menced on a grand fcale, in the midst of different kinds of cheeses, which, rolling in mahogany cafes from one end of the table to the other, provoked the thirst of the drinkers. To give more livelinefs to the fcene, the prefident announced the health of the Prince of Wales: this was his birth-day. We then drank to the Elector Palatine, who was that day to be admitted a member of the Royal Society. The fame compliment was next paid to us foreigners, of whom there were five prefent. The members of the club afterward faluted each other, one by one, with a glass of wine. According to this cuftom, one muft drink as many times as there are guests, for it would be thought a want of politenefs in England, to drink the health of more perfons than one at a time *. A few bottles of champaign foon put all the company in good humour. The tea came next, with butter, marmalade, and all its ufual accompaniments: coffee followed, humbly yielding precedence to the tea, tho' it be the better of the two. In France we commonly drink only one cup of good coffee after dinner; in England, they drink five or fix times that quantity of the moft deteftable kind. Brandy, rum, and fome other ftrong liquors, clofed this philofophic banquet, which terminated at half pat feven, as there was to be a meet ing of the Royal Society at eight o'clock. Before we left the clubroom, the names of all the guests were written on a large fheet of paper, and each of us paid feven livres four fous French money: this was not dear †. Dr Mafkelyne, Sir Aubert, and Englefield; we were all pretty much enlivened, but our gayety was decorous. Doubtlefs, I fhould not wish to partake of fimilar dinners, if they were to be followed by fettling the interefts of a great nation, or difcuffing the beft form of a government; fuch a conduct would neither be wife nor prudent; but to meet to celebrate the admiffion of an Elector Palatine, who has, befides, much merit, to a learned fociety, is not a circumftance from which any inconvenience can refult. The Royal Society. The room in which the meetings of this fociety are held, is in the old palace of Somerset House: it appeared to me much too fmall. It is not long fince this part of the palace was rebuilt, but notwithstanding the frefhnefs and elegance of the decorations, the room wants that noble and fevere character, which ought to dif tinguifh a place confecrated to the fciences; it refembles a concert-hall rather than a Lyceum; and the manner in which the feats are difpofed, tends much to increase this refem. blance. The feats are only fimple benches, with backs, ranged in parallel lines, and occupying the whole of the room. The prefident and fecretaries have alone diftinguished places. The former is feated in an elevated chair of a çoloffal form. It is made of mahogany, and furmounted with an efcutcheon, on which are painted the infignia of the fociety. Nothing can be in a more gothic or worse taste than this ornament. The table, which is before the Cavendish, prefident's chair, is elevated, and coO o I repaired to the fociety along with vered, * Our readers need not be told, that it is no want of politenefs, to drink the health of a whole company at one time; but the custom of bob-nib is what our author means here. J † Certainly not, but our author paid for the dinner only, without including wine. vered, one cannot tell why, with an enormous cufhion of crimson velvet. Before this, there is a fecond table, deftined for the fecretaries, upon which there lies a large mace of gilded wood or metal. This is the fymbol of all royal institutions. The fociety was affembled precifely at eight o'clock. Sir Jofeph Banks prefided, and Blagden, was one of the fecretaries. The ftrangers were placed near the members who introduced them; and, however little known they might be, every .member behaved to them with the greatest politeness and affability. The detractors of the English character, have reproached them with behaving in a cold and furly manner to foreigners. What has been confidered as coldness, is, perhaps, only a proper referve. Strangers were politely and honourably received in this learned fociety, and placed by the side of the members with whom they were fraternally confounded. The fciences, like the mufes, fhould be regarded as fifters, and ought to know no diftinction of country or of govern The Thames flows at your feet, lined up to London-bridge with deep rows of veffels. Streamers waving in the air-fhips under fail, going up and down the river-an immenfe multitude of men of all nations on this floating city-the more remote mafts mingling with the fteeplesthe church of St. Paul, whofe dome and fine proportion excite admiration even at this distance-WeftminsterAbbey, with its towers and gothic architecture-the column, called the Monument, rifing to the height of two hundred and two feet-all thefe grand and magnificent objects form a moft enchanting picture, the true point of view for which is from the obfervatory of Greenwich. The obfervatory is built of brick, in a ftyle of the greateft fimplicity. Magnificence and refearch are difplayed in the infide only in the perfection of the inftruments, which nothing can exceed. I found the committee affembled, and Dr Mafkelyne, the keeper of the obfervatory, had the goodness to show me, in detail, the moft remarkable objects in that rich collection. The truly learned are cafily diftinguished by their manners. Nothing can equal their complaifance and affability: for the cultivation of the mind foftens the