Page:Calcutta, Past and Present.djvu/174

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SOCIAL LIFE

"commemorating the principal political and military events which contributed to the fall of the hostile power of Mysore, and to the final restoration of peace in India." The breakfast was followed by a levee from half-past nine to half-past ten o'clock.

Another grand entertainment, which took place in this same month of May, 1803, was a concert, ball, and supper given by the gentlemen of the settlement to the Marquis of Wellesley, "to commemorate the various brilliant events of His Excellency's Administration," which took place in the "New College." This building stood on the south side of Dalhousie Square, and was known to many generations of Calcutta citizens as the "Exchange;" it was rented by Lord Wellesley when he planned his splendid scheme for the Wellesley College, as a temporary home for the college till a suitable building could be erected at Garden Reach. To the deep mortification of the Governor-General, the Court of Directors peremptorily refused to sanction his proposal, but this was not till a twelve-month after it had been put forward, and "the Exchange" continued for some time to be known by the name of the New College.

The entertainment, as befitted the gentlemen of the settlement and their distinguished guest,

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