Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 October 1884 — HOW LONDON DINES. [ARTICLE]

HOW LONDON DINES.

Specimens of High «u<l Low Living in the , Great Metropolis. ( • , , A correspondent of The Brooklyn “Times writfes as follows;-. Being bidden to one of London’s civic dinners, I partook inter alfta. oi lark pudding. I do not think it is a shame to put the lark which “at heaven’s gate sihgs” into a pudding, but being in a pudding the lark is exceedingly nice. lam told that lark pudding is quite as expensive and doubly as rare as birds’-nest soup, and certainly the unanimity with which the guests, on the occasion I refer to, called for it bears out the suggestion. Perhaps Delmonico himself could not have suggested a rarer menu than that which the Shipwright’s laid before us; The lord mayor—as fine and yeomanlike a specimen of Englishmen as one would wish to see—occupied the guest’s place of honor, and at such t.'mes as I dared furtively to- raise my eyes in the direction of that dignitary I thought I saw that he enjoyed the repast exceedingly. Certainly it was a gorgeous affair, from the soup to the iced pudding, and afterward to the cigars (great fat fellows of that deliciously loose and crumbly make about the end that domestic workmen cannot imitate). The dSnes, too; thei fragrant hocks and mellow clarets, the dry champagnes, the rare old ports, the nutty sherries, the thimbleful of oily brandy, and the accompanying gulp of coffee! That is one way in which Londoners—the great corporations and city guilds—dine. Let us see. At the height of that banquet it must have been 9 o’clock. From the majestic Mansion house, which sees literally hundreds of such dinners during every lord mayor’s term, to the New cut, is but a short distance. Here, as indeed in all parts of London, there are served up at 8 o'clock precisely, in the ham and beef shops, huge dishes of boile'd beef, baked pork, and pease pudding. It is not too much to say that 100,000 families in London take their evening (and heartiest) meal from these shops, carrying home’the steaming viands in hot basins, at a cost of from one penny to, say nmepeiice each family! (Two to 18 cents.) The meat, of course, cannot be obtained for this smaller sum, but a huge platter of pease pudding may, and there is no dish more wholesome and. sustaining. To the very poor—not to the poorest, poor creatures, for tliey-are unable to obtain even this cheap food frequently —the hot joints and hot puddings served from 8 o’clock until midnight, and the savory saveloys that are taken steaming from the boiler, are a great boon; Many of the establishments in which they are served have also a midday hot. lunch (none being allowed to consume their food on the premises.) but for the most part the morning is occi pel by their proprietors in cutting and preparing the meat for the great rush of the evening, in clearing up generally, and in cutting cold meats for such as want them. I have often gazed with mute admiration upon the deft manner in which the-e gentlemen ply their long knives. They seem to be able to cut off a pound of meat without d minishing the joint. And to do it aeain and again. lam positive that. I hsve seen them shave of! a piece of ham that was no thicker than the paper on which these lines will be printed. Such as cannot muster enough money to indulge in a steak-and-kidney pudding. which costs anywhere from 4to 10 pence, according to how much steak and kidney there is in it, and of what variety they are, can at all events find a healthy and cheap repastjn the fried fish shop. There is a great plenty n in England, and at all seasons of the year, of a fish called plaice. It is something like a flounder and something like a sole, but it is neither and has a distinct flavor. The fried-fish shopkeeper cuts this plaice in two, poppers, salts. and 'flowers him, and pops him into a gigantic vat of boiling grease. In ten minutes he is done. Scores of thou-ands, especially in the winter time, are nightly customers of the fried-fish shop. I have tried plaice so cooked and have liked him very much. The great consideration about him. however, is his cheapness. A satisfying portion of fried plaice, for one, can be obtained for a single penny, while if the purchaser desires to spend mole he can get at the same a three-cornered paper full of chipped potatoes for another penny terrible to think that in this vast town, this innumerable caravan, there are thousands who can not often approach even this pooy luxury? The poor, however, 'have certainly more opportunities of obtaining cheap and nourishing food in London than in any o her of the large cities —certainly far more than in New Y’ork or Brooklyn. We will suppose, for example, ’that a man were landed in New York with but 25 cents in the world—and hungry. How long could he support life on it? Certainly not more than two days—that is to say before he began to starve. Twenty-five cents are a shilling and a half-penny of English money, and I think you will gather from what I have written that it would go muck further here than there. For a penny here a man may have a dish of whelks (a toothsome shell-fish) with pepper and vinegar, or two very repulsive-looking oysters, or in the winter time a cup of hot eel soup, or a meat or fruit pie, or a plate of mussels.