Royal table

“ In the middle of the room, under the chandelier, a moderate-sized table, with a pedestal made like a knobbly silver tree-stump and a top made of eight triangles of opaque mother-of-pearl, stood useless, as there were no chairs round it, and it could only serve, and be meant to serve, at the very best, as a support for your Highness, when the lackeys opened the doors and ushered in the solemn figures in Court dress who came to present their respects to you.... ”

“ The Head Caterer, who had been staring open-mouthed at the table, tremblingly prostrated himself, and said, “If it please Your Royal Majesty, the table was duly set anon, but the viands have disappeared, I know not where.”
“Disappeared!” quoth the King; “how dare you allow the royal victuals to disappear? ”

“ On a high and eminent seat of throne-like ascension is seated Sovereignty, in royal posture and alone, with black curled hair, wearing an imperial crown, a robe of purple velvet, lined, faced, and caped with ermine, a collar of SS with a George pendant; bearing in one hand a golden globe, in the other a royal sceptre. On a seat beneath, are Principality, Nobility, and Honour, all richly habited. ”

“ The costliness and splendour of some royal entertainments require the description of an eye-witness to be fully realized. Evelyn, speaking of a great feast given to the Knights of the Garter in the banqueting-hall, tells us "the king sat on an elevated throne, at the upper end of the table alone, the knights at a table on the right hand, reaching all the length of the roome; over against them a cupboard of rich gilded plate; at the lower end the musick; on the balusters above, wind musick, trumpets, and kettle-drums. The king was served by the lords and pensioners who brought up the dishes. ”

“ THE ROYAL PLATE Plate for the Royal table—Plate for the King’s Chapel—Trumpets and maces—Queen Elizabeth’s gold salt cellar—Escapes the Commonwealth—The design of the salt cellar—The State salt of Charles II—Presented by the City of Exeter—A jewelled castle armed with golden guns—Charles II’s wine fountain—Presented by the Borough of Plymouth—The finest specimen of plate in the Jewel House—Not only ornamental, but useful to His Majesty—The ordeal of the lady on top—The eleven St. ”

“ This beautiful bouquet adorned the Royal Dinner Table on June 22. It stood 8 feet 6 inches high and measured 6 feet through, and was arranged in a gilded wicker basket. The upper portion took the form of a royal crown, beneath which were the letters V. R. I., each a foot in length, composed of Epidendrum Vitellinum on a ground of Odontoglossum Citrosmum. Orchids from Australia, South Africa, New Guinea, Burmah, British Guiana, the West Indies, and other parts of Her Majesty’s dominions were among the 50,000 to 60,000 flowers employed in this, the most magnificent bouquet ever constructed. ”

“ People go to the King’s Levee, and the Queen’s Drawing-Room, as they do in France. Their Majesties dine in Public only upon Sundays, when none eat with ’em but their Children. The Table is in Form of an oblong Square, in the Middle of which sit the King and Queen, with the Prince of Wales on the Right, and the three eldest Princesses on the Left. The Service here is performed in the same Manner as it is in France. The Table is plac’d in the midst of a Hall, surrounded with Benches to the very Cieling, which are fill’d with an infinite Number of Spectators. ”

“ A picture of the time preserves for us an evening in the great hall of the Château, where the King, with piles of louis d'or before him, sits at a large oval green table, throwing the dice, among princes and princesses, dukes and duchesses, ambassadors, marshals of France, and a vast throng of courtiers, like an animated bed of tulips; for men and women alike wear bright and varied colors. ”

“ Perhaps one end of the hall was raised higher than the rest for the lord of the household, like the dais of later times, as Anglo-Saxon writers speak of the heah-setl, or high seat. The table can hardly be considered as furniture, in the ordinary sense of the word: it was literally, according to its Anglo-Saxon name bord, a board that was brought out for the occasion, and placed upon tressels, and taken away as soon as the meal was ended. ”

