942. MACAROONS.-Blanch and skin half a pound of sweet almonds, dry them well in your screen, then put them into a mortar with a pound and a half of lump sugar, pound well together, and pass the whole through a wire sieve; put it again into a mortar, with the whites of two eggs, mix well together with the pestle, then add the white of another egg, proceeding thus until you have used the whites of about eight eggs and made a softish paste, when lay them out at equal distances apart, upon wafer-paper, in pieces nearly the size of walnuts, place some strips of almonds upon the top, sift sugar over, and bake in a slow oven of a yellowish brown colour; they are done when set quite firm through.

943. RATAFIAS.-Ratafias are made similar to the above, but deducting two ounces of sweet, and adding two ounces of bitter almonds; they are laid out in much smaller cakes upon common paper, and baked in a much warmer oven; when cold, they may be taken off the paper with the greatest ease.

These cases are very serviceable in making a great many second-course dishes.

944. ITALIAN DROPS.-Have a mixture similar to the above, with merely a liqueur glassful of best noyeau, lay it in round drops upon paper, and bake in a hot oven without sifting any sugar over; when taken from the papers, dry them a little in the screen, and they are ready to serve.

The bottoms may be spread over with apricot marmalade, and two stuck together just previous to being served, if approved of.

945. BOLA D'AMOUR-LOVE CAKE.-Take the yolks of eggs, as many as are required for the dish (about twelve), and beat them up in a pan with an equal weight of sugar, the same as sponge cakes, using any kind of liquor or essence for flavouring. When the mixture is beaten up light and got thick, have ready some clarified butter in a stewpan, made hot enough for frying. Pour the mixture into a funnel having a small bore or pipe, and let it run into the hot butter, turning the hand while it is running, so that it may be formed into threads all over the surface of the pan. In about two minutes it will be done, when it should be taken out with a skimmer, and be placed on the dish for serving, garnishing it with any kind of preserve, and serve cold.

Another way is, to beat up the eggs with some liquor, and run it into some boiling syrup at the blow.

946. THE QUEEN VICTORIA'S CAKE.-To threequarters of a pound of flour, add half an ounce of German yeast, mixed with warm water until forming a stiff paste, and place it in a stewpan, and let it stand by the fire or oven until well risen, during which time the butter must be well worked until soft, adding a quarter of a pound of flour more and five eggs gradually, and beat them well together; when done, if the leaven is well risen, add to it one and a-half pound of raisins, with a little salt and sugar; let it stand in the mould for a short time, and bake it in a slow oven.

947. COTTAGE CAKE.-Procure from a baker half a quartern of dough, which put into an earthen pan; melt in a stewpan half a pound of either fresh or salt butter; mix both well with the hand, adding half a pound of sugar; add to it half a pound of currants well washed, one and a-half pound of plums, and a teaspoonful of mixed spice; when well mixed, place it in a hoop or pan before the fire; let it rise for one hour, and send it to be baked; it will take about one hour in a slow oven.

948. WEST INDIAN CAKE.-Proceed as above for the ingredients; then add a quarter of a pound of preserved West Indian ginger, cut in small dice, and four spoonfuls of brandy, and two teaspoonfuls of dry grated ginger; bake as above.

949. ELETHERIAN PINE APPLE CAKE. - Take three-quarters of a pound of pine apple, not over ripe, peel it; place half a pound of white sugar in a pan, with half a pint of water, boil till a thick syrup; cut the pine in small dice of a quarter of an inch, and pour the syrup over; and, when nearly cold, add to it the dough, which has previously been mixed with three-quarters of a pound of butter and two eggs; let it rise in a hoop as above, and bake in the same way: a glass of rum may be added.

LETTER No. XVIII.

ROYAL ST. JAMES'S CAKE.

June 16, 1849.

MY DEAR ELOISE,―Though you did not expect to hear from me again today, after the manuscript I forwarded to you, it is quite an unexpected circumstance that makes me write now, therefore you must know, dear, that, through very great interest, I had this day the honour and pleasure to witness

