Editing Dinner (section)

===Ancient===
Reflecting the typical custom of the 17th century, [[Louis XIV]] dined at noon, and had [[supper]] at 10:00 pm.<ref>Strong, 250</ref> But in [[Europe]], dinner began to move later in the day during the 1700s, due to developments in work practices, lighting, financial status, and cultural changes.<ref name=mcm/> The fashionable hour for dinner continued to be incrementally postponed during the 18th century, to two and three in the afternoon, and, in 1765, King [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]] dined at 4:00 pm, though his infant sons had theirs with their governess at 2:00 pm, leaving time to visit the queen as she dressed for dinner with the king.<ref>"Text adapted from ''The Conversation Piece: Scenes of fashionable life'', London, 2009", at  [http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/search#/1/collection/400146/queen-charlotte-1744-1818-with-her-two-eldest-sons "Johan Joseph Zoffany (Frankfurt 1733-London 1810), Queen Charlotte (1744–1818) with her Two Eldest Sons  c.1765"] on the Royal Collection website.</ref> But in France [[Marie Antoinette]], when still [[Dauphine of France]] in 1770, wrote that when at the [[Château de Choisy]] the court still dined at 2:00 pm, with a supper after the theatre at around 10:00 pm, before bed at 1:00 or 1:30 am.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=A7E-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA110 quoted in] ''The Origins of Contemporary France: The ancient régime'', by [[Hippolyte Taine]], Bk2, ch.1, p. 110 in this edition</ref>

At the time of the [[First French Empire]] an English traveler to [[Paris]] remarked upon the "abominable habit of dining as late as seven in the evening".<ref>Quote in Ian Kelly, ''Cooking for Kings: the life of Antonin Carême the first celebrity chef'', 2003:78. For guests of [[Talleyrand]] at the [[Château de Valençay]], dinner under [[Antonin Carême|Carême]] was even later.</ref> By about 1850 English middle-class dinners were around 5:00 or 6:00 pm, allowing men to arrive back from work, but there was a continuing pressure for the hour to drift later, led by the elite who did not have to work set hours, and as commutes got longer as cities expanded. In the mid-19th century the issue was something of a social minefield, with a generational element. [[John Ruskin]], once he married in 1848, dined at 6:00 pm, which his parents thought "unhealthy". [[Mrs Gaskell]] dined between 4:00 and 5:00 pm. The fictional [[The Diary of a Nobody|Mr Pooter]], a lower middle-class Londoner in 1888–89 and a diner at 5:00 pm, was invited by his son to dine at 8:00 pm, but "[he] said we did not pretend to be fashionable people, and would like the dinner earlier".<ref>Flanders, 229–230</ref>

The satirical novel ''Living for Appearances'' (1855) by [[Henry Mayhew]] and his brother [[Augustus Mayhew|Augustus]] begins with the views of the hero on the matter. He dines at 7:00 pm, and often complains of "the disgusting and tradesman-like custom of early dining", say at 2:00 pm. The "Royal hour" he regards as 8:00 pm, but he does not aspire to that. He tells people "Tell me when you dine, and I will tell you what you are",<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=aq4BAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA1 ''Living for Appearances''] (1855), p. 1, by [[Henry Mayhew]] and his brother [[Augustus Mayhew|Augustus]]; Flanders, 230</ref> in apparent reference to [[Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin]]'s famous, "Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are."