Page:The Cottagers of Glenburnie - Hamilton (1808).djvu/423

 it to be full of company; and, lastly, it provides an excuse for all the mistakes that may be made in obeying your directions. If you dine at Mrs MacClarty's, I shall not anticipate the pleasure of your meal, farther than to assure you, that you may depend on having here the largest and fattest mutton of its age that is anywhere to be met with, and that though it should be roasted to rags, the vegetables will not be more than half boiled. I cannot forbear warning you on the subject of the salt, which you will conclude from its appearance to be mixed with pepper, but I am well informed that it is free from all such mixture. As to the knives and forks, spoons, plates, &c. it is needless to tell you, that they are in excellent order, as you will at a glance perceive them to have been recently wiped. In order to obtain a complete notion of the comforts of this excellent inn, you must not only dine, but sleep there: in which case you must of necessity breakfast before leaving it, as at whatever hour you rise, the carriage will not be got ready till you have taken that meal. Nor must you expect that breakfast will be on the table in less than an hour from the time of your ordering it, even though all the fore-mentioned waiters should in succession