I Will Be Minute For Once, And Give
You The LITTLE Details Of A London Dinner, And They Are All
Precisely Alike.
We arrived at Cavendish Square a quarter before
seven (very early) and were shown into a semi-library on the same
floor with the dining-room.
The servants take your cloak, etc., in
the passage, and I am never shown into a room with a mirror as with
us, and never into a chamber or bedroom.
We found Lady Charleville and her daughter with one young gentleman
with whom I chatted till dinner, and who, I found, was Sir William
Burdette, son of Sir Francis and brother of Miss Angelina Coutts. I
happened to have on the corsage of my black velvet a white moss rose
and buds, which I thought rather youthful for ME, but the old lady
had [them] on her cap. She is full of intelligence, and has always
been in the habit of drawing a great deal. . . . Very soon came in
Lord Aylmer, [who] was formerly Governor of Canada, and Lady
Colchester, daughter of Lord Ellenborough, a very pretty woman of
thirty-five, I should think; Sir William and Lady Chatterton and Mr.
Algernon Greville, whose grandmother wrote the beautiful "Prayer for
Indifference," an old favorite of mine, and Mr. MacGregor, the
political economist. Lord Aylmer took me out and I found him a nice
old peer, and discovered that ever since the death of his uncle,
Lord Whitworth, whose title is extinct, he had borne the arms of
both Aylmer and Whitworth. Mr. Bancroft took out Lady Colchester,
and the old lady was wheeled out precisely as Grandma is.
At table she helped to the fish (cod, garnished round with smelts)
and insisted on carving the turkey herself, which she did extremely
well. By the way, I observe they never carve the breast of a turkey
LONGITUDINALLY, as we do, but in short slices, a little diagonally
from the centre. This makes many more slices, and quite large
enough where there are so many other dishes. The four ENTREE dishes
are always placed on the table when we sit down, according to our
old fashion, and not one by one. They have [them] warmed with hot
water, so that they keep hot while the soup and fish are eaten.
Turkey, even BOILED turkey, is brought on AFTER the ENTREES, mutton
(a saddle always) or venison, with a pheasant or partridges. With
the roast is always put on the SWEETS, as they are called, as the
term dessert seems restricted to the last course of fruits. During
the dinner there are always long strips of damask all round the
table which are removed before the dessert is put on, and there is
no brushing of crumbs. You may not care for all this, but the
housekeepers may. I had Mr. Greville the other side of me, who
seemed much surprised that I, an American, should know the "Prayer
for Indifference," which he doubted if twenty persons in England
read in these modern days.
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