A Hundred Years Ago
For a simple soiree, I recommend some sandwiches of fowl, of ham, of veal, of tongue, &c., some plates of pastry, and here and there on the table some baskets of fruit. These, judiciously placed on the table, with the lights, will present an agreeable coup d'oeil, and will cost. less by three-fourths than a very common supper, where the guests are required to set to work in carving pites, hams, fowls, aspics, &c., &c., while at a buffet, furnished as above, neither ladies nor gentlemen need remove their gloves, and can, notwith- standing, satisfy themselves in every way. For a select ball, I would have more variety in the composition of the articles. Put on the sideboard, in the first place, sandwiches of supreme of fowl, sandwiches with fumet de gibier ; sandwiches of fillets of soles ; sandwiches of salad, and sandwiches of anchovies, for those who happen to like them. All those things, made with great care, have many admirers ; and I am confident that, if it were once customary to adopt them generally, they Would never again give place to those ancient suppers which are only ridiculous signs of the extravagance and bad taste of the givers !
THE PRESS—" MORNING JOURNAL."
We have been nearly fourteen years at peace, but, instead • of having had the address to relieve the pressure of the taxes and public burdens, we have actually increased this pressure by our insane measures. Our statesmen during the greater portion of this period, have proved themselves utterly unfit to manage a pariah vestry, far less so complicated a machine as the system devised by Mr. Pitt. We know what they ought to do ; but we know that His Majesty's present Ministers dare not attempt what honour, interest, and common justice, dictate. Mr. Peel's bill is a millstone about their necks. Mr. Peel's liberal measures keep their heads under water. The fundholder is now master ; the free trader tyrannizes over the agriculturist ; the landowner is at the mercy of his mortgagee ; the saint at home rules the planter in the colonies ; our domestic trade has been sacrificed to the cravings of a few overgrown capitalists; the revenue which we formerly derived from the consumption of malt and beer is now derived from the custom's on foreign manufactures ; our whole system has undergone an essential and injurious change ; we therefore cannot go to war.; we cannot contend for our ancient rights, for the first shot fired in their vindication would shake to its base our already tottering and sickly finance system. This is the truly lamentable condition to which England has been reduced by her philosophers.
Previous page
