In my Directions to Servants, I find from my long observation, that you, Butler, are the principal Person concerned.
Your Business being of the greatest Variety, and requiring the greatest Exactness, I shall, as well as I can recollect, run thro' the several Branches of your Office, and order my Instructions accordingly.
In waiting at the Side-board, take all possible Care to save your own Trouble, and your Master's Drinking Glasses: Therefore, first, since those who dine at the same Table are supposed to be Friends, let them all drink out of the same Glass, without washing, which will save you much Pains, as well as the Hazard of breaking them; give no Person any Liquor until he hath called for it thrice at least; by which means, some out of Modesty, and others out of Forgetfulness, will call the seldomer, and thus your Master's Liquor be saved.
If any one desires a Glass of Bottled-Ale, first shake the Bottle, to see whether any thing be in it, then taste it, to see what Liquor it is, that you may not be mistaken; and lastly, wipe the Mouth of the Bottle with the Palm of your Hand, to shew your Cleanliness.
Be more careful to have the Cork in the Belly of the Bottle than in the Mouth; and, if the Cork be musty, or White Fryers in your Liquor, your Master will save the more.
If an humble Companion, a Chaplain, a Tutor, or a dependent Cousin happen to be at Table, whom you find to be little regarded by the Master, and the Company which nobody is readier to discover and observe than we Servants, it must be the Business of you and the Footman, to follow the Example of your Betters, by treating him many degrees worse than any of the rest, and you cannot please your Master better, or at least your Lady.
If any one calls for Small-beer towards the End of Dinner, do not give yourself the Pains of going down to the Cellar, but gather the Droppings and Leavings out of the several Cups, and Glasses and Salvers into one; but turn your Back to the Company for fear of being observed: On the contrary, when any one calls for Ale towards the End of Dinner, fill the largest Tankard-cup top-full, by which you will have the greatest Part left to oblige your Fellow-Servants, without the Sin of stealing from your Master.
There is likewise a Perquisite full as honest, by which you have a chance of getting every Day the best Part of a Bottle of Wine for your self; for, you are to suppose that Gentlefolks will not care for the Remainder of a Bottle; therefore, always set a fresh one before them after Dinner, although there hath not been above a Glass drank of the other.
Take special Care that your Bottles be not musty before you fill them, in order to which, blow strongly into the Mouth of every Bottle, and then if you smell nothing but your own Breath, immediately fill it.
If you are sent down in haste to draw any Drink, and find it will not run, do not be at the Trouble of opening a Vent, but blow strongly into the Fosset, and you will find it immediately pour into your Mouth; or take out the Vent, but do not stay to put it in again, for fear your Master should want you.
If you are curious to taste some of your Master's choice Bottles, empty as many of them just below the Neck as will make the Quantity you want; but then take care to fill them up again with clean Water, that you may not lessen your Master's Liquor.
There is an excellent Invention sound out of late Years in the Management of Ale and Small-beer at the Side-board: For Instance, a Gentleman calls for Glass of Ale, and drinks but half; another calls for Small-beer, you immediately teem out the Remainder of the Ale into the Tankard, and fill the Glass with Small-beer, and so backwards and forwards as long as Dinner lasts; by which you answer three great Ends: First, you save your self the Trouble of washing, and consequently the Danger of breaking your Glasses: Secondly, you are sure not to be mistaken in giving Gentlemen the Liquor they call for: And lastly, by this Method you are certain that nothing is lost.
Because Butlers are apt to forget to bring up their Ale and Beer time enough, be sure you remember to have up yours two Hours before Dinner; and place them in the funny Part of the Room, to let People see that you have not been negligent.
Some Butlers have a Way of decanting (as they call it) bottled Ale, by which they lose a good Part of the Bottom: Let your Method be to turn the Bottle directly upside down, which will make the Liquor appear double the Quantity; by this means, you will be sure not to lose one Drop, and the Forth will conceal the Muddiness.
Clean your Plate, wipe your Knives, and rub the dirty Tables, with the Napkins and Table-cloths used that Day; for, it is but one washing, and besides it will save you wearing out the coarse Rubbers; and in Reward of such good Husbandry, my Judgment is, that you may lawfully make use of the finest Damask Napkins for Night-caps for yourself.
When you clean your Plate, leave the Whiting plainly to be seen in all the Chinks, for fear your Lady should not believe you had cleaned it.
