252 THE HOME, FARM AND BUSINESS CYCLOPEDIA. 



Unless you are a total abstainer, it is extremely uncivil to decline taking 

 wine if you are invited to do so. 



It is particularly ill-bred to empty your glass on these occasions. 



Certain wines are taken with certain dishes, by old-established custom 

 as sherry or sauterne, with soup and fish ; hock and claret with roast 

 meat ; punch with turtle ; champagne with sweet-bread or cutlets ; port 

 with venison ; port or burgundy with game ; sparkling wines between the 

 roast and the confectionery ; madeira with sweets ; port with cheese ; and 

 for dessert, port, tokay, madeira, sherry, and claret. Red wines should 

 never be iced, even in summer. Claret and burgundy should always 

 be slightly warmed ; claret-cup and champagne should, of course, be 

 Iced. 



Instead of cooling their wines in the ice-pail, some hosts introduce clear 

 ice upon the table, broken up in small lumps, to be put inside the glasses. 

 This cannot be too strictly reprehended. Melting ice can but weaken the 

 quality and flavour of the wine. Those who desire to drink wine and 

 water can ask for iced water if they choose ; but it savors too much of 

 economy on the part of a host to insinuate the ice inside the glasses of 

 his guests when the wine could be more effectually iced outside the 

 bottle. 



A silver knife and fork should be placed to each guest at dessert. 



It is wise never to partake of any dish without knowing of what in- 

 gredients it is composed. You can always ask the servant who hands it 

 to you, and you thereby avoid all danger of having to commit the impo- 

 liteness of leaving it, and showing that you do not approve of it. 



Never speak while you have anything in your mouth. 



Be careful never to taste soups or puddings till you are sure they are 

 sufficiently cool ; as, by disregarding this caution, you may be compelled 

 to swallow what is dangerously hot, or be driven to the unpardonable 

 alternative of returning it to your plate. 



When eating or drinking, avoid every kind of audible testimony to the 

 fact. 



Finger-glasses, containing water slightly warmed and perfumed, are 

 placed to each person at dessert. In these you may dip the tips of your 

 iingers, wiping them afterwards on your table-napkin. If the finger-glass 

 and doyley are placed on your dessert-plate, you should immediately 

 remove the doyley to the left of your plate, and place the finger-glass upon 

 it. By these means you leave the right for the wine-glasses. 



Be careful to know the shapes of the various kinds of wine-glasses com- 

 monly in use, in order that you may never put forward one for another. 



