DEDICATION;

Respectfully addressed to the Heads of Families

OF THE

UNITED KINGDOM.

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We feel persuaded that the following work, professedly written for the use and instruction of Domestic Servants, may, with great propriety, be dedicated to the Illustrious Heads of Families in the United Kingdom;—to you, who are the immediate Patrons of that numerous Class of the Community. We are aware too, that, by endeavouring to instruct and improve those around you in the moral and practical Duties of their respective Stations, we best evince our attention to your particular Interests, and indirectly promote your Domestic Comforts:—and we feel further assured, that the same precepts that are calculated to teach servants the duties of their several occupations, will serve to remind their masters and mistresses of what they have to expect from them. Under these impressions we presume, with the greatest deference and respect, to claim your patronage and protection.

And, though Domestic Servants are the principal Agents by means of whom the greater part of all Household Concerns are transacted, yet, there are many important branches of family arrangement, the direction and controul of which, either directly or indirectly, fall within the sphere of the Heads of Families, some of which are exclusively their own Concerns, and others necessarily and unavoidably connected with the business of Servants, but respecting which no instruction can be given to them. On these points, therefore, we shall, in this place, take the liberty, respectfully, to offer a few observations previous to entering on a subject of so comprehensive and complicated a nature as that of A General Directory for Servants.

Dr. Johnson held as a maxim, that “Every man’s first care is necessarily Domestic.” Independent, therefore, of public Engagements,—of Politics, the Arts, Sciences, and Literature;—of attention to Horses, Hounds, &c. it is considered that the first care, and the peculiar province of the Master of a Family, is his Revenue; and that attention to his Land-Stewards, Agents, and Tenants, and to his Expenditure, are the principal objects that most immediately solicit his regard; and when a gentleman has satisfied himself that his real or net Income exceeds his Expenditure, then, and not till then, may he consider himself as an Independent Man—for, “it is not abundance that maketh rich, but Economy;” and Lord Chesterfield has truly remarked, that “great Fortunes frequently seduce their possessors to ruinous profusion.” The great Bacon has also observed, “that he would live even with the world should calculate his Expenses at half his Income, and he who would grow Rich; at one-third.” A few Minutes in every Day, spent in keeping a regular Account of all Monies received and spent, Dr. and Cr. will afford any gentleman the satisfaction of knowing the true state of his affairs,—will operate actively against excess of Expenditure,—will imperceptibly teach him the art of practical Economy, and will enable him to appropriate due portions of his Income to the support of his different Establishments.

With a view to this latter point, the following Rule, though given in round numbers, may be considered as affording Gentlemen a brief, but tolerably correct, idea of the most eligible and practical mode of appropriating a large Income.—

Viz. 33 per Cent. or One-third, for Household Expenses, including Provisions and all other Articles of Household Consumption.

25 per Cent. or One-fourth, for Servants and Equipage including Horses, Carriages, and Liveries.

25 per Cent. or One-fourth, for Clothes, Education of Children, Medical Assistance, Pocket, Private, and Extra Expenses; including Entertainments, &c.

12½ per Cent. or One-eighth, for Rent, Taxes, and Repairs of House and Furniture.

4½ per Cent. as a Reserve for Contingencies.

Hence may be deduced the following general Table of Expenses according to Income, viz.—

Net Ann. Income.	Househd. Expenses.	Servants & Equipage.	Clothes & Extras.	Rent and Repairs.	Reserve.
	33 pr. Ct. or 1-3rd.	25 pr. Ct. or 1-4th.	25 pr. Ct. or 1-4th.	12½ pr. Ct. or 1-8th.	4½ per Cent.
£.	£.	£.	£.	£.	£.
1000	333	250	250	125	42
2000	666	500	500	250	84
3000	1000	750	750	375	126
4000	1333	1000	1000	500	168
5000	1666	1250	1250	625	210
6000	2000	1500	1500	750	252
7500	2500	1875	1875	937	315
10,000	3333	2500	2500	1250	420

Thus may any Gentleman, with very little trouble, apportion his Income:—and as no two Gentlemen live exactly alike, this Table will shew, by inspection only, what branch of Expense may best be curtailed, so as to afford an addition to any other branch, and still keep his whole Expenses short of his actual Revenue. It will also point out, to those who are economically disposed, in what departments saving may best be effected, as an addition to the fund of reserve, for the augmentation of the fortunes of Children, or for unforeseen Contingencies.