There is nothing wherein the Skill of a Butler more appears, than in the Management of Candles, whereof, although some Part may fall to the Share of the other Servants, yet you being the principal Person concerned, I shall direct my Instructions upon this Article to you only, leaving to your Fellow-servants to apply them upon Occasion.
First, to avoid burning Day-light, and to save your Master's Candles, never bring them up till Half an Hour after it be dark, altho' they are called for never so often.
Let your Sockets be full of Grease to the Brim, with the old Snuff at the Top, and then stick on your fresh Candles. It is true, this may endanger their falling, but the Candles will appear so much the longer and handsomer before Company. At other Times, for Variety, put your Candles loose in the Sockets, to shew they are clean to the Bottom.
When your Candle is too big for the Socket, melt it to a right Size in the Fire, and to hide the Smoke, wrap it in Paper half way up.
You cannot but observe of late Years the great Extravagancy among the Gentry upon the Articles of Candles, which a good Butler ought by all means to discourage, both to save his own Pains and his Master's Money: This may be contrived several Ways: As when you are ordered to put Candles into the Sconces.
Sconces are great Wasters of Candles, and you who are always to consider the Advantage of your Master, should do your utmost to discourage them: Therefore, your Business must be to press the Candle with both your Hands into the Socket, so as to make it lean in such a manner, that the Grease may drop all upon the Floor, if some Lady's Head-dress or Gentleman's Perriwig be not ready to intercept it: You may likewise stick the Candle so loose, that it will fall upon the Glass of the Sconce, and break it into Shatters; this will save your Master many a fair Penny in the Year, both in Candles, and to the Glass-man, and your self much Labour; for the Sconces spoiled cannot be used.
Never let the Candles burn too low, but give them, as a lawful Perquisite, to your Friend the Cook, to increase her Kitchen-stuff; or if this be not allowed in your House, give them in Charity to the poor Neighbours, who often run on your Errands.
When you cut Bread for a Toast, do not stand idly watching it, but lay it on the Coals, and mind your other Business; then come back, and if you find it toasted quite through, scrape off the burned Side, and serve it up.
When you dress up your Side-board, set the best Glasses as near the Edge of the Table as you can; by which means they will cast a double Lustre, and make a much finer Figure; and the Consequence can be at most, but the breaking half a Dozen, which is a Trifle in your Master's Pocket.
Wash the Glasses with your own Water, to save your Master's Salt.
When any Salt is spilt on the Table, do not let it be lost, but when Dinner is done, fold up the Table-cloth with the Salt in it, then shake the Salt out into the Salt-celler to serve next Day: But the shortest and surest Way is, when you remove the Cloth, to wrap the Knives, Forks, Spoons, Salt-cellars, broken Bread, and Scraps of Meat all together in the Table-cloth, by which you will be sure to lose nothing, unless you think it better to shake them out of the Window amongst the Beggars, that they may with more Convenience eat the Scraps.
Leave the Dregs of Wine, Ale, and other Liquors in the Bottles: To rince them is but Loss of Time, since all will be done at once in a general washing; and you will have a better Excuse for breaking them.
If your Master hath many musty, or very foul and crusted Bottles, I advise you, in point of Conscience, that those may be the first you truck at the next Ale-house for Ale or Brandy.
When a Message is sent to your Master, be kind to your Brother-servant who brings it; give him the best Liquor in your keeping, for your Master's Honour; and with the first Opportunity he will do the same to you.
After Supper, if it be dark, carry your Plate and China together in the same Basket, to save Candle-light, for you know your Pantry well enough to put them up in the Dark.
When Company is expected at Dinner or in the Evenings, be sure to be abroad that nothing may be got which is under your key, by which your Master will save his Liquor, and not wear out his Plate.
I come now to a most important Part of your Oeconomy, the bottling of a Hogshead of Wine, wherein I recommend three Virtues, Cleanliness, Frugality, and brotherly Love. Let your Corks be of the longest Kind you can get; which will save some Wine in the Neck of every Bottle: As to your Bottles chuse the smallest you can find, which will increase the Number of Dozens, and please your Master; for a Bottle of Wine is always a Bottle of Wine, whether it hold more or less; and if your Master hath his proper Number of Dozens, he cannot complain.
Every Bottle must be first rinced with Wine, for fear of any Moisture left in the Washing; some, out of mistaken Thrift, will rince a Dozen Bottles with the same Wine; but I would advise you, for more Caution, to change the Wine at every second Bottle; a Jill may be enough. Have Bottles ready by to save it; and it will be a good Perquisite, either to sell or drink with the Cook.
