Dinners of invitation - Two kinds : small and select; large but complete - The old pretentious style described - Scheme of a rational dinner - party - Priority in the service of various courses or dishes discussed - Dessert - The quart d'heure after dinner - Turtle and fish dinners - Curry - Sketch for a small dinner.

And of this entertainment, the dinner of invitation, there are two very distinct kinds. First, there is the little dinner of six or eight guests, carefully selected for their own specific qualities, and combined with judgment to obtain a harmonious and successful result. The ingredients of a small party, like the ingredients of a dish, must be well chosen to make it "complete." Such are the first conditions to be attained in order to achieve the highest perfection in dining. Secondly, there is the dinner of society, which is necessarily large; the number of guests varying from twelve to twenty-four.

The characteristics of the first dinner are - comfort, excellence, simplicity, and good taste. Those of the second are - the conventional standard of quality,some profusion of supply, suitable display in ornament and service.

Two distinct types of "dinners."

The small and select, and the dinner of society, large.

It must be admitted that, with the large circle of acquaintances so commonly regarded as essential to existence in modern life, large dinners only enable us to repay our dining debts, and exercise the hospitality which position demands. With a strong preference, then, for the little dinners, it must be admitted that the larger banquet is a necessary institution; and, therefore, we have only to consider now how to make the best of it.

No doubt the large dinner has greatly improved of late; but it has by no means universally arrived at perfection. Only a few years ago excellence in quality and good taste in cuisine were often sacrificed in the endeavour to make a profuse display. Hence, abundance without reason, and combinations without judgment, were found co-existing with complete indifference to comfort in the matters of draughts, ventilation, temperature, and consumption of time. Who among the diners-out who have passed middle age has not encountered in his early days an entertainment with some such programme as the following, one of an order which, it is to be hoped, is now quite extinct?

Eighteen or twenty guests enter a room adapted at most to a dinner of twelve. It is lighted with gas, the chief available space being occupied by the table, surrounding which is a narrow lane, barely sufficing for the circulation of the servants. Directly - perhaps after oysters - appear turtle soups, thick and clear. A consomme is to be had on demand, but so unexpected a choice astonishes the servitor, who brings it after some delay, and cold: with it punch. Following, arrive the fish - salmon and turbot, one or both, smothered in thick lobster sauce: sherry. Four entries promenade the circuit in single file, whereof the first was always oyster patties; after which came mutton or lamb cutlets, a vol - au - vent, etc.: hock and champagne. Three-quarters of an hour at least, perhaps an hour, having now elapsed, the saddle or haunch of mutton arrives, of which gentlemen who have patiently waited get satisfactory slices, and currant jelly, with cold vegetables or a heavy flabby salad. Then come boiled fowls and tongue, or a turkey with solid forcemeat; a slice of ham and so on, up to game, followed by hot substantial pudding, three or four other sweets, including an iced pudding; wines in variety, more or less appropriate; to be followed by a pate de foie gras, more salad, biscuits and cheese. Again, two ices, and liqueurs. Then an array of decanters, and the first appearance of red wine; a prodigious dessert of all things in and out of season, and particularly those which are out of season, as being the more costly.

Some drawbacks attaching to the large dinner; greatly - improved of late.

What it used to be not long ago:

Crowded; bad service; vulgar profusion; adjuncts cold; too substantial; indigestible; interminable dessert and wine;

General circulation of waiters, handing each dish in turn to everybody, under a running fire of negatives, a ceremonial of ten or fifteen minutes' duration, to say the least. Circulation of decanters, general rustle of silks, disappearance of the ladies; and first change of seat, precisely two hours and a half after originally taking it. It may be hoped that a charming companion on either side has beguiled and shortened a term which otherwise must have been tedious. Now general closing up of men to host, and reassembling of decanters; age, quality, and vintage of wine discussed during consumption thereof. At last coffee, which is neither black nor hot. Joining the ladies; music by the daughters of the house; service of gunpowder tea, fatal to the coming night's rest if taken in a moment of forgetfulness; and carriages announced. This brief sketch, which accurately portrays the dining procedure which prevailed during the forties and fifties of the present century, is retained here, as not without historical interest to the present generation.

Admitted that such an exhibition is impossible now in any reasonable English circle, it nevertheless corresponded too closely in style with that of the public dinner up to a later period - a state of things without excuse. And the large private dinner is often still too long, the menu too pretentious. Let me, however, be permitted to record, equally in ladies leave, and more wine.

Enormous improvement in twenty years.