manners, as that of the earth renders its productions more delicate. The man of fcience, or of literature, who fhould appear proud, haughty, or felf-fufficient, would be very difagreeable; and whatever his pretenfions may be, he must always feem to the man of fenfe an unfocial being, poffeffing only a mediocrity of talents. Great timidity, habits of retirement, and the importunities to which celebrated men are expofed, may, indeed, give them a cold and referved air; but the difference is eafily diftinguished. Dr Mafkelyne added to his other kindness, that of introducing me to Mr William Herfchel, who invited me me to fee his obfervatory, and the humours-where the atmosphere is large telescopes of his conftruction, in the country. We appointed a day for this vifit. The committee having finished their bufinefs, we all affembled in a tavern in the neighbourhood. They were about thirty perfons at table. The dinner was ferved in the English manner, and feafened, according to cuf tom, with a preliminary benediction on the guests and the victuals. The repalt was excellent, and the company were gay and extremely agreeable. We rose from the table about seven o'clock, not to depart, but to pass into another room, where tea, coffee, and all their usual accompaniments, were difpofed with much how, upen a large table. The tea is always excellent in England; but no where do people drink worse coffee. It would appear, that the English are little fenfible of the delicious flavour of this agreeable liquor, which nature feems to have created to folace at once the body and mind: it is not only grateful to the ftomach, but re-invigorates the understanding when one is fatigued with too intenfe thinking. Voltaire, who was extremely fond of coffee, called it the quinteffence of the mind. Why then does the English go. vernment, for political and commercial reafons, prevent the people from ufing coffee *, which they might pre. pare according to their own tafte, and compel them to purchase a kind of inferior quality, and bad flavour, from dealers who have it long in their poffeffion after it is burned. One would imagine that it has been purpofely contrived to render this liquor difgufting in a country where it is fo neceffary for removing melancholic covered with an almoft continual gloom-and where, if we may be lieve the celebrated Fielding, there is more port wine drank in one year, than the whole kingdom of Portugal produces in three. It would certainly be far better policy to fubftitute for tea, which is brought from China, the coffee which grows in the English colonies: fuch a change might, perhaps, tend to diminifh that alarming confumption of wine, which occafions in this country fo much inebriety, and fo many difeases. [From these remarks, we shall pass on to another description of the manner of living in Great Britain, taken from the duke of Argyle's table, at Inverary in Scotland, where our author and his travelling companions were entertained with a hofpitality becoming that illuftrious family.] The Duke of Argyle's at Inverary. The manner in which we fpent our time at Inverary caftle was extremely agreeable. Each person rofe at any hour he pleased in the morning. Some took a ride, others went to the chace. I rofe with the fun, and proceeded to examine the natural hiftory of the environs. At ten o'clock, a bell fummoned us to breakfast: we then repaired to a large room, ornamented with hiftorical pictures of the Argyle family; among which there were fome by Battoni, Reynolds, and other eminent Italian and English painters. Here we found feveral breakfast tables, covered with tea, coffee, excellent cream, and every thing the appetite could defire, furrounded with bouquets of flowers, newfpapers, and 002 books. This is a mistake. Government has no fuch reafons. The fault lies with the custom of the country, which is to make the moft of this commodity. In general, too much water is poured on the coffee. A genuine coffee-drinker will not expect more than three fmall cups from an ounce of coffee. books. There were, befides, in this room, a billiard table, a piano-forte, and other mufical inftruments. After breakfast, fome walked in the parks, others amufed themfelves with reading and mulic, or returned to their apartments. At half past four, the dinner bell was rung, and we went to the dining room, where we always found a table of twentyfive or thirty covers. When all the company were feated, the chaplain, according to cuftom, made a fhort prayer, and bleft the food *, which was ate with pleasure. Indeed, the dinners were prepared by an excellent French cook, and every thing was ferved up in the Paris manner, except a few dishes in the English form, which made a variety, and thus gave the epicures of every country an opportunity of pleafing their palates. Iwas particularly pleafed to fee napkins on the table, and forks of the fame kind as those used in France. I am not much difpofed to risk prick ing my mouth or my tongue with thofe little sharp tridents, which are generally ufed even in the beft houfes in England. I know that this kind of forks are only intended for feizing and fixing the pieces of meat while they are cut, and that the English knives being rounded at the point, may answer for fome of the purposes to which the French forks are applied, particularly in carrying meat to the mouth; but, I must confefs, that I ufe their knives very awkward ly in this way. It is well, however, to accuftom oneself to the ufages of different countries; and it feemed