one of the most interesting sights which England alone, at the present time, can boast of. Not to tantalize your womanly curiosity, I shall, without delay, tell you that it was a juvenile entertainment, given by the liberal and indefatigable manager of the St. James's Theatre, Mr. Mitchell, under the roof of which house he had the honour of entertaining the Crown of Great Britain, the blooming buds of the Royal Family, supported by the rising branches of the aristocracy, all with elegant bouquets, and possessing joyful faces, caused by the excellent entertainment the intelligent proprietor provided to gratify their infantine ideas. Nearly three hundred in number seemed to join their happiness with that of the Prince of Wales, Prince Alfred, the Princess Royal, and the Princess Alice, under the superintendence of her Most Gracious Majesty, and their august father, Prince Albert, who, in a homely and happy family manner, seemed, for the time, to have forgotten their mortal grandeur in joining the youthful happiness of those lovely children, who, in time, will be the ornament and pride of England. Knowing, by study, that pleasure, and satisfaction of mind, in any state of life, increase or create appetite, especially upon children, on arriving at home, feeling rather tired, I lay down on a couch, and took a short repose; but being full of the pleasing sight I had just witnessed, and my imagination lately so involved with gastronomy, it caused me to dream that, by special order, I was to make a monster cake for the luncheon of those lovely children, which they were to partake of after their terpiscolyridramacomic festivity; to my ephemeral ideas, the cake was made, and the table laid in a vast room, where gradations of chairs and tables were erected in a demi-circle, at the top of which the branches of the royal family were gracefully sitting, and surrounded, according to rank, by the other juveniles; the banqueting-hall seemed to me like the theatre, decorated all over with festoons of natural flowers; the different tables were surcharged with every description of delicacy; fruit, ices, effervescent refreshment of all kinds were provided; every child seemed to be waited on by their noble parents, her Majesty leading them to follow her maternal affection, When grace was invoked, I was appointed to cut and distribute the monster cake, which, to my present recollection, was no less than four feet in height, three wide, and most beautifully ornamented with all kinds of bon-bons, small-fruits, pistaches, &c. Having reached the centre platform, where that supposed chef-d'œuvre of cake was exhibited and gazed at by the widely-opened eyes of the youthful multitude, I was just in the act of raising the knife which was placed there for me to cut it with, when my hand all at once was seized as if by magic, to prevent me from doing so. After a deep sigh, I awoke, and perceived it was my younger boy Raphael pulling me by the arm, saying, "Mamma, the dinner is ready!" Though much annoyed with the sudden disappearance of such a fairy scene, I could not find it in my heart to scold him for his innocent interference with my enchanted illusion; but, as far as recollection serves me from a dream, I

perfectly recollect all the delicate ingredients which I supposed I had put in it; therefore, if you want to make a small one, proceed as follows:

950. ST. JAMES'S CAKE.-Put one pound of very fresh butter in a good-size kitchen basin, and with the right hand work it up well till it forms quite a white cream; then add one pound powdered sugar, mix well, add ten eggs by degrees; put to dry a pound and a quarter of flour, which mix as lightly as possible with it; blanch and cut in slices two ounces of pistachios, two ditto of green preserved angelica, add two liqueur glasses of noyeau, two drops of essence of vanilla; whip a gill and a half of cream till very thick, mix lightly with a wooden spoon, have a mould made the shape of the drawing, put it in, and send to the baker; it will take about one hour and a quarter to bake; ornament as represented in the subjoined cut:

You will perceive, my dear, that my ideas are more extravagant in my sleep than when awake, but pray consider who was to partake of it.

In case you do not succeed at first, I intend to give the receipt to Mr. Purcell, of Cornhill, who will make it to perfection for you.

LETTER No. XIX.

THE DINNER-TABLE.

MY DEAR ELOISE,-I thank you for your kind compliment, but I have always been of opinion that the arrangements and serving of a dinner table have as much to do with the happiness and pleasure of a party as the viands which are placed upon it; this I had a practical proof of last week. Mr. B. and myself were invited to dine with Mr. D., a city friend, at Balham Hill; I had before met Mrs. D. at an evening party at his partner's, at Hackney, and knew but little of her.

Dinner was served pretty punctually, only half an hour after time. On my entrance in the room my first glance at the table showed me that there was a want of savoir-faire in its management; the plate, very abundant and splendid, was of so yellow a cast that it looked as if it were plated, and the cut glass was exceedingly dim. My first surprise was that there were no napkins, the next the soup plates were quite cold, which I have found often the case in other houses; after being served with fish, and waiting until it was cold for the sauce to eat with it, I was rather sceptical how the rest of the dinner would progress. After the first, the second course made its appearance, which was heavy and too abundant; the plain things were well done, but there was only one servant in the room for the whole party of fourteen, and from the strict formality of the table, it would have been a sacrilege to have handed your plate for any vegetables, or anything else you might require. There were four saltcellars, certainly very massive silver ones, at each corner of the table, and a beautiful cruet-frame in the centre; the hot dishes of this course, like the previous one, became cold and tasteless before being eaten, and during the time the servant was serving the champagne all the plates were empty; in fact it was a good dinner spoilt. The wine drank with less gout than usual, and the long pauses between the courses made the formality appear still greater than it really was, and made you wish for the time to arrive for the cloth to be removed, which was not done, only the slips, a most awkward undertaking for one servant, and should never be practised unless having at least two.

About half an hour after the cloth was removed, and just as the conversation was being thawed from the freezing it received at the dinner table, Mrs. D. and the ladies withdrew, and for an hour and a half we had to bear the insipid conversation of the drawing-room, the hissing urn on the tea-table bearing a prominent part. Several messages were sent from time to time to the dining-room that coffee was ready; and when at last the gentlemen came, two had had quite wine enough, which caused them to receive sundry angry looks from their wives who were present, and who were glad to get them into