SHAKSPEARE.
* * * * *
BEFORE AND AFTER DINNER.
When Queen Elizabeth dined with Sir Thomas Gresham, before she proceeded
to name the Royal Exchange, Sir Thomas pledged her majesty in a cup
containing a pearl made into powder, of the value of L1,000. So runs the
story, but we should think Sir Thomas superior to such a piece of
ostentatious folly. The display of his grasshopper crest on the
pinnacles of the Old 'Change was in much better taste.
The old fashion of transacting public business _after dinner_ is not
unworthy of remark and contrast with the present custom. In 1696, the
foundation-stone of Greenwich Hospital was laid by John Evelyn, with a
select committee of commissioners, and Sir Christopher Wren, precisely
at five in the evening, _after they had dined together_, Flamstead, the
royal astronomer, observing the time punctually by his instruments. In
our days the only public business transacted _after dinner_ is that of
parliament, and the alteration of this to the morning has often been
suggested: but if the motto _in vino veritas_ hold good, it were better
left as it is.
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