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                                SOYER’S
                             PANTROPHEON.

                        [Illustration: _Pl. A_]




                                  THE
                              PANTROPHEON
                                  OR,
                           HISTORY OF FOOD,
                         And its Preparation,
                 FROM THE EARLIEST AGES OF THE WORLD.

                         BY A. SOYER,

                               AUTHOR OF
“The Gastronomic Regenerator” and the “Modern Housewife, or Ménagère,” &c.
               EMBELLISHED WITH FORTY-TWO STEEL PLATES,
      ILLUSTRATING THE GREATEST GASTRONOMIC MARVELS OF ANTIQUITY.

                                BOSTON:
                      TICKNOR, REED, AND FIELDS.
                              MDCCCLIII.

       _The Author reserves his right of Translating this Work._




                            [Illustration]

                                LONDON:

            VIZETELLY AND COMPANY, PRINTERS AND ENGRAVERS.

                   PETERBOROUGH COURT, FLEET STREET.




Contents.



                                                                    Page

PANTROPHEON                                                            3

I.

AGRICULTURE                                                            9

II.

CEREALS                                                               19

III.

GRINDING OF CORN                                                      23

IV.

MANIPULATION OF FLOUR                                                 30

V.

FRUMENTA                                                              41

VI.

GRAINS: SEEDS                                                         46

VII.

VEGETABLES                                                            49

VIII.

DRIED VEGETABLES                                                      53
  Beans                                                               53
  Haricots                                                            55
  Peas                                                                56
  Lentils                                                             57

IX.

KITCHEN GARDEN                                                        59
  Cabbage                                                             60
  Beet                                                                62
  Spinach                                                             63
  Mallows                                                             64
  Asparagus                                                           64
  Gourd                                                               66
  Turnips                                                             67
  Carrots                                                             68
  Blit (a sort of Beet)                                               68
  Purslaine                                                           68
  Sorrel                                                              69
  Brocoli                                                             69
  Artichoke                                                           70
  Pompion                                                             71
  Cucumber                                                            72
  Lettuce                                                             74
  Endive                                                              75
  Onions                                                              76
  Leeks                                                               77
  Melon                                                               77
  Radish                                                              79
  Horse-Radish                                                        80
  Garlic                                                              81
  Eschalots                                                           82
  Parsley                                                             82
  Chervil                                                             84
  Water-Cresses                                                       84

X.

PLANTS USED IN SEASONING                                              86
  Poppy                                                               86
  Sesame                                                              86
  Sow-Thistle                                                         87
  Orach                                                               87
  Rocket                                                              87
  Fennel                                                              88
  Dill                                                                88
  Anise-Seed                                                          88
  Hyssop                                                              88
  Wild Marjoram                                                       89
  Savory                                                              89
  Thyme                                                               89
  Wild Thyme                                                          89
  Sweet Marjoram                                                      89
  Pennyroyal                                                          90
  Rue                                                                 90
  Mint                                                                90
  Spanish Camomile                                                    90
  Cummin                                                              91
  Alisander                                                           91
  Capers                                                              91
  Asafœtida                                                           91
  Sumach                                                              92
  Ginger                                                              92
  Wormwood                                                            93

XI.

FRUITS                                                                95

XII.

STONE FRUIT                                                           97
  Olive Tree                                                          97
  Palm Tree                                                          100
  Cherry Tree                                                        102
  Apricot Tree                                                       103
  Peach Tree                                                         104
  Plum Tree                                                          105

XIII.

PIP FRUIT                                                            106
  Quince Tree                                                        106
  Pear Tree                                                          107
  Apple Tree                                                         108
  Lemon Tree                                                         109
  Orange Tree                                                        110
  Fig Tree                                                           112
  Raspberry Tree                                                     115
  Currant Tree                                                       115
  Strawberry Plant                                                   115
  Mulberry Tree                                                      116

XIV.

SHELL FRUIT                                                          117
  Almond Tree                                                        117
  Walnut Tree                                                        118
  Nut Tree                                                           120
  Pistachio Tree                                                     120
  Chesnut Tree                                                       121
  Pomegranate                                                        122

XV.

ANIMAL FOOD                                                          123
  Rearing of Cattle                                                  127
  Markets                                                            128
  Butchers                                                           129

XVI.

ANIMALS                                                              133
  The Pig                                                            133
  The Ox                                                             142
  The Lamb                                                           146
  The Kid                                                            148
  The Ass                                                            150
  The Dog                                                            150

XVII.

POULTRY                                                              152
  The Cock                                                           153
  The Capon                                                          154
  The Hen                                                            155
  The Chicken                                                        156
  The Duck                                                           168
  The Goose                                                          150
  The Pigeon                                                         162
  The Guinea Hen                                                     163
  The Turkey Hen                                                     168
  The Peacock                                                        166

XVIII.

MILK, BUTTER, CHEESE, AND EGGS                                       168
  Milk                                                               168
  Butter                                                             170
  Cheese                                                             173
  Eggs                                                               175

XIX.

HUNTING                                                              179
  The Stag                                                           182
  The Roebuck                                                        184
  The Deer                                                           184
  The Wild Boar                                                      185
  The Hare                                                           188
  The Rabbit                                                         189
  The Fox                                                            190
  The Hedgehog                                                       190
  The Squirrel                                                       190
  The Camel                                                          190
  The Elephant                                                       191

XX.

FEATHERED GAME                                                       193
  The Pheasant                                                       194
  The Partridge                                                      195
  The Quail                                                          196
  The Thrush                                                         197
  The Blackbird                                                      199
  The Starling                                                       200
  The Flamingo                                                       200
  Fig-Pecker, or Beccafico                                           201
  The Ortolan                                                        203
  The Ostrich                                                        203
  The Stork                                                          204
  The Sea-Swallow                                                    204
  The Wood-Hen, Bustard, Water-Hen, and Teal                         206
  The Woodcock, Snipe, Curlew, Crow, Turtle Dove, and Lark           207

XXI.

FISH                                                                 210
  Sturgeon                                                           216
  Red Mullet                                                         218
  Sea-Eel                                                            220
  Lamprey                                                            222
  Sea-Wolf                                                           223
  Scarus, or Parrot-Fish                                             223
  Turbot                                                             224
  Tunny                                                              225
  Conger-Eel                                                         226
  Eel                                                                227
  Pike                                                               228
  Carp                                                               229
  Eel-Pout                                                           229
  Trout                                                              230
  Gold Fish                                                          230
  Whiting                                                            230
  Cod Fish                                                           231
  Perch                                                              232
  Scate                                                              233
  Salmon                                                             233
  Sepia, or Cuttle-Fish                                              234
  Swordfish                                                          234
  Shad                                                               234
  Rhombo, or Rhombus                                                 235
  Mugil                                                              235
  Mackerel                                                           235
  Haddock                                                            236
  Tench                                                              236
  Dragon Weaver                                                      237
  Loligo                                                             237
  Sole                                                               237
  Angel-Fish                                                         237
  File-Fish                                                          237
  Pilchard                                                           238
  Loach                                                              238
  Gudgeon                                                            238
  Herring                                                            239
  Anchovy                                                            240

SHELL-FISH                                                           241
  Oysters                                                            242
  Sea-Hedgehog                                                       245
  Mussel                                                             245
  Scallop                                                            246
  Tortoise                                                           246
  Sea-Crawfish                                                       247
  Lobster                                                            247
  River Crayfish                                                     248
  Crab                                                               248
  Frogs                                                              249

XXII.

THE COOK                                                             251

THE KITCHEN                                                          259

XXIII.

SEASONINGS                                                           266
  Salt                                                               267
  Brine                                                              268
  Digestive Salts                                                    269
  Garum                                                              269
  Honey                                                              273
  Sugar                                                              275
  Cinnamon                                                           275
  Cloves                                                             276
  Pepper                                                             277
  Verjuice                                                           277
  Vinegar                                                            278
  Truffle                                                            279
  Mushrooms                                                          282

XXIV.

PASTRY                                                               284

XXV.

WATER                                                                293

XXVI.

BEVERAGES                                                            299
  Tea                                                                306
  Coffee                                                             310
  Chocolate                                                          312

XXVII.

DRINKING CUPS                                                        316

XXVIII.

WINE                                                                 322

LIQUEUR WINE                                                         332

XXIX.

REPASTS                                                              339

XXX.

VARIETY OF REPASTS                                                   354

XXXI.

THE DINING-ROOM                                                      363

XXXII.

THE TABLE                                                            368

THE TABLE SEATS                                                      372

XXXIII.

THE SERVANTS                                                         376

XXXIV.

THE GUESTS                                                           380

XXXV.

A ROMAN SUPPER                                                       386

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES                                                   399

MODERN BANQUETS                                                      401

TABLE OF REFERENCES                                                  413

TABLE OF RECIPES                                                     444

INDEX                                                                449




List of Illustrations.


                                                                    Page
PLATE A.

FRONTISPIECE--PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR.

PLATE B.

HEAVEN AND EARTH.

PLATE B.*

VICTUA, OR THE GODDESS OF GASTRONOMY.

PLATE I.

EGYPTIAN LABOURERS.--No. 1, Egyptian Labourer. No. 2, Sketch of a
Plough. No. 3, Basket. No. 4, Egyptian with Sickle, drawn by
Horses                                                                12

PLATE II.

GREEK AND ROMAN PLOUGHS.--Nos. 1 and 2, Greek and Roman Ploughs.
No. 3, Plough, turned once or twice. No. 4, Plough, as used by the
Gauls                                                                 14

PLATE III.

AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.--No. 1, Plain Sickle. No. 2A, Plough, from
the Georgics of Virgil. No. 3, Scythe. No. 4, Spade. No. 5, Pick-axe.
Nos. 6 and 7, Mattocks                                                16

PLATE IV.

ALCINOUS’S HAND-MILL                                                  25

PLATE V.

JUMENTARIÆ MILLS                                                      26

PLATE VI.

PLAUTUS’S HAND-MILL                                                   27

PLATE VII.

CAPPADOCIA BREAD.--No. 1, Loaf of Bread. No. 2, Pastry Mould. No.
3, Cappadocia Bread. No. 4, Mould for ditto                           38

PLATE VIII.

SCALES AND WEIGHTS                                                   130

PLATE IX.

VARRO’S AVIARY                                                       198

PLATE X.

APICIUS AND EPICURUS                                                 201

PLATE XI.

REMAINS OF KITCHEN STOVES.--No. 1, Kitchen Stove. No. 2. Stock Pot.
No. 3, Ditto. No. 4, Ladles. No. 5, Brazier                          259

PLATE XII.

STOCK POTS AND BROKEN STEWPAN                                        261

PLATE XIII.

KITCHEN UTENSILS.--No. 1, Boiler, of Bronze. No. 2, Flat Saucepan.
No. 3, Kettle. No. 4, Gridiron. No. 5, Trivet                        262

PLATE XIV.

CHAFING-DISH AND SILVER CUP.--No. 1, Chafing-Dish.
No. 2, Silver Cup                                                    263

PLATE XV.

SPOON, FORK, KNIFE, SIMPULUM, &c.--No. 1, Roman Silver Spoon. No.
2, Brass Knife. No. 3, Simpulum. No. 4, Ditto. No. 5, Fork           264

PLATE XVI.

ROMAN SILVER KNIFE-HANDLE, SILVER SPOON, AND DEEP DISH.--No. 1,
Silver Knife-handle. No. 2, Spoon. No. 3, Dish                       265

PLATE XVII.

ROMAN AND EGYPTIAN PAILS.--No. 1, Pail, of Bronze. No. 2, Pail, with
Two Handles (Egyptian)                                               297

PLATE XVIII.

DRINKING-CUPS.--No. 1, Drinking-Cups (Shaded). No. 2, Ditto, Pig’s
Head and Dog’s Head                                                  316

PLATE XVIII.A

DRINKING-CUPS.--No. 3, Ram’s Head. No. 4, Boar’s Head                317

PLATE XIX.

DRINKING-HORNS.--Nos. 1 and 2, Drinking-Horns. No. 3, Horn, Aztec’s
Head                                                                 318

PLATE XX.

CRYSTAL VASE                                                         319

PLATE XXI.

MURRHIN CUP                                                          321

PLATE XXII.

RELICS FROM HERCULANEUM.--No. 1, Wine Press. No. 2, Diogenes.
No. 3, Beast of Burthen (a toy)                                      325

PLATE XXIII.

COLUM NIVARUM                                                        327

PLATE XXIV.

VESSELS FOR HOLDING WINE.--No. 1, Amphora. Nos. 2 and 3, Smaller
Dolium. No. 4, Long-neck Bottle                                      328

PLATE XXV.

VASES FOR WINE.--No. 1, Large Vase. No. 2, Glass Vase. No. 3, Glass
Bottle, with Cup                                                     363

PLATE XXVI.

VASES FOR WINE.--No. 1, Glass Vase. No. 2, Ditto. No. 3, Etruscan,
Three Handles. No. 4, Large Silver Vase. No. 5, Cantharus            364

PLATE XXVI.A

CURIOUS ORNAMENTAL TERRA-COTTA CUPS.--No. 1, Goose. No. 2, Teapot.
No. 3, Jupiter’s Head                                                365

PLATE XXVI.B

HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK’S VASE                                            366

PLATE XXVII.

VASES FOR WINE.--No. 1, Etruscan Flat Vase. No. 2, Marble Vase.
No. 3, Metal Vase. No. 4, Greek Etruscan Drinking Vase               370

PLATE XXVIII.

PROCILLATORES AND TRICLINIUM.--No. 1, Procillatores.
No. 2, Triclinium                                                    378

PLATE XXIX.
ROMAN SUPPER                                                         386

PLATE XXX.

No. 1, Greek Etruscan Vase. No. 2, Greek Terra-Cotta Vase. No. 3,
Etruscan Terra-Cotta Vase. No. 4, Glass Amphora, for Falernian
Wine. No. 5, Terra-Cotta Amphora, for Falernian Wine                 390

PLATE XXX.*

CRATER, OR DRINKING CUP                                              391

PLATE XXXI.

No. 1, Curious Silver Dish. Nos. 2 and 3, Silver ditto               392

PLATE XXXII.

NERO AND HELIOGABALUS                                                398

PLATE XXXIII.

YORK BANQUET                                                         404

PLATE XXXIV.

WILD BOAR A LA TROYENNE, AND THE HUNDRED GUINEA DISH                 406

PLATE XXXV.

THREE SILVERED GLASS CUPS                                            407




                               THIS WORK

                      Is Dedicated by the Author

                                TO THE

                         GENIUS OF GASTRONOMY.

[Illustration]




PANTROPHEON.

    “I did feast with Cæsar.”
             SHAKSPERE.--“_Julius Cæsar_,” Act iii., _Sc._ 3.

    “Dis-moi, ce que tu manges,
    Je te dirai ce que tu es.”
             BRILLAT-SAVARIN.--“_Physiologie du Goût._”


Thanks to the impressions received in boyhood, Rome and Athens always
present themselves to our minds accompanied by the din of arms, shouts
of victory, or the clamours of plebeians crowded round the popular
tribune. “And yet,” said we, “nations, like individuals, have two modes
of existence distinctly marked--one intellectual and moral, the other
sensual and physical; and both continue to interest through the lapse of
ages.”

What, for instance, calls forth our sympathies more surely than to
follow from the cradle that city of Romulus--at first so weak, so
obscure, and so despised--through its prodigious developments, until,
having become the sovereign mistress of the world, it seems, like
Alexander, to lament that the limits of the globe restrict within so
narrow a compass its ungovernable ardour for conquest, its insatiable
thirst of _opima spolia_ and tyrannical oppression. In like manner, a
mighty river, accounted as nothing at its source, where a child can step
across, receives in its meandrous descent the tribute of waters, which
roll on with increasing violence, and rush at last from their too narrow
bed to inundate distant plains, and spread desolation and terror.

History has not failed to record, one by one, the battles, victories,
and defeats of nations which no longer exist; it has described their
public life,--their life in open air,--the tumultuous assemblies of the
forum,--the fury of the populace,--the revolts of the camps,--the
barbarous spectacles of those amphiteatres, where the whole pagan
universe engaged in bloody conflict, where gladiators were condemned to
slaughter one another for the pastime of the over-pampered inhabitants
of the Eternal City--sanguinary spectacles, which often consigned twenty
or thirty thousand men to the jaws of death in the space of thirty days!

But, after all, neither heroes, soldiers, nor people, can be always at
war; they cannot be incessantly at daggers drawn on account of some
open-air election; the applause bestowed on a skilful and courageous
_bestiarius_ is not eternal; captives may be poignarded in the Circus by
way of amusement, but only for a time. Independently of all these
things, there is the home, the fire-side, the prose of life, if you
will; nay, let us say it at once, the business of life--eating and
drinking.

It is to that we have devoted our vigils, and, in order to arrive at our
aim, we have given an historical sketch of the vegetable and animal
alimentation of man from the earliest ages; therefore it will be easily
understood why we have taken the liberty of saying to the austere Jew,
the voluptuous Athenian, the obsequious or vain-glorious senator of
imperial Rome, and even to the fantastical, prodigal, and cruel Cæsars:
“Tell me what thou eatest, and I will tell thee who thou art.”

But, it must be confessed that our task was surrounded with
difficulties, and required much laborious patience and obstinate
perseverance. It is easy to penetrate into the temples, the baths, and
the theatres of the ancients; not so to rummage their cellars, pantries,
and kitchens, and study the delicate magnificence of their dining-rooms.
Now it was there, and there alone, that we sought to obtain access.

With that view we have had recourse to the only possible means: we have
interrogated those old memoirs of an extinct civilisation which connect
the present with the past; poets, orators, historians, philosophers,
epistolographers, writers on husbandry, and even those who are the most
frivolous or the most obscure--we have consulted all, examined all,
neglected nothing. Our respectful curiosity has often emboldened us to
peep into the sacred treasure of the annals of the people of God; and
sometimes the doctors of the Primitive Church have furnished us with
interesting traits of manners and customs, together with chance
indications of domestic usages, disseminated, and, as it were, lost in
the midst of grave moral instruction.

The fatigue of these unwonted researches appeared to us to be fully
compensated by the joy we experienced on finding our hopes satisfied by
some new discovery. Like the botanist, who forgets his lassitude at the
unexpected sight of a desired plant, we no longer remembered the dust of
fatidical volumes, nor the numberless leaves we had turned over, when by
a happy chance our gastronomic enthusiasm espied a curious and rare
dish.

Thus it is that this work--essay, we ought to call it--has been slowly
and gradually augmented with the spoils of numerous writers of
antiquity, both religious and profane.

We have avoided, as much as possible, giving to this book a didactic and
magisterial character, which would have ill-accorded with the apparent
lightness of the subject, and might have rendered it tedious to most
readers. We know not whether these researches will be considered
instructive, but we hope they will amuse.

When we compare the cookery of the ancients with our own--and the
parallel naturally presents itself to the mind--it often betrays strange
anomalies, monstrous differences, singular perversions of taste, and
incomprehensible amalgamations, which baffle every attempt at
justification. Apicius himself, or perhaps the Cœlius of the 3rd
century, to whom we owe the celebrated treatise “_De Opeoniis_,” would
run great risk--if he were now to rise from his tomb, and attempted to
give vogue to his ten books of recipes--either of passing for a poisoner
or of being put under restraint as a subject decidedly insane. It
follows, then, that although we have borrowed his curious lucubrations,
we leave to the Roman epicurean and to his times the entire
responsibility of his work.

The reader will also remark, in the course of this volume, asserted
facts of a striking oddity, certain valuations which appear to be
exaggerated, some descriptions he will pronounce fabulous or
impossible. Now, we have never failed to give our authorities, but we
are far from being willing to add our personal guarantee; so that we
leave all those antique frauds--if any--to be placed to the account of
the writers who have traitorously furnished them.

We think, however, that most persons will peruse with some interest
(and, let us hope, a little indulgence) these studies on an art which,
like all arts invented by necessity or inspired by pleasure, has kept
pace with the genius of nations, and became more refined and more
perfect in proportion as they themselves became more polite.

It appears that the luxury and enchantments of the table were first
appreciated by the Assyrians and Persians, those voluptuous Asiatics,
who, by reason of the enervating mildness of the climate, were powerless
to resist sensual seductions.

Greece--“beloved daughter of the gods”--speedily embellished the
culinary art with all the exquisite delicacy of her poetic genius. “The
people of Athens,” says an amiable writer, whom we regret to quote from
memory, “took delight in exercising their creative power, in giving
existence to new arts, in enlarging the aureola of civilisation. At
their voice, the gods hastened to inhabit the antique oak; they
disported in the fountains and the streams; they dispersed themselves in
gamesome groups on the tops of the mountains and in the shade of the
valleys, while their songs and their balmy breath mingled with the
harmonious whisperings of the gentle breeze.”

What cooks! what a table! what guests! in that Eden of paganism--that
land of intoxicating perfumes, of generous wines, and inexhaustible
laughter! The Lacedæmonians alone, those cynics of Greece, threw a
saddening shade over the delicious picture of present happiness
undisturbed by any thought of to-morrow.

Let us not forget that an Athenian, not less witty than nice, and,
moreover, a man of good company, has left us this profound aphorism:
“_La viande la plus délicate est celle qui est le moins viande; le
poisson le plus exquis est celui qui est le moins poisson._”

Rome was long renowned for her austere frugality, and it is remarked
that, during more than five centuries, the art of making bread was there
unknown, which says little for her civilisation and intelligence.
Subsequently, the conquest of Greece, the spoils of the subjugated
world, the prodigious refinements of the Syracusans, gave to the
conquered nations, says Juvenal, a complete revenge on their
conquerors. The unheard-of excesses of the table swallowed up
patrimonies which seemed to be inexhaustible, and illustrious
dissipators obtained a durable but sad renown.

The Romans had whimsical tastes, since they dared serve the flesh of
asses and dogs, and ruined themselves to fatten snails. But, after all,
the caprices of fashion, rather than the refinement of sensuality,
compelled them to adopt these strange aliments. Paulus Æmilius, no doubt
a good judge in such matters, formed a high opinion of the elegance
displayed by his compatriots in the entertainments; and he compared a
skilful cook, at the moment when he is planning and arranging a repast,
to a great general.

We were very anxious to enrich our “PANTROPHEON” with a greater number
of _Bills of Fare_, or details of banquets; but we have become persuaded
that it is very difficult, at the present day, to procure a complete and
accurate account of the arrangement of feasts at which were seated
guests who died two or three thousand years ago. Save and except the
indications--more or less satisfactory, but always somewhat vague--which
we gather on this subject from Petronius, Athenæus, Apuleius, Macrobius,
Suetonius, and some other writers, we can do little more than establish
analogies, make deductions, and reconstruct the entire edifice of an
antique banquet by the help of a few data, valuable, without doubt, but
almost always incomplete.

One single passage in Macrobius--a curious monument of Roman
cookery--will supply the place of multiplied researches: it is the
description of a supper given by the Pontiff Lentulus on the day of his
reception. We present it to the amateurs of the magiric art:

“The first course (_ante-cœna_) was composed of sea-hedgehogs, raw
oysters in abundance, all sorts of shell-fish, and asparagus. The second
service comprised a fine fatted pullet, a fresh dish of oysters, and
other shell-fish, different kinds of dates, univalvular shell-fish (as
whelks, conchs, &c.), more oysters, but of different kinds, sea-nettles,
beccaficoes, chines of roe-buck and wild boar, fowls covered with a
perfumed paste, a second dish of shell-fish, and purples--a very costly
kind of Crustacea. The third and last course presented several
_hors-d’œuvre_, a wild boar’s head, fish, a second set of
_hors-d’œuvre_, ducks, potted river fish, leverets, roast fowls, and
cakes from the marshes of Ancona.”

All these delicacies would very much surprise an epicurean of the
present day, particularly if they were offered to him in the order
indicated by Macrobius. The text of that writer, as it is handed down to
us, may be imperfect or mutilated; again, he may have described the
supper of Lentulus from memory, regardless of the order prescribed for
those punctilious and learned transitions to which a feast owes all its
value.

Let us, we would say, in addressing our culinary colleagues, avoid those
deplorable _lacunes_; let us preserve for future generations, who may be
curious concerning our gastronomic pomp, the minutiæ of our memorable
magiric meetings, prompted, almost without exception, by some highly
civilising idea--a love of the arts, the commercial propagandism, or a
feeling of philanthropy. The Greeks and Romans--egotists, if there ever
were any--supped for themselves, and lived only to sup; our pleasures
are ennobled by views more useful and more elevated. We often dine for
the poor, and we sometimes dance for the afflicted, the widow, and the
orphan.

Moreover, a most important ethnographical consideration seems to give a
serious interest to the diet of a people, if it be true, as we are
convinced it is, and as we shall probably one day endeavour to
demonstrate, that the manners of individuals, their idiosyncrasies,
inclinations, and intellectual habits, are modified, to a certain
extent, as taste, climate, and circumstances may determine the nature of
their food; an assertion which might be supported by irrefragable
proofs, and would show the justness of the aphorism: “Tell me what thou
eatest, and I will tell thee who thou art.”

[Illustration: _Pl. B_

VICTUA
_or_
THE GODDESS OF GASTRONOMY
]




I.

AGRICULTURE


Every nation has attributed the origin of agriculture to some beneficent
Deity. The Egyptians bestowed this honour on Osiris, the Greeks on Ceres
and Triptolemus, the Latins on Saturn, or on their king Janus, whom, in
gratitude, they placed among the gods. All nations, however, agree that,
whoever introduced among them this happy and beneficial discovery, has
been most useful to man by elevating his mind to a state of sociability
and civilization.[I-1]

Many learned men have made laborious researches in order to discover,
not only the name of the inventor of agriculture, but the country and
the century in which he lived; some, however, have failed in their
inquiry. And why? Because they have forgotten, in their investigation,
the only book which could give them positive information on the birth of
society, and the first development of human industry. We read in the
Book of Genesis that: “The Lord God took the man, and put him into the
garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it”[I-2] And, after having
related his fatal disobedience, the sacred historian adds: “Therefore
the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground
from whence he was taken.”[I-3]

Would it be possible to adduce a more ancient and sublime authority?

If it be asked why we take Moses as our guide, instead of dating the
origin of human society from those remote periods which are lost in the
night of ages, we invoke one of the most worthy masters of human
science--the illustrious Cuvier--who says:--

“No western nation can produce an uninterrupted chronology of more than
three thousand years. Not one of them has any record of connected facts
which bears the stamp of probability anterior to that time, nor even for
two or three centuries after. The Greeks acknowledge that they learned
the art of writing from the Phœnicians thirty or thirty-four
centuries ago; and for a long time after that period their history is
filled with fables, in which they only go back three hundred years to
establish the cradle of their existence as a nation. Of the history of
western Asia we have only a few contradictory extracts, which embrace,
in an unconnected form, about twenty centuries. The first profane
historian with whom we are acquainted by works extant is Herodotus, and
his antiquity does not reach _two thousand three hundred years_. The
historians consulted by him had written less than _a century_ previous;
and we are enabled to judge what kind of historians they were by the
extravagances handed down to us as extracts from Aristæus, Proconesus,
and some others. Before them they had only poets; and Homer, the master
and eternal model of the west, lived only _two thousand seven hundred_,
or _two thousand eight hundred, years ago_. One single nation has
transmitted to us annals, written in prose, before the time of Cyrus: it
is the Jewish nation. That part of the Old Testament called the
_Pentateuch_ has existed in its present form at least ever since the
schism of Jeroboam, as the Samaritans receive it equally with the Jews,
that is to say, that it has assuredly existed more than _two thousand
eight hundred_ years. There is no reason for not attributing the Book of
Genesis to Moses, which would carry us back _five hundred_ years more,
or _thirty-three centuries_; and it is only necessary to read it in
order to perceive that it is, in part, a compilation of fragments from
antecedent works: wherefore, no one can have the least doubt of its
being the oldest book now possessed by the western nations.”[I-4]

The descendants of our first parents--and, first of all, the Hebrew
people, who, as a nation historically considered, must occupy our
foremost attention--devoted all their energy to agricultural labour.

The chief of the tribe of Judah as well as the youngest son of the tribe
of Benjamin followed the plough, and gathered corn in the fields. Gideon
was thrashing and winnowing his corn, when an angel revealed to him that
he should be the deliverer of Israel;[I-5] Ruth was gleaning when Boaz
saw her for the first time;[I-6] King Saul was driving his team of oxen
in the ploughed field, when some of his court came and apprized him that
the city of Jabesh was in danger;[I-7] and Elisha was called away to
prophesy while at work with one of his father’s ploughs.[I-8] We could
multiply these incidents without end, to prove what extraordinary
interest the Jews took in agricultural occupations.

Moses regarded agriculture as the first of all arts, and he enjoined the
Hebrews to apply themselves to it in preference to any other: it was to
the free and pure air of the fields, to the strengthening, healthy, and
laborious country life, that he called their first attention. The sages
of Greece and Rome held the same opinion: in those republics the
tradesman was but an obscure individual, while the tiller of the soil
was considered as a distinguished citizen. The urban tribes yielded
precedence to the rustics, and this latter class supplied the nation
with its generals and its magistrates.[I-9] Our present ideas on this
point have materially changed with the times, and our modern Cincinnati
very seldom return to the field to terminate the furrow they have
commenced. The Israelites did not possess this excessive delicacy: they
preserved the taste for agriculture with which their great legislator,
Moses, had inspired them, and which the distribution of land naturally
tended to strengthen. No one, in fact, was allowed to possess enough
ground to tempt him to neglect the smallest portion; nor had any one the
right to dispossess the Hebrew of his father’s field,--even he himself
was forbidden to alienate for ever land from his family.[I-10] This wise
disposition did not escape the notice of an ancient heathen
author,[I-11] and various states of Greece adopted the same plan;
amongst others, the Locrians, Athenians, and Spartans, who did not allow
their fathers’ inheritance to be sold.[I-12]

The plan which we have adopted for our guidance in this work hardly
justifies us in casting more than a glance at the Mosaic legislation; we
shall, therefore, pass over all those prescriptions, all those memorable
prohibitions, which the reader must have so often admired in the Books
of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, and content ourselves with observing that
Moses knew how to find in agriculture an infallible means of developing
the industry of his people, and that, by imposing the necessity of
giving rest to the land every seventh year,[I-13] he obliged them, by
the generality of this repose, to have stores in reserve; and
consequently to employ every means of preserving portions of the grain,
fruit, wines, and oil which they had gathered in the course of the six
years preceding.

Ancient casuists of this nation enter into the most minute details on
tillage and sowing, and also on the gathering of olives, on the tithes
which were paid to the priests, and the portion set aside for the poor.
They also mention some species of excellent wheat, barley, rice, figs,
dates, &c., which were gathered in Judea.[I-14]

The soil of this delicious country was astonishingly fertile,[I-15] the
operation of tillage was easy, and the cattle here supplied a greater
abundance of milk than anywhere else;[I-16] we will just remark that
even the names of several localities indicate some of these advantages.
For instance, Capernaum signified a beautiful country town; Gennesareth,
the garden of the groves; Bethsaida, the house of plenty; Nam was
indebted for its sweet name to the beauty of its situation; and Magdela,
on the borders of the sea of Galilee, to its site, and the happy life of
its inhabitants.

Next to the Hebrews, in agriculture, came the Egyptians, a strange and
fantastical people, who raised the imperishable pyramids, the statue of
Memnon, and the lighthouse of Alexandria, and who yet prayed religiously
every morning to their goddess--a _radish_, or their gods--_leek_ and
_onion_.[I-17] Whatever there may be of folly and rare industry in this
mixture, we cannot but agree that the art of agriculture was very
ancient in Egypt, as the father of the faithful--Abraham--retired into
that country at a time of famine;[I-18] and, later, the sons of Jacob
went there also to purchase corn.[I-19]

We know that the Romans called this province the granary of the empire,
and that they drew from it every year twenty million bushels of
corn.[I-20] If we are to believe the Egyptians, Osiris, son of Jupiter
(and hence a demi-god of good family), taught them the art of tilling
the ground by aid of the plough.[I-21] This instrument, we may easily
believe, was much less complicated than ours of the present day; there
is no doubt that in the beginning, and for a great length of time
afterwards,

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. I.

     No. 1. Represents an Egyptian labourer tilling the ground with a
     pickaxe of a simple form; drawn at Thebes, by Mons. Nectoul, member
     of the commission of the French expedition in Egypt, from paintings
     in the subterranean vaults of Minich.

     No. 2. Is a sketch of the plough, which a great number of Egyptian
     figures hold as an attribute; this was taken from the subterranean
     vault of Eileithya; it represents the plough guided by a labourer,
     and drawn by oxen tied by the horns, and whipped by a second
     labourer, whilst a third, placed by the side of the oxen, throws
     before them the seeds which are to be covered by the ploughed
     earth.

     No. 3. A basket to carry the seeds. On the tombs of the kings of
     Thebes is seen painted a sower, with a basket like this, an
     attribute which is seen hanging on the back of the divinity Osiris.

     No. 4. Represents an Egyptian with a sickle, much like in shape to
     a scythe; and Denon, of the French expedition, proved that corn was
     also cut with a scythe.

[Illustration: _Pl. 1_]

it was nothing but a long piece of wood without joint, and bent in such
manner that one end went into the ground, whilst the other served to
yoke the oxen;[I-22] for it was always these animals which drew the
plough, although Homer seems to give the preference to mules.[I-23]

The Greeks, clever imitators of the Egyptians, pretended that Ceres
taught them the art of sowing, reaping, and grinding corn; they made her
goddess of harvest, and applied themselves to the labour of agriculture
with that rare and persevering ability which always characterised these
people, and consequently was often the cause of many things being
attributed to them which they only borrowed from other nations.[I-24]

The Romans, future rulers of the world, understood from the first that
the earth claimed their nursing care; and Romulus instituted an order of
priesthood for no other object than the advancement of this useful art.
It was composed of the twelve sons of his nurse, all invested with a
sacerdotal character, who were commanded to offer to Heaven vows and
sacrifices in order to obtain an abundant harvest. They were called
_Arvales_ brothers;[I-25] one of them dying, the king took his place,
and continued to fulfil his duty for the rest of his life.[I-26]

In the palmy days of the republic, the conquerors of the universe passed
from the army or the senate to their fields;[I-27] Seranus was sowing
when called to command the Roman troops, and Quintus Cincinnatus was
ploughing when a deputation came and informed him that he was appointed
dictator.

Everything in the conduct of the Romans gives evidence of their great
veneration for agriculture. They called the rich, _locupletes_, that is,
persons who were possessors of a farm or country seat (_locus_); their
first money was stamped with a sheep or an ox, the symbol of abundance:
they called it _pecunia_, from _pecus_ (flock). The public treasure was
designated _pascua_, because the Roman domain consisted, at the
beginning, only of pasturage.

After the taking of Carthage, the books of the libraries were
distributed to the allied princes of the republic, but the senate
reserved the twenty-eight books of Mago on agriculture.[I-28]

We shall briefly point out the principal processes of this art in use
among the Greeks and Romans, or at least those which appear to us most
deserving of interest. Like us, the ancients divided the land in
furrows, whose legal length (if we may so term it) was one hundred and
thirty feet.[I-29] Oxen were never allowed to stop while tracing a
furrow, but on arriving at the end they rested a short time; and when
their task was over they were cleaned with the greatest care, and their
mouths washed with wine.[I-30] The ground being well prepared and fit to
receive the seed, the grain was spread on the even surface of the
furrows, and then covered over.[I-31]

The primitive plough, already mentioned, was of extreme simplicity. It
had no wheels, but was merely furnished with a handle, to enable the
ploughman to direct it according to his judgment; neither was there any
iron or other metal in its construction. They afterwards made a plough
of two pieces, one of a certain length to put the oxen to, and the other
was shorter to go in the ground; it was similar, in shape, to an anchor.
Such was the style of plough which the Greeks used.[I-32] They also very
often employed a sort of fork, with three or four prongs, for the same
purpose.[I-33] Pliny gives credit to the Gauls for the invention of the
plough mounted on wheels. The Anglo-Norman plough had no wheels;[I-34]
the ploughman guided it with one hand, and carried a stick in the other
to break the clods.

The Greeks and Romans had not, perhaps, the celebrated guano of our
days, though we would not positively assert it; but they knew of a great
variety of manures, all well adapted to the various soils they wished to
improve. Sometimes they made use of marl, a sort of fat clay;[I-35] and
frequently manure from pigeons, blackbirds, and thrushes, which were
fattened in aviaries[I-36] for the benefit of Roman epicures. Certain
plants, they thought, required a light layer of ashes, which they
obtained from roots and brushwood;[I-37] others succeeded best,
according to their dictum, on land where sheep, goats, &c., had grazed
for a long time.[I-38]

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. II.

     Nos. 1 & 2. Greek and Roman plough, made of several pieces; the
     first taken from the “Miscelan. Erudit.” of Spon, the second from
     an engraved stone in the gallery of Florence.

     No. 3. Plough, made of one crooked piece of wood, turned once or
     twice.

     No. 4. Plough, as used by the Gauls, furnished with wheels.

When the harvest season arrived, they joyfully prepared to cut the corn,
with instruments varying in form according to the locality or the fancy
of the master. In one place they adopted the plain sickle,[I-39] in
another that with teeth.[I-40] Sometimes they mowed the corn, as they
did the meadows, with a scythe;[I-41] or else they plucked off the ears
with a kind of fork, armed with five teeth.[I-42] A short time after the
harvest, the operation of thrashing generally began. Heavy chariots,
armed with

[Illustration: _Pl. 2_]

pointed teeth, crushed the ears: Varro calls this machine the
“Carthaginian chariot.”[I-43] Strabo asserts that the ancient Britons
carried the corn into a large covered area, or barn, where they thrashed
it; adding that, without this precaution, the rain and damp would have
spoiled the grain.[I-44] At all events, this kind of thrashing in barns,
with flails and sticks, was not unknown to other countries; Pliny speaks
of it,[I-45] and Columella describes it;[I-46] we may add that the
Egyptians were also very probably acquainted with this method, since the
Jews, who had submitted to their power, employed it themselves.[I-47]
When the corn had been thrashed, winnowed, and put into baskets very
similar to our own of the present day,[I-48] they immediately studied
the best means of preserving it: some preferred granaries exposed to a
mild temperature, others had extensive edifices with thick brick walls
without openings, except one hole only, in the roof, to admit light and
air.

The Spaniards, Africans, and Cappadocians, dug deep ditches, from which
they excluded all moisture; they covered the bottom and lined the sides
with straw, then put in the grain, and covered it up. The ancients were
of opinion that corn in the ear could, by this means, be preserved a
great number of years.[I-49]

If it is desirable to keep corn for any length of time, choose the
finest and best grown. After having worked it, make a pile as high as
the ceiling will permit. Cover with a layer of quicklime, powdered, of
about three inches thick; then, with a watering-pot, moisten this lime,
which forms a crust with the corn. The outside seeds bud, and shoot
forth a stalk, which perishes in winter. This corn is only to be touched
when necessity requires it. At Sedan, a warehouse has been seen, hewed
out of the rock and tolerably damp, in which there had been a
considerable pile of corn for the last hundred and ten years. It was
covered with a crust a foot thick, on which persons might walk without
bending or breaking it in the slightest degree.

Marshal Vauban proposed eating corn in soup, without being ground; it
was boiled during two or three hours in water, and when the grains had
burst, a little salt, butter, or milk, was added. This food is very
nice, not unwholesome, and might be employed when flour is scarce,
heated, or half-rotten.--DUTOUR.

The Chinese instituted a ceremony which had for its base to honour the
profession of agriculture: every year, at the time of ploughing the
fields, the emperor with all his court paid a visit to his country
residence near Pekin, and then marked out several furrows with his
plough.

In 1793, the National Convention of France instituted also a similar
fête; and the president of the local administration of his county was to
mark out a furrow.

In 1848 a grand republican procession took place through Paris, to the
Champ de Mars, wherein agriculture played a prominent part.

The first treatise on agriculture was printed in 1538; and its
importance has been so much felt from that period, that there are now in
France more than one hundred and twenty societies of agriculture, who
distribute prizes to encourage discoveries for the improvement of this
science.

We have, in our days, the Royal Agricultural Society of England, which
also awards prizes;[V] and through such institutions all information can
be obtained on the successive progresses made in that indispensable art,
which may be said to have arrived to such a degree of perfection, that
future generations may find some difficulty in improving upon it. One
great evidence of which is, the immense number of samples of
agricultural produce, machines, and implements of husbandry, which great
and the glorious Exhibition of 1851 has ushered to the world.

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. III.

     No. 1. Is the plain sickle. No. 2. Another, with teeth.

     No. 3. A scythe, very similar to those now in use.

     No. 4. A spade; its handle is supplied with a double crossbar,
     fixed at a little distance off the spade, to support the foot; it
     is still so used in Italy and the southern parts of France.

     No. 5. A pickaxe, as it was found engraved on the various
     sarcophagi; the pick end was sometimes flattened, and then called
     pick-axe.

     Nos. 6 and 7. The mattocks; the first was drawn from an engraved
     stone in the “Monuments Antiq.” of Winckelmann.

     No. 2 A. Represents a plough, composed according to the “Georgics”
     of Virgil.

Previous to the arrival of the Romans, the ancient Britons paid but
little attention to agriculture. Their intestine discords left them
scarcely any leisure to cultivate their fields, or apply themselves to
the improvement of an art which flourishes only in peaceful times. They
reared a great number of cattle; but their chief corn was barley, of
which they made their favourite drink. They put the grain in the ear
into barns, and beat it out as they wanted it. Those inhabitants of the
island who were the least civilized subsisted solely on milk and the
flesh of animals,

[Illustration: _Pl. 3_]

which they had learned to master by their skill.[I-50] But the people of
this nation, for which Heaven had in reserve such a brilliant destiny,
knew how to endure hunger, cold, and fatigue, without a murmur. A Briton
passed entire days immersed to the neck in the stagnant waters of a
marsh; a few roots sufficed for his nourishment, and, if we are to
believe Dio, his frugal habits enabled him to appease the craving of his
stomach with an aliment composed of ingredients no longer known, and of
which he took each time, at long intervals, a quantity not exceeding in
size that of a bean.[I-51]

Let us add that the art of gardening was known rather early in Great
Britain, and that marl was employed to manure the land.[I-52]

The Anglo-Saxons employed themselves diligently in the cultivation of
the soil; they established farms, sowed grain, and reared cattle. The
fleece of their sheep furnished them with precious wool, which they
spun, and then converted into sumptuous clothing.[I-53]

Strutt gives us a curious detail of rural occupations at that epoch. We
will cite the original text:

“January exhibits the husbandman in the fields at plough, while his
attendant, diligently following, is sowing the grain.

“February. The grain being put into the earth, the next care was to
prune their trees, crop their vines, and place them in order.

“March. Then we follow them into the garden, where the industrious
labourer is digging up the ground, and sowing the vegetables for the
ensuing season.

“April. Now, taking leave of the laborious husbandman, we see the
nobleman regaling with his friends, and passing the pleasant month in
carousings, banquetings, and music.

“May brings the lord into the field to examine his flock, and
superintend the shearing of the sheep.

“June. With this month comes the gladsome time of harvest. Here are some
cutting down the corn, while it is, by others, bound up in sheaves and
laid into the carts, to be conveyed to the barns and granaries; in the
meantime they are spirited up to their labours by the shrill sound of
the enlivening horn.

“July. Here we find them employed in lopping the trees and felling of
timber, &c.

“August. In this month they cut down the barley with which they made
their old and best beloved drink (ale).

“September. Here we find the lord, attended by his huntsmen, pursuing
and chasing the wild boars in the woods and forests.

“October. And here he is amusing himself with the exercise of that old
and noble pastime, hawking.

“November. This month returns us again to the labourers, who are here
heating and preparing their utensils.

“December. In this last month we find them thrashing out the grain,
while some winnow or rather sift it, to free it from the chaff, and
others carry it out in large baskets to the granaries. In the meantime,
the steward keeps an account of the quantity, by means of an indented or
notched stick.”[I-54]

Agriculture was always protected with paternal solicitude by a prince,
whose name will ever remind us of the sanguinary day of Saint
Bartholomew. Here is a textual passage from the edict issued by Charles
IX., the 18th October, 1571.

“We have commanded and ordained, and do hereby command and ordain, that
no man engaged in the cultivation of land, by himself, his servants, and
his family, with intent to raise grain and fruit necessary for the
sustenance of men and beasts, shall be liable to the process of
execution for debt, nor on any account whatsoever, neither in his own
person, nor his bed, horses, mares, mules, asses, oxen, cows, pigs,
goats, sheep, poultry, ploughs, carts, waggons, harrows, barrows, nor
any other species or kind of cattle or goods serving in the said tillage
and occupation. * * * The said husbandmen being under our protection and
safeguard, seeing that we have so placed them and do place them by these
presents.”[I-55]




II.

CEREALS.


The nomenclature which the Romans have left us of their various kinds of
corn is so obscure and uncertain, that some modern writers are
continually contradicting each other, and, by these means, have raised
doubts which render our task more difficult, instead of enlightening us
on the subject.

We shall do all in our power to avoid the censure which we take the
liberty of passing upon them.

“_Triticum_,” wheat, or corn; “_Blé_,” from the ancient Latin word
“_Bladus_,” which signifies fruit or seed. The botanist Michaux has
discovered in Persia, on a mountain four days’ journey from Hamadan, the
place where wheat (a species known as _spelt_, from the Latin _spelta_)
is indigenous to the soil, from which we may presume that wheat has its
origin in that country, or some part of Asia not far from Persia. This
grain was more cultivated formerly than it is now; nevertheless, it is
still gathered in Italy, Switzerland, Alsace, in the Limousin and in
Picardy, to make bread, with spelt, a greater quantity of leaven, and,
above all, a little salt. This bread is white, light, savoury, and keeps
moist for several days.--PARMENTIER.

_Robus_, a variety of corn heavier than triticum, and remarkable for its
brilliant polish.

Every year, on the 25th of April, an appeal was made to the god Robigus,
to prevent the mildew from corrupting this fine specimen of corn. This
festival was founded by the great king, Numa Pompilius.[II-1]

_Siligo_, a beautiful quality of wheat, of great whiteness, but lighter
in weight than the preceding kind.[II-2]

_Trimestre_, a kind of siligo, sown in Spring, and which was ready for
reaping three months afterwards.

_Granea_, the grain merely deprived of its husk: it was boiled in water,
to which milk was added.[II-3]

_Hordeum_, barley.[II-4] The flour of this corn was the food of the
Jewish soldiers.[II-5] It was, with the Athenians, a favourite dish, but
among the Romans an ignominious food. Augustus threatened the cohorts
that, should they not fight bravely, he would punish every tenth man
with death, and give the remainder barley for food.[II-6] This corn was
certainly in use among the Egyptians in the time of Moses, since one of
the plagues which afflicted that people was the loss of the barley in
the ear before it came to maturity.[II-7]

_Panicum_, panic grass.[II-8] Certain inhabitants of Thrace and of the
borders of the Euxine, or Black Sea, preferred this to all other
food.[II-9]

_Millium_, millet, was used for making excellent cakes.[II-10]

_Secale_, rye.[II-11] Pliny thinks this grain detestable, and only good
to appease extreme hunger.[II-12]

_Avena_, oats.[II-13] Virgil had but very little esteem for this
grain.[II-14] The Romans cut it in the spring for the cattle to eat
green; and the Germans, in the time of Pliny, took great care in its
cultivation, and made a pulp of it which they thought excellent.[II-15]

_Oryza_, rice. Pliny[II-16] and Dioscorides[II-17] class it with the
wheats; whereas Galen, on the contrary, places it among vegetables.

Rice was rather scarce in Greece at the time when Theophrastus lived: it
had lately been brought from India, 286 years before Christ.

The ancients considered it most nutritious and fattening.[II-18]

_Zea_, spelt, or rice wheat,[II-19] equally esteemed by Greeks and
Latins.[II-20]

_Sesamum_, sesame. Pliny classes this among the seeds sown in
March,[II-21] and Columella places it among the vegetables.[II-22] The
Romans knew how to prepare this corn in a manner at once wholesome and
agreeable. They made it into very dainty cakes, which were served at
dessert,[II-23] whence sprang the saying _sesame cakes_, which was
applied to those sweet and flattering expressions called honied words
(in French, _paroles sucrées_).[II-24]

A people so restless and unmanageable as were the Greeks and Romans,
when pressed by hunger, required that the greatest care should be
exercised for the supply of corn, and the easy sale of this precious
provision. Hence nothing could be wiser than their regulations on this
subject.

One of the laws of the twelve tables punished with death the individual
who had premeditatedly set fire to his neighbour’s corn; and inflicted a
fine or the whip on any one who caused so great a calamity by his
imprudence.[II-25]

In Greece, a special magistrate, the “_Sitocome_,” was charged with the
inspection of the corn; and various officers, such as the _sitones_, the
_sitophylaces_, and the _sitologes_, were appointed to watch over its
purchase.

And lastly, public distributors, under the names of _siturches_ and
_sitometres_, were exclusively occupied with the allotment of
corn;[II-26] they prevented any one from purchasing a greater quantity
than was actually necessary for his wants. The law forbad the delivery
of more than fifty measures to one individual.[II-27] The Roman
government was so convinced that abundance of bread was one of the best
means of maintaining public tranquillity,[II-28] that Julius Cæsar
created two prætors, and two ediles or magistrates, to preside over the
purchase, conveyance, storing, and gratuitous distribution of
wheat.[II-29] For we know that this people of kings, powerful but
frivolous, and careless of the morrow, submitted to the incredible
follies of their rulers on the sole condition of being well fed and
amused by them.[II-30] In the time of Demosthenes the common price of
wheat in Greece was about 3_s._ 11_d._ the four bushels.[II-31] In Rome,
during the republic, wheat was distributed to 60,000 persons.[II-32]
Julius Cæsar desired that 320,000 plebeians should enjoy this bounty;
but this number was afterwards reduced to 150,000,[II-33] or perhaps,
according to Cassius, to 160,000.[II-34] Augustus fed, at first, 200,000
citizens, then only 120,000.[II-35] Nero, who always went to extremes
either in good or evil, gave corn throughout the empire to 220,000 idle
people, including the soldiers of the prætorian guard.[II-36] Adrian
added to this list all the children of the poor: the boys to the age of
18, and the girls to that of 14. Finally, this liberality, more politic
than generous, and so foreign to our present manners, was carried, under
the Emperor Severus, to 75,000 bushels per day.[II-37] The bushel
weighed twenty pounds of twelve ounces each.[II-38]

The Greeks esteemed highly the corn of Bœotia, Thrace, and Pontus.
The Romans preferred that of Lombardy, the present duchy of Spoletta,
Sicily, Sardinia, and a part of Gaul. Sardinia, Sicily, and Corsica,
supplied them every year with 800,000 bushels of twenty-one pounds
weight, which made them call those islands “the sweet nurses of
Rome.”[II-39] Africa furnished 40,000,000 of bushels; Egypt 20,000,000,
and the remainder came from Greece, Asia, Syria, Gaul, and Spain.[II-40]

The erudite are not agreed as to the aboriginal country of corn: some
say it is Egypt, others Tartary, and the learned Bailly, as well as the
traveller Pallas, affirm that it grows spontaneously in Siberia. Be that
as it may, the Phocians brought it to Marseilles before the Romans had
penetrated into Gaul. The Gauls ate the corn cooked, or bruised in a
mortar; they did not know for a long time how to make fermented bread.

The Chinese attribute to Chin-Nong, the second of the nine emperors of
China who preceded the establishment of the dynasties (more than 2,207
years B.C.), the discovery of corn, rice, and other cereals.

