Afternoon tea.

Dinner; the most important, to be discussed at length.

Dinners: Family and Invitation.

Dinners are of two kinds - the ordinary meal of the family, and the dinner to which guests are invited. There is a third dinner in this country, of common - too common - occurrence, viz. the public dinner, which is essentially a British institution, and cannot be passed by in silence.

The late dinner should never include children. It is a meal which is in every way unsuited to them; and they are quite unfitted to take part in its functions; besides, the four-meal system is better adapted to their requirements of growth and digestion in early life. A family dinner may usually consist of a soup, fish, a substantial and a light entree a roast and a sweet; the light-entree may even be omitted. If, however, the meal is required to be more substantial, a joint may be served in addition after the fish; but this should be very rarely necessary. A special dish of vegetables may be advantageously placed before or after the roast, according to circumstances; and supplementary vegetables should be always at hand. Cheese or a light savoury trifle may complete the menu.

The rationale of the initial soup has often been discussed: some regard it as calculated to diminish digestive power, on the theory that so much fluid taken at first dilutes the gastric juices. But there appears to be no foundation for this belief: a clear soup, or the fluid, constituents of a puree, disappear almost immediately after entering the stomach, being absorbed by the proper vessels, and in no way interfere with the gastric juice which is stored in its appropriate cells ready for action. The habit of commencing dinner with soup has without doubt its origin in the fact that aliment in this fluid form - in fact, ready digested - soon enters the blood and rapidly refreshes the hungry man, who, after a considerable fast and much activity, often sits down with a sense of exhaustion to commence his principal meal. In two or three minutes after taking a plate of good warm consomme, the feeling of exhaustion disappears, and irritability gives way to the gradually rising sense of good - fellowship with the circle. Some persons are accustomed to allay exhaustion by taking a glass of sherry before food - a gastronomic no less than a physiological blunder, since it overstimulates and tends to injure an empty stomach, while it depraves the palate. On the other hand, the soup introduces at once into the system a small instalment of ready - digested food, and saves the period of time which, in the absence of soup, must be spent by the stomach in deriving some portion of nutriment from solid aliment; and thus the organ of digestion itself is rapidly strengthened for its forthcoming duties.

Dinners of two kinds.

The family dinner.

Why soup is the first dish.

Few persons will be found to dispute the second place in order to fish, although this arrangement is in some quarters an open question : its discussion, however, can scarcely be regarded as within the limit of our space. The third dish should consist of the chief meat, the joint, if desired; and this is undoubtedly the place for it, if a substantial meal is required. The chief nutritious supply being thus afforded to the system, more delicate dishes, eaten in smaller quantity, and esteemed for their special qualities of flavour, aroma, or texture, should follow in an order which makes one complementary of or introductory to the next. Such, for example, as an entree of cutlets, poultry, or sweetbread, etc., well garnished, are appropriate, and by many will be found preferable. Next, the well-roasted bird-of game or poultry - accompanied or followed by salad; and after this, or, if preferred, before the roast, a dish of choice vegetables, worthy to be served alone; e.g. asparagus, seakale, early peas, globe artichokes, etc. Then one light simple sweet, for those who take it, and a slight savoury biscuit, a grilled mushroom or a morsel of cheese completes the repast. Such a meal contains within its limits all that can be desired for daily enjoyment and use. If well and liberally served, it is complete in every sense of the word. Dessert and its extent is a matter of individual taste; of wines, coffee, and liqueurs I shall speak hereafter.

Next, fish.

A word about hors-d'oeuvres. It is well known that the custom exists to a very wide extent among

The most substantial dish; entrees; the roast; the "legume;" sweet and savoury.

Continental nations of commencing either midday dejeuner or dinner by eating small portions of cold pickled fish, of raw vegetables, of highly flavoured sausage thinly sliced, etc., to serve, it is said, as a whet to appetite. This custom reaches its highest development in the za~ kuska of the Russian, which, consisting of numerous delicacies of the kind mentioned, is sometimes to be found occupying a table in an ante-room to be passed between the drawing-room and dining-room; or, and more commonly, spread on the sideboard of the latter. The Russian eats a little from three or four dishes at least, and "qualifies" with a glass of strong grain spirit (vodka) or of some liqueur, before taking his place at the table. Among these savoury preliminaries may often be found caviare in its fresh state, grey, pearly, succulent, and delicate, of which most of the caviare found in this country is but as the shadow to the substance. I have no hesitation in saying, after much consideration of the practice of thus commencing a meal, that there is no good warrant for it on the part of individuals endowed with fairly good appetite and digestion. For them, both pickled food and spirit are undesirable, at any rate, on an empty stomach. And if appetite and digestion are wanting, the stimulant of the hors-d'aeuvres is not only unnatural but decidedly prejudicial. Rational means to regain appetite are indicated in such circumstances. And the Hors-d'oeuvres, although frequent attempts, from sheer force of imitation, to transplant them here are made, happily do not, as far as I have observed, thrive on our soil. They have been introduced here chiefly, I think, because their presence being demanded by foreign gastronomic taste, is supposed to be therefore necessarily correct. But the active exercise and athletic habits of the Englishman, his activity of body and mind in commercial pursuits, all tend to bring him to the dinner-table wanting food rather than appetite, and in no mind to ask for "whets" to increase it. Among idle men, whose heavy lunch, liberally accompanied with wine and not followed by exercise, has barely disappeared from the stomach at the hour of dinner, a piquant prelude as stimulus of appetite is resorted to. Hence the original invention of hors-d'aeuvres; and their appearance in a very much slighter and more delicate form than that which has been described, still to be observed in connection with the chief repasts of the Latin races. The one plate which heralds dinner, and is indigenous to our country, is also one of its own best products - the oyster. But this is scarcely a hors-d'oeuvre. In itself a single service of exquisite quality, served with attendant graces of mild and delicate vinegar or lemon juice, brown bread and butter, and a glass of light chablis for those who take it, the half-dozen natives , occupying the hollow shells hold rank of a very different kind to that of the miscellaneous assortment of tit-bits alluded to. Oysters are, in fact, the first dish of dinner and not its precursor; the preface, and not the needless and obtrusive advertisement. And this brings us to the dinner of invitation. Their value or necessity often questionable.

" Hors-d'oeuvres;" the "za - kuska " of the Russians.

Caviare.

Remarks on "hors - d'aeuvres;"

Hors-d'oeuvres, "Zakuska;" Oysters.

Oysters.