w proceeds to the drawing-room, arranges the fireplace, and
sees to the lights; he then returns to his pantry, prepared to answer
the bell, and attend to the company, while the footman is clearing away
and cleaning the plate and glasses.

2162. At tea he again attends. At bedtime he appears with the candles;
he locks up the plate, secures doors and windows, and sees that all the
fires are safe.

2163. In addition to these duties, the butler, where only one footman is
kept, will be required to perform some of the duties of the valet, to
pay bills, and superintend the other servants. But the real duties of
the butler are in the wine-cellar; there he should be competent to
advise his master as to the price and quality of the wine to be laid in;
"fine," bottle, cork, and seal it, and place it in the binns. Brewing,
racking, and bottling malt liquors, belong to his office, as well as
their distribution. These and other drinkables are brought from the
cellar every day by his own hands, except where an under-butler is kept;
and a careful entry of every bottle used, entered in the cellar-book; so
that the book should always show the contents of the cellar.

2164. The office of butler is thus one of very great trust in a
household. Here, as elsewhere, honesty is the best policy: the
butler should make it his business to understand the proper
treatment of the different wines under his charge, which he can
easily do from the wine-merchant, and faithfully attend to it;
his own reputation will soon compensate for the absence of
bribes from unprincipled wine-merchants, if he serves a generous
and hospitable master. Nothing spreads more rapidly in society
than the reputation of a good wine-cellar, and all that is
required is wines well chosen and well cared for; and this a
little knowledge, carefully applied, will soon supply.

2165. The butler, we have said, has charge of the contents of the
cellars, and it is his duty to keep them in a proper condition, to fine
down wine in wood, bottle it off, and store it away in places suited to
the sorts. Where wine comes into the cellar ready bottled, it is usual
to return the same number of empty bottles; the butler has not, in this
case, the same inducements to keep the bottles of the different sorts
separated; but where the wine is bottled in the house, he will find his
account, not only in keeping them separate, but in rinsing them well,
and e