The invitation committee had extended the list over a fairly wide social range. Besides the squirearchy of the county and the neighbouring gentry, the farmers and tradespeople, the tenants with their families, and their visitors too, came as a matter of right. There was room, and a welcome for all. It was hoped that no one who had worked in the fields, or on the grounds of Hexham, would stay away. And judging from the continuous march of people on foot and horseback, in tax-carts, dog-carts, gigs, and waggons, very few did.
Soon after mid-day the immense tables, placed on tressels, were covered, as if by magic, with viands of every sort, kind, and description, arranged ready for the speedy consumption which it was correctly assumed would take place. Products of the home farm and many others were displayed, replaced, and continuously provided, in never-ending profusion. Beer flowed as if from a fountain. The roast beef of Old England in barons and sirloins, fish and fowl, mutton and lamb, pork and veal, puddings and pies, fruit, cakes,—all these and more were assiduously furnished for the banquet of which all present were pressed and encouraged to partake.
While the rural contingent was judiciously dispersed and subdivided, so as to prevent the assemblage of an unwieldy crowd, it had been necessary, in the interest of settled order and good government, to invite a selection of the leading families of this and adjacent counties, to head the entertainment. The Duke of Dorlingham had graciously honoured his invitation, while earls and barons, with a proportion of baronets and long-descended country gentlemen, responded cordially, so that the great marquee, erected some days previously, under the personal supervision of a transatlantic firm of caterers, well known in London, Brighton, and Australia, was filled with an assemblage of aristocratic personages, from whose ranks but few individuals of distinction in the county were absent.
The accessories left little to be desired. The cuisine was undeniable; the waiting service at table was as nearly perfect as could be accomplished at an _al fresco_ entertainment; the wines were admittedly beyond criticism. The turf around the temporary structure was in perfect condition; the branches of the great oaks waved banner-like above the festive concourse: