increases daily without labour, together with the great satisfaction they must have of seeing their tables the display of their own judgment and taste. *

Care should be taken to instruct footmen in holding the napkin they serve with, as they had better have none than use it awkwardly +; but if they are not accustomed to serve with it daily they will never do it well; and this is the cause of much confusion when such things are required of them.

Much has been written to servants, but little to form a good one. The Complete Servant, written by a servant, gives some very good instructions for footmen, but nothing to constitute a finished servant; that polish must be given by the master, who ought to look a servant into a respectful conduct; and a servant that cannot be so managed ought to be dismissed, whatever his other qualifications may be, as that cannot be dispensed with; and once he is brought to that, he will generally become a good one; as when forced into a proper demeanour, he generally feels inclined to act up to it. If a master is determined to have good servants, he will have them. A good servant is easily known; every thing he does is done with nicety and care; the manner he places and removes the dishes, how he takes any thing from the hand of his master and places it before the guests; the respectful way in which he watches his eye, and attends to the wants of the company: he never even appears to hear any thing but what is addressed to himself. On the contrary, when servants are ill managed all is confusion; they are attending more to the conversation going on at table than their own business, and often joining in the laugh.

These hints will not be lost on those who love order

Families who cannot afford plate, should economize till they can obtain at least four or five covered dishes, a sufficient quantity of forks, and two sauce boats of silver, made perfectly plain, for every day's use. They will, at least, in a large family, save the cost from three to five years. There are very nice dishes now made of prince's metal, excellent for family use.

At the Universities they generally till this day eat off pewter. It would have been well for the country that such economy had never been abandoned; many families might have a service of plate for the money that is squandered on trash in five or six years.

The napkins for this service ought to be soft and thin, not hemned, but overcast at the ends, so that the corners may wrap firmly round the thumb without much enlarging it; the napkin is then thrown over the hand and tucked back by the left to the elbow, for if tucked only to the wrist, which is often done, it sweeps over the dresses to the great annoyance of the ladies.

This is the simplest and most elegant mode of service that is or ever can be prac tised.

and regularity: and they are pressed home to the master setting out in life, as attaching more respectability to himself than he can be aware of at the moment.

To constitute a good housewife, personal experience certainly is the chief requisite, but by the time it is generally attained, we have no more use for it; therefore, the experience of others is not to be neglected, particularly at the outsetting; and although this knowledge is less certain than our own experience would be, it certainly is a great assistance, as there is nothing gained without trouble.

I would also recommend to such as could afford it, a butler's table, heated by steam, which would only cost a pipe from the kitchen; the numerous advantages must be apparent to every one, particularly that of keeping sauces and plates hot, giving plenty of hot water, &c. &c. while a maid servant might attend, behind a skreen, and having a lined cistern, without noise and opening of doors, wash china, and what else might be necessary; it would also warm the room, which would make it comfortable in winter. This would not only be a great conveniency, but a great saving and comfort in many other ways. Those who have not a run of company, but who are obliged at times to give entertainments, should be careful not to trust implicitly to what cookery books give as elegant, and to be particularly on their guard against the books of tavern-keepers, and also tavern cooks. This I say more particularly with regard to their decorations, though it applies to their dishes, which are heavy and expensive.

Where there is no plate nor crystal for the middle of the table, let it be decorated with salads. Cold meat pies, glazed hams and meat, or fish in jelly; these, at the second course, may be exchanged for biscuits, nougats, caramel and Mantilly baskets, creams, jellies, candied or preserved fruits, &c. All these things may easily be made at home, and, besides their superiority as to elegance and use, they are also much less expensive, and give much less trouble than that excess of vulgarity, dressed plates of gilt paper, and artificial flowers, with wax baskets, wax fruits, and plateaus of coloured sand, for which nothing can account, but ladies allowing servants to manage, for A lining should at all times be used in washing china, and only one dish put in at a time.

unless these assiettes and pieces montées are made by the first-rate confectioners, they are, in general, very vulgar.

It is surprising sometimes to see such trumpery at the tables of ladies of taste, and taste does not depend on means; at least, want of means does not produce want of taste.

Let nothing be placed on the table that is not apparently at least for use, unless highly ornamental plate; crystal, delicate flowers, caramels, baskets, rude gum fruit baskets, in the dessert, with a few small sweet flowers, without their stalks, bedded in moss, one kind in each, are not objectionable, or very delicate nose-gays; but great Covent Garden bouquets are an abomination. The extent of this work, is barely sufficient to give room to an index for the mistress of a large and elegant establish

ment.

If economy is studied, much attention at first is necessary in the arrangement of dishes for courses, for which we have a greater scope than any other nation, from our own travellers acquiring a taste for foreign dishes, as well as a great part of society, being made up of those who have spent much of their lives in foreign climes, and who relish the cookery to which they have been so long accustomed, and, in some cases cannot well do without, so that with a very small variety of meats, many exquisitely relishing dishes may be made, and elegantly intermixed, as has often, and cannot be too often repeated, that all depends upon the mode of cooking, and those dishes may be arranged according to taste, as to size, contents, or country. For instance, the four principal English, the four flanking the centre French, the next four oriental, &c. &c.

