272 THE HOME, FARM AND BUSINESS CYCLOPEDIA. 



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

 ternative 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 

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

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

 move 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. 

 High and narrow, and very broad and shallow glasses, are used for cham- 

 pagne ; large, goblet-shaped glasses for burgundy and claret ; ordinary 

 wine-glasses for sherry and madeira ; green glasses for hock ; and some- 

 what large, bell-shaped glasses for port. 



Port, sherry, and madeira are decanted. Hock and champagnes appear 

 in their native bottles. Claret and burgundy are handed around in a 

 claret jug. 



Coffee and liqueurs should be handed round when the dessert has been 

 about a quarter of an hour on the table. After this, the ladies generally 

 retire. 



Should no servant be present to do so, the gentleman who is nearest the 

 door should hold it for the ladies to pass through. 



When the ladies are leaving the dining-room, the gentlemen all rise in 

 their places, and do not resume their seats till the last lady is gone. 



If you should unfortunately overturn or break anything, do not apolo- 

 gize for it. You can show your regret in your face, but it is not well-bred 

 to put it into words. 



Should you injure a lady's dress, apologize amply, and assist her, if pos- 

 sible, to remove all traces of the damage. 



To abstain from taking the last piece on the dish, or the last glass of 

 wine in the decanter, only because it is the last, is highly ill-bred. It im- 

 plies a fear that the vacancy cannot be supplied, and almost conveys an 

 affront to your host. 



In summing up the little duties and laws of the table, a popular author 

 has said that "The chief matter of consideration at the dinner- table as, 

 indeed, everywhere else in the life of a gentleman is to be perfectly com- 

 posed and at his ease. He speaks deliberately ; he performs the most im- 

 portant act of the day as if he were performing the most ordinary. Yet 



