Nothing lovelier can be found
In Woman, than to study household good.--MILTON.




Published Originally By
S. O. Beeton in 24 Monthly Parts
1859-1861.

First Published in a Bound Edition 1861.




PREFACE.

I must frankly own, that if I had known, beforehand, that this book
would have cost me the labour which it has, I should never have been
courageous enough to commence it. What moved me, in the first instance,
to attempt a work like this, was the discomfort and suffering which I
had seen brought upon men and women by household mismanagement. I have
always thought that there is no more fruitful source of family
discontent than a housewife's badly-cooked dinners and untidy ways. Men
are now so well served out of doors,--at their clubs, well-ordered
taverns, and dining-houses, that in order to compete with the
attractions of these places, a mistress must be thoroughly acquainted