able to command plenty of good vegetables, well served up. But this is a luxury vainly hoped for at set parties. The vegetables are made to figure in a very secondary way, except, indeed, whilst they are considered as great delicacies, which is generally before they are at their best, and then, like other delicacies, they are introduced after the appetite has been satisfied; and the manner of handing vegetables round is most unsatisfactory and uncertain. Excellent potatoes, smoking hot, and accompanied by melted butter of the first quality, would alone stamp merit on any dinner; but they are as rare on state occasions, so served, as if they were of the cost of pearls. Everybody of genuine taste is delighted with a display of vegetables of a superior order; and if great attention was bestowed upon that part of dinners instead of upon the many other dishes, dinners would be at once more wholesome and more satisfactory to the palate, and often less expensive. I have observed, that whenever the vegetables are distinguished for their excellence, the dinner is always particularly enjoyed; and if they were served, as I have already recommended, with each dish, as they are most appropriate and fresh from the dressing, it would be a great improvement on the present style. With some meats something of the kind is practised, as peas with duck, and beans with bacon, and such combinations are generally favourites; but the system might be much extended, and with great advantage, by due attention. With respect to variety of vegetables, I think the same rule applies as to other dishes. I would not have many sorts on the same occasion, but would study appropriateness and particular excellence. There is something very refreshing in the mere look of fine vegetables, and the entrance of a well-dressed dish of meat, properly accompanied by them and all their adjuncts, would excite a disposition to enjoyment much greater than can the unmeaning and unconnected courses now placed before our eyes. This is a matter of study and combination, and a field for genius. It is a reasonable object of attention, inasmuch as it is conducive to real enjoyment, and has nothing to do with mere display. In French cookery, vegetables meet with attention much more proportionate to their importance than in ours, and appropriateness in serving them is much more studied.

I think I have now said all I had to say respecting dinners. My object has been to point out what I consider to be the true philosophy, and to put people upon the right scent of what ought to be done, rather than to particularize it. Those who wish to succeed, can only do so to much extent, by first getting into the right course, and then thinking for themselves, with such aids as they can derive from observation, and the best treatises on

cookery. The chief point to be aimed at, is to acquire a habit of thinking only of the real object of dining, and to discard all wish for state and display in a matter which concerns our daily employment of health and pleasure. I consider my observations on the art of dining as part of what I had to say on attainment of high health, from the necessary dependence of our health upon the judicious and satisfactory manner in which we make our principal meal. I think the art of dining, properly understood, is especially worthy the attention of females of all classes, according to their respective means. It comes peculiarly within the province of domestic economy, and is indeed one of its most important features. But females ought to be especially on their guard in this essential affair, not to divert their views from realities to show, to which they have a strong propensity. There are many things in which they can indulge their taste for ornament, provided it is not carried too far, with advantage to themselves and to the satisfaction of others; but in the article of dinners it is misplaced, because destructive of something of much more importance; and the realities, when in full force, have quite sufficient attractions without any attempt to heighten them by " foreign aid." In conformity with my dislike to show or display in everything connected with dinners, I prefer a service of plain white ware-the French manufacture, I believe, or an imitation of it-to plate or ornamented china. There is a simplicity in white ware, and an appearance of cleanliness and purity, which are to me particularly pleasing; besides which, it is, I always think, indicative of a proper feeling, and a due attention in the right direction. As to desserts, I am no great friend to them. I enjoy fruit much more at any other time of the day, and at any other meal; besides which, I think they are unwholesome from being unnecessary. At any rate, I would have them in great moderation, and confined to a few kinds of ripe fruit. Preserved fruits are in my opinion cloying after dinner, and I believe injurious to the digestion of a substantial meal, and confectionery I think still worse. Desserts are made instruments of show as much or more than dinners, and though, unlike dinners, they cannot well be spoiled by it, yet it makes them a perpetual source of temptation to excess. It is most unphilosophical to set things before people, and to tell them they need not take them unless they please. Contentment and safety mainly depend upon having nothing before us except what we ought to take.

I purpose in my next number coming to a conclusion on the bject of the art of dining. My remaining topics are, wine, e means of limiting dinners to small parties, and the effect of ch limit upon the mode of carrying on society in the most con

venient and agreeable manner. It seems to me, that great improvements are practicable, at least with those who prefer real enjoyment to mock, and who like ease and liberty better than state and restraint.

IMPOSITION.