Never draw your Hogshead too low; nor tilt it for fear of disturbing your Liquor. When it begins to run slow, and before the Wine grows cloudy, shake the Hogshead, and carry a Glass of it to your Master, who will praise you for your Discretion, and give your all the rest as a Perquisite of your Place: You may tilt the Hogshead the next Day, and in a Fortnight get a Dozen or two of good clear Wine, to dispose of as you please.
In bottling Wine, fill your Mouth full of Corks, together with a large Plug of Tobacco, which will give to the Wine the true Taste of the Weed, so delightful to all good Judges in drinking.
When you are ordered to decant a suspicious Bottle, if a Pint be out, give your Hand a dexterous Shake, and shew it in a Glass, that it begins to be muddy.
When a Hogshead of Wine or any other Liquor is to be bottled off, wash your Bottles immediately before you begin; but, be sure not to drain them, by which good Management you Master will save some Gallons in every Hogshead.
This is the Time that in Honour to your Master, you ought to shew your Kindness to your Fellow-servants, and especially to the Cook; for what signifies a few Flagons out of a whole Hogshead? But make them drunk in your Presence, for fear they should be given to other Folks, and so your Master be wronged: But advise them, if they get drunk, to go to Bed, and leave Word they are sick, which last Caution I would have all the Servants observe, both Male and Female.
If your Master finds the Hogshead to fall short of his Expectation, what is plainer, than that the Vessel leaked: That the Wine-Cooper had not filled it in proper Time: That the Merchant cheated him with a Hogshead below the common Measure?
When you are to get Water on for Tea after Dinner (which in many Families is Part of your Office) to save Firing, and to make more Haste; pour it into the Tea-pot, from the Pot where Cabbage or Fish have been boyling, which will make it much wholsomer, by curing the acid and corroding Quality of the Tea.
Be saving of your Candles, and let those in the Sconces of the Hall, the Stairs, and in the Lanthorn, burn down into the Sockets, until they go out of themselves, for which your Master and Lady will commend your Thriftiness, as soon as they shall smell the Snuff.
If a Gentleman leaves a Snuff-box or Picktooth-case on the Table after Dinner, and goeth away, look upon it as Part of your Vails; for so it is allowed by all Servants, and you do no Wrong to your Master or Lady.
If you serve a Country 'Squire, when Gentlemen and Ladies come to dine at your House, never fail to make their Servants drunk, and especially the Coachman, for the Honour of your Master: to which, in all your Actions, you must have a special Regard, as being the best Judge: For the Honour of every Family, is deposited in the Hands of the Cook, the Butler, and the Groom, as I shall hereafter demonstrate.
Snuff the Candles at Supper as they stand on the Table, which is much the securest Way; because, if the burning Snuff happens to get out of the Snuffers, you have a Chance that it may fall into a Dish of Soup, Sack-poffet, Rice-milk, or the like, where it will be immediately extinguished with very little Stink.
When you have snuffed the Candle, always leave the Snuffers open, for the Snuff will of itself burn away to Ashes, and cannot fall out and dirty the Table, when you snuff the Candles again.
That the Salt may lie smooth in the Salt-celler, press it down with your moist Palm.
When a Gentleman is going away after dining with your Master, be sure to stand full in View, and follow him to the Door, and as you have Opportunity look full in his Face, perhaps it may bring you a Shilling; but, if the Gentleman hath lain there a Night, get the Cook, the House-maid, the Stable-men, the Scullion, and the Gardiner, to accompany you, and to stand in his Way to the Hall in a Line on each Side him: If the Gentleman performs hand-somely, it will do him Honour, and cost your Master nothing.
You need not wipe your Knife to cut Bread for the Table, because, in cutting a Slice or two it will wipe it self.
Put your Finger into every Bottle, to feel whether it be full, which is the surest Way, for feeling hath no fellow.
When you go down to the Cellar to draw, Ale or Small-beer, take care to observe directly the following Method: Hold the Vessel between the Finger and Thumb of your Right Hand, with the Palm upwards, then hold the Candle between your Fingers, but a little leaning towards the Mouth of the Vessel, then take out the Spiggot with your Left Hand, and clap the Point of it in your Mouth, and keep your Left Hand to watch Accidents; when the Vessel is full withdraw the Spiggot with your Mouth well wetted with Spittle, which being of a slimy Consistence, will make it stick faster in the Fosset: If any Tallow drops into the Vessel you may easily (if you think of it) remove it with a Spoon, or rather with your Finger.
