e and poultry, and shape your collops, cutlets, &c.,
and trim them neatly; cut away all flaps and gristles, &c. Nothing
should appear on table but what has indisputable pretensions to be
eaten!

Put your made dishes in plates, and arrange them upon the dresser in
regular order. Next, see that your roasts and boils are all nicely
trimmed, trussed, &c. and quite ready for the spit or the pot.

Have your vegetables neatly cut, pared, picked, and clean washed in the
colander: provide a tin dish, with partitions, to hold your fine herbs:
onions and shallots, parsley, thyme, tarragon, chervil, and burnet,
minced _very fine_; and lemon-peel grated, or cut thin, and chopped very
small: pepper and salt ready mixed, and your spice-box and salt-cellar
always ready for action: that every thing you may want may be at hand
for your stove-work, and not be scampering about the kitchen in a
whirlpool of confusion, hunting after these trifles while the dinner is
waiting.

In one drawer under your SPICE-BOX keep ready ground, in well-stopped
bottles, the several spices separate; and also that mixture of them
which is called "_ragout powder_" (No. 457 or No. 460): in another, keep
your dried and powdered sweet, savoury, and soup herbs, &c. and a set of
weights and scales: you may have a third drawer, containing flavouring
essences, &c. an invaluable auxiliary in finishing soups and sauces.
(See the account of the "MAGAZINE OF TASTE," or "SAUCE-BOX," No. 462.)

Have also ready some THICKENING, made of the best white flour sifted,
mixed with soft water with a wooden spoon till it is the consistence of
thick batter, a bottle of plain BROWNING (No. 322), some strained
lemon-juice, and some good glaze, or PORTABLE soup (No. 252).

"Nothing can be done in perfection which must be done in a hurry:"[63-*]
therefore, if you wish the dinner to be sent up to please your master
and mistress, and do credit to yourself, be punctual; take care that as
soon as the _clock strikes_, the _dinner-bell rings_: this shows the
establishment to be orderly, is extremely gratifying to the master and
his guests, and is most praiseworthy in the attendants.

But remember, you cannot obtain this desirable reputation without good
management in every respect. If you wish to ensure ease and independence
in the latter part of your life, you must not be unwilling to pay the
price for which only they can be obtained, and earn them by a diligent
and faithful[64-*] perfo