CHAPTER XI.

ONDON, JULY 8.-It is an event in a man's

life to have dined once with the Cloth workers' Company at their magnificent hall in Mincing Lane, London. This is an immensely wealthy society, dating back two hundred years or more; and although it was organized by clothworkers, and under their management for a century, more or less, it is said there is not at present a single clothworker connected with it. The membership is now composed principally, if not entirely, of the aristocratic classes, and everything attending their proceedings is conducted on a grand scale. Their great wealth has been acquired by the rise of real estate, left from time to time to the society by its former members, and they appropriate from it, in acts of benevolence, large sums every year. Its permanent officers are a Master, four Wardens and a Clerk. The Clerk, OWEN ROBERTS, Esq., M. A., is the working officer, who has to attend to all the details. At their state dinners, which are given about once every month, the number of plates set is one hundred and twentyone table being arranged at the head, and one on either side, lengthwise of the grand hall. The seat of the Master of Ceremonies is at the center of the head table. All the officers wear long robes, and their guests, who are expected to appear in full dress suit, are first received in the saloon or drawing-room, which is elegantly furnished. Dinner is served at nine o'clock, and each member or guest, as the case may be, finds or is conducted to his place at table, where his name appears on a handsome card, bearing the coat of arms of the society. By his plate,

also, he finds the bill of fare and an elaborate programme containing the names of the officers of the society and of the artists who are to furnish the musical part of the entertainment. This bill and programme, too, bear the society's coat of arms, whose motto is, "My trust is in God alone," and both are printed in the highest style of "the art divine." All the pieces to be sung, ten in number, are printed in full in the programme, and it should be observed that the musicians have position at the lower end of the hall, facing the Master of Ceremonies, and that it is their province to perform during dinner. Grace is said, with responses, in Latin, "composed by John Reading, A. D. 1681"-all printed in the programme.

As Washington City is famous for its dinner parties and sumptuous state dinners, especially those given by the foreign legations, it may interest some to present a list of the good things served on the occasion of a grand dinner by the Clothworkers' Society, in Mincing Hall, July 7, 1875, thus:

Of course, the choicest brands of wine were also served in profusion.

Dinner over, the first toast, to Her Majesty the Queen, was drunk standing, and then, all joining with the choir, came

THE NATIONAL ANTHEM.

God save our gracious Queen,

Long live our noble Queen,

God save the Queen!

Send her victorious,

Happy and glorious,

Long to reign over us,

God save the Queen!

Thy choicest gifts in store
On her be pleased to pour,

Long may she reign!
May she defend our laws,

And ever give us cause

To sing with heart and voice,

God save the Queen!

The Prince of Wales and other members of the

royal family were next toasted, but without rising from the table, they being subjects only, like the rest of the people.

Then was sung, by Miss Annie Sinclair,

THE ECHO SONG.

My own true love is far away,
And I am wandering lonely here
To tend my flocks till close of day,

While mem'ry wakes the silent tear.
I'm sure his heart is true to me;

Tho' other lands he's doomed to roam,
His constant prayer I know will be

To view once more his native home.

Sweet hope is whisp'ring in my heart,
While time is winging fast away,
That we shall meet no more to part

When Springtime brings the flowers of May.
Ah! then what happy days in store!

We'll wreathe with joy the fleeting hours;

No clouds shall darken o'er us more

To blight the summer flowers.

Next, after other appropriate toasts, came a glee, (four voices,) by Horsley, entitled

"MINE BE A COT."

Mine be a cot beside a hill,

A beehive's hum shall soothe my ear;
A willowy brook, that turns a mill,
With many a fall shall linger near;
The swallow oft beneath my thatch
Shall twitter from her clay-built nest;

Oft shall the pilgrim lift the latch,
And share my meal a welcome guest.

Around my ivied porch shall spring

Each fragrant flower that drinks the dew,

And Lucy at her wheel shall sing,

In russet gown and apron blue.

The village church among the trees,

Where first our marriage vows were given,

With merry peals shall swell the breeze,
And point with taper spire to heav'n.

Still other toasts intervening, the songs, all good, were continued to the close, and this (also by four voices) was the last

"GOOD NIGHT."

Bim, bim, hear us singing,

Now sounds the midnight hour!
Hark! how the chimes are ringing:
Voices your way be winging

High to our lady's bower,
Charm her with magic power:
While we our watch are keeping,
May she in slumber light,
Calm and secure be sleeping:
So let us say, "Good night."

Bim, bim, chimes are ringing!

Ye zephyrs lend your aid!

What we afar are singing,

Still to her ear be bringing:

Breathe o'er this gentle maid,
Where she in rest is laid!

While we our watch are keeping,

May she in slumbers light,

Calm and secure be sleeping:

So let us say, "Good night."

The company left the table about midnight, the last act in the evening's entertainment, except smoking, being the passage of the "Loving Cup." This ceremony is thus described by F. W. Fairholt, F. S. A.:

"THE LOVING CUP" is a splendid feature of the Hall-feasts of the City and Inns of Court. The cup is of silver or silver-gilt, and is filled with spiced wine, immemorially termed "Sack." Immediately after the dinner and grace, the Master and Wardens drink to their visitors a hearty welcome; the cup is then passed round the table, and each guest, after he has drunk, applies his napkin to the mouth of the cup before he passes it to his neighbor. The more