THE GORDON HOTELS (NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE)
MY DEAR AUNT TABITHA--First, let me thank you for the tracts entitled
"The Converted Clown" and "The Journalist Reclaimed"; they will have my
attention. It was no doubt your nephew John's conscience which impelled
him to place my devotion to Shakespeare, and other dramatic authors of
like calibre, and my efforts to improve humanity through the press,
before you in the light he has done. When I have an opportunity of a
personal interview with him I shall attempt to change his opinions.
That I shall have the pleasure of seeing you in London soon after the
New Year is indeed good news. My cousin Judith I shall have the honour
and privilege of meeting for the first time. It must, indeed, be a
pleasure for a young lady, the curriculum of her studies in Switzerland
at an end, to be returning _via_ Paris; and your notion of meeting
her in London, receiving her from her escort, conveying her to an
hotel near the station of arrival, and affording her the delight of
witnessing such entertainments in London as may be edifying, is, I
think, an admirable one.
There are, as you rightly suppose, hotels in the Northumberland Avenue,
which is within a stone's-throw of Charing Cross, and in answer to your
request I will give you, to the best of my power, a short description
of each. I am not aware of Miss Judith's disposition, whether it be
lively or of a serious complexion; but if I write to the utmost of
my ability the characteristics of the three hotels--the Grand, the
Victoria, and the Métropole--you should be the best judge as to which
would most thoroughly suit your needs.
I regret that I cannot inform you as to whether the new-fashioned or
the old-fashioned doctrines are favoured by the three managers. As to
the distribution of tracts, I would very dutifully suggest that you
should mark out the persons in the hotel whom you think should be so
benefited, and allow me, after your departure, to see that the tracts
reach a suitable destination.
The Grand Hotel, with which I will begin, as it lies nearest to
Charing Cross, presents a curved face both to Trafalgar Square and
Northumberland Avenue, and from its windows a fine view can be seen
of the pillar erected to the hero Nelson, whose deeds you have been
good enough to admire while reprobating the frailties of his life. I
inspected the sitting-rooms on the first floor, and saw some, notably
a room decorated in white colour, with a fine view over the Square,
and well within hearing of the bells of the neighbouring church,
which would suit you admirably. But Miss Judith might prefer the stir
and gaiety of the public rooms to a private apartment, and the great
dining-room with its white marble pillars with gold capitals, its
mirrors set in a frame of deep-coloured velvets, its roof of stained
glass, its many tables covered with white napery, is a most chaste yet
withal cheerful apartment. A smaller dining-room in which alabaster
pillars support the roof, is also a delightful room. The hall, which
has pillars of white and black marble, is handsome, and has absorbed
what was once the reading-room. Should you desire to give a family
dinner during your stay--for which I am not anxious, as I can hardly
imagine how I could meet at present my cousin John with those feelings
I should like to entertain towards him--there is a very delightful
suite of rooms, known as the Walnut Rooms, where the head cook of
the hotel--who previously cooked for the members of that politically
misguided, but excellently appointed club, the Reform--has had the
honour of serving meals to princes of the Royal blood. As for the
company at the Grand, I should take it that it is chiefly of old
country families, or the heads of great firms in the North.
Somewhat farther down the Avenue towards the river, and on the side
opposite to the Grand, is the Victoria Hotel, and should Miss Judith
be of a lively disposition, the coming and going of well-dressed and
polite folk in this hotel would please her mightily.
Most of the road coaches--the continuance of the mode of travelling
by which does much to sustain the high perfection of that noble animal
the horse--start from the Victoria Hotel, and it is a stirring scene
at eleven in the morning to view the passengers depart. The hall is
gorgeous with brown and yellow and green marbles, and many of the
guests of the hotel sit there to watch the coming and going of the
ladies of fashion and their cavaliers. Many Americans and Australians,
liking the brightness of the place, give it their custom.
The long line of drawing-rooms is on the ground floor, and is profusely
decorated with that tint known as old gold. But if Miss Judith is an
amateur of music, the dining-room will please her most, for here, in
a great and really splendid apartment, which has pillars of white and
gold with fine foundations of brass, a band of stringed instruments
plays most excellent music during the dinner, and many people of
distinction come here--as indeed also to the other two hotels--from
great distances in London to partake of the dinner of the _table
d'hôte_. There is a very cosy little sanctum for serious conversation
on the first landing of the great staircase, and the private
sitting-rooms on the first floor, decorated in a variety of styles, are
very comfortable.
The Métropole Hotel, which is built in the form of a triangle, one of
the points of the angle touching the Thames Embankment, is the largest
of the three hotels, accommodating as many as 800 guests. It is an
hotel the solid comfort of which attracts many of those fortunate
people who have acquired large sums of money in business; and indeed
it is no rare news to be told of some family who have made this hotel
their home for years. The especially delightful nooks and corners,
filled by lounges, with which this hotel abounds, have always pleased
me much; and there is, on the ground-floor, a drawing-room with a most
dignified decoration of painted silk panels, a very noble room, with a
fine view over the Thames, where ladies who are pleased to do so make
their own dishes of tea.
The great dining-room may be thought by some to be a whit gloomy; but
the saloon, in which the dinners are served, to use a French term,
_à la carte_, is a bright and withal handsome apartment, panelled to
the ceiling with oak, and with tapestry spread on the walls. I fear
that you do not approve of the game of billiards; but there is a very
delightful room for the pursuit of that game in this hotel, and an
ante-room of much comfort, from whence ladies watch the strokes and
cannons. The private rooms are most excellently appointed.
After your strictures as to excessive addiction to writing of, and
partaking of, rich and delicate food--strictures prompted, I fear, by
my cousin John--I feel some diffidence in writing of the dinners served
at these hotels. Yet I must say that from experience I have found that
at all three hotels the tables are well served; the dinner of the
_table d'hôte_ being in each case five shillings in price.
For an instance, at the Grand Hotel on the day of my inquiry, among
other delicacies, whitebait, and the curry of Madras, pheasants, and
the toothsome pigeon were served; while at the Métropole _dominos de
foie gras_ would have tempted your appetite, and you would have ended
a capital dinner with partridges and various sweets. This is how you
would have fared at the Hotel Victoria:--
Canapés de caviar Moscovite.
Consommé Marquise. Crème Chantilly.
Sole Montreuil.
Blanchailles à la Diable.
Zéphires de faisan Princesse.
Tournedos Ventadour.
Selle de mouton au laver.
Dindonneau Baltimore.
Haricots verts sautés au beurre.
Pommes fondantes.
Pluviers dorés bardés sur croûtes.
Salades panachées.
Mince pies.
Biscuits glacés vanille. Langue de chat.
Dessert.
I need scarcely say, my dear aunt, how pleased I shall be to be of any
service to you and my cousin Judith during your stay in the Metropolis,
and remain, your very dutiful and obliged NEPHEW.
30_th December_.