RETROSPECT OF THE LONDON SEASON, 1829.
Tan London Season may now be considered as closed ; and it is unanimously agreed to have been the dullest known within the memory of man. The complaints are, that there has been nothing new, nothing whimsical, nothing gay or striking. The usual great parties have had place ; but they are things of ceremony and of course, and consequently not what gives the character to a season ; and for other entertainments, there has been in the proportion of one ball or concert this year for the three of 1828. The common remark is, that though there has been so great a default in evening parties, dinners have been particularly abundant. A profound philosophy must lurk at the bottom of this fact, which we should be glad to see educed. Dinners are the affairs of the maturer years, the married, the established— evening parties are the concerns of the young: whence is it, then, that the junior influence has not been as much felt as formerly in the dispensation of amusements ? This is an important query, which is easier raised than answered. The thinness of London at the beginning of the season was attributed to the Catholic question, which some of the good people in the country supposed would plunge the capital into tumult and riot ; and has the fear of the Pope turned all the gay world serious and old before its time ? We have heard of individuals whose hair has changed to grey with a single night of care ; and has the head of Mary-la-bonne blanched with the terrors of a session ? If so, we hope it will wear a young wig next year, and resume its gaieties even under false pretences. Marriages have been uncommonly scarce ; which is not extraordinary, as such casualties, like the fall of men in battle, depends much on the number of balls. Dowagers, who understand such matters scientifically, say, that dinner flirtations are faint things, never to be relied on, and that they seldom are observed to struggle beyond the dessert. A growing passion is not of ability to climb up stairs to the drawing-room. There is something, certainly, in the business of filling the stomach, essentially unsentimental, and love and digestion would seem incompatible associates,—
" Non bene conveniunt nee in unit sede morantur."
IThe only novelty of the season has been a refinement in dinners, 1-which does away entirely with dishes on the table. People of the i first water now dine after the Russian fashion. The table is spread ; with the dessert only ; and the fish, soup, meats, &c. are handed round. I This mode is too fine to last ; and it is incompatible with the observ
ance of the directions of the wisest of men to dinner guests,— "When thou sittest at a ruler's table, consider diligently what is set before ) thee."
By which, SOLOMON meant that a nice survey should be made of the whole meal; which cannot be done if, like the Spanish fleet in the Critic, it is never fairly in sight. The comparative election, moreover, is excluded by handing dishes round ; and the delicate pointed attentions to dishes of superior merit are superseded by a number of surfeiting flirtations. But though the Russian dinner will never permanently obtain among us, we are in hopes that it will make a step towards abolishing the beastly barbarism of carving, which is only the very next step to cannibalism itself. We send missionaries over the world to instruct the blind heathen, and yet there are at our very tables of hospitality long knives and cruel steel forks turned against the peace and comfort of guests ! I ! Why, we ask, should the labours of a cookshop be imposed upon favoured friends ? Why does not a BRUMMELL arise to preach against these cruelties ? A polite missionary society ought to be formed, which should throw out instructors in bienseanee and reformers of manners.
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