PREFACE.

As there is scarce an individual who is not aware of the comfort resulting from a regular and cleanly meal, it may appear to many labour lost, to write a preface to a work which is designed to teach us how to prepare such a repast.

But, in the daily progress of life, we may often discover an amiable and accomplished woman, who possesses a general knowledge, with the exception of domestic cookery, which, I must be suffered to remark, is a subject of infinitely greater importance to her than superficial acquirements, whether we consider her as a daughter, wife, or mother. Indeed, she can never be properly the mistress of a family, unless she makes herself acquainted with its interior economy.

Exclusive of the necessity of such knowledge, it is surprising, how much such a woman, possessed of it, may save in the yearly expenditure of her family, which, in the present times, is an object of material importance to all persons of moderate incomes, for whom this book is peculiarly adapted, combining economy and gentility in its receipts and directions.