ing in this refpedl, and, like the French, eat o f every thing that
comes before them : and although the different difhes do not feem
to harmonize together, yet fuch is the force o f habit, that the
guests apparently find no inconvenience from the moll oppofite
mixtures. Anchovies, herrings, onions, eggs, paltry, often meet
together on the fame plate, and are fwallowed promifcuouily.
T he fweet is affociated with the four, multard with fugar, con-
fedlionaries with fait meat or fait f ilh ; in Ihort, eatables are intermingled
with a poetical licence, that fets the precept o f H orace
at defiance—
Sed non ut placidis coeant immitia.
An Italian is not very much at a lofs at thefe fealts; but an Eng-
lilhman finds himlelf quite uncomfortable and out o f his element:
he lees no wine drank either with the ladies or the gentlemen
during dinner; but mull take it himfelf in a folitary m anner: he is
often obliged to wait for hours before he can help himfelf to what
he prefers to eat, and when the meat arrives, he generally thinks
it not dreffed plain enough, but difagreeable from the quantity o f
fpices with which it is feafoned. After dinner the ladies do not
leave him to his bottle; he is expected to adjourn immediately w ith
them to the drawing-room, where the company, after thanking
the mailer and miltrels o f the houfe with a polite or rather ceremonious
bow for their good cheer, are regaled with tea and coffee.
I have not entered into a circumllantial defcription o f thefe long
dinners, but only given the general outline, that I might not in-
flift upon my readers that ennui, which I confefs I have myfelf
fometimes
fometimes experienced when I was among the number o f the
guefts. In the interval between dinner and fupper, which however,
from the many hours that are thought neceffary for the
ails o f eating and drinking, is not long, there is no amufement
whatever but playing at cards. I f you cannot join in this rational
recreation, you are abandoned to your fate, and may fit m
fome corner o f the room, indulging in meditation on whatever
fubjedl you pleafe.
I have already noticed the extreme paffion o f the Swedes for
cards; an amufement too fafcinating in all countries, but which
in Sweden, efpecially among the higher orders, fee ms to abforb
every power and faculty o f the foul. T he following anecdote
may ferve to illullrate it in a llriking manner:— A nobleman o f
great rank having waited longer than ufual for his dinner, and
feeing that no preparation was made for it, went down to call
his fervantsto an account, and to examine into the reafon o f the
delay. He found his houfehold, in imitation o f their fuperiors,
deeply engaged at cards. They excufed themfelves to their
mailer by telling him that they were now at the moil mtereiling
point o f the game; and the butler, who had the greatell flake,
took the liberty o f explaining the caie to his excellency, who
could not in confcience but approve bis reafons. However, being
unwilling to wait for his dinner till the game was decided, he fent
the butler to lay the cloth, while he himfelf fat down with the
other fervants, and managed the intereft o f that individual in his
abfence.