Lady's Realm Volume 8; An Illustrated Monthly Magazine (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1900 Excerpt: ...there arc hereditary dust-specks." Then: "I descend to melodrama," he interrupted himself. "I have not slept, and sleep clutches at me like a nightmare. I frighten you. I am a bear, fit only for a den. Good-night." He quitted the room. liiimed.) THE essential condition of an ideal is that it should be unattainable. Doubtless Beethoven longed for an ideal orchestra, but he never heard one even before he became deaf. If Raphael or Titian could have transferred their souls to canvas, they would have done it once for all, and have painted no more. If my friend, Mr. Labouchere, could realise his Republic of all the Virtues to-morrow, we should lose his delightful efforts to improve us day by day, and Truth itself would be dull reading. The Ideal rouses us from sloth, inspires us with longing and activity, and gives us something to live for; but it remains elusive, unsubstantial, unreal. And so I frankly confess that I have never eaten, and never hope to eat, my ideal dinner: the best fare, consumed in the best of company, all in the best of humours. As a veteran diner-out, let me lay it down for an axiom that good company is far more indispensable than good cookery. Where this consideration is reflected, there is no saying what will happen. Witness the ancient Highland feasts, where, as the bard says: For an angry 'ort She'll dirk her neighbour ower the board. I will not deny that unpalatable viands may affect the temper of the convives; as at that country inn where Johnson savagely pronounced the mutton "ill-fed, ill-killed, and ill-dressed." On the other hand, the perfect cooking of a certain joint of veal unquestionably led to friendly relations between the Doctor and the loathed Wilkes, when no human persuasion could have a...