Household Words, No. 306, February 2, 1856

From a mock-heroic hymn to beef as the very emblem of English strength and fellowship, these comic sketches and dramatic episodes range from the absurdities of dining abroad to the rituals of country sport and the high stakes of romance, honor, and rebellion. With exuberant satire, they expose national pride, social pretension, and the gap between expectation and reality. One narrator embarks on a beef pilgrimage through Paris, only to find that authentic English fare is elusive even in an Anglo-French restaurant, where mistranslation, hostile service, and a riotous cosmopolitan dining room turn dinner into farce. Another country gentleman is propelled into the presidency of a cricket club and plunged into a whirlwind of duties, from arranging tents and provisions to facing a grand match in ludicrous gear, where sporting pageantry collides with panic and incompetence. Alongside these comic pieces stands a vivid Russian tale of youth, war, and love: a young nobleman leaves home for military service, survives gambling, drunkenness, and a snowstorm, and is posted to the remote fortress of Bélogorsk, where his attachment to Marie Ivanovna leads to rivalry, a duel, and heartbreak before the turmoil of Pougatcheff's rebellion tests loyalty, courage, and devotion to the limit. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.