dishes are now placed on the table, a narrow table suffices, and it brings the guests on both sides of it into closer contact. It is highly undesirable to block up the centre of the table with huge ornaments, whether of plate, flowers, candelabra or other de- corations, because they intercept the conversation of the guests, which is ever to be considered the primary object. For this reason a hanging lamp, suspended over the table, is preferable to lamps or lustres placed upon the table ; and the light is more agreeable to the eye. If the table is a long one, the master and mis- tress of the house may sit either at the top and bottom of it, or, as is now very usual, in the middle at the sides. The former practice has this incon- venience, that the most important guests are sepa- rated from each other by the whole length of the table, and consequently cannot converse during the meal at all. A good story told or a good point made at one end sets the other end wondering what the other pole of the dinner is laughing at. The space between the two ends is occupied by guests of minor mark, who are non-conductors of the electricity of society. When, on the contrary, the master and mistress of the house are seated in the middle of the table at the sides, the principal guests are gathered round a common centre, conversation may be more easily conducted across the board, and it radiates to the extremities. Having seated our guests round the table, we will leave them to entertain themselves there ; it is their business to contribute to the pleasure and gaiety IVJNES. 9 of the dinner. We will only add that the master of the house should keep a ready eye and an open ear on the flow of conversation ; he should take care that each guest is made acquainted with the person next to whom he is seated ; and if the conversation flags or seems to take an unpleasant turn he can easily revive or divert it by a question or a remark flung across the table. It may be worth while here to add a few words on the serv'ice of the wines which are handed during the dinner, as it is no longer the custom in England to place any wine on the table during dinner. After the soup, Sherry or Sherry and Madeira are produced, and most people take one glass. After the fish, the white wines of the Garonne or the Rhine, Sauterne or Hock (either of them, but never both), are served. Champagne should not make its appearance till after the first entree, and light claret should be offered at the same time, as so many persons now make claret their chief beverage. Later in the dinner claret of a finer growth may be introduced. So little wine is now drunk after dinner, that it is a mistake to reserve all the best wines for the dessert, when they are very often scarcely consumed. At that stage a glass or two of old Port wine or brown Sherry, as a vin de dessert, are commonly preferred, but the claret decanters should circulate two or three times round the table after the ladies leave the room. The interval which divides the party should not exceed ten or fifteen minutes. Coffee is served in the dining-room, and with that ceremony the dinner ends. In some of the best houses in London, cigarettes are now handed round with the lo CHANGE OF FASHIONS.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

dishes are now placed on the table, a narrow table suffices, and it brings the guests on both sides of it into closer contact. It is highly undesirable to block up the centre of the table with huge ornaments, whether of plate, flowers, candelabra or other decorations, because they intercept the conversation of the guests, which is ever to be considered the primary object. For this reason a hanging lamp, suspended over the table, is preferable to lamps or lustres placed upon the table ; and the light is more agreeable to the eye. If the table is a long one, the master and mistress of the house may sit either at the top and bottom of it, or, as is now very usual, in the middle at the sides. The former practice has this inconvenience, that the most important guests are separated from each other by the whole length of the table, and consequently cannot converse during the meal at all. A good story told or a good point made at one end sets the other end wondering what the other pole of the dinner is laughing at. The space between the two ends is occupied by guests of minor mark, who are non-conductors of the electricity of society. When, on the contrary, the master and mistress of the house are seated in the middle of the table at the sides, the principal guests are gathered round a common centre, conversation may be more easily conducted across the board, and it radiates to the extremities. Having seated our guests round the table, we will leave them to entertain themselves there ; it is their business to contribute to the pleasure and gaiety WINES. 9 of the dinner. We will only add that the master of the house should keep a ready eye and an open ear on the flow of conversation ; he should take care that each guest is made acquainted with the person next to whom he is seated ; and if the conversation flags or seems to take an unpleasant turn he can easily revive or divert it by a question or a remark flung across the table. It may be worth while here to add a few words on the serv'ice of the wines which are handed during the dinner, as it is no longer the custom in England to place any wine on the table during dinner. After the soup, Sherry or Sherry and Madeira are produced, and most people take one glass. After the fish, the white wines of the Garonne or the Rhine, Sauterne or Hock (either of them, but never both), are served. Champagne should not make its appearance till after the first entree, and light claret should be offered at the same time, as so many persons now make claret their chief beverage. Later in the dinner claret of a finer growth may be introduced. So little wine is now drunk after dinner, that it is a mistake to reserve all the best wines for the dessert, when they are very often scarcely consumed. At that stage a glass or two of old Port wine or brown Sherry, as a vin de dessert, are commonly preferred, but the claret decanters should circulate two or three times round the table after the ladies leave the room. The interval which divides the party should not exceed ten or fifteen minutes. Coffee is served in the dining-room, and with that ceremony the dinner ends. In some of the best houses in London, cigarettes are now handed round with the lo CHANGE OF FASHIONS.

Cookery and housekeeping