TOO MANY FOR DINNER..
"The gallant conduct of the Portuguese troops at the battle of Busaco, had induced the Ministry to confer on Marshal Bercsford the Order of the Bath. The occasion of his investment with the insignia Lord Wel. lington determined to celebrate by a grand party ; and an invitation to all the officers of the army, who should be off duty on the appointed day, was inserted in the General Orders.
"Although our Quinta was fully twenty miles distant from Mafra, which was to be the scene of the destined festivity, my friend Popham
* The Youth and Manhood of Cyril Thornton, Second Edition, 3 vela. ISA Blackwood, .Edinburgh; Cation, London, and myself determined to relieve the dulness of our mode Of life, by ac- cepting the invitation. At day-light we set; forward on our way ; and after riding, for many hours, on the most villainous roads that were ever trod by the foot of either man or horse, sometimes ascending to the mountain-tops, and at others sinking to the very bottom of the valleys, about two o'clock we reached the palace of Mafra. On inquiry we found there was neither stabling nor forage for our horses ; but observing some ruinous and deserted cottages at a short distance, we selected the most weather-proof for a stable, and returned to the Palace. " We were ushered through a handsome suite of apartments into splendid saloon, which we found already filled by a large and miscella- neous assemblage. The party altogether amounted to between two and three hundred ; and considering the circumstances under which it assert). bled, struck me on my entrance as forming rather a brilliant coup &cell.
" Of course, the principal object in the group, the observed of all observers,' was Lord Wellington. There was no assumption of state or dignity in his demeanour. He wore the uniform of his rank, with the star and riband of the Bath, and laughed and talked with those around him, in a tone of freedom and familiarity which showed his disregard of all ceremony and punctilio.
" We had been there about an hour before the grand ceremony of the day commenced. But however august the spectacle might have been, I believe the majority of the party were in little humour to enjoy it. My own appetite had been excited to an unpleasant degree, by a ride of twenty miles over a mountainous country, and Sir William Curtis him- self never looked to the hour of dinner with more anxious anticipation. Our fare, indeed, had recently consisted of the common rations of the army, there being no market from which it was possible to derive any additional supply. The prospect of this day's dinner, therefore, rose be- fore us like a green oasis in the desert, a star in the surrounding darkness, on which the fancy loved to linger. " Never did lover pant more ardently for the hour of meeting with his mistress, than did the hungsy crowd assembled at Mafra for the annun- ciation of dinner. Time and the hour,' as the old proverb hath it, wear out the longest day ;' and our ears were at length greeted-by the anxiously expected sounds. The more distinguished portion of the guests paced forth into the hall,' in the due order of their rank and seniority in the service, and were followed by.the prefanum vulgus, whose order of ad- vance was regulated by the no less intelligible principle of • Devil take the hindmost.' The reader may conceive our consternation, when, having with difficulty Obtained entrance into the crowded salle-ii.mango., it was evident that the table would not contain one tithe of the company, and we heard it announced that dinner was provided only for the General Officers.
" Never was blank discomfiture more forcibly depicted, than in the countenances of the disappointed guests. They suffered the agonies of Tantalus. A splendid dinner was before them, yet with the savoury fumes of the viands in their nostrils, the sentence of famine had gone forth against them. As the unwelcome sounds met their ear, a murmur of anger and disappointment ran through the assembly. No dinner ! ex- claimed an hundred voices, in accents of indignant astonishment. No dinner ! was pensively echoed by an hundred more.
" The doctrine of passive obedience, however, was by no means exem- plified in the conduct of the excluded guests. Some, by dint of im- pudence, still endeavoured to secure places at the table, and others gazed around, in hopes of an opportunity of security., unobserved, some portion of the spoil. An officer of the Buffs was detected its the act of taking improper liberties with a turkey, and another arrested in his at- tempt to escape with a giblet-pie. Decisive measures were evidently become necessary, and the Generals appeared perfectly aware that their generalship was never more emphatically called for than on the present occasion. Orders for our instant departure were loudly vociferated, but without effect ; and the dinner would certainly have speedily disappeared from the board, but for the opportune arrival of a party of the Seventy- ninth Highlanders, who had been introduced by General Cameron, and proceeded by his directions, to expel us from the apartment at the point of the bayonet. " When the process of summary ejectment had been completed, by this unusual act of hospitality, we returned to the saloon, where we were regaled with music by the fine band of the Guards. Great as the power of music is admitted to be, its soothing influence certainly did not extend to the mitigation of that complaint under which we all so vehemently suffered ; and never did sweet sounds fail more completely of their effect. " There is a certain brotherhood and freemasonry in misfortune we felt ourselves linked together by one common calamity ; and stranger addressing strangler, poured forth the most unmeasured expressions of anger and invective arm the subject of their common wrongs. " While thus employed, an aid-de-camp of Lord Wellington entered the apartment, and, apologizing for the disappointment under which we suffered, announced, by way a consolation, that supper would be pro- vided for the whole party. The reaction of feeling excited by the simple enunciation of the word supper, was really a psychological phenomenon. The brows that had been knitted closely together suddenly expanded, and dull, heavy, and spiritless eyes, Were once more lighted up with the sparkle of animation. There were even smiles in company, though these were few ; and the approximation to a growl in the tone of our conversa- tion was now certainly less remarkable than before. " But the balmy impression even of this welcome intelligence soon very sensibly diminished. Ten o'clock was the hour of supper ; and we knew from the consentaneous information of an hundred watches, that four dreary hours had yet to elapse before the advent of that blessed con- summation. During these long hours we were still destined to receive internal evidence of nature's cordial abhorrence of a vacuum. For nearly half that period, indeed, we stood wedged together in one solid mass at the door of the supper-room, waiting to burst in like a torrent, whenever it should be opened. "Opened it was at length ; but on entering the apartment, I found, to my inexpressible dismay, that those before me had swept every dish away from time bottom of the table, leaving nothing in the shape of an esculent for those who followed. I shall not attempt to describe the scene of wrangling and confusion which ensued. Those who have seen a whole squadron of half-starved dogs, snarling, quarrelling, and fighting for a single bone, may conceive something of its character."
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