Proper intermixtures of meats, poultry, and fish, should be attended to. At high entertainments, a fish course is thought necessary; but at ordinary ones, a single fish makes its appearance, and which must always be an expensive one.

The French use grills, fishes, and whatever they term pláts de rôts, in their second courses, and often a boiled turbot at the top or bottom, which they eat with oil. Experience, with such management, will show, that an excellent, elegant, and often a better dinner, may be served at half the expence, than the sterling management

of this country would deem reasonable, for a very midling one. I know that the English will account this, at the least theoretical; but I also know, that the English, as a body, are the last to whom I would give credit for immunity, from prejudice, economy, or good manage

ment.

*

A

The dessert may be conducted also at a greatly reduced expence, by the regular attention of the mistress throughout the year. Pines, melons, lemons, oranges, cucumbers, should be preserved in their proper seasons. little caramelled or chemised fruit, makes a fine appearance; almonds or nuts may be caramelled, or chemised, and nothing in elegance can surpass a dessert all done in chemise and caramel.+ Compotes, as served by the French, are not expensive; dried pears, plums, biffins, apple, and quince chips, &c., may be all in store; and who has such, can never be at much expense for a handsome dessert.

Where no regular butler is kept, it has a better appearance, as it only keeps the master waiting a moment after his guests, to have the candles put out, and the diningroom door locked, than to keep the company standing till the wines are locked up.

The lady will find time to go down stairs and look to the wines and dessert, when she orders supper.

It is an excellent rule, that every thing should be cleaned and arranged the same evening, no matter how late, as this is the only way to prevent waste and breakage.

With a very little trouble, perfumed tepid watert may always be had for the finger glasses, which should be served before the dessert.

Ladies ought always to have foot stools, which should have sheep-skin covers in winter, and morocco in summer, and in winter gentlemen ought to have sheep-skins under

*Small pines may be procured at the end of the season in Covent Garden of from 3s. to 5s., one of these candied would in spring stand in lieu of one that at that season would cost 30s. or 40s., or even more.

The whole expense of which is a little sugar and trouble to the housekeeper, or amusement to the young ladies.

A few fresh or dried rose leaves, lavender, or any other flower, have only to be infused in the morning for this purpose.

I have seen at the house of a lady long accustomed to the perfumes and luxury of the East, an incense burner placed on the table with the dessert. I do not re commend this, but simply mention it, as I found it very pleasant myself, and as it is so necessary to dispel the vapour of the meats.

I am also sure that short and portly bodics at least will not feel inclined to laugh at me for recommending foot stools, and arms to their chairs, by giving rest to the soles of their feet, they would be spared many a wearisome hour of maintaining an uneasy position on the ridge of a high chair

their feet; it seems very inconsistent to see people shivering and roasting at the same table, when a very little attention to management would make them all comfortable. One would be led sometimes to think, that people were invited for no other purpose than to be crammed.

LINEN.

FINE linen is so expensive, that it calls for the utmost attention to its minutest details; and, as it suffers little from wear, the greatest care ought to be given to the manner in which it is washed, as in that operation, noxious substances are often used to lessen labour and expences, which are very detrimental to it. The common method of getting it up, is also bad; it is allowed to dry, and is then shaken violently by the corners by two women, which wears it out, sooner or later, according as this method is persisted in. It ought to be regularly steept, from forty to forty-eight hours, say, from Saturday morning till Monday; if the spots are attended to, it will require little rubbing in washing, which wears off the pile; and, consequently, diminishes its richness; when it gets a little dry, it ought to be carefully stretched on a table, doubled and smoothed, with the hands, and folded down for some hours, that it may become equally dry and smooth; it must then be hung up, or spread out double to dry, which stiffens it. This management requires much less rubbing in the mangle to finish it.

Very coarse linen is in general used for the table on the Continent, which is not mangled, but which they crimp sometimes very prettily. Their attention being more given in such matters to bonne chere than bon goût.

The changing of table-linen is an annoying business to guests; yet, with all this attention to style, there are many real comforts neglected. The French are satisfied with one cloth, which is left in repose during the whole repast. Therefore, their plateau is called a dor

mant. *

The new plateau. This is an elegant plateau of six feet by two, and consists of four pieces of tine mirror set in silver mouldings, and supported upon tortoises. The border is enriched with many of our fine abbeyed and castled ruins in dead white, bas-relief upon a burnished ground.

Different views of Dover Castle finishes this superb plateau. The octagonal corners are ornamented with the thistle, rose, and shamrock; it is constructed so as to answer different sized tables. There is, however, such a relief in variety, that it