Her Majesty rises, and, supported by her august mother and the other ladies, proceeds to the drawing-room. The Prince again takes his seat, and in less than half an hour joins Her Majesty. The manner in which the Ascot dinner is served reflects the greatest credit upon the different heads of the departments. Everything is conducted as well as if there were only a dozen people present; there is no hurry (as often seen in private houses) to remove the dishes before the proper time; no unnecessary delay; every dish is presented in due course; the wine and " cup" bearers never flag. For comfort and solid magnificence none come up to the royal dinners of old England.

From the Palace we`proceed to the residence of the first Magistrate of the City of London, the Mansion House, and the scene of his inauguration, Guildhall. The ninth of November dinner at the latter is a fine sight; and to those who get to the Lord Mayor's table, the fare is good. One custom we abominate, viz., the loving cup; and if some spirited Lord Mayor would allow the contents of the loving cup to be poured into the guests' glasses, he would deserve a public testimonial. What would a person say if a waiter at an inn placed on the table a glass out of which any one had drunk? Here you have a cup that hundreds have drank from. It is all very well in love ballads to talk of " sipping sweets," and leaving "kisses on the goblet;" but in true home private life the idea is not at all an agreeable one. The small dinners at the Mansion House are a decided improvement upon the Gog and Magog feasts. Minis

B

terial and Speaker's dinners vary according to the givers of them.

Without wishing to particularise any great dinners given during the London season, it may suffice to give a brief account of the average of the best mounted houses. You order your carriage, which lands you within five minutes of the appointed hour at your host's door. About ten minutes after, dinuer is announced, and your hat is taken from you as you descend the stairs to enter the drawing-room. A delicate clear soup is handed round, nothing on the table except flowers and preserved fruits in old Dresden baskets, a bill of fare placed next to every person, salmon or turbot with Dutch sauces, or a portion of red mullet with Cardinal sauce are offered to each guest; cucumber and the essential cruet-stands bringing up the rear. The "flying dishes," as the modern cooks call the oyster or marrow patés, follow the fish. The entrées are carried round, a sweetbread au jus, and lamb cutlets, with asparagus or peas: carefully avoid what are called flank dishes; if placed on the table they are cold, and a vulgar intrusion; either venison, roast saddle of mutton, or stewed beef à la jardinière, is then produced, the accessories being salad, vegetables, French and English mustard. A Turkey poult, duckling, or green goose, commences the second course, peas and asparagus following in their course; plovers' eggs in aspic jelly, and a mayonaise succeed; a macédoine of fruit, meranges à la créme, and a marasquino jelly, form the sweets. Two ices, cherry-water, and pine-apple cream, with the fruit of

the season, furnish the desert. One servant or more, according to the number of the party, must attend exclusively to the wine, which must ever be flowing during dinner. Coffee, hot and strong, ought always to be served in the dining-room, if it be carried up stairs it gets cold, and the chances are ten to one some awkward person upsets a portion of the aromatic beverage into the lap of a lady; besides, it is unfair to ask a butler and his myrmidons with the trays to steer through a crowded drawing-room, amidst chairs, ottomans, fauteuils, screens, and tables, with gentlemen lounging in every direction. From this large and boring dinner, let us turn to the perfection of all, a party of six, eight, or ten, at a bachelor's snuggery. A private note, instead of the formal printed card, has been sent out, naming the hour, military time, and at that hour to a minute the guests are seated. Turtle from Liverpool, a Severn, or Wood Mill salmon, caught in the morning, a vol au vent, Maintenon cutlets, poularde, or duckling, jelly, and cream, compose the dinner, while a leg of cold lamb, dressed crab, or a lobster salad, are on the sideboard for those who prefer cold to hot dishes. Moselle or claretcup, pale sherry, Madeira, and champagne, with Chateau, Lafitte or Latour, furnish "the flow of bowl."

There is another style of dinner, as agreeable as the one we have just referred to, and not expensive, we allude to what may be termed "yacht chamber practice," and for winter entertainments especially they are perfection. At these dinners all is simple, as the offices are

inconvenient: cod-fish and Dutch sauce, preceded by half a dozen "natives" placed before each guest, with brown bread and butter, cut lemon, and cayenne, followed by a Paté de Lancashire, vulgarly called a "Hot Pot." As many may doubt the merits of this popular dish, and be inclined to agree with the negro preacher who illustrated his text of "faith without works" as likened to 66 a beef steak without gravy," the following receipt is given :—

The lean part of a loin of mutton, cut into small cutlets.

Four mutton kidneys pounded, a quarter of a hundred oysters bearded, four or five potatoes peeled and cut into small slices; mix together, and put a handful into the bottom of a white earthen pot, after that a layer of potatoes and onions, then mutton, &c., as before, until the pot is full; continually sprinkling pepper, salt, and a pinch of curry powder betwixt each layer. When the pot is full, pile on the top a good lot of potatoes, and bake in a moderate oven three hours; before sending to table, fill up with good game gravy. To the above add a ham on sideboard.

Good wine, with a well-assorted party, is essential at all dinner entertainments. Hosts who do not give good wine and well-aired beds should be banished society without benefit of clergy, a case of eorum oculi damnentur.

Having now given the style of houses and dinners which the diner-out ought to appreciate, it is necessary to proceed to warn him of those he ought to avoid.

Studiously avoid dining with Judges on Circuit, at their lodgings, during the Summer Assizes, until the butler's department is altered. Everything on table is cold but the wine, which is confined to fiery sherry or port. In this age of progress, surely some well iced champagne and claret might be introduced without infringing the statute law, and would be more in conformity with sobriety and common sense, on which common law is supposed to be founded. The Bar mess is equally unsatisfactory, and as the members do not now all graduate at Public Schools and College, the profession is not so select in private as it used to be; the difference between what are called the regulars and irregulars is as easily detected as that between a turbot and a brett, the latter being altogether an inferior fish at table. They are admitted to be the most pretentious set of itinerant bagsmen in existence, who presume on their call to the bar, and finding no practice, they become stump orators, in imitation of their brethren in America, and adopt the platform party that will pay them best to delude the people, having, as Cobbett said, an eye solely to the public money.

Beware of a party of eighteen or twenty in a room that would scarcely hold half the number conveniently; where an influenza trap is laid for you, by the room being at Calcutta heat; the windows and doors open, forming a thorough draught. Where the entrées arrive in a cart from a second-rate pastry-cook, where everything is sure to be cold, except the wine; where the coachman, lately employed in the stable, places each