We find in the Black Book of the Exchequer, that in the reign of Henry
I., when they reduced the victuals (for the king’s household) to the
estimate of money, a measure of wheat to make bread for the service of
one hundred men, one day, was valued only at one shilling.[II-41]

But in the reign of Henry III., about the 43rd year, the price was
mounted up to fifteen and twenty shillings a quarter.[II-42]

The ancients, as well as the moderns, caused wheat to undergo certain
preparations to enable it to be transformed into bread, we shall
enumerate in the following chapter the different processes by which they
obtained flour, the essential foundation of the food of man.

_Cereals._--This name has been given to all plants of the gramineous
family, the fundamental base of the food of man. The _cereals_, properly
speaking, are limited to wheat, rye, barley, and oats; however, there
are others, such as canary grass, Indian corn, millet, rice, &c., &c.
The immediate and most abundant principle of all these plants is the
_fécule_, or flour, and the vegeto-animal matter of which bread is made,
and other preparations for food, and fermented liquors; these cereals
are given green or dry to cattle as forage; their straw covers houses,
and serves as litter and manure.

Cereals was also the name given to a feast in honour of Ceres,
instituted at Rome by the edile Mumonius, and celebrated every year on
the 7th of April. The ladies of Rome appeared clothed in white, and
holding torches in remembrance of the travels of that divinity. Cakes
sprinkled with salt and grains of incense, honey, milk, and wine, were
offered to that goddess. Pigs were sacrificed to her. The _cereals_ of
the Romans were the _thesmophories_ with the Greeks.




III.

GRINDING OF CORN.


At a very distant period, when gods, not over edifying in their conduct,
descended at times from the heights of Olympus to enliven their
immortality amongst mortals, we are told that a divine aliment charmed
the palate of Jupiter and that of his quarrelsome wife; nay, of all
those who inhabited the celestial abode. We are ignorant of the hour at
which the table of the god of thunder was laid; but we know well that he
breakfasted, dined, and supped on a delicious ambrosia--a liquid
substance, it may be presumed, since it flowed for the first time from
one of the horns of the goat Amalthæa, and of rather an insipid taste,
if we are to believe Ibicus,[III-1] who describes it as nine times
sweeter than honey. The gods have disappeared; we would forgive them for
leaving us, had they left behind them the recipe of this marvellous
substance; but its composition and essence remain unknown, and man, not
skilful enough to appropriate to his use the inexhaustible treasures of
culinary science, began his hard gastrophagic apprenticeship by
devouring acorns which grew in the forests.[III-2] This is assuredly
very mortifying to our feelings; but you may believe it on the authority
of a poet, for we well know that a poet never tells an untruth.[III-3]
Besides, fabulous antiquity adds new weight to the fact, by informing us
that the Arcadian Pelasgus[III-4] deserved that altars should be erected
to his memory, for having taught the Greeks to choose in preference the
beech-nut, as the most delicate of this class of comestibles, according
to the tender Virgil, who, however, only judged of it by hearsay.[III-5]

There is a great degree of probability in the supposition that the
different races of the north, each inhabiting a country covered with
immense forests, lived for a long time on the fruit of these different
kinds of oak which they possessed in such abundance. The great respect
they had for the tree, the pompous ceremony with which the high priest
of the Druids came every year to cut away the parasitical plant which
clings to it, the very name of the Druids--derived from a celtic word
signifying _oak_--all seem to point out the first food of our ancestors.
The oak furnished the primitive aliment of almost every nation, in their
original state of barbarism. Some of them had even preserved a taste for
the acorn after they became civilized. Among the Arcadians and the
Spaniards, the acorn was regarded as a delicious article of food. We
read in Pliny that, in his time, these latter had them served on their
tables at dessert, after they had been roasted in the wood-ashes to
soften them. According to Champier, this custom still subsisted in Spain
in the 16th century.

The regulation made by Chrodegand, Bishop of Metz, about the end of the
8th century, for the canons, says expressly[III-6] that if, in an
unfavorable year, the acorn or flour should fail, it will be the duty of
the bishop to provide it.

When, animated by the most praiseworthy zeal and courage, Du Bellay,
Bishop of Mans, came, in 1546, to represent to Francis I. the frightful
misery of the provinces, and that of his diocese in particular, he
assured the king that in many localities the people had nothing to eat
but bread made of acorns.

But mankind, who soon get tired of every thing, even of acorns and
beech-nuts, began to dislike this wholesome and abundant food, when
Ceres, the ancient Queen of Sicily, came just _à propos_ to give a few
lessons in the art of sowing the earth.[III-7] Corn once brought into
fashion acquired a surprising repute, and the ancient food was given up
to the animal which it fattens; and if this last were eaten, it was no
doubt in gratitude for the fruit mankind had formerly so much loved.

The good Ceres did not stop there; it was very well to have corn, but to
know how to grind it was also requisite; and the human race was then so
lamentably backward, that one might have gone round the world without
meeting a miller, or even the shadow of the meanest little mill.

The Queen of Sicily then invented grinding-stones,[III-8] but, as the
most useful discoveries require time to be known and improved upon, the
way of grinding corn with stones did not become uniform everywhere. The
inhabitants of Etruria (now called Tuscany) pounded the grain in

[Illustration: _Pl. 4._

ALCINOUS’S HAND MILL.]

mortars.[III-9] The early Romans adopted the same means, and gave the
name of _Pistores_, grinders, to those persons who followed this
occupation.[III-10] Pliny relates that one of the ancient families of
Rome took the surname of _Piso_, having descended, as they believed,
from the inventor of the art of bruising wheat with pestles.[III-11]

Down to the latest days of the Roman republic the corn was bruised after
being roasted. The pestle used for this purpose was somewhat pointed,
and suspended by the aid of a ring to the extremity of a flexible lever,
supported by an axle.[III-12]

From the time of Moses the Hebrews used grinding-stones: several
passages of the Holy Scripture clearly indicate this. Among others: “No
man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge; for he
taketh a man’s life to pledge.”[III-13] Another text shows that the
Egyptians used grinding-stones with handles, at about the same
period.[III-14] The Israelites, when in the Desert, employed the same
means to pound manna,[III-15] and after their settlement in the Promised
Land, these utensils served to grind corn.

The Greeks, following faithfully the system from which they had but
slightly deviated, have honoured King Miletus as the inventor of
grinding-stones;[III-16] the upper part was of wood, and armed with
heads of iron nails. A passage of Homer would seem to lead us to believe
that the grain was first crushed with rollers on stone slabs, which
operation would naturally lead to the crushing of it between
grinding-stones.[III-17] However this may be, these last were no doubt
still scarce in the heroic times, since the same poet does not fail to
inform us that one was to be seen in the gardens of Alcinous, chief of
the Phæacians.[III-18] This kind of decoration would but very little
please the taste of our modern horticulturists.

Nearly two centuries before our era, in the year of Rome 562, the
Romans, victorious in Asia, brought with them handmills.[III-19] This
conquest of industry soon made an immense stride, and to the labour of
man succeeded by degrees the obedient aid of horses and asses. Hence the
two kind of mills so often mentioned--by hand, _manuales_; by animal,
_iumentariæ_[III-20]

Delighted with a discovery which supplied an important necessity of
life, the Romans invented a divinity to whom they might show their
gratitude, and Olympus was honoured with a new inmate: the goddess Mola,
protectress and patroness of mills and millstones.[III-21]

Now Mola was one of a large family; she had several charming sisters,
like herself, who could not endure living among the commoners, while
Ganymede served ambrosia to their elder sister, or poured out for her
the nectar of the gods. Besides, it cost so little to be made a goddess!
A few grains of incense, more or less, who would grudge such a trifle?
The Flamine of Jupiter, whom they consulted, was at first rather
refractory. He feared the crowding of Olympus; he doubted whether polite
intercourse could ever be established between gods of high birth and
little divinities covered with flour; but when at last the high priest
had ceased speaking, the deputation removed all scruples by a reasonable
bribe, and the sisters of Mola were forthwith enrolled in the list of
immortals, under the designation of well-beloved daughters of the god of
war.[III-22] Mars was rather ungentlemanly on the occasion, but the high
priest undertook to bring him to reason.

This took place about the end of May, and the Romans resolved to
celebrate, from the 9th of the following June, the festival of the
patroness of Roman millers, and of her sisters, the newly elected
divinities; the ceremony was worthy of those for whose apotheosis it was
instituted, and every year, on the same day, new rejoicings consecrated
this great event.[III-23]

The mills ceased to turn and to grind, a profound silence reigned in the
mills; the asses, patient and indefatigable movers of an incessant
rotation, took a lively part, whether or no, in the festivals of which
they became the principal actors. These honest creatures’ heads[III-24]
were crowned with roses, and necklaces of little leaves encircled their
necks and fell gracefully on their chests;[III-25] we need not add that,
on this day, the thick bandages which generally covered the eyes of
these useful labourers were removed.[III-26]

Independently of this annual solemnity, the asses, turners of the mills,
had sometimes their windfalls,--that is to say, hours of holiday, during
which they could freely graze on the neighbouring thistles. This
happened when an awkward slave performed badly the duties of fanning his
master, or spilt carelessly a few drops of Falernian wine when filling
his cup. The unfortunate creature was immediately condemned to work at
the mill;[III-27] he was deprived of his name, and received in lieu that
of the quadruped he replaced--_Asinus_;[III-28] and the instrument of
his sufferings, by a refinement of strange irony, was called his
manger.[III-29]

It sometimes happened that a free man, reduced to extreme

[Illustration: _Pl. 5._

ASINUS OR JUMENTARIÆ MILL.]

[Illustration: _Pl. 6._

PLAUTUS’S MILL.]

indigence, had recourse to this hard occupation, in order to earn a
living. Plautus was obliged to work at it, and we know that he wrote
some of his comedies during the short moments of leisure allowed him by
his master the miller.[III-30]

An important modification was subsequently made in the mechanism of
mills: we mean hydraulic mills, whose introduction into Italy is of
uncertain date, although Pomponius Sabinus asserts (but without proof),
that this discovery took place in the reign of Julius Cæsar. They were
known in Rome at the time of the Emperor Augustus, and Vitruvius
mentions them.[III-31] More than sixty years afterwards, Pliny speaks of
them as rare and extraordinary machines.[III-32]

Some writers have thought that _hydraulæ_, or _hydromilæ_, watermills,
were invented by Vitruvius, and that this celebrated architect made
experiments with them, which were forgotten or neglected after his
death.[III-33] Curious readers, who are not afraid of the venerable dust
with which time has covered many useful though despised books, will
consult with benefit the learned treatise of Goetzius on the mills of
the ancients, printed in the year 1730.[III-34]

Strabo, who flourished under the Emperor Augustus, tells us a watermill
was to be seen near the town of Cabire and the palace of
Mithridates.[III-35]

Nevertheless, this useful invention, which we could not now dispense
with, made so little progress during four centuries that princes thought
it a duty to protect, by several laws, those establishments, still rare,
but which people began to appreciate. Honorius and Arcadius decreed, in
398, that any person who turned the water from mills for his own profit,
should be punished by a fine of five pounds weight in gold; and that any
magistrate encouraging such an act should pay a like sum.[III-36] The
Emperor Zeno[III-37] maintained this law, and rendered it still more
stringent by adding, that the edifices or land into which the water had
been turned should be confiscated.[III-38]

It is to be regretted that the precise origin of the miller’s profession
cannot be traced; but, alas! in almost all the arts which tend to
preserve life, we discover the same uncertainty: we are ignorant of the
period of their discovery, and it frequently happens that but few traces
of their development remain. On the contrary, the dates of battles, or
scourges which have decimated the human race, are certain enough: the
stain of blood leaves an impression which can never be effaced.

In the midst of the conflicting opinions of the writers of antiquity,
what appears most probable is, that watermills were invented in Asia
Minor, and that they were not really used in Rome till the reign of
Honorius and Arcadius.

Under the rule of the Emperor Justinian, when the Goths besieged the
Roman city,[III-39] the celebrated Belisarius thought of constructing
some on the Tiber. The means which he employed were simple and
ingenious. Two boats firmly fixed, at two feet distance from each other,
caused the stream to give a rapid motion to the hydraulic wheel,
suspended by its axle between these lateral points of support; and this
wheel turned the mills.[III-40] This system differed but little from
that of Vitruvius, which he described more than five centuries before,
and is explained in a few words. A little wheel, fixed to the axle of
the hydraulic wheel, turned a third wheel, adhering to the axle of the
upper grindstone, and the corn fell between the two stones in passing
from the hopper placed above.[III-41]

These grindstones were made of a kind of porous lava, which retained its
roughness, or rather, its roughness was renewed, by the continual
friction.[III-42]

The introduction of watermills, however, did not prevent the use of
those worked by hand, which habit, cheapness, and facility of removal
recommended: these antique mills of the Hebrews, the Egyptians, and the
Greeks of the heroic times, were only five feet high. Each family was
supplied with as many as they might require. In the residence of
Ulysses, that great king of little Ithaca, there were as many as twelve.
Women turned the mills, and were obliged to deliver a certain quantity
of flour before leaving the task imposed on them.[III-43]

Corn was at first ground in a portative hand mill; by the Britons, women
and young girls were employed in this kind of labour.[III-44]

It is, however, probable that watermills were known at a very early
period in England. Strutt cites a passage from a charter by Ulfere, in
664, which warrants the supposition.[III-45]

It would be difficult to point out the precise date of the first
employment of mills; nevertheless, Somner informs us, in his
“Antiquities of Canterbury,”[III-46] that the Anglo-Normans of that
place ground their corn. “There was,” says he, “sometime a windmill
standing neare the nonnery without Ridingate, which the hospitall held
by the grant of the nonnes there: the conditions mutually agreed upon,
at the time of the grant, were that the nonnes, bearing the fourth part
of the charge of the mill, should reap the fourth part of the profit of
it, &c. * * * and this about the reign of King John.”

The bran was separated from the flour by means of a sieve; the dough was
made, and sent to the bakers to be baked. The poor contented themselves
with cakes baked under the ashes.[III-47]

Something remains to be said of windmills. We will say but little on the
subject: this aerial mechanism--which the knight-errant, Don Quixote, of
imperishable memory, thought it necessary to fight with sword and
lance--was unknown before the Christian era in any nation whose writers
have transmitted to us the least traces of their civilisation; but
nothing proves that windmills were unknown to others. This opinion seems
to be well-founded, from a passage of the chronicler Winceslaus, who
relates, in his “History of Bohemia,” that the first watermill raised in
that country was in the year of Christ 718, and that no other was in use
before (_antea_) but mills built on the summit of mountains, which were
put in motion by the wind.[III-48] It appears, then, that there is some
untruth in the assertion, that this sort of mill was introduced into
Europe, about the year 1040, by the first Crusaders, on their return
from the East.[III-49] At all events this question is no doubt very
deserving the laborious search of the learned; it has but a secondary
interest for the gastrophilist. It matters little to him whether he owes
the grinding of his corn to the breath of a zephyr or to the slimy
source of a river; all he requires is good flour, because it enters into
a great number of culinary preparations--and, first of all, bread is
made from it.




IV.

MANIPULATION OF FLOUR.


Man has not always eaten fine wheaten bread, biscuits, or sponge cakes;
and, for many centuries, the inexperience of his palate prevented his
imagining or understanding those magiric combinations, that science of
good living,[IV-1] which requires time and serious study. Nature makes
us hungry; art creates, modifies, and directs the appetite--these are
incontestable truths, which this work will serve to unfold, and, if
necessary, to prove, should any of our readers unfortunately not be
already convinced of the depth of these wise axioms.

Let us go no further back than the year 2000 before the Christian era,
and enter together the tent of the father of nations--_Abraham_. We
might lead you to the fire-side of each of the nineteen patriarchs who
preceded him, but that would take us too far.

In the interior of this nomad dwelling, Sarah, the venerable companion
of the Pastor-King, has just prepared, with flour and water, round
pieces of flattened paste, which she places on the hearth, and covers
afterwards with hot ashes.[IV-2] It was thus that princes and servants
made bread in the East. The Jewish people who inhabited the Desert ate
no other kind;[IV-3] and the Prophet Elijah, reposing under the shade of
a juniper tree, appeased his hunger with this simple and primitive
food.[IV-4] Sometimes, however, at certain periods of solemnity, the
Hebrews used a gridiron, placed on the coals, or a frying-pan, into
which they put the paste;[IV-5] but these various modes of cooking
produced a kind of cake, dry, thin, and brittle,[IV-6] somewhat like the
Jewish Passover cake, which was broken by the hand without the aid of a
knife;[IV-7] they were called _lechem_, choice and chief food,[IV-8] and
the mother of the family generally renewed them each day.[IV-9] The
inhabitants of the East thought so much of bread, that it was considered
a special mark of regard and hospitality to the person to whom it was
offered.[IV-10] Boaz says to Ruth: “At meal time come thou hither and
eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar.”[IV-11]

Although the use of bread without leaven and baked under the ashes was
common among the Jews,[IV-12] it is nevertheless evident that they knew
and employed, at an early period, some substance to raise the dough,
which they designated by the name of _seor_. It was, perhaps, flour
diluted with water left to get sour. Pliny assures us that of all means
employed by the ancients to render bread savoury and light, this is the
most simple and easy.[IV-13]

It appears not unlikely that the Hebrews learned from the Egyptians how
to prepare the leaven they made use of. The period at which an allusion
is made to it for the first time, in the Bible, renders this supposition
likely. It is when the people of God were about to escape from the
slavery of the Egyptians, and are preparing to celebrate the Passover,
on the eve of their setting out for the Desert.[IV-14] The Israelites,
therefore, knew how to make bread more digestive and of better taste
than is generally believed--not so good, perhaps, as our delicate fancy
bread, but better than the clumsy lumps of paste baked under the ashes,
in the frying-pan, or on the gridiron.[IV-15] They had also ovens at a
very distant period of their history--some four thousand years
ago.[IV-16] These ovens were made with bricks or clay; afterwards they
used iron and brass;[IV-17] but nothing in the Holy Writings shows us
that any one exercised among them the trade of a baker, at least at this
early period, nor, indeed, very much later.

The chief baker or butler, whose punishment and death Joseph foretold,
when he interpreted that officer’s dream, was an Egyptian, and belonged
to King Pharaoh.[IV-18]

Hitherto an infallible book has been our guide; let us now dive into the
dark and almost boundless regions of fabulous antiquity.

The most frightful god of which the fevered imagination of man could
possibly form an idea--a god with the face and legs of a goat, the
horrible Pan!--according to some credulous writers, taught mortals the
art of making and baking bread. The name even of this food, they say,
furnishes an incontestable proof of this assertion.[IV-19] You are
mistaken, reply more sensible writers; it is in the Greek word _pan_,
signifying _all_, that we must seek the etymology of this nutritious
substance, which accompanies all other aliments, takes their place if
needful, and agrees equally with all mankind.[IV-20]

This, one would think, is conclusive; but the learned, the philologist,
and every Procrustes of literature, protests against a halt with so fair
a field before him. It is from the word _pascere_,[IV-21] proudly
exclaims another interpreter, that the substantive, bread, is
derived.[IV-22] This word has been rather disfigured on its way: think
of the length of time it has been travelling down to us.

Ceres taught the Greeks how to cultivate corn; they learned from
Megalarte and Megalomaze how to knead flour and bake it in ovens.[IV-23]
The gratitude of the Bœotians erected statues and altars to their
memories, and shortly after, Greece could boast of having obtained the
most skilful bakers in the world. The bread of Athens and Megara had a
well deserved reputation: its whiteness dazzled the eye, and its taste
was exquisite.[IV-24] This voluptuous and fickle nation very soon began
to tire of so intelligent and simple a manipulation, and must needs mix
with the paste a host of ingredients which greatly altered its flavour:
and seventy-two different sorts of bread[IV-25] took birth from the
scientific association of milk, oil, honey, cheese, and wine with the
best flour.[IV-26] All these varieties were called by the generic name
of _artos_, bread; to which was added an epithet which prevented the
mistaking of one kind for another.

The bread-market at Athens was very amusing; women (for the fair sex
busied themselves with this trade) waited, seated, by the side of their
baskets until Mercury should send them customers, and woe to those who
came late, or whose evil genius led them to find fault with either the
quality, quantity, or price of the goods. Have you ever heard the ladies
of Billingsgate playing off their pleasant jokes on a timid countryman,
or a foreigner, whose accent had betrayed him? It is a running fire of
puns and crude picturesque expressions which nothing can resist; our
Greek market-women would have been more than a match for them--can we
bestow upon them greater praise?[IV-27]

Some of them sold _azumos_, a delicate sort of biscuit, but rather
tasteless, prepared without leaven;[IV-28] others--irresistible
syrens--invited children to taste of the relishing _artolaganos_, in
which a renowned baker had the talent of introducing wine, pepper, oil,
and milk.[IV-29] Here the sparkling eyes of a rich epicurean were on
the look out for some _escarites_, a very light paste, seasoned with new
sweet wine and honey,[IV-30] and which was relished even by fatigued
appetites at the close of a repast.[IV-31] The poorer people made their
choice among heaps of _dolyres_, or _typhes_: they were coarse compounds
of rye and barley;[IV-32] the ladies of fashion (_petites maitresses_)
preferred the puff cakes called _placites_,[IV-33] or the sweet
_melitutes_, whose exquisite and perfumed flour was delicately kneaded
with the precious honey of Mount Hymettus.[IV-34] Lastly, the robust
workman of the Pyræus bought the _tyrontes_, bread mixed with
cheese,[IV-35] which the higher classes of society in Athens abhorred,
and which even the middling classes excluded from their tables.

Let us add to this imperfect enumeration, that the Greeks baked their
bread in several different manners: some in ovens, others under ashes,
over charcoal, or between two pieces of iron, similar to our _gauffre_
moulds, and under a bell, or cover of some metal with a rim round the
top, and fire over it.[IV-36] For making a batch of bread, they employed
nine pounds six ounces of leaven to twelve bushels of flour.[IV-37] With
regard to their ovens, in the construction of which they excelled, they
always took particular care to place them near a handmill,[IV-38] in
order that the various processes that the wheat had to undergo should
take place with ease and promptitude.

The Romans were for a long time _Pultiphagists_, or eaters of gruel,
&c.;[IV-39] and it would be difficult to ascertain with accuracy the
precise period at which they gave a preference to bread; they no doubt
knew of it before the year 365 of Rome, for, at the siege of the Capitol
by the Gauls, Jupiter, who protected the besieged, thought of nothing
better to get them out of their difficulties than to appear at night to
their general, Manlius, and to give him the following advice: “Make,”
said he, “bread with all the flour you have left in store, and throw it
to the enemy to show them that Rome has no apprehension of being reduced
by famine.” This stratagem, worthy of a Merry Andrew, pleased Manlius so
much, that he immediately put it into execution. The Gauls fled, Master
Jupiter was highly delighted with the trick he had played, and thereby
the Romans got rid of this swarm of barbarians.[IV-40]

Whether this little story be true or not, the people of Romulus had a
decided taste for gruel; it was a national dish, and was only
discontinued to be given to the soldiers, defenders of the republic,
when it was perceived that their laborious duties required more
substantial food.[IV-41] The Romans made their gruel of all kinds of
flour.

King Numa (1715 B.C.), guided by the advice of the nymph, Egeria, taught
his subjects the art of parching corn, of converting it into flour by
means of mortars, and of making that gruel with which he liked to regale
himself.

This good prince was rather fond of interfering in what did not concern
him, and the royal compound was afterwards cooked in the public
bakehouses, which the piety of the sovereign placed under the protection
of the powerful Fornax, a goddess unknown till then, and who soon became
the object of general and fervent worship.[IV-42]

There is but one step from gruel to bread: the Romans perceived it. Thus
this favourite dish lost its reputation, and the worship of Fornax
somewhat cooled. But, on the other hand, there was still the smell of
cakes on all sides; cooking on the hearth, on the coals, in small
bell-stoves, and in large baking pans, until ultimately they became
acquainted with the use of ovens.[IV-43]

At last, Rome began to have them built, under the reign of Tarquinius
Superbus, about 630 years before the Christian era. They were solid
constructions, immoveable, and very like those of the present
day.[IV-44] Men were employed to keep up the necessary degree of heat;
and their useful profession (thanks to the strange caprices which so
tyrannically rule the social hierarchy) became one of the vilest and
most sordid occupations in the capital of the world.[IV-45] These ovens
were ordered to be built far away from all edifices, in order to prevent
accidents by fire;[IV-46] an excellent precaution, where so many
incautious and merry old gossips came daily to bake their bread.

Once there, those worthy plebeians amused themselves by giving full
scope to their noisy fun, slandering their neighbours freely and
charitably, telling each other all the little scandal they had picked up
here and there, among the good souls in their neighbourhood. Hence these
public places of labour and incessant babbling were called the “gossip
bakehouses.”[IV-47]

These joyous meetings continued until the arrival of Greek bakers, 170
years B.C., who followed the victorious armies of the republic on their
return from Macedonia.[IV-48] These new operatives effected a complete
revolution in the art of making bread: they reformed the taste of their
masters, and, by degrees, the proverbial frugality of the conquerors of
the universe gave way to the exquisite researches and wonderful
delicacies of those whom they had subdued.

The Romans perceived the importance of perpetuating the talent of these
strangers, and converting it eventually into a national industry. With
these views, they gave them Roman colleagues, and subsequently they were
formed into a college, or sort of association, which no member could
quit on any pretext whatever. The son followed his father’s profession,
and he who married the daughter of a baker became one himself.[IV-49]
Sometimes one of these privileged artisans was raised to the dignity of
senator, as an honour to his colleagues; but in that case he was
required to abandon his fortune to the person who took his place; he
might, however, decline the dignity, and remain at his
kneading-trough.[IV-50] All alliances with gladiators and comedians were
interdicted them; and the law decreed that the delinquent guilty of such
dishonour should be first scourged, then banished, and that his property
should be confiscated for the benefit of the community.[IV-51] Finally,
the prodigal baker was assimilated with the dishonest bankrupt, and
expelled the college.[IV-52]

The above details on some of the dispositions of the law regarding this
interesting corporation, sufficiently prove the importance that the
Roman government attached to it, and wished it should always maintain.

The bakers of Rome received from the public granaries whatever they
required, at a price fixed by the magistrate. If the officer charged
with the distribution of it gave a bad quality, or exacted a bribe to
supply good corn, that officer was disgraced, and he became forever a
journeyman baker.[IV-53]

Independently of public bakeries, the number of which reached 329 under
the reign of Augustus, there were also, in the houses of the wealthy,
slaves whose sole occupation was the making of bread, and these slaves
brought an exorbitant price when they excelled in their art.[IV-54] They
used portable ovens, made of iron or earthenware, under which they
placed red-hot coals. Sometimes they employed a round brass vessel with
a cover, which was put under the flames. In the houses where the
greatest luxury reigned, they had a kind of silver mould, from which the
bread was taken, and served to the guests.[IV-55]

It is absolutely necessary to dive into the private life of the Roman
people, and not to neglect any of their domestic customs (accounts of
which are scattered here and there, in the writings of the more serious
historians, and among the dangerous frivolities of certain poets), if we
wish to have a correct idea of the excessive refinement which the
opulent classes evinced, even in the most ordinary things.

Modern nations are satisfied with the bread more or less white, and even
bear, without much complaint, certain illicit mixtures, in which various
heterogeneous substances are sometimes strangely amalgamated; but this
was not the case in Rome. The prefect of provisions (_præfectus annonæ_)
was scrupulously careful to see that the supply of bread was abundant;
that it was of exact weight; that the manipulation of it was excellent;
and that it was made of the best flour the public granaries contained.

As we have already observed, that was one of the most serious cares of
the government on behalf of a people who only required two things--bread
and the circus,[IV-56] and whose ferocity, when pressed by hunger, knew
no bounds.[IV-57]

They studied carefully every modification that the art of baking might
seem to require: they examined the leaven in use, and experimented with
new kinds. The following are the compositions Pliny has transmitted to
us:--

The Romans thought much of millet for their leaven; they mixed it with
sweet wine, in which they let it ferment a year.

They employed, also, wheat bran, soaked for three days in sweet white
wine, and dried in the sun. Of this they diluted a certain quantity at
the time of making bread, which was left to ferment in the best wheat
flour, and afterwards mixed with the entire mass.

The leavens just mentioned were made during the vintage; the rest of the
year they were replaced by the following:--A dish containing two pounds
of barley paste was placed on red-hot coals, and heated until ebulition
commenced. It was put into vessels till it became sour.

Very often leaven was procured from dough just made. A piece was taken
from the mass previous to salt being added; it was then left to turn
sour, and might be used the next day.

The celebrated naturalist who supplies these details, tells us that, in
his time, the Gauls and Spaniards, after having made a drink from wheat,
saved the scum to raise the dough, and that their bread was the lightest
of all.[IV-58]

It would be difficult to form an idea of the prodigious luxury which
Rome introduced into an aliment so common, and of such universal use as
bread. Its name, its form, and flavour indicated the various ranks of
society to which it belonged.[IV-59] There was the senator’s bread, that
of the knights, of the citizens, of the people, and that of the
peasants.[IV-60]

Let us go together under the vast galleries supported by those
magnificent arcades.[IV-61] The _ediles_ have preceded us; they are
visiting the shops;[IV-62] it is the _Forum Pistrinum_, or bread-market.
The year is good: a _septier_ (five bushels) of wheat is only
twenty-five shillings,[IV-63] and provisions of all kinds abound in
Rome. Foreigners, also, are here, attracted by curiosity; for Vespasian
is preparing to deposit with solemnity the spoils of Jerusalem in the
temple of Peace.[IV-64]

In the middle of the inclosure you see the statue of Vesta, the goddess
worshipped by bakers.[IV-65] In the front, and round the gallery, those
open stalls are loaded with a number of round loaves of the same form
and weight: they are all five inches in thickness; the top is divided by
eight notches--that is to say, they are first divided across, and the
four parts are again subdivided.[IV-66] These lines are made in the
dough, so that they may be more easily broken.

The Roman gentry and shopkeepers give the preference to this sort of
household bread, simply composed of flour, water, and salt.[IV-67]

You perceive, here and there, several baskets, full of heavy biscuits;
they are called _autopyron_; it is a coarse, black food, composed of
bran mixed with a little flour, and made expressly for the dogs and
slaves.[IV-68]

Do you see that colossal-looking man, with enormous limbs, who is
walking about with an air of stupidity, and whose small head is covered
with scars? The dealers know his profession, and one of them offers him
the _athletæ’s_ bread; it is kneaded, without leaven, with soft, white
curd cheese, and is a coarse, heavy food, which that class of people
seem to partake of with great delight.[IV-69] That stout baker before us
occupies two of the most spacious shops in the market, on the left of
the statue; he is one of the richest members of the corporation, and is
the principal purveyor for the camp and army. Those large sacks, placed
before him with so much symmetry, contain the _buccellatum_ biscuit, or
dried bread for the troops.[IV-70]

His neighbour (called the Greek), was born at Athens; he is the
fashionable purveyor to the princes, senators, and sybarites of Rome. No
one understands so well as himself the art of mixing salt, oil, and
milk with the best wheaten flour; an exquisite combination, which
produces the celebrated bread of Cappadocia, served only on the tables
of the wealthy.[IV-71] With the _artoplites_, a light bread, made with
the best wheaten flour, and baked in a mould, it is the only kind of
which refined persons can partake.[IV-72] If we were not afraid of
tiring you, we could point out many other sorts of bread which abound in
the _Forum Pistrinum_, for there is some for all tastes and classes,
from the _artopticii_, baked in moulds,[IV-73] a most nutritious and
digestive bread, down to the _furfuraceus_, a mass of indigestible bran
that the wildest savages among the Scythians could not have swallowed
with impunity.

We should have spoken to you of the _astrologicus_ bread, the paste of
which is similar to that we use in our days to make fritters, commonly
called batter.

Also of the _cacabaceus_, which is indebted for its agreeable and spicy
flavour to the water, which is previously boiled in a kind of bronzed
stewpan; and the _siligineus_ bread, made of the best flour. Its
manipulation is difficult and tedious; no matter--the epicurean prefers
it, when, by chance, he happens to be hungry.[IV-74]

Neither ought we to forget the _panis madidus_, a species of paste made
of milk and flour, with which the fashionable ladies and effeminate
dandies covered their faces before going to bed, to preserve the
freshness and beauty of their complexion.[IV-75]

But this enumeration may appear to you idle and endless; let us,
therefore, leave the market and assist at the distribution of bread
_civilis_ among the people, of which thirteen ounces is given to each
person;[IV-76] we will then give a rapid glance at the various other
_cereals_ besides wheat, which, in some shape or other, are converted
into food.

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. VII.

     BREAD.--No. 1. In Herculaneum there were found two entire loaves of
     the same dimension, being 13½ inches in diameter, and 3½
     inches thick. Each had eight divisions cut on the top, that is to
     say,--a cross was first marked, and between each, another division
     was made; some had stamps on the top.

     No. 2. At Pompeii, in a shop near the Pantheon, were discovered
     bronze moulds for pastry and bread.

     No. 3. The Cappadocia bread, made in a mould, found at Pompeii.

     No. 4. The mould for the above.

The customs of the middle ages cannot be better illustrated than by
adding the following curious notes:

The Norman kings subjected the bakers to very severe laws with

[Illustration: _Pl. 7._]

respect to the weight and price of bread. The first offence was punished
by the confiscation of their bread; the second by a fine; and the third
by the pillory.[IV-77]

Saint Louis made statutes for the bakers of Paris. He forbade them to
bake on Sunday or any festival day, under pain of a fine of eighteen
sous (about eight pence), and a certain quantity of bread. But he gave
them permission to open their shops and _sell_ every day of the year
without exception.[IV-78]

In the 17th century, a new regulation was made concerning bakers; they
were to bake “daily, and have always on sale three kinds of bread, viz.,
that known as _pain de chalis_, of twelve ounces; _pain de chapitre_, of
ten ounces; and brownish household bread, of sixteen ounces. The price
of each to be _douze deniers_ (a halfpenny), marked by the baker with
his own particular mark.” They were also permitted to make “rolls and
other sorts,” but not to expose them for sale “under pain of being fined
four hundred Paris livres (a little more than twelve pounds
sterling).”[IV-79]

Master-bakers were admitted at Paris, in the 14th century, in the
following manner:--

When a young man had been successively winnower, sifter, kneader, and
foreman, he could, by paying a certain amount to the king as legiance
money, become an aspirant-baker, and commence business on his own
account. Four years after, he was received as master by going through
certain formalities. On a given day, he set out from his house, followed
by all the bakers of the town, and repaired to the residence of the
master of the bakers, to whom he presented a new pot filled with nuts,
saying: “Master, I have accomplished my four years; here is my pot of
nuts.” Then the master of the bakers asked the secretary of the trade
whether that were true, and having received a reply in the affirmative,
the master of the bakers returned the pot to the aspirant, who broke it
against the wall, and was at once reckoned amongst the masters.

Let us reckon up the different kinds of bread that were in use at that
epoch:

The bread made simply with flour, water, salt, and yeast--the common
bread; the best was made at Chailly or Gonesse.

The bread cooked in hot water--_pain échaudé_ (in England, we should
call it baked dumpling).

The bread made of the finest flour, beaten a long time with two
sticks--pounded bread.

The bread made of the very finest and purest flour (biscuit flour)
slightly baked--roll bread.

The bread made of fine flour, kneaded with butter, and sprinkled with
whole wheat--sheep bread.

The bread made of fine flour, eggs and milk--Christmas bread.

And lastly, rye bread, kneaded with spice, honey, or
sugar--gingerbread.[IV-80]




V.

FRUMENTA.


Do not be alarmed, fair readers, at the Latin noun which heads this
chapter: tolerate it in consideration of our promise seldom to solicit a
like favour. It meant, among the Latins, all the plants which produce
ears of corn,[V-1] the seeds of which can be converted into flour.[V-2]
Clearly there never was a more innocent expression.

_Barley_ seems to claim the first place among cereals of the second
order; the Greeks looked upon it as the happy symbol of fertility,[V-3]
and the ancient inhabitants of Italy gave it a name (_hordeum_) which,
perhaps, recalled to their mind the use mankind made of it before wheat
was known (_exordium_).[V-4]

The Jews had a great esteem for barley, and sacred history generally
assimilates it to wheat, when the fruits of the earth are mentioned.
Thus a beloved spot produces both these plants:[V-5] Shobi offered to
David wheat and barley;[V-6] and Solomon promises twenty thousand sacks
of wheat and as much barley to the workmen charged with cutting down the
cedars of Lebanon.[V-7]

The Greeks and Romans did not carry their love for this grain so far as
the Hebrews. In Rome it was the food of the flocks and cowards.[V-8] In
Lacedæmon and at Athens the gladiators and common people had no other
aliment;[V-9] they made it into barley-gruel (_alphiton_), the
composition of which was very simple, and would not probably tempt a
modern Lucullus. Here is the recipe of this ancient and national dish:--

Dry, near the fire or in the oven, twenty pounds of barley flour, then
parch it. Add three pounds of linseed meal, half a pound of coriander
seed, two ounces of salt, and the quantity of water necessary.[V-10] To
this mixture of ingredients the Italian epicureans added a little
millet, so as to give the paste more cohesion and delicacy.[V-11]

This culinary preparation must appear rather unworthy of those nations
who so completely eclipsed all the gastronomic glories of the universe;
wherefore let us hasten to reinstate them as men of taste and exquisite
intelligence, by citing a more learned combination, which obtained the
judicious patronage of the Archestrates and Apicii:--

Take pearl barley, pound it in a mortar, make use of the flour only, and
put it in a saucepan; pour on it by degrees some of the best oil; with
that certainty which science alone gives to the hand, and stir it
carefully, whilst a slow, equal fire performs the great work of cookery.
Be, above all, attentive to enrich it, at proper intervals, with a
delicate gravy extracted from a young fat chicken or from a succulent
lamb. Unceasingly watch, lest the ebullition, by going on too rapidly,
force this delightful mixture to overflow the side of the vessel; and
when your practised palate informs you that it is worthy of your guests,
present it to their impatient sensuality.[V-12]

So it appears the ancients were acquainted with pearl barley, and barley
water; the latter took the name of diet drink (_ptisana_), which we only
associate with melancholy reminiscences.[V-13] Hippocrates was not only
in raptures with the virtues and properties of this aliment,[V-14] but
he also conferred the highest praise on that sweet and insipid drink,
which our doctors order their patients, as did the oracle of Cos, and
which at that time was called “barley broth.”[V-15]

_Oats_ occupied an honourable place after barley. Pliny fancied these
two plants so analogous, that the owner of a field who had sown barley
might find oats at the time of harvest, whilst precisely the reverse
might happen to his neighbour.[V-16] Nature, in our days, is not subject
to such frolics; and our farmers are tolerably certain that, by care,
labour, and God’s assistance, they will gather from the soil what they
have sown.

“In order to develop a strong flavour of vanille in black oats, wash
this seed, boil it a moment in water, and employ the decoction as you
would potato flour, and it will form excellent creams.

“In Normandy and Lower Britany they make with flour of oats a delicious
soup. The following is the manner they obtain it. They take white oats
and put them in the oven; when sufficiently dried, they are fanned,
cleaned, and carried to a mill, the grinders of which are freshly
sharpened. The miller takes care to hold them a little way off, in order
that they may not crush the grain, and that this last may preserve the
shape of rice; by this means they remove the whole of the
pellicle.”--PARMENTIER.

The Greeks and Romans knew how to appreciate oatmeal:[V-17] they used it
to make a kind of gruel, such as we have already described, and also a
substantial thick milk, which they prepared as we do.[V-18]

_Rice_ was also held in great esteem by them: they considered it as a
food very beneficial to the chest; therefore it was recommended in cases
of consumption, and to persons subject to spitting of blood.[V-19]

_Millet_, so called from the multiplicity of its seeds,[V-20] abounded
more particularly in Gaul, in the time of Strabo.[V-21] Pliny pretends
that no grain swells so much in cooking, and he assures us that sixty
pounds of bread was obtained from a single bushel of millet, weighing
only twenty pounds.[V-22] This naturalist also speaks of another kind of
millet, coming originally from India, and which had only been in
cultivation ten years in Italy. The stalk resembled that of the reed,
and often attained the height of ten feet; its fecundity was such that a
single grain produced innumerable ears of corn;[V-23] therefore, if so
prolific, and capable of making good and economical food, why should it
not be, in 1858, cultivated largely wherever the climate may allow it?

Some writers place _Panic Grass_ among the wheats, because certain
nations made bread of it.[V-24] The higher classes of Rome and Athens
always resisted this bad taste. They preferred spelt, or red wheat, a
super-excellent grain,[V-25] which was much honoured by the Latins, if
we can credit the charming letter, written by Pliny the younger, to
Septilius Clarus, on the occasion of a dinner, where the latter failed
to join the guests. Among other delicate dishes with which he desired to
treat his friend, he had ordered a spelt cake to be made.[V-26] This
same flour was the base of the Carthaginian pudding; which the reader
may taste if he will, here is the recipe:--

CARTHAGINIAN PUDDING.--Put a pound of red wheat flour into water; when
it has soaked some time, place it in a wooden bowl, add three pounds of
cream cheese, half a pound of honey, and one egg; beat this mixture well
together, and cook it on a slow fire in a stewpan.[V-27] Should this
dish not be sufficiently delicate, try the following:--

When you have sifted some spelt flour, put it in a wooden vessel, with
some water, which you must renew twice a day for ten days. At the end
of that time squeeze out all the water, and place the paste in another
vessel; reduce it to the consistence of thick lees, pass it through a
piece of new linen, and repeat this last operation; dry it in the sun,
and then boil it in milk.[V-28]

As regards the exact seasoning of this exquisite Roman dish, it is your
own genius which must inspire you with the proportions.

Let us not omit to notice the _Erupmon_ of the Greeks, the _Irion_ of
the Latins, the _Indian Wheat_ of the moderns. This plant produces a
wholesome and easily digestible food; it was well known in Italy in the
time of Pliny,[V-29] at which period the peasants used to make a crisp
sort of heavy bread, probably somewhat similar to that which is still
used in the south of France.

Since the famine of 1847 great attention has been paid to this flour;
much was imported into England from America, where it is used in
domestic economy; when green, its milky pulp is an excellent food: the
various advantages of this flour, however, are not sufficiently
developed to give all the benefit of its goodness to the world; habit
and prejudice assist materially to prevent its being generally employed.

The Romans also ate it as hasty-pudding, parched or roasted, with a
little salt. A writer equally remarkable for his elegant and easy style,
as well as for the justness of his observations, informs us that, in our
days, the Indian inhabitants of the unfruitful plains of Marwar never
dress Indian corn in any other way.[V-30]

Such are the principal _graminea_ which the ancients thought worthy of
their attention, or allowed to appear on their tables, with more or less
honour according to the degree of esteem in which they were held. It is
probable that the cooks in the great gastronomic period of Rome and
Athens, who knew so well the capricious nature of their masters’
palates,[V-31] had to borrow from magiric chemistry, then so
flourishing, some wonderful means of giving to various kinds of cereals
a culinary value they now no longer possess--what might we not expect
from a Thimbron,[V-32] a Mithoecus,[V-33] a Soterides?[V-34] This latter
performed a feat which does him too much honour to be unnoticed here.

The King of Bithynia, Nicomedes, was taken with a strange, invincible,
and imperious longing which admitted of no delay; he ordered his cook,
Soterides, to be sent for, and commanded him to prepare instantly a dish
of loaches. “Loaches, Sire!” cried the skilful, yet terrified cook; “by
all the gods, protectors of the kingdom, where can I procure these fish
at this late hour of the night?” Kings ill brook resistance to their
will.[V-35] Nicomedes was not celebrated for patience when pressed by
hunger. “Give me loaches, I say,” replied he, with a hollow and terrible
voice; “or else----” and his clear, fearful, pantomimic expression made
the unfortunate cook understand too well that he must either obey or
immediately deliver up his head to the provost of the palace. The
alternative was embarrassing; nevertheless, Soterides thought how to get
out of the scrape. He shut himself up in his laboratory, peeled some
long radishes, and with extraordinary address gave them the form of the
fatal fish, seasoning them with oil, salt, black pepper, and doubtless
several other ingredients, the secret of which the illustrious _chef_
has not handed down to posterity. Then, holding in his hand a dish of
irreproachable-looking fried fish, he boldly presented himself before
the prince, who was walking up and down with hasty strides awaiting his
arrival. The King of the Bithynians ate up the whole, and the next day
he condescended to inform his court that he never had loaches served he
so much liked.[V-36] This digression, which the reader will kindly
pardon, sufficiently shows to what height the art of ancient cookery was
carried, and of which this work will furnish new and abundant proofs.

The cereals having had so much of our attention, we have now to consider
those grains or seeds which serve as the bases or necessary adjuncts to
different dishes.




VI.

GRAINS: SEEDS.


One of the most important was _Mustard_ seed. Pythagoras maintains (and
no one has contradicted his assertion) that this seed occupied the first
rank amongst alimentary substances which exercise a prompt influence on
the brain.[VI-1] Indeed the ancients attributed to it the same qualities
that we do at the present day.

Mustard, according to their opinion, excites the appetite, gives
piquancy to meat, strengthens the stomach, and facilitates digestion. It
is better suited, say they, to bilious constitutions than to lymphatic
persons; and they recommended its use in summer, rather than in
winter.[VI-2]

The good Pliny, always disposed to adopt, without much examination, any
stories, provided they were but slightly exaggerated, was convinced, and
affirms, with his accustomed good humour, that this plant is a sovereign
remedy against the bite of the most venomous serpents: it is only
necessary to apply it to the wound. And, again, if taken inwardly, there
is nothing to fear from the poisonous effects of certain
mushrooms.[VI-3] The doctors of the 19th century are, apparently, little
inclined to adopt the method recommended by the worthy naturalist.

Mustard seed is only mentioned in the Bible as a term of comparison; its
alimentary qualities are nowhere indicated.[VI-4]

The Romans, and other nations after them, fermented this seed in new
sweet wine. It is from this, perhaps, we must seek for the origin of the
word mustard, “_mustum ardens_” (burning wine)[VI-5]; some gastronomic
writers give it another derivation, not generally adopted. This
condiment, say they, was formerly called _sauve_ or _senevé_. It was
only towards the close of the 14th century that this name was changed.
Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, marching against the inhabitants of
Ghent, who had revolted from him, and the city of Dijon having supplied
him for this expedition with a thousand men-at-arms, the prince, in
gratitude, granted to that city, amongst other privileges, that of
bearing his arms, with his motto, “_Moult me tarde_.” The whole of this
was carved on the principal gate of Dijon, but an accident having
destroyed the middle word, the two others _moult tarde_ caused many a
smile at the expense of the Dijonnais; and as they traded in _senevé_
(mustard), this grain was called in derision _moutarde_, when it came
from Dijon, a name it has preserved ever since.[VI-6] If this etymology
is not true, at least it is ingenious.

_Coriander_, amongst the Romans, appears to have possessed the same
property as mustard, that is to say, they considered it was
strengthening and digestive.[VI-7] They employed it also in a very
useful manner during the great heat of summer: they mixed it with
vinegar, after it had been well bruised or pounded, and laid it over any
kind of meat, which this coating preserved in a perfect state of
freshness.[VI-8]

Pliny classifies the bitter seed of the _Lupin_ as a grain pertaining to
that of wheat;[VI-9] and if you soak it, he says, in boiling water, it
becomes so mild that it can be eaten.[VI-10] Zeno, of Citium, was of the
same opinion. This philosopher, with all his wisdom, could not help
showing his bad temper, even towards his best friends at times, but was
very affable after he had quaffed several cups of delicious wine. One
day he was asked for an explanation of this contrast in his temper.
“That is very simple,” he replied; “I am of the same nature as the
lupins: their bitterness is insupportable before they are soaked, but
they are of an exquisite mildness when they have been well
steeped.”[VI-11]

We strongly doubt, nevertheless, whether this plant has ever been
honoured by the patronage of connoisseurs and people of delicate taste;
a very high authority in cookery--Lycophon, of Chalcis--used to say,
with a kind of disdain, that this despicable plant was hardly good
enough for the common fare of the mob, or to feast the guests at a
beggar’s table.[VI-12]

It was principally used as food for cattle, and not without reason, if
it be true that twenty pounds of lupins are sufficient to fatten an
ox.[VI-13]

The lovers of etymology, who may be classified in the family of readers
of logogriphs, were in raptures at finding the following: “The Latin
name of _Lupinus_ has been given to this grain because the lupin wears
out and destroys the land nearly as the wolf destroys and devours the
flocks; whereupon they exclaimed, with pride, ‘_Lupinus à
lupo!_’&nbsp;”[VI-14]

At the period when the gods did not exact much, but were contented with
humble offerings, men placed on the altars loaves made of _Linseed_
meal; a treat the immortals gratefully accepted, though certainly it
would not much tempt us[VI-15] of the present day.

The Asiatics afterwards thought of pounding the linseed, frying it, and
mixing it with honey; these cakes seemed to them too good for their
divinities, so they ate them themselves.[VI-16]

In the time of Pliny, the Lombards and Piedmontese ate this miserable
bread of the gods, and even found in it a most agreeable flavour:[VI-17]
these nations have since improved their taste.

Shall we mention _Hempseed_, the _Cannabis_ of the ancients, which was
served fried for dessert?[VI-18] That hemp should be spun and made into
ropes, well and good; but to regale one’s-self with it after
dinner,--when the stomach is overloaded with food, and hardly moved from
its lethargic quietude by the appearance of the most provoking viands
that art can invent--what depravity! What strange perversion of the most
simple elements of gastronomy!

The Arabs, that wandering nation, who are not yet acquainted with the
roasting-spit, nor the voluptuousness of a delicious repast, formerly
intoxicated themselves with a beverage extracted from linseed;[VI-19]
we, who are in possession of generous wine, let us deplore such
excesses, and not imitate them.




VII.

VEGETABLES.


All nations have sown vegetables, and judged them worthy of their
particular attention; sometimes they have even confounded many of these
plants with the cereals, because they were converted into flour and
bread,[VII-1] especially in time of famine.[VII-2]

After the Deluge, when God made a covenant with Noah he said, with
respect to the food of man:--“Even as the green herb have I given you
all things;[VII-3]” and, subsequently to that epoch, the holy writers
frequently demonstrate, in their simple and interesting style, the
various uses which the Hebrews made of vegetables. Esau, pressed by
hunger, sold his birth-right to Jacob for a dish of lentils.[VII-4]

Among the presents which David received from Shobi, were beans, lentils,
and parched pulse.[VII-5]

The four Hebrew children were fed with vegetables, at the court of
Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon.[VII-6] It is sufficient, we think, to
indicate these passages, without uselessly increasing the number.

The heroes of Homer, those men covered with iron and brass, whose
terrible blows dealt death and desolation, reposed after their exploits,
partaking of a dish of beans or a plate of peas.[VII-7] Happy simplicity
of the Homeric ages! Patrocles peeled onions! Achilles washed cabbages!
and the wise Ulysses roasted, with his own hands, a sirloin of beef!

One day the son of Thetis received under his tent a deputation sent by
the Greeks, to entreat him to be friends with Agamemnon. The young hero,
who could only be accused of a little pride and passion, invited these
worthy personages to dinner, and, with the assistance of his friend,
gave them a magnificent banquet, in which vegetables occupied a most
conspicuous place.[VII-8]

Sixteen Greek authors have devoted their vigils to profound researches
concerning the qualities of these useful plants; their works have not
been transmitted to us, but their names are to be found inscribed in the
gastronomic treasure which Athenæus--that grammarian, philosopher, and
epicurean--has bequeathed to the meditations of posterity.[VII-9]

But it is principally with the Romans that this interesting branch of
the magiric art flourished. They have told us that this great family of
herbs took the name of vegetables (_legumina_), because they were chosen
and picked by the hand;[VII-10] and their most celebrated
horticulturists have prided themselves on the preparation of the ground
to which they were confided, on the attention which they claimed, and on
the Hygeian virtues which experience attributed to them. Heathen
theology, too, consecrated several of them to the solemnities of their
religion, and some nations even considered them worthy of their homage
and the fumes of incense.[VII-11]

Virgil himself seems to regret his inability to sing of gardens and
vegetables. Perhaps a rapid sketch of what the great poet says on this
subject, may not be misplaced here.

