54. Never put your fingers, or finger in your tea-cup, when you take it up to drink; but clasp round the outside, if your hand is large enough; if not, then take hold with both hands.

55. Never turn a vessel bottom upward at table, as a hint to the waiters you desire more of that kind of food; better call for it.

56. When eating at a nice table, or one which has a table cloth, never lay your bones and leavings upon the table, or table-cloth; but put them on the side of your plate.

57. It is doubtless the case, that most people habitually practice some traits of manners at table when at home, and in private families, which would not be considered by themselves, or the public, proper to adopt when eating abroad, with strangers, or at public houses. It is therefore proper to observe what is the custom of those with whom you eat, and generally conform to it; but there are some customs, however, which are manifestly improper. Such as leaving a quantity of food of various kinds on the plate when done eating; sitting at table an hour or two, and changing the dishes for every different kind of food, &c. &c.; these are the caprices of fashion.

58. Good manners require, that the plate be left clean of food and crumbs, when done eating, unless more is put upon your plate by your attendant, than you desire.

59. It is generally customary, (save in the private family meal, and sometimes there,) to provide suitable conveniences for the distribution of every kind of meat

and sauce, pies, custards, &c. &c., which are upon the table; such as a butter knife for cutting butter from the roll or cake to put upon your own plate, and this is not to be used for any other purpose; in like manner, a knife to cut pie, a carving knife to cut meat, a spoon to the sauce dish, &c. &c.

60. All these things of course, are furnished to help one's self to such things with, as they are provided for; and such food should be removed by them alone, to your own dish. Although this is so simple a thing to learn, some, who would wish to be sure, to be thought well bred, do not seem to know it; but will neglect the use of these, when provided, and use those for such purposes instead, which have many times been put in their own mouths, which is very clownish, and ill bred.

61. In the social and domestic circles these nice provisions are not always made; hence some young people, before being much accustomed to going abroad, are apt, from the influence of their common habits at home, to make some wide deviations from good manners when abroad.

62. It is generally customary to cross the knife and fork upon the plate, when done eating, but for the better convenience of cooks, some families do otherwise. Customs differ in such things; however, it is generally proper in these respects to adopt the custom of those with whom you eat.

63. Eating quickly or very slowly at meals, is characteristic of the vulgar.

64. It is ill manners to turn grease or gravy from the platter on to your plate.

65. It is ill manners to cut bits of butter from the butter plate to put upon every mouthful or two of bread, potatoe, or other food which you eat, but spread your whole piece of bread with butter at once; or if butter be eaten with other food, take a suitable quantity on to your own plate.

66. Dip not your bread, or other food, into the gravy or grease in the platter; it is low breeding.

Supplement to the preceding Section.

1. It may not be a amiss in this place, to lay before our young readers, a short account of a certain person's behavior, who, it appears, did not exactly attend to the foregoing rules respecting behavior at the table.

2. Not long since I was invited to eat a meal of victuals with a number of people, among whom was a man by the name of LOW-BREEDING. I happened to be seated near him, on the opposite side of the table, where I had the painful task to notice some of his awkward habits.

3. As soon as he had seated himself, he seized the milk-pitcher and replenished his own tea-cup, and then sat the pitcher down by the side of his cup with the handle towards himself. I observed that he had finished this operation, by the time those at the upper end of

the table were fairly seated and had adjusted their pocket handkerchiefs. For his part he did not trouble himself with one; the back of his hand appeared to supply the place of a handkerchief, as I observed that he once in a while fetched it a wipe across his lips.

4. After using the milk-pitcher, he next made a dive at the meat with his fork, and, after turning a piece over once or twice to see if it suited him, he cut it in two in the platter and took the piece that suited him best.

5. While he was cutting his meat, I could not help pitying those who sat each side of him, for his elbows, which occupied almost as much room as a shoemaker at his bench, were nearly all the time goading their sides. I was some incommoded myself, for, besides his spattering the gravy almost into my face, his feet, I found were stretched out under the table as far as his legs would admit, so that they came nearly under my

scat.

6. Next he helped himself to a piece of bread, by breaking off all the crust, and taking the soft part only. After hemming and sniffing, and glaring round and looking over his shoulder a few times, he began to eat; and now commences a most disgusting scene.

7. At every mouthful, he ran out his tongue nearly an inch, to catch the crumbs which chanced to fall from his loaded knife or spoon; and his lips were kept so far open while he was chewing, that one might easily see the whole process of mastication: though once in

a while he would fetch his lips together with a loud smack, which I took to be an indication that the victuals suited his taste.

8. When he drank his tea, he made a strange kind of a sipping noise, which I shall not undertake to describe. He eat so very fast, and took such large mouthfuls, that I was really afraid he would choke himself. However, when he had partially satiated his appetite, he stopped to rest himself by placing his elbows on the table and propping up his chin with his hands; and then, after belching a few times, proceeded again.

9. In the course of his eating, I observed that he had greased his cheeks nearly from ear to ear, and his fingers to the knuckle joints. He almost drowned every thing he eat in fat and gravy; and I believe would have sickened his stomach with the enormous quantities that he attempted to convey to his mouth, had he not dropped considerable of it on his clothes.

10. I shall not undertake to describe one half of his awkward habits and clownish ways, lest the reader should begin to think that I violated the rules of good behavior, by watching his movements. So I shall omit

a particular description of many of his odd tricks; such as his mixing the different kinds of victuals together,his cutting off the point of the pie and leaving the crust; his grasping the cake with both hands, and twisting it apart, &c., and merely state, that when he had done eating, he left his knife and fork just where they happened to fall; his plate was covered with