Year: 1874

The Dinner Hour.


Nothing in nature or society appears
TO have so much specified gravity as
the dinner hour. It has gradually
sunk down, taking a ceEtury or two for
its descent, from IL o'clock, when it
makes its first appearance in history, is
o'clock, the hour when extreme fashion
dimes in London. Queen Elizabeth
and her court dined at noon, and we
may trust that the present prime minis
ter OF England was not giving a loyal
world al erroneous impression OF the
proper hour for dinner when in Lo-
thar" he fixes the tine as g late
eight. Ihis is the lowest point yes
reached The fashioaabls hour fer din-
ing Ia eontiEentai cities is nEeh earlier,
and thousands OF noble families IN Ger
many and France sdhere resOlutely to
their tW0-O' O'cleck dinner. or course,
the vast majority of mankind never
dine at all, but eat what they can get,
aud at any hour which may be conven-
lent. But there is throughout the we'll
to-do world among the people who
have enough Z" goods laid up" to ena-
ble them TO invite their souls 20 make
of their dinner something more than
mere necessity, and evident tendency
to postpone the principal meal OF the
day to the evening, and as the life ef
fashionable psople becomes every year
fuller of varied occupation, TO assign
later hour for dining.


This is probably due not so much 10
the progress of luxury as the gradual
increase of objects of interest to men
of wealth. a few generations ago peo-
pie in society we're composed of the
.fo \
to whom the advent of the dinner hour
wss welcome as it is on shipboard or in
the country An apparently impossible
line separated people Of fashion from
those who did any regular or gainful
work. And however agreeable it may
appear from the outside, it is probable
that mere dawdhng, even when elIliv-
ened by the pursuit of women, does not
fill the day like a regular occupation.
There are comparatively few people
nowadays who have nothing to do. II
is especially unusual to find among
those who possess sufficient energy and
ambition to assume and hold leading
positions in society, any who are not
impelled by these same qualities to ac-
tive participation in the practical work
OF life. Those who have inherited
wealth like to increase il, or at least TO
employ it nationally. Those who have
received from their parents merely q
good name are inclined to gid it by
their own exertions And in every con-
spicuous social circle in the world, ex-
cedt, perhaps, In the first society, the
court capables of Vienna, you will find
among its leaders energetic people who
have made their own names and their
own fortunes. The tendency of the
time being to an active employment Of
the day, it is not surprising that mos
people prefer to finish their days work,
whatever il may be, before entering apt
on SO solemn and serious 8 business as
a modern dinner now is. It was one Of
our g1eat historians who said that the
dinner party was the highest expression
of civilization; and when We consider
the number of trades, arts. and sciences
which concur to produce the daily re-
suit, the dresses, the plate, the furni-
ture, the flowers, the yiands, and the
wines which are to be seen in the mod
ern formal dinner, it viii be hard to
contest the apothegm.


But there are some drawbacks insepa-
rably connected from this custom of
late dining. Two of the most evident
are the gradual abolition through this
means of informal evening visits, and





drama. In London the higher classes
have almost ceased to frequent the the
ater. It is simply impossible to dine at
eight and go to a play the same evening,
and therefore the people who habitually
dine at eight have ceased to go TO the
theater. The middle classes follow the
example of their betters and stay away
in fact, one attraction of places of
amusemement is taken away when the
gentlefolks cease TO gs. The prices Of
admission are too high for the masses
The consequence is that the theaters
are filed every night with q transient
crowd, mrOsed chiefly Of the popula-
ton of hotels The same causes are
powerfully against theaters
in New York, though in q less degree,
as here the dinner hour Is still some
what earlier, and the hotel population
is not so much inferior to the educated
people OF the city. The opera is less
affected than the stage for, while it
remains fashionable, people are willing
TO dine q little earlier and more simply.
And yet, even in New York, the first
act of an opera is always sung to fun
gallery and empty boxes. The effect OF
late dining upon dramatic art is undeni-
able, and is continually increasing
Welu YprE TJ-fbifgle