    “Si mon vaisseau long-temps égaré loin du bord,
     Ne se hâtait enfin de regagner le port,
     Peut-être je peindrais les Ciens chéris de Flore;
     Le Narcisse en mes vers s’empresserait d’éclore,
     Les roses m’ouvriraient leurs calices brillants,
     Le tortueux concombre arrondirait ses flancs;
     Du persil toujours vert, des pâles chicorées
     Ma muse abreuverait les tiges altérées,
     Je courberais le lierre et l’acanthe en berceau,
     Et du myrthe amoureux j’ombragerais les eaux.”[VII-12]

One more fact will serve to show to what extent the Romans carried their
enthusiastic affection for leguminous plants: we know that illustrious
families did not disdain to borrow their names from them. The
appellations, Fabius, Cicero, and Lentulus, thus enhanced the humble
renown of beans (_faba_), peas (_cicer arietinum_), and lentils
(_lenticula_).[VII-13] The eminent orator we have just named gave the
preference one day to a dish of beet-root, instead of oysters and
lampreys, of which he was passionately fond.[VII-14] It is true that,
since the promulgation of the Licinian law,[VII-15] which allowed but
little meat and plenty of vegetables, the voluptuaries of Rome invented
most astonishing ragouts of mushrooms and pot-herbs. So true is it that
the genius of man develops itself more particularly under difficult
circumstances, and that the art of cookery owes, perhaps, the perfection
and glory which it has attained to the impediments with which its
formidable enemy, frugality, seems always ready to surround it.

Apicius, that profound culinary chemist, who nobly expended immense
treasures in inventing new dishes, and who killed himself[VII-16]
because the remainder of his fortune was not sufficient for him (though
to another it would have seemed magnificent)--Apicius shows us what he
believed to be the most suitable manner of preserving vegetables.
“Choose them,” he says, “before they are perfectly ripe, put them in a
vessel coated with pitch, and cover it hermetically.”[VII-17]

The reader will decide for himself between this process and those which
science has since discovered.

The capitulars (or statutes) of Charlemagne enter, on the subject of
vegetables, into some instructive details. They inform us that lettuces,
cresses, endive, parsley, chervil, carrots, leeks, turnips, onions,
garlic, scallions, and eschalots, were nowhere to be found, except in
the emperor’s kitchen-gardens. Charlemagne had all those vegetables
sold, and derived from them a very considerable revenue.[VII-18]

Anderson makes an observation (under the date 1548), which deserves to
be noticed here, were it only on account of its singularity. “The
English,” says he, “cultivated scarcely any vegetable before the last
two centuries. At the commencement of the reign of Henry VIII., neither
salad, nor carrots, nor cabbages, nor radishes, nor any other
comestibles of a like nature, were grown in any part of the kingdom;
they came from Holland and Flanders.”

According to the author of a project, printed in London in 1723, in
8vo., “for the relief of the poor, and the payment of old debts, without
the creation of new taxes,” Queen Catherine herself could not procure a
salad for her dinner. The king was obliged to send over to Holland for
a gardener to cultivate those pot-herbs, with which England is, perhaps,
better furnished now than any other country in Europe.

Anderson asserts (1660) that cauliflowers were not known in England
until about the time of the Restoration. And, lastly, the author of the
“State of England,” printed in 1768, remarks that asparagus and
artichokes were only introduced a few years antecedent to that date.




VIII.

DRIED VEGETABLES.


BEANS.

This innocent vegetable, which with us certainly awakens no lugubrious
thoughts, was formerly consecrated to the dead. It was offered in
sacrifices to the infernal gods, and its mysterious virtues evoked by
night, spirits, and shadows.[VIII-1] The Flamen of Jupiter could not eat
it, and he was forbidden to touch a bean, or even to pronounce its
name;[VIII-2] for the fatal plant contains a little black spot, which is
no other than a noxious character--a type of death.[VIII-3]

Pythagoras and his followers carefully avoided this dismal food, in the
fear of submitting a father, sister, or beloved wife to the danger of a
cruel mastication;[VIII-4] for who knew where wandering souls might rest
during the course of their numerous transmigrations.

Grave writers say the cause of this abstinence is, that beans are
difficult of digestion; that they stupify those who make use of them as
food; and that hens who eat them cease to lay eggs.[VIII-5] What more
shall we say? Hippocrates, wise as he certainly was, had some of these
strange fears, and he trembled for his patients when beans were in
blossom.[VIII-6]

In spite of such ridiculous prejudices, this plant had numerous and
enlightened defenders. When green, it was served on tables renowned for
delicacies; and, when fully ripe, it frequently replaced both wheat and
other corn.[VIII-7] One of the festivals of Apollo--the
_Pyanepsia_--owed its origin and pomp to the bean. This vegetable then
obtained preeminence over all that were boiled in the saucepan, and
offered to the God of Day and the Fine Arts.[VIII-8] Is it possible to
imagine a more brilliant rehabilitation?

If we are to believe Isidorus, this plant was the first culinary
vegetable of which man made use;[VIII-9] he was, therefore, bound to
preserve a grateful remembrance of it.

King David did not deem it unworthy of him,[VIII-10] and the Prophet
Ezekiel was commanded to mix it with the different grains of which he
made his bread.[VIII-11]

We possess few certain indications proving the different culinary
combinations to which beans gave rise among the ancients. All we know
is, that they ate them boiled,[VIII-12] perhaps with bacon;
raw,[VIII-13] with salt, we should imagine; or fried[VIII-14] with fat,
butter, or oil.

Two kinds especially attracted the attention of true connoisseurs of
that class of _gourmets_ elect, whose palate is ever testing, and whose
sure taste detects and appreciates shades, of almost imperceptible
tenuity--first, the bean of Egypt, recommended for its rich, nutritious,
and wholesome pulp; this bean was also cultivated in Syria and
Cilicia:[VIII-15] and secondly, the Greek bean, which passed at Rome for
a most delicious dish.[VIII-16] Certain gastronomists, however,
preferred another vegetable of which we are going to speak.

Ever since the middle ages the bean has played a very important part in
the famous “Twelfth-night cake,” almost all over Europe. The ephemeral
royalty it bestowed was often sung by the poets, and consecrated in
chronicles. Thomas Randolph informs us that Lady Flemyng was queen of
the bean in 1568.[VIII-17] Some days after the Duke of Guise was
assassinated by Poltrot. History has its puerilities as well as its
great tragedies.

The Spaniards had also their Twelfth-night cake. When John, Duke of
Braganza, had obtained the crown of Portugal (1640), Philip IV. of Spain
informed Count Olivares of the event, and added, as if it were a
consolation for the loss of a kingdom, that this new sovereign was
nothing more than a “king of the bean.”[VIII-18] Philip was mistaken.

These cakes were made in former days nearly in the same manner that we
make them now. Sometimes they contained honey, flour, ginger, and
pepper. One portion was for God, another for the Holy Virgin, and three
others for the Magi; that is to say, they gave all these portions to the
poor.[VIII-19]

In England the cake was often full of raisins, among which one bean and
one pea were introduced.

“Cut the cake,” says Melibœus to Nisa; “who hath the beane shal be
kinge; and where the peaze is, shal be queene.”[VIII-20]

“At the present day the bean is one of the vegetables most cultivated in
Egypt and Italy. At Naples, as in Egypt, they are eaten raw when young,
and the large ones cooked and grilled in the oven. They are publicly
sold already cooked.”--LEMAN.


HARICOTS.

It is well known that Alexander the Great was fond of travelling, and
that he was generally accompanied in his peregrinations by a certain
number of soldiers, who occasionally took for him, on his route, cities,
provinces, and sometimes kingdoms. It happened, one day, that as the
Macedonian prince--worthy pupil of Aristotle--was herbalizing in India,
his eyes fell upon a field of haricots, which appeared to him very
inviting. It was the first time that he had seen this plant, and he
immediately ordered his cook to prepare a dish of them--we do not know
with what sauce; but he thought them good, and, thanks to this great
conqueror, Europe was enriched with a new vegetable.[VIII-21]

Virgil was doubtless ignorant of this noble origin, when he decried
haricots severely, by qualifying them so disgracefully.[VIII-22] It is
true that the lower classes of people, who were very fond of them, did
great injury to their reputation; for things the most exquisite soon
lose their value when they fall within the reach of the vulgar. It is
thus with a pleasing melody--when given up to the barbarous and
melancholy street organs it ceases to charm the ears of drawing-room
fashionables. The same again with a plaintive ballad--it loses its
attraction the moment a street Orpheus begins to murder it with his
Stentorian bawl.

Let it not be thought, however, that the plant of which we speak was
exclusively reserved for the vulgar appetite. Oh, no! the Greeks and
Latins had too much good taste for that. The former allowed it a
distinguished place on their tables, together with figs, and other side
dishes. They only required that haricots should be young, tender, and
green.[VIII-23]

In Rome they were preserved with vinegar and garum; and, prepared in
this manner, they excited the appetites of the guests at the beginning
of the repast.[VIII-24] Moreover, it was admitted that this vegetable
was much more wholesome than beans, that the stomach was less fatigued
by it, and that persons of delicate constitutions might partake of it
without fear. Certain amateurs even pretended that no vegetable was to
be compared to haricots;[VIII-25] but others differed from them on this
point; and the latter, right or wrong, pronounced in favour of peas.


PEAS.

Green peas, we are sorry to say, were not appreciated as they deserved
to be by the Romans.[VIII-26] It was reserved principally for our
century to discover their value, to cultivate them with care, and to
force nature to give them to us before the appointed time. This plant
was hardly known in 1550. Since that period, the gardener, Michaux,
undertook to bring it into repute. For some time in France it was called
only by the name of this worthy man.[VIII-27]

Before that it was an unappreciated vegetable; it came forth, blossomed,
and disappeared, without utility and without renown.

It was not thus with grey peas (_pois chiche_), which flourished at a
very remote period, and are mentioned in the sacred writings.[VIII-28]
The common people of Rome and Greece made them their ordinary food. They
ate them boiled or fried; a rather disagreeable dish, according to the
caustic Martial,[VIII-29] who, however, speaks with disdain of every
kind of peas, in whatsoever manner they may be prepared.

Nevertheless, the satirical humour of this celebrated poet did not
prevent this vegetable from being universally sold; and men, women, and
children regaled, and even gorged, themselves, with fried grey
peas,[VIII-30] or ram peas (_cicer arietinum_), a singular name, for
which they were indebted to the slight asperity remarkable in each of
the grains.[VIII-31]

At the Circus, and in the theatres, they were sold at a low price to the
spectators, whom it seemed impossible to satiate with this delicacy,
although it has so little attraction for us.[VIII-32] In short, the
nation of kings had so decided a taste for grey peas, that those who
coveted public employment did not fail to distribute them gratuitously
to the people, in order to obtain their suffrages.[VIII-33] We must
acknowledge that in those days votes were obtained at a very cheap rate.


LENTILS.

The Egyptians, whose ideas were sometimes most eccentric, imagined it
was sufficient to feed children with lentils to enlighten their minds,
open their hearts, and render them cheerful. That people, therefore,
consumed an immense quantity of this vegetable, which from infancy had
been their principal food.[VIII-34]

The Greeks also highly esteemed this aliment, and their ancient
philosophers regaled themselves with lentils. Zeno would not trust to
any one the cooking of them; it is true that the stoics had for their
maxim: “A wise man acts always with reason, and prepares his lentils
himself.”[VIII-35] We must confess that the great wit of these words
escapes us, although we are willing to believe there is some in them.

However it may be, lentils were abundant in Greece and in the East; and
many persons, otherwise very sensible, maintained, with the most serious
countenance in the world, that they softened the temper and disposed the
mind to study.[VIII-36]

It is hardly necessary to observe that this plant was well known to the
Hebrews. The red pottage of lentils for which Esau sold his
birthright,[VIII-37] the present of Shobi to David,[VIII-38] the victory
of Shammah in the field of lentils,[VIII-39] and, lastly, the bread of
Ezekiel,[VIII-40] sufficiently prove that the Jews numbered this
vegetable as one of those in ordinary use among them.

The Romans had not the same esteem for it as the nations we have
mentioned. According to them, the moisture in lentils could only cause
heaviness to the mind, and render men reserved, indolent, and lazy. The
name of this vegetable pretty well shows, they said, the bad effect it
produces. Lentil derives its origin from the word _lentus_
(slow),[VIII-41] “_Lens a lente_.”

And, as if enough had not been alleged to disgrace this unfortunate
plant, and to give the finish to the ill-fame it had acquired, it was
placed amongst funereal and ill-omened foods. Thus Marcus Crassus,
waging war against the Parthians, was convinced that his army would be
defeated, because his corn was exhausted, and his men were obliged to
have recourse to lentils.[VIII-42]

How was it possible to resist such attacks! The humble plant gave way in
spite of the few flattering words of the poetic Virgil,[VIII-43] and the
assurance of Pliny that this food produced two uncommon
virtues--mildness and moderation.[VIII-44]




IX.

KITCHEN GARDEN.


The art of gardening, which may be called the luxury of
agriculture,[IX-1] was known at the most remote periods.[IX-2] In the
same inclosure was to be found the kitchen garden, orchard, and flower
garden,[IX-3] at a short distance from the habitation of the rich.[IX-4]
Royal hands did not disdain to embellish those spots which afforded a
pleasing retreat, solitude, and repose.

Thus Attalus resigned the cares of his crown to cultivate his little
garden, and sow in it the seeds of his favourite plant.[IX-5]

Babylon, the renowned city of antiquity, was celebrated amongst other
wonders for her gardens suspended in the air; they were partly in
existence sixteen centuries after their erection, and astonished
Alexander the Great[IX-6] by the sublime grandeur of their prodigious
boldness and the rare beauty of their workmanship.

Homer has left us the description of Alcinous’s garden,[IX-7] from which
can be traced the birth of the art of gardening; its luxury consisted in
the order and symmetry of its form, in the richness of its soil, the
fertility of the trees, and in the two fountains which ornamented it. It
was not so with the Romans. Those conquerors of the world displayed
every where pomp and ostentation: Lucullus, Crassus, Pompey, and Cæsar,
filled their gardens with the riches of Asia and the spoils of the
universe.[IX-8]

The serious horticulturist, who wanted a garden for enjoyment, and not
for show, carefully laboured, to see it bring forth fine fruits and
excellent vegetables.[IX-9] Water was properly distributed for
irrigation by means of aqueducts[IX-10] of tiles, wood, or lead
pipes,[IX-11] and everywhere the plants received the necessary
moisture; and clever experienced gardeners were constantly occupied in
improvements suggested by an attentive and skilful master.[IX-12]

The kitchen garden of the ancients contained mostly the vegetables,
herbs, and roots, of which we still make use; but they also cultivated
certain other kinds, which modern cookery has either put aside or rarely
employs. We shall describe all those which appear most worthy of notice.


CABBAGE.

This plant has experienced the fate of a host of human things that have
not been able to bear the weight of a too brilliant reputation. Time has
done justice to the extraordinary qualities attributed to it, and the
cabbage now remains, what it ought always to have been, an estimable
vegetable and nothing more.

The Egyptians adored it, and raised altars to it. They afterwards made
of this strange god the first dish of their repasts, and were imitated
in this particular by the Greeks and Romans, who ascribed to it the
happy quality of preserving from drunkenness.[IX-13] It was more
particularly the red cabbage that obtained these honours and
prerogatives. From Italy the victorious legions introduced it among the
Gauls, as well as the green cabbage; the white species appears to belong
originally to southern countries.

Hippocrates had a peculiar affection for this vegetable. Should one of
his patients be seized with a violent cholic, he at once prescribed a
dish of boiled cabbage with salt.[IX-14] Erasistratus looked upon it as
a sovereign remedy against paralysis. Pythagoras, and several other
learned philosophers, composed books in which they celebrated the
marvellous virtues of the cabbage.[IX-15]

A writer, not less serious than those we have just quoted, the wise
Cato, affirms that this plant infallibly cures all diseases; and
pretends to have used this panacea to preserve his family from the
plague, which, otherwise, would not have failed to reach them. It is to
the use the Romans made of it, he adds, that they were able during six
hundred years to do without the assistance of physicians, whom they had
expelled from their territories.[IX-16] This bold assertion deserved a
little retaliation on the part of the faculty; so they deposed the
cabbage from the rank occupied by it in medicine, and banished it to the
kitchen.

The Athenian ladies formerly partook of the general enthusiasm in favour
of this wholesome vegetable, which was always served to them when a
new-born infant required their maternal love and care.[IX-17]

The ancients were acquainted with three principal kinds of cabbage: the
silken-leaved, the curled, and the hard, round, white cabbage.[IX-18]

Apicius does not busy himself with any one of these varieties in
particular in the various preparations he points out, and which we
submit to the appreciation of connoisseurs:

1st. Take only the most delicate and tender part of the cabbage, which
boil, and then pour off the water; season it with cummin seed,[IX-19]
salt, old wine, oil, pepper, alisander, mint, rue, coriander seed,
gravy, and oil.

2nd. Prepare the cabbage in the manner just mentioned, and make a
seasoning of coriander seed, onion, cummin seed, pepper, a small
quantity of oil, and wine made of sun raisins.[IX-20]

3rd. When you have boiled the cabbages in water, put them into a
saucepan and stew them with gravy, oil, wine, cummin seed, pepper,
leeks, and green coriander.[IX-21]

4th. Add to the preceding ingredients flour of almonds, and raisins
dried in the sun.[IX-22]

5th. Prepare them again in the above manner, and cook them with green
olives.[IX-23]

Who will question the service rendered to the culinary art by
resuscitating these antique dishes, in which the cabbage admits of such
a variety of combinations, and which we owe to the learning and
experience of a man of taste? Whatever may be the opinion of our modern
Trimalcions, we must not forget that this vegetable, prepared according
to the recipe of Apicius, was the delight of the _gourmets_ of Rome more
than eighteen centuries ago.

The Romans brought the red cabbage into Gaul, and the green cabbage
also. White cabbages came from the north, and the art of making them
headed was unknown in the time of Charlemagne.[IX-24]

“In some countries cauliflowers are dried, and the white headed cabbages
are preserved. The first, stripped of their leaves, are cut in slices,
and boiled two minutes in water slightly salted. They are shortly after
withdrawn, and put to drain on hurdles, which are afterwards exposed to
the sun during two or three days. At the expiration of that time the
cauliflowers are placed in an oven half-warm, and are kept there till
the stalks are dry; they are then wrapped in paper to preserve them from
damp. To keep the headed cabbages, divide them in six or eight pieces,
according to size, throw them for an instant in boiling water, then
withdraw and plunge them in vinegar, which from time to time must be
changed, especially at the beginning, taking care to add always a little
salt.”--DUTOUR.


BEET.

Columella pretends that this plant owes its name (_beta_) to its
resemblance to the letter B.[IX-25] We shall leave to the professional
etymologist the trouble of examining whether Columella made a mistake or
not.

The Greeks had two distinct sorts of beet--the black and the pale; they
preferred the latter,[IX-26] especially when it came from Ascrea in
Bœotia.[IX-27] They called this species Sicilian beet; and the
physician Diphilus--who joined to his knowledge of botany that sort of
gastrophagic intuition, that culinary _mens divinior_, whose inspiration
never leads astray--placed it far above the cabbage, notwithstanding the
estimable qualities of this latter vegetable.[IX-28] He recommended it
to be eaten boiled, with mustard, and considers this food as a very
excellent vermifuge.[IX-29]

The beet has not found favour with Martial, who, always caustic and
severe, calls it an insipid dish.[IX-30] This injurious, and perhaps
unjust, epithet would doubtless have exercised a fatal influence upon
the destiny of this most inoffensive of vegetables, if an opponent of
greater weight had not entered the lists against the atrabilarious poet.

We read in Apicius: “Boil, over a slow fire, some very tender white
beet; add leeks, which have been taken from their native soil some days
previous; when all this is cooked put it into a saucepan with pepper,
gravy, and raisin wine; take care that the ebullition be regular, and
serve.[IX-31]

“Or, if you prefer: tie in bundles the beet you have carefully chosen,
wash it, throw in some nitre, and boil it with water; then put it into a
saucepan with sun-raisin wine, pepper, cummin, and a little oil; at the
moment of ebullition add a mixture of gravy and coarsely chopped
walnuts; cover the saucepan for an instant, uncover, and serve.”[IX-32]

The skilful artist is pleased for the third time to mention this
culinary herb; and this is the new preparation which he gives:--

“When you have boiled beet in water until it is tender, add a pulp of
leeks, some coriander, and cummin seed, carefully combined with flour
and sun-made wine; place these different ingredients in a saucepan, and
add gravy, oil, and vinegar.”[IX-33]

By tasting one of these dishes you will be convinced that Martial did
not understand them; or, perhaps, he composed his epigram after dinner.

One species of beet is well known in its two principal varieties, under
the name of beet-root and white-beet. The southern parts of Europe
appear to be the native countries of the beet. It serves as food for
both man and cattle. Sugar is extracted from the root, and potash from
the stalks and leaves.

Beet-root is preserved, after stripping it completely of its leaves, and
the earth which remains on them, in greenhouses, in dry cellars, and
even in trenches covered with earth, in layers, lengthwise, with sand.
They are thus preserved until the following May.

“Beet-root is eaten cooked in ashes or in water, and seasoned in various
ways; they are excellent in salad, either by themselves, or mixed with
endives or dandelion, &c.”--BOSC.


SPINACH.

It does not appear that spinach was known to the Greeks and Romans. Some
authors think that it might be the _chrysolacanon_ of the Greeks,[IX-34]
but it is probable that this was no other than the _orach_;[IX-35]
Beckmann[IX-36] thinks, with several botanists, that this plant came
from Spain; and, indeed, it has been often called the _Spanish
vegetable_.[IX-37]

We only speak of this plant by way of memento, and regret that our
first masters in cookery have not been able to transmit to us the
results of their studies and experience in the preparation of spinach,
whose precocity must always render it valuable to amateurs of vegetable
food.


MALLOWS.

The ancients ate mallows, and recognised in them soothing and softening
qualities.[IX-38] Diphilus of Siphne says that their juice lubricates
the windpipe, nourishes, and is easily digested.[IX-39] Horace praises
this aliment;[IX-40] and Martial, for once just, recommends its
use.[IX-41]

It is true that a passage of Cicero would seem to indicate we know not
what deception, which appeared all at once when eating or after
partaking of mallows;[IX-42] but the Roman orator, perhaps, knew little
of the properties of the plant, which were only described much later by
Pliny the naturalist. The curious may consult on this subject the
twenty-first chapter of the twentieth book of his great work.

At all events mallows were in high renown; they occupied one of the
first ranks among pickles, those famous _acetaria_ which had so powerful
an effect in quickening the appetites of the Greeks, and preparing their
stomachs for great gastronomic struggles.[IX-43] They were served as a
salad. The large-leaved mallow was mixed with œnogarum, pepper,
gravy, and sun-made wine.[IX-44]

The small-leaved mallows were also prepared with œnogarum and gravy;
but instead of pepper and wine, oil and vinegar were added.[IX-45]


ASPARAGUS.

“_Quiconque ne voit guère n’a guère à dire aussi._”[IX-46] But
travellers, those daring pioneers of science, have sometimes, in their
travels, the strange good fortune to behold wonders invisible to other
eyes. Thus some skilful explorators of Africa saw, about the middle of
the second century of the Christian era, in Getulia, asparagus of
excellent quality and of very beautiful growth, being no less than
twelve feet high! It is needless to add that the Libyan vendors rarely
sold them in bundles. But these veridical travellers, on quitting the
plain to ascend the mountains, found something still more wonderful; the
land there seemed to suit these plants still better, for they acquired
the height of twenty cubits.[IX-47] After this, what shall we say of our
European asparagus, so shrivelled and diminutive in comparison with that
of Getulia?

The Greeks, not having any better, contented themselves with the
ordinary sort, such as we have at the present day. They considered it
very useful in the treatment of internal diseases.[IX-48] Diphilus, who
was very fond of it, regrets that this vegetable should be so hurtful to
the sight:[IX-49] is it because we eat asparagus that spectacles have
become necessary at nearly all periods of life?

The Romans cultivated this plant with extreme care,[IX-50] and obtained
the most extraordinary results. At Ravenna, they raised asparagus each
stem of which weighed three pounds.[IX-51]

Then, as in our days, they were allowed but a short time to boil; hence
the favourite expression of Augustus, who, to intimate his wish that any
affair might be concluded without delay, was accustomed to say: “Let
that be done quicker than you would cook asparagus.”[IX-52]

The cooks of Rome had a method which appears to have been subsequently
too much neglected; they chose the finest heads of asparagus, and dried
them. When wanted for the table, they put them into hot water, and then
boiled them a few minutes.[IX-53] Thanks to this simple process the
plant swelled considerably, and passed as being very tender and fine
flavoured.

The Apicii, Luculli, and other connoisseurs of renown, had this
vegetable brought from the environs of Nesis, a city of Campania.[IX-54]

It is asserted that Asia is its native soil, and that it was originally
brought to us from that part of the world. Nevertheless, wild asparagus
grows naturally in certain sandy soils, as, for instance, in the islands
of the Rhône and the Loire.[IX-55]

“When it is found impossible to eat all the asparagus you have cut, and
which has arrived at a convenient maturity, place them by the thick ends
in a vessel containing about two inches of water; or else, bury them
half-way up in fresh sand. By means of these precautions asparagus may
be preserved several days.”--PARMENTIER.


GOURD.

This vegetable, which the wise _gourmet_ is too discreet to despise, and
to which the whimsical fancy of Roman gardeners gave the most grotesque
forms,[IX-56] appears to be the very image of those soft and easy
dispositions who yield to and obey every one, and whose unintelligent
mildness is only repaid with sarcasm or disdain. Observe this creeping
vegetable, left free to grow to its full size, which would sometimes
attain the length of nine feet,[IX-57] and which the will of man was
able to reduce to the slender and tortuous shape of a hideous
dragon.[IX-58] When hardly ripe, it was cut and served on the tables of
the most dainty, where it was eaten with vinegar and mustard, or
seasoned with fine herbs:[IX-59] and whilst the ungrateful guests
savoured the stomachic and nourishing flesh of the gourd,[IX-60] they
did not cease to amuse themselves at the expense of its round and almost
empty body[IX-61]--the proverbial image of a head not over well-provided
with brains.[IX-62]

To the present day even, more than one popular joke continues to pursue
this plant, although its culinary qualities are appreciated as formerly.

We are indebted to India for the seed of the gourd,[IX-63] which the
Greeks designated, according to the species, by the names of Indian and
common gourd. The latter kind was either boiled or roasted; the former
was generally boiled in water.[IX-64] Antioch furnished the finest
specimens to the markets of Athens.[IX-65]

The ancients were acquainted with the manner of preserving this
vegetable in such a state of freshness as to enable them to eat it with
pleasure in the month of January:[IX-66] the method is as follows,--the
gourds were cut in pieces of a moderate size; these pieces, strung like
beads, where first dried in the open air, and then smoked; when winter
arrived, each piece was well washed before putting it into the stewpan,
with the various culinary herbs which the season produced; to this was
added endive, curled cabbage, and dried mushrooms.[IX-67] The rest of
the operation is easily understood. The Romans prepared this vegetable
in different ways: a few of the principal ones will suffice.

1st. Boil the gourd in water, squeeze it out carefully, place it in a
saucepan, and mix some pepper, a little cummin seed, rue, gravy,
vinegar, and a small quantity of wine, reduced to one-half by boiling.
Let the whole stew, and then sprinkle it lightly with pepper, and
serve.[IX-68]

2nd. Boil and carefully squeeze them to extract the water, then put the
gourds into a saucepan with vinegar and gravy; when it begins to simmer,
thicken with fine flour, sprinkle lightly with pepper, and serve.[IX-69]

3rd. Throw some salt on the gourd after it has been boiled, and the
water pressed out of it; put it into a saucepan, with a mixture of
pepper, cummin seed, coriander, green mint, and the root of benzoin; add
some vinegar; then chop some dates and almonds; a little later, more
vinegar, honey, gravy, sun-made wine, and oil; sprinkle lightly with
pepper, and serve.[IX-70]

4th. Put into a stewpan a fowl, with a gourd; add some apricots,
truffles, pepper, cummin, sylphium, mint, parsley, coriander,
pennyroyal, and calamint; moisten with wine, gravy, oil, vinegar, and
honey.[IX-71]

These four recipes are sufficient to prove that this vegetable stood
very high in the estimation of the Romans.


TURNIPS.

The epicureans of Athens preferred turnips brought from Thebes;[IX-72]
Roman gastronomists placed those of Amitermes in the first rank, and
those of Nursia in the second. The kitchen-gardeners of Rome furnished
them with a third variety, to which they had recourse when they could
not procure any other.[IX-73] They were eaten boiled, thus:--after the
water had been extracted from them, they were seasoned with cummin, rue,
and benzoin, pounded in a mortar, adding to it afterwards honey,
vinegar, gravy, boiled grapes, and a little oil. The whole was left to
simmer, and then served.[IX-74]


CARROTS.

The Greeks and Romans planted or sowed them in the beginning of the
spring, or autumn.[IX-75] They distinguished two kinds, the wild and the
cultivated.[IX-76]

This much esteemed root received the honour of being prepared in many
ways. Sometimes it was eaten as a salad, with salt, oil, and
vinegar.[IX-77]

It was also stewed, and mixed afterwards with œnogarum.[IX-78] Again,
they boiled it in a stewpan, over a slow fire, with some cummin and a
little oil, and just before serving it was sprinkled with ground cummin
seeds.[IX-79]


BLIT

(A SORT OF BEET).

Blit is one of the family of _atriplices_, which grows in Europe, and in
the temperate regions of Asia; it owes its ancient reputation entirely
to the insipidity of its flavour, from which it derives its Greek name,
synonymous with stupidity and insignificance.[IX-80] Blit was eaten
boiled, when nothing better was to be had. In fact, it was a last
resource--and nothing more.


PURSLAINE.

This vegetable, the aspect of which would lead us to suppose it
possessed savoury qualities (though experience proves the contrary), was
formerly mixed in different salads, and still enjoys some esteem when
associated with a leg of mutton.[IX-81]

In default of esculent qualities (which it certainly does not possess),
the ancients recognised in purslaine many admirable virtues,[IX-82]
which are not acknowledged in the present day. The internal use of this
plant, also its external application, cured the bite of serpents, wounds
inflicted by poisoned arrows, and infallibly neutralized the effects of
poisonous drinks.[IX-83] But, alas! purslaine is not now what it was
formerly; for it is hardly permitted to appear by the side of one of our
fresh white lettuces.


SORREL.

Sorrel is a polygenous plant, and grows throughout Europe amidst the
grass fields. The Romans cultivated it in order to give it more
vigour,[IX-84] and ate it sometimes stewed with mustard, and seasoned
with a little oil and vinegar.[IX-85]


BROCOLI.

Drusus, son of Tiberius, was so passionately fond of the brocoli, which
Apicius induced him to eat, that he was more than once severely
reprimanded by his father on the subject.[IX-86] It is true that the
celebrated Roman epicurean displayed so much art, and gave such
delicious flavour to it, that this dish alone would have been enough to
establish his reputation. In fact, brocoli has always been appreciated
by connoisseurs; and Glaucias, who passed his life in meditating
seriously on the perfectibility of culinary ingredients, said: “That
nothing could be better than this vegetable, boiled and suitably
seasoned.”[IX-87]

This was the method of preparing it at Rome: they used only the most
tender and delicate parts of the brocoli, which were boiled with that
extreme care the artist always devotes to this first operation; and,
afterwards, when the water had been well drained off, they added some
cummin seed, pepper, chopped onions, and coriander seed--all braised
together, not forgetting, before serving up, to add a little oil and
sun-made wine.[IX-88]


ARTICHOKE.

A young and unfortunate beauty had the ill-luck to displease a
vindictive and irascible god, who instantly metamorphosed her into an
artichoke.[IX-89] This poor girl’s name was Cinara. Although she had
become a bitter plant she preserved this sweet name, which the moderns
have strangely modified. Our readers, who eat artichokes with so much
indifference, will, perhaps, sometimes lament this poor victim of a
blind resentment.

This plant was well known to the ancients; the hilly regions of Greece,
Asia, and Egypt were covered with it;[IX-90] but the inhabitants made no
use of it as an aliment, and it remained uncultivated.[IX-91]

It would be rather difficult to trace the precise period when it was
first introduced into Italy. All we know is, that it grew there more
than half a century before the Christian era, in the time of
Dioscorides, who mentioned it.[IX-92] It appears, nevertheless, that
hardly any one troubled himself about artichokes, or their esculent
qualities, up to that time; but the wealthy, about a century after,
began to appreciate them, and Pliny, in one of his jesting whims,
reproaches the rich with having deprived the lower classes and _asses_
of a food which nature seemed to have destined for them.[IX-93]

This vegetable was then very dear,[IX-94] for it did not succeed, and
was subsequently given up. It was so far forgotten that in the year 1473
it appeared as a novelty at Venice;[IX-95] and towards the year 1465 it
was brought from Naples to Florence, whence it passed into France in the
sixteenth century.[IX-96]

Galen[IX-97] looked upon the artichoke as a bad food.[IX-98] Columella
sung its praise in his verses; he recommended it to the disciples of
Bacchus, and forbid the use of it to those who were anxious to preserve
a sweet and pure voice.[IX-99]

This plant, whatever may be in other respects its estimable qualities,
does not please every one equally well; its bitterness and unpleasant
odour keep it at a distance from numerous palates--perhaps because too
many allow themselves to be prejudiced by deceitful appearances. Here
are two very ingenious methods by means of which a trial might be made
to overcome, or lessen, the defects it undoubtedly has, and which we can
but deplore:--

Artichokes will become mild by taking care to steep the seed in a
mixture of honey and milk.[IX-100] They will then exhale the most
agreeable perfume, particularly when this seed has passed three days in
the juice of bay leaves, lilies, or roses.[IX-101]

Having quoted the authority, we give the recipe for what it is worth.

Until the result of this experiment is known, artichokes may be eaten
raw, with a seasoning of hard eggs chopped in very small pieces, garum,
and oil.[IX-102]

If you prefer a sharper sauce, mix well some green mint with rue, Greek
fennel,[IX-103] and coriander; add, afterwards, some pepper, alisander,
honey, garum, and oil.[IX-104] They are also eaten boiled, with cummin,
pepper, gravy, and oil.[IX-105]

“It is well known under what form artichokes, either raw or cooked,
appear on our tables. The best way to preserve them is to half cook
them, separate the leaves from the fur, and preserve the fleshy part,
called _the bottom_, and throw them, still warm, in cold water, to make
them firm. That operation is called _blanchir_. They are laid afterwards
on hurdles, and put four different times in the oven, as soon as the
bread is taken out. They become then very thin, hard, and transparent,
like horn, and return to their original form in hot water. They must be
kept free from damp.”--PARMENTIER.


POMPION.

Like the gourd, the good and creeping pompion has served more than once
as a term of comparison, and that in a style most humiliating. Should
any one happen to be thick-headed, or not very intelligent,[IX-106] he
was immediately compared to a pompion (popularly, pumpkin--whence
bumpkin). The insult went still further: it was said of a pusillanimous
man, “That he had a pompion where his heart ought to have been.”[IX-107]

The obesity of this vegetable, and its inelegant shape, have doubtless
given rise to these injurious remarks.

It was, however, acknowledged that it possessed many estimable
qualities, which ought to have compensated for its outward defects. It
was thought to be very refreshing, and was employed with success in the
treatment of diseases of the eyes.[IX-108]

We might undertake (if permitted) a long dissertation, in order to prove
that the Hebrews, weary of being in the Desert, murmured because they
were deprived of the pompion of Egypt,[IX-109] and not the melon, as
translators have rendered it; but we should be accused of egregious
presumption; the learned would frown, critics would not spare us, and
our pompions would, nevertheless, pass as melons.

This plant occupies a prominent place in the precious catalogue of Roman
dainties which we offer for the meditation of judges. Here are some of
the ancient modes of preparing this vegetable:

1st. Boil some pompions, put them in a stewpan with cummin and a little
oil; place them for a short time over a slow fire, and serve.[IX-110]

2nd. When you have well boiled, reduce them to a pulp, then put them on
a dish with pepper, alisander, cummin, wild marjoram, onion, wine,
garum, and oil; thicken with flour, and serve.[IX-111]

3rd. When the pompion has boiled in water, it is then seasoned with wild
fennel, sylphium,[IX-112] dried mint, vinegar, and garum.[IX-113]


CUCUMBER.

When the Israelites were in the Desert they regretted much the cucumbers
of Egypt, which were sold to them at a very trifling price when under
the yoke of Pharaoh.[IX-114] We may thence infer that this vegetable was
very plentiful, and chiefly in great demand by the lower order of
people; for as the Jews were in a state of servitude, they were
necessarily assimilated with the most abject of the Egyptians.

We see that this _cucurbitacea_ has been long known, and that, after the
lapse of many centuries, it is held in the same degree of estimation it
enjoyed among the Eastern nations.

The Greeks thought much of the cucumber, particularly of that kind which
came from the environs of Antioch.[IX-115] They attributed to this plant
marvellous properties, which modern scepticism has completely thrown
aside. We think it good in salad, with vinegar, oil, pepper, and salt,
and that is all.

It is, we imagine, the only good quality our farmers ascribe to it at
the present day. Formerly, in Greece, the same class of persons, being
clearer-sighted, or more credulous, were convinced that this vegetable
protected all kinds of seeds against the voracity of insects. To obtain
this result it was only necessary to steep the seed in the juice
obtained from the root of the cucumber, before it was sown.[IX-116]

We freely offer this preservative to those who may wish to give it a
trial, and sincerely hope they may profit by this revival of the Greek
process.

The Romans conceived that this cold and somewhat insipid vegetable (we
beg pardon of its admirers) required a seasoning to heighten its
flavour. No sooner had they transplanted it from Asia into Rome,[IX-117]
than they busied themselves in rendering it worthy of their tables by
various preparations, which may, perhaps, interest the curious.

1st. Scrape the cucumbers, and eat them with œnogarum.[IX-118][W]

Or, prepare the condiment with thyme, wild mint, pepper, and alisander;
to which add, as before, garum, oil, and honey.[IX-120]

2nd. Scrape the cucumbers, and boil them with parsley, seed, gravy, and
oil; thicken, and sprinkle pepper over the dish before serving.[IX-121]

3rd. Again, they may be seasoned with pepper, pennyroyal, honey, or
sun-made wine, gravy, vinegar, and a little sylphium.[IX-122]

4th. You will obtain a most delicate dish by boiling the cucumbers with
brains, already cooked; adding afterwards some cummin, and a little
honey.[IX-123]

The cucumber, although but little nutritious, does not agree with cold
stomachs. In the north an astonishing quantity are consumed. The Poles
ate them at every repast with boiled meat.

“Cucumbers are preserved in a very simple manner. The essential point is
to obtain good wine-vinegar. After having well washed and wiped them,
put them into either white or red vinegar (the colour is better
preserved by using the white); add salt; cover simply the vessel
containing them with a board. The vinegar must always be an inch higher
than the cucumbers, and must be entirely renewed at the end of a
month.”--PARMENTIER.


LETTUCE.

From time immemorial the lettuce has occupied a most distinguished place
in the kitchen garden. The Hebrews ate it, without preparation, with the
Paschal lamb.[IX-124] The opulent Greeks were very fond of the lettuces
of Smyrna,[IX-125] which appeared on their tables at the end of a
repast;[IX-126] the Romans, who at first imitated them, decided, under
Domitian, that this favourite dish should be served in the first course
with eggs,[IX-127] purposely to excite their indomitable appetites,
which three courses (and such courses, ye gods! when compared with ours
of the present day) would hardly satisfy.

The bitter lettuce was sufficient for the frugal Hebrews,[IX-128] but
the delicate epicureans of Athens and Rome were much more particular;
they valued them only when a mild and sweet savour invited the most
rebellious palate, and awakened the slumbering desires of a fatigued
stomach. And what care, what attention, did they not bestow on the
growth and maturity of this cherished plant!

Aristoxenus, a philosopher by profession, an epicurean by taste, had in
his garden a species of lettuce which was the envy of his surrounding
neighbours. The worthy man, rendered happy by their jealous admiration,
went every evening, without fail, to contemplate the small square of
ground which contained his treasure, and sprinkled it carefully with
water, doubtless from a limpid stream. Tush! Water, to moisten the
lettuces of Aristoxenus! No: the philosopher kept in reserve a sweet and
excellent wine to quench the thirst of his plants, and to communicate to
them that delicate perfume and exquisite taste, the mysterious cause of
which baffled the neighbouring gastronomists.

The day after, the arch old man would say, with a roguish smile, that he
was going to gather some relishing green cakes, which the earth prepared
expressly for him,[IX-129] and the simple countrymen were wonder-struck
without understanding the cause.

The lettuce--favourite plant of the beautiful Adonis[IX-130]--possesses
a narcotic virtue, of which ancient physicians have taken notice. Galen
mentions that, in his old age, he had not found a better remedy against
the wakefulness he was troubled with.[IX-131] The biographer of
Augustus informs us that this Emperor, being attacked with hypochondria,
recovered only by the use of lettuces, recommended by Musa, his first
physician;[IX-132] nothing, therefore, is wanting in praise of this
useful plant--literally nothing, since the king of cooks, Cœlius
Apicius, judged it worthy of an honourable place in the immortal book he
has bequeathed to the amateurs of the Archeologico-culinary science of
all ages and all countries.

“Take,” says he, “the leaves of lettuces, let them be boiled with
onions, in water wherein you have put some nitre; take them out, squeeze
out the water, and cut them in small pieces; mix well some pepper,
alisander,[IX-133] parsley seed, dried mint, and onions; put this
mixture to the lettuce, and add to the whole some gravy, oil, and
wine.”[IX-134]

Lettuces may also be eaten with a dressing of gravy and pickles.[IX-135]

Our ancestors served salads with roasted meat, roasted poultry, &c. They
had a great many which are now no longer in vogue. They ate leeks,
cooked in the wood-ashes, and seasoned with salt and honey; borage,
mint, and parsley, with salt and oil; lettuce, fennel, mint, chervil,
parsley, and elder-flowers mixed together. They also classed among their
salads an agglomeration of feet, heads, cocks’ combs, and fowls’ livers,
cooked, and seasoned with parsley, mint, vinegar, pepper, and cinnamon.
Nettles, and the twigs of rosemary, formed delicious salads for our
forefathers; and to these they sometimes added pickled gherkins.[IX-136]


ENDIVE.

Pliny assures us that the juice of this plant, mixed with vinegar and
oil of roses, is an excellent remedy for the head-ache;[IX-137] we leave
to the proper judges a pharmaceutical mixture which does not belong to
our province, and which we only quote _en passant_.

Virgil thought endive bitter,[IX-138] but he did not speak ill of it.
Columella recommended this salad to fastidious and satiated
palates;[IX-139] this is praising it. The Egyptians appreciated its
merits,[IX-140] which the Greeks had too much sense and good taste to
disdain; and the Romans ate it prepared in the following manner:--

Choose some fine endive; wash it well; drain off all the water; add a
little gravy and oil; then chop some onions very small; strew them over
the endive, and add honey and vinegar.[IX-141]

It is understood that the sweet savour of the honey corrects the
bitterness of the plant; but a judicious attention must preside over the
quantity of that substance, for too much or too little might easily
spoil this salad of Apicius.


ONIONS.

Whoever wishes to preserve his health must eat every morning, before
breakfast, young onions, with honey.[IX-142] Such a treat is assuredly
not very tempting: besides, this rather strong vegetable leaves after it
a most unpleasant perfume, which long reminds us of its presence;
wherefore this recipe has not met with favour, and, indeed, it is much
to be doubted whether it will ever become fashionable.

Alexander the Great found the onion in Egypt, where the Hebrews had
learned to like it.[IX-143] He brought it into Greece, where it was
given as food to the troops, whose martial ardour[IX-144] it was thought
to excite.

Pliny assures us that Gaul produced a small kind, which the Romans
called Gallic onions, and which they thought more delicate than those of
Italy.[IX-145] At any rate, it was a dish given up to plebeians and the
poor. Horace opposed to it fish--the luxurious nourishment of rich and
dainty Romans.[IX-146] In spite of this reprobation on the part of the
elegant poet, Apicius does not fear to introduce the plant in his _Olus
Molle_, a kind of _Julienne_, not devoid of merit.

Take onions, rather dry, and mix pepper, alisander, and winter-savory,
to season a variety of vegetables previously boiled in water and nitre,
the which, when very fine, thicken with cullis, oil, and wine.[IX-147]


LEEKS.

This vegetable--a powerful divinity, dreaded among the
Egyptians,[IX-148] and a food bewailed by the Israelites in their
journey through the Desert[IX-149]--cured the Greeks of numerous
diseases, which in our days it is to be feared would resist its
medicinal properties.[IX-150] Everything changes in this sublunary
world, and the leek no doubt follows the common law.

The authors of a compilation rather indigestible at times, but often
very curious, assert that this vegetable attains an extraordinary size,
by putting as many of the seeds as one can take up with three fingers
into a piece of linen, which is then to be tied-up, covered with manure,
and watered with care. All these seeds--so they say--will at last form
themselves into one single seed, which will produce a monstrous
leek.[IX-151]

This process, which is revealed to us by the geoponics, would have had
an enthusiastic reception from those fervent pagans who vied in zeal
with each other, to see who could offer Latona, on the day of the
Theoxenias, the most magnificent leek.[IX-152]

The mother of Apollo received this plant with pleasure, although
presented to her quite raw; but she would probably have preferred it
dressed in the following manner:--

Take leeks, the mildest it is possible to procure; boil them in water
and oil, with a handful of salt, and put them into a dish, with gravy,
oil, and wine.[IX-153]

Or, cover the leeks with young cabbage leaves; cook them under the hot
embers, and season afterwards as above.[IX-154]


MELON.

This _cucurbitacea_, the most delicate vegetable belonging to this
numerous family, has always been the delight of the inhabitants of the
East and of Europe. It came originally from the most temperate regions
of Asia; the chivalric Baber made it known to his Hindoo
subjects;[IX-155] and the Romans introduced it into the west, at the
time of their first expedition against the Persians. Melons had a
prodigious success at Rome, and soon became a necessity with which the
wealthy could not dispense. The Emperor Tiberius, that cruel and
covetous prince,[IX-156] liked them so much that they were served to him
every day throughout the year.

The Greeks, whose ingenious and lively imagination mingled with
everything the sweet perfume of flowers, contrived to place the seeds of
melons in vessels full of rose leaves, with which they were afterwards
sown. They maintained that, when at maturity, this cool and refreshing
vegetable was impregnated with sweet emanations, and that its flavour
called to mind its sweet and delicious abode with the queen of
flowers.[IX-157]

Sometimes also they macerated the seeds in milk and honey. Not only
melons, but all the _cucurbitaceæ_ were treated in this manner, when it
was wished to communicate to them a milder flavour.[IX-158]

In pointing out these processes in use among the ancient
horticulturists, we do not at all pledge ourselves for their efficacy.
However, it must be acknowledged that they exhibit a singularly
praiseworthy emulation, which has perhaps prepared the way for the
wonders with which our modern gardeners have made us familiar.

Independently of its exquisite flavour, the melon passed, among the
Greeks and Romans, as being very beneficial to the stomach and
head.[IX-159] It is possible that they may have gone a little too far;
but then man is so ready to give imaginary qualities to what he loves,
that we cannot wonder at their praises of this delicious plant, which we
generally eat in the most simple manner, without any other seasoning
than a little sugar, sometimes with salt and pepper. Not so with the
Romans; their practised palates required a more exquisite combination;
they, therefore, added to it a sharp savoury sauce--a compound of
pepper, pennyroyal, honey, or sun-made wine, garum, vinegar, and
sylphium.[IX-160]

Melons were not known in central or northern Europe until the reign of
Charles VIII., King of France, who brought them from Italy.[IX-161]


RADISH.

Amongst other singularities which abound in the Talmud, the curious can
but have remarked the following:

Judea formerly produced kitchen garden plants so large, that a fox
bethought himself to hollow a radish, and make it his residence. After
he had removed, this new kind of lair was discovered; it was put into a
scale, and found to weigh nearly one hundred pounds.[IX-162]

It is a pity that no one preserved the seed of so remarkable a
vegetable, which no doubt was only to be found in Judea.

The Greeks had very fine radishes, but they were not of such a
surprising size. They procured them from the territory of
Mantinea.[IX-163] Mount Algidea also furnished the Romans with an
excellent kind,[IX-164] but which they esteemed less highly than those
of Nursia,[IX-165] in the country of the Sabines. These latter cost
about threepence a pound in the time of Pliny; they were sold for double
that sum when the crop was not abundant.[IX-166]

Writers of antiquity notice three distinct kinds of radishes: the large,
short, and thick; the round; and the wild.[IX-167] They fancied that, at
the end of three years, the seed of this plant produced very good
cabbages,[IX-168] which must have been rather vexatious, at times, to
honest gardeners who might have preferred radishes.

In times of popular tumult this root was often transformed into an
ignominious projectile, with which the mob pursued persons whose
political opinions rendered them obnoxious to _the majority_, as we
might say in the present day.[IX-169] As soon as calm was
re-established, the insulting vegetable was placed in the pot to boil,
and afterwards eaten with oil and a little vinegar.[IX-170]

The Romans preserved radishes very well, by covering them with a paste
composed of honey, vinegar, and salt.[IX-171]


HORSE-RADISH.

“By Apollo!” cried, mournfully, a philanthropic and gastronomic Greek,
“one must be completely mad to buy horse-radish, when fish can be found
in the market.”[IX-172] So thought the philosopher Amphis. And at Rome,
as in Greece, this reviled and despised root hardly found a place on the
table of the poor, when anything else could be had.

There were several serious causes for this fatal proscription: this
plant was found to be bitter, stringy, and of difficult
digestion;[IX-173] it was looked upon as a very common food;[IX-174] the
lowest class alone dared to feed upon it; the opulent were therefore
compelled to exclude it from the number of their dishes. And again,
certain strange customs, authorised by the Roman law, contributed
greatly to make the horse-radish an object of horror and detestation; so
true it is, that the manner in which objects are associated with our
ideas determines almost invariably our love or hatred for them.

Nevertheless, all the species of this vegetable (and there were five in
number, distinctly mentioned by Theophrastus[IX-175]) ought not to have
been condemned so severely. The Corinthian, the Leiothasian, the
Cleonian, the Amorean, and the Bœotian, were so many distinct and
separate species, each of which possessed its own peculiar property and
quality.[IX-176] The last-named, with its large and silky leaves, was
tender, and had a sweet, agreeable taste.[IX-177] The others, not so
good, perhaps, were wholesome and nourishing, and their natural
bitterness never failed to disappear, when the seeds were allowed to
soak for some time in sweet or raisin wine before they were
sown.[IX-178]

Shall we now mention the properties the horse-radish possessed, and
which ought to have been sufficient to establish its reputation, if
prejudice were not both deaf and blind?

