Page:An Old English Home and Its Dependencies.djvu/86

72 But conceive the situation! To be introduced like a criminal before six judges, then, when one had reached the seat allotted, to be planted one in a row, and to have to distribute remarks right and left; to address the ancestress at across the shirtfront of M. Dols at, and to say something pretty to the old maid at  athwart the swelling bosom of Mme. Dols at ! If only that detestable table could have been got rid of, we would have gravitated together into a knot and been happy—but to be lively and chatty in espalier was impossible.

Well! it was almost as bad in the old days, when we had large round tables in our drawing-rooms; and one of the great achievements of modern—I mean quite recent—times has been the bundling of that old rosewood table out. That gone, the rest of the furniture gets together into comfortable groups, and everything finds its place. Before, all were overawed and sent to the wall in deference to the round table. A word or two is due to the chest of drawers. This, I conceive, is a development of the old