* Let it be perfectly understood that these brands, undoubtedly choice as they are, are named without the slightest intention of selecting them for commendation beyond others, and merely as illustrating the arrangements suggested in the text.

Custom of ladies retiring.

Wine at dessert.

A short stay when ladies have left desirable.

Dessert, etc. Special Dinners. 233 interests; while the men enjoy that indispensable finish to a good dinner, an irreproachable cup of coffee and a cigarette; and the sooner these arrive the better, only let all the fine Bordeaux be finished before the perfume of Dubec or of Havana scents the air. With the small dinners of men it can scarcely too quickly follow the last service.

But marked by a special character are some dinners, which may be either small or large in relation to the number of guests, but which are necessarily limited as regards the variety of aliments served. I refer to dinners at which either turtle or fish predominates. In accordance with a principle already enunciated, a bowl of substantial stock, containing four or five broad flakes of the gelatinous product, often miscalled "fat," which is the chief representative of the turtle in the compound, is not a judicious prelude to a dinner arranged according to the orthodox programme, and offering the usual variety. A lover of turtle indulges freely in the soup, both thick and clear, making it, in fact, an important instalment of his repast; and he desires, with or without some slight interlude, to meet the favourite food again in the form of an entree. After so substantial a commencement, the dinner should be completed chiefly by poultry, and game if in season, and for the most part by dishes which are grilled or roasted in contrast to the succulent morsels which have preceded.

Special dinners.

Turtle in various forms, and what should follow it.

The "fish dinner," as a speciality, also an occasional departure from daily routine, is acceptable, and gratifies the taste for that delicate and pleasant food in considerable variety. But if so indulged, very few dishes ought to appear subsequently. It is a curious fact that the traditional bacon and beans, which appear towards the close of a Greenwich whitebait dinner, should afford another illustration of undesigned compliance with the natural law referred to at the outset, the bacon furnishing complementary fat to supply its notable absence in fish.

The enjoyment of a curry - and when skilfully made it is almost universally admitted to be one of the most attractive combinations which can be offered to the senses of taste and smell - is only possible at a limited repast. When freely eaten, very little is acceptable to the palate afterwards, exhausted as it is by the pervading fragrance of the spice and other adjuncts. Hence a curry should form the climax of a short series of dishes leading up to it, as an important element in a small dinner; or it may even be presented, in a miniature form, a kari mignon, as an elegant and acceptable final savoury morsel at the end of a dinner of pretension. But when presented, as it sometimes is, among the entrees of a first course it is wholly out of place.

The fish dinner.

Of the Greenwich type.

The curry.

Here we may appropriately take a rapid glance at the characteristics of the feast where the guests are few in number.

The small dinner party should be seated at a round or oval table, large enough for personal comfort, small enough to admit of conversation in any direction without effort. The table should of course be furnished with taste, but is not to be encumbered with ornaments, floral or other, capable of obstructing sight and sound. A perfect consomme', a choice of two fish, a tournedos from the filet, noisette or fricandeau, followed by a chaadfroid, a crime de volaille garnie, a roast bird (game, wild duck, quail, plover, or snipe) and salad, a choice vegetable, and an iced souffle' or charlotte; and in summer a macedoine of fresh fruits in an old china family bowl, if there is one; and lastly, a savoury croute, accompanying vegetables, with crisp thin toast, and appropriate wines; - may be regarded as furnishing a scheme for such a party - or a theme of which the variations are endless.* From seven or eight to nine or ten, but not more than nine or ten guests, can thus be brought into close contact; with a larger number the party is apt to form two coteries, one on each side of the host. The number is a good one also in relation to the commissariat department - eight persons being well supplied by an entree in one dish; while two dishes are necessary for ten or twelve persons. Moreover, one bottle of wine divides well in eight; if, therefore, the host desire to give with the roast one glass of particularly fine ripe Corton or Pomard, a single bottle is equal to the supply; and so with any other choice specimen of which a single circulation is required; and of course the rule holds equally if the circuit is to be repeated. Dinners of all sizes, up to the largest public dinners, are best provided for thus, in multiples of eight; calculations for food, wine, and service, are thus easily and accurately made and carried out in practice.

* For an illustration of this, see a series of menus at the end of Chapter XIV.

Suggestions as to a small dinner.

Eight dishes; eight guests.

And this leads us to the question - and an important one it is - of the wine; to be discussed in the next chapter.

One bottle supplies eight.