Time Lord by Clark Blaise

world in his gaze, linking it by time and by cable—but he was just that, and the effect on him must have been unsettling. London was the imperial capital, the center of the world. For twenty years, while England and the United States had been undergoing their very different political and industrial revolutions, Canada had been isolated, intellectually incubated, lacking dynamism,lacking a culture of its own. Fleming’s avid interest in London, at the age of thirty-six, is more like a schoolboy’s first encounter. He walked fifteen miles his first day, and kept up his journal to his children:
    It would be impossible for me to describe here the richness of the architecture of the buildings or all that is seen in passing through the streets of London; it is perfectly bewildering to attempt to notice everything and it would be endless writing to record all that comes before the eyes or the impressions found on the mind, everything is on a magnificent scale, distances, wealth, pomp, poverty and crime are all here developed to a greater extent than perhaps in any other portion of the world … we saw on all sides an ocean of buildings, disappearing in the smoky distance with scarcely anything for the eye to rest upon but chimney tops and church spires, to the east, the Town, and to the west [sic], St Paul’s Cathedral.
    And what must it have been like for a boy from the colonies, even a thirty-six-year-old boy, accustomed to the basics of Scotch-Canadian cookery, to be confronted by a High Victorian repast such as was served to him as a guest at the Civil Engineers Annual Dinner, on June 10, 1863? He thought enough of it to save the menu. From six-thirty till eleven-thirty, they ate and apparently ate some more. The menu reads like something from
Tom Jones
, and brings to mind old pictures of salmon catches, buffalo hunts, pigeon-snaring, and big-game safaris. This was London at its imperial height. One can imagine the mirrors and chandeliers, the hordes of waiters, the cigar smoke. They were addressed by Mr. Gladstone, chancellor of the exchequer, then by the Lord Mayor, then the Earl of Caithness, and, as Fleming put it, “a serene Highness of some description from the Continent.”
    FIRST SERVICE
    Green Peas Soup    Ox Tail Soup    Mock Turtle Soup

Salmon    Whitings    Turbots

Broiled Salmon au Sauce Piquant

John Dory à la Hollandaise    Red Mullets en Papillote

Côtelettes de Saumon à l’Indienne

Stewed Eels    Trout    Soles à la Normandie

Whitebait
    SECOND SERVICE
    Entrées

Friandeau de Veau à l’Oiselle    Kari d’Homard au Riz

Côtelettes d’Agneau aux Épinards

Côtelettes Mouton aux Concômbres

Ris de Veuu aux Tomates

Poulet à la Marengo    Suprême de Volaille

Forequarters of Lamb    Saddles of Mutton

Roast Capons aux Champignons    Boiled Pullets à la Finançière

Bacon and Beans

York Hams    Côte de Boeuf à la Jardinière    Ox Tongues

Roast Chickens    Veal Olive Pies    Pigeon Pies    Boiled Chickens

Asparagus    Cauliflowers    Salads    New Potatoes
    THIRD SERVICE
    Quails    Leverets    Guinea Fowls    Ducklings    Goslings

French Beans    Mushrooms    Green Peas

Prawns    Lobster Salad

Cabinet Puddings    St Clair Puddings

Gâteaux    Jellies    Creams    Meringues

Charlottes de Fraises    Richmond Maids of Honour

Pastry    Tarts

Omelettes aux Confitures    Orange Fritters    Nesselrode Puddings

Wines and Liqueurs

Sherry    Madeira    Hock    Champagne    Sparkling Hock & Moselle

Old Port    Château Lafitte

Curaçao    Maraschino    Eau-de-vie    Usquebaugh

Dessert-Coffee
    His return voyage, on the
Great Eastern
, brought him to New York (from Liverpool) on July 1, 1863, a date that would mark the birth of Canadian Confederation in four more years. On July 4, the American passengers staged an