Take, fasting, some pieces of this beneficent and despised root, and the
most inveterate poisons will be changed for you into inoffensive
drinks.[IX-179]

Would you have the power to handle and play with those dangerous
reptiles whose active venom causes a speedy and sure death? Wash your
hands in the juice of horse-radish.[IX-180]

Do you seek an efficacious remedy for the numerous evils which besiege
us unceasingly? Take horse-radish,--nothing but horse-radish.[IX-181]

It is true that this incomparable root attacks the enamel of the teeth,
and, indeed, soon spoils them;[IX-182] but why should we be so
particular when so many marvellous properties are in question?

As to its culinary preparation, Apicius recommends us to serve it mixed
with pepper and garum.[IX-183]


GARLIC.

Garlic was known in the most remote ages. It was a god in Egypt.[IX-184]
The Greeks held it in horror. It was part of their military food--hence
came the proverb, “Eat neither garlic nor beans;” that is to say,
abstain from war and law.[IX-185] There was a belief that this plant
excited the courage of warriors; therefore, it was given to cocks to
incite them to fight. The Greek and Roman sailors made as great a use of
it as the soldiers,[IX-186] and an ample provision was always made when
they set out on any maritime expedition.[IX-187] It was a prevailing
opinion that the effects of foul air were neutralized by garlic; and it
was, no doubt, this idea which made reapers and peasants use it so
lavishly.[IX-188]

However, the taste for this vegetable was not always confined to the
people, in the southern countries of Europe; it gained, at times, the
high regions of the court. It is reported that, in 1368, Alphonso, King
of Castile, who had an extreme repugnance to garlic, instituted an order
of knighthood; and one of the statutes was, that any knight who had
eaten of this plant, could not appear before the sovereign for at least
one month.[IX-189]

The priests of Cybele interdicted the entry of the temple of this
goddess to persons who had made use of garlic. Stilphon, troubling
himself very little about this interdiction, fell asleep on the steps of
the altar. The mother of the gods appeared to him in his dream, and
reproached him with the little respect his breath disclosed for her. “If
you wish me to abstain from garlic,” replied Stilphon, “give me
something else to eat.”[IX-190]

The ancients, great lovers of the marvellous, believed that this
despised vegetable possessed a sovereign virtue against the greater
number of diseases,[IX-191] and that it was easy to deprive it of its
penetrating odour by sowing and gathering it when the moon was below the
horizon.[IX-192]

The Greek and Roman cooks used it but very seldom, and it was only
employed as a second or third-rate ingredient in some preparations of
Apicius which we shall hereafter mention.

“Garlic is called the physic of the peasantry, especially in warm
countries, where it is eaten before going to work, in order to guarantee
them from the pernicious effects of foul air. It would be too long were
we to relate all that has been written in favour of this vegetable; let
it suffice to say that it is employed in numerous pharmaceutical
preparations, and among others in vinegar, celebrated by the name of
_aromatic_ vinegar.”--BOSC.


ESCHALOTS.

Alexander the Great found the eschalot in Phœnicia, and introduced it
into Greece. Its Latin name, _Ascalonica_, indicates the place of its
origin, Ascalon, a city of Idumea.[IX-193] Its affinity with garlic set
the ancients against its culinary qualities, and this useful plant, too
much neglected, only obtained credit in modern times.


PARSLEY.

Hercules, the conqueror of the Nemæan lion, crowned himself with
parsley; a rather modest adornment for so great a hero, when others, for
exploits much less worthy, were decked with laurels. A similar crown
became, subsequently, the prize of the Nemæan[IX-194] and Isthmian
Games.[IX-195]

Anacreon, that amiable and frivolous poet, who consecrated all his
moments to pleasure, celebrates parsley as the emblem of joy and
festivity;[IX-196] and Horace, a philosophic sensualist of the same
stamp, commanded his banquetting hall to be ornamented with roses and
parsley.[IX-197]

Perhaps it was thought that the strong, penetrating odour of parsley
possessed the property of exciting the brain to agreeable imaginations;
if so, it explains the fact of its being worn by guests, placed round
their heads.

Fable has made it the food of Juno’s coursers.[IX-198] In battle, the
warriors of Homer fed their chargers with it;[IX-199] and Melancholy,
taking it for the symbol of mourning, admitted it at the dismal repasts
of obsequies.[IX-200]

Let us seek to discover in this plant qualities less poetic and less
brilliant, but, assuredly, more real and positive. In the first place:--

Wash some parsley with the roots adhering; dry it well in the sun; boil
it in water, and leave it awhile on one side; then put into a saucepan
some garlic and leeks, which must boil together a long time, and very
slowly, until reduced to two-thirds--that done, pound some pepper, mix
it with gravy and a little honey, strain the water in which the parsley
was boiled, and pour it over the parsley and the whole of the other
ingredients. Put the stewpan once more on the fire, and serve.[IX-201]

The following recipe is much less complicated and more expeditious:--

Boil the parsley in water, with nitre; press out all the water; cut it
very fine; then mix, with care, some pepper, alisander, marjoram and
onions; add some wine, gravy, and oil; stew the whole, with the parsley,
in an earthen pot or stewpan.[IX-202]

If the illustrious pupil of Chiron, the warlike Achilles, had known the
culinary properties of parsley as well as he knew its medicinal virtues,
he no doubt would have been less prodigal with it for his
horses;[IX-203] and the conquerors of Troy would have comforted
themselves, during the tediousness of a long siege, by cooking this
aromatic plant, and enjoying a new dish.

Parsley, according to some writers, was of Egyptian origin; but it is
not known who brought it into Sardinia, where it was found by the
Carthaginians, who afterwards made it known to the inhabitants of
Marseilles.


CHERVIL.

This plant, which Columella has described,[IX-204] furnished a relishing
dish, prepared with gravy, oil, and wine; or served with fried
fish.[IX-205] At the present day it is highly commendable in salad.


WATER-CRESSES.

The water-cress, the sight alone of which made the learned Scaliger
shudder with terror, is supposed to be a native of Crete. It was,
doubtless, the cresses of Alen (Suabia), which are cultivated in our
gardens, and not those commonly found in brooks and springs.

The Persians were in the habit of eating them with bread:[IX-206] they
made, in this manner, so delicious a meal, that the splendour of a
Syracusan table would not have tempted them.[IX-207] This is one of
those examples of sobriety which may be admired, but are seldom
followed.

Plutarch did not share the opinion of the Persians, but scornfully
ranked cresses amongst the lowest aliments of the people.[IX-208]
Nevertheless, the Romans, as well as the Greeks, granted to this
cruciform plant a host of beneficent qualities, and among others, a
singularly refreshing property. Refreshing! to say the truth, it
refreshes much in the same way that mustard and pepper do.[IX-209]
Boiled in goat’s milk, it cured thoracic affections;[IX-210] introduced
into the ears, it relieved the toothache:[IX-211] and finally, persons
who made it their habitual food found their wits sharpened and their
intelligence more active and ingenious.[IX-212]

However, it does not appear that cresses ever enjoyed, in Rome or
Athens, a culinary vogue equal to their officinal reputation; it was
said that its acrid taste twisted the nose,[IX-213] and this coarse jest
naturally did it harm to a certain degree with the rich and delicate. Be
that as it may, those who dared, ate it dressed in the following
manner:--

With garum, or oil and vinegar;[IX-214] or with pepper, cummin-seed, and
lentiscus (leaves of the mastic-tree).[IX-215]

The water-cress _par excellence_ grows in springs, rivulets, and
ditches, in Europe. Its piquant taste is rather agreeable; it is eaten
as a salad or seasoning, with poultry and other roasted meat. This plant
increases the appetite, fortifies the stomach, and possesses
anti-scorbutic qualities.

A great consumption is made of it in certain countries. It is cultivated
in running waters, either in gardens, or sown in the shade, where it is
watered abundantly. The less it sees the sun, the softer it is.--BOSC.




X.

PLANTS USED IN SEASONING.


We will point out, as briefly as possible, those plants mostly used in
the kitchens of the ancients to heighten the flavour of their dishes, or
to give them a particular taste, according as the dish or fancy might
require it. In them especially lies the secret of those _irritamenta
gulæ_, or excitements of the palate, which Apicius brought so much into
fashion.


POPPY.

The seed of this plant was offered, fried, at the beginning of the
second course, and eaten with honey.[X-1] Sometimes it was sprinkled on
the crust of a kind of household bread, covered with white of eggs.[X-2]
Some of it was also put into the panada, or pap, intended for
children[X-3]--perhaps to make them sleep the sooner.


SESAME.

This seed was used in nearly the same manner as the poppy, and it
occupied a distinguished rank among the numerous dainties served at
dessert.[X-4] Certain round and light cakes were covered with this
seed.[X-5] The Romans brought sesame from Egypt.[X-6]


SOW-THISTLE.

This plant furnished a kind of milk, which was sometimes drunk:
sometimes various kinds of meat were seasoned with it.[X-7] It was
afterwards given up to rabbits, and there is every probability that they
will retain undisputed possession of it.


ORACH.

Few vegetables have been more exposed to injurious accusations.
Pythagoras reproaches it with causing a livid paleness, dropsy, and the
scrofula, in those persons who eat it.[X-8] Nevertheless, a greedy
curiosity introduced it into the catalogue of culinary preparations, and
the guests of Apicius tasted more than once the fatal orach without
knowing its pernicious properties. History does not say that they
suffered any pernicious effects from it.

This plant is also eaten like spinach, and mixed with sorrel to soften
its acidity.--BOSC.


ROCKET.

Persons about to undergo the punishment of the whip were recommended to
swallow a cup of wine, in which rocket had been steeped. It was asserted
that this draught rendered pain supportable.[X-9] And again, that this
plant, taken with honey, removed the freckles which sometimes appear on
the face.[X-10]

Whatever may be the degree of credence accorded to these two recipes,
this vegetable enjoyed some reputation among the ancients, who mixed the
wild and the garden rocket together, so as to temper the heat of the one
by the coldness of the other.[X-11]


FENNEL.

It was employed but seldom in the preparation of dishes or pastry; but
it was believed that the juice of its stalk had the property of
restoring or strengthening the sight.[X-12]


DILL.

This plant, which, according to the ancients, weakened the eyes,[X-13]
was much renowned for its exquisite odour,[X-14] and its stomachic
qualities.[X-15] A much-admired perfume[X-16] was made from it; it
produced an agreeable sort of wine or liqueur;[X-17] and a small number
of choice dishes, for the enjoyment of connoisseurs, owed to it the
reputation they had acquired.[X-18]


ANISE-SEED.

The production of an umbelliferous plant, which grows wild in Egypt, in
Syria, and other eastern countries. Pliny recommends it to be taken in
the morning, with honey and myrrh in wine:[X-19] and Pythagoras
attributes to it eminent Hygeian properties, whether eaten raw or
cooked.[X-20]


HYSSOP.

The Greeks, the Romans--and before them, the nations of the
east[X-21]--believed that hyssop renews and purifies the blood. This
plant, mixed with an equal quantity of salt, formed a remedy much
extolled by Columella.[X-22] It was crushed with oil to make a liniment,
used as a remedy for cutaneous eruptions.[X-23] An excellent liqueur
was obtained from it, known under the name of hyssop wine;[X-24] and
lastly, this plant was used in a number of dishes, which it rendered
more wholesome and refreshing.


WILD MARJORAM.

Nearly the same qualities were attributed to this herb as to
hyssop;[X-25] and it was employed still more frequently in the
composition of the most delicate condiments. Dioscorides[X-26] and
Cato[X-27] make copious remarks on a much-esteemed liqueur, which they
called wild marjoram wine.


SAVORY.

An odoriferous herb, which entered into the seasoning of nearly every
dish.[X-28]


THYME.

Besides the various culinary purposes for which the ancients used this
plant, they, like ourselves, extracted from thyme aromatic
liqueurs,[X-29] the preparation of which will be given in another part
of this work.


WILD THYME.

We find it rarely spoken of by magiric writers. Pliny believes it to be
most efficacious against the bite of serpents.[X-30]


SWEET MARJORAM.[X-31]

Was much employed in the Isle of Cyprus; very little, if at all, in
Rome, where they knew little more of sweet marjoram than the oil
extracted from it.[X-32]


PENNYROYAL.

The ancients entwined their wine caps with pennyroyal,[X-33] and made
crowns of it, which were placed on their heads during their repasts, by
the aid of which they hoped to escape the troublesome consequences of
too copious libations.[X-34] On leaving the table, a small quantity of
this plant was taken, to facilitate digestion.[X-35]

Pennyroyal occupied, also, an important place in high gastronomic
combinations.


RUE.

The territory of Myra, a city of Lycia, produced excellent rue.[X-36]
Mithridates looked upon this vegetable as a powerful
counter-poison;[X-37] and the inhabitants of Heraclea, suspicious--and
with reason--of the villany of their tyrant, Clearchus, never stirred
from their dwellings without having previously eaten plentifully of
rue.[X-38] This plant cured also the ear-ache;[X-39] and to all these
advantages, it joined that of being welcomed with honour on all festive
occasions.[X-40]


MINT.

There was formerly--no matter where or when--a beautiful young girl, who
was changed into this plant through the jealous vengeance of
Proserpine.[X-41] Thus transformed, she excited the appetite of the
guests, and awakened their slumbering gaiety.[X-42] Mint prevented milk
from curdling, even when rennet was put into it.[X-43]


SPANISH CAMOMILE.

The Romans sometimes mixed with their drink the burning root of the
Spanish camomile;[X-44] and we are astonished at meeting with the name
of this formidable plant among the ingredients of some of their dishes.


CUMMIN.

The condiments prepared with cummin had a very great reputation; and
culinary authors frequently mention this vegetable, which the Greeks and
Romans invariably used.[X-45]


ALISANDER.

The same might be said of alisander, which, in the time of Pliny, passed
as an universal remedy,[X-46] and which Apicius honours by naming in
many of his dishes.


CAPERS.

Young buds of the caper tree, a shrub--native of Asia, where the species
are in great varieties. It was but little thought of at the tables of
the higher classes, and therefore was left to the people.[X-47]

The buds of the caper are gathered, and thrown into barrels filled with
vinegar, to which a little salt is added; then, by means of several
large sieves made of a copper plate, rather hollow, and pierced with
holes of different sizes, the different qualities are separated, and
classed under different numbers. The vinegar is renewed, and the capers
are replaced in the barrel, ready for exportation.


ASAFŒTIDA.

This plant, which we have excluded from our kitchens, and whose nauseous
smell is far from exciting the appetite, reigned almost as the chief
ingredient in the seasoning of the ancients. Perhaps they cultivated a
kind which in no way resembled that of modern times. If it were the
same, how are we to explain the extreme partiality which Apicius shows
for it? and which he says must be dissolved in luke-warm water, and
afterwards served with vinegar and garum.[X-48]

It is certain that the resin drawn by incision from the root of this
plant is still much esteemed by the inhabitants of Persia and of India;
they chew it constantly, finding the odour and taste exquisite.

“The neck of the root is cleared of the earth it is covered with, and
replaced by a handful of herbs. At the end of forty days the summit of
the root is out transversely; then a small bundle of herbs is laid over,
so as not to touch it. A whitish liquor exudes from the cut, and every
other day it is gathered; the cut is renewed until the root is quite
exhausted. The result of this crop is laid on leaves, and dried in the
sun.”--BOSC.


SUMACH.

The Romans made use of the seed to flavour several kinds of
dishes.[X-49]


GINGER.

This root was known at Rome under the Emperors, and many persons have
confounded ginger with pepper, although they in no way resemble each
other. Pliny refutes this error, and represents it as a native of
Arabia.[X-50] It was used with other condiments.[X-51]

“The Indians grate this root in their broth or _ragoût_; they make a
paste which they believe is good against the scurvy. The inhabitants of
Madagascar eat it green, in salad, cut in small pieces, and mixed with
other herbs, which they season with salt, oil, and vinegar. In other
places ginger is taken infused as a drink; it fortifies the chest, and
awakens the appetite. It is preserved in sugar after it has been
stripped of its bark, and soaked in vinegar. Delicious preserves are
made of it with much perfume, and which keep a very long
time.”--DUTOUR.


WORMWOOD.

The Egyptians had a great respect for the wormwood of Taposiris,--no
doubt on account of the medicinal properties which physicians attributed
to it.

Heliogabalus often regaled the populace with wormwood wine,[X-52] and
the Romans gave it to the victorious charioteers. Pliny thinks this
plant so salutary that nothing more precious could have been presented
to them.[X-53] This explanation appears to have had but little
plausibility, and it has been more rationally supposed that this liquor
prevented or counteracted any giddiness they might feel. “You can cure
yourself of dizziness,” says Strabo, “with the bitter leaf of
wormwood.”[X-54]

The Roman wormwood wine was composed in the following manner:

They bruised one ounce of this vegetable, and mixed it with three
scruples of gum, as much spikenard, six of balm, and three scruples of
saffron; to which was added eighteen _setiers_, or 180 gallons English,
of old wine. This mixture was left to stand some time, but was not
heated or subjected to any other process.[X-55]

In pharmacy, wine is made of wormwood; also a syrup, a preserve, an
extract, oil by infusion, an essential oil, and wormwood salt. It is
supposed that several brewers on the Continent substitute the leaves and
flowers of this plant for hops, in the manufacture of beer. It is,
perhaps, a calumny, and we only repeat it in a whisper.

“The leaves of wormwood are used in salad to make it more digestible and
heighten the flavour. They are preserved in vinegar, and to season
dishes. Lastly, they are considered by some persons as a remedy, and the
frequent use of them to be indispensable for the preservation of their
existence.”--BOSC.

       *       *       *       *       *

In concluding this chapter, it will be necessary to anticipate a
question which naturally presents itself: did the Romans know the art of
forcing fruits, and of procuring, at one season, the various vegetables
or plants which belong to another period of the year?

Some verses from Martial will leave no doubt on the subject:--

“Whoever has seen the orchards of the King of Corcyrus (Alcinous), dear
Entellus, must have preferred thy rural habitation. Thou knowest how to
preserve from the rigours of winter the purple grapes of thy vine bower,
and prevent the cold frost from devouring the gifts of Bacchus. Thy
grapes live enclosed under a transparent crystal, which covers without
concealing them.

“What can avaricious nature refuse to the industry of man? Sterile
winter is constrained to give up the fruits of autumn.”[X-56]

This curious passage gives us to understand that the Romans had
hot-houses and, no doubt, glass bells in their orchards and gardens, to
bring sooner to maturity some of those productions of the earth which,
by their delicate flavour and perfume, raised the insatiable desires of
a people, decidedly the greatest epicureans ever known in the history of
gastronomy to the present day.




XI.

FRUITS.


When the Creator placed the first man in the Garden of Eden, he
commanded him to nourish himself with the fruit it contained;[XI-1] and,
from that epoch, the most ancient which the sacred work records, this
kind of aliment is incessantly mentioned in the history of all nations,
and at every period of their history.

The great Hebrew legislator seems to have considered fruit trees worthy
of his especial care, for he forbad the Jews to cut them down, even on
their enemies’ lands;[XI-2] and, in order to teach his people how to
preserve them in all their vigour, he declares the fruits of the first
three years impure, and consecrates to the Lord those of the
fourth.[XI-3] He even goes further; he exempts from military service any
one who has planted a vineyard, and all fruit trees conferred the same
privilege until the first vintage.[XI-4]

Heathen nations also understood the importance of this branch of
agriculture, and invented protective divinities--such as Pomona,[XI-5]
Vertumnus,[XI-6] Priapus[XI-7]--whose sole care consisted in protecting
orchards from the inclemency of the seasons, and dispelling insects and
robbers, who would damage and plunder the crops.

Each kind had, moreover, a benevolent patron, who could not honestly
refuse to be useful to it: thus the olive tree grew under the auspices
of Minerva;[XI-8] the Muses cherished the palm tree;[XI-9] the pine and
its cone were consecrated to the great Cybele;[XI-10] Bacchus
complacently ripened the perfumed pulp of the fig[XI-11] and the rosy
grape,[XI-12] which placed him on a level with the gods.

Among the Greeks, fruits appeared on table at the second course;[XI-13]
and were eaten either cooked, raw, or in the form of preserves.

The Romans sometimes breakfasted on a small quantity of dried
fruits;[XI-14] but the third course of their _cœna_, or principal
repast, offered an incredible profusion of the productions of their own
orchards, and of those of three parts of the world.[XI-15]

Rich patricians, after they had exhausted all the immense resources of
an incredible luxury--in their garments, habitations, and
banquets--contrived to plant fruit trees on the summit of high towers,
and on the house tops;[XI-16] thus suspending forests over their
heads,[XI-17] as well as vast reservoirs, to keep alive the most
exquisite fish.[XI-18]

At Rome they had an expensive, but, as they thought, effective process
of preparing pears, apples, plums, figs, cherries, &c., &c., and which
was as follows:--

The fruit was chosen with great care, and put, with the stalks attached,
into honey, leaving to each one sufficient space to prevent their
touching each other.[XI-19]

Our housewives of the 19th century may, perhaps, be curious to try this
Roman experiment, if the quantity of honey which it requires does not
frighten them.




XII.

STONE FRUIT.


OLIVE TREE.

Throughout antiquity we find the olive tree acknowledged as something
venerable and holy, and taking precedence of all other trees, even the
most useful on account of their nourishing fruits, or the refreshing
drink they furnished. The wise Minerva gave it birth;[XII-1] and its
foliage, which adorned the brows of the goddess,[XII-2] served,
thenceforth, to crown victory,[XII-3] or to give rise to the sweet hopes
of peace.[XII-4] A green bough of olive rendered the suppliant
inviolable.[XII-5] The deadly arrows of Hercules were made of its
wood.[XII-6] From it princes borrowed their sceptre[XII-7] and the
shepherd his crook.[XII-8]

If, abandoning mythological fictions which surround the olive with a
charming but false poetry, we interrogate history for more certain
information concerning this revered tree, we shall find that Diodorus,
of Sicily, informs us Minerva discovered and made known to the Athenians
its useful qualities.[XII-9] And a writer, in whose possession the most
ancient records in the world were found--Moses--who has recounted the
birth of vegetation,[XII-10] tells us also of a patriarch pouring
purified oil on a stone altar,[XII-11] before the olive tree was known
in Athens--nay, before Athens existed.

Profane historians honour Aristeus, son of Apollo, and King of Arcadia,
with the invention of oil mills, and the manner of procuring the
precious fluid,[XII-12] the abundance of which was such, in the East,
that it was used in lamps,[XII-13] in anointing,[XII-14] in seasoning of
dishes,[XII-15] and in numerous other instances too long to
enumerate.[XII-16]

Thus the most important culture among the Jews was that of the olive
tree. There were large plantations of it in all the provinces: Galilea,
Samaria, and Judea, were full of them.[XII-17] It must not, however, be
thought the Hebrews used olives only to make oil; they knew how to
preserve them in brine, to be eaten at table, and for sale to strangers.
Pliny particularly extols those of Decapolis, a province of the Holy
Land: “They are very small,” he says, “not larger than capers; but are
much esteemed.”[XII-18]

Among the Greeks, the oil of Samos was considered to be the purest and
finest:[XII-19] next to it they gave preference to that of Caria or of
Thurium.[XII-20]

As regards olives, the _Colymbades_, or floating kinds were more
esteemed than any other, on account of their size and taste;[XII-21]
they had an exquisite flavour imparted to them by being placed with
different herbs in pots of oil:[XII-22] the _Halmade_ olives were
preserved in brine.[XII-23]

The cultivation of the olive tree was carried to a great extent in
Greece; a host of poets sang in honour of this tree,[XII-24] which
produced so sweet a fruit; and Theophrastus speaks of it very frequently
in his celebrated treatise on plants.[XII-25]

The Romans were not acquainted with it until later; and even in the year
249 B.C., they possessed so few olive trees that a pound of oil sold for
twelve _As_, or three shillings; less than two centuries after (74
B.C.), ten pounds of it only cost one _As_; but Italy had so far
increased its plantations at the end of a few years (52 B.C.) that it
was able to furnish olive trees to the neighbouring countries.[XII-26]
Its olives and oil were thought excellent; however, those of Grenada and
Andalusia were preferred to them, even in the time of Pliny,[XII-27] on
account of their sweetness and delicate flavour. That illustrious
naturalist has transmitted to us particulars of the highest interest on
the cultivation of the olive tree, and the various preparations which
its fruit requires, or rather, to which it is necessarily subjected for
the luxury of the table.[XII-28] Those who are curious on this subject
may also consult Cato (the first among the Romans who has written on
this tree),[XII-29] Varro,[XII-30] and Columella,[XII-31] concerning the
art of raising the plants, of gathering the olives, of extracting the
oil, and of preserving the olives themselves. This latter operation was
performed as follows:--

They took twenty-five pounds of olives, six pounds of quick-lime, broken
very small and dissolved in water, to which twelve pounds of oak ashes
and water in proportion were added. The olives were left to soak for
eight or ten hours in this lye; then taken out, washed with care, and
immersed for eight days in very clear soft water, which was changed
several times. They then took hot water in which some stems of fennel
had been infused; this plant was taken out, and the same water saturated
with salt until an egg would float. When it was quite cold, the olives
were put into this pickle.[XII-32]

As regards the large olives, or _colymbades_, they were sometimes
crushed after the first operation, that the brine might penetrate more
easily; and odoriferous herbs were added to give them a better flavour.
This was the way they prepared those from the marshes of Ancona--the
only ones admitted at the tables of _gourmets_.[XII-33]

At Rome, olives made their appearance in the first course, at the
beginning of the repast; but sometimes, after their introduction, the
gluttony of the guests caused them to be served again with the dessert:
so that they opened and closed the banquet.[XII-34]

The distributions of oil, to which Latin authors often allude, were
somewhat rare for a long period. The people looked upon this fluid more
as an object of luxury than a necessary of life, and it was only on
extraordinary occasions that they were gratified with it. Thus, when
Scipio Africanus began his curule edileship, each citizen received a
measure of oil.[XII-35] After his example, Agrippa made similar
distributions, in the reign of Augustus. They became more frequent under
the Emperors; and Severus ordered that an immense quantity should be
brought into Rome.[XII-36]

Venafra, a town of Campania, supplied excellent oil.[XII-37] Pliny says
that it surpassed that of all the rest of Italy.[XII-38] However in
those days, as at present, much was consumed of a very bad quality: for
instance, that which was served by a clumsy Amphytrion to Julius Cæsar,
and with which this prince seemed perfectly satisfied--a proof that the
celebrated warrior was either a man of exquisite politeness or an
epicure of very scanty ability.[XII-39]

Independently of the culinary preparations in which oil was abundantly
used, the ancients also employed much of it for anointing themselves;
and, when at the bath, a slave always carried some in a vase,[XII-40]
with which they were rubbed. It was believed that the vital heat was
thus concentrated, the strength increased, and health preserved.

Augustus inquiring one day of Pollio what ought to be done to preserve
health in extreme old age: “Very little,” was his answer; “drink wine,
and rub yourself with oil.”[XII-41]

We sall conclude this article by transcribing the recipe of an
odoriferous oil for which the Liburnians were celebrated, and which
Apicius considered worthy of his attention.

Pound some alder and cyperus (sedges) with green laurel leaves till they
are reduced to a very fine powder--put this powder into Spanish oil, add
a condiment of salt,[XII-42] and stir this mixture with great care for
three days or more, then let it remain for some time.[XII-43]

Olive oil was little known in France under the two first races of her
kings. In the reign of Charlemagne it was drawn from the east and
Africa, and was so rare that the Council of Aix-la-chapelle (817)
allowed the monks to make use of the oil from bacon. In 1491 the Pope
allowed Queen Anne (of Bretagne), then afterwards the whole province,
and successively the other French provinces, the use of butter in
seasoning on fast days.


PALM TREE.

The poet Pontanus has related, in beautiful Latin verses, the history of
two palm trees cultivated in the kingdom of Naples. For a long time
there had been a fine one growing in the environs of Otranto, loaded
every year with flowers, and yet producing no fruit, in spite of the
vigour of the tree and the heat of the climate. But one summer every one
was much surprised at seeing this same tree produce a quantity of
excellent and very ripe fruit. Astonishment changed into admiration when
it was discovered that another palm tree, cultivated at Brindes (fifteen
leagues distant), had that same year blossomed for the first time. From
that period the palm tree of Otranto continued to yield fruit every
year, notwithstanding the distance between it and the one at
Brindes.[XII-44]

The palm tree, which mythologic ages consecrated to the Muses,[XII-45]
was very common with the Hebrews,[XII-46] to whom it supplied an
exhilarating beverage called _sechar_, which is often mentioned with
wine of the grape.[XII-47]

Moreover, everything was useful in this tree.

The wood was employed for constructing buildings and for fuel; the
leaves were used to make ropes, mats, and baskets; and the fruit served
as food for man and cattle.[XII-48] From the dates a great quantity of
honey was extracted, but very little inferior to ordinary honey;[XII-49]
and those which were not consumed were sent abroad with so much the more
ease that they keep well.[XII-50]

According to Pliny, this fruit was in reputation in Greece and Rome; and
he names several excellent species which came from Judea, and
principally from Jericho and the valleys of Archelais, Livias, and
Phasaelis.[XII-51]

Two Greek writers[XII-52] inform us that the favourite of Herod, Nicolas
of Damascus, a poet, philosopher, and historian, much liked by Augustus,
sent to the Roman Emperor every year a peculiar kind of date from
Palestine; and that the monarch, who became very partial to them, gave
them the name of his friend. Bread and cakes were also made with them.

We shall often have occasion to remark that dates were frequently
introduced in the composition of the most exquisite dishes of the
Romans.

Dates not quite ripe, if exposed to the sun, become in the first place
soft, then pulpy, and lastly acquire a consistency similar to that of
French plums; they can then be preserved, and sent to foreign markets.

Riper dates are squeezed to draw out a sweet juice, very pleasant, and
which is put, together with the other part, in large vessels, and kept
in that state, or buried in the earth. These are the ones commonly used
by the rich as food; the others are given up to the poorer class.

Dates are eaten either with or without preparation, or mixed with
different kinds of viands. Their syrup is used as a sauce to various
dishes.

They are also completely dried for exportation; when reduced into flour,
the caravans in the Desert employ them as food. By crushing them in soft
water wine is made, which produces a strong spirit, very agreeable.

The best dates are yellowish, semi-transparent, odoriferous, and sweet.


CHERRY TREE.

When on a very hot summer day some inviting cherries deliciously quench
our burning thirst, we very little think of offering to Mithridates a
souvenir of affection and gratitude. Such is man: he enjoys his wealth,
and cares very little for the benefactor who has procured it for him.
This ancient King of Pontus, of toxologic memory, and better known by
physicians than gardeners, did not, however, pass the whole of his life
in composing poisons and their antidotes; for his royal hands planted,
and sometimes grafted, and it is to this useful pastime that we are
indebted[XII-53] for the sweet fruit, the name of which recalls to mind
the city or country which was its birth-place.

Ancient authors have told us, it is true, that Europe is indebted for
its cherries to Lucullus,[XII-54] and that he made use of the cherry
tree to ornament his triumphal car; honour is therefore due to the Roman
general, but on condition that Mithridates shall lose nothing of his
glory, or be eclipsed by the renown of this great conqueror.

The researches of several naturalists lead us to believe that cherry
trees already existed at that period in Gaul. This tree delights in cold
climates; and the wildest forests of France contain almost the whole of
its varieties. Perhaps at Rome they knew no other than the wild cherry
tree, which on that account was very little sought after, and Lucullus
probably brought it to notice by bringing some grafts or fruits from
Cerasus. In this manner the passage of Pliny[XII-55] and that of
Virgil[XII-56] can very well be explained, which present the cherry tree
as a new guest.

Moreover, the Milesian, Xenophanes, and the physician, Diphilus of
Siphne, have spoken of cherries long before Lucullus was in existence.
Diphilus praises them in the strongest terms; he says they are
stomachic, and have a delicious flavour.[XII-57] This certainly cannot
apply to the sour wild fruit which is to be met with in the woods, and
with which the most inexperienced palate is never twice caught.

At all events the authority of Theophrastus would be sufficient to
remove all doubts, if any still remained. He informs us that, in his
time, the good cherries of Mithridates passed from Lower Asia into
Greece,[XII-58] where they were gladly received as in all other nations,
on account of their form, taste, and qualities. This happy gastrologic
event was accomplished 300 years before the Christian era, whereas the
introduction of cherry trees by Lucullus took place 228 years later.

The capital of the world knew not, at first, how to appreciate this
present as it deserved: the cherry tree was propagated so slowly in
Italy, that more than a century after its introduction it was far from
being generally cultivated.[XII-59]

The Romans distinguished three principal species of cherries: the
_Apronian_, of a bright red, with a firm and delicate pulp; the
_Lutatian_, very black and sweet; the _Cæcilian_, round and stubby, and
much esteemed.[XII-60]

This fruit embellished the third course in Rome, and the second at
Athens.

“The fruit of the cherry tree is eaten raw, cooked, preserved with
sugar, and in brandy; it is also preserved dry, or made into ratafia. By
fermentation, the juice of cherries, with the kernel, by adding sugar,
makes a very agreeable liquor, which is called cherry wine; a brandy is
produced with fermented cherries drawn by the alembic, very powerful;
that named _kirschen wasser_, in the province of German-Lorraine, is a
spirituous liquor, obtained by the distillation of various species of
wild cherries.”--BOSC.


APRICOT TREE.

The apricot tree was called by the Romans _Armeniaca_, the tree of
Armenia, where it originated. It must be looked upon as a useful
monument of the valour of the masters of the world, if it be true that,
after their conquest, they brought it from that province into
Rome.[XII-61]

The Latins also named the apricot _præcocia_ (precocious), because it
ripens at the beginning of summer (in June) before other fruits.[XII-62]

At the time when Pliny wrote (A.D. 72) the apricot tree had only been
known at Rome for 30 years; and apricots, still very rare, cost one
_denarius_, or sevenpence halfpenny each:[XII-63] they were only to be
found in the first-rate shops of the fruit market or emporium of the
third region, near the _Metasudante_, which was only open every ninth
day; or near the Naval Camp, outside the Trigemina Gate. Some years
later the agriculturists of the Roman suburbs brought into the city some
excellent ones at a very low price; but the fashion and the taste for
them had gone by.

“The green apricot is preserved before the stone becomes hard; when ripe
it is eaten raw, cooked, or stewed in marmalade; preserves are made of
it, as well as a dried paste, which keeps a long time; they are also
preserved in brandy. The stone as it is, or broken, is used in ratafia
of Noyau. Lastly, the kernel produces oil.”--DUTOUR.


PEACH TREE.

This fruit tree, originally from Persia, was first transplanted into
Greece,[XII-64] where it existed a long time before it passed into
Italy. It was still quite a novelty in Rome towards the middle of the
1st century of the Christian era, and the rich alone could eat peaches,
for they cost no less than £11 13_s._ 4_d._ the dozen, or 18_s._ 9_d._
each.[XII-65] This is rather dear fruit, however good it may be. But the
bill of fare of certain banquets will show us, by-and-by, whether the
Roman gastronomics knew how to spend their gold profusely, when they
wished to satisfy a caprice or enjoy some dainty curiosity.

It was believed in Rome that the peach contained a deadly poison when
gathered in Persia;[XII-66] but that, once transplanted to another soil,
it lost its injurious properties. This singular opinion, still held by
many persons in the present day, has been refuted by Pliny, who treats
it as a ridiculous idea;[XII-67] at any rate, Galen[XII-68] and
Dioscorides[XII-69] assert that this fruit is indigestible, unwholesome,
and that it often causes fevers.

The high price of peaches, and the short duration of their freshness,
caused amateurs to seek the means of preserving them for the longest
possible time. The following is the recipe given by Apicius:--

“Choose the finest of this fruit, and place them in water, saturated
with salt. The next day take them out, dry them with the greatest care,
and then put them into a vessel with savory, vinegar, and
salt.”[XII-70]


PLUM TREE.

Plum trees were known in Africa from time immemorial; and Theophrastus
speaks of the great number of these trees which were to be found at
Thebes, Memphis, and especially at Damascus.[XII-71] Athenæus, also,
praises the excellent plums of this last-named city;[XII-72] and we know
that time has not lessened their ancient reputation.

Asia and Egypt sent a great quantity to Europe; and, in order that they
might keep better during this long voyage, a part of them were dried,
and the rest were preserved--that is to say, the best--in honey and
sweet wine.[XII-73] These were the only kind known in Rome in the time
of Cato (150 years B.C.), but the Romans, then novices in the art of
good living, would have but ill-appreciated the delicate and perfumed
pulp of Damascus plums, at the moment when, hardly plucked from the
tree, their fresh and velvet-like bloom delights the eye and tempts the
palate of epicures. Two centuries later the science of good living made
incredible progress. A magiric atmosphere enveloped the capital of the
universe with its delicious fragrance, and the joyous free livers of
Italy cultivated in their gardens plums of the most beautiful purple and
gold,[XII-74] far superior to the much-extolled fruit from Damascus and
Memphis. The fields everywhere offered such luxuriance of plum trees
that Pliny, the opposition man, or _juste milieu_ of that time,
complained of their number,[XII-75] and grieved at what he fancied a
useless and expensive profusion of them.

The ancient Counts of Anjou transplanted the plums of Damascus into
their province; and the good King René of Sicily, Duke of Anjou and
Count of Provence, introduced them into southern Europe.[XII-76]

The plums of _Monsieur_ are thus named because Monsieur, the brother of
Louis XIV., was very fond of them.[XII-77]

The plums of _Reine Claude_ owe their name to the first consort of
Francis I., daughter of Louis XII.[XII-78]

The plums of _Mirabelle_ were brought from Provence into Lorraine by
King René.[XII-79]




XIII.

PIP FRUIT.


QUINCE TREE.

This tree appears to have been a native of Cydon, a city of Crete; from
hence it passed into Greece,[XIII-1] and soon became the delight of its
voluptuous inhabitants. The environs of Corinth, above all, were noted
for the sweetness and beauty of their quinces,[XIII-2] which the
enlightened luxury of Attica preferred to all others.

Rome did not fail to enrich itself with a fruit[XIII-3] to which the
ingenuity of culinary art was to give a new flavour. Young plants were
first imported from abroad, and put in boxes;[XIII-4] but the Romans
knew not how to rear them, and were obliged for a long time to content
themselves with excellent quinces preserved in honey, and sent from
Iberia and Syria to the great capital.[XIII-5]

At last they learned how to cultivate the quince tree,[XIII-6] and
subsequently introduced it into Gaul, where it succeeded admirably.
They, too, could then enjoy, with a certain pride, preserves nothing
inferior to those of Spain,[XIII-7] and which the confectioners in the
“market of dainties,”[XIII-8] kept in reserve with quince wine[XIII-9]
for the tables of the patricians; and also the stomachic exhilarating
liqueur extracted from the fruit of sweet Cydoneum,[XIII-10] which even
a _petite maîtresse_ would not have disdained at a light morning repast.

At any rate, the faculty this time agreed with culinary chemistry in
recommending to epicures those delicious preparations. It was asserted,
besides, that the quince possessed the most beneficial
qualities,[XIII-11] first, as an aliment, and next, as a
counter-poison:[XIII-12] _gourmandise_ made the mind docile, and none
doubted its marvellous virtues.

This fruit, so much extolled, was preserved by placing it with its
branches and leaves in a vessel, afterwards filled with honey or sweet
wine, which was reduced to half the quantity by ebullition.[XIII-13]


PEAR TREE.

Many countries have disputed the honour of having given birth to the
pear tree. According to some it was a native of Mount Ida, so renowned
for its refreshing fountains; others said Alexandria; and in the opinion
of some writers it came from different parts of Greece. Let us add to
this enumeration Palestine, where this tree grew at a very remote
period.[XIII-14]

It results from these different allegations that the ancients were
acquainted with the pear tree; that they cultivated and were fond of
pears, which is not at all surprising, as they are an excellent fruit.
Theophrastus was very fond of them; he speaks of them very
often,[XIII-15] and always with praise. The same thing may be affirmed
of Pliny,[XIII-16] and more particularly of Galen, whose medical
authority was formerly of so much weight. The learned physician of
Pergamo is pleased to recognise in the pear strengthening qualities
which benefit the stomach, and an astringent virtue which the apple does
not possess in the same degree.[XIII-17]

Like us, the Greeks and Romans distinguished several kinds of this
fruit, whose names indicated their taste and forms. It is not certain
whether they possessed the _Bon Chrétien_, which honours our tables in
winter, either raw or cooked. This name reminds us of its origin, which
we will relate.

Louis XI., King of France, had sent for Saint François de Paule from the
lower part of Calabria, in the hopes of recovering his health through
his intercession. The saint brought with him the seeds of this pear, and
as he was called at court _Le Bon Chrétien_, this fruit received the
name of him to whom France owed its introduction.[XIII-18]


APPLE TREE.

A very ancient tradition--for it is six thousand years old--represents
the apple as being, from the beginning of the world, the inauspicious
fruit to which may be traced all the miseries of mankind. We crave
permission to defend it from this accusation, merely by these few words,
“That it is nowhere written.”

The holy books rarely speak of the apple tree. If we are not mistaken,
it is only mentioned in five passages[XIII-19] of the sacred writings,
and at periods very distant from the first offence of man. Therefore,
nothing indicates aversion or contempt on the part of the inspired
writers for this tree, which on one occasion serves even as a graceful
term of comparison;[XIII-20] from which it might be concluded that the
inhabitants of the east thought as much of it as other nations.

There is one (and perhaps only one) example of a singular and excessive
repugnance to apples. It is said that Uladislas, King of Poland, no
sooner perceived them than he became so confused and terrified that he
immediately fled. It certainly required very little to disturb this poor
prince!

Greece produced very beautiful apple trees, and their fruit was so
excellent, that it was the favourite dessert of Philip of Macedon, and
of his son, Alexander the Great, who caused them to be served at all
their meals.[XIII-21] Probably they were obtained purposely for them
from the island of Eubœa, which enjoyed an extraordinary reputation
for apples.[XIII-22]

The Athenian legislator--the wise Solon--almost succeeded in throwing
discredit on this aliment, so much liked by his fellow-citizens, by a
sumptuary law which he thought it necessary to establish.

The inhabitants of Attica were fond of good living; and when one of them
took a wife he spared no expense to give splendour to the nuptial
banquet--a very excusable pride on such an occasion. Solon was in the
habit of interfering rather too much in the affairs of others. Every one
has his failing, and this was _his_: he imagined that his fellow
citizens fared too sumptuously on their wedding-day; and, in order to
curtail an expense contrary to his ideas of economy, he ordered that
the bridegroom should be content with a single apple, while his guests
were regaling themselves at his expense. Who would believe it? This law
was religiously observed by the Greeks, and the Persians thought it so
original that they, in their turn, adopted it.[XIII-23]

The Latins gave a favourable reception to the apple tree, and cultivated
it with care. Eminent citizens of Rome did not disdain to give their
names and patronage to different kinds procured by themselves, or which
they had improved in their orchards. The Manlian apples were so called
after Manlius; the Claudian after Claudius, their patron; the Appian
owed their name to Appius. Some others preserved that of their native
country: such were the Sidonians, the Greeks, and the Epirotes.

After the conquest of Gaul, the Romans introduced all these
fruits;[XIII-24] and as the climate was more favourable to apple trees
than that of Italy, they soon multiplied to a surprising extent. France
ought to be grateful to those proud warriors for a present that enriched
that province of the empire, and which perhaps still contributes to its
prosperity.


LEMON TREE.

Among the richest productions of Media, Virgil mentions a tree, to whose
fruit he attributes the greatest virtues against all poisons. The
description he gives of it seems to belong to the lemon tree.[XIII-25]
However this may be, its origin, and even its identity, have given rise
to the most animated disputations.

Many have asserted that Juba, King of Mauritania (50 years B.C.), spoke
of the lemon tree, and that he looked upon it as being very ancient.
They add, that the Lybians gave to its fruit the name of “Hesperide
apples,” that Hercules stole, and which, on account of their colour,
were called “golden apples” by the Greeks, who were indebted to that
hero for their introduction.[XIII-26]

Others maintain that no one has spoken of them before
Theophrastus,[XIII-27] who called them “Median apples,” after the place
of their origin; and that consequently those persons were wrong who
confounded them with the apples taken from the garden of the
Hesperides.[XIII-28]

These difficulties will probably disappear, if we remember that the
ancients have given to the lemon tree various names[XIII-29] which
belong to other trees. The truth is, that the Athenians received it from
the Persians, who were neighbours of the Medes, and from Attica it
spread all over Greece.[XIII-30]

Lemons were only known to the Romans at a very late period, and at first
were used only to keep the moths from their garments. The acidity of
this fruit was unpleasant to them, and Apicius makes no use of it: those
who wish to satisfy their curiosity on the subject may read the remarks
of Lister, the celebrated physician of Queen Anne, and editor of the
works of this famous _gourmet_.[XIII-31]

In the time of Pliny, the lemon was hardly known otherwise than as an
excellent counter-poison.[XIII-32]

Fifty years after that, Palladius reared the plants which he had
received from Media,[XIII-33] and at last this tree was slowly
naturalized in the south of Europe.

A considerable number of anecdotes have been told of the anti-venomous
properties of the lemon. Athenæus speaks of two men who did not feel
pain from the bite of dangerous serpents, because they had previously
eaten of this fruit.[XIII-34] Either this story is false, or men and
things have strangely altered.

Apicius preserves lemons by putting each of them into a separate vessel,
which is hermetically sealed with plaster, and afterwards suspended from
the ceiling.[XIII-35]

In another place we shall speak of the tables and beds made of the lemon
tree, so fashionable amongst the Romans, and for which they spent
prodigious sums.

One thing remains to be noticed; and that is, that preserved lemon peel
was considered as one of the best digestives, and that doctors recommend
it to weak and delicate persons.[XIII-36]


ORANGE TREE.

If confidence is to be placed in some authors, the native land of the
orange tree would appear to be the gardens of the Hesperides, so
remarkable in mythologic ages, and it was found also in Western Africa,
Mauritania, and the Fortunate Islands; to which they add those mountains
of Atlas so little known in a botanical point of view, notwithstanding
the daring excursions of several learned men.

According to other observers, it originally came from the southern
countries of China,[XIII-37] from the islands of the Indian Archipelago,
or even from that portion of the globe called Oceania.

One incontestable fact is, that writers of antiquity were completely
ignorant of the existence of this superb tree. Had they known it, its
majestic height, the dark green of its foliage, the suavity of its
flowers, its fruit, so fine, bright, and so flattering to the taste,
could not have failed to inspire them with brilliant pages.
Theophrastus, and the Latin geoponics, never would have neglected to
speak of the luxury and fecundity it displays, even in the season of
hoary frost. Besides, the name of _Portughan_, which is given to the
orange by the Arabs--a name foreign to their language, but which is
again heard among the Italians, Spaniards, and even in the southern
provinces of France--is it not an indication that the introduction of
this tree has some connection with the Portuguese voyages to India,
particularly those of Juan de Castro in the year 1520?

It is the Portuguese who have planted the orange tree in the Canaries,
at Madeira, where it was supposed to be indigenous on account of the
vigorous vegetation it there displays: it is the Portuguese who have
introduced this tree into all countries washed by the Mediterranean: and
it is still the Portuguese who have furnished the parent suckers, whence
the Spaniards have been enabled to form their immense groves in
Andalusia and Algarvia.[XIII-38]

From the foregoing recital we may conclude that the grand poliphagic
triumvirate of antiquity--Archestratus, Vitellius, and Apicius--never
tasted this fruit, which Heaven reserved for the appreciation of modern
times. Blessed shades! if, attracted sometimes by the exquisite vapours
of our stoves, you should wander again round those succulent dishes
which a more experienced chemistry enables us to elaborate: if fruitless
gastronomic reminiscences should lead you into the delightful retreat of
some one of your disciples, who by his enlightened skill is there
preparing the treasures of the dessert: oh! turn away your eyes from
those enticing fruits which display their golden rays, and rise in
pyramids upon a porcelain pedestal. Here are oranges, the nectar and
ambrosia of the Olympian ages, which you doubtless regret, and we have
again discovered. These wonders of sweetness existed perhaps in China,
but you knew it not, for China did not become a Roman province. But
console yourselves, giants of cookery! we have not yet attained the high
pinnacle of your art; your wild boar _à la Troyenne_, your peacocks’
brains, and your phenicopters’ tongues, secure for you a triumph which
posterity will dispute in vain!

The orange known under the name of “Portugal orange” comes from China.
Not more than two centuries ago the Portuguese brought thence the first
scion, which has multiplied so prodigiously that we now see entire
forests of orange trees in Portugal.[XIII-39]

It appears to have been the custom formerly, in England, to make
new-year’s presents of oranges stuck full with cloves. We read in one of
Ben Jonson’s pieces, the “Christmas Masque,” “He has an orange and
rosemary, but not a clove to stick in it.”[XIII-40]

At the present day we can dispense with this embellishment.

The first orange tree cultivated in the centre of France was to be seen
a few years ago at Fontainebleau. It was called _Le Connétable_ (the
Constable), because it had belonged to the Connétable de Bourbon, and
had been confiscated, together with all property belonging to that
prince, after his revolt against his sovereign.[XIII-41]


FIG TREE.

Antiquity, sacred and profane, has not left us, on any other tree, facts
so clear and certain as upon the fig tree; it is the only tree of Eden
of which the sacred books have preserved to us any mention.[XIII-42] In
the East there were immense plantations of it; Egypt had some
also;[XIII-43] and the land of Canaan produced figs, which enabled Moses
to judge of its fertility.[XIII-44]

The Scriptures, in order to give us an idea of the happiness and
tranquillity the Jews enjoyed under the reign of Solomon, tell us that,
“in Judea and in Israel all dwelt safely, every man under his vine and
under his fig tree.”[XIII-45]

And the fruit of this tree was no doubt very dear to the Hebrews, since
Rubshakeh, the general of the Assyrian army, thought to seduce them from
their obedience to Hezekiah, King of Judea, by saying to them: “Come out
to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his
fig tree.”[XIII-46]

Thus the trade carried on with figs in Jerusalem had become so
considerable and active, that Esdras was obliged to interdict it on the
Sabbath day. It appears that figs were arranged in small masses, to
which they give the form of loaves or cakes, either round or square,
which were sold nearly in the same way as at the present day.[XIII-47]

From the East the fig tree passed into Greece, then into Italy, Gaul,
Spain, and throughout Europe.

The Athenians pretended that this tree was a native of their soil, and
this people never wanted mythologic facts to support their assertions;
they imagined, and would have others believe, that the grateful Ceres
rewarded the Athenian, Phytalus, for his hospitality by giving him a fig
tree, which served for all the plantations of Attica.[XIII-48]

Whatever may be the way it came to them, they received it with
transports of joy; it was planted with great pomp in the centre of the
public square at Athens: from that time this spot was sacred to
them.[XIII-49]

Ere long the fame of the figs of Attica spread far and wide: they were
the best in Greece; and the magistrates strictly prohibited their
exportation.[XIII-50] This law was afterwards modified, that is, the
exportation of figs was allowed on payment of a very heavy duty.

They then appointed inspectors, whose duty it was to discover
contraventions, and report them: thence arose the name of
Sycophant,[XIII-51] taken by those informers--a vile and dispised set of
men, whose denunciations were often false, and with whom the infamous
authors of a base calumny were eventually assimilated.[XIII-52]

In Greece every one feasted on figs: it was a sort of regular
gastronomic _furore_, which knew no bounds, and the wise Plato himself
ceased to be a philosopher when presented with a basket of that fruit.
As an aliment it was considered so wholesome and strengthening, that on
the first introduction of them they constituted the food of the athletæ,
whose patron, Hercules, had also fed on them in his youth.