Smaller Incomes must be appropriated in a different manner; and according to the number of Children in the family: thus the Expense of a family with Children will be from 1-4th to 1-3rd for each of the Principals, and about 1-10th or 1-12th for each Child.

As Hints to the Formation of a Household, or the Reformation of an Establishment, we insert the following list of the number and description of Servants that are usually employed, according to Income; viz.—

Income per Annum.
£100 or guineas.	A Widow or other unmarried Lady, may keep a Young Maid Servant, at a low salary; say from 5 to 10 Guineas a year.
£150 to £180.	A Gentleman and Lady without Children, may afford to keep a better Servant-Maid, at about 10 or 12 Guineas.
About £200.	Ditto. A professed Servant-Maid of All-Work, at from 12 to 14 Guineas.
£300.	Ditto, with one, two, or three Children. Two Maid-Servants.
£400.	Ditto, Ditto. Three female Servants, or two and a Boy; viz.—A Cook, House-Maid, and Nursery-Maid, or else, instead of the latter, a Boy,—with a Gardener occasionally.
£500.	Ditto, Ditto. Three females and a Boy; viz.—A Cook, House-Maid, and Nursery-Maid, with a Boy as Groom, and to assist in the House and Garden. A Gardener occasionally.
£500 to £600.	A Gentleman and Lady with Children. Three Females and one Man; viz.—A Cook, House-Maid, and a Nursery-Maid, or other Female-Servant; with a Livery-Servant, as Groom and Footman. A Gardener occasionally.
£600 to £750.	Ditto, Ditto. Three Females and two Men; viz.—A Cook, House-Maid, and another Female servant; a Footman, and a Groom, who may assist in the Garden, and a Gardener occasionally.
£1000 to £1500.	Ditto, Ditto. Four Females and three Men; viz.—A Cook, two House-Maids, a Nursery-Maid, or other Female Servant; a Coachman, Footman, and a Man to assist in the Stable and Garden.
£1500 to £2000.	Ditto, Ditto. Six Female and five Men-Servants; viz.—A Cook, Housekeeper, two House-Maids, Kitchen-Maid, and Nursery-Maid, or other Female Servant; with a Coachman, Groom, Footman, Gardener, and an assistant in the Garden and Stable.
£2000 to £3000.	Ditto, Ditto. Eight Female and eight Men-Servants; viz.—A Cook, Lady’s-Maid, two House-Maids, Nurse, Nursery-Maid, Kitchen-Maid, and Laundry-Maid; with a Butler, Valet, Coachman, two Grooms, a Footman, and two Gardeners.
£3000 to £4000.	Ditto, Ditto. Nine Female and eleven Male Servants; viz.—A Housekeeper, Cook, Lady’s-Maid, Nurse, two House-Maids, a Laundry-Maid, Kitchen-Maid, and a Nursery-Maid; with a Butler, Coachman, two Grooms, Valet, two Footmen two Gardeners, and a Labourer.
£4000 to £5000.	Ditto, Ditto. Eleven Female and thirteen Male Servants; viz.—A Housekeeper, Cook, Lady’s-Maid, Nurse, two House-Maids, Laundry-Maid, Still-Room Maid, Nursery-Maid, Kitchen-Maid, and Scullion, with Butler, Valet, House-Steward, Coachman, two Grooms, one Assistant Ditto, two Footmen, three Gardeners, and a Labourer.

We have been favoured with the following as the present Household Establishment of a respectable Country Gentleman, with a young family, whose Net Income is from 16,000l. to 18,000l. a Year, and whose expenses do not exceed 7000l.; viz.—

	Guineas.
House-Keeper	24
Female Teacher	30
Lady’s-Maid	20
Head Nurse	20
Second Ditto	10
Nursery-Maid	7
Upper House-Maid	15
Under House-Maid	14
Kitchen-Maid	14
Upper Laundry-Maid	14
Under Ditto	10
Dairy-Maid	8
Second Ditto	7
Still-Room Maid	9
Scullion	9
A French Man-Cook	80
Butler	50
Coachman	28
Footman	24
Under Ditto	20
Groom.—His Liveries and a Gratuity.
Lady’s Groom	12
Nursery-Room Boy, Clothes and a gratuity.
Head Game-Keeper 70 Guineas a year, and 13s. per Week for Board-Wages;—a Cottage and Firing.
Under Ditto, one Guinea per Week.
Gardener 40 Guineas a year, and 13s. per Week for Board-Wages;—a House and Firing.
Assistant Ditto, 12s. per Week.

