1885 New Guide Hotel Bar Restaurant

TABLE DECORATIONS, ETC.

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instance nothing could have been more delicately bcauiifal, either in the idea or conception, than the mise en scenes con- jured up at some of the Berlin banquets on the occasion of the noble old German Emperor's birthday anniversary fete in March. A long T table, — glittering candelabra lights, the air perfumed not only with the scent of rare exotics and beautiful flowers, but also from the delicate perfuming as in our own high-class banquets, of the table-linen, carpets, and even the heavy velvet curtains that shield the doors. In ano- ther portion of this book, I may as well mention here, that a recipe is given for the preparation of the perfumes generally used for this purpose (see page 426). At the Berlin banquet to which I refer, statuettes formed an important feature, and the flowers round each were as far as possible symbolical of the life and character of the original of the bust portrait nestling amongst its leaves. For instance, from a bed of pure white stephanotis and forget-me-nots arose the busts of the late Prince Consort and the Princess Alice. A very pretty miniature copy of Steele of Edinburgh's statue to the Queen- Empress of England, arranged in the centre of a bed of roses, red and white, shaded by ferns of delicate texture and varied hue, emblems of England, also of love, purity, and sincerity. There were dozens of these statuettes ranging in rank from the Kaiser himself to poets, present and past; civic and mili- tary heroes, and celebrities of the great German Empire. The busts certainly were not expensive on the whole, and the little pedestals cost even still less than the busts. The pair can be bought in the Italian quarter of London (say Leather Lane) for 6d. or larger size Is., and they relieve the mono- tony of the eternal display of glass, china, and badly arranged flowers, one so frequently sees at public dinners, besides it furnishes the bashful guest or the unimaginative man with subjects for conversation. At Literary, Musical, Masonic, and other banquets, statues of past great men and absent