The superiority of the Greek figs was so generally acknowledged that the
kings of Persia even had a predilection for them: dried ones were served
on the tables of these ostentatious princes.[XIII-53]

The Romans believed, according to an antique tradition, that their first
princes, Romulus and Remus, were found under a fig tree on the shore of
the Tiber; they therefore rendered signal honours to this tree when it
was brought into Italy: they planted it in the Forum; and it was under
its shade that a sacrifice was offered every year to the shepherdess who
had suckled their founder.[XIII-54]

It may, nevertheless, be affirmed, that no one before Cato had noticed
the fig tree,[XIII-55] which probably appeared in Rome at the same
period as the peach, apricot, and other trees of Asia. Sixty years
afterwards Varro speaks of it as a novelty from beyond sea, and points
out to us that its various species have retained the names of the
countries whence they came.[XIII-56]

Those varieties were so numerous, that Pliny counts no less than
twenty-nine of them,[XIII-57] and the designation of the greater part
recalled to mind the illustrious families who had taken them under their
patronage.

The people of the north, especially the moderns, cannot well explain the
extraordinary infatuation of the ancient southern nations for the fruit
of the fig tree. Perhaps we ought to look for the reason in the
nourishing, fresh, and sweet qualities of its pulp, and in the numerous
plantations of those trees, which sometimes furnished an agreeable food
to entire armies, when other provisions failed.[XIII-58] That of Philip
of Macedon owed its preservation to the figs brought to it by the
Magnesians.[XIII-59] A long time before, David received with joy, from
the hands of Abigail, two hundred baskets of dried figs, for himself and
his exhausted men.[XIII-60]

More than once the far-famed reputation of some beautiful plantations of
fig trees brought long and disastrous wars on an entire country, as
steel attracts lightning. Xerxes left Persia, and rushed on Attica, to
take possession of those delicious figs, whose renown only had crossed
his territory:[XIII-61] and it was partly to eat the figs of Rome that
the Gauls waged war against Italy:[XIII-62] thank Heaven we have now
more respect for our neighbours’ fig trees.

The best things in the world have had their detractors, and the fig is
not an exception. Philotimus and Diphilus looked upon it as bad
food;[XIII-63] Galen was unwell after partaking of figs, and he
recommends us to mix almonds with them;[XIII-64] Hippocrates himself
thought them indigestible, and advised to drink plentifully after eating
them.[XIII-65]

All these great men may have been right, but the Greeks, their
contemporaries, acted as if they were wrong: happily we are not called
upon to decide between them.

Figs were commonly served on aristocratic tables with salt, pepper,
vinegar, and some aromatics; they were eaten fresh, or dried in the
oven, or on hurdles in the sun.


RASPBERRY TREE.

The ancients hardly mention the raspberry tree, which they placed on a
level with the bramble. The Latins called it “_Bramble of Ida_,” because
it was common on that mountain.[XIII-66] There can be no doubt, however,
that the Romans knew how to appreciate the raspberry tree, so much
esteemed in our days.


CURRANT TREE.

The moderns have attempted to ennoble our two kinds of currants by
decorating them with Latin names, which recall their antiquity.[XIII-67]
Vain effort! To all appearance the Greeks and people of Italy were not
acquainted with the currant tree,[XIII-68] although they well deserved
to possess this delicious fruit.


STRAWBERRY PLANT.

Among the Greeks the name of the strawberry indicated its tenuity, this
fruit forming hardly a mouthful. With the Latins the name reminded one
of the delicious perfume of this plant. Both nations were equally fond
of it, and applied the same care to its cultivation. Virgil appears to
place it in the same rank with flowers,[XIII-69] and Ovid gives it a
tender epithet,[XIII-70] which delicate palates would not disavow.
Neither does this luxurious poet forget the wild strawberry,[XIII-71] which
disappears beneath its modest foliage, but whose presence the scented
air reveals. Transported to the tables of the Luculli, by the side of
its more brilliant and more beautiful sister, a flattering murmur often
bore testimony to its merit, and nature triumphed in the midst of
ingenious guests, soliciting of art what they repudiated in nature.


MULBERRY TREE.

The ancient mulberry tree was considered the wisest and most prudent of
trees, because it took care, they said, not to let the smallest of its
buds come to light before the cold had entirely disappeared, not to
return. Then, however, it hastened to repair lost time, and a single
night was sufficient to see it display its beautiful flowers, which the
next morning brightly opened at the rising of Aurora.[XIII-72]

The voluptuous Romans, reposing late on their soft couches the day after
the fatigues of a banquet worthy of Vitellius, did not trouble
themselves much about this interesting phenomenon, which occurred, if
Pliny does not mistake, in the gardens of their villas. But they knew
that mulberries agree with the stomach, that they afford hardly any
nourishment, and easily digest:[XIII-73] therefore, no sooner had they
opened their heavy eyelids than an Egyptian boy--attentive living
bell--at a sign disappeared, and quickly returned, bearing a small
crystal vase, filled with mulberry juice and wine reduced by boiling.
This beneficent fruit preserved in this mixture all its sweet
flavour,[XIII-74] and enabled the rich patrician to await until evening
the hour for new excesses.

It is quite evident that this luscious fruit was a native of Canaan, for
the high road by which the tribes of Israel went up to the feasts at
Jerusalem lay through the valley of _Baka_, or Mulberry Tree;[XIII-75]
and the whole tract of country from Ekron to Gaza abounded in these
trees.




XIV.

SHELL FRUIT.


ALMOND TREE.

This tree, whose fruit was called at one time “Greek Nut,” and, at
another, “Thasian Nut,”[XIV-1] is a native of Paphlagonia, according to
Hermippus.[XIV-2] The nations of the east thought much of almonds, and
Jacob found them worthy of appearing among the presents he designed for
Joseph.[XIV-3] The almond tree of Naxos supplied the markets of
Athens.[XIV-4] The Romans, in their turn, sought them, and believed,
like the physician spoken of by Plutarch, that it was only necessary to
eat five or six almonds to acquire the ability of drinking
astonishingly.[XIV-5]

Besides, this fruit had not always so mean a destination: the disciples
of Apicius made of it one of the most delicate of dishes. Here it is, as
taught to them by their master:--

Take almonds that have been pounded in a mortar, and mix them with
honey, pepper, garum, milk, eggs, and a little oil; submit the whole to
the action of a slow fire.[XIV-6]

The ancients were acquainted with the oil of almonds,[XIV-7] of which
they made nearly the same use as we do ourselves; but they possessed, in
addition, an infallible means of augmenting the fertility of the almond
tree. It was very simple:--A hole was made in the tree, a stone was
introduced into it,[XIV-8] and, thanks to the virtue of this new manure,
the branches soon bent under the weight of almonds.

The good almonds come from Barbary and the south of France. When young,
they are preserved like green apricots. They are eaten at table, fresh
or dry; in comfits, pastry, &c.: they are also used to make orgeat and
refreshing emulsions. The oil extracted from almonds, even bitter ones,
is very sweet; it is best extracted cold, by pressure. The pulp is
employed, under the name of almond paste, for several purposes, one of
which is to render the skin soft and flexible.[XIV-9]


WALNUT TREE.

Asia, the cradle of most fruit trees, gave birth also to the walnut
tree. It is believed to be a native of Persia,[XIV-10] and its pleasing
foliage already adorned, in Biblical times, the orchards of the east.
One of the most ancient of the sacred books informs us that it was known
to the Jews,[XIV-11] and it may be inferred from a passage in the Song
of Solomon that they possessed numerous plantations of this
tree.[XIV-12]

Among the Persians, walnuts were not lavished on the first comer, as
with us; the sovereign reserved them for his dessert, and the people
were obliged to abstain from them. But perhaps it may be said that,
however fond this prince may have been of walnuts, he could not eat all
that were produced in his states. The objection is embarrassing, we own,
and chroniclers are silent on this point. But let us suppose that this
generous potentate distributed to his favourites the walnuts from which
his satiated appetite was compelled to abstain; and, indeed, we find
that a king of Persia sent some to the Greeks, who called them “Royal
Persian nuts,”[XIV-13] in gratitude and remembrance of the august gift.

They did still better; the king of Olympus had a great liking for this
fruit, so they hastened to consecrate it to him,[XIV-14] and the “nuts
of Jupiter” were cultivated with honour in the whole of Greece.[XIV-15]

Italy received the walnut tree from Attica, and, by degrees, the
conquerors of the world introduced it to the different countries of
Europe.

The Romans, imitators of the piety of the Greeks, placed this tree also
under the protection of the most powerful of their gods. One of their
most whimsical customs, perhaps, owed its origin to this consecration,
which will serve to explain it:--

After the wedding feast the bridegroom strewed in the nuptial chamber,
at night, several baskets of walnuts, which children hastened to pick
up.[XIV-16] This was, they said, a kind of offering to Jupiter, and thus
he was entreated to grant his supreme patronage to the husband, and to
adorn the wife with the virtues of Juno.[XIV-17] The god could not have
failed to smile at this part of the request of blind mortals, and it is
asserted that, at times, he condescended not to grant it.

Others have given a different interpretation. According to them, the
walnut, being covered with a double envelope when fresh, became a
presage of abundance and prosperity.[XIV-18]

It would be too tedious to relate all the singular opinions to which
this ceremony gave rise. The most reasonable appears to be that adopted
by certain commentators:--Walnuts, say they, served as playthings for
children, and, by throwing them on the ground the day of his wedding,
the bridegroom made it understood that he and his companion renounced
the frivolities of youth, henceforth to devote themselves to the serious
exigencies of a family.[XIV-19]

This fruit was considered astringent,[XIV-20] stomachic, and proper to
facilitate digestion.[XIV-21] It was made into preserve, and eaten in
small quantity, mixed with figs. In this manner paralysis of the tongue
was avoided--an effect to which it was believed those who partook of
them to excess were exposed.[XIV-22] Green walnuts were much esteemed;
they were served at dessert,[XIV-23] notwithstanding the opinion of
Heraclides, of Tarentum, who looked upon them as a stimulant to the
appetite, and advised a trial of them at the beginning of a
repast.[XIV-24]

When Pompey had made himself master of the palace of Mithridates, he had
search made everywhere for the recipe of the famous antidote against
poison used by that king. At length it was found; it was very simple:
however, we offer it to the curious:--

Pound, with care, two walnuts, two dried figs, twenty leaves of rue, and
a grain of salt.[XIV-25] Swallow this mixture--precipitate it by the
assistance of a little wine, and you have nothing to fear from the most
active poison for the space of twenty-four hours.


NUT TREE.

The Greeks gave hazel nuts the name of “Pontic Nuts,” and Theophrastus
calls them “Nuts of Heraclea,” because the territory of that capital of
the kingdom of Pontus produced the best.[XIV-26]

The Latins, at first, retained the same designation for this fruit, but
afterwards, the environs of Præneste and Avellinum supplying them with a
great quantity of excellent nuts, they gave them the name of those two
cities.[XIV-27] They employed also a diminitive[XIV-28] to indicate
those which came from the first of these localities. The French
_Aveline_ (filbert), and _Noisette_ (hazel nuts), are evidently borrowed
from the Roman vocabulary.

The inhabitants of Præneste raised the nut tree to a sort of religious
worship. This tree had preserved them from famine during the time
Hannibal besieged their city,[XIV-29] and since that memorable epoch it
had enriched them, for the ancients preferred hazel nuts to all other
shell fruit, as possessing most wholesome and nourishing
qualities.[XIV-30]

It was the custom in France, some centuries ago, at the time of the
summer solstice (Midsummer eve), to take all the kitchen utensils and
make the most frightful clatter by knocking them one against another.
The simpletons of those times imagined that there were no better means
of preventing the rain, which, in their opinion, was detrimental to
filberts and hazel nuts.[XIV-31] Hospinian, who relates this ridiculous
custom, does not tell us what results they obtained by all their racket.


PISTACHIO TREE.

This tree, esteemed by the Romans,[XIV-32] is a native of India.[XIV-33]
Lucius Vitellius brought some plants of it from Syria to Rome, under the
reign of Tiberius; a little time subsequently, a knight, named Flaccus
Pompeius, introduced it also into Spain.[XIV-34]

Galen doubted whether pistachio nuts were good for the stomach.[XIV-35]
Avicenna proved the contrary;[XIV-36] and several centuries before the
Arabian physician, Roman epicures had courageously demonstrated that
this fruit never does harm in whatever form it may be presented, whether
raw or roasted, alone or accompanied with garum and salt.


CHESNUT TREE.

According to some writers the chesnut tree owes its name to the city of
Castana, in Thessaly, where they maintained it originated. On the
contrary, it comes from Sardis, in Lydia, if we are to believe the
physician, Diphilus, who calls chesnuts, acorns of Sardis, and says they
are nourishing, but indigestible.[XIV-37]

Amaryllis was fond of this fruit;[XIV-38] but Amaryllis was only a
shepherdess, and her beauty did not prevent her from having rather
rustic tastes. The Roman ladies abandoned the chesnut to that low class
of citizens whose palates, incapable of improvement, remain always
stationary in the midst of the incessant progress of cookery; sad
example of invincible frugality, which the most exciting _fumets_ fail
to arouse.

Nevertheless, there was a soft and tender species of chesnut, _Castaneæ
molles_,[XIV-39] which were allowed on some of the tables of the higher
class of citizens, and recommended themselves by their delicate pulp to
the attention of the guests;[XIV-40] perhaps oil of chesnuts was
obtained from this particular kind.[XIV-41]

To render the chesnuts more agreeable and wholesome they must be pealed
of their skins, which is very tough; put into boiling water, it
penetrates and softens the bitter pellicle (the tan) covering them, and
facilitates its removal from the floury substance. When the chesnuts can
be easily stripped of this pellicle by the pressure of the fingers, take
the jar from the fire; shake them well on all sides. The tan will soon
detach itself from their surface, and be altogether removed; then take
them out, and after they have been shaken in a sieve made purposely,
they are washed in cold water, to take away, with what remains of the
tan, the bitter water they may have preserved; they are then cooked
without water, in a well-covered vessel, and upon a moderate fire.

“To eat chesnuts green all the year, boil them in water for fifteen or
twenty minutes; put them afterwards in a common oven, one hour after the
bread has been taken out. By this double operation the chesnuts acquire
a degree of cooking and desiccation, by which they can be preserved a
very long time, provided they are kept in a dry place. They can be used
afterwards by putting them to warm in a _bain-marie_.”--DUTOUR.


POMEGRANATE.

Ceres, disconsolate on account of the loss of her daughter, to whom
Pluto destined the sceptre of Hell, implored the ruler of Olympus to
restore Proserpine. Jupiter promised that the favour should be granted,
provided that she had not partaken of anything in the infernal regions.
Now, she had eaten some grains of a pomegranate; very few indeed; some
serious authors have said three; others, quite as respectable, say nine.
The fact is, however, Proserpine had broken her fast; therefore she
might think herself fortunate in being allowed to pass six months on
earth and six months in the abode of darkness.[XIV-42]

This little mythologic story informs us that the pomegranate tree was
known to antiquity, and that the garden of the Elysian fields contained
most excellent fruit for the use of its melancholy inhabitants.

The pomegranate, whose acidulated flavour is so pleasing to the
inhabitants of hot climates, was first cultivated in the east, then in
Africa, but especially in the environs of Carthage, from whence the
Romans brought it into Italy, where it was commonly called the
Carthaginian apple;[XIV-43] it was also named _Granatum_, on account of
the number of its seeds.[XIV-44]

Pliny distinguishes five different species of promegranate;[XIV-45]
Columella teaches the way to rear this tree;[XIV-46] and Apicius treats
of the preservation of its fruit, to do which it is only necessary to
plunge it in boiling water, take it out immediately, and suspend it from
the ceiling.[XIV-47]

The Greeks were very fond of pomegranates. The finest came from Attica,
so celebrated by the genius of its inhabitants; and from
Bœotia,[XIV-48] that privileged soil, where agriculture and stupidity
flourished together.[XIV-49]




XV.

ANIMAL FOOD.


Bread, vegetables, and fruit for a long time provided man with a
sufficient and easy alimentation.[XV-1] Wandering with his flocks in
search of cool pasture, he only exacted their wool wherewith to make the
clothing requisite for his migratory life;[XV-2] their services to
assist him in hollowing a difficult furrow;[XV-3] and their first-born
as a most agreeable offering to the all-powerful master of heaven and
earth.[XV-4] We may also suppose that, in the pastoral ages, the
wandering tribes of Asia added to their vegetable food the milk of their
ewes, goats, or cows, although it is not mentioned in the Book of
Genesis[XV-5] at a very early period, it is true, but which forms a
nourishment nature seems to point out as proper to infancy and old
age;[XV-6] mankind, therefore, abstained from animal food during many
centuries.[XV-7] Ecclesiastical and profane writers seem to agree on
this point.[XV-8] Habit had not yet produced disgust, and curiosity, the
fatal mother of experience and sensuality. To eat was for them the most
natural and simple action of life. The art of cookery tries, makes
choice, and improves: that art did not exist.

The frightful cataclysm which overthrew the world, and of which the
history of every nation gives proofs more or less confused, came to
modify this state of things. “Men were obliged to be fed with more
substantial food,”[XV-9] and our forefathers were allowed to add to
vegetables and the herbs of the country, “animated beings, and all that
which had life and motion.”[XV-10]

The magiric science, therefore, began in the year of the world 1656.

From that period, indeed, the cooking of meat, however little
complicated it may have been, required an attention, care, and study,
which prepared the development of that marvellous faculty to which no
possible limit can be assigned--the last to disappear, and to which, in
fact, are related nearly all the actions of human life--_the sense of
taste_.

Heathen authors, guided by the lights of reason, some gleams of
tradition, and perhaps not absolutely strangers to the writings of
Moses, agree pretty well on the diet of the Golden Age;[XV-11] that age
of innocence, acorns, and happiness,[XV-12] when everywhere were seen
streams of milk, and nectar, and honey, flowing from the hollow oaks and
other trees of the forests.[XV-13]

But when the question is to point out the time at which the use of
animal food was introduced, ideas become clouded, and highly intelligent
minds, bewildered by the obscurity which envelops the subject, have
frequently appealed to absurd legends and ridiculous fables, invoking
the aid of their false and contested authority.

Xenocrates pretends that Triptolemus forbad the Athenians to eat
animals.[XV-14] Man must, then, have been still frugivorous for four
centuries after the Deluge.

This opinion found contradictors, who maintained that man contented
himself with fruit only because fire was wanting to cook meat; but
Prometheus came, and taught him how to draw the useful element from the
flint which concealed it, and was the first to venture on the sacrifice
of an ox.[XV-15] This happened in the year of the world 2412.[XV-16]

All this is a mistake, say other and very sensible writers; here is the
truth on this difficult point: The goddess Ceres had sown a field, and
the wheat came up as desired, when a pig entered, tumbled about, and
caused considerable damage, which so irritated the lady that she
punished him with death. Now, as a pig is good for nothing except to
eat, this one was eaten; and from that day, so fatal to the swinish
race, mankind learnt to appreciate the flesh of animals.[XV-17]

At the same time, Bacchus killed a goat he found nibbling at the
tendrils of his darling vines;[XV-18] and Hyberbius, son of Mars, and a
slasher, like his father, amused himself by killing another, in order to
become familiar thus early with scenes of combat.[XV-19] These goats
were roasted; and as experience had as yet furnished no rule of
comparison, and formed no taste--that exquisite sentiment of the
beautiful in the plastic arts, and of the good in the culinary
science--it was decided that this dish was very tolerable.

Hitherto the bovine race had only lost one individual: its sad destiny
began in the year 1506, before our era, under the reign of the fourth
king of Athens, Erichtonius, on a day of great solemnity, when an ox,
pressed probably by hunger, came near the altar, and devoured one of the
sacred cakes which heathen piety had dedicated to Jupiter. The zealous
Diomus rushed forward, and pierced the heart of the sacrilegious
quadruped.

It might be supposed that the anger of the god was immediately appeased;
but no! the terrible Jupiter knitted his brows; Olympus was in great
agitation; and pestilence came, and spread its ravages amongst the
Athenians.

“All did not die, but all were struck;”[XV-20] and, to propitiate the
implacable scourge, they thought of nothing better than to institute the
Buphonic Feast, which happily re-established their health, and which
they continued to celebrate every year. They sacrificed an ox,[XV-21]
offered a piece to Jupiter, and the faithful divided the rest among
themselves.

At Tyre, in Phœnicia, meat was consumed on the altar, but the gods
had the profit of it, and nobody else. Some fruit and a few vegetables
were sufficient for the frugality of people enjoying innocent and
primitive customs. But it happened, in the time of Pygmalion,[XV-22]
that a young sacrificer having perceived that a piece of the victim had
fallen, hastened to pick it up and replace it carefully on the fire of
the altar. In the performance of this operation he burned his fingers,
and instantly put them into his mouth, to lessen the pain. As he could
not help tasting the fat with which they were covered, the greedy young
man experienced a new sensation, which tempted him to swallow a
mouthful--then a second--a portion of the victim was eaten; he put
another piece under his cloak, and, with his wife, made the finest
supper in his life. All went on very well until the prince, being
informed of this profanation, loaded them with reproaches, and condemned
both to the punishment of death.

Gluttony, however, is rash: other sacrificers ate--at first in
secret--of this forbidden food; then they were imitated; and, at last,
by degrees meat passed from the altar of the gods, who did not taste it,
to the tables of mortals, who feasted upon it.[XV-23] People may or may
not believe this anecdote, which informs us in so satisfactory a manner
of the epoch at which man, from being frugivorous, became carnivorous;
but one thing is certain, that in the time of Homer (there is only
eighty years between him and Pygmalion), the flesh of animals was then
much in fashion, for we read of his giving to his heroes, as their
principal food, a whole hog, three years old, and oxen roasted--not even
jointed.[XV-24]

Some ideologists and dreamers have risen against the use of meat; their
declamations, often very eloquent, have been read; but, from Pythagoras,
a sublime and honest enthusiast, down to the whimsical J. J.
Rousseau--who, by-the-by, was very fond of mutton chops and _bœuf à
la mode_, although he exclaimed against the cruelty of mankind, whose
hands were stained with the blood of animals--no nation has yet
determined to adopt the patriarchal diet of the first ages of the world.

Plutarch was a vegetarian; and we possess one of his treatises, in which
he endeavours to prove that flesh is not the natural food of man.[XV-25]
As a conclusive answer--meat was eaten. So, when an ancient philosopher
one day denied the movement of matter, a person reduced him to silence
by walking.

But, if animal diet has, from time to time, met with a small number of
detractors, what an immense crowd of apologists and adepts has it not
also found! It would signify nothing to name individuals; let us point
out whole nations. Who is not acquainted with the delicacy and luxury of
the Assyrians and Persians? Who is not aware that the genius of the
Greeks improved the culinary art, and that their cooks were famous in
history? What of the Syracusans, whose dainty and curious ideas passed
as a proverb; and of the Athenians, who were so passionately fond of the
pleasures of the table; or of Naples, Tarentum, and Sybaris, so
celebrated for their good cheer? The Romans surpassed even these
refinements and sumptuous repasts: theirs is the honour of the pontiffs’
feasts, the excesses of Capreæ, the profusions of Vitellius, of Galba,
Nero, and Caligula. They have the honour of the banquet of Geta, which
lasted three days, and ended by exhausting the alphabetic list of all
the dishes that the universe could supply.

May heaven preserve us from imitating such prodigies of intemperance and
gluttonous folly; but let us, at least, be allowed to use with
moderation the good that Providence has granted us, and which it has not
forbidden us to make agreeable and savoury. The inhabitants of the air,
earth, and water, entered within our domains, as well as the fruits of
the fields, on the day when the Creator condescended to say to his
creature:

“Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green
herb have I given you all things.”[XV-26]


REARING OF CATTLE.

All ancient legislators have bestowed the most serious attention to the
rearing and preservation of cattle. The Mosaic law, in this respect,
enters into details which reveal the most profound wisdom, a delicate
and minute research which cannot be too much admired.

More attentive to propagate useful animals than to flatter the
sensuality of nations, this law forbids their being mutilated;[XV-27] it
requires the Hebrews to treat with generosity the companions of their
labour;[XV-28] that they shall interest themselves in the preservation
of their brother’s, and even of their enemies’ oxen;[XV-29] that
different species of unequal strength shall not be yoked together to the
plough;[XV-30] and, in order that the cattle may not suffer from an
excess of hard and constant labour, Moses assures to them at least one
day of rest in a week.[XV-31]

It is well known with what care the patriarchs surrounded their flocks;
for them they wandered from region to region, and only stopped where
pasture was abundant.[XV-32] In imitation of those fathers of nations,
the princes of the East, and the Grecian chiefs, were at first
shepherds;[XV-33] and were, perhaps, indebted to the innocent
occupations of the fields for the sweet and sacred title of pastors of
man.[XV-34]

The founder of Rome did not forget the flocks and herds, in those famous
laws which were to assure the prosperity of his rising city;[XV-35] one
of them allowed the possessor of an estate to take up the acorns which
might fall into his field from his neighbour’s property,[XV-36] and to
divide them among the cattle he is rearing.

Under the republic, it was severely forbidden to ill-use beasts of
burthen and others. By the Licinian law, each farmer was required to
proportion the number of his sheep and oxen to the extent of his
land;[XV-37] the Thorian law contains very wise regulations relative to
the quality and keeping up of pasture.[XV-38] Moreover, it is to be
remarked, that the Romans never fixed the limits of a rural property,
nor formed a new colony, without giving their first care to the spots
appointed to feed their flocks,[XV-39] the quiet possession of which was
assured by the Emperors. Adrian, among others, did not encourage
thieves. This prince ordered that whoever carried away cattle grazing in
meadows should be condemned to work in the mines; that those who should
have been convicted of robbery several times should be beheaded; and
that thieves found with arms in their hands should become the prey of
wild beasts.[XV-40]

Illustrious families by birth often added to their name a sort of
epithet, originating either from bulls, goats, or sheep, which were
brought up on the land of their villas. This singular custom proves the
extraordinary attachment which the Romans had for their flocks. One of
these enthusiasts, Tremellius Scrofa,[XV-41] had written a treatise on
the art of assorting and feeding cattle.[XV-42] Greek and Latin
geoponics have also transmitted to us some details full of interest, and
which often contain most useful information upon the various species of
animals which the ancients preferred, and the particular care they took
in the preservation and development of various breeds.[XV-43] Pagan
theology reckoned among its thirty thousand gods[XV-44] some few
protective divinities of flocks. The shepherds invoked Pales[XV-45] and
Anna Perenna;[XV-46] dealers of oxen offered sacrifices to
Bubona,[XV-47] whose special care it was to see that they were fat and
healthy.

The animals chosen to be fattened were put under the protection of this
deity, and were fed in the following manner:

The first day they had given to them cabbages, soaked in vinegar; then,
for five days, straw, mixed with wheat bran; from the seventh day they
had nothing but bruised barley, which was gradually and judiciously
increased till the twelfth day. These oxen were fed at midnight, at
break of day, at twelve o’clock, and at three in the afternoon. They
were allowed to drink only twice--that is, after the third and fourth
meal.[XV-48] On the thirteenth day they were led to market.


MARKETS.

The Hebrews held their cattle market at the gates of their cities; and
from this circumstance, perhaps, is derived those expressions so
frequent in the sacred writings: “The gates of the flocks,” “The sheep’s
gate,” &c.,[XV-49] which no doubt designated the different quarters of
Jerusalem where shepherds and cattle dealers were accustomed to
congregate.

Among the Greeks, vast, airy, public places, used to receive, under the
orders, and with the authorisation of the _Epimeletes_, or curators, the
animals and meat necessary for the subsistence of the citizens.

At Rome, the horned cattle market was situated in the eighth region,
behind the Capitoline Mount.[XV-50] It was a magnificent place,
surrounded with beautiful galleries, in the midst of which stood on its
pedestal, a gigantic brazen bull, at a little distance from the temple
of Hercules--a round, mean edifice[XV-51]--where dealers and their
customers went to adore this god, the patron of butchers.

The way to reach the pig market was by going round the Quirinal Mount,
near the bronze horses of Tyridates, in the seventh region of the
town.[XV-52] This market was the most important of all, on account of
the immense consumption of pork by the Romans.

As soon as the officer of the Roman præfect appeared, the principal
butchers gathered round him; he examined the cattle, regulated the sale,
and fixed a price on the meat, from which they were not allowed to
deviate,[XV-53] and then only was the market open.


BUTCHERS.

Nothing among the Greeks indicates that they had butchers in the heroic
ages. The warriors of Homer had no want of them, so great was their
skill in cutting up the enormous pieces placed before them.[XV-54]
Ulysses acquired a reputation by his dexterity in this art; and it is
more than probable that his martial companions also distinguished
themselves by this kind of merit.

As soon as luxury had introduced into Greece that effeminate kind of
existence which only permits certain men to be engaged in the painful or
repulsive details of every-day life, _bouthutes_, or bullock
slaughterers, became indispensable; and of them the meat was bought by
the pound--weighed in the scale as now.[XV-55]

The Romans had, at first, butchers who dealt in the same way, and who
continued to do so for a long time; but they afterwards employed the
following most extravagant method. The buyer shut one of his hands; the
seller did the same; each of them suddenly opened the whole or a few of
his fingers. If the fingers were even on each side, the seller had the
price he pleased; if they were odd, the buyer gave his own price. This
was called _micare_.[XV-56] The mication was suppressed in the year 360,
by a decree of Apronianus, which is worth quoting, because it points out
in a clear and precise manner the attributions of the Roman butcher, and
the system of sale since followed:--

“Reason and experience have proved to us, that it is of public utility
to suppress the practice of mication for the sale of cattle, and that it
is more advisable to sell by weight than to trust to a game with the
fingers. We, therefore, ordain that, after the weight of the animal is
ascertained, the head, feet, and tallow, shall belong to the butcher who
has killed, prepared, and cut it up: this shall be his wages. The skin,
flesh, and entrails, shall belong to the master-butcher who is to retail
it. In this manner, the buyer and seller will know the weight of the
meat on sale, and each will find this method to his advantage. * * * We
will and decree that this ordinance be executed for ever, under pain of
death.”[XV-57]

There were at first, in Rome, two corporations or colleges of butchers:
one had to take care that the city was always sufficiently supplied with
oxen, calves, and sheep:[XV-58] the other was to provide that immense
capital with the quantity of hogs necessary;[XV-59] and it would be
difficult to form an idea of the number consumed by the Romans. Every
day a distribution was made to the people, by Valentinian’s order, of
24,086 pounds and eight ounces of pork; to this amount, already
considerable, must be added the truly prodigious daily sale; for the
entire population, from the highest to the lowest, were all passionately
fond of this kind of food.[XV-60]

The obligations and privileges of these two corporate bodies were nearly
the same as those of the bakers.[XV-61] The children could not, under
any pretext whatsoever, abandon the trade of their fathers, without


     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. VIII.

     SCALES AND WEIGHTS.--The ancients had several species of scales.
     No. 1. A common scale, with two basins, and a movable weight, which
     is made in the form of a head, covered with the pileus, because
     Mercury had the weights and measures under his superintendence.
     This ornamented scale is engraved on a stone in the gallery of
     Florence.

     No. 2. The Roman scale, beautifully made, with one tray, several
     hooks, and the movable weight, in the shape of a shell.

     No. 3. Common heavy weight.

     No. 4. The Roman weights had the form of a sphere, partly cut above
     and below; the greatest number of those which still subsist are of
     basalt. The number of ounces, or of pounds, is commonly engraved on
     the top, or inlaid with silver. All round it are inscriptions with
     the name of the temple where they were preserved after they had
     been stamped, together with the name of the prince, or the præfect
     before whom the standard mark was made.

     On No. 4, is “D. N. Honori. Aug. Domini nostri Honorii Augusti;”
     and on No. 5, “Temp. Opis. Aug.,” or the temple of Opis Augusta.

[Illustration: _Pl. 8._]

incurring the entire loss of their share in the common benefit allowed
by the college. And, be it remembered, this trade was very lucrative, so
much so that those who followed it in Rome always enjoyed a degree of
opulence which sometimes caused the people to murmur. They elected from
among themselves a chief, who judged their differences; he was, however,
subordinate to the præfect of Rome.[XV-62]

The members of the two corporations cut, weighed, and retailed the meat;
they had under them working butchers, who killed, skinned, and trimmed
the animals, and then brought them each one to the shop of his
master.[XV-63]

In the sequel, the two colleges met, and formed one. Subsequently, under
the reign of Nero, which seemed at the beginning to promise the most
brilliant prospect, the principal market for butchers became an edifice
equal in magnificence to the Baths, the Circus, and
Amphitheatres.[XV-64] Eventually it was found necessary to erect two new
buildings, on account of the increasing extent of the city and its
inhabitants.[XV-65] The Roman butchers sold both fresh and salt meat,
like our own of the present day. It is not necessary to enter into any
explanation respecting the first; as to the second, their method of
preparation was somewhat different from the way we manage it now:--The
animals they intended to salt were kept from drinking anything on the
eve of the day they were to be killed. They boned the meat, and
sprinkled it lightly with pounded salt; then, after having well dried
off all dampness, they again sprinkled some more salt, and placed the
pieces, so as not to touch each other, in vessels which had been used
for oil or vinegar. They poured sweet wine over, covered the whole with
straw, and strewed snow all round, in order to make the meat better and
more tender.[XV-66]

When the cook wanted to extract the salt, he first boiled the meat well
in milk, and afterwards in soft water.[XV-67]

The flesh of various animals was also well preserved without salt. The
only thing necessary was to cover each piece with honey, and to place it
in a vessel hermetically closed, hung in a cool place. This operation
was usually performed in winter, and succeeded equally well with meat,
either cooked or raw.[XV-68]

The following are some of the statutes of the pork butchers in France,
during the middle ages:--

No one was to cook pork if it was not “_sufficient_, or had not good
marrow.”

No one could make “sausages of anything but pork.”

No one could sell “black puddings, for it is a perilous viand.”[XV-69]

The French word _charcutier_ (pork butcher) is derived from _caro
cocta_, _chair cuite_ (cooked meat).

The numerous regulations concerning the butchers in France during the
14th century rendered it difficult to carry on the trade:--

Prohibition to buy cattle except in the markets.

Prohibition to buy pigs fed by barbers or oil dealers.

Prohibition to kill cattle not a fortnight old.

Prohibition to kill cattle on the eve of fast days.

Prohibition to sell stale meat.

Prohibition to keep meat more than two days in winter, or more than one
day and a-half in summer.

Prohibition to sell meat by lamp light or candle light.

The regulations respecting the cleanliness of the slaughter houses and
the shambles were very long and very severe.[XV-70]

A butcher in Paris kept but one single kind of meat, in the 14th
century. Pork was sold only at Sainte-Geneviève, mutton at
Saint-Marceau, veal at Saint-Germain, and beef at the market of the
Châtelet.[XV-71]

Philip Augustus gave statutes to the butchers of Paris in the year 1182.
He enjoined them to observe the Sabbath, and permitted them to work on
the other days, with the exception of the great festivals.[XV-72]

The regulations imposed upon them in the 17th century are to the effect,
that they shall not keep the fat from one week to another; that they
shall not mix the different kinds of suet; and, lastly, that they shall
not have more than three shops, and shall not allow the blood to run in
the streets.[XV-73]




XVI.

ANIMALS.


THE PIG.

If intelligence, strength, or graceful beauty of form were to decide
what rank this numerous class of animals--which has contributed its
quota to the triumphs of the culinary art--should occupy on our tables,
the pig, with its vile and stupid ugliness, its depraved habits, and its
waddling obesity, would be banished for ever from the farm-yard and
larder in every civilised nation of the world.

But, in refusing to it brilliant external qualities, Nature, by a wise
compensation, has conferred on it others much more solid; and this
quadruped, so despised during its life-time, does not fail after its
death to conciliate the constant favour of rich and poor--of the man
indifferent to the attractions of good cheer, and of the Sybarite, ever
attentive to enlarge its domain.

Pliny, the naturalist, places the pig one degree below the scale of
beings. Apicius, the cook, gives it a marked preference over all meats
which passed through his skilful hands. From this, it will easily be
understood that the pig presents itself first in this survey of the
animal diet of those nations who have transmitted to us an account of
their gastrophagic exertions.

History shows us this animal variously appreciated by different
countries. Certain people consecrated it, when living, to their
divinities most in vogue; others honoured its image--a symbol, they
thought, of the quiet happiness of states; a small number abhorred it,
and the greater part found it excellent eating.

The inhabitants of Cyprus abstained from it, in order to offer it to
Venus.[XVI-1] The Cretans loaded it with acorns and all the comforts of
life, because Jupiter was first suckled by a sow in their island.[XVI-2]
The Egyptian priests never allowed a ham to grace their feasts; they
fled at the sight of pigs, unclean beings, whose presence alone defiled
them,[XVI-3] although respected by the whole nation on account of the
services they rendered in turning up the earth, and covering the seeds
thrown upon it.[XVI-4]

The law of Moses forbad the Jews to eat this quadruped, or to touch it
after its death,[XVI-5] and more than once they exposed themselves to
the most frightful torments rather than be defiled by this proscribed
viand.[XVI-6]

Tradition, again, strengthened their religious dread, by interdicting
the faithful from even pronouncing the name of this animal, from looking
at it, or selling it to foreign nations.[XVI-7]

The fear of the frightful malady to which the pig was subject in
Palestine was, perhaps, the cause of this prohibition. Has not a Jewish
doctor observed, that if ten measures of leprosy were to fall in the
world, this unhappy animal would take nine parts for his share.[XVI-8]
However, some theologians of that nation believe that the Messiah whom
they expect will allow them the use of this now odious food.[XVI-9]

Like the Jews, the Phœnicians[XVI-10] and Indians[XVI-11] did not eat
pork. The followers of Islamism also abstained from it, in consequence
of a law of the Koran, which Mahomet borrowed from Moses.[XVI-12]

The Greeks and Romans had very different ideas. They knew that their
gods showed a particular predilection for those altars on which bacon or
swine’s flesh smoked;[XVI-13] they therefore offered this meat in
sacrifice to the Earth, the Lares, to Ceres;[XVI-14] and many a time a
medal struck at Rome perpetuated the remembrance of this solemnity, in
honour of the goddess of harvest.[XVI-15]

The pig, emblem of fecundity with these two nations,[XVI-16] became, on
the banners of Italy, a sign of pardon and peace.[XVI-17] Kings and
princes immolated two on their wedding-day;[XVI-18] and nations subdued
by the Roman arms prostrated themselves before the standard, whose image
promised them the clemency of their conquerors.[XVI-19]

The re-establishment of the succulent quadruped would have been
complete, if the cynical carelessness of its rather inelegant habits had
not caused it to become a symbol of debauchery and profligacy of
manners.[XVI-20]

Hitherto the pig has only figured in a point of view purely historical;
we have not sought to weaken its faults, nor have we made mention of the
qualities attributed to it--for example, that of discovering truffles.
Nevertheless, we ought not to lose sight of the fact, that this animal
has not passed entirely without renown through the centuries which
divide us from the earliest ages of the world. We shall now speak of its
flesh, its exquisite flavour, and the place it occupied in feasts: there
it reigned with honour; there we must follow it, with all that antiquity
has possessed of celebrated men in the science of degustation and good
living.

Nature has created the pig for man’s palate; he is good only to be
eaten; and life appears to have been given to him merely as a sort of
salt to prevent his corrupting.[XVI-21] It is true that he possesses
only a vulgar and purely animal substance; but how good is this
substance, and how high does it deserve to be placed on account of its
delicacy and flavour?[XVI-22]

Such is the praise of which a physician and two philosophers have
thought it worthy.

The pig furnishes a strong and somewhat heavy kind of food;[XVI-23]
wherefore wrestlers were recommended to eat much of it, and Galen
advised it to persons who worked hard, or used violent exercise.[XVI-24]

But it was not necessary to recommend to the Greeks a meat of which they
were so fond. Look over the long work of Athenæus--he everywhere extols
it, everywhere speaks of it with fresh complacency, and in pompous
terms.[XVI-25]

An Athenian, renowned as a man of taste and for the refined elegance of
his table, would have thought his reputation lost had he not offered to
his guests fat _andouilles_, sausages, pigs’ feet, and pork cutlets;
above all, he was careful not to forget salted and smoked hams--the
honour of the banquet, and the delight of the human race.[XVI-26]

The Macedonian, Caranus, invited twenty of his best friends to his
wedding, and gave them a feast, of which gastrophagic annals have
preserved the remembrance. Each guest received from his munificence a
flagon and crown of silver, a crown of gold, and vases of the same
precious metal. What shall we say of the dishes displayed at this
meeting of learned epicureans? Composed by the art of the most skilful
cooks, struck with admiration, they ate and relished, whilst unexpected
wonders unceasingly solicited their fatigued, yet not satiated,
appetites; when at last appeared an immense silver dish, on which was
displayed an entire roasted hog, whose vast sides concealed a multitude
of quails and other small birds, _tétines de truie_, relishing yolks of
eggs, oysters, and a host of shell fish, prepared with that scientific
regard for gastric energy which considerably increases its
power.[XVI-27]

Macedonia possessed a particular species of pig, greatly envied by the
rest of Greece. Certain individuals of this giant race acquired enormous
proportions, and King Eumenes used to give as much as sixty-four pounds
sterling for one of these animals, provided it measured four feet seven
inches in height, and as much in length.[XVI-28]

It will be easily understood that the cooks vied with each other, to see
who could form unheard-of combinations with the succulent pieces which
these enormous pigs furnished. They disguised the taste and form in a
thousand different ways, and the most experienced palate was always the
dupe of these exquisite deceptions. Thus Titius Quintus, a clever
amateur, being enraptured with the number and astonishing variety of
dishes which his host caused to be served, at Chalies in Etolia, what
was his surprise when the amiable Amphytrion smilingly told him that he
had eaten nothing but pork![XVI-29]

Rome, be it observed, knew how to follow the example of Greece; and, in
the hands of its skilful cooks, the flesh of this heavy animal was often
transformed into delicate fish, ducks, turtle doves, or capons.[XVI-30]

But the masterpiece of these great artists--the _ne plus ultra_ of their
fertile imagination--was the hog _à la Troyenne_, so named because from
the depth of its inside issued battalions of thrushes, myriads of
ortolans, and fig-peckers (becaficoes)--an ingenious image of those
armed cohorts inclosed in the horse of Troy.[XVI-31] Everywhere the
sumptuous dish is cited, but nothing is said of the manner in which it
was prepared. The curious will perhaps be thankful to find that this
omission is here repaired:--

The animal is artistically bled under the shoulder. When all the blood
has flowed, the intestines are drawn out by the throat, and washed for a
long time with wine, taking care to pass it through them. The pig is
then hung up by the feet, and washed also with wine. An excellent gravy
must be prepared beforehand, with meat hashed small and well peppered,
with which you stuff the intestines, and then force them back into their
place by the throat. Pour in at the same time a great quantity of gravy,
and fill the animal with small game. Half of the pig is afterwards
covered with a thick paste of barley meal, wine, and oil. It is then put
into a portable oven, on a small metal table, where it is roasted by a
slow fire. When the skin has assumed a fine colour it is withdrawn, and
boiled on the other side; the paste covering is then entirely removed,
and the pig _à la Troyenne_ may be served.[XVI-32] The Romans reared a
great number of these animals, and also procured many from foreign
countries, especially from Arcadia, which produced some of extraordinary
size. Varro relates that in this part of the Peloponnesus he was shown a
pig so fat that it was impossible for the animal to make the least
movement; and that a mouse had settled on its back with her young
family, softly ensconced in the fat, where they fed at the expense of
the careless animal.[XVI-33]

Rome adopted, with a kind of gastronomic rage, the preparations and
_ragoûts_ celebrated in Greece.[XVI-34] The Trojan pig never failed to
appear on tables renowned for their luxury;[XVI-35] and sucking pigs
were eaten in such profusion, that the censors were obliged to interdict
their use. Alexander Severus renewed this prohibition.[XVI-36] The large
pigs stuffed with game (an expensive delicacy of patrician tables) also
called forth new sumptuary laws,[XVI-37] which only provoked disdain,
and which fashion soon rendered obsolete.

We hardly dare mention a strange dish, in great request among the rich
and luxurious, who alone could procure it. The first preparation
consisted in stifling the young before they were littered.[XVI-38] Thank
Heaven, this culinary atrocity could not survive an epoch without
parallel, perhaps, in the history of human follies, by we know not what
refinement of incredible gluttony, of frightful depravity, and atrocious
cruelty, which, together, prepared the downfall of the Roman colossus.

Besides this disgusting dish, much was thought at Rome, as well as at
Athens, of pig’s head, spare-rib, hams, and bacon. Seven other parts
occupied the second rank--these were the ears, feet, foreloin, fillet,
cheek, intestines, and blood.[XVI-39]

Westphalia supplied sumptuous tables with much-esteemed hams; but those
of Sardinia, Catalonia, and Cantabria were, nevertheless,
preferred.[XVI-40] They were sometimes served at the beginning of a
repast, in order to excite the appetite; and also often at the close, in
order to re-animate its extinguished ardour, and provoke new
libations.[XVI-41] One of the most ancient geoponics teaches how to
prepare, salt, and smoke hams;[XVI-42] for the inhabitants of the
country, and the lower classes in the cities, showed a singular taste
for this delicate meat, which the Gauls (great amateurs of
pork)[XVI-43] sent them at a low price, with an enormous quantity of
pickled pork, _andouillettes_, and sausages.[XVI-44]

This last preparation, very celebrated in Lucania,[XVI-45] served as a
means of livelihood to a great number of Roman women, who also employed
themselves in making excellent black puddings, in imitation of those
eaten in Greece.[XVI-46]

Bacon was then of great utility, as in the present day, though oil
superseded it in the concoction of a host of dishes. Bacon for a long
time served almost as the exclusive food of the Romans,[XVI-47] before
their unruly luxury had given it up to the soldiers and
proletarians.[XVI-48] It was also found in all public houses,[XVI-49]
where the populace habitually gorged themselves with pork,
vegetables,[XVI-50] and hot water.[XVI-51]

The ancients salted the pig, in order to preserve it; but Apicius taught
them a very simple process for the use of epicures, which advantageously
replaced common brine. You take middling-sized pieces of pork, cover
them entirely with a sort of paste, composed of salt, vinegar, and
honey, and place them in vessels which you close carefully.[XVI-52]

We will now indicate some of the dishes most in vogue prepared with
pork--a meat so much esteemed by the Greeks and Romans, and in which
they believed themselves to have discovered fifty different
flavours,[XVI-53] or fifty parts, each possessing a distinct taste from
the other.

_Apician Pork._--Roast a fine young sucking pig; and whilst a slow fire
gently embellishes it with a golden colour, pound, with pepper and
alisander, some coriander seed, mint, and rue. Then pour over it some
wine, honey, garum, or gravy; mix with care these different ingredients,
and pour this seasoning on your roast, as soon as you have taken it from
the spit or oven.[XVI-54]

_Macedonian Pork._--Choose, among a number of large and fine sucking
pigs, the one which appears to you the most worthy of the culinary
sacrifice. Draw it by the upper part; clean it well, and fill it with
chicken sausages chopped small, the flesh of thrushes, ortolans, and
pork; add Lucanian sausages, dates without stones, raisins, and
afterwards, mallow, beet, leeks, parsley, coriander, whole pepper, and
pine nuts; add eggs, and a good quantity of well-peppered gravy. Bake
it, having previously scored the back of the animal, so that it may be
basted with its own gravy. When a delightful odour shall then warn you
that it is done, cover it, before serving, with a relishing mixture of
pepper, rue, garum, or gravy, to which you must add wine, honey, and a
little oil.[XVI-55]

_Stuffed Sucking Pig._--The intestines are drawn out by the throat, and
an opening made under the skin. You then fill with stuffing a bladder,
to the neck of which is securely fixed a long and narrow tube, which
will convey to every part the somewhat liquid substance which you will
express from the bladder. The opening is then closed with parchment sewn
to the skin. It is hardly necessary to say that this operation should be
performed in several places.

Let us now see to the inside. Crush pepper, alisander, wild marjoram,
and a little benzoin root; mix with this, garum or gravy, cooked brains,
raw eggs, flour, and pork gravy; the whole must be boiled on a slow
fire, and the pig filled with it, also with little birds, pine nuts,
whole pepper, and garum. It now only remains to place it in the oven,
watch over the cooking, baste it with gravy, and serve.[XVI-56]

_Aristoxenic Ham._--Take a fresh ham, salt it, and smoke it two days;
then rub it with a mixture of oil and vinegar, and hang it to the
ceiling.[XVI-57] Some days after you must boil it with a great quantity
of figs and three bay leaves; then take off the skin, make incisions in
the flesh, and fill them with honey. Finally, prepare a paste of flour
and oil, with which cover the ham; put it into the oven, and withdraw it
only when this crust is completely done.[XVI-58]

_Lucullian Ham._--Cook a ham, newly salted, with two pounds of barley
and twenty-five figs. Then bone it, and slightly scarify the skin with
an iron blade; put it into the oven, taking care to cover it with a
little honey. When it begins to colour, put into a saucepan some cooked
wine, pepper, wine and a bunch of rue, the half of which is then poured
on the ham. The other half of this seasoning serves to humect the
quenelles which you have taken beforehand from the ham previous to
baking; these must be well soaked with gravy, and then, if you have any
remaining, pour it over the ham, which you serve surrounded by the
quenelles.[XVI-59]

_Ventre de Truie à l’Athénienne._--It is boiled with sweet herbs and
served with a seasoning of cummin seed, vinegar, and silphium.[XVI-60]

_Ventre de Truie à la Romaine._--It is cooked in the manner before
described, and seasoned with a sauce composed of pepper, parsley seed,
dried mint, benzoin-root, honey, vinegar, and garum.[XVI-61]

_Fillet of Pork à la Bœotienne._--When it has been covered with
honey and vinegar, and baked in the oven, it is eaten with a seasoning
of pepper, benzoin, and garum.[XVI-62]

_Tétines de Truie à la Salienne._--Cook them in water; make several
incisions; cover them with salt, and place them in the oven, or on the
gridiron; prepare a seasoning of pepper and alisander, with garum, wine,
and cooked wine; thicken with fine floor; put in the _tétines_, and
serve.[XVI-63]

_Tétines à la Flamine._--Mix the flesh of a sea-hedge hog with carrots
and pepper; introduce the mixture into the _tétines_; sew up the
opening; cook them in the oven, or on the gridiron, and eat them with
brine and mustard.[XVI-64]

_Olympian Pig’s Liver._--Take the liver of a pig that has been fed only
on figs, bake it, and serve with a seasoning of œnogarum, pepper,
thyme, alisander, garum, oil, and a little vinegar.[XVI-65]

_Capitolian Pig’s Liver._--Make incisions in the liver of a pig that has
been fed on nothing but figs, and put it into garum with pepper,
alisander, and two bay leaves; then wrap it in the caul, cook it on the
gridiron, and serve.[XVI-66]

_Campanian Bacon._--It is cooked by just covering it with water and a
good quantity of dill, to which a little oil and salt are afterwards
added.[XVI-67]

_Quenelles of Pig’s Liver and Brains._--Roast a pig’s liver, and take
off all the fibrous parts; sprinkle it with pounded pepper and rue; add
some gravy; stir the whole well; then cut it into small slices, each of
which you must cover with a bay leaf; hang them over the smoke as long
as you think necessary.