“ Round the Saal, tables are arranged as at a bazaar, and each lady has one to herself loaded with presents. The Emperor sometimes walks round and shows his own gift, usually a very beautiful fur, where it lies on each person’s table ”

“ But the steps of my palace in India the Glorious are of smoothest ivory, and are spread with rugs of silk from Samarcand, while the railings are of polished ruddy gold on which no speck of dust is allowed to settle.
“The floor of this banquet-hall is of rough, uneven pine planks, and even these rough boards are a luxury for the high table and the great corner, while the rest of the hall is paved with coarse red brick. Your walls and ceiling are unpainted, your tables are of oak, and the cloths laid upon the most exalted are patterned with drawn threads. ”

“ The rich and the poor, the prince and the artisan, sit down at the same kind of modest little green-painted tables, with rush-bottomed chairs, all kind, affable, and jovial—all respecting each other. The child of the citizen comes up without restraint, and plays with the sword-knot of the commander-in-chief; and the little princess will naïvely offer her bunch of grapes to the peasant who sits at the next table with his pipe and his tall glass of Bavarian beer. ”

“ At ten o'clock at Night, when word was brought to the King that Supper was serv'd up, his Majesty went to the Table, where the Princes and Princesses always accompanied him. The Duchesses were plac'd behind the Folding-Chairs of the Princes, on both sides of the Table; and the other Ladies of Quality stood on the Right hand of the King's Arm-chair. ”

“ Conquest had lavished pains on the occasion, putting flowers in the rooms, and strewing handsome objects carelessly about, so as to impart to the great shell as much as possible the air of being lived in. To the tea-table he had given particular attention, ordering out the most ornamental silver and the costliest porcelain, and placing the table itself just where she would probably have it in days to come, so as to get the effect she produced in sitting there, as he liked to do with a new picture or piece of furniture. ”

“ An Italian cabinet inlaid with ebony and ivory occupies one side of the wall, and, unlocking its doors, she takes out some priceless scraps of old lace of cobweb-looking fabric, which she inherited from a maternal ancestress, together with a few pieces of the Queen Anne silver which are scattered on the tiny marqueterie table yonder. ”

“ The collectors were almost always chosen from among those who had been recently presented. After returning from mass the Queen dined every Sunday with the King only, in public in the cabinet of the nobility, a room leading to her chamber. Titled ladies having the honours sat during the dinner upon folding-chairs placed on each side of the table. Ladies without titles stood round the table; the captain of the Guards and the first gentleman of the chamber were behind the King's chair; behind that of the Queen were her first maitre d'hotel, her chevalier d'honneur, and the chief equerry. ”

“ Some heavily carved oak beds may have been brought over from England in the early days, but none have survived.
The earliest tables in England had bulbous, turned legs like the turnings of the court cupboard; the large tables, with stretcher base, were in use until about 1710. The gate-leg table was generally used for a dining table and took the place of the refectory table, as it was called. ”

“ Sunlight, stripped silver from the grey Clouds, pours through the window to the table. To your right a nine of swords card of a man pierced in the Back gleams as it walls the card of your future lovers., And the redness of Doctrines and Covenants to the far left of That table also looks pure in the light. ”

“ The old one is most curious; small, dark, low rooms, vaulted ceilings, all most elaborately ornamented in Byzantine style; a small steep, twisting staircase; large porcelain stoves, and absolutely uncomfortable. We saw the dining-room where the Emperor and Empress will dine in state the day of the Coronation. The new palace is quite different—high, light, large rooms, white, which must look beautiful at night lighted by thousands of wax candles. In the great ballroom the two Throne chairs are on a gold dais with great curtains of purple velvet and ermine—very royal looking. ”

“ The most interesting piece of furniture is a small [p. 40] mahogany table, which conveys a faint echo of the historic deeds and events that fill the stillness of the front rooms into the cosy comfort of these family apartments. We read on a metal plate that has been inserted into it: “The Preliminary Treaty of Peace between Germany and France was signed upon this table on the 26th of February, 1871, at No. 14 Rue de Provence, Versailles.” ”

