Either the copper tea-kettle sang on the hob or on a trivet on the bars, or the tea-urn hissed on the table; whilst on the polished brass three-legged trivet, standing on the hearth, were the muffins, crumpets, toast, or what not, keeping nice and hot. In many middle-class houses a toasting-fork hung with a hearth broom by the side of the mantelpiece, and it was thought no harm for the younger portion of the family to "make the toast" by the dining-room fire. The tea drank was exclusively of Chinese growth, that of India and Ceylon never having been dreamed of, and the prices (retail) ranged from 3_s._ 6_d._ to 7_s._ 6_d._ per lb. A paragraph in the _Times_, July 15, 1836, gives us an idea of the amount consumed. "Yesterday the East India Company" (who at this time had the monopoly of the tea trade) "issued their declaration for the sale of teas in September next. The declaration amounts to 4,000,000 lbs., and comprises 500,000 lbs. of bohea, 2,770,000 lbs. of congou, souchong, and pekoe, 600,000 lbs. of twankay, and 130,000 lbs. of hyson. In the present declaration there are 100,000 lbs. less of bohea than in the June sale, 100,000 less of twankay, an increase of 170,000 lbs. of congou, souchong, &c., and 30,000 more of hyson. The whole amount of bohea teas entered under the Treasury minute for payment of the duty of 1_s._ 6_d._ per pound until the 1st of August next is above 12,000,000 lbs." With regard to the food, it was plain and wholesome, but was supplied with such prodigality that the table literally "groaned" under its weight, and I may safely say that at a dinner-party there was at least six times more food provided than the guests could eat. It was their way of showing hospitality. There was some truth in the description by the old French _émigré_, who found England uninhabitable, because "there were twenty-four religions and only one sauce, no ripe fruit but roasted apples, and that each man ruined his health in drinking to the health of others." But as it is good sometimes to "see oursen' as ithers see us," let us hear what Count Melfort has to say on the English middle-class dinner in this reign. After giving a most humorous description of the _mauvais quatre d'heure_ before dinner, he says--