London at the End of the Century:A Book of Gossip
a Beckett, Arthur William
1900
COFFEE ROOM CHARGES.
Prices are not high. For is. 6d. a member can get for lunch a cut off the joint, vegetables, cheese, and butter, with a pint of lager beer. The House dinner is also to be commended. A member can invite his friends (of both sexes) to partake of a choice of soups, a couple of fishes, two entrees, a bird, a savoury, and a sweet. For this he has to pay 5s., while the club regulation is strictly observed (" No gratuities to the waiter"). By the way, this rule caused quite an agitation some time since amongst the and was very nearly the prologue | |
59 | of a strike; and here I may remark that the coffee room attendants wear no livery, but are garbed (as in restaurants) in plain evening dress. I suppose were they to appear in appropriate costumes, they would be seen in scarlet coats and blue knee-breeches. My reason for this belief rests on the fact that the building in which Parliament sits is Royal property. It is called (for that reason) the Palace of ; and yet, strange to say, the arms of our Kings and Queens, so conspicuous in the decorations of the exterior of the building, are rarely found in the interior. The chairs and china bear only the Portcullis. I fancy that the device points to the date when St. Stephen's passed out of the direct control of the first estate of the realm. When I make this suggestion I am prepared to learn from the Serjeant-at-Arms (a member of the Royal household) that the Palace is still under the direct control of the Crown, and that Parliament merely partakes of hospitality. The flag-staff over the Victoria Tower used to be reserved for the National Standard, run up when the Sovereign visited St. Stephen's. Of late the Union Jack floats in the air from sunrise to sunset when the House is sitting. I fancy this new departure must have obtained the Royal sanction. Certainly the fluttering of the bunting is an improvement. Why not let us have the flag all the year round ? |
