used to come into the room where I sat with "jobot frill'' and en- tirely dressed for the evening, and say: | "Mr Jesse, I shall not be here to- night" And this was not meant as a joke, but was considered quite a natu- ral thing. At other times J. H. Jesse, who was my immediate chief, used to tell us stories, too we'll known to repeat. of the wild freaks of Lord Waterford and Charles and Frank Sheridan, which would now be impossible. Imagine such an occurrence as this: A mad party were on their way back from din- ner "bear-f1ghtng" in Pal Mall One of the party threw Frank Sheridans hat over the area rails. At that inau- spicious moment bishop issued from the classical portico of the Athenaenm and in an instand his hat was transferrei to Frank Sheridan's head, and the oth- CTS, making common cause with the bishop vainly pursued the thief down the street The next morning Frank Sheridan calmly went down to his cler-
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