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Show El (jUBEN VICTORIA'S DINNERS- R! Duller Than Those of King Edward, Kt But Well Served. HttJ "The royal dinner party every even- HDHr a far moro e"tcrtal,llllK ,nlltl" HhR tutlon under the present king than Hf f It was ' under Victoria, who insisted HRff on in ' the forms being carried out , without reservation or evasion. A Hff ' ' dinner under her eyo was to a great BBBnL bH&. I , many people nn exceedingly droadtul ordool. The queqn did not like people who drank more than ono or two glasses of wine, says the London correspondent correspond-ent of Town nnd Country. She abhorred ab-horred voluble men and women and was only Impressed with people who knew how to keep silent and who spoko only when spoken to and then when they did speak they were ex- pectcd to say something Interesting. Ul... "ll.l.U ill li. ii rule, ns even the cleverest man feels himself handicapped If ho knows he la expected to say something clover or Interesting. Tho queen bersolf nl-wnyB nl-wnyB had next to her tho most Important Im-portant man or woman ot tho party, nnd gave them full rein in conversation. conversa-tion. The others, unless they were far away nt the end of tho tablo, woro by a tacit understanding expected to do nothing but dovoto themselves to the excellent dlisudr which was nl- - .-My l ..... In Utnt TO- spect she was an Idsal hostess and she ktiow also what was to bo provided, pro-vided, for the monu was submitted to her on tho morning of each day. The queen's dinner nt Windsor began be-gan at nine, nt Ilalmoral at eight. An hour after sitting down her majesty, would retire to an adjoining room for coffee, taking with her one or two selected guests, and the rest were allowed al-lowed to carry on their dinner and conversation to suit themselves. King Kdward's arrangements aro rtjfTorxnt. His dinner parties are no any othor country gentleman. You may talk and you may smoke and you may bo silent to suit y.ourself so long as you are persona grata, and the dlnnor Itself In no way lacks the dignity dig-nity and excellence ot thoso which so many peoplo dreaded In the old days. |