When you wish to eat them, roast them afresh; then put them into a
mortar, with pepper, alisander, and wild marjoram; stir them, add gravy
and dressed sucking pigs’ brains, pounded with care; then add five eggs,
and dissolve them in such a manner as to make the whole thoroughly
compact; pour over it some gravy, and cook in a saucepan; when cooked,
throw it on a very clean table, and out this pulp into small square
pieces, which mix in the mortar with pepper, alisander, and wild
marjoram. When you have gently stirred all this, it must again be put
into a saucepan, and boiled over a slow fire. At the moment of
ebullition, pour it on a plate, sprinkle with pepper, and serve.[XVI-68]

_Lucanian Sausages._--Pound in a mortar some pepper, cummin, and winter
savory with bay leaves, and moisten with gravy and garum; then add to
this mixture some pork, chopped small, more garum and pepper, and a good
quantity of bacon, with a few pine nuts. When these various ingredients
are well incorporated one with another, you stuff the prepared
intestines, and hang up the sausages.[XVI-69]

_Imperial Sausages._--Cut some pork into very small pieces, which most
be pounded with the finest bread, well-soaked in wine; then pound some
pepper and decorticated myrtle leaves, and add some gravy. Make some
small sausages, and put inside some fir-nuts. When these sausages are
finished, you must cook them over a slow fire, with sweet wine,
previously reduced to a-third.[XVI-70]

The following is the seasoning you must add to it:--

Bone some small chickens, and put them into a saucepan, with leeks,
dill, and salt. When this is cooked, add pepper and smallage seed; then
crumble some sesame bread, on which pour some very thick gravy, mix the
whole well, and serve with the sausages.[XVI-71]

The Gauls had very considerable herds of swine, which they fed
exclusively upon acorns. The inhabitants of the towns reared them in
their houses. As these animals went frequently out, they caused some
obstruction, and we know that Philip, grandson of Louis-le-Gros, lost
his life in Paris, in consequence of a furious pig having run between
the legs of his horse, and caused him to fall. This accident took place
on the 1st October, 1181. The 3rd of the same month a proclamation was
issued, forbidding all persons to let their swine ramble through the
streets of Paris. A short time after, those which belonged to the Abbaye
Saint-Antoine were privileged; the abbess and the nuns having
represented that it would be a want of courtesy to their patron saint
not to exempt his hogs from the general rule.[XVI-72]

A new proclamation of the 20th January, 1850, interdicted with still
greater severity the rearing of swine in the town of Paris, under
penalty of a fine of 60 sous (two shillings and four-pence); and the
police were authorized to kill them wheresoever they might be found, to
take the head as a perquisite for themselves, and to deposit the carcase
at the Hôtel-Dieu (the name of an hospital), charging that establishment
with the cost incurred for its conveyance.[XVI-73]

There was nothing more delicate in the 16th century, nothing more
odoriferous, than the flesh of young pigs fed on parsnips,[XVI-73A] and
roasted, with a stuffing of fine herbs.[XVI-73B]


THE OX.

A profound sentiment of gratitude has been often the cause of rendering
to the ox extraordinary honours, which no animal, perhaps, ever shared
with him. The Egyptians considered this quadruped as the emblem of
agriculture, and of all that serves to support existence;[XVI-74] and
incense smoked on its altars at Memphis and Heliopolis.[XVI-75]

The Phœnicians religiously abstained from its flesh, and the
Phrygians punished with death whosoever dared to slay the labouring
ox.[XVI-76]

In Greece, during the heroic ages, an ox was the reward adjudged to the
conquering wrestlers and pugilists; a horse was the prize of racing or
the quoits.[XVI-77]

At a later period the Athenians decreed that their coins should bear the
image of this useful quadruped;[XVI-78] and though they then offered it
to their gods, the ceremonies even of the sacrifice testified the
repugnance felt at shedding its blood.

The sacrificer fled with the greatest speed after he had struck it; he
was followed, and, to avoid being arrested, he threw away the axe he had
used, and accused it of causing the death of the innocent ox. The axe
was then seized and tried; some one defended it, and alleged that it was
less guilty than the grinder who had sharpened the blade. The latter
cast the odium of the crime on the grinding stone, so that the trial was
never ended, and the pretended offence remained unpunished.[XVI-79]

For a long time the greater part of the ancients considered it a sin to
eat the flesh of the ox, the companion of the agriculturist, whose
patient vigour hollows the furrow which is to be the means of his
support.[XVI-80] But the bad example of Proserpine, who prepared one for
Hercules,[XVI-81] caused these scruples, one by one, to be hushed, the
solemn prohibition of the legislator of Athens forgotten;[XVI-82] and,
in spite of the obstinate resistance of the Pythagorians and the
disciples of Empedocles, every one declared in favour of the doctrines
of Zeno and Epicurus.

Moreover, it is certain that the heroes of Homer were not so scrupulous:
Menelaus offered roast-beef to Telemachus; Agamemnon also presented some
to the wise Nestor; and an ox, roasted whole, frequently appeased the
robust appetite of the illustrious chiefs of Greece.[XVI-83]

If we go back to centuries still more remote, and of which a venerable
historian has preserved us an account, we find herds of oxen were
possessed by the great patriarchal families.[X][XVI-84] Abraham cooked a
calf and served it to the three angels, in the valley of Mamre;[XVI-85]
and the flesh of this animal, whether ox or heifer, was evidently much
in use in the primitive ages, since no particular proscription exempts
them from those beings having “life and motion,”[XVI-86] and which are
to serve us as food.[XVI-87] As to Moses, far from interdicting it to
the Israelites, he places the ox in the first rank of pure
animals,[XVI-88] whose flesh was allowed them.

The oracle of ancient medicine, Hippocrates, praises the flesh of the
ox, in which he recognises the most nutritious qualities, but
nevertheless he believes it to be heavy and indigestible.[XVI-89]

Of what material, then, must have been the stomach of Theagenes, of
Thasos--he, who devoured a whole bull in one day.[XVI-90]

To be sure, the same exploit is attributed to Milo of Crotona, whose
ordinary meal consisted of eighteen pounds of meat, as much bread, and
fifteen pints of wine.[XVI-91] These formidable polyphagists could,
without much expense, indulge their fabulous appetites; for, in the time
of Demosthenes, 354 B.C., an ox of the first quality cost only eighty
drachmas, or about two pounds, eleven shillings, and eightpence.[XVI-92]

Magiric writers have left us very few details on the different methods
of cooking the flesh of the ox or calf. It appears to have been
generally roasted,[XVI-93] in which case it was eaten alone; but
sometimes it was eaten boiled, with one of the sauces to be hereafter
mentioned.

These animals were fed with particular care, in order to render them
more worthy of the luxurious tables for which certain choice pieces were
destined. The manner of fattening oxen has already been described: it is
only necessary to add, that calves, which were to be slaughtered,
received no other food than their mothers’ milk; and that, frequently,
they were not killed before the expiration of a twelvemonth.[XVI-94]

Double tripe was reputed as an excellent food. The Asiatics, Greeks,
and Romans were particularly fond of it. It was served at a sumptuous
repast prepared for Achilles; and Homer observes, that this dish was
always honourably received at the banquets of heroes.[XVI-95]

Athenæus, describing a feast of the most exquisite elegance, names
double tripe among a host of dishes he enumerates;[XVI-96] he also says,
speaking of a state dinner at which Philoxenus, one of the generals of
Alexander the Great, was a guest, that first of all there appeared large
basins containing the intestines of animals, disposed with art around
their heads:[XVI-97] and it is thus, he adds, that even the gods gave
themselves up, in the society of their friends, to the pleasures of good
cheer.[XVI-98] To be brief, this artless chronicler of antique
gastrophagy, tells us that after the sacrilegious undertaking of the
Titans, the human race enjoyed such perfect happiness, that men caused
to be served at every one of their repasts delicious double tripe and
savoury intestines.[XVI-99]

This touching example of felicity and innocent gluttony found few
imitators at Rome among that class of voluptuous men who entertained, at
enormous expense, tasters whose discriminating palates could tell
whether a fish had been caught at the mouth of the Tiber, or further
off; whether a goose’s liver had been fattened with fresh figs, or only
on dried ones.[XVI-100] For them tripe could have very little
attraction, but this rather plebeian dish appeared with honour on modest
tables, and proletarian epicures sought for it with eagerness.[XVI-101]

_Beef à l’Ibérienne._--Well boil an excellent piece of beef, and serve
it with the following sauce. Grind and mix pepper, alisander, parsley
seed, wild marjoram, and dried onions; moisten with sun-made raisin
wine; stir, and add honey, vinegar, wine, garum, oil, and sweet
wine.[XVI-102]

_Stewed Beef à la Sarmate._--Carefully choose a piece of beef, which
stew slowly for a long time with leeks, cut small, onions, or beans.
When it is well cooked, pour over a mixture of pepper, benzoin, and a
little oil.[XVI-103]

_Dish of Veal à la Syracusaine._--Cook a piece of veal, on a slow fire,
with pepper, alisander, carrots, and parsley seed, bruised together in a
mortar; then add honey, vinegar, garum, and oil; thicken the whole with
fine flour, and serve.[XVI-104]

_Noix de Veau à la Tarantaise._--Take a _noix de veau_, cook it in a
saucepan with pepper, alisander, and fenugreek seed; add, later, some
wild marjoram, pine nuts, and dates; then moisten with a mixture of
honey, vinegar, garum, mustard, and oil. When the cookery of these
various substances shall have made an homogeneous whole, serve.[XVI-105]

_Cisalpine Preserve._--Mince some beef in very small pieces; do the same
with a little bacon; add pine nuts, pounded with dates; pour on the
whole a mixture of vinegar, garum, mustard, and oil; stir well, and
throw on this pulp a powder of strong odoriferous herbs. Stir it a long
time, let it rest, compress it strongly in a prepared intestine, close
the opening, and put a string round to tighten it still more. This
preserve cannot turn bad.[XVI-106]

The ox was so precious among the Romans, that mention is made of a
certain citizen accused before the people and condemned, because he had
killed one of his oxen to satisfy the fancy of a young libertine, who
told him he bad never eaten any tripe. He was banished, as if he had
killed his farmer.[XVI-107]

The Brahmin women think to obtain abundance of milk and butter by
invoking one particular cow,--the darling cow of the king of heaven; the
type, mother, and patroness of all cows. The entire species are treated
with the greatest deference; they have lavished upon them every
expression of gratitude, and one day of each year is set apart as a
solemn festival consecrated to their worship.[XVI-108]

Some centuries ago the large pieces of meat were boiled first, and then
roasted. Roasted meat was always served with sauce. Animals roasted
whole were generally filled with an aromatic stuffing. Sage was the
common seasoning for geese, and sucking-pigs were stuffed with chesnuts.
Some minutes before these were taken from the spit, they were covered
with bread crumbs; and appeared on the table enveloped in a crust
composed of bread, sugar, orange juice, and rose water.[XVI-109]

_Bœuf Gras._--There is a very old custom in the whole of France, and
which consists in leading throughout the streets, in the provincial
towns, on Shrove Tuesday, a fatted ox, ornamented with flowers and
ribbons. This ceremony is considered as a commemorative emblem of the
fecundity of the earth. In Paris, the ox chosen for the same purpose has
generally obtained beforehand the prize awarded by the Agricultural
Society. The horns of the animal are gilded; he is afterwards decorated
in a sumptuous manner, and led through the principal thoroughfares of
that city, on Shrove Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, to the Palace of the
Tuileries, the ministerial residences, the Hôtel-de-Ville, and the
foreign embassies. Troops of butchers, dressed in appropriate fancy
costumes, both on horseback and on foot, are preceded by bands of
music; and the heathen divinities, drawn by eight horses in a richly
gilt triumphal car, form one of the most splendid and grotesque pageants
of modern times.


THE LAMB.

Formerly, sworn examiners of the clouds, skilful in discovering the
storms they concealed, announced to the inhabitants of the country the
hail by which their crops were threatened, and every one immediately
offered a sacrifice to the inimical cloud, in order that it might carry
ruin and desolation elsewhere. The most devout sacrificed a lamb; the
lukewarm worshippers a fowl; some even contented themselves with
pricking their finger with a pin, and throwing towards heaven the drops
of blood which came out. The cloud, it is said, satisfied with these
pious offerings, soon disappeared never to return.[XVI-110]

The lamb, an oblation pure and agreeable in the sight of the gods,
reconciled the earth with Olympus. In Egypt, the inhabitants of Sais and
Thebes offered it to their divinities.[XVI-111] Minerva and Juno also
were pleased to see its flesh smoking on the altars which Greece and
Italy raised to them.[XVI-112]

These practices, no doubt, were an obscure imitation of the religious
rites which Moses prescribed to his people,[XVI-113] and which heathen
nations adopted in their turn, one from the other.[XVI-114]

The Hebrew law forbad the killing of the Paschal lamb before it was
weaned, and also the cooking of it in its mother’s milk. It was to be
eaten roasted, with unleavened bread, lettuces, mustard, or bitter
herbs: whatever might remain was to be burnt with fire. It was not to be
boiled, nor a bone of it broken. It must be chosen of that year, a male,
and without fault or blemish.[XVI-115]

Many passages of the sacred writings allow us to appreciate the pastoral
riches of the first nations of the East; and an idea may be formed of
the number of their flocks, when we are told that Jacob gave the
children of Hamor a hundred sheep for the price of a field;[XVI-116] and
that the King of Israel received a hundred thousand every year from the
King of Moab, his tributary, and a like number of rams, covered with
their fleece.[XVI-117]

The delicate flesh of the lamb was the ornament of the tables of the
voluptuous inhabitants of Sion and Samaria. The prophet Amos reproaches
them with this luxury, and threatens them with the Divine anger[XVI-118]
on that account. The Greeks carried their love for this meat to such a
height, that the magistrates of Athens were obliged to forbid the eating
of lamb which had not been shorn.[XVI-119] This restriction did not
prevent the epicures of Attica from buying one of these animals every
day, which cost them ten drachmas[XVI-120] (6_s._ 5_d._), and the head
of which, prepared with art, heightened the beauty of the first
course.[XVI-121] Rome and Italy imitated Greece,[XVI-122] and the flocks
of the fertile Campania hardly sufficed for the exigencies of the
capital of the world, especially towards the end of autumn, a period at
which lambs afforded, according to the Romans, a more highly flavoured
and wholesome meat than in the spring.[XVI-123]

_Lamb’s Head à la Quirinale._--The head is boiled with pepper, garum,
and beans, and served with a sauce consisting of garum, pepper, benzoin,
and cummin, to which is added a little oil, and small pieces of bread,
soaked in sweet wine.[XVI-124]

_Quarter of Lamb à l’Esquilin._--Place a quarter of lamb in a saucepan
with onions and coriander, chopped very small. Then pound pepper,
alisander, and cummin; put to it some oil, wine, and garum. Pour the
whole on the lamb; cook well, and thicken with fine flour.[XVI-125]

_Palatine Broil._--Leave a piece of lamb during some time in a mixture
of pepper, benzoin, garum, and oil. After having cooked it in oil and
garum, put it a little while on the gridiron, sprinkle with pepper, and
serve.[XVI-126]

_Roast Lamb à la Phrygienne._--Bake a lamb and serve it with the
following sauce:--Mix well half an ounce of pepper, six scruples of
cinnamon, a little ginger, half a pint of excellent garum, and the
quarter of that quantity of oil.[XVI-127]

_Lamb à la Trimalcion._--Draw a lamb at the neck; preserve the
intestines entire, and wash them with the greatest care; fill them with
force meat and garum; put them back again by the same way; sew up the
opening, and place the lamb in the oven. Then mix gravy and milk; add
pounded pepper, garum, wine, sweet wine, and oil; let it boil only an
instant; thicken with fine floor, and serve it with the lamb.[XVI-128]

Blount informs us of a very ancient and rather strange custom. He
says:--

“At Kidlington, in Oxfordshire, the custom is, that on Monday after
Whitson week, there is a fat, live lamb provided, and the maids of the
town, having their thumbs tied behind them, run after it, and she that
with her mouth takes and holds the lamb is declared _Lady of the Lamb_,
which, being dressed, with the skin hanging on, is carried on a long
pole before the Lady and her companions to the Green, attended with
music, and a morisco dance of men and another of women, when the rest of
the day is spent in dancing, mirth, and merry glee. The next day the
lamb is part baked, boiled, and roast, for the Lady’s feast, where she
sits majestically at the upper end of the table, and her companions with
her, with music and other attendants, which ends the
solemnity.”[XVI-129]


THE KID.

The kid was one of the most delicate dishes of the Hebrews: Rebecca
prepared some for Isaac, in order to dispose him to give his blessing to
Jacob.[XVI-130] Moses ordered that, for the Feast of Passover, a lamb or
a kid should be slain.[XVI-131] Samson carried a kid to his young wife
when he wished to be reconciled to her.[XVI-132] The brother of the
prodigal son complains to his father that he has never given him a kid
to make merry with his friends.[XVI-133]

The Egyptians, who represented their god Pan with the face and legs of a
goat, abstained religiously from killing a kid or eating its
flesh.[XVI-134] Their veneration for this animal went so far, in some
countries, that goat-keepers appeared in their eyes invested with an
august and sacred character.[XVI-135] The Greeks did not judge it
convenient to adopt these strange ideas, although on other points their
theology was sufficiently ridiculous. The kid was considered one of the
most dainty dishes in state banquets; it was served whole, on a silver
basin, to each of the guests at the wedding of the Macedonian,
Caranus.[XVI-136]

The kids of Attica were especially praised, and a considerable trade
was made of them in Athens.[XVI-137] Certain connoisseurs, whose
authority had weight, preferred, however, those produced in the Island
of Mælos.[XVI-138] A great many also came from Sicily: they were in less
repute, and sold at a low price.[XVI-139]

At Rome, the kid of Italy was much thought of; the most delicate were
fattened at Tivoli,[XVI-140] and in different localities of the Roman
Campagna.[XVI-141]

_Kid à la Trans-Tibérienne._--The kid is to be cooked slowly, with a
little milk, four ounces of honey, an ounce of pepper, a little salt and
benzoin. After some time, add eight dates crushed in a mortar, a little
gravy, garum, a small quantity of excellent wine; the whole is thickened
with fine flour.[XVI-142]

_Roast Kid à la Janiculum._--Empty and carefully clean a kid; rub it
well with oil and pepper; sprinkle with salt and a large quantity of
coriander seed; place it in the oven, and bake slowly.[XVI-143]

_Kid à la Tarpéienne._--Empty the kid; stuff it, and sew it up; then
entirely cover it with a thick mixture of pepper, rue, winter savory,
onions, a small quantity of thyme, and some garum; then place it in an
oven, or on a dish, covered with oil. When the kid is cooked, you
surround it with a sauce of winter savory, onions, rue, dates, mixed
with wine, oil, and cooked wine; sprinkle with pepper, and
serve.[XVI-144]

_Kid à la Tivoli._--Bake the kid; then pound some pepper, rue, onions,
winter savory, and Damascus plums (without their stones), a little
benzoin, which you must dilute in wine, garum, and oil; throw this sauce
on the kid as you withdraw it from the oven, and, at the moment of
serving, cover it with boiling wine.[XVI-145]

_Kid à la Mélissienne._--Draw the kid at the neck, and clean the
intestines; then pound some pepper, alisander, benzoin root, two bay
leaves, and a little Spanish camomile; add two or three brains; mix them
well together; then add some garum and a little salt; afterwards, a
small quantity of milk and honey. Fill the intestines with this
stuffing, and place them round the kid, which you then put into a large
basin on the fire. When half-cooked, you must add a mixture of garum,
oil, and wine. Then bruise some pepper and alisander seed, which moisten
with the gravy of the kid, and a little cooked wine; pour it into the
basin, and the moment before serving thicken with fine flour.[XVI-146]


THE ASS.

The ass was an impure animal, according to the law of Moses, whose flesh
was forbidden because it did not ruminate.[XVI-147] However, at the
siege of Samaria, the Jews were compelled to eat it for want of other
food. The famine was such, that the head of an ass was sold for eighty
pieces of silver.[XVI-148]

The Roman peasants thought the flesh of the young ass had a very
agreeable taste,[XVI-149] and regaled themselves with it at their rustic
festivals. The celebrated Mecænas one day tasted of this dish at the
house of one of his free slaves; he spoke of it with much praise, caused
it to be served on his own table, and even succeeded in introducing it
on those of the great and rich, who gave up the onager, or wild ass,
which they had hitherto preferred, to humour this illustrious favourite.
But this new gastronomic conquest had only a short vogue; and was
forgotten after the death of Mecænas.[XVI-150] Galen tells us that the
cooks of Alexandria thought much of the ass,[XVI-151] whose flesh, he
says, much resembles that of the stag.[XVI-152] Still, this great
physician disapproves of the use of this food, which he considers
unsuited to mankind.[XVI-153]

It is asserted, even at the present day, that the flesh of the young ass
is a pretty good dish; we have heard, but we hardly can repeat it, that
much is consumed in the _guinguettes_ round Paris, where the artless
customers are far from thinking that anything else but veal can be
served to them.

The modern restaurateurs of the Barrières of Paris, have, perhaps, read
the biography of Mecænas, and endeavour to render popular the dish so
honoured by the celebrated favourite. Who can blame them?


THE DOG.

We must beg pardon of the reader for informing him that the dog
presented a very relishing dish to many nations advanced in culinary
science. To them, one of these animals, young, plump, and delicately
prepared, appeared excellent food.[XVI-154]

The Greeks, that people so charming by their seductive folly, their love
of the arts, their poetic civilization, and the intelligent spirit of
research presiding over their dishes--the Greeks (we grieve to say it)
ate dogs, and even dared to think them good: the grave Hippocrates
himself--the most wise, the least gluttonous, and therefore the most
impartial of their physicians--was convinced that this quadruped
furnished a wholesome and, at the same time, a light food.[XVI-155]

As to the Romans, they also liked it,[XVI-156] and no doubt prepared it
in the same manner as the hare, which they thought it resembled in
taste.[XVI-157]

However, it is but right to add, that this dish, which we will not even
hear mentioned, was never favourably received by the fashionable portion
of Roman society, and that the legislators of ancient gastrophagy even
repulsed it with disdain.

There is every reason to believe that the people regaled themselves with
a roast or boiled dog, especially once a year, at the period when they
celebrated the deliverance of the Capitol from the siege of the Gauls.
It is known that, at this solemnity, a goose, laid on a soft cushion,
was carried in triumph, followed by an unhappy dog nailed to a
cross,[XVI-158] whose loud cries greatly amused the populace. In this
manner they commemorated the signal service rendered by one animal, and
the fatal negligence of the other. The Gauls scaled the Capitol while
the dogs slept, and Rome had been lost if the deafening cries of the
geese had not given an alarm to the garrison, who, it must be allowed,
should have kept better watch.

The quadrupeds last mentioned are the only domestic animals of the kind
used as food by the ancients. The chase afforded them several others,
which we shall mention, after having just glanced at the poultry--one of
the most interesting divisions in natural history for the serious and
reflective appreciator of gastronomic productions.




XVII.

POULTRY.


The air is less dense than the earth, said Aristotle; poultry ought,
then, to stand higher in estimation than quadrupeds.[XVII-1] It is, adds
Galen, the lightest and best of all aliments.[XVII-2] After this, would
any one dare to accuse of sensuality those who, wisely following the
diet recommended by these great men, prefer a fat capon or delicate
fowl, to heavy, common butcher’s meat?

Our masters, the ancients, have left us fine examples on this head. In
vain did impertinent sumptuary laws, enemies of progress, strive to
repress the luxury of the farm-yards. These precautions on behalf of
abstinence against the magiric genius were unceasingly met by a
resistance, as energetic as it was truly Roman. Fannius, Archius,
Cornelius, could make martyrs; but let us say, with pride, good cheer
never had cause to envy them deserters and apostates. One of these
tyrannical decrees was just published; a tribune of the people, a man of
heart and taste, undertook to have it repealed. He courageously mounted
the rostrum, and cried, with an inspired voice: “Romans! you are treated
like slaves. By the gods! what can be more strange than the new law?
They would force you to sobriety, whether you will or no! They would
impose temperance on you! Ah! renounce this pretended liberty, of which
you are so jealous, since you are no longer allowed to ruin yourselves,
each one according to his fancy, or die of indigestion if you please.”

This discourse was received as it deserved to be, and unanimous applause
proved to the orator that he was addressing men capable of understanding
him. But, alas! this excellent tribune had a dangerous enemy: the
censor, Lucius Flaccus, a sort of fanatic teetotaller and carniphobis of
that time, had sufficient credit to cause this worthy citizen to be
driven from the senate. But Rome revenged him by devouring more poultry
than ever.[XVII-3]

In the early ages of the Church, poultry in general was regarded as a
food for fast days; and this opinion was founded on the text in Genesis,
where it is said that birds and fishes were created on the fifth day,
whereas quadrupeds were created on the sixth.[XVII-4]

St. Benedict, in his rule, does not formally forbid the monks any other
flesh than that of quadrupeds; and St. Columbanus, in his, permits the
monks the flesh of poultry, in default of fish. The Greek monks ate it
down to the 10th century.


THE COCK.

An object of divine worship in Syria,[XVII-5] the cock was considered by
almost every nation as the emblem of vigilance and courage.[XVII-6]
Thus, heathen antiquity consecrated it to the god of battles.[XVII-7]
Themistocles, marching with his army against Xerxes, King of Persia, met
with some cocks fighting furiously; he made his troops halt, that they
might observe them, and he then addressed a spirited discourse to them
on the subject. He conquered, and on his return to Athens, desired that
every year a cock-fight should commemorate his victory.[XVII-8] These
cruel games soon spread throughout Greece, and feathered champions were
reared with great care, and obtained at a high price from Rhodes,
Bœotia, Mela, and Chalcis.[XVII-9]

Italy also wished to enjoy this barbarous pastime. At Pergamus, any
spectator might throw a cock into the arena, and a prize was awarded to
the lucky possessor of the bird who remained master of the field of
battle.[XVII-10]

This warlike bird has never enjoyed a high culinary reputation;
nevertheless, it was eaten when old, that is to say, at that period of
its life when its flesh, hard, fibrous, and tough, possesses neither
juice nor flavour--then this wretched food was left to those among the
common people who joyously feasted in the drinking-shops of Rome. They,
however, always avoided making fricassees of white cocks, because they
were consecrated to the month, and proclaimed the hours.[XVII-11]


THE CAPON.

The cock being banished from the table of all respectable people, the
necessity of dressing hens became evident, for it was necessary to live.
Now, you are aware that there are two sorts of hens; one sort
consumptive looking and tough, the other tender, plump, and before which
an epicure banishes every other thought, and sighs with pleasure. These
last were preferred, and, in order to render them more worthy of the
voluptuous epicures for whom they were intended, they learned from the
inhabitants of the island of Cos the art of fattening them in dark and
closed places, with certain wonderful pastes, which increased their
delicacy and tempting whiteness.[XVII-12]

This ingenious invention belonged to Greece and Asia. Rome possessed
herself of it, and even improved it; but soon the constant tyrant of the
kitchen, the Consul, C. Fannius, who thought bad what others thought
good, and who pretended that in consequence of the immense consumption
made of them, the result would be that not a living hen would be left in
the empire, ordered that for the future the Romans should dispense with
fattening and eating this delicious winged animal.[XVII-13]

Fortunately, the law said nothing about young cocks; this silence saved
Roman gastronomy, and the capon was invented.[XVII-14] It is not
necessary to relate with what transports of delight this new creation
was greeted; it will be easily understood. Rome was moved; the famous
Greek cooks, who consecrated their science to _her_, were on tip-toe.
Everywhere, from mouth to mouth, spread the name of the skilful
enchanter, who could in such a manner metamorphose the clarion of the
farm yard. Fannius, himself, it is said, wished to be assured of the
truth of the prodigy: he was served with a roast capon, and the praises
he bestowed on it were assuredly the triumph of the bird, of epicures,
and of art.[XVII-15] From this remarkable epoch, nearly all chickens
underwent the ingenious transformation which rendered them so welcome to
all Lucullian tables;[XVII-16] and it caused such a destruction of
birds, that the consul repented, but too late, that he had only named
hens in his sumptuary law.

_Capon à la Déliaque._--Draw completely a fat capon; then bruise pepper,
alisander, and ginger, which you must mix with sausage-meat and fine
flour, and a pig’s brains cooked; add some eggs, then some garum, a
little oil, whole pepper, and several pine nuts. Make a stuffing of this
mixture, and put it into the capon, which afterwards roast before a slow
fire.[XVII-17]


THE HEN.

The cackling of hens infallibly announced, among the ancients, some
dreadful calamity to the person who had the misfortune to hear
it.[XVII-18] This fatal omen must have rendered a great number of people
unfortunate; for whether she lays eggs, or conducts her young family, a
hen generally cackles.

They therefore sought to diminish the number of these birds of ill-omen;
they fattened them for eating, and they did right, since, according to
learned physicians, the flesh of these birds is good for weakly persons,
as well as those who are convalescent.[XVII-19] Healthy individuals also
find this food suit them perfectly. In Greece there would have been
something wanting at a feast, if fat hens had not been served. They
embellished the celebrated wedding repast of Caranus; and Athenæus often
speaks of them when describing a grand banquet.[XVII-20]

At Rome, the art of fattening them became a serious occupation, which
was long studied, and had its precepts and rules. Marcus Lœlius
Strabo, belonging to the order of knights, invented aviaries in which
hens were confined;[XVII-21] others sought and discovered the means of
giving to their flesh that particular flavour unperceived by
uncultivated palates, but which the experienced gastrophilist always
appreciates. They patiently gave themselves up to laborious experiments:
a warm, narrow, dark spot received these interesting _volatiles_; the
feathers of their wings and tails were plucked, and they were gorged
twice a day during three weeks with balls of barley flour mixed with
soft water. Great cleanliness was combined with this diet: their heads
were well cleansed, and care taken that no insect should enter the
aviary.[XVII-22]

Afterwards barley flour, kneaded with milk, was preferred; then, instead
of milk, water, and honey were employed. Excellent wheaten bread, soaked
in good wine and hydromel, was also used with success.[XVII-23]

Skilful breeders by these means obtained magnificent hens of an
incredibly exquisite flavour, and which weighed no less than sixteen
pounds.[XVII-24]

The Fannian law unfortunately came, and, as we have before observed,
brought impediments to these beautiful results by interdicting aviaries
and skilfully prepared pastes. It is true that this law allowed a
farm-yard hen to be served at every repast[XVII-25]--_mais une poule par
jour est-ce contentement?_ It became necessary, then, to have recourse
to a _mezzo-termine_, which was discovered in the capon. But the
favourite dish forbidden by the consular authority was not altogether
abandoned: some faithful epicureans always possessed in the shade
well-furnished aviaries; and it was even then, we are assured, that Rome
and the universe were enriched with the _poularde_.[XVII-26]

_Poularde à la Viminale._--Cook a fine hen in its gravy; pound and mix
benzoin, pepper, oil, and garum, a little thyme, fennel seed, cummin,
mint, and rue; stir for a long time; add some vinegar; pound some dates,
and mix them with honey and a little vinegar. Of all this make a
homogeneous seasoning, and pour it on the hen when it is cold.[XVII-27]


THE CHICKEN.

It is certainly surprising that a people so serious as the Romans
generally were, should make the success of the greatest enterprise
depend on the appetite of their famous sacred chickens. They were
brought from the Island of Negropont, and were kept shut up in cages;
their guardian was designated by the name of Pullarius.[XVII-28]

Publius Claudius, constrained to consult these strange prophets before
engaging in a naval combat, ordered them to be fed; they refused to open
their beaks. The incredulous general ordered them at once to be thrown
into the sea, and laughingly exclaimed to the dismayed Pullarius: “Since
they will not eat--well! then let us make them drink.”[XVII-29]

Diodorus of Sicily, and some ancient writers, tell us that the
Egyptians, from a remote period, hatched chickens in ovens. This process
is decidedly of the highest antiquity, and was applied to the eggs of
all kinds of poultry.[XVII-30] In the last century, Réaumur tried
various experiments, and recovered this art, which was thought to have
been lost; others again have followed the steps of this skilful
observer, and, at the present day, obtain the most satisfactory results.

Chickens have ever been considered an estimable food, and hardly yielded
to the two glories of their family--the fattened hen and the
capon.[XVII-31] The Greeks served them at all their feasts of ceremony,
and the Romans granted them a distinguished place among the dishes of
the second course.

_Apician Macedonia of Chicken._--Chop small the meat of a chicken, which
mix with a kid’s breast, and put it into a saucepan with parsley seed,
dried pennyroyal, dried mint, ginger, green coriander, and raisins; then
add three pieces of the finest oaten bread, some honey, vinegar, oil,
and wine; some time after, add some excellent cheese, pine nuts,
cucumbers, and dried onions, well chopped. Pour some gravy over the
whole, and when it is cooked, surround the dish on all sides with snow,
and serve.[XVII-32]

_Parthian Chicken._--Open the croup dexterously, and put it in the
saucepan; then mix some pepper, alisander, a little carrot, garum, and
wine; fill the chicken with this seasoning; cook well, and sprinkle with
pepper before serving.[XVII-33]

_Numidian Chicken._--Begin by boiling a chicken for some time; then
place it in a stew-pan, after having sprinkled it with benzoin and
pepper. Afterwards bruise some pepper, cummin, coriander seed, benzoin
root, pine nuts, rue, and dates; add honey, vinegar, garum, and oil;
boil, thicken with fine flour, sprinkle with pepper, and serve.[XVII-34]

_Chicken à la Frontonienne._--Half cook a chicken, and then put into the
saucepan garum, oil, a bunch of dill, some leeks, winter savory, and
green coriander. You then sprinkle with pepper, and serve.[XVII-35]

_Chicken à la Cœlienne._--Cook a chicken with garum, oil, wine,
coriander seed, and onion. Then put some milk and a little salt into
another saucepan, with honey and a little water, and cook this mixture
over a very slow fire. Throw in by degrees some raspings of sweet
biscuits, and take care to stir continually. Put the chicken into this
sauce, and then serve with a seasoning of pepper, alisander, and wild
marjoram, mixed with honey and cooked vine, which must be boiled and
thickened with fine flour.[XVII-36]


THE DUCK.

The duck swims so well it was thought to be paying a compliment to
Neptune by sacrificing it to him.[XVII-37] The god of the seas never
found fault with this offering.

Attica and the whole of Greece sought the beautiful ducks of
Bœotia,[XVII-38] and that province was always found to have supplied
a larger number than it reared. It is true the poulterers of Athens,
banishing all scruples of conscience, rarely failed to satisfy their
customers as to the doubtful origin of a white _nêssa_ (duck), by taking
Neptune to witness that it was a pure Bœotian, a real duck, as they
said emphatically, of that species so much appreciated by connoisseurs.
Future _quidnuncs_ will examine whether the friendly duck of the English
and the political and literary _canard_ of the French have, or have not,
found their way from Greece, after wandering a little on the road.

There were ducks at that prodigious dinner of the opulent Caranus, of
whom we have already spoken several times. They were always served at
the tables of the rich Greeks;[XVII-39] and Archigenes reckons them
among the viands which agree best with the stomach.[XVII-40] Cato was of
the same opinion; and, if we are to believe Plutarch, he made them the
food of those of his family who were ill, and boasted of maintaining his
children, servants, and himself in perfect health, by the aid of this
diet alone.[XVII-41] It was the same idea that made Mithridates mix the
flesh of ducks with all he ate, as an antidote against poison, which he
feared.[XVII-42]

Hippocrates evinces a contrary opinion. The flesh of this bird seemed to
him hard, heavy, and indigestible.[XVII-43] Avicenna goes still further:
he threatens all who eat it with fever.[XVII-44] The Romans were no more
frightened than the Greeks at the decision of the father of medicine.
Lentulus, one of the high magiric authorities of Rome, ordered that the
duck should figure in the most honourable manner at the brilliant feast
of which Macrobius has preserved us an account.[XVII-45] It must,
however, be remembered that polite people, who observed the forms and
usages of society, only offered to their guests the breast and head of
this biped; the remainder returned to the kitchen.[XVII-46]

_Ducks’ Brains à l’Epicurienne._--Cook some ducks’ brains, and mince
them very small; then place in a saucepan, with pepper, cummin, benzoin
root, garum, sweet wine, and oil; add milk and eggs, and submit the
whole to the action of a slow fire, or rather, cook them in a
_bain-marie_.[XVII-47]

_Apicius’s Seasoning for a Roast Duck._--Make a mixture of pepper,
cummin, alisander, mint, stoned raisins, or Damascus plums; add a little
honey and myrtle wine; place it in a saucepan; cook, and then add to
these substances vinegar, garum, and oil; afterwards some parsley and
savory; serve with the roast duck.[XVII-48]


THE GOOSE.

When a flock of geese are obliged to pass Mount Taurus--the dreaded
abode of their enemies, the eagles--each of them takes the precaution to
hold a stone in its beak, in order that he may keep a profound silence,
which, otherwise, his natural loquacity would render
impossible.[XVII-49] This, if true, would justify Aristotle in
attributing foresight to the goose;[XVII-50] a quality which Scaliger
also claims for this bird.[XVII-51]

The ancients highly esteemed its flesh. Homer[XVII-52] and
Athenæus[XVII-53] speak with praise of the fat geese and goslings which
the Greeks ate.

The Egyptians served them at their meals every day; it was, with veal,
the favourite dish of their monarchs,[XVII-54] and they did not forget
to offer some to King Agesilaus, when he was travelling through the
country.[XVII-55]

Some eastern nations were impressed with such deep veneration for this
bird that they swore by nothing else.[XVII-56] The Britons honoured it,
and forbad all persons to do it the least harm.[XVII-57] It remained for
Queen Elizabeth to prove, at her joyous dinners of the 29th September,
that tastes and usages are modified by time.[XVII-58] And moreover, many
centuries before, her ancestors had been greatly wanting in respect
towards a particular kind of goose, which they roasted without any
ceremony.[XVII-59] A well-deserved sentiment of gratitude rendered them
dear to the Romans: their noisy clamour had formerly saved the
Capitol.[XVII-60] They became for them, as for the Egyptians,[XVII-61] a
symbol of safety, and were reared, both in town and country, to guard
the houses.[XVII-62]

Those which were kept, out of gratitude, in the Capitol, were
consecrated to Juno, Isis, Mars, and Priapus,[XVII-63] and every year
one of them was chosen for the brilliant and solemn ceremony we have
already mentioned.[XVII-64]

But, alas! time obscures and effaces all the glories of this world; and
that of the Roman geese, no doubt, had to submit to this sad
fate,[XVII-65] for they were eaten at least a century before the time of
Pliny. Unfortunate bird! Yes, a perfidious art fed them delicately in
the shade, in convenient aviaries, where nothing was wanting for their
comfort, and at the end of a few days the poor victims made but one step
from this dangerous retreat to the place of execution.[XVII-66] The
Emperor Alexander Severus became so fond of this dish, that on his great
festival days they served him with a goose and a pheasant.[XVII-67]
Nothing, in his estimation, could equal the exquisite flavour of these
two birds.

The luxurious Romans, however, neglected the entire animal, and thought
only of the liver. They invented the art of fattening this viscera, and
of increasing its size to such an extent that it often weighed two
pounds. To obtain this result, they simply fed their victims of
sensuality, during twenty days, with a paste of dried figs and
water.[XVII-68] As soon as the goose was killed, the liver was put to
soak in milk and honey.

It is not known exactly to whom we are to attribute this gastronomic
discovery. Scipio, Metellus, and Marcus Sejus disputed the glory of the
invention.[XVII-69] At all events, it is certain that the same method
was used in Greece as in Italy; that white geese were chosen in
preference,[XVII-70] and that the fat livers were served roasted, or
fried in the frying-pan, and enveloped in the _omentum_, a membrane
which we term the caul.[XVII-71] Pliny assures us that Apicius found
means to increase livers to a monstrous size,[XVII-72] which almost
equalled in weight the whole body of the animal.[XVII-73]

The wings and neck of the goose also acquired some favour; the feet were
added, when Messalinus had taught how to peel them by passing them
rapidly over the fire, and then preparing them with cocks’ combs. The
remainder was only good for the common people.[XVII-74]

Stuffed goslings also enjoyed a reputation among the Greeks,[XVII-75]
who fattened them by giving them, three times a day, during a month, a
mixture of bran and flour, moistened with hot water (two parts of flour
and four parts of bran); but, if Palladius is to be believed, it is much
better to feed them solely with millet, and as much water as they may
require.[XVII-76]

_Sejus Seasoning._--Bruise pepper, alisander, coriander, mint, and rue;
mix with it garum and a little oil; pour it over the roast goose, and
serve.[XVII-77]

_Apician Seasoning for a Roast Goose’s Liver._--Crush in a mortar, and
then well mix, pepper, carrots, cummin, parsley-seed, thyme, onions,
benzoin root, and fried pine nuts; add honey, vinegar, garum, and oil,
and serve with the roast liver in the omentum.[XVII-78]

_Boiled Goose à la Gauloise._--Boil a goose with garum, oil, wine, a
bunch of leeks, coriander, and savory; then crush pepper and pine nuts,
to which put a little water. Then take the leeks, coriander, and savory
out of the saucepan; put in their place the mixture mentioned, add some
milk, boil it, thicken with whites of eggs, and serve.[XVII-79]

In the sixteenth century they had dark cages, in which they fattened
poultry with ground tares, wheaten flour, and barley meal. Capons
fattened in hutches, where they could not turn, nor even stir, were
esteemed delicious. They fed pigeons on the crumb of bread, steeped in
wine; peacocks on the sediment from cider.

On Michaelmas Day, the 29th of September, many persons in England eat
roast goose for their dinner. It is said that this custom dates from the
time of Queen Elizabeth, who was being served with a piece of goose on
Michaelmas Day, at the very moment when news was brought of the defeat
of the famous Armada. Some persons affirm that the Queen expressed a
desire that this dish might, each year, serve to perpetuate the
remembrance of so signal a victory. Would it not be more simple to
suppose that Elizabeth herself already conformed to a custom which had
existed before her time?[XVII-80]

At Mans, instead of letting the poultry eat freely, they are shut up in
a dark place, and made to swallow pellets of about two inches long and
one thick, composed of two parts of barley flour, and one of maize, made
with sufficient quantity of milk.

“In the time when the French had a decided taste for spices and
aromatics, they imagined to vary at will the flavour and perfume of the
flesh of fowls. With the paste used to fatten them was mixed musk,
anise-seed, and comfits, with other aromatic drugs. A Queen was known
to spend 1,500 francs (£60) in fattening three geese, whose livers she
wished to render more delicate.”--PARMENTIER.


THE PIGEON.

The dove, a bird so dear to Venus,[XVII-81] served ambrosia to
Jupiter,[XVII-82] and became the interpreter of Dodona’s
oracles.[XVII-83] Several nations consecrated it to their gods.[XVII-84]
The Jews discovered in it the image of the sweetest virtues,[XVII-85] of
beauty, innocence, and purity;[XVII-86] and they sacrificed it to the
Almighty, as a burnt offering agreeable to His unspeakable
holiness.[XVII-87]

This was because the dove or pigeon (begging pardon, here, for mixing
varieties) is to the hawk, according to an expression of a father of the
Church, what the lamb is to the wolf,[XVII-88]--a symbol of good by the
side of evil, or of a calm and peaceful conscience, as opposed to the
sad and agitated criminal. But, alas! the ancient prerogatives of this
tender bird, its candour and innocence, could not even preserve it from
the fate common to almost everything which breathes. Its delicate
flesh--fatal gift of Heaven!--recommended it to the epicure; not for its
poetical qualities, but for its delicate flavour; and, after many songs
of praise, it was condemned to be roasted.

From the beginning of the heroic ages, pigeons were caught with snares
and nets,[XVII-89] in order to feed them, and be able to procure some at
once, if required to be served at a repast; for they formed a dainty
dish upon the tables of the most fastidious.[XVII-90] Of course they
figured in the joyous wedding feast of that opulent Caranus who
entertained his guests so sumptuously.[XVII-91]

The Greeks, therefore, used to bring up an immense number of pigeons,
and built for them, in the most open situations, charming pigeon-houses,
in the form of small towers, models of elegance and cleanliness, where
those timid birds found at night a retreat, always fatal to some one
amongst them.[XVII-92]

The Romans introduced in these sorts of edifices the most unusual
luxury.[XVII-93] Each kind of pigeon had a particular home[XVII-94]--a
foolish and expensive taste, which they continually attempted to
embellish. It was, however, a profitable speculation for those who knew
how to be satisfied with pigeon-houses of more simple appearance. A
brace of rather ordinary pigeons did not cost less than 16s.: the finest
were sold at £4 a pair. It is even known that L. Axius, a Roman knight,
demanded and obtained £6 8_s._ for two young pigeons intended for a
patrician’s table.[XVII-95]

Physicians of that period greatly praised the flesh of these birds; they
recommended it to the sick and convalescent.[XVII-96]

_Roast Pigeon, with Servilian Seasoning._--Bruise some dill seeds, dried
mint, and the root of benzoin; add some vinegar, dates, garum, a little
mustard, and oil; stir well; then mix with it some wine reduced to half,
and pour the whole on the roasted pigeon.[XVII-97]


THE GUINEA HEN.

This bird, called by the ancients the “Hen of Numidia,” comes originally
from many burning regions of Africa. In Greece, and especially in Rome,
vanity alone gave it a price which was willingly granted, more on
account of its scarcity than for its taste.[XVII-98] The Guinea hen
appeared at great banquets, when the Amphytrion was more anxious to show
his opulence than to demonstrate the delicacy of his dishes.
Martial,[XVII-99] and Pliny,[XVII-100] the naturalist, raised great
objections against this ostentatious and useless rarity.

_Guinea Hen à la Numide._--Cook it; then put it in a saucepan with some
honey and garum; make several incisions in the bird; baste it with its
own gravy, and sprinkle with pepper previously to its being
served.[XVII-101]


THE TURKEY HEN.

“There must be two to eat a truffled turkey,” said a gastronomist of the
18th century, to one of his friends--a noted _gourmand_--who had just
come to pay him a visit. “Two!” replied the visitor, with a smile of
sensuality. “Yes, two,” answered the first; “I never do otherwise: for
instance, I have a turkey to-day, and of course we must be two.” The
friend, looking earnestly at the other, said: “You, and who else?”
“Why,” answered the gastronomist, “I and the turkey.”

In Greece, more than one stomach would have been capable of challenging
nobly the voracity of this modern polyphagus: witness the insatiable
greediness of the well-known glutton who complained that nature ought to
have given him a neck as long as the stork, that he might enjoy for a
longer period his eating and drinking.[XVII-102]

But for a long time the Greeks were quite ignorant of the culinary value
of the turkey; it was looked upon as an uncommon curiosity, and not
condemned to the spit. Sophocles, the first who spoke of it, pretended
that those marvellous birds came purposely from some distant climate
beyond the Indies, to bewail the death of Meleager, who took possession
of the throne of Macedonia (279 years B.C.), and who was soon driven
from it.[XVII-103] This Prince, it is reported, carried them away from
barbarous regions, that they might enjoy the charms of Greek
civilization; and hence could there be anything more natural than to
find those compassionate volatiles shedding tears for their benefactor,
in one of Sophocles’ tragedies? They have been called since,
Meleagrides, and this name perpetuated “misfortune, favour, and
gratitude.”

Aristotle hardly supplies us with any details upon turkey hens: he
merely says that their eggs are distinguished by little specks from
those of the common hens, which are white;[XVII-104] but Clytus of
Miletus, his disciple, gives an exact description of them, by which no
mistake can be made.[XVII-105]

Egypt also possessed some of these birds; but there they were still more
rare than in Greece, and formed one of the principal ornaments in the
triumphal pomp of Ptolemy Philadelphus, when he entered Alexandria.
Large cages, containing meleagrides, were carried before the monarch,
and on that day the people knew not which to admire most--the prince or
the turkey.[XVII-106]

They were introduced into Rome about the year 115 before our era; but,
for a long time, they were objects of uncommon curiosity: and Varro, the
first of the Latins who speaks of them, confounds these birds with the
guinea hens, or hens of Numidia.[XVII-107]

A century later, turkeys greatly multiplied, and vast numbers were
reared in the Roman farms. Caligula, who had the good sense to make his
own apotheosis during his life-time, through fear lest it might be
refused after his death, ordered a sacrifice of peacocks, guinea hens,
and turkeys to be made daily before his statue.[XVII-108]

It appears, however, that the breed of turkeys soon began to diminish in
Europe; very few were reared, and that only as a curiosity: in the
citadel of Athens, towards the year 540 of the Christian era;[XVII-109]
and in 1510, two were exhibited in Rome, which belonged to the Cardinal
of Saint Clement.[XVII-110] Jacques Cœur brought some meleagrides
from India, in 1450; they were the first ever seen in France, and it was
not till fifty-four years afterwards that Americus Vespucius made them
known to the Portuguese. In our days these ancient inhabitants of Asia
or America[XVII-111] have become naturalized among us, and let us hope
that the day is yet distant when they will be absentees from our
farm-yards and our tables. We admire them less perhaps than Charles IX.
did when a turkey was served to him for the first time,[XVII-112] but we
shall always receive with cheerfulness the majestic dish upon which
appears a well-fed turkey, truffled, and smoking hot.

_Turkey à l’Africaine._--Roast a turkey; bruise some pepper, alisander,
and benzoin; mix it with wine and garum. Pour this seasoning on the
turkey, sprinkle with pepper, and serve.[XVII-113]

The historian of Provence, Bouche, will have it that the French are
indebted for the turkey to King René, who died in 1480. Other writers
assure us that this volatile was introduced during the reign of Francis
I. by Admiral Chabert. La-Bruyère-Champier speaks of it as a recent
acquisition, and Beckmann refutes those who date its existence in France
previous to the 16th century. He says that this bird, which was wild in
the forests of America, became domesticated in Europe.

It is also said that we owe the importation of it to the Jesuits.
According to Hurtaut, it was not until about the time of Charles IX.
that turkeys appeared in France.[XVII-114] It is asserted, adds this
author, that at the wedding-dinner of that Prince the first turkey was
served, and that it was admired as a very extraordinary thing. The
English tasted this new dish in 1525, the fifteenth year of the reign of
Henry VIII.

To fatten turkeys--every morning, for a month, give them mashed
potatoes, mixed with buck-wheat flour, Indian corn, barley, or beans; a
paste is made of it which they are left to eat as they please. Every
evening what remains must be taken away. One month after, you add to
this food, when they go to roost, half a dozen balls composed of barley
floor, which they are made to swallow for eight days successively; at
the end of that time turkeys, thus fed, become excessively fat,
delicious, and weigh from twenty to twenty-five pounds.

In Provence, walnuts are given to them whole, which they are compelled
to swallow by slipping them one by one with the hand along the neck
until they have all past the œsophagus; they begin with one walnut,
and increase by degrees to forty. This kind of food gives an oily taste
to the flesh.

Turkey eggs are good boiled, and are preferred to those of hens for
pastry; mixing them with the common eggs makes an omelette more
delicate.

“To obtain all the advantages possible from turkeys, they must be killed
at the same time as pigs; then cut the turkeys in quarters, and put them
in earthen pots covered over with the fat of the pork, and by this means
they may be eaten all the year round.”--PARMENTIER.


THE PEACOCK.

The peacock comes originally from India: it was there that Alexander the
Great saw it for the first time. He was so struck with its magnificent
plumage that he forbad all persons, under pain of death, to kill
any.[XVII-115]

Oriental princes kept the peacocks which travellers brought them, from
time to time, in their aviaries.[XVII-116] It was thus[XVII-117] that a
certain king of Egypt received one, of which he thought Jupiter alone
worthy; wherefore he sent it in great pomp to the temple of that
god.[XVII-118]

These birds were thus known over various parts of the world. Samos,
which seems to have been provided one of the first, ornamented its money
with their image.[XVII-119] Their reputation soon spread far and
wide;[XVII-120] and Athenian speculators sent to that island for
peacocks, which were shown to the curious once a month.[XVII-121]

This variety became afterwards an article of commerce, and all wealthy
people became desirous to have them. A male and female cost £8
sterling.[XVII-122] But what was that, when delighted eyes could
contemplate the charming and lovely colours of the haughty favourite of
Juno!

