Cassell's dictionary of cookery

improves the appearance of a supper-tatle as plenty of flowers. When these can be had, they should he placed not only in the centre of the table, but here and there upon it. A small vase may be placed before each guest. A supper-room should be brilliantly lighted. The table should be covered with a white cloth. The most ornamental dishes should be placed in the centre, with the smaller ones surrounding them. The colours and flavours of the various dishes should contrast (care being taken that there are not too many white dishes), and the table should be neither overcrowded nor too much broken up. The dishes exactly opposite each other should correspond in shape and size. As it is important that the eye should be pleased as well as the palate, particular attention should be paid to the garniture of the dishes. Articles that will allow of it should be glazed and ornamented with artificial flowers, &c. Melted lard, thinned with a little salad-oil, may be used for decorating hams and tongues ; raised pies should be covered with clear aspic jelly cut into dice, and everything should be lightly and gracefully arranged. Bright parsley, scraped horseradish, cut lemon, red beetroot, hard-boiled eggs, &c., will all be needed for garniture. Sweet dishes may be ornamented ■with crackers. Precise instructions cannot of course be given as to the details of a supper- table, as these must be regulated by the means of the "host, the resources of the establishment, the size of the room, and the length and shape of the table. A list of articles suitable for supper may, however, be useful, and we subjoin one. Eoast game or poultry, cold meats of various kinds, hams, tongues, galantines, raised pies, boiled fowls, oyster patties, sandwiches, collared eels, lobster salads, mayonnaise of salmon, &c. To these may be added sweet dishes, such as creams, jellies, custards, trifles, blancmanges, cakes, tarts, puffs, preserved or dried fruits, rice, sago, &c., in various forms, compotes of fruit, fancy pastry, dishes of fresh fruit, bonbons. When the supper is a standing one, as a matter of convenience, and to facilitate operations, game and poultry should be cut up, meat sliced, and everything placed so that it may be served, with as little trouble as possible. Sometimes a plate of hot soup is served to each guest at the commencement of supper, and proves a welcome refreshment. Suppers, Wholesomeness of.— In the time of Elizabeth, the nobility and gentry were accustomed to dine at eleven, to sup between five and six, and go to bed at ten. It is therefore evident that any argument in favour of this meal, founded upon the healthy condition of our ancestors, must be fallacious. By supper, in modern times, we understand a late meal just before „e>^;ime. But as sleep is not favourable to every stage of digestion, it is very questionable whether retiring to rest with a full stomach can, under any circumstances, be salutarj\ During the first part of the jirocess, or that of chymification, a person so situated may perhaps sleep quietly, unless indeed the morbid distention of the stomach should impede respiration and occasion distress ; but when the food has passed out of the stomach, and the processes of chylifi-