Sir Robert was requested, next year, to summon the several guests, the list of whom, by this time, included most of the Cabinet Ministers. The time for meeting was usually after Trinity Monday, a short period before the end of the Session. By degrees, the meeting, which was originally purely gastronomic, appears to have assumed, in consequence of the long reign of the Tories, a political, or semi-political character. Sir Robert Preston died; but Mr. Long, now Lord Farnborough, undertook to summon the several guests, the list of whom was furnished by Sir Robert Preston's private secretary. Hitherto, the invitations had been sent privately: now they were dispatched in Cabinet boxes, and the party was, certainly, for some time, limited to the Members of the Cabinet. A dinner lubricates ministerial as well as other business; so that the "Ministerial Fish Dinner" may "contribute to the grandeur and prosperity of our beloved country." The following Carte is from the last edition of the _Art of Dining_, in Murray's _Railway Reading_:-- _Fish Dinner at Blackwall or Greenwich._ La tortue à l'Anglaise. La bisque d'écrevisses. Le consommé aux quenelles de merlan. De tortue claire. Les casseroles de green fat feront le tour de la table. Les tranches de saumon (crimped). Le poisson de St. Pierre à la crême. Le zoutchet de perches. " de truites. " de flottons. " de soles (crimped). " de saumon. " d'anguilles. Les lamproies à la Worcester. Les croques en bouches de laitances de maquereau. Les boudins de merlans à la reine. Garnis { Les soles menues frites. de { Les petits carrelets frites. persil { Croquettes de homard. frit. { Les filets d'anguilles. La truite saumonée à la Tartare. Le whitebait: _id._ à la diable. _Second Service._ Les petits poulets au cresson--le jambonneau aux épinards. La Mayonnaise de filets de soles--les filets de merlans à l'Arpin. Les petits pois à l'Anglaise--les artichauts à la Barigoule. La gelée de Marasquin aux fraises--les pets de nonnes. Les tartelettes aux cerises--les célestines à la fleur d'orange. Le baba à la compôte d'abricots--le fromage Plombière. Mr. Walker, in his _Original_, gives an account of a dinner he ordered, at Lovegrove's, at Blackwall, where if you never dined, so much the worse for you:--