as one leaves another
arrives. Certain houses or castles are much gayer than others; to some
very few ladies are asked, the majority of the guests being
gentlemen--probably the hostess and two ladies and eight men--in others,
the numbers are more equal; in others, again, the party sometimes
consists entirely of men with a host and no hostess. Ladies generally
ask their most intimate friends to Scotland rather than acquaintances,
as they are left to themselves the whole of the day, dinner being often
postponed until nine o'clock, on account of the late return of the
sportsmen.

* * * * *

=South of the Tweed, September invitations= are usually given for three
or four days, from Tuesday till Saturday; married couples, young ladies,
and young men, are all asked, and the ladies find amusement in
lawn-tennis, or in attending or assisting at some neighbouring bazaar or
fancy fair, as in this month county bazaars are very popular, and the
visitors at one house lend their services in conjunction with the
visitors at another, to hold stalls at a bazaar got up by a third
influential lady; and thus the stalls are well stocked, and the
fashionable stall-holders give an impetus to the whole affair.

Ladies see very little of the gentlemen between breakfast and dinner.
The shooters start about eleven, and seldom return much before seven.

When it is dark at four, those who prefer ladies' society and tea to the
smoking-room and billiards, make themselves presentable and join the
ladies.

* * * * *

=As regards the Etiquette of Visiting at Bachelors' Houses.=--It is
thoroughly understood that ladies should be accompanied by their
husbands, and young ladies by their father and mother, or by a married
couple with whom they are on terms of great intimacy, in which case the
married lady acts as chaperon to the young ladies. Young ladies cannot
stay at the house of a bachelor unless chaperoned by a married lady, or
by a female relative of their host. A widow and her daughter could of
course join a party of ladies staying at a bachelor's house, or stay on
a visit to him were he alone, or entertaining bachelor friends.

When a bachelor gives a country-house party, and nominally does the
honours himself, occasionally one of the married ladies of the party
tacitly takes the lead.

The position of a young widower is similar to that of a bachelor as
regards society. Later in