In my last number gave an article under the head of 'Imposition,' for the double purpose of putting the charitable upon their guard, and of diminishing the harvest for the encouragement of impostors. There is a species of applicants which I intended, but omitted, to mention, which of all others is the most unlikely to excite suspicion, and is at the same time the least liable to detection: I mean those who state themselves to have come from distant parts of the country to London to seek service or employment, or to find out relations or friends, and who represent themselves to have been disappointed, and to be reduced to a state of utter destitution-adding, perhaps, some calamitous circumstance of having fallen ill, or having been robbed. It must be confessed that nothing can be more probable than that many such cases should happen, or rather it seems most improbable that they should not continually happen. Nevertheless, though I cannot account for it, I find from diligent examination that such is by no means the fact. Whether it is that few persons come on mere speculation, or that even the least portion of prudence helps them through their difficulties, or that they meet with sufficient assistance from those of their own calling or class I do not exactly know; but this I know, that for six years that I have been a magistrate, during which time I have witnessed many and many cases of persons of both sexes and all ages, who have represented themselves as having come to London from all parts of the United Kingdom, and to be from various calamitous accidents reduced to utter destitution-during these six years, I say, I have not met with a single instance which was not one of imposition, and where my interposition was necessary. I have very frequently had cases, which appeared to me desperate, examined into by parish-officers, and in several instances I have had persons taken care of under my own superintendence, and at my own expense, till the truth of their representations could be ascertained, but the results have been uniformly the same; and my conclusion is, that there is no such thing in this country as what may be called isolated destitution, that is, destitution out of some particular sphere of sympathy; and therefore my opinion is, that those who bestow their charity upon casual applicants utterly unknown to them, under however plausible circumstances,

are only diverting their means from legitimate ends, and are fostering fraud and promoting moral debasement. It was but the other day, whilst I was thinking of these things, that a case was brought before me, which I thought would at last prove an exception. An old man, of wretched appearance, was found by a policeman at night lying in the street, apparently almost dying. With difficulty he was taken to the station, and he told me he was on his way out of Sussex to Colchester, which was his native place, and that he had no money, and was very ill with the ague, of which he had all the appearance. Whilst I was thinking what to do with him, I observed that his right hand did not shake at all, of which I informed him, at the same time telling him firmly, that I knew he was an impostor, and that if he was found again in the neighbourhood I would send him to prison-whereupon his ague entirely ceased, and he quickly departed without saying a word. There is scarcely any suffering which impostors will not endure to gain their ends, and the greater their misery, the greater and surer their harvest. Their skill in counterfeiting starvation, sickness, and infirmity, is quite extraordinary, and the luxury of their suppers at the expense of the unwary is in proportion. A case occurred at my office within a week, particularly illustrative of the impositions of applicants from the country, and it was one, from the sex and age of the party, peculiarly calculated to excite sympathy. A decent-looking girl of seventeen was brought before me to apply for assistance under circumstances stated to be of complete destitution. She said she came from Norwich; that her father was not long dead; that after his death she went into the service of an old Jew, who also soon died, and his daughter recommended her to come to London, where she told her she would easily get a service amongst the Jews. She said she had only a shilling, and a shawl of trifling value to dispose of, when she left home; that she had not been able to get a place, and that she was reduced to sleep in the street. After asking her some questions, I was convinced her story was not true, and I dismissed her, quite contrary, as I perceived, to the judgment of the officer who brought her. The next day she was introduced again under the auspices of the gaoler of the office, who has had great experience in these matters, and he said he had examined her very closely, and he was convinced of the truth of her story. I questioned her again, and was confirmed in my former opinion, though I could not make her imposition clear to others. The gaoler pleaded hard for her, and asked me if I would send her to a neighbouring workhouse till he could write to Norwich to make the ecessary inquiries, and if satisfactory, he would engage to get

an answer.

her a place. Knowing the bad policy of such a practice, I refused; and then he asked me if I had any objection to his providing a lodging for her at his own expense, till he could get I told him I had not, but that I thought his humanity would be unavailing. When the girl left my presence, the officers of the establishment made a little subscription for her amongst themselves—by no means an uncommon thing for them to do in cases of supposed distress. The gaoler was as good as his word; he not only procured a lodging for the girl, but understanding she was ill from lying in the street, he got her admission into the London Hospital, and also obtained a promise of a place for her when she should come out. Though I differed from him in opinion, I gave him great credit for his zeal and humanity; but the next morning he appeared before me, saying he felt bound to tell me the truth, which was, that he had discovered the girl's story to be false, that she had turned out to be an abandoned character, and that he had quite given her up. If men of so much experience, with such opportunities of scrutinizing, could be so imposed upon, what chance have those in the upper classes of forming correct judgments in such cases? Though I have heard many quite indignant at the idea of being supposed to be deceived, when, as they say, they have seen with their own eyes, and examined with the greatest strictness, I can only recommend them, if they do not wish to do harm, to become as sceptical as they are credulous, and to reserve their means and their attentions for the prudent and the striving, who have always some earnest to give for their real characters. Whilst I am upon this subject, I will mention one instance amongst several, in which, with all my caution, I was completely taken in. A girl about sixteen years of age was accused before me of robbing a family, in whose service she lived. She strongly asserted her innocence, and the evidence was of such a nature that I was induced to believe it was the result of a conspiracy to ruin her character. As I have an objection to the principle of referring to parish assistance, I directed her to be placed, at my own expense, under the care of the landlady of a neighbouring publichouse, in order to see how she behaved, and, if well, I intended to have had a situation procured for her. She remained for eight weeks, at the end of which time the landlady came to me to say, that since the girl had been with her she had missed several articles, and that the house had been twice set on fire. She added, she had long suspected the girl, and had at length no doubt of her guilt, and that she was afraid to keep her another hour. On examination my opinion was the same; so I gave the girl half-a-crown, and told her she must look out for herself.