to me that at table, as well as in feveral other inftances, the English calculate more accurately than we do. In England, the fork is always held in the left hand, and the knife in the right. The fork holds the meat down, the knife cuts it, and the pieces may be carried to the mouth with either. The motion is quick and precife. The manoeuvres at an English dinner are founded upon the fame principle as the Pruffian difcipline. Not a moment is loft! In France, the first manoeuvre is fimilar to that of the English: but when the meat is cut in pieces, the knife is laid down on the right fide of the plate, and the fork is changed from the left to the right hand, with which it is lifted to the mouth; thus our table tactics are more complex than the English, and require more time. The English method is certainly the beft; but large knives, with rounded points, are neceffary to put it in practice. And why not have them? There would then be an arm lefs in the hands of the vitious or the foolish. How many frantic or hopeless beings have made ufe of fharp-pointed knives against themselves! How ma ny monfters have cruelly used them against others! The melancholy lift would, doubtlefs, be long: and, per haps, if this useful inftrument had, not in Italy, Spain, and most other countries, the form of a ftiletto, fuch crimes would be lefs frequently com. mitted. Experience has long fince proved that great effects may spring from very trivial caufes. But howfoever this may be, I muft not forget, that the knives and forks at the duke of Argyle's table ferved to help us to very good things. The different courfes, and the after meats, were all done as in France, and with the fame variety and abundance. If the poultry was not fo juicy as that of Paris, we were amply compenfated by the moft delicate moor fowl, by delicious fifh, and by vegetables, the quality of which did honour to the kill of the Scottish gardeners. At the defert, the scene changed: 1 cloth, *This remark is frequently made by our author, as a fingular cuftom, and fingular we fear it has long been in France, where the neglect of religious observances did not certainly begin with the revolution. cloth, napkins, and every thing difappeared. The mahogany table fhone in all the lure that wood is capable of receiving from art; but it was foon covered with brilliant decanters, filled with the most exquifite wines; comfits, in fine porcelain, or crystal vafes; and fruits of different kinds in beautiful baskets. Plates and glaffes were diftributed; and in every object elegance and conveniency feemed to rival each other. I was furprised, however, to see on the fame table, in fo cold a climate, and in the month of September, peaches, apricots, raifins, prunes, figs, &c. all of an excellent quality, except the figs, which could not be called fine, by a perfon born in the fouth of France. It is probable, however, that the greater part of these fruits were produced by much care and expence in hothouses. Toward the end of the defert, the ladies withdrew to a room deftined for the tea table: I was forry they left us fo long alone; but the duke of Argyle informed me, that he preferved this old cultom in his family, in order that the people of the country might not be offended by the breach of a practice, to which they had always been accustomed. The ceremony of toafts was well kept up in the absence of the ladies; but though they ufually continued to go round for at least three quarters of an hour, no perfon's inclination was violated, and every one drank what he pleafed. This, however, did not prevent a great number of healths being drank with fpirit, and every demonftration of pleasure, Wines are the greatett luxury of the British table. They drink the belt and the dearest that grow in France and Portugal. If the lively champaign fhould make its diuretic influence be felt, the cafe is foreseen, and in the angles of the room, the neceffary convenience is to be found. ***** *+ At laft they proceeded to the drawing-room, where tea and coffee abound, and where the ladies did the honour of the table, with much dignity and grace: the tea is always excellent, but it is not fo with the coffee: fince it was not good in a house like this, where no expence is fpared, it cannot be expected to be good any where elfe in the country. I should imagine that the English and Scotch attach no importance to the fine perfume aud flavour of good coffee; for it feems to be all one to them what kind they drink, provided they have four or five cupfuis. Their coffee is always weak, bitter, and completely deprived of its aromatic odour. Thus they want an excellent beverage, which would be a thousand times more favorable to their health than tea. Kampfer, who refided long in Japan, and who has published some very curious obfervations upon tea, and the fhrub that bears it, remarks that it is of a narcotic nature. After tea, thofe who choosed it retired to their apartments: those who preferred conversation and mufic remained in the room; others went out to walk. At ten o'clock, fupper was ready, and thofe attended it who pleased. In England, I always found that all claffes of people eat a great deal more than the French. I do not know that they are more healthy; indeed, I doubt they are not; but this I know, that Dumoulin, one of the most celebrated phyficians of Paris, once told me, that he was never raised in the night to vifit any perfon whe had not fupped. VINDI Here our author makes fome ludicrous remarks, which we have omitted, |