_Fish_ should be chosen by touch and look. If it feels flabby and looks pale about the gills, and dull about the eyes, it is to be avoided; firmness of body, brightness and fulness of eyes, and ruddiness of the gills, are signs of freshness. _Crabs_ and _lobsters_ must be selected by weight, not size; and the olfactory organs must be employed to test their sweetness. The _cooking of vegetables_ is an important point, and one in which we may derive much useful instruction from our continental neighbours. Vegetables cannot be too fresh; in large towns we can form no idea of the real flavour and delicacy of green vegetables, accustomed as we are to have them at least a day after they are cut. We have already spoken of the desirableness of dealing regularly with respectable tradesmen, but no rule is without its exception; and those who are pretty good judges of articles of provision, may often obtain some variety by looking about for them. Servants should always be accustomed to lay the cloth and serve dinner as neatly when the family is alone as when company is expected; they should likewise be taught to bring up and place on the table or sideboard everything likely to be required during the meal, and not have to leave the room repeatedly on trifling errands. The mistress should glance around to see that all is there; and if she perceives omissions, mention them before dinner commences. Servants should also be taught to wait at table without bustle or noise; to remove plates, &c., without rattling them; to open and close the doors gently; to lift covers from dishes so as not to let the drops of condensed steam fall on the table or those seated at it. If these things are ordinarily insisted upon, the mistress of the house will not, when she gives a dinner party, sit on thorns, trembling lest some _gaucherie_ be committed. Those who would give dinner parties must generally speaking, if their _ménage_ is small, hire a cook. A small, well-cooked, well-chosen dinner, is far preferable to a table crowded with dishes. Symmetrical arrangement of the dinner-table, too, is a powerful adjunct. The silver should be bright, the glass sparkling, the table-linen pure and snowy, the room well lighted, of comfortable temperature, and well ventilated. The pleasure of eating a good dinner is greatly enhanced when comfort is studied, and taste gratified. The wines should be good; it is better to give only one or two kinds, and let those be choice, even though they be only old-fashioned port and sherry, than to aim at greater things, and set before the guest those “cheap and nasty” productions of other vintages.