At Rome, the peacock had a prodigious success.[XVII-123] When alive,
the Romans praised its beauty; when dead, it appeared on the tables of
its enthusiastic admirers.

Quintus Hortensius, the orator, was the first who had them served in a
banquet given by him on the occasion of being created an
augur.[XVII-124] This gastronomic novelty made an extraordinary
sensation at Rome--as might be expected--and the peacock became so much
in fashion, that no banquet could possibly be given unless it was
embellished by its presence.[XVII-125]

Marcus Aufidius Livio was the first to contrive a sure way to fatten
them;[XVII-126] and he succeeded so well that he made prodigious sums
every year by the sale of those birds.[J]

Horace preferred them to the finest poultry,[XVII-127] and distinguished
amateurs thought that it was not paying much for a young peacock if they
could get it for two pounds and three shillings.[XVII-128]

The ridiculous consumption which was made of these birds did not allow
of their becoming very common. Tiberius reared some in his gardens; and
he condemned to capital punishment a soldier of his guards who had the
misfortune to kill one.[XVII-129]

Ultimately, more savoury or more rare dishes took the place of peacocks’
flesh, which then began to be thought hard, unwholesome, and of
difficult digestion.[XVII-130] However, it re-appeared in the middle
ages at the nuptial festivities of the rich, where one of these birds
was served, as if alive, with the beak and claws gilded. To do that
well, it was necessary to skin the bird very carefully, and then cook it
with aromatics, such as cinnamon, cloves, &c. It was then covered with
its skin and feathers, and served without any appearance of having been
stripped. This luxury was to gratify the sight: nobody touched it. The
peacock was thus preserved for several years without being damaged--a
property believed to be peculiar to its flesh,[XVII-131] but which was
owing, no doubt, to the aromatics just mentioned.

_Peacock of Samos._--Mix some pepper, alisander, parsley, dill flowers,
dried mint, and filberts, or fried almonds; bruise them with green
smallage[K] and pennyroyal, and mix the whole with wine, honey, vinegar,
and garum. Make incisions in the bird, and cover it with this
seasoning.[XVII-132]




XVIII.

MILK, BUTTER, CHEESE, AND EGGS.


MILK.

It would, probably, be impossible to trace the epoch at which man began
to make use of milk as food. Abraham presented some to the three angels
who appeared to him in the valley of Mamre;[XVIII-1] and it is likely,
that long before that patriarch, the eastern nations had recourse to an
aliment so easily acquired, and which their numerous flocks produced in
such abundance.

Among the Jews, milk was always considered as an emblem of the wealth of
a country and the fertility of its soil; so much so, that the sacred
books almost invariably speak of a happy region, as one “flowing with
milk and honey.”[XVIII-2] This metaphorical expression testifies
sufficiently to the taste of the Hebrews for this aliment, which their
King Solomon recommended to them in these terms: “and thou shalt have
goat’s milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for
the maintenance of thy maidens.”[XVIII-3]

Profane antiquity agrees on this point with our holy chroniclers. It
represents to us the first men, free from passions and fears, surrounded
by streams of milk and nectar, from which they drew health and
life.[XVIII-4] Happy time! ere milk-maids existed to practise those
deceptions they have now imbibed from the deceitful arts of chemistry.

The greater part of the wandering tribes, such as the Getes and
Scythians, were galactophagists,[XVIII-5] or drinkers of milk;[XVIII-6]
the Gauls[XVIII-7] and Germans[XVIII-8] made it also their principal
food. In Greece and Italy, the shepherds decorated the vessels in which
they had just milked their flocks with crowns of flowers; and, in honour
of the rural divinities, they scattered about a small quantity of this
sweet liquid.[XVIII-9] The reapers offered it to Ceres;[XVIII-10] and in
one of the sections of Rome, Mercury was presented with milk instead of
wine.

The ancients attributed to milk from cows, ewes, and goats, various
Hygeian qualities.[XVIII-11] Hippocrates forbade it in cases of
head-ache, fevers, and bilious attacks;[XVIII-12] but he sometimes
ordered asses’ milk,[XVIII-13] which was considered as an excellent
remedy, and a most wholesome aliment.[XVIII-14]

The voluptuous people of Rome rubbed their faces and skins with bread
soaked in asses’ milk, to make them fairer and prevent the beard from
growing too fast.

Suetonius[XVIII-15] and Martial[XVIII-16] speak of these refinements of
luxurious delicacies. The satirical Juvenal informs us that bread was
made into a kind of plaster or mask, with which they covered the
face.[XVIII-17] Poppæia, wife of Nero, was the first, or one of the
first, to bring this recipe into fashion, being fully persuaded that she
would thus preserve the whiteness and delicacy of her skin. Five hundred
asses used to supply daily the necessary quantity of milk to make the
cosmetic and bath[XVIII-18] of the coquettish empress.

This high patronage did not prevent asses’ milk from losing by
degrees--and very unjustly, no doubt--the reputation it
acquired.[XVIII-19]

Fashion--capricious and all-powerful deity--undertook to re-instate its
virtues, after several centuries of profound forgetfulness. The success
was complete. This is how the affair took place:--

Francis I., finding himself weak and languishing, the physicians, after
a long consultation on the monarch’s illness, advised remedies which did
not cure the royal patient. However, the King of France was getting
worse every day, and his state gave serious apprehensions. Some one
mentioning to his Majesty that a Jew of Constantinople was noted as one
of the cleverest doctors in the world, Francis immediately ordered his
ambassador in Turkey to send him this Israelitish doctor, whatever might
be the cost. The Jew arrived, and prescribed no other remedy than asses’
milk. The king found himself much better, and the courtiers and ladies
of the court eagerly followed the same diet, even for the slightest
imaginary indisposition.

A patient, cured by the use of this wholesome and restorative food,
thought of expressing his gratitude by the following stanza:--

      “Par sa bonté, par sa substance
    D’une ânesse le lait m’a rendu la santé;
    Et je dois plus en cette circonstance,
      Aux ânes qu’à la faculté.”

_Macédoine Germanique of Milk._--Pound dry almonds, and put them into a
stewpan with the following ingredients:--the most delicate parts of
mallows only, and white-beet, some leeks, parsley, and other leguminous
herbs, previously cooked, a fowl boiled and minced small, the brains of
poultry or sucking pigs, also boiled, and lastly, some hard eggs cut in
two. Put all these together, as mentioned before; some little time after
that, add sausage meat, fowls’ livers, fresh cod fish, and oysters--the
whole reduced into pulp--some fresh cheese, pine nuts, and whole pepper.
Whilst this is boiling on a very slow fire, prepare the following
seasoning: pound some pepper, alisander, parsley seeds, and silphium;
stew separately with gravy; mix raw eggs with a great quantity of milk;
add it to the preceding seasoning; pour it over the contents of the
stewpan, then pepper, and serve.[XVIII-20]


BUTTER.

A learned writer[XVIII-21] has maintained that the ancient inhabitants
of the east did not know of butter, and that by this word must be
understood, when it occurs in the holy writings, _sour milk_ or _cream_.
Whatever may be the respect due to the grave authority of Beckmann, we
beg leave to adhere to the opinion of various translators of the Bible,
and believe with them that the Jews knew how to prepare butter.
Independently of the signification of _chemack_, to which a profound
philosopher gives the same sense,[XVIII-22] and which appears very
naturally to offer this acceptation, we could still fortify our opinion
by the passage where Job, recalling with sorrow the happy days of his
youth, says, that he used to wash his “feet in butter.”[XVIII-23] We
agree that these words are understood in a figurative sense, and that
the man of God wished to show by it that he was the possessor of a great
number of flocks.

But it is nevertheless true, that this metaphorical locution recalls
also one of the uses made of that fat substance, which was for a long
while employed, like oil, to soften and refresh the limbs.

Indulgent reader, excuse this episode upon a ground which we ought not
to touch, and let us re-enter the kitchen.

The Greeks, who understood many things, and knew them so well, passed
over several centuries without once thinking that the milk of their ewes
and cows contained a food already well-known by several barbarous
nations. Aristotle mentions the serous part of milk, and
cheese;[XVIII-24] but he hardly suspects the existence of butter, which
he describes but very imperfectly as a liquid oil.[XVIII-25] Antecedent
to him, Hippocrates never thought of it, except as a foreign remedy
which Asia supplied to Greece.[XVIII-26]

It was only fifty years after Aristotle that it began to be noticed as
an aliment. The Greeks, in imitation of the Parthians and Scythians, who
used to send it to them, had it served upon their tables, and called it
at first “oil of milk,”[XVIII-27] and later, _bouturos_, “cow cheese,”
probably on account of the quantity made from the milk of that
animal.[XVIII-28]

The Germans, according to Beckmann, taught the Romans how to make
butter, but they never employed it otherwise than as a remedy in Italy.

It is certain that in the time of Pliny it had hardly been heard of at
Rome,[XVIII-29] and that, according to this writer, the barbarians
only--that is to say, those who were unfortunate enough not to be either
Greeks or Romans--made their food of it.[XVIII-30] Towards the year 175
of the Christian era, Galen then placed butter only among the
therapeutic agents useful in medicine.[XVIII-31] However, more than a
century before him, Dioscorides wished it to be noticed that fresh
butter made of ewes’ or goats’ milk was served at meals instead of oil,
and that it took the place of fat in making pastry.[XVIII-32]

Herodotus has preserved some interesting details on the manipulation of
butter among the Scythians. They received the milk in large pails, and
beat it for a long time to separate the most delicate part, and
appointed for this labour those enemies whom the fortune of war
delivered into their hands. These unhappy creatures were deprived of
sight, which prevented their escape.[XVIII-33]

The Romans set about making butter as we do. Pliny says: “Butter is made
from milk, and this aliment, so much sought after by barbarous nations,
distinguished the rich from the common people. It is obtained
principally from cows’ milk; that from ewes is the fattest. Goats also
supply some. It is produced by agitating the milk in long vessels with a
narrow opening. A little water is added.”[XVIII-34]

Formerly it was required in many countries that the dealer in this
article should sell good butter to his customers. In France, for
instance, intolerance was carried so far as to forbid “all persons to
re-scrape, beat, or work up any butter, either fresh or salted; change,
mix, or mingle it, under _pain of being whipped_.”[XVIII-35] Since then
the strangeness of such a measure has become palpable, the more so as
modern good faith and honesty render it more useless than ever.

During the early ages of the Church, butter was burned in the lamps
instead of oil. This practice is still continued in Abyssinia.[XVIII-36]

The cathedral of Rouen has a tower, called the “Butter Tower.” It
acquired this name from the fact that George d’Amboise, who was
archbishop of that city in 1500, seeing that oil was scarce in his
diocese during Lent, authorised the use of butter, on condition that
each diocesan should pay _six deniers Tournois_ (about a farthing) for
the permission. The money obtained by these means served to construct
the “Butter Tower.”[XVIII-37]

To obtain butter instantly it is only necessary, in summer, to put new
milk into bottles some hours after it has been taken from the cow, and
shake it briskly. The clots which form, thrown into a sieve, washed and
pressed together, constitute the finest and most delicate butter that
can possibly be made.

One of the great means of preserving butter fresh for any length of time
is, first to press all the buttermilk completely out, then to keep it
under water (renewing the water frequently), and to abstract it from the
influence of heat and air by wrapping it in a wet cloth.

When butter has become very rancid, it is melted several times by a
moderate heat, with or without the addition of water, and, as soon as it
has been malaxated, after the cooling, in order to extract any water it
may have retained, it is put into brown freestone pots, sheltered from
the contact of the air. Frequently, when it is melted, a piece of
toasted bread is put into it, which acts in the same manner as charcoal;
that is to say, it attenuates the rancidity.[XVIII-38]


CHEESE.

A demi-god, Aristæus, the son of Apollo, and King of Arcadia, invented
cheese,[XVIII-39] and the whole of Greece welcomed with gratitude this
royal and almost divine present. Sober individuals willingly ate some at
their meals;[XVIII-40] gluttons perceived that it sharpened the
appetite; and great drinkers that it provoked copious libations. Thus
the aged Nestor, wise as he was, brought wine to Machaon, who had just
been wounded in the right arm, and did not fail to add to it goat cheese
and an onion, to force him to drink more.[XVIII-41]

This food was also well known to the Hebrews, and the holy writings
sometimes mention it.[XVIII-42]

Mare’s milk, or that of the ass, makes an excellent cheese, but much
inferior to that procured from the camel, for which an epicure could not
pay too dearly. Cow-milk cheese, although more fat and unctuous, was
only considered as third-rate.[XVIII-43]

The Phrygians made exquisite cheese by artistically mixing the milk of
asses and mares. The Scythians only employed the former; the Greeks
imitated them.[XVIII-44] The Sicilians also mixed the milk of goats and
ewes.[XVIII-45]

The Romans smoked their cheeses, to give them a sharp taste; they
possessed public places expressly for this use, and subject to police
regulations which no one could evade.[XVIII-46]

In the time of Pliny, little goat cheeses, which were much esteemed,
were sent every morning to the market for the sale of dainties, from the
environs of Rome.[XVIII-47] With the addition of a little bread, they
formed the breakfast of sober and delicate persons. Asia Minor, Tuscany,
the Alps, Gaul, and Nîmes especially, furnished very good ones for the
tables of the Romans,[XVIII-48] who sought in preference certain sweet
and soft qualities. The greater part of barbarous nations esteemed only
the strong cheese.[XVIII-49]

The Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans, always kept some of these last for the
provision of their armies, and it was among them a military
aliment.[XVIII-50] The Athenians fed their wrestlers with it,[XVIII-51]
and it was the sole treat of the shepherds of Italy.[XVIII-52]

The lower classes and country people prepared with cheese and various
salted substances a dish they thought most relishing, and which
epicureans only mentioned with horror. This was called _tyrotarichus_,
and Cicero often employs this word to designate a frugal style of
cookery.[XVIII-53]

Besides those countries celebrated for the goodness of cheeses already
mentioned, there is Tromelia, in Achaia,[XVIII-54] and the Island of
Cythnus, where they represented their cheeses on their money, an
ingenious manner of making them known, which succeeded wonderfully well;
and lastly, Salonia, a city of Bithynia, renowned for its rich pastures,
where numerous herds of cows were kept, and whose milk furnished an
exquisite kind known by the name of Salonite cheese.[XVIII-55] It
appears to have been often served to the Emperor Augustus, who ate it
with brown bread, little fish, and fresh figs.[XVIII-56]

The art of giving a relish to the cheese, by mixing with it odoriferous
herbs, is said to be more than nine hundred years old. This operation
was designated _persiller_, showing that originally parsley was
introduced.[XVIII-57] We cannot say whether the Romans made use of this
plant to give a pungency to their cheese, but it is certain that they
often mixed some herbs with it.[XVIII-58] Thus Columella informs us that
sometimes the leaves and small branches of the fig tree were used to
communicate an agreeable flavour.[XVIII-59] The same writer has
transmitted to us a very simple process, much in use in his time, for
preserving cheese. They first covered it with brine, and then dried it
in a thick smoke obtained from straw or green wood.[XVIII-60]

The following are some of the dishes of which cheese served as the
basis:--

_Salad of Cheese à la Bithynienne._--Cut some slices of excellent bread;
leave them for some time in vinegar and water; then make a mixture of
this bread with pepper, mint, garlic, and green coriander; throw on it a
good quantity of cow’s cheese salted; add water, oil, and
wine.[XVIII-61]

_Dish of Tromelian Cheese._--Take fresh cheese; mix it well with pepper,
alisander, dried mint, pine nuts, sun raisins, and dates; then add
honey, vinegar, and afterwards, garum, oil, wine, and cooked
wine.[XVIII-62]

The celebrated cheese of Rouergue, known under the name of “Roquefort
cheese,” was made, in the 17th century as follows--we cite from
Marcorelle:--

“The curd employed is made from sheep’s milk, mixed with a little goat’s
milk. It is broken as small as possible. When it is taken from the
moulds, it is bound with a linen band and taken to the drying room; then
to the caves, where it is rubbed with salt on the two flat sides of the
surface. The downy substance which subsequently covers the crust is
frequently scraped off; after which, it is left to ripen on tablets
exposed to currents of air which proceed from the interstices of the
rocks in which the caves are formed.”

Besides salt, employed as a seasoning and condiment for cheeses, they
contain in their composition different substances which give rise to an
infinite variety of odours, taste, and colour. In the Vosges, for
example, they mix with the cheese of Gerardmer seeds of plants belonging
to the family of umbellifers; in the country of Limburg, they
incorporate chopped parsley, scallions, and tarragon; the Italians make
use of saffron to colour the Parmesan cheese, and the English of roucou
for the Cheshire cheese. Others are in the habit of cutting away a
portion of the middle of the cheese, and filling the cavity with Malaga
or Canary wine.[XVIII-63]


EGGS.

Orpheus, Pythagoras, and their sectators--good and humane people as ever
lived--unceasingly recommended in their discourses to abstain from eggs,
in order not to destroy a germ which nature had destined for the
production of chicken.[XVIII-64] Many allowed themselves to be
persuaded, and would have believed it an unpardonable crime if they had
eaten a tiny _omelette_, or boiled eggs.

Many of the most learned philosophers held eggs in a kind of respect
approaching to veneration, because they saw in them the emblem of the
world and the four elements. The shell, they said, represented the
earth; the white, water; the yolk, fire; and air was found under the
shell.[XVIII-65]

In India and Syria, there was less scruple about swallowing a few eggs;
but the hens were devoutly worshipped, because the world is indebted to
them for chickens.[XVIII-66]

The Greeks and Romans, although more reasonable, felt, however, for
eggs a trifling weakness not exempt from superstition. They already made
use of them in their sacrifices, and carried them with great pomp in the
festivals of Ceres.[XVIII-67] For them it was also a symbol of the
universe, and an expiation would not have been complete if some eggs had
not been broken on the altar of the irritated gods.[XVIII-68]

Magicians and sorcerers, who abounded in Rome, established singular
fables with regard to eggs. Livia, the happy consort of Nero, being
_enceinte_, consulted a sorceress, who said to her, “warm in your bosom
a new laid egg until hatched; if a male chicken comes forth, thank the
gods, who will grant you a son.” The empress followed this advice; a
cock chick came, and the princess gave birth to Tiberius.[XVIII-69] This
anecdote circulated in Rome, and all ladies in the same interesting
situation, imitating Livia, amused themselves with hatching chickens.

It appears that the egg played also a most important part in dreams. A
man having dreamed that he had eaten one, went to consult a soothsayer,
who told him that the white signified he would soon have silver, and the
yolk that he would receive gold. The fortunate dreamer really received
very soon afterwards a legacy partly consisting of those two precious
metals. He hastened to thank the diviner, and offered him a piece of
silver. “This is very well for the white,” said the latter, “but is
there nought for the yolk?”[XVIII-70] It is not known whether the heir
was generous enough to understand this _bon mot_.

All these pagan follies are to be accounted for by the doctrine of the
poet Orpheus, who first taught the Greeks that a primitive egg had
produced all other beings;[XVIII-71] a very ancient idea, no doubt,
transmitted to them by the Egyptians, who, as well as the Phœnicians,
Persians, and Chaldeans, represented the world by that symbol.

It is now time to describe eggs as an aliment.

The shepherds of Egypt had a singular manner of cooking them without the
aid of fire: they placed them in a sling, which they turned so rapidly
that the friction of the air heated them to the exact point required for
use.[XVIII-72]

In Rome and in Greece, new-laid eggs were served at the beginning of a
repast;[XVIII-73] and the Roman gourmets asserted that, to maintain
oneself in health, “it was necessary to remain at table from the egg to
the apple.”[XVIII-74] We have adopted the half of that proverb, and we
say every day, this story must be taken up _ab ovo_.

The Romans did not confine themselves to hens’ eggs, of which they
preferred the long ones;[XVIII-75] they sought those of the partridge
and pheasant, which Galen considered the most delicate.[XVIII-76] They
also thought much of peacocks’ eggs. It was Quintus Hortensius who set
the example of this luxury,[XVIII-77] which, however, was discarded by
degrees when the precious fecundity of the hens of Adria began to be
appreciated.[XVIII-78]

The ancients appear to have been very partial to soft-boiled eggs, which
may be sucked at once. Nicomachus mentions them: “My father,” says he,
“had left me a poor little estate; in a few months I made it as round as
an egg; then, breaking the shell, I made but one gulp of it.”[XVIII-79]

At Rome, this aliment was prepared in twenty different manners; they
pickled it,[XVIII-80] cooked it in water, on hot ashes, on charcoal, and
in the fryingpan. Eggs eaten in the shell, however, were thought the
most wholesome.[XVIII-81]

_Eggs à la Romaine._--Cook some eggs; cut them, and throw over a
seasoning composed in the following manner. Bruise some pepper,
alisander, coriander, and rue, to which add garum, honey, and a little
oil.[XVIII-82]

_Hard Eggs à l’Athénienne._--Cut each egg in four, and sprinkle over
garum, oil, and wine.[XVIII-83]

_Fried Eggs à l’Epænète._--Fry some eggs; place them in a dish, and
season with a mixture of pepper, alisander, pine nuts, garum, benzoin,
and pepper.[XVIII-84]

_Egyptian Egg Pudding._--Take the yolks of a good number of hard eggs;
reduce them to a paste with crushed pine nuts, an onion, a leek, some
gravy, and pepper; add a little wine and garum. Stuff an intestine with
this pulp, and cook.[XVIII-85]

_Dish of Eggs à la Macédonienne._--Put in a mortar some pepper, mint,
parsley, pennyroyal, cheese, and pine nuts; when this is well crushed,
add honey, vinegar, fresh water, and garum; then a large number of yolks
of eggs; mix well with the rest; throw the whole into a saucepan; add
bread soaked in vinegar and water,--which, however, must be well
squeezed out--with fresh cow’s-milk cheese, cucumbers, almonds, chopped
onions, fowls’ livers, and garum.[XVIII-86]

_Lesbian Eggs aux Roses._--Pluck the leaves of some roses; take only the
whitest part, and put them into a mortar with garum. Stir a long time;
add half a small glass of gravy; stir and strain; put into this liquor
the brains of four fowls and eight scruples of ground pepper; stir a
long time; add to it eight eggs, half a small glass of wine, and as
much cooked wine, and, lastly, a little oil. Grease well the inside of a
dish, pour the whole into it, and place it over a very slow charcoal
fire. Cook, sprinkle with pepper, and serve.[XVIII-87]

It was a custom, common to every agricultural population throughout
Europe and Asia, to celebrate the new year by eating eggs; and they
formed a part of the presents made on that day. Care was taken to dye
them different colours, particularly red--the favourite colour of the
ancients, and of the Celts in particular.[XVIII-88]

It appears that, formerly, people consumed an astonishing number of eggs
in England on Easter Sunday. We find the following article in an account
of expenses for the king’s household (Edward I.) on the occasion of this
festival:--

“For four hundred and a half of eggs, eighteen pence.”[XVIII-89] At that
epoch eggs were not so dear in England as they are now; nor did kings
fail to eat more of them.

In 1533, a bishop of Paris, authorised by a bull from the Pope, Julius
III., being disposed to permit the use of eggs during Lent, the
parliament took offence, and prevented the execution of the episcopal
mandate. It is this severe abstinence from eggs during Lent which gave
rise to the custom of having a great number of them blessed on Easter
eve, to be distributed among friends on Easter Sunday; whence comes the
expression, “to give Easter eggs.” Pyramids of them were carried into
the king’s cabinet after the high mass. They were gilded, or admirably
painted, and the prince made presents of them to his
courtiers.[XVIII-90]




XIX.

HUNTING.


From the first ages of the world man has passionately loved the exercise
of hunting; the dangers he then encountered inflamed his courage. It was
glorious to struggle with the terrible inhabitants of the forest or the
desert; to conquer them; to bring home their bleeding spoils; to furnish
an heroic name for the songs of poets, and the admiration of posterity.

The sacred writings have handed down to us the name of the first mighty
hunter before the Lord;[XIX-1] they inform us that Ishmael, in the
solitude of Arabia, became skilful in drawing the bow;[XIX-2] and that
David, when yet young, dared to fight with lions and bears.[XIX-3]

Fable, that veiled light of truth, through which it sometimes glimmers,
caused Hercules to be ranked with the gods when he had overthrown the
lion of Nemæa, the hydra of Lerna, and the wild boar of
Erymanthus.[XIX-4]

Diana descended to the earth, and pursued in the forests the timid
stag.[XIX-5] The Greeks raised altars to her, and the centaur Chiron
learned of her the noble art of venery, which he, in his turn, taught to
illustrious disciples, among whom are mentioned Æsculapius, Nestor,
Theseus, Ulysses, and Achilles.[XIX-6]

Pollux trained the first hunting dogs, and Castor accustomed horses to
follow the track of wild beasts.[XIX-7] From that time, heroes, when
resting from real conquests, sought diversion in games nearly as
formidable, and imitative of their combats, which often placed their
lives in danger. Ulysses, for example, always bore the scar of a wound
inflicted by a wild boar.[XIX-8]

The most grave philosophers, and the most illustrious poets have
bestowed praises on the chase.

Aristotle advised young men to apply themselves to it early.[XIX-9]
Plato finds in it something divine,[XIX-10] Horace looks upon it as
healthful exercise, strengthening to the body, and preparing the way for
glory;[XIX-11] and indeed, this heroic and royal exercise[XIX-12] always
possessed irresistible attraction for the greatest men of antiquity.

The warriors of Homer,[XIX-13] Pelopidas,[XIX-14] Alexander of
Macedon,[XIX-15] Philopœmen,[XIX-16] seemed to derive from it fresh
warlike ardour.

The ancients hunted in the open country, in forests, and in parks.
Mounted on fiery steeds, armed with javelins and long cutlasses, or with
swords and lances,[XIX-17] they excited their indefatigable hounds, and
promised to consecrate to Diana the stag’s horns, or the tusks of the
boar,[XIX-18] which might become their prey.

The Greeks and Romans reared hunting dogs with extreme care, and they
began to make use of them from the age of eight or ten months.[XIX-19]
These animals had names, short, sonorous, and easy to be pronounced,
such as Lance, Flower, Blade, Strength, Ardent, &c.[XIX-20]

The strongest and most courageous came from England and
Scotland;[XIX-21] Crete, Tuscany, and Umbria were the nurseries of the
most expert.[XIX-22] The Gallic dogs surpassed all others by their
agility and astonishing swiftness.[XIX-23]

Females were generally preferred to the males,[XIX-24] either because
they were more docile, or pursued the game with more ardour and
persistence. It may be as well to remark, too, in this place, that the
Greeks thought much more of mares than of horses for chariot
racing.[XIX-25]

The dogs were always chained. Their liberty was only given them at the
moment of starting for the chase.[XIX-26] Their fire and ferocity were
then incredible. They dashed off with fury, and when they succeeded in
coming up with their prey, some would suffer their legs to be cut off
rather than loose their hold. The Indian dogs, trained for lion hunting,
often gave this proof of obstinate and implacable rage.[XIX-27]

The ancients also took game by means of pits covered over with
brushwood, in snares,[XIX-28] with traps,[XIX-29] and with nets;[XIX-30]
moreover, they often made use of bows and arrows, and understood the art
of training falcons and hawks.[XIX-31]

Eastern princes amused themselves by hunting in parks where a great
number of wild beasts were kept.[XIX-32] The Romans had too much taste
and money, and too great a desire to spend it, not to imitate this
expensive and royal luxury. Fulvius Hirpinus possessed a park of forty
acres near Viterbo, in Tuscany. Lucius Lucullus, and Quintus Hortensius
hastened to create more beautiful ones, and they did not fail to have a
host of imitators.[XIX-33]

By the Roman law, hunting was unrestricted:[XIX-34] only, no person
could pursue game on another’s land without the owner’s
permission.[XIX-35]

Besides the pleasure which this amusement afforded, the ancients, like
ourselves, discovered profit in it; and the produce of their chase
became one of the finest ornaments of their feasts. Isaac ordered his
son Esau to go out with his weapons, his quiver and bow, and to prepare
for him savoury meat, such as he loved (venison).[XIX-36] Solomon had
stags, roebucks, and wild oxen served on his table every day.[XIX-37]

Cyrus, King of Persia, ordered that venison should never be wanting at
his repasts.[XIX-38] Is it necessary to add that it was the delight of
two nations the most gastronomic in the world?--of the effeminate
Greeks, and more especially those Romans for whom the animals of the
earth, ocean, and air were only to be valued in proportion to the
impossibility of obtaining them in Europe, Asia, and Africa; an immense
inheritance, conquered by noble ancestors, and which their degenerated
sons ransacked for their satisfaction and insatiable gluttony.[XIX-39]

The English have always loved hunting--the favourite pastime of their
kings.

Alfred the Great was not twelve years old when he had acquired the
reputation of being a skilful and indefatigable hunter.[XIX-40]

The noble and the wealthy differed from the serfs by their singular
taste for this royal diversion; and, in their pursuit of it, they spared
neither pains nor expense in procuring those famous dogs of pure race
which the ancient Greeks and Romans prized so highly. When Athelstan,
Alfred’s grandson, had subdued Constantine King of Wales, he imposed an
annual tribute. The vanquished monarch had to give him gold, silver,
cattle, and, which is remarkable, a certain number of hawks, and dogs
possessing a quick scent, and capable of unkenneling wild
beasts.[XIX-41] Edgar, the successor of Athelstan, changed the tribute
of money into an annual tribute of three hundred wolves’ skins.[XIX-42]

Notwithstanding his great piety, and the extreme reserve of his habits,
Edward the Confessor took great delight in following the hounds, and
exciting their ardour by his cries.[XIX-43]

King Harold never appeared anywhere without his favourite hawk on his
hand; neither was the approach of the British Nimrod announced otherwise
than by the joyous barking of the royal pack.[XIX-44] Indeed, at that
epoch, every person of distinction took the prince as his model, and
gave himself up, heart and soul, to what people are pleased to call “the
noble exercise of hunting.”

This aristocratic taste became so extremely prevalent under the
domination of the Norman kings, that a writer of the twelfth century has
judged it with great severity. “In our time,” he says, “hunting is
considered as the most honourable occupation, the most excellent virtue.
Our nobility show more solicitude, sacrifice more money, and make a
greater parade in favour of it, than they would if the question were
war. They are more furious in the pursuit of wild beasts, than they
would be if they had to conquer the enemies of Great Britain. As a
necessary consequence, they no longer retain any sentiment of humanity;
they have descended almost to the level of the savage animals they are
in the daily habit of tracking and unkenneling.”[XIX-45]

These uncomplimentary observations of John of Salisbury did not prevent
James I. from pursuing the cherished diversion of his predecessors. That
prince being one day at the hunt in the environs of Bury St. Edmunds,
remarked, among the persons composing his suite, an opulent citizen
magnificently dressed, whose rich costume eclipsed that of the lords the
most renowned at court for the elegance of their attire. The king asked
who the hunter was. Some one replied that it was Lamb. “Lamb, say you?”
rejoined the king, laughing; “I don’t know what sort of a lamb that may
be; but what I know well is, that he has got a superb fleece on his
back.”[XIX-46]


THE STAG.

Roman ladies of the highest distinction, arrived at that age when, in
making an estimate of life, it is found that the largest portion belongs
to the past--these ladies, we say, failed not to have the flesh of this
animal served on their tables, and to eat as much of it as possible.
Perchance it had but a slight attraction for the worthy matrons, and yet
they preferred it to every other, for this reason, that the stag being
free from maladies and infirmities--at least so it was
thought--prolongs its existence far beyond the bounds which nature has
assigned to other beings.[XIX-47] The noble patrician ladies would not
have been sorry to survive their great-grandchildren, and they took the
means which appeared to them most likely to ensure longevity.[XIX-48]

If the celebrated Galen had lived in their time, he would have told
those credulous Roman ladies, that this kind of food could not fail to
be hurtful to them; that this indigestible and heating meat is more
likely to provoke disease than to destroy its germ; and that,
consequently, death finds in it an auxiliary rather than an
enemy.[XIX-49]

True, the oracle of Pergama wrote nearly all this a century later, and
yet his medical authority was powerless to persuade, although it may
have convinced the obstinate epicureans of his period.

In point of fact, whatever Galen may say, what dreadful accidents can a
piece of stag properly cooked produce? Moses, so attentive to the health
of his people, allows them the use of it;[XIX-50] Solomon, the wisest of
men, ate it every day.[XIX-51] Do we find that the Jewish monarch and
his people were any the worse for preferring this food?

At Athens, at Rome, and in all Italy, whoever possessed the intelligence
of appreciating good cheer, took care to offer to his friends the
shoulder or fillet of stag.[XIX-52] Nevertheless, gastronomists by
profession, who so generously devoted their fortunes to the service of
the culinary art, abandoned the whole animal to their slaves, and only
reserved for themselves the most tender shoots of the horns. These were
for a long time boiled, then cut into very small pieces, and this
strange dish, seasoned with a mixture of pepper, cummin, savory, rue,
parsley, bay leaves, fat, and pine nuts, sprinkled with vinegar, and
fried, passed for an exquisite and dainty treat, worthy of the most
flattering praises.[XIX-53]

_Quarter of Stag, roast à la Neméenne._--Put into a saucepan pepper,
alisander, carrots, wild marjoram, parsley seed, benzoin root, and
fennel seed; add garum, wine, cooked wine, and a little oil. Boil over a
slow fire, thicken with fine flour, pour on the roast stag, and
serve.[XIX-54]

_Shoulder of Stag à l’Hortensius._--Cook in a saucepan carrots,
alisander, with pepper and parsley seed. Add honey, garum, vinegar, and
luke-warm oil; thicken with fine flour, and pour this sauce on the
shoulder of stag when roasted.[XIX-55]

_Fillet of Stag à la Persane._--Roast it, and at the moment of placing
it on the table, cover it with a seasoning of pepper, alisander,
scallions, wild marjoram, onions, and pine nuts, previously mixed with
honey, garum, mustard, vinegar, and oil.[XIX-56]


THE ROEBUCK.

The flesh of the roebuck, according to Galen, has none of the bad
qualities which he attributes to that of the stag.[XIX-57] Esculapius
and Comus for this once agreed--which very seldom happened--in praising
the beneficial properties and the delicious odour of these timid
quadrupeds.

The Greeks thought much of the roebuck; they obtained the best from the
island of Melos,[XIX-58] and served them at their most sumptuous
repasts.[XIX-59] They were, perhaps, more rarely seen on Roman tables.

_Roebuck with Spikenard._--Pound, in a mortar, pepper, parsley seed, dry
onion, and green rue; add spikenard, and then honey, vinegar, garum,
dates, cooked wine, and oil; mix well the whole, and cover the roast
with it.[XIX-60]

_Roebuck aux Prunes._--Mix pepper, alisander, and parsley, after having
pounded them. Add to this a good quantity of Damascus plums, which you
have soaked in hot water. Then add honey, wine, vinegar, garum, and a
little oil; and, lastly, leeks and savory. Serve the roebuck with this
sauce.[XIX-61]

_Roebuck aux Amandes de Pin._--Bruise pepper, alisander, parsley, and
cummin; mix with it a great quantity of fried pine nuts; and add honey,
vinegar, wine, a little oil, and garum. Pour it over the
roebuck.[XIX-62]


THE DEER.

Little need be said with regard to this charming animal, whose slender
and graceful form was the admiration of those who visited the parks of
Lucullus and Hirpinus. Its flesh was thought to be less wholesome than
that of the roebuck, because it was found to be less succulent.[XIX-63]
Apicius has consecrated to it four culinary recipes, all very similar.

_Deer à la Marcellus._--Put into a saucepan pepper, gravy, rue, and
onions; add honey, garum, cooked wine, and a little oil. Boil very
slowly, thicken with flour, and pour the whole on the deer when
roasted.[XIX-64]


THE WILD BOAR.

It was in the year 63 before the Christian era: the consul Marcus
Tullius Cicero had just accused and convicted Catilina, and Rome, free
from present danger, had forgotten all transitory solicitudes of the
past to welcome joyous banquetings.

A worthy citizen, excellent patriot, distinguished gastronomist, and
possessor of an immense fortune, of which he made the best use (at least
so said several choice epicures, his habitual guests), Survilius
Rullus--such was his name--thought of celebrating by an extraordinary
banquet the triumph of the illustrious consul, and the deliverance of
the country. His cook, a young Sicilian slave of the greatest promise,
and whose mode of cooking a dish of sows’ paps procured him one day a
smile of approbation from Lucullus, succeeded especially in those
eminent performances which command the admiration of the guests, and
give new strength to their exhausted appetites.

Rullus sent for him, and spoke thus: “Recollect that in three days
Cicero will sup here: let the feast be worthy of him who gives it.”

The Sicilian even surpassed himself. As soon as the guests had tasted
the enticing delicacies of the first course, the hall echoed with an
unanimous concert of applause, and the proud Amphitryon, intoxicated
with joy, was going to ask that a crown might be presented to his
beloved slave,[XIX-65] when the cook appeared, followed by four
Ethiopians, who gracefully carried a silver vase of prodigious
dimensions, in the shape of a large mortar. This extraordinary dish
contained a wild boar; baskets of dates were suspended to his tusks, and
charming little wild boars, in exquisite pastry, no doubt--for never was
there a more tempting culinary exhalation--artistically surrounded the
enormous animal.[XIX-66] Every voice was hushed; the guests waited in
silence the most profound.[XIX-67] The tables of the second service
were placed round the guests, who raised themselves on the couches with
greedy curiosity. The blacks deposited the precious burden before
another domestic, a skilful carver, who opened the wild boar with
incredible dexterity and precision, and presented to the astonished eyes
of Rullus and his friends a second entire animal, and in this a third;
then came fresh delicacies, all gradually diminishing in size, until, at
length, a delicious little figpecker terminated this series of strange
viands, of which Rome, wondering and astonished, long preserved the
gastronomic remembrance.[XIX-68]

Man seldom prescribes to himself reasonable limits in the vast field of
vanity and ostentation. At first it was thought an enviable boldness to
have dared to serve an entire boar of a large size. Every one did the
same thing, and at length it became quite common. It was necessary then
to do better. One thought of having three at the same time; another had
four; and soon the extravagant--and they were not few--caused eight wild
boars _à la Troyenne_ to appear at a single repast.[XIX-69] The
Macedonian, Caranus, a man of spirit and of merit, placed himself at
once on an eminence which baffled rivalry. He invited twenty guests to
his wedding, and he had twenty wild boars served.[XIX-70]

It must be confessed that such magnificence rather resembles folly; but,
alas! has not every nation its failings? Besides, the flesh of the wild
boar enjoyed an astonishing reputation in Rome and Greece,[XIX-71] and
no one could, with credit to himself, receive his friends at his table
without presenting them with the fashionable dish,--the animal appointed
by nature to appear at banquets.[XIX-72]

At length, however, they began to tire of this enormous dish; they
divided it into three portions, and the middle piece obtained the
preference.[XIX-73] Ultimately they served only the fillet and head; the
latter of which was more particularly esteemed by the Romans.[XIX-74]

The Greeks tried their appetites by tasting the liver, which was served
at the first course.[XIX-75]

The Romans sought to deprive the wild boar of its terrible ferocity;
they raised them on their farms,[XIX-76] and sometimes they acquired
enormous proportions. These immense beasts weighed no less than a
thousand pounds.[XIX-77] But delicate connoisseurs had always the wisdom
to prefer the dangerous inhabitant of the forest to these bloated
victims of enervating domesticity,[XIX-78] whose insipid and degenerate
flavour hardly betrayed their origin.

The wild boar was generally served surrounded by pyramids of fruits and
lettuces.[XIX-79]

_Wild Boar à la Pompée._--Clean and salt a wild boar, cover it with
cummin; let it remain in salt during twenty-four hours; then roast it;
sprinkle with pepper, and serve with a seasoning of honey, garum, sweet
and cooked wine.[XIX-80]

_Quarter of Wild Boar à la Thébaine._--Cook it in sea water with bay
leaves. When very tender take off the skin, and serve with salt,
mustard, and vinegar.[XIX-]

_Fillet of Wild Boar à la Macédonienne._--Pound pepper, alisander, wild
marjoram, skinned myrtle leaves, coriander, and onions; add honey, wine,
garum, and a little oil. This seasoning must be submitted to a gentle
fire; thicken with flour, and pour the whole over the wild boar as you
draw it from the oven.[XIX-82]

_Wild Boar’s Liver à la Grecque._--Fry it, and serve with a seasoning of
pepper, cummin, parsley seed, mint, thyme, savory, and roasted pine
nuts; to which add honey, wine, garum, vinegar, and a little
oil.[XIX-83]

_Wild Boar’s Head à la Cantabre._--Make the seasoning in the following
manner: mix well, pepper, alisander, parsley seed, mint, thyme, and
roasted pine nuts; add wine, vinegar, garum, and a little oil;
afterwards onions and rue; thicken with whites of eggs; boil over a slow
fire, and stir gently.[XIX-84]

_Green Ham of Wild Boar à la Gauloise._--Insert a long and narrow blade
at the joint, and carefully separate the skin from the flesh, so that
the latter may be well covered with the following seasoning: pound
pepper, bay leaves, rue, and benzoin; add to it some excellent gravy,
cooked wine, and a little oil. Fill the ham, close the opening, and then
cook it in sea water, with some tender shoots of laurel and
dill.[XIX-85]

Under the Norman kings the wild boar’s head was considered a noble dish,
worthy of the sovereign’s table. This, we are told, was brought to the
king’s table with the trumpeters sounding their trumpets before it in
procession. “For,” says Holinshed, “upon the day of coronation (of young
Henry), King Henry II., his father, served him at table as sewer,
bringing up the bore’s head with trumpetes afore it, according to the
ancient manner.”--STRUTT, “_Manners and Customs_,” Vol ii., p. 19.

“A very small consumption is made of the old wild boar; the flesh is
hard, dry, and heavy; the head only is good. The young wild boar is a
fine and delicate game, also, when a year old. The ancients submitted
those they could take away from their mother to castration, and left
them afterwards to run about the woods, where these animals became
larger than the others, and acquired a savour and flavour which made
them preferable to the pigs we rear.”--SONNINI.


THE HARE.

Plutarch contends that the Jews abstained from eating the hare, not
because they thought it unclean, but because it resembled the ass, which
they revered.[XIX-86] This is only a pleasantry on the part of the
celebrated writer, with no other foundation than the fabulous tale of
the grammarian Apion, who asserts in his book against the Jews that they
preserved in Jerusalem an ass’s head, which they adored.[XIX-87] We know
that a sanitary motive was the cause of this animal being interdicted to
the Israelites;[XIX-88] and it has been also remarked that the ancient
Britons abstained from it.[XIX-89]

This mammifer, everywhere very common, swarmed in the East, if we are to
believe Xenophon, who saw a great number of them when marching with his
troops to join young Cyrus.[XIX-90] Greece was abundantly stocked with
them:[XIX-91] the inhabitants of islands of the Ægean sea had more than
once to deplore the ravages which hunger caused these timid animals to
commit, and whose fecundity they cursed.

Hegesander relates that, under the reign of Antigonus, an inhabitant of
the island of Anaphe brought two hares into the neighbourhood. Their
posterity became so numerous that the people were obliged to implore the
gods to preserve the harvest, and to annihilate their formidable
enemies. As the immortals turned a deaf ear to these complaints,
recourse was had to Apollo alone, and the Pythonissa deigned to return
this oracle: “Train hunting dogs, and they will exterminate the
hares.”[XIX-92] The advice was good, and deemed worthy of being adopted.

The Greeks esteemed highly the flesh of this quadruped, which was served
roasted, but almost bleeding,[XIX-93] or made into delicious
pies,[XIX-94] much in vogue in the time of Aristophanes.[XIX-95]
Hippocrates had, however, forbidden the use of it. “The hare,” said he,
“thickens the blood, and causes cruel wakefulness;”[XIX-96] but
epicurism will always think lightly of Hygeian precepts which do not
accord with its own ideas. At all events, Galen was not of the same
opinion as his colleague,[XIX-97] and Galen must be right.

The Emperor Alexander Severus eat a hare at each of his repasts.[XIX-98]
Perhaps that prince shared the opinion of the Romans, who thought that a
person who fed on hare for seven consectutive days became fresher,
fatter, and more beautiful. A lady, named Gellia, had a large share of
that unfortunate gift of nature which we call ugliness. She resolved to
make a trial of this regimen, and submitted to it with a regularity
really exemplary. She showed herself at the end of the week, and we are
informed that no one thought her any the prettier for it.[XIX-99]

The epicures of Rome contented themselves with eating the shoulder of
the hare, and left the remainder to less fastidious guests.[XIX-100]


THE RABBIT.

“The conies are but feeble folks, yet make they their houses in the
rocks.”[XIX-101] They taught mankind, it is said, the art of
fortification, mining, and covered roads.[XIX-102] These skilful
engineers come originally from warm climates; from Africa, perhaps,
whence they were brought to Spain.

They there became so numerous, and dug so well their holes beneath the
houses of Tarragona, that that city was completely overthrown, and the
greater part of the inhabitants buried beneath its ruins.[XIX-103]

Catullus calls Spain _Cuniculosa Celtiberia_ (Celtiberian rabbit
warren); and two medals, struck in the reign of Adrian, represent that
peninsula under the form of a beautiful woman, clothed in a robe and
mantle, with a rabbit at her feet. This animal was called in Hebrew,
_Saphan_, of which the Phœnicians have made _Spania_, and the Latins
_Hispania_.[XIX-104]

Strabo relates that the inhabitants of the Balearic Islands, despairing
of being able to oppose the extraordinary propagation of rabbits, which
nearly rendered their country uninhabitable, sent ambassadors to Rome to
implore assistance against this new kind of enemy.[XIX-105] Augustus
furnished them with troops, and the Roman arms were once more
victorious.[XIX-106]

Aristotle says nothing of the rabbit, which, probably, was then little
known in Greece. It afterwards became common enough, and that of
Macedonia, in particular, found favour at tables renowned for
delicacies.[XIX-107]

The Romans, those bold innovators in cookery, so desirous of strange and
unheard of dishes, would only consent to eat rabbits on condition of
their being killed before they had left off sucking, or taken alive from
the slaughtered mother, to be immediately transferred to the ardent
stoves of their kitchens.[XIX-108] It was certainly reserved for that
people to frighten the world by all kinds of culinary anomalies.


THE FOX.

A young fox, fattened on grapes, and roasted on the spit, is a tidbit
for a king during the autumn.[XIX-109] Such was the idea of the Roman
peasants; but we must be allowed, however, to differ from their opinion.


THE HEDGEHOG.

The Greeks willingly eat the hedgehog[XIX-110] in a _ragoût_--a dish the
Romans never envied them.


THE SQUIRREL.

This charming little animal, which ought never to please but when alive,
often appeared at Rome among the most elegant dishes of the
feast.[XIX-111] At first it was only eaten by caprice: unfortunately for
the little animal, it was found to be very nice.


THE CAMEL.

Aristotle gives the greatest praise to the flesh of this useful animal,
and places it without hesitation above the most delicate
viands.[XIX-112] The Greeks, his countrymen, thought it worthy of being
roasted for the table of sovereigns,[XIX-113] and the inhabitants of
Persia and Egypt partook of the same enthusiasm. Rome thought the camel
fit for the solitude of the Desert, but not for the ornament of
banquets; and really, for this once, Rome appears to have been right.

“The flesh of the young dromedary is as good as that of veal, and the
Arabs make of it their common food. They preserve it in vases, which
they cover with fat. They make butter and cheese with the milk of the
female.”--DESMAREST.

The ancients, in their wars, made use of dromedaries. The soldiers when
upon these animals formed a particular militia. In the Egyptian
expedition Bonaparte renewed this ancient custom, and that cavalry
caused a great deal of injury to the Bedouins and Arabs. Besides the
rider, each dromedary carried provisions and munitions of war.


THE ELEPHANT.

Certain wandering tribes of Asia and Africa were thought formerly to be
very fond of grilled elephant.[XIX-114] The Egyptians went so far in
their pursuit of this delicacy, that the King Ptolemy Philadelphus was
forced to forbid them, under pain of the most severe laws, to kill one
of these animals, whose number diminished every day. The law was
disregarded, and the elephant only possessed greater attractions for
them.[XIX-115]

In our days, also, some semi-savage nations partake of the same taste.
Le Vaillant, a celebrated traveller, and a most distinguished
gastronomist, tells us that the first time he partook of an elephant’s
trunk, which was served him by the Hottentots, he resolved that it
should not be the last; for nothing appeared to him of a more exquisite
flavour.[XIX-116] But he reserves his greatest praises for the foot of
the colossal quadruped. We will let him speak for himself:--

“They cut off the four feet of the animal, and made in the earth a hole
about three feet square. This was filled with live charcoal, and,
covering the whole with very dry wood, a large fire was kept up during
part of the night. When they thought that the hole was hot enough, it
was emptied: a Hottentot then placed within it the four feet of the
animal, covered them with hot ashes, and then with charcoal and small
wood; and this fire was left burning until the morning. * * * My
servants presented me at breakfast with an elephant’s foot. It had
considerably swelled in the cooking; I could hardly recognise the shape,
but it appeared so good, exhaled so inviting an odour, that I hastened
to taste it. It was a dish for a king. Although I had often heard the
bear’s foot praised, I could, not conceive how so heavy, so material an
animal as the elephant, could furnish a dish so fine and delicate. * * *
And I devoured, without bread, my elephant’s foot, while my Hottentots,
seated around me, regaled themselves with other parts, which they found
equally delicious.”[XIX-117]

The Romans never evinced fondness for the flesh of the elephant. This
animal, with its gigantic proportions and rare intelligence, was found
to be so amusing to the nation of kings, when dancing on the tight
rope,[XIX-118] or in the terrible combats of the Circus,[XIX-119] that
they hardly thought of roasting it, or making it into _fricassees_. We
cannot, however, affirm that the gastronomic eccentricity of some Roman
epicure did not dream of a monstrous feast, in which he may have offered
to his guests an elephant _à la Troyenne_ on a silver dish, made
purposely for the occasion.




XX.

FEATHERED GAME.


Moses permitted his people to eat game, with the exception of birds of
prey and some other species whose flesh appeared to him hard and
unwholesome.[XX-1]

The Egyptians piously offered to their priests the most delicate birds,
which they willingly accepted, and eat, in order not to weaken their
intelligence by the use of more simple and heavy food.[XX-2]

Among the Greeks, at the commencement of the repast, little birds were
served roasted, on which was poured a boiling sauce, composed of scraped
cheese, oil, vinegar, and silphium.[XX-3]

Feathered game appeared in Italy only at the second course. The Romans
were very partial to it, and many epicureans, possessing strange tastes,
found means to ruin themselves by eating pheasants and flamingoes.

The celebrated comedian, Æsopus, whom Cicero thought worthy of being his
master in the art of declamation, had one day the fancy to regale
himself with a dish of birds, the whole of which, when living, had both
learned to sing and speak.[XX-4] This gluttony of a new kind cost him
very dear, and the supper of the barbarian was not any the better for
it.

Some modern nations--the French among others--formerly eat the heron,
crane, crow, stork, swan, cormorant, and bittern; the first three
especially were highly esteemed, and Taillevant, cook of Charles VII.,
teaches us how to prepare these meagre, tough birds. Belon says that, in
spite of its revolting taste when unaccustomed to it, the bittern is,
however, among the delicious treats of the French.[XX-5] This writer
asserts also that a falcon, or a vulture, either roasted or boiled, is
excellent eating; and that if one of these birds happened to kill itself
in flying after the game, the falconer instantly cooked it. Liebaut
calls the heron a royal viand!