The Board Wages of Servants in general, when the family is absent, is 10s. per Week, for the females, and 12s. per Week for males.—Perhaps all the servants on a large establishment may be reckoned at an average of 10s. per head, per Week, expense, for Board. The Men are allowed a Pot of Ale per day, and the Women a Pint, besides table-beer.

Besides the ordinary Establishment of Servants, Noblemen and Gentlemen of superior fortune employ Land-Stewards, Bailiffs, Wood-Wards, Game-Keepers, Park-Keepers, Hunts-Men, Whippers-in, Racing-Grooms, Jockies, and others of inferior capacities: also Men-Cooks, Groom of the Chambers, Page, Lady’s-Coachman, Postillion and Footman, Seamstress, Second Lady’s-Maid, Chamber-Maids, Boy for the Steward’s Room, another for the Hall, and various other Servants.

Having premised thus much as to income, and its proportionate appropriation, we next proceed to offer a few hints on such parts of interior management, as in most families are considered as belonging to the lady, or mistress of the house.

The first is, naturally, the attention due to her husband and children—to make home, “sweet home,” the pleasing refuge of a husband, fatigued, perhaps, by his intercourse with a jarring world,—to be his enlightened companion, and the chosen friend of his bosom.

The attention of an amiable woman, will next be directed to the care of her offspring,—to raise them up in the ways of virtue and usefulness,—

“these, these are woman’s duties, and delightful ones they are! Happy the man who can call her his wife; blessed are the children who call her mother!” For the foregoing sentiments we are indebted to an amiable and celebrated authoress of the present day, and to the no less celebrated and amiable Thomson; and we feel impelled to quote the concluding sentence of the above-mentioned lady, on this interesting subject.

“When we thus observe the mistress of a family exercising her activity and best abilities in appropriate cares and increasing excellence, are we not ready to say she is the agent for good, of that benevolent being who placed her on earth to fulfil such sacred obligations, and not to waste the talents committed to her charge.”

“Next to the care and attention due to your husband and children,” says another female writer, “your servants claim, as your nearest dependents; and to promote their good, both spiritual and temporal, is your indispensable duty.—Let them join your family devotions, and endeavour to make them spend their Sabbath properly.” She further adds, “It was the remark of an old domestic, that the worst mistresses a servant can live with are young married women—They are unreasonable,” said she, “in their commands; they expect too much; nor do they rightly know when to commend, or when to blame.”

In your manner to your servants, be firm, without being severe, and kind, without being familiar. Never converse familiarly with them, unless on business, or on some point connected with their improvement; but with this reserve, and distance of manner, be particularly careful to maintain kindness, gentleness, and respect for their feelings. Their patience is often unnecessarily exercised, and their tempers wantonly irritated. “I have been sometimes shocked,” says the same amiable writer, “with the want of politeness, by which masters and mistresses provoke impertinence from their servants.”—A lady, who filled every station of life with honour, both to her head and heart, attending the death-bed of an old domestic, who had been thirty years in her service—“How do you find yourself, to-day, Mary?” said the mistress, taking hold of her withered hand. “Is that you, my darling mistress!” and a beam of joy overspread the old woman’s face; “O, yes,” she added, looking up, “it is you, my kind, my mannerly mistress!” The poor old creature said no more; but she had, by that last simple sentence, expressed volumes of panegyric on her amiable mistress. Human nature is the same in all stations; and if you strive to convince your servants that you have a generous and compassionate regard for their comfort, they will, in return, evince their gratitude. If to protect and encourage virtue be the best preventive from vice, then will your deserving female servants be liberally encouraged.

Let your commands to your servants be consistent and reasonable; and then mildly, but firmly, insist on obedience to them.—“My servants never remember what I tell them to do,” is a complaint but too common, but that might, in some degree, be obviated. Let them see that you will not pass over any neglect of orders; and when they find that this decisive measure is accompanied with kindness and consideration, and that you are not to be disobeyed with impunity, they will soon learn to remember what you command them to do. A little effort very easily overcomes a bad memory.

