AS MINISTER TO GERMANY-1879-1881 531 



One old friend to whom I was especially indebted was 

 Sir Charles Reed, who had been my fellow-commissioner 

 at the Paris and Philadelphia expositions. Thanks to 

 him, I was invited to the dinner of the lord mayor at the 

 Guildhall. As we lingered in the library before going 

 to the table, opportunity was given to study various emi- 

 nent guests. First came Cairns, the lord chancellor, in 

 all the glory of official robes and wig; then Lord Derby; 

 then Lord Salisbury, who, if I remember rightly, was 

 minister of foreign affairs; then, after several other dis- 

 tinguished personages, most interesting of all, Lord Bea- 

 consfield, the prime minister. He was the last to arrive, 

 and immediately after his coming he presented his arm to 

 the lady mayoress, and the procession took its way to- 

 ward the great hall. From my seat, which was but a little 

 way from the high table, I had a good opportunity to ob- 

 serve these men and to hear their speeches. 



All was magnificent. Nothing of its kind could be more 

 splendid than the massive gold and silver plate piled 

 upon the lord mayor's table and behind it, nothing more 

 sumptuous than the dinner, nothing more quaint than 

 the ceremonial. Near the lord mayor, who was arrayed 

 in his robes, chain, and all the glories of his office, stood 

 the toastmaster, who announced the toasts in a manner 

 fit to make an American think himself dreaming, some- 

 thing, in fact, after this sort, in a queer singsong way, 

 with comical cadences, brought up at the end with a sharp 

 snap : i ' Me lawds, la-a-a-dies and gentleme-e-e-n, by com- 

 mawnd of the Eight Honorable the Lawrd Marr, I 

 cha-a-awrge you fill your glawse-e-e-s and drink to the 

 health of the Eight Honorable the Ur-r-rll of Beck'ns- 

 field." 



A main feature of the ceremony was the loving-cup. 

 Down each long table a large silver tankard containing 

 a pleasing beverage, of which the foundation seemed to 

 be claret, was passed ; and, as it came, each of us in turn 

 arose, and, having received it solemnly from his neighbor, 

 who had drunk to his health, drank in return, and then, 



