The present book is addressed to that large class of persons who are unable to have the assistance of a staff of well-trained servants. There are hundreds of thousands of households in England where the mistress, who is possessed of every refinement of taste, is compelled to personally superintend the domestic arrangements, in order to ensure that amount of comfort and cleanliness which, coupled with economy, are essential to their very existence.

There is another large class who gain their living by the sweat of their brow rather than their brain, who consider it essential to their comfort to have something cooked expressly for them every day. Like Jeames, they cannot eat cold meat; like Mrs. Gamp, they scorn hash. I pity the poor, hardworking, unselfish wives of these spoilt children of so-called modern civilisation, but fear 1 cannot assist them.

There are, unfortunately, many whose tastes are somewhat above their means. To these it is essential that their food should be not only cheap but choice. In other words, it must be " selected and used with care".

It is impossible where only one or two servants are kept to have really "choice cookery" without the supervision of the more refined taste of the mistress. Should the following pages assist any in that daily labour of love of making Home comfortable, they will not have been written in vain.

A. G. Payne.

Choice Dishes at Small Cost.