It is very disheartening to a poor servant to be continually found fault with. Praise and reward them when you can;—human nature will not bear constant chiding.

Never keep servants, however excellent they may be in their stations, whom you know to be guilty of immorality.

When servants are ill, their mistress will, doubtless, recollect that she is their patroness as well as their employer, and will not only remit their labour, but render them all the assistance of proper medicine, food, and comfort, in their power.—Tender assiduity is half a cure; it is a balsam to the mind, which has a powerful effect on the body—soothes the severest pains, and strengthens beyond the richest cordial. The poor dependent creatures may have no where to go to—no one else to turn to; and their pale and impaired looks will always have a claim on your sympathy.

As we shall have occasion to make further remarks on the management of servants, when treating of the business of the Housekeeper, we beg leave, in order to avoid repetition, to refer to that subject, under the head—housekeeper.

“Economy,” says Mr. Cobbett, “is management.”—The fact is, that management and regularity, is Economy verified by practice; and all persons ought to regulate their conduct by circumstances. A moderate income, appropriated to the expenses of housekeeping with prudence and economy, without parsimony, but banishing superfluities and preventing waste, may be made sufficient to furnish every comfort in life; and, strange as it may appear to those in affluence, an income of from 150l. to 200l. a year, will be enough to maintain a man and wife, with two or three children, and a servant girl; nor “beyond that amount, need they spend one shilling per week, whatsoever may be their income.”

It is an excellent plan to have a set of rules for regulating the ordinary expenses of a family, (such as are given in the Appendix to the practical economy,) in order to check any innovation or excess, which otherwise might, unawares, have occurred to derange the proposed distribution of the annual income.

The mistress of a family will always recollect that, in all cases, the welfare and good character of her household depends on her own active superintendance.

Though habits of domestic management are now generally precluded in the education of young ladies of the superior class, yet, happily, attention to family concerns is not unfrequently found in those of less exalted rank, whose minds, amidst the blandishments of modern accomplishments, have been taught to relish, as in days of yore, the more rational, solid, and lasting pleasures, of a social and comfortable home. And were young ladies early instructed in the delights of domestic occupation, before they enter the delusive scenes, presented by modern modes of dissipation, we should probably find the number of votaries to private happiness greatly increased, and a life of domestic employment would become the source of numberless gratifications. In short, were they on all occasions, when at home, under the immediate eye of their mother, to be taught the science of practical economy—the business of examining and keeping accounts,—and a few other of the leading points in the management of a family, they would imperceptibly become competent, and the happiest results, as to their future conduct in life, might be most pleasingly anticipated. Many families have owed much of their advancement in life to the propriety of female management.

One of the principal objects of the mistress of the house is, the economy or management of the table, the general display of which will evince her judgment and taste; and this will be shown, not so much by the profusion with which the table is covered, as by its neat and pleasing appearance, according to the present fashion, so far as regards elegance, combined with frugality,—the circumstances of fortune and condition being also considered.—People in business should not imitate the pomp and splendour of high rank, nor should those of the higher circles descend to such frugal arrangements as in them would appear to be parsimonious.

The prudent manager will consider the number of her guests, and consult their appetites, rather than feast their eyes; thus will she be enabled to entertain them much oftener, and much better, at the same expense.

It is well understood that the mistress of a family should have, at least, a competent knowledge in the art of carving, not only as it enables her to do the honours of the table with propriety, but with a view to frugality also; and if the young ladies of a family were to practise, under the direction of their mother, when there is no company, they would, in time, become quite au fait to this graceful and elegant accomplishment; as much practice is required to make a good carver, even when the theory has been previously acquired. (See Instructions for Carving, under the head housekeeper.)

An esteemed writer of the present day, has introduced to public view, a pleasing picture of a small and well-regulated family, of which the following is a slight sketch:—

“The mistress of the family is a good manager, without any ostentatious display of it.—Elegantly nice, without being a slave to dress or furniture—Easy and affable with her servants, but firm in her commands,—every one appearing to be contented and happy.—The household business going on regularly, like a good clock;—and every thing being kept in its proper place. No scolding in the kitchen or servants’-hall.—The table plentifully covered, but not with incitements to luxury; the food plain and in season, and sent up well dressed;—with a few well chosen luxuries introduced, when company is asked.”

Ladies, whose minds are framed for the practical enjoyment of domestic comforts, will admire and copy this beautiful picture!