A quantity of Worcestershire china being sent to the _Nawaab_ at
Lucknow, in India, from England, he was as impatient to open it as a
child would be with a new plaything; and immediately gave orders for
invitations to be sent to the whole settlement for a breakfast, _à la
fourchette_, next morning. Tables were accordingly spread for upwards of
a hundred persons, including his ministers and officers of state.
Nothing could be more splendid than the general appearance of this
entertainment; but the dismay may be more easily imagined than
described, on discovering that the servants had mistaken certain
utensils for milk-bowls, and had actually placed about twenty of them,
filled with that beverage, along the centre of the table. The
consequence was, the English part of the company declined taking any;
upon which the _Nawaab_ innocently remarked, "I thought that the English
were fond of milk." Some of them had much difficulty to keep their
countenances.
* * * * *