“ The walls of the chamber were covered with bright drawings and sketches of our modern masters, and frames of interesting miniatures, and the meal was served on half a dozen or more round tables, which vied with each other in grace and merriment; brilliant as a cluster of Greek or Italian republics, instead of a great metropolitan table, like a central government absorbing all the genius and resources of the society. ”

“ Not much luxury, but here and there tables and consoles of mahogany and rosewood with marble supports and gilt ornamentation, give tokens of former elegance, and in the two large glass presses built into the wall, a tea urn, vessels, all the accessories of the table in English electro-plate which does duty for silverplate. As for plate, in the true sense of the word, there are in the house only fourteen spoons and five forks, one soup spoon, six dessert spoons, and eleven little coffee spoons. ”

“ There was a great carved chest of the Renaissance period, a table and chairs which dated from the reign of Louis XIII., an enormous bedstead, style Louis XIV., and a very handsome wardrobe, Louis XV. In the middle of these venerable old things a white porcelain stove, and the little toilet-table, covered with a pretty oilcloth, seemed out of place and to mar the dull harmony. ”

“ The furniture of the room consists of chairs, carpet, tables, small sofa, pictures, &c. The lady who personates the tory housekeeper should be tall, with good figure and features; her costume consists of a showy silk dress and velvet waist. Position is, at the right of the stage, near the front. A small table is placed at her side, on which are a work box and piece of embroidery; behind her is a large chair; her right hand is extended towards the British officer; the left is placed on her waist; her countenance expressing anger and command. ”

“ All the cabinet-makers of the eighteenth century made ingenious contrivances in the way of furniture, washstands concealed in what appear to be corner cupboards, a table that looks as simple as a table possibly can, but has a small step-ladder and book rest hidden away in its useful inside, and many others. ”

“ The table in the great hall, a masterpiece of workmanship, was made of a dark Canadian wood then newly introduced, and stretched the length of the hall. A massive gold epergne of choicest Italian art, the gift of La Pompadour, stood on the centre of the table. ”

“ The vision of it was especially the reward of that ring of powerful paladins whom King Arthur feasted at a Round Table, a symbol of heroic comradeship such as was afterwards imitated or invented by mediaeval knighthood. Both the cup and the table are of vast importance emblematically in the psychology of the chivalric experiment. The idea of a round table is not merely universality but equality. ”

“ A table-service, all of simple white, of graceful forms, even though not of china, if arranged with care, with snowy, well-kept table-linen, clear glasses, and bright American plate in place of solid silver, may be made to look inviting; add a glass of flowers every day, and your table may look pretty;—and it is far more important that it should look pretty for the family every day than for company once in two weeks. ”

“ The sovereigns, for the most part, ate at golden tables, and were served like gods. Some of them, like Romanus, were respectable cooks, and more than one was discussing the merits of a new sauce or dish, when the Saracens were knocking at the frontier gates of the empire. The sort of merry humour indulged in by others may be judged of by a single trait of Michael the Drunkard. This amiable sovereign started up, one day, from table, ere the imperial dinner was well over, and assuming an episcopal dress, he descended into the streets followed by his courtiers. ”

“ She permitted herself to be bound hand and foot and tied to her chair, and then at her word of command, a table rose apparently of its own volition and remained suspended a few moments in the air. A vase of flowers on the mantelpiece was removed by some force other than recognized human agency and carefully deposited on a cabinet at the other side of the room. ”

“ Here princes, poets, and politicians, men of learning and of all nationalities, have sat.
But it is the table which fascinates one most. A clean white linen cloth has been laid out, and everything is ready for making up. ”

“ Today in a little home of one of your members are to be found two very plain, solid, old mahogany tables that span these years reaching back to the Revolution, that belonged to this young couple—a fitting table on which to pen a love letter and the best exponent of the character of Revolutionary times, serving not one, but five generations, and even now in daily use. ”