Year: 1874

what they can get and at any hour which nav
be convenient. But there is throughout The
well world, among the people who have
enough goods laid up" to enable them to
invite their souls to make of their dinner
something more than mere necessity. an evi-
dent tendency to postpone the principal meal
of the day to the evening, and as the life N
fashionable people becomes every year fuller
of varied occupation, to assign later hour
for dining.


This is probably due not so much TO tina
progress of luxury "a to the gradual increase
of objects of interest to men OF wealth. A
few generations ago people in society were
composed Of the classes who neither toiled
nor spun, and to whom the advent Of the
dinner hour was as welcome as it is on sb p-
board or in the country. An apparently i'm
possible line separated people OF fashion from
those who did any regular or gainfu work.
And however agreeable it may appear from
the outside, it is probable that mere ddwdling,
even when enlvened by the pursuit Of
women. does not fll the day Ike regular oc-
cupation. There are comparatively few people
nowadays who have nothing to do. 1t is ej-
necially 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 sams
qualities to active participation IN the prac-
tical work of life. Those who have inherited
wealth IKE te increase it, or at least
to employ it nationally. Those who have re-
ceiyed from their parents merely good name
are inclined to gild 1t by their own exertions
And in every conspicuous social circle in the
world, except perhaps iE the First Society,"
the Court-Capables of Vienna, you will fad
among its leaders energetic people who
have made their own names and their
own fortunes. The tendency of the tina
being to an active employment Of the
day. it is not surprising that most people
prefer to finish their days work, whatever it
may be, before entering upon so solemn and
serious business as modern dinner now u.
1t was one of our great historians who sad
that the dinner party was the highest express
sion Of civilization; and when we consider the
number of trades, arts, and sciences which
concur to produce the daily result, tie
dresses, the plate, the furniture, the flowers,
the viands, and the wines which are to be-
seen in the modern formal dinner, it will be
hard to contest the apothegm.


But there are some drawbacks inseparably
connected from this custom OF late dining
Two of the most evident are the gradual abO-
lition through this means of informal evening
visits, and the startling decadence of the En-
elish Drama. In London the higher classes
have almost ceased to frequent the theater.
1t is simply impossible to dine at eight and go
to play the same evening, and therefore the
people who habitually dine at eight have
ceased to go to the theater. The middle
classes naturally follow the example Of their
betters and stay away; in fact one attraction
of places of amusement is taken away when
the gentlefolks cease to go. The prices of ads
mission are too high for the masses. The con-
sequence is that the theaters are filled
every night with a transient crowd
composed chiefly of the population OF
hotels. The same causes are operating pow
erfully against theaters in New York, though
in less degree, as here the dnner-hour Is
still somewhat earlier, and the hotel pOpula-
ton is not so much inferior to the educated
people of the city. The opera is less affected
than the stage; for while it remains fashion
able, people are willing to dine little earlier
and moro simply. And yet, even in New
York, the first act of an opera is always sung
to full gallery and empty boxes. The effect
of late dining upon dramatic art is undeni-
able, and is continually increasing.