A lighter repast proof of growing taste and as grateful personal duty, the vast improvement which has taken place. The dinner of society has, since the earlier editions of this work appeared, been greatly abridged in length and improved by the substitution of lighter and more delicate dishes for the solid meats of the last generation. At the same time, a menu, suitable for a large party, must be framed so as to offer various dishes for choice to meet the differing tastes of numerous guests, and it must therefore be more comprehensive than that supplied to a small one, say of eight or nine guests. Let us see how this is to be met. First, the soups: it is the custom to offer a consomme, which ought to be perfect in clearness, colour, and savour, always to be served perfectly hot; containing a few vegetables, etc., variously treated - doubtless the best commencement, as it is the key-note of the dinner; revealing also, as it does, nine times out of ten, the calibre of the cook to whose talent the guest is entrusted. But there is mostly an alternative of "white soup," and this is almost always a mistake. Many persons refuse it, and they are right, containing, as it generally does, a considerable proportion of cream - an injudicious beginning, when there is much variety to follow; excellent sometimes as one of three or four dishes, but dangerous otherwise to the guest who has not an exceptionally powerful digestion. But suppose that oysters, vinegar, and chablis have just been swallowed! A brown puree, as of game, or one of green vegetable, less frequently met with, a "Saint Germain," for example, in early summer would be safer and more acceptable. Two fish, of course, should always be served; as, for instance, a slice of Severn or Christ-church salmon, just arrived from the water, for its own sake, and a fillet of white fish, for the sake of its sauce and garnish, which should be therefore perfect. The next dish is, in London, a question under discussion, viz. the question of precedence of an entree, or of the pike de resistance. The custom was to postpone the appearance of the latter until lighter dishes have been despatched or declined. If, however, the English joint is required at a meal already comprehensive in the matter of dishes, and taken at a late hour, it seems more reasonable to serve it next to the fish, when those who demand a slice of meat may be expected to have an appropriate appetite, which will certainly be impaired, equally by accepting the entrees, or fasting partially without them. But nothing so substantial as a joint is now required at a dinner of this kind; an entree of meat, at all events, replaces it if wanted; at most, a little tour-nedos of the fillet of beef, or a noisette of mutton, daintily served. Then one or two light entrees follow, and these must necessarily be either in themselves peculiarly tempting morsels, or products of culinary skill, offering inducement to the palate rather than to an appetite which is no longer keen : for example, a delicate souffle' of pheasant, leveret, or fowl garnished with truffles; while in summer these will naturally be more agreeably served as chandfroids. Then the best roast possible in season or choice of two, and a salad; a first-rate vegetable, a slice of really fine ham, to some a most fitting accompaniment; two choice sweets, one of which may be iced; a parmesan souffle a herring-roe on toast, or a morsel of fine barely salted caviare, pale and pearly grey, which may be procured in two or three places at most in town, will complete the dinner. For dessert, which may be ushered in with a couple of companion ices of delicate texture, the finest fruits in season to gratify both eye and palate and for light amusement after; or simply nuts in variety, and dry biscuits; nothing between the two is tolerable, and little more than the latter is really wanted; and for decorative purposes the resources of flowers are now unbounded, to say nothing of autumnal tints for rich variety in season. But it may be admitted that the diminished number of sweet entremets strengthens the plea for a supply of delicious fruits, rendering the dessert useful and agreeable as well as ornamental.

Suggestions as to a modern dinner.

The soups.

Remarks on white soups.

The fish.

"Piece de resistance," when, if at all?

Lighter entrees follow.

Adapted to any Number.

And now that dessert is over, let me say that I do not admit the charge sometimes intimated, although delicately, by foreigners, of a too obvious proclivity to self-indulgence on the part of Englishmen, in permitting the ladies to leave the table without escort to the drawing-room. The old custom of staying half an hour, or even an hour afterwards, to drink wine, which is doubtless a remnant of barbarism, has long been considered indefensible. The best wines the host can supply should appear in appropriate places in the course of dinner, and not be reserved, as formerly, until dessert appears. And after-dinner drinking should be simply a demand for a glass or so more of the '70 Port, or of the excellent "Mouton," or "Lafite;" or of that perfect "Pommery and Greno," "Moet," "St. Mar- ceau,' or "Perrier Jouet," * which have been known to repose this dozen years or more in some snug and quiet cellar of the back basement, where goodly stores still exist of the vintage of "'89." For the separation of the party into two portions for fifteen or twenty minutes is useful to both, and leads perhaps more completely to a general mixture of elements on reunion after than is attained by the return of the original pairs together. Whether this be so or not, the ladies have a short interval for the interchange of hearsays and ideas relative to matters chiefly concerning their special

The roast; sweets, savoury.