LONDON-PICTURES-ENGLISH DINNER. 43 honours of this kind. I have not seen anything of his yet. He is from Scotland, very young, and in bad health, but extremely well-informed and respectable. I have noticed some other pictures of considerable merit at the British Institution, but descriptions of pictures are generally tiresome and insufficient. I have described Mr Cosse's, merely to give an idea of that style which appears to be, compared to historical painting, what memoirs are to history. I prefer memoirs, as giving the moral or human history, instead of the history of diplomacy and wars, which has no interest nor variety, and contains only that sort of information, of which one volume affords as much as an hundred. There is a false lustre attached to rank and power, which lends an imaginary importance to characters and actions insignificant in themselves. They are not always great men who effect great things; much is due to the means which chance has placed in their hands. With the same effort you may throw a stone farther than a feather; and it may not perhaps be much more difficult to manage an empire than a shop. At any rate, I prefer Mr Cosse's or Mr Wilkie's humble subjects, to most of those with which history or fable might have furnished them. An English dinner is very different from a French one; less so, however, than formerly,-the art of cookery being in fact now half French. England was always under great obligations to its neighbours in that respect; and most of the culinary terms are French, as well as those of tactics. It is singular, that the same animal which, when living, has an English name, has a French one when slaughtered. A sheep becomes mutton; an ox, beef; and a hog, pork. I overheard, the other day, an old Frenchman, who has lived thirty years 44 LONDON-ENGLISH DINNER. 1 among the English, tell one of his children who happened to have dirty hands, to go and wash them, adding, by way of reproof, " Go, you are a little pork." Such misapplications of words shock like discords in music, or ill-assorted colours, the more as they come nearer without being right, and are extremely ludicrous. The master and mistress of the house sit at each end of the table,-narrower and longer than the French tables, the mistress at the upper end;-and the places near her are the places of honour. There are commonly two courses and a dessert. I shall venture to give a sketch of a moderate dinner for ten or twelve persons. Although contemporary readers may laugh, I flatter myself it may prove interesting in future ages,-for “This work, which ne'er will die, shall be LONDON-DINNERS-PLUM-PUDDING. 45 The soup is always a consommé, succulent, and high-seasoned. Vegetables, on the contrary, are exhibited in all the simplicity of nature, like hay to horses, only a little boiled instead of dried. Such a dinner as I have described is now perhaps a little antiquated. Among people of fashion the master and mistress generally abandon the ends of the table, which indeed has often no end, being round; there are more made-dishes, or French ragouts; they are served in succession, hot and hot, and vegetables do not appear quite in naturalibus. Good old English families have frequently no soup at all, and the dishes are only roast and boiled. "Selon leurs goûts, leurs mœurs, et leurs besoins, Des plum-puddings, des vins de la Garonne." This plum-pudding, celebrated by Voltaire, is quite a national dish, and my French readers will thank me for the receipt of it, which they will find in a note.* The German mineralogists have given the name of pudding-stein to a ponderous and hard *Plum-pudding is a mass of paste, formed of equal quantities of crumb of bread, of firm fat from the kidneys of beef, of dried raisins properly stoned, and of corinths, a little dry fruit which comes from the Mediterranean. A small quantity of milk is also added; and, to improve the whole, a little citron comfit, spices, and brandy. All this, well mixed, is tied in a piece of linen cloth, and boiled for five or six hours in a pot full of water, but suspended so as not to touch the bottom, which might burn it. The longer it is boiled the better; and this precious faculty of not losing anything from waiting, has made it be named emphatically Hunter's Pud ding,-Pudding de Chasseur. The cloth is taken from it before serving. The pudding forms a large ball, which is cut into slices, upon which each pours a sauce composed of butter, sugar, and wine. 46 LONDON WINES CUSTOMS AT TABLE. stone, composed of fragments bound together by a common cement. I do not know whether the pudding is derived from the. stone, or the stone from the pudding, and either might be considered as a satire; but to my taste plum-pudding is excellent. The wine generally drank is Port, high in colour, rough, and strong-Madeira, and Sherry; Bourdeaux wine, usually called here Claret, Burgundy, Champagne, and other French wines, are luxuries: few of these wines come to England without some heightening of brandy. People generally taste of fewer dishes here than at Paris, each dining generally on one or two. You are not pressed to eat or drink. The ordinary beverage during the dinner is small-beer, porter rarely, and sparkling ale, which is served in high shaped glasses like Champagne glasses; water, acidulated by the carbonic gas, is frequently used: few drink wine and water mixed. The crystal vessels, called decanters, in which wine is brought on table, are remarkably beautiful. Formerly it was the invariable custom to drink every body's health round the table; and although less general now, it is by no means entirely abolished. It was done in this way: One of the guests challenged another, male or female; this being accepted by a slight inclination of the head, they filled respectively, each watching the motions of his adversary, then raised their glasses, bowing to each other, and in this attitude, looking round the table, they had to name every one of the company successively; this ceremony finished, the two champions eyed each other. gravely, and carrying their glasses to their lips, quaffed their wine simultaneously. As one challenger did not wait for another, and each guest matched himself without minding his neighbours, LONDON-CUSTOMS AT TABLE. 47 the consequence was, circular glances, calls of names, and mutual bows, forming a running-fire round the table, crossing in every direction. It was then the invariable custom to introduce guests to each other by name, and it was quite necessary to recollect these names, in order to drink their healths at table. This custom of introducing is losing ground every day; and in fact the heighth of fashion is, to banish everything like gêne and ceremony. This is certainly very well; but some people go a little farther; and, under pretence of ease, every appearance of mutual good-will is excluded. Voltaire has said somewhere, " qui n'est que juste est dur." I would add, qui n'est que franc est brutal. True politeness, I presume, is merely benevolence in small things; which costs so little, and requires so few sacrifices, that it is not worth while to dispense with it. When politeness promises no more, it is consistent with perfect sincerity. The manners of those who have that sort of politeness resemble each other in all countries, while the arbitrary politeness of fashion is more local. Fashionable people in England are very apt to be insolent, -in France probably impertinent. Soon after dinner the ladies retire, the mistress of the house rising first, while the men remain standing. Left alone, they resume their seats, evidently more at ease, and the conversation takes a different turn,-less reserved,-and either graver, or more licentious: Le dîner fait, on digère, on raisonne, Politics are a subject of such general interest in England, both for men and women, that it engrosses the conversation before, as much as after |