Little time was afforded for these private expressions of amiable feeling.  The grand repast was declared ready, and the importance of this announcement overweighed, for a short period, the claims of scandal and ill-nature.  The company quickly found their way to the tables, which, as the “Pekin Gazette” of the next morning said, in describing the fete, “literally groaned beneath the weight of the delicacies with which they were loaded.”  The consultations of the Ning-po cook and his confederates had produced great results.  The guests seated themselves, and delicately tasted the slices of goose and shell-fish, and the pickled berries, and prawns, and preserves, which always compose the prefatory course of a Chinese dinner of high degree.  Then porcelain plates and spoons of the finest quality, and ivory chopsticks tipped with pearl, were distributed about, and the birds’-nest soup was brought on.  After a sufficient indulgence in this luxury, came sea-slugs, and shark stews, and crab salad, all served with rich and gelatinous sauces, and cooked to a charm.  Ducks’ tongues and deers’ tendons, from Tartary, succeeded, with stewed fruits and mucilaginous gravy.  Every known and some unknown luxuries were lavishly provided.  The Ning-po cook had invented a new dish expressly for the occasion,—­“Baked ice a la Ching-ki-pin,”—­which was highly esteemed.  The ice was enveloped in a crust of fine pastry, and introduced into the oven; the paste being baked before the ice—­thus protected from the heat—­had melted, the astonished visitors had the satisfaction of biting through a burning crust, and instantly cooling their palates with the grateful contents.  The Chinese never cook except on substantial principles; and it was the principle of contrast which regulated this sublime chef-d’oeuvre of the Ning-po artist.

Of course, the rarest beverages were not wanting.  A good dinner without good wine is nought.  Useless each without the other.  Those whose fancy rested upon medicated liqueurs found them in every variety.  Those who placed a higher value upon plain light wines had no reason to complain of the supply set before them.  Those whose unconquerable instinct impelled them to the more invigorating sam-shu had only to make known their natural desires.  As the feast progressed, and the spirits of the company rose, the charms of music were added to the delights of appetite.  A band of singsong girls gently beat their tom-toms, and carolled in soft and soothing strains.  As they finished, a general desire to hear Mien-yaun was expressed.  Willing, indeed, he was, and, after seven protestations that he could not think upon it, each fainter than the other, he suffered himself to be prevailed over, and, casting a fond look upon his betrothed, he rose, and sang the following verses from the Shee-king,—­a collection of odes four thousand years old, and, consequently, of indisputable beauty:—­

  “The peach-tree, how graceful! how fair! 
    How blooming, how pleasant its leaves! 
  Such is a bride when she enters to share
  The home of her bridegroom, and every care
    Her family from her receives."[A]