Take care to begin your business betimes, or it will be impossible to have your dinner ready at the time it is ordered*: to be half an hour after the time, is so frequent punishment that a blundering ill-bred Booby can receive, who comes half an hour after the time he was bidden, to find the soup removed, and the fish cold.

* In a note of invitation to dinner, five o'clock seems to be generally understood to mean at six; five precisely, half past five; and five most precisely, (so that dinner may be on the table within ten minutes after,) five o'clock exactly, (allowing this for the variation of watches.) If the guests have any respect for their host, or prefer a well-dressed dinner to one that is spoilt, instead of coming half an hour after, they will take care to make their appearance before the time appointed: the dinner that would have been most excellent at five, must be uneatable if not sent to table till half past five: the operations of the cook are governed by the clock, and the moment the roasts, etc. are ready, they must go to table, if they are to be eaten in perfection. It is the least a fault, that there is the more merit attached in being ready at the appointed hour *. This is certainly sometimes a rather difficult task to perform; and in the best regulated families you can only be sure of your time by thus properly arranging your business †.

Remember to hare your kitchen chimney swept once a month; many good dinners have been spoiled by the soot falling.

* Those who desire regularity in the service of their table, should have a DIAL, of not less than twelve inches diameter, placed over the kitchen fire-place, carefully regulated, to keep lime exactly with the clock in the hall or dining parlour; with a frame on one side, containing a taste table, or the peculiarities of the master's palate, and the particular rules and orders of his kitchen; and on the other side, of the rewards given to those who attend to them, and for long service.

† With all our love of punctuality, we must not forget that the first consideration must still be, that the dinner "be welt done when 'tis done." If any accident occurs, which is likely to prevent your sending the soup, etc. to table at the moment it is expected, send up a message to your employers, stating the circumstance, and bespeak their patience for as many minutes as you think you shall want to be ready. This is certainly better than either keeping the company waiting without any apology, or dishing your dinner before it is done enough, and so disgusting the stomachs of the guests at the first appearance of it.

When you have a very large entertainment to prepare, first attend to your broths and gravies for your soups and sauces, and by all means get these ready the day before. The pastry, jellies, etc. you may prepare while the broths are doing; then truss your game and poultry, and trim and shape your collops, cutlets, etc, and put them in plates, and arrange them upon the dresser in regular order: next see that your roasts and boils are all nicely trimmed, trussed, and singed, and quite ready for the spit or the pot. Get all your vegetables neatly cut, pared, picked, and clean washed in the cullender: provide a tin dish to hold your fine herbs; onions and shallots, parsley, marjoram, thyme, tarragon, chervil, and burnet, minced very fine, and lemon-peel grated, or cut thin, and chopped very small, pepper and salt ready mixed, and your spice-box * and salt-seller always at hand, so that every thing you want may be ready for your stove-work, and you need not be scampering about the kitchen, hunting after these trifles, while the dinner is waiting: nothing can be done in perfection, that, must be done in a hurry; therefore, if you wish the dinner to be sent up to please your master and mistress, and do credit to yourself, set a high value on your character for punctuality: this shows the establishment is orderly, is extremely gratifying to the master and his guests, and most praiseworthy in the attendants.

* In one drawer under your spice-box keep ready ground, in two ounce stopper bottles, the several spices,separate; and also that mixture of them we have called " Ragout Powder;" in another keep your dried and powdered sweet savoury and soup-herbs, etc, and a set of weights and scales: you may have a third drawer, containing your flavouring essences, etc, an invaluable auxiliary in finishing soups and sauces: (see the account of the "Magazine of Taste, ' or "Sauce-Box," No. 463, in the chapter on sauces:) have also ready some thickening, made of the best white flour sifted, mixed with soft water with a wooden spoon till it is the consistence of thick batter, a bottle of plain browning, and a bottle of strained lemon-juice.

"But, remember, you cannot obtain this desirable re-"putation without good management in every respect; "and if you wish to ensure ease and comfort in the lat-"ter part of your life, you must not be unwilling to pay "the price for which only they can be obtained, and "earn them by a diligent and faithful performance of "the duties of your station in your young days, which, "if you steadily persevere in, you may depend upon "ultimately receiving the reward your services deserve.

"Quiet steady perseverance is the only sure spring to "infallibly promote your progress on the road to inde-"pendence: and if your employers do not immediately "appear to be sensible of your endeavours to contribute "your utmost to their comfort and interest, be not "easily discouraged, persevere steadily in the right "path; patiently and conscientiously attend to your "duties; and those you serve must soon discover the "inestimable value of such a faithful and intelligent "prime minister in their kitchen."