Always lock up a Cat in the Closet where you keep your China Plates, for fear the Mice may steal in and break them.
A good Butler always breaks off the Point of his Bottle-screw in two Days, by trying which is hardest, the Point of the Screw, or the Neck of the Bottle: In this Case, to supply the Want of a Screw, after the Stump hath torn the Cork in Pieces, make use of a Silver Fork, and when the Scraps of the Cork are almost drawn out, flirt the Mouth of the Bottle into the Cistern until you quite clear it.
If a Gentleman dines often with your Master, and gives you nothing when he goes away, you may use several Methods to shew him some Marks of your Displeasure, and quicken his Memory: If he calls for Bread or Drink, you may pretend not to hear, or send it to another who called after him: If he asks for Wine, let him stay a while, and then send him Small-beer; give him always foul Glasses; send him a Spoon when he wants a Knife; wink at the Footman to leave him without a Plate; By these, and the like Expedients, you may probably be a better Man by Half a Crown before he leaves the House, provided you watch an Opportunity of standing by when he is going.
If your Lady loves Play, your Fortune is fixed for ever: Moderate Gaming will be a Perquisite of ten Shillings a Week; and in such a Family I would rather chuse to be Butler than Chaplain, or even rather than be Steward: It is all ready Money and got without Labour, unless your Lady happens to be one of those, who either obligeth you to find Wax-Candles, or forceth you to divide it with some favourite Servants; but at worst, the old Cards are your own; and, if the Gamesters play deep or grow peevish, they will change the Cards so often, that the old ones will be a considerable Advantage by felling to Coffee-Houses, or Families who love Play, but cannot afford better than Cards at second Hand: When you attend at the Service, be sure to leave new Packs within the Reach of the Gamesters, which, those who have ill Luck will readily take to change their Fortune; and now and then an old Pack mingled with the rest will easily pass. Be sure to be very officious on Play Nights, and ready with your Candles to light out your Company, and have Salvers of Wine at Hand to give them when they call; but manage so with the Cook, that there be no Supper, because it will be so much saved in your Master's Family; and, because a Supper will considerably lessen your Gains.
Next to Cards there is nothing so profitable to you as Bottles, in which Perquisite you have no Competitors, except the Footmen, who are apt to steal and vend them for Pots of Beer; But you are bound to prevent any such Abuses in your Master's Family: The Footmen are not to answer for what are broken at a general Bottling; and those may be as many as your Discretion will make them.
The Profit of Glasses is so very inconsiderable, that it is hardly worth mentioning: It consists only in a small Present made by the Glassman, and about four Shillings in the Pound added to the Prices for your Trouble and Skill in chusing them. If your Master hath a large Stock of Glasses, and you or your Fellow servants happen to break any of them without your Master's Knowledge, keep it a Secret till there are not enough left to serve the Table, then tell your Master that the Glasses are gone; this will be but one Vexation to him, which is much better than fretting once or twice a Week; and it is the Office of a good Servant to discompose his Master and his Lady as seldom as he can; and here the Cat and Dog will be of great Use to take the Blame from you. That Bottles missing are supposed to be half stolen by Stragglers and other Servants, and the other half broken by Accident, and a general Washing.
Whet the Backs of your Knives until they are as sharp as the Edge, which will have this Advantage, that when Gentlemen find them blunt on one Side, they may try the other; and to shew you spare no Pains in sharpening the Knives, whet them so long, till you wear out a good Part of the Iron, and even the Bottom of the Silver Handle. This doth Credit to your Master, for it shews good House-keeping, and the Goldsmith may one Day make you a Present.
Your Lady when she finds the Small-beer or Ale dead, will blame you for not remembring to put the Peg into the Vent-hole. This is a great Mistake, nothing being plainer, than that the Peg keeps the Air in the Vessel, which spoils the Drink, and therefore ought to be let out; but if she insists upon it, to prevent the Trouble of pulling out the Vent, and putting it in a Dozen Times a Day, which is not to be born by a good Servant, leave the Spiggot half out at Night, and you will find with only the Loss of two or three Quarts of Liquor, the Vessel will run freely.
When you prepare your Candles, wrap them up in a Piece of brown Paper, and so stick them into the Socket: Let the Paper come half way up the Candle, which looks handsome, if any body should come in.
Do all in the Dark to save your Master's Candles.