These same men who eat vultures, herons, and cormorants, did not touch
young game: they thought it indigestible; and, for instance, abstained
from leverets and partridges.

The internal parts being the first to corrupt, the ancients carefully
drew the game they wished to preserve. That done, they filled the inside
with wheat or oats, and then placed it in the midst of a heap of flour
or grain, with the feathers or hair on.

Thus protected from the contact of the air or insects, the game kept
remarkably well.


THE PHEASANT.

The Argonauts discovered this magnificent bird on the shores of Phasis,
a celebrated river of Colchis, and introduced it into Greece, where it
was unknown.[XX-6] This tradition, sung by the poets,[XX-7] has only met
with one contradictor, Isidorus,[XX-8] who pretends that the pheasant is
a native of an island of Greece, called Phasis.

All nations soon hastened to receive it with the favour its rich plumage
and the exquisite delicacy of its flesh deserve. Carried in cages
composed of precious wood, it adorned the triumphal march of Ptolemy
Philadelphus, at his entry into Alexandria.[XX-9] Ptolemy Evergetes,
successor to that prince, caused pheasants to be sent from Media, which
he destined for his aviary; and he never eat them, so much did he dread
the idea of diminishing their number.[XX-10] But, alas! custom and time,
those jealous enemies of the greatest glories, eventually put an end to
that. The unfortunate creature was stripped of its feathers and roasted;
gluttony, an insatiable monster that never says “enough,” rejoiced at
being able to count it among the number of its conquests. The Greeks had
coops for pheasants as we have for fowls, not to please the eye, but to
ornament the table,[XX-11] and a foolish prodigality caused a whole
pheasant to be served to each guest in those luxurious repasts which the
Athenians gave to display their pomp and ostentatious
hospitality.[XX-12]

Among the Romans, Pliny is the first (or we are mistaken) who mentions
this bird, then very uncommon in Italy, since they went in quest of it
to the banks of the Phasis.[XX-13] Its rarity did not prevent Vitellius
from having a _ragoût_ of pheasants’ brains,[XX-14] mixed with other
viands of an unheard-of delicacy, in the immense dish called by him “the
Shield of Minerva.”[XX-15]

Pertinax willingly partook of pheasant, but on condition that they cost
his miserly sensuality nothing. Heliogabalus would only eat them three
times a week. Alexander Severus reserved them for solemn
occasions.[XX-16] They were sacrificed each morning to the statue of
Caligula,[XX-17] at the foot of which the vile troop of courtiers
prostrated themselves at the very time even when Cæsar, in a fit of
sanguinary monomania, wished that the Roman people had but one neck,
that he might sever it at a blow.[XX-18]

It is especially from the commencement of the 14th century that the
pheasant, better appreciated in Europe, has resumed in banquets that
remarkable place,[XX-19] constantly assigned to it throughout this new
era, in which our taste maintains it, and from which our posterity will
never remove it, if they inherit that wonderful sentiment of the good
and beautiful which so eminently distinguishes the epicures of the
present day.

Let us add, for the comfort of weak stomachs, that the medical light of
Pergamo--the illustrious Galen--recommends them the use of the flesh of
pheasants;[XX-20] that he prescribed it for himself, and found it a most
delightful remedy.

“Mingrelia, or the antique Colchis, is the cradle of pheasants, that
species of birds being stronger and finer there than anywhere else, but
it is seen, however, all over Europe, in Africa, and Asia, even in the
cold countries of the north. This beautiful bird forms an article of
commerce with the Chinese, who sell them frozen in the market of
Kiakta.”--SONNINI.


THE PARTRIDGE.

The Greeks and Romans were acquainted with partridges, and eat
them.[XX-21] The red, at first very rare in Italy, were, however,
advantageously replaced by the white, which true amateurs procured at a
great expense from the Alps.[XX-22]

The Athenians were fond of seeing them fight, and raised them for this
cruel sport.[XX-23] Alexander Severus also sought in these sanguinary
struggles relief from the cares of royalty.[XX-24]

Aristippus, a more humane, perhaps a more luxurious, philosopher, gave
as much as fourteen shillings for a fine fat partridge,[XX-25] which,
passing from the aviary to the kitchen, escaped the fatal vicissitudes
of a desperate combat.

In Greece, people who knew how to enjoy life thought much of the leg of
this warlike bird.[XX-26] It was fashionable not to touch any other
part. At Rome, when politeness was not of so much consequence, they
sometimes ventured on the breast. We, barbarians, eat the entire
partridge.


THE QUAIL.

The dead may be raised by the means of a quail, said the ancients. Now
for the proof: Hercules having been killed in Lybia, Iolaüs took one of
these birds, which fortunately happened to be at hand, and placed it
beneath his friend’s nose. The hero no sooner smelt it than his eyes
opened to the light, and Acheron was forced to give up his prey.[XX-27]

The learned Bochart denies this prodigy.[XX-28] He affirms that Hercules
was subject to epileptic attacks, and that, during a fit, they caused
him to smell a quail, whose odour quickly cured him.[XX-29]

The Phœnicians insisted that he was quite dead, and they all cried
out, “A miracle!”[XX-30] The reader must decide between them and
Bochart.

In the Desert the Israelites fed on quails;[XX-31] and this food,
reserved for them by Divine goodness, caused no discomfort among the
fugitive tribes. The Greeks served them on their tables with
partridges:[XX-32] they raised them in aviaries, and eat them all the
year round.[XX-33] Aristotle speaks most highly of them, and does not
attribute to them any dangerous property.[XX-34] However, quails were
banished from all Roman tables: they were no longer carefully
fattened:[XX-35] they were cursed, and accused of causing epilepsy in
those who partook of their fatal and seductive flesh.[XX-36] The
authority of Galen confirmed this strange prejudice,[XX-37] and these
innocent birds, having lost all reputation in Italy, no doubt easily
consoled themselves for the happy ostracism which delivered them from a
too expensive glory.

At all events, it is probable that Rome had wickedly calumniated quails;
two skilful men, devoted to the cause, undertook to defend them: they
were called Hippolochus and Antiphanus.[XX-38] Their eloquent pleadings
caused a sensation; the epicureans were moved, and some of these birds
were recalled, fattened, and roasted.

Quails, like cocks and partridges, seem born to fight to excess.[XX-39]
The Grecians encouraged their warlike ardour, and threw them into the
arena, where they contemplated their furious attacks with as much
pleasure as they experienced at the sight of gladiators murdering each
other in order to amuse them.[XX-40] Solon--the wise Solon--required
that young men should be trained to courage at the school of these bold
champions, and learn from them to despise danger, pain, and
death.[XX-41] We know that sensibility was little thought of in the plan
of education formed by the great legislator. Long after him, however,
the Areopagus gave a dreadful proof of this, by condemning to death a
little boy who had amused himself by pulling out the eyes of all the
quails unfortunate enough to fall into his hands. This precocious
monster was too promising.[XX-42]


THE THRUSH.

The immortal author of the Iliad did not disdain, it is said, to compose
a poem in praise of thrushes. These verses were so beautiful that the
Greeks learned them all by heart in their infancy.[XX-43] The singular
love of the ancients for this bird renders these poetical honours
tolerably probable. More than once Comus has borrowed the lyre of
Apollo.

In Greece, children were not allowed to eat thrushes, because it was
feared that their delicious flesh might cause them to contract too early
habits of gluttony and effeminacy. Young girls received them as presents
from their betrothed on the day of their marriage.[XX-44] They were
served at the most sumptuous feasts,[XX-45] and Attica enriched with its
gold the bird-catchers of that Daphne,[XX-46] so celebrated for her
luxury and scandalous voluptuousness.

Rome inherited this gastronomic rage. One of Varro’s aunts reared
thrushes in the country, and sold 60,000 of them every year, to the
numerous epicures of the metropolis of the world. She derived an immense
revenue from this speculation.[XX-47] Magnificent aviaries were soon
seen in all rich Roman villas; they were filled with thrushes; and the
multitude of these birds became such that they furnished a plentiful
manure for the land.[XX-48] They were fed on crushed figs, mixed with
wheaten flour; they had also millet, add great care was taken to
preserve in the aviary a current of fresh and pure water to slake their
thirst.[XX-49] On days of triumph and rejoicing, a dozen of these
tempting thrushes cost no less than twenty-seven shillings.[XX-50]

On those solemn occasions more than one generous citizen, consulting his
prodigality more than his purse, ruined himself[XX-51] for love of his
guests. More than one obsequious dependant spent his last sesterces in
composing ingenious crowns of thrushes,[XX-52] which his haughty patrons
deigned to receive as a homage. It is true he was sometimes allowed to
become a spectator of the repast which his gift was to
embellish[XX-53]--certainly a most flattering recompense for his
gratitude and servility!

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. IX.

     VARRO’S MAGNIFICENT AVIARY.--Adjoining his villa was a part of the
     house called the Ornithon, or the Aviary, of which some ruins are
     still remaining, between the two small rivers Vinius and Casinus,
     but can hardly be made out. More, perhaps, was in existence when
     the famous architect and antiquarian, Pierre Ligorio, drew the plan
     and profile more than 200 years ago. This drawing of Plate IX. is
     conformable with Varro’s own description, who says that: “At the
     entrance there are two porticoes, or two large cages (in the Plate
     these are omitted for want of space); they are buildings with
     colonnades all round, on the top and sides there are nettings
     spread to prevent the escape of the birds. The entrance to the
     yards is between the two pavilions; two basins, long and wide, are
     alongside of the court-yard on the right and left of it; from them
     you pass to the grand double colonnade, the first circumference of
     which is of stone, and the second of pine; the distance from each
     other is five feet, and the whole of this middle space is filled
     with birds, which are prevented from escaping by small fillets all
     over the top and sides. There are, between the columns, like a
     small theatre, rails, like steps, put forward for the birds to
     perch upon. There are birds of various species, particularly
     singing birds, such as nightingales and blackbirds; a small canal
     supplies them with fresh water, and they are fed from under the
     netting. Facing the pedestals of the column is a stone, raised one
     foot nine inches above the quay, and that is elevated two feet
     above the level of the water; its width is five feet, to enable the
     visitor to walk round. At the lower part of the quay, on the
     water-side, there are holes practised where the ducks can retire.
     In the centre of the large basin, about 200 feet in diameter, is a
     small island, bordered by a small colonnade, under which Varro
     treats his friends; in the middle, a round table, which a servant
     turns on a pivot, so that in succession the guests are supplied
     with dishes, plates, cups, and goblets. There is seen also an
     hemisphere, where the star Lucifer turns in the day, and Hesperus
     at night; both mark the hour, and are variable; on the same
     hemisphere the winds, to the number of eight, are marked with a
     hand that is always moving as the wind changes, the same as the
     clock of Cyprestus, at Athena.”

     The drawing of this Aviary is beautiful. It appears that Pierre
     Ligorio followed Varro’s description; at all events, the drawing of
     this Plate perfectly agrees with it.

[Illustration: _Pl. 9._]

Heliogabalus eat only the brains of these birds.[XX-54] This dish
appeared to him most excellent, for it was very costly.

The extreme delicacy of this volatile, which poetical connoisseurs have
celebrated in their verses,[XX-55] recommends it to those with weak
stomachs and to convalescents. Pompey being ill, his physician ordered
him a thrush, but it was impossible to find one in Rome. Some one
advised the celebrated general to apply to Lucullus, who fattened them
throughout the year. “What,” cried Pompey, ill-humouredly, “shall I have
to thank Lucullus’s pompous luxury for life!” He refused to eat the
thrush, and he recovered.[XX-56]


THE BLACKBIRD.

What has been already said of the thrush precludes the necessity of
writing much on the blackbird, for both these kinds of birds were
equally dear to the gastronomists of Greece and Italy.[XX-57] They were
fattened in the same manner,[XX-58] served on the same tables. The
blackbird, in fact, like the thrush, re-established the strength and
health of the rich.[XX-59] The poor were compelled to have recourse to
less expensive remedies.

“The flesh of the blackbird, so delicate in the time of gathering
grapes, acquires at that period a savour which makes it as precious as
the quail, but becomes bitter when they feed on the juniper berries, the
ivy, or other similar fruits. Some medicinal properties are attributed
to it; the oil in which the blackbirds have been cooked is recommended
to persons afflicted with sciatica: and the soil of these birds,
dissolved in vinegar, is, we are informed, a certain specific for
removing the freckles of the face or spots on the skin.”--VIEILLOT.

In 1468, Louis XI. ordered one of his authorised ruffians, named
Perdriel, to seize all the tame blackbirds he could find in Paris. These
poor birds were sent to Amboise, where a register was kept of what they
said or sung. It appears that the king intended to punish those citizens
of his capital who taught these innocent volatiles to repeat abuse of
the sovereign, after which he would have wrung the necks of the too
intelligent birds. Louis XI. could not carry out this singular idea,
because he himself was shortly after the Duke of Burgundy’s prisoner at
Péronne. Blackbirds and citizens had a narrow escape.[XX-60]


THE STARLING.

Drusus and Britannicus, sons of the Emperor Claudius, had a starling
which spoke admirably the Greek and Latin. Alone he studied his lessons,
and afterwards recited them to the astonished princes.[XX-61] Science
protected the learned bird from the fate reserved by the Greeks and
Romans for the rest of its family, less distinguished by their erudition
than by their culinary qualities. Starlings, roasted in the kitchens,
honourably associated with partridges, blackbirds, and thrushes,[XX-62]
and the disciples of Galen recommended them to their patients, who
willingly submitted to so nourishing and light a food.[XX-63]


THE FLAMINGO.

A profound study of the art of good cheer caused the Romans to discover
that the thick tongue of the phenicopter, or flamingo, presents towards
its root a rather considerable adipose appendage. They tasted this lump
of fat, and Rome was enriched with another dish.

It has been asserted that the glory of inventing this refinement in
gluttony is due to Apicius. Italy possessed three gastrophiles of this
name: the first flourished a short time before the dictatorship of
Julius Cæsar; the second, Marcus Gabius, held a school of sensuality at
Rome, under the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius; the third, Cælius, was
contemporary with Trajan, and poisoned himself for fear of dying of
hunger.

We possess, under the name of this last, a Latin work in ten books, from
which we have borrowed largely, as the reader may have already remarked.
It would be difficult to decide to which of the three Apicii it belongs.
The author speaks of the flamingo, but does not mention its tongue: the
treatise, then, is not the work of M. Gabius, who would doubtless have
indicated the preparation of a dish of which Pliny assures us he was so
fond.[XX-64] As to Cælius, if he were the compiler of this

[Illustration: _Pl. 10_]

curious volume, as it is thought, how comes it he has forgotten a dish
so justly celebrated, in this magiric catalogue, in which no detail,
however minute, seems to escape him? It would appear that this contested
paternity rightfully belongs to the first Apicius, unless some of the
learned contest it on the ground that the style of the work nowise
agrees with the latinity of his century.[XX-65]

May one of the learned societies of Europe some day take up this arduous
question, and restore the ancient masterpiece to its admirable author.
In the meantime the writer of the present work will continue to venerate
the memory of Cælius Apicius, and offer him crowns of smallage, roses,
and parsley, for his name embellishes the frontispiece of those pages
which reveal to us the secrets of Roman cookery; and we repeat, with
Sosie:--

    “Le véritable Amphitryon
     Est l’Amphitryon où l’on dine.”[XX-66]

Honour is due also to the other Apicius for his ingenious sauce of
flamingo tongues. True, we have never tasted it, for this expensive
fancy can only be satisfied in the marshes of the Nile.[XX-67] It is
still little known in Europe, but the most fastidious of the Romans
regaled themselves with it.[XX-68] Three Emperors, Caligula, Vitellius,
and Heliogabalus--immortal triumvirate of incomparable
polyphagists!--carried to indigestion their gastronomic delirium, their
love for this famous _ragoût_.[XX-69] These great authorities are
conclusive.

The traveller, Dampier, wished to try the flesh of the flamingo, and he
thought it very good, though lean, and very black.[XX-70]

“The flesh of the phenicopterus is a dish more sought after in Egypt
than in Europe; however, Catesby compares it for its delicacy to the
partridge; Dampier says it has a fine flavour, although lean; Dutertre
finds it excellent notwithstanding its marshy taste; the tongue is the
most delicious part.”--VIEILLOT.


FIG-PECKER, OR, BECAFICO.

The Duke of C---- had received from nature one of those culinary
organizations which the vulgar assimilate with gluttony, and the man of
art calls genius. Greece would have raised statues to him; the Roman
emperor Vitellius would have shared the Empire with him. In France he
gained the esteem of all parties by inviting them to sumptuous banquets.

This rich patrician brought up with tender care a young _chef de
cuisine_, whom his _major-domo_ had bequeathed to him on his death-bed,
as Mazarin did Colbert to Louis XIV. The disciple profited by the
learned lessons of the Duke; already the young _chef’s_ head, eye, and
hand possessed that promptitude and certainty whose union is so rarely
combined: there remained for him only the instruction of experience.

One day, in the month of September, some guests of the highest class,
all professed judges in the order of epicureans, met together at the
residence of the noble Amphitryon, who often claimed the authority of
their enlightened judgment. The learned Areopagitæ had to pronounce on
certain new dishes: it was necessary, by dint of seduction, to captivate
the favour and patronage of these judges by disarming their severity.

Everything was served to the greatest nicety, everything was deemed
exquisite, and they only awaited the dessert--that little course which
causes the emotion of the great culinary drama to be forgotten--when the
young _chef_ appeared, and placed in the centre of the table a silver
dish, containing twelve eggs. “Eggs!” exclaimed the Duke. The astonished
guests looked at each other in silence. The cook took one of the eggs,
placed it in a little china boat, slightly broke the shell, and begged
his master to taste the contents. The latter continued to remove the
white envelope, and at length discovered a savoury and perfumed ball of
fat. It was a fig-pecker of a golden colour--fat, delicate,
exquisite--surrounded by a wonderful seasoning.[XX-71]

The good old man cast on his pupil a look full of tenderness and pride;
and, holding out his hand to him: “You are inspired by Petronius,” said
he; “to imitate in such a manner is to create. Courage! I am much
pleased with you.”

This classic dish--a revival from the feasts of Trimalcio--enjoyed only
an ephemeral glory. Europe was on fire; a warlike fever raged
everywhere; and Paris soon forgot the eggs of Petronius.

The fig-pecker merits the attention of the most serious gastronomists.
The ancients reckoned it among the most refined of dishes.[XX-72] The
Greeks made delicate pies of this bird, which exhaled an odour so
tempting, that criticism was disarmed beforehand.[XX-73]

The Romans gave it their entire esteem,[XX-74] and prepared it with
truffles and mushrooms.[XX-75] Among them, men who knew what good cheer
means, thought there was nothing worth eating in birds but the leg and
lower part of the body. Fig-peckers were the only exception to this
rule: they were served and eaten entire.

“In the southerly parts of France, and in Italy, all the different
species of linget, and almost all birds with a slender beak, are
commonly called becafico, because in the autumn they attack and eat the
figs, and thereby the flesh of these birds becomes then fat and
exquisite; but that really known as the becafico is remarkable for its
delicacy; therefore it has at all times been _recherché_ as an excellent
eating. It is like a small lump of light fat--savoury, melting, easy of
digestion; and, in truth, an extract of the juice from the delicious
fruits it has fed upon.”--_Vieillot._


THE ORTOLAN.

Florence and Bologna sent to Rome cases of ortolans, the enormous price
of which irritated instead of discouraging gluttony.[XX-76] They arrived
in the metropolis of the world, picked and separated one from the other
by layers of flour to prevent decomposition.[XX-77] Each of these little
birds furnished only a mouthful; but this incomparable mouthful eclipsed
everything else, and produced a sort of epicurean extacy which may be
called the _transcendantalism_ of gastronomy.

Ortolans were submitted to the same treatment as fig-peckers in their
preparation.


THE OSTRICH.

There were tribes formerly in Arabia who fed on ostriches, and who for
this reason were called strutiophagists.[XX-78] Marmot asserts that, in
his time, they were eaten in Africa, although their flesh was glutinous,
and had a bad smell. When the people of Numidia took any that were
young, they reared and fatted them, and led them to feed by flocks in
the Desert; and as soon as they were fat they killed and salted
them.[XX-79]

The Arabs of the present day abstain from them; but it is said they seek
much the fat, which they use plentifully in cooking.

They were served at Rome on a few tables. This was nothing but a
depravation of taste.

Heliogabalus, who understood good living better, contented himself with
the brains of ostriches. Six hundred of these animals furnished enough
for one meal.[XX-80] The devastation was great, but the emperor had made
a good supper.

The ostrich’s eggs are very hard, very heavy, and very large; their
weight often equals three pounds. The colour is of a dirty white, with
light yellow veins; they are good to eat. In Africa they are sought
after as a _friandise_, and cooked in various ways. The commonest and
the best is, after breaking, to mix and cook them with a good deal of
butter. They are large enough and sufficient for a man’s meal.

When the Arabs have killed an ostrich they open its throat, and make a
ligature under the opening; three or four men take the bird, and shake
it, the same as rincing a pouch; after which, the ligature being undone,
a considerable quantity of a greasy substance comes out, mixed with
blood and fat as thick as coagulated oil. One ostrich produces as much
as twenty pounds of it, and it is used for the preparation of dishes,
for the cure of rheumatism, _humeurs froides_, and paralysis. The Romans
used this grease for the same purposes, and believed it possessed the
most precious qualities.


THE STORK.

In spite of the religious respect of the Romans for this bird, the
emblem of peace[XX-81] and domestic virtues, Sempronius Rufus, an
ancient prætor, caused his cook to dress some young storks; and this
brought into fashion[XX-82] a dish which caprice alone could introduce
at feasts.[XX-83]


THE SEA-SWALLOW.

Among the ancients, the swallow--joyous herald of spring--possessed
little attraction for those men whom their gluttony has rendered so
justly celebrated. Alas! they knew not the “Salangan swallow,” _hirundo
esculenta_; they never tasted those birds’ nests which Europe still
envies the East.

The inhabitants of the Philippine Islands give the designation of
salangan swallow to a little coast bird (the halcyon, or kingfisher),
celebrated for the singular construction of its nest. These nests have
been compared to those which the Greeks and Romans called halcyon’s
nests; but this comparison is false, since the marine productions to
which they gave this name are not birds’ nests but polypus’s, or the
cylindrical covering of the polypi--the _halcyonium_--a kind of
medicament, of which there were several varieties.[XX-103]

All travellers agree that the Chinese, and other eastern nations, have
an extreme partiality for the salangan’s nest, as a delicious seasoning
for their viands, and that they value it excessively; but they differ
strangely as to its nature, its form, and the places where it is found.

According to some, the material of these nests is a froth of the sea, or
the spawn of fish, and strongly aromatic. Others say it has no taste.
Some pretend that it is a juice gathered by the salangans from the tree
called _salambouc_; some maintain that it is a viscous humour that they
give out from the beak at a certain period of the year; and, lastly,
many affirm that these birds compose it entirely from the remains of
fish-zoophytes.

With respect to the form, some say that it is hemispherical; others that
it resembles a shell valve.

As to the places where the salangans build their nests, some observers
assure us that it is fixed on the rocks a little above the level of the
sea; in the hollows of those same rocks; and, lastly, that they conceal
them in holes which they burrow under ground. According to Kœmpfer,
these nests, so far as they are known to us, are nothing more than a
preparation concocted from the flesh of the polypi.

The celebrated traveller Poivre, while occupied one day in picking up
shells and coral near Java, penetrated a rather deep cavern at a short
distance from the sea shore, and found the sides of it covered with
little nests, in the form of a deep shell, firmly fixed to the rock.
These nests were taken on board, and several persons who had been in
China immediately recognised them as being identical with those that the
Chinese seek with such avidity. The birds which had built them were true
swallows, of about the size of the humming bird. Poivre adds that, in
the months of March and April, the sea from Java to Cochin China is
covered with spawn, which has the appearance of half-dissolved glue, and
that he had learned from the Malays and the Cochin Chinese that the
salangan builds its nest with this spawn. All agreed on this point. The
bird picks it up as he skims the water, or from the rocks where the
spawn coagulates. It is at the end of July and the commencement of
August that the Cochin Chinese collect the nests, and, as the young
birds are hatched in March and April, the species do not suffer by it.

By the subsequent examination of these nests it was found that they
presented the form of the half of a hollow, lengthened ellipsoid. They
are composed, externally, of very thin laminæ, nearly concentric, and
laid one over the other. The interior presents several layers of
irregular net-work, superposed one over another, and formed of a
multitude of threads of the same matter as the external laminæ, and
which cross and re-cross in every direction.

Their composition, which has a slight taste of salt, is of a yellowish
white and demi-transparent; it softens in warm water without dissolving,
and increases in volume. It is a substantial food, and would be
excellent for persons suffering from exhaustion, whose debile stomachs
ill perform their functions. Poivre declares that he never eat anything
more fortifying than a pottage made with these nests and some good meat.

The salangan nests are of two sorts--the white and the black. It appears
that the white nests are those of the same year, and that the black ones
belong to an epoch less recent. The birds are engaged about two months
in preparing them, and the Chinese do not take them away until the young
ones are feathered, and begin to be pretty strong on the wing.[XX-104]

       *       *       *       *       *

This nomenclature would be incomplete, did we not briefly mention some
kinds of game which appeared with more or less favour on the tables of
the ancients.

The _Wood-Hen_, dear to the Greeks,[XX-84] was not common at Rome in the
time of Varro. The curious reared them in aviaries with other rare
birds.[XX-85]

The _Bustard_, the _Water-Hen_, and the _Teal_, found many
admirers.[XX-86] The Romans reared the last-named,[XX-87] and judged it
worthy of notice among the most delicate morsels of the feast.

The _Woodcock_, which is thought to be the _rustica perdix_ of
Martial,[XX-88] and the _Snipe_ do not appear to have obtained from the
gastrophilists of antiquity that attention they deserved. This delicious
game was ill-appreciated in Italy and at Athens. History, that
“conscience of posterity,” reproaches them with this oversight, and is
astonished that the _Curlew_ should have usurped, particularly in
Greece,[XX-89] a pre-eminence which it certainly does not deserve.

“The fat of the snipe is of a most delicate savour, which it acquires
only after the first appearance of the frosty season. It is cooked like
the woodcock, without being drawn.”--VIEILLOT.

The _gourmets_ have a way of knowing when the flesh of the woodcock is
arrived at the degree of flavour required to be sought after: the bird
is suspended by the beam-feather of the middle of its tail; when the
body gets loose and full, then is the time to eat it.

“The woodcock is cooked with the entrails in, which, being pounded with
what they contain, form its own and best seasoning.”--_Sonnini._

The _Crow_, an object of superstitious worship among the
Egyptians,[XX-90] offered to the less scrupulous inhabitants of
Alexandria a dish unequalled in delicacy;[XX-91] but which never seems
to have tempted the nations of the west.

The _Turtle Dove_,[XX-92] whose timid innocence caused it to be revered
in Assyria,[XX-93] had a less glorious destiny at Rome. It was roasted,
and epicures greedily devoured the legs.[XX-94]

The _Lark_ joined to the delicate flavour of its flesh a more precious
quality; either roast or boiled, it infallibly cured persons attacked
with the colic.[XX-95] We cannot say whether it possesses this useful
property at the present day.

“The common lark, which is called at Paris _mauviette_, is generally
looked upon as a wholesome, delicate, and light game. It is dressed in
various ways; and the _gourmets_ appreciate the value of the excellent
lark pies which have established the reputation of the town of
Pithiviers in France.”--SONNINI.

The Romans went to almost fabulous expenses in order to procure game.
What enormous sums, may we not imagine, were given for those dishes of
flamingoes’ tongues and ostriches’ brains already mentioned! What must
have been the cost of the seven thousand birds which the brother of
Vitellius served to the voracious emperor![XX-96] And yet all these
follies fall far short of those they committed through their love of
fish.

The inventive genius of the Greeks discovered in ichthyophagy strange
refinements, though always impressed with we know not what kind of
propriety, which seems to palliate their excesses. The Romans at first
imitated, and soon afterwards surpassed them. Their frightful gluttony
was revived by crime, and exulted in barbarity. The sea eels (conger, or
_muræna helena_) will not eat; let a slave be thrown to them, young and
healthy, his flesh will be more tempting and alive, that his struggle
against unspeakable tortures may the better irritate the devouring
ardour of these beloved fish. And a few days afterwards, the grave
patrician, or the noble knight, again offered them this human food; and
no remorse, no doubt, no gloom, ever clouded his brow; no thrill of
horror crossed his mind, while he feasted on those sea eels he had
fattened so well.

More than two-thirds of the inhabitants of the most civilised countries
were plunged in slavery, and employed solely to gratify the sensuality
of the other third. That alone gives a terrifying idea of the contempt
in which man was held by his fellow-man, of the power of egotism, and of
the vast corruption resulting from it. And what cruelties were committed
in the face of heaven, sanctioned by the law, and by the manners and
customs of society! The masters had absolute power over their slaves,
and could punish them with blows or death at their own will and
pleasure.[XX-97] If an unfortunate servant happened to taste a sauce, or
the remains of a fish, this unpardonable crime was often punished by
crucifixion.[XX-98] The virtuous Cato sold his old slaves at whatever
price they would fetch, rather than feed useless beings.[XX-99] The
senator, Q. Flaminius, put one of his domestics to death as a new
spectacle for one of his friends, who had never enjoyed the pleasure of
seeing a man killed.[XX-100] If the father of a family was assassinated
in his house, and the murderer was not discovered, all the slaves were
subject to the capital punishment. One of the grandees of Rome, who
possessed four hundred of them, having been killed by one of the number,
they were all put to death.[XX-101] At the funeral of rich persons, a
certain number of slaves were often slain as victims agreeable to their
manes.

And what is remarkable is, that these things, which we can hardly
believe, were not viewed as excesses, not even as an abuse of power, but
simply as the exercise of a natural right. Such scenes were witnessed
daily, without exciting the least censure, or the slightest
protestation, on the part of those numerous writers and sophists, who
passed their whole lives in declaiming against the manners of the age.
It is true that legislation had taken the lead by applying to slaves
this dreadful aphorism: “They are still more null than vile;”--_Non tam
viles quam nulli sunt_.[XX-102]

Such were the conquerors of the world! Such were those Romans who
invented dreadful crimes through love of good living!




XXI.

FISH.


Perhaps it has not been sufficiently remarked that the science of
ichthyophagy is generally developed in a direct ratio with the
civilization of a people. Man began at first by satisfying the imperious
necessities of his stomach; he then eat to live, and all was good to
him. Experience by degrees gave rise to _eclectism_--choice. It was then
discovered that a coarse and solid food might be replaced by a delicate
and savoury alimentation; joyous appetite, and sensuality, its
effeminate companion, took the place of hunger, and this happy couple
gave birth to the more amiable of fairies, who, under the name of
Gastronomy, was soon to govern the world and prescribe to it
imperishable laws.

It is asserted that the art of preparing fish was one of the first boons
of this powerful sovereign, and that, instructed by her, Thetis rendered
ichthyophagist the god of light and the fine arts.[XXI-1]

The Jews, an agricultural people, living far from the borders of the
sea, attached but very little importance to fishing and the researches
necessarily attendant on it; so much so, that we hardly perceive any
trace among them of this kind of food, which Moses did not entirely
interdict, since that wise legislator was satisfied with prohibiting
fishes without scales or fins.[XXI-2] What an immense wealth remained
unexplored! Let us pity them for not having known how to profit by it,
notwithstanding the good will of the Phœnicians, inhabitants of the
coast, who brought them the produce of their maritime excursions.

Let us say it: the Hebrews were tolerably bad cooks. They possessed most
admirable laws, a fertile country, courage and many virtues, but their
sobriety never would allow them to understand the art of good living. In
that, they are to be pitied.

We must agree that the Egyptians had better taste. Worshippers of
certain fish, they used to embalm them[XXI-3] as a means of
preservation; and what is still better, they eat others in spite of the
example of their priests, who never touched them.[XXI-4] In fact, the
preparation of those dishes required the trouble of a little study and
culinary labour; therefore, to avoid it, they eat the fish raw when very
hungry; the epicures dried them in the sun, and they were served salted
on great solemnities.

But it was left to a woman to understand this wholesome and delicate
food, and to raise it to the rank it ought always to have occupied.

Gatis--let her be named with admiration--Queen of Syria, and no doubt a
beautiful woman, was so fond of fish that, in order to be continually
supplied with the choicest quality, she ordered all caught in her
kingdom to be brought to her, and that none should be eaten without the
royal permission. This law, for it really was one, created great
dissatisfaction; but she very sensibly allowed them to complain, and
continued to treat herself and those of her privileged subjects whom she
condescended sometimes to admit to her table, with the most exquisite
dishes of fish, such as the tunny, conger eel, and carp.[XXI-5] It is
much to be regretted that the chroniclers of that time have forgotten to
transmit to us the name of the cook of this illustrious Queen, and the
recipes of the sauces she preferred.

With great pleasure we turn to the Greeks, that charming people who had
only to set their foot on the most barren soil to cover it with flowers,
and who laid the foundation of ichthyophagy as well as all other
sciences.

It appears, however, that, at first, they thought but little of fish as
an aliment. None had ever been served to the heroes of Homer, and
Ulysses, relating that his hungry companions had partaken of some fish,
seems to excuse them, by saying: “Hunger pressed their digestive
organs.”[XXI-6] To be sure a celebrated philosopher,[XXI-7] and also an
amiable epicurean,[XXI-8] attributed this grievous abstinence of those
warriors to the fear of being enervated by dishes too delicious. And
then, the terrible Achilles and the impetuous Ajax could not, perhaps,
make up their minds to degustate under their tents a sole _au gratin_,
or a fried herring, with the slow precaution more humble mortals
willingly submit to.

But shortly after that, fresh and salt fish became one of the principal
articles of diet with the Hellenes.

Aristophanes and the gastrophilist Athenæus, allude to it a hundred
times in their writings, and various personages are the subjects of
biting sarcasms on account of their excessive partiality to the mullet,
scar, and turbot. We may name, among others, Philoxenes of Cythera, who
learning from his doctor that he was going to die of indigestion, for
having eaten too much of a most exquisite fish: “Be it so,” he calmly
exclaimed; “but, before I go, allow me to finish the remainder.”[XXI-9]

Everyone knows the witty jokes of Lucian, who informs us that he knew a
philosopher who examined, with the most serious comicality, the nature
of the soul of an oyster.[XXI-10]

Highly favoured by the neighbourhood of the sea, the Greek population
applied themselves, with that peculiar taste which characterized them,
to distinguish the best species; and skilful cooks knew how to give to
fish the most refined flavour, thanks to the numerous combinations of
ingredients which we too have learned from the ancient authors who have
written on dietetics. They possessed various ways of preparing them with
salt or oil, and aromatics.[XXI-11] Athenæus has transmitted to us some
very important precepts upon their seasoning. Æschylus and Sophocles
were not above lowering their tragic muse by sometimes introducing
remarks on fish sauce.

The productions of the sea had for Athens such an irresistible interest,
that a law of police forbad all fishmongers to sit down until they had
parted with the whole of their stock; so that the uncomfortable position
of standing made them more submissive, and induced them to dispose of
the fish at a more reasonable price.[XXI-12] This regulation in the
“Billingsgate” of Athens was very rigorously observed, and the
purchasers were highly delighted with it.

They also required that the fish should always be out of the water; and
this wise law, consequently, did not allow its being preserved, or the
price to be increased.[XXI-13] And finally, as soon as any kind of fish
was brought to market, they were required to call the customers together
immediately, by a kind of market-bell, which was a sort of invitation to
come and make their purchases.[XXI-14]

Some would-be philosophers, members of the opposition of that period,
thought of raising their voices against the common taste. Symmachus,
Polycrates, and Lamprias, tried to prove, in their writings, that those
who eat fish were the most cruel and ferocious of men. These tender
ichthyophilists were laughed at, and their works had no sale.

The Romans inherited the predilection of the Greeks, “For the dumb
companions of the fair Amphitryte;” but, excited by the love of the
marvellous, they stocked the sea with imaginary beings; and they saw
whales of four acres, fishes of two hundred cubits, and even that eel,
or that serpent, which veridical navigators have seen again in our days.
It was then thirty feet in length,[XXI-15] but now it is much longer!

Pliny, who believed so many things, swore to these by the twelve great
gods of Olympus. At all events, we are much indebted to that laborious
naturalist for very precious information. He has made us acquainted with
the scare, which the Roman epicures preferred to every other species.
After the scare, the eel-pout or lotas’-liver enjoyed a great
reputation. The red mullet, which is still much esteemed, was considered
as one of the most delicate of dishes, and the Romans in fashionable
circles employed it in a refinement of pleasure of a singular kind.

It is well known that this fish, when the scales are removed, still
remains of a fine pink colour. The fops of Rome having remarked that, at
the death, this colour passed through a succession of the most beautiful
shades, the poor mullet was served alive, inclosed in a glass vessel;
and the guests, attentive and greedy of emotions, enjoyed this cruel
spectacle, which presented to them a gradation of colours, which
insensibly disappeared.[XXI-16]

The greatest sensualists killed it in brine, and Apicius was the first
who invented this kind of luxury. The brine most in use, in such cases,
was made with the blood of mackerel, and that was one of the varieties
of that famous garum so highly praised by the Latin authors, and which
was to them, at that period, what the fish sauces of the English are
now. We will give, in this work, the various preparations of this so
celebrated condiment, and the reader will then be able to judge for
himself.

Apicius, the man of culinary progress, proposed a prize to any one who
could invent a new brine made with the liver of red mullets. History has
not transmitted to us the name of the fortunate conqueror; but Juvenal
informs us that Asinius Celer offered sixty pounds for one of these
fishes which weighed six pounds.[XXI-17]

This was, after all, but a trifling folly, in the midst of so many
extravagances which several writers have carefully registered. Lucullus,
the most ostentatious of the patricians, had a mountain cut through in
the neighbourhood of Naples, so as to open a canal and bring up the sea
and its fishes to the centre of the gardens of his sumptuous
villa.[XXI-18]

The love of fish became a real mania: turbots excited a _furore_ of
admiration--the _muræna Helena_ was worshipped. Hortensius, the orator,
actually wept over the death of the one he had fed with his own hands;
the daughter of Drusus ornamented hers with golden rings; each had a
name, and would come with speed when it heard the voice of the master,
whose happiness depended on his fish.[XXI-19]

Sometimes, in a moment of over tenderness for his dear _muræna Helena_,
Vedius Pollio, a Roman knight of the highest distinction, and one of the
intimate friends of the Emperor Augustus, could find nothing better to
do than to feed them with the flesh of his slaves, who were thrown to
them alive.[XXI-20] It is true that these wretched creatures generally
deserved this terrible chastisement; for instance, Seneca speaks of one
who had the awkwardness to break a crystal vase[XXI-21] while waiting at
supper on the irascible Pollio. This unfortunate slave having managed to
escape from the hands of those who were conducting him to this horrible
death, he went and fell on his knees at the feet of Cæsar, whom he
implored to inflict some less frightful torture. Augustus, moved to the
very soul, granted him his liberty, had all of Vedius’s vases broken,
and ordered that the pieces should be used to fill up the reservoir in
which the barbarous knight fed his _muræna Helena_.[XXI-22]

Having given this rapid sketch of the principal periods of ichthyophagy
among the ancients, little remains to be said of later ages in which we
find few traces of any particular or excessive predilection for this
kind of alimentation. If we are to believe Dio,[XXI-23] the first
inhabitants of Great Britain never eat fish. The English have not
thought it expedient to imitate their ancestors in this respect.

Under the reign of Edward II., certain fish, especially the sturgeon,
never appeared in England except on the table of the king: it was
prohibited to all others. In 1138, Stephen wanted to modify this
interdiction; but after his reign it was again in vigour, and considered
as a royal prerogative.

In France, anybody could eat fish, of any and all kinds; but every
fishmonger was obliged to obtain permission from the king to sell
it.[XXI-24]

The sumptuary laws of that kingdom inform us of nothing very interesting
on this essential of gastrology. We find, however, by the Edict of 1294,
that Philip-le-Bel allowed, on fast-days, two herring-pottages, and only
one sort of fish--a meagre dinner, if ever there was one, and which,
thank heaven, has fallen into complete disuse. Louis XII. was very fond
of good cheer, and, consequently, he appointed six fishmongers to supply
his table with fresh-water fish;[XXI-25] Francis I. had
twenty-two;[XXI-26] Henry the Great, twenty-four.[XXI-27]

Under the reign of Louis XIV. fish acquired a singular vogue in the city
as well as at court, owing to the marvellous talent of that prince’s
cook, who discovered the art, supposed to be lost, of giving to the
delicate flesh of the pike, the carp, and the trout, the shape and
flavour of the most exquisite game.

At this period we have the celebrated Vatel, one of the most illustrious
officers of the household that ever flourished in the palace of the
Princes of Condé. This inimitable major-domo understood that a dinner
without fish was a cheerless one. One day when his noble master
entertained Louis XIV. at a royal banquet, at Chantilly, which the
genius of Vatel rendered more brilliant, the fish from the coast failed;
he sent everywhere, but none could be found. He was completely
bewildered: he met his august master, whose kind words, full of
benevolence, only served to increase his desperation; he left him, ran
to his chamber, took his sword, and three times pierced his heart.
Shortly after, fish arrived from all quarters. Vatel was called--no
Vatel! He was sought for, and at last discovered--Vatel was no more!

It appears that, in former times, there was a remarkable consumption of
fish in England on the 4th of July, the Festival of St. Ulric. The
following verses, by Barnaby Gouge prove it:--


ST. HULDRYCHE.

    “Wheresoever Huldryche hath his place, the people there brings in
     Both capes and pykes, and mullets fat, his favour here to win.
     Amid the church there sittieth one, and to the aultar nie,
     That selleth fish, and so good cheep, that every man may buie;
     Nor any thing he loseth here, bestowing thus his paine,
     For when it hath beene offred once, ’tis brought him all againe,
     That twise or thrise he selles the same, vngodlinesse such gaine
     Both still bring in, and plentiously the kitchen doth maintaine,
     Whence comes this same religion newe? What kind of God is this,
     Same Huldryche here, that so desires and so delightes in fishe?”[XXI-28]

An ordinance of King John informs us that, in the 14th century, people
eat porpoises and even seals.[XXI-29] In the days of the troubadours,
they fished for dolphins and whales in the Mediterranean, and the flesh
of these sea monsters was considered excellent.[XXI-30]


STURGEON.

This enormous cartilaginous inhabitant of the ocean, the Mediterranean,
the Red, Black, and Caspian Seas, received from the Greeks, after its
death, honours in which none of the most delicate or renowned fish
participated. It was announced to the guests by the sound of trumpets;
and slaves, magnificently dressed, placed it on the table in the midst
of garlands and flowers.[XXI-31]

Joy brightened every face; a more generous wine filled fresh goblets,
and some flatterers--for the sturgeon possessed many--with eyes fixed on
the noble accipenser, compared its flesh to the ambrosia of the
immortals.[XXI-32]

The high price of the sturgeon contributed in no small degree to such
brilliant praise. This king of banquets would have ruined a modest
citizen of Athens, and hardly did the exiguity of its proportions permit
its figuring among the expensive rarities of an Attic supper, when it
had cost only a thousand drachms, or about £16 sterling.[XXI-33]

The Romans, imitators and emulators of the luxury of the Greeks, were
almost equally fond of this fish; and, like them, reserved it for
princely tables, or aristocratic opulence. It would seem, however, that
the enthusiasm excited by the sturgeon somewhat cooled under the reign
of Vespasian.[XXI-34] Perhaps at this period it became more common, or
was sold at a more moderate price. Nothing more was requisite in Rome to
deprive a dish of its most brilliant vogue and most powerful patronage.

However, the poet Martial, by nature no great flatterer, passes a
pompous eulogium on the monstrous fish,[XXI-35] and judges it worthy of
being placed on the luxurious tables of the Palatine Mount, that Westend
of Rome, rendered illustrious by the presence of kings, nobles, and
emperors.[XXI-36]

We have before observed that the sturgeon was formerly a royal dish in
England.[XXI-37] A celebrated traveller assures us that, at the present
day, the Chinese abstain from it, and that the sovereign of the
Celestial Empire consigns it to his own kitchens, or dispenses it to a
few of his greatest favourites.[XXI-38]

This gigantic accipenser, which often weighs two hundred pounds, is
quite common in Siberia, where they even catch some of a much larger
size, since some of the females have been found to contain two hundred
pounds weight of eggs.[XXI-39] In 1750, one was caught in Italy which
weighed 550 lbs. There are some in Norway, the head alone of which
yields a tun of oil,[XXI-40] and whose immense proportions would
formerly have astonished the most intrepid gastrophilists of Athens,
Syracuse, and Rome.

An alimentary substance, called caviar, furnished almost exclusively by
Russia to the rest of Europe, is prepared from the spawn of several
kinds of sturgeons.

The spawn of the large sturgeon produces caviar of an inferior quality;
that of the common sturgeon, and the sterlet, is prized as being more
delicate, when it is carefully separated from the vessels and membranes
with which it is intersected, well impregnated with brine, pressed, and
slightly dried. White caviar, it is said, is the best of all. It is
reserved for the court.[XXI-41]

There are two sorts of caviar: granulated caviar, and sack caviar.

The manufacture of the first named is performed by pressing the spawn on
a sieve, and rubbing it in every direction to remove the pellicles which
adhere to it, after which it is put into strong brine for one hour, then
drained in a sieve, and, finally, pressed close into barrels, so as to
entirely fill them before the head is fastened down.[XXI-42]

The manufacture of the other kind of caviar only differs in two
particulars. The spawn is manipulated while in the brine, in order to
soften it, and it is put, in small portions of about half-a-pound each,
into linen bags, which are powerfully twisted to extract all the brine
before it is pressed into the barrels.

The workmen employed in these operations make a third kind of caviar
with the refuse. This sort, used only by the poorest classes, deserves
no notice.

For some years past, they have introduced the method of salting the roes
as they are taken from the fish, and packing them into barrels, where
they remain seven or eight months; after which they are again salted,
and then dried in the sun.

Caviar occupies a very distinguished place in Russian, Turkish, German,
and Italian gastronomy. The Greeks, in particular, live upon it almost
exclusively during the long Lent fasts prescribed by their
Church.[XXI-43]


RED MULLET.

Philoxenes, of Cythera, supped one night with Dionysius, tyrant of
Sicily. It happened that the prince was served with a magnificent
mullet, whereas a very small one was presented to his guest. The
philosopher took his fish in his hand, and, with a very serious air,
held it to his ear. Dionysius asked him what he was doing. “I am busy
with my Galathea,” replied Philoxenes, “and I am questioning him on the
subject of Nerea; but I can obtain no answer from him, because he was
taken at too early an age. I am certain, however, that the other,
evidently much older, which lies before you, is perfectly well
acquainted with what I wish to know.” The tyrant, who happened that
evening to be in a good humour, laughed at the joke, and offered the
larger mullet to the witty gastronomist.[XXI-44]

The unbridled and cruel luxury of ancient Rome required that this fish
should be cooked by a slow fire, on the table and under a glass, that
the guests might gloat on its sufferings before they satiated their
appetites with its flesh.[XXI-45] It is true this barbarous
gratification was very expensive, and it was necessary to be very rich
to indulge in it--consequently it was decidedly very fashionable, quite
natural, and in the very best taste.

Ordinary mullets weighed about 2 lbs.;[XXI-46] these hardly deserved
that their dying agonies should for an instant amuse the guests; they
were worth only about £15 or £20 each. But sometimes fortune threw in
their way much larger ones; and the opulent amateur esteemed himself
only too fortunate when he could obtain a fish of three[XXI-47] or four
pounds[XXI-48] for a much higher sum than he had paid for the slave,
tutor of his children.

Crispinus was fond of mullets. He obtained one weighing four or six
pounds, for which the fishmonger asked only £60.[XXI-49] This was giving
it away; and certainly the man did not understand his trade. Crispinus,
on becoming the possessor of this wonderful treasure, was astonished at
his good fortune, and the whole of Rome long refused to believe it.

In the reign of Tiberius, three of these fish were sold for 30,000
sesterces,[XXI-50] or £209 9_s._ 8_d._; and this emperor was one day
generous enough to give up to P. Octavius, for the low price of 5,000
sesterces, a very fine mullet which had just been presented to
him.[XXI-51]

And yet some persons of culinary authority paid but little attention to
the flesh of this delicate fish; they sought only the liver and head;
and if they paid for it so dearly, it was solely to find some few
mouthfuls more in these two parts,[XXI-52] to which caprice, enthusiasm,
that fever of admiration, and we know not what extraordinary gastronomic
rage, gave an inestimable price, which at the present day excites only a
smile of incredulity.

Pliny speaks of a mullet caught in the red sea, which weighed eighty
pounds.[XXI-53] “At how much,” adds this great naturalist, “would it
have been valued had they caught it in the environs of Rome!” We may
suppose, without the least exaggeration, that many a senator would have
offered £1,500 to become its possessor.

It is thus that the mistress of the world foolishly dissipated in
ephemeral whims the immense treasures poured into her lap by tributary
kings--conquered and spoliated nations. Each day her patricians,
knights, and nobles, tired of their importunate opulence, solicited new
diversions, and invented new excesses. The mullet for a moment satisfied
their prodigality, and amused their barbarity; but Heliogabalus
appeared, and he imagined prodigies of gluttony which excited at once
admiration and envy. The liver of this fish appeared to him too paltry;
he took it into his head to be served with large dishes completely
filled with the gills.[XXI-54] Now, we know that the mullet possesses
only two. This dish, whose price would have enriched a hundred families,
was worthy of the Sardanapalus of Rome, who, at the age of eighteen, had
exhausted the treasures of the empire, and whom a violent death seized
most _à propos_, at the moment when he had attained the extreme limits
of crime and infamy.

The Romans served the mullet with a seasoning of pepper, rue, onions,
dates, and mustard, to which they added the flesh of the sea hedge-hog
reduced to a pulp, and oil.[XXI-55]

When the liver alone was to be eaten, it was cooked, and then seasoned
with pepper, salt, or a little garum--some oil was added, and hare’s or
fowl’s liver, and then oil was poured over the whole.[XXI-56]

The Greeks knew how to appreciate the mullet. They thought highly of
those caught on their own shores[XXI-57], and placed them in the first
rank of the most exquisite dishes of their delicate cookery.

“It is with the eggs of mullets, when salted, pressed, washed, and
dried, that the preparation known as _botargo_ or _botarcha_ is made. It
is very _recherché_ in Italy, and other southern countries, as a
seasoning.”--DR. CLOQUET.


SEA-EEL.

The sumptuous abode of L. Crassus echoes with his sighs and groans. His
children and slaves respect his profound sorrow, and leave him with
intelligent affection to solitude--that friend of great grief; so
grateful to the afflicted soul, because tears can flow unwitnessed.
Alas! the favourite sea-eel of Crassus is dead, and it is uncertain
whether Crassus can survive it!

This sensitive Roman caused this beloved fish to be buried with great
magnificence: he raised a monument to its memory, and never ceased to
mourn for it.[XXI-58]

This man, who displayed so little tenderness towards his servants, had
an extraordinary weakness concerning his fine sea-eels. He passed his
life beside the superb fish-pond, where he lovingly fattened them from
his own hand. Ornamented with necklaces of the finest pearls, and
earrings of precious stones,[XXI-59] all, at a signal, swam towards him;
several fearlessly took the food he offered them; and some, as familiar
as their absent and regretted companion, allowed their master to caress
them without seeking to bite or avoid him.[XXI-60]

This singular passion, which at the present day we can hardly believe,
in spite of the respectable authority of the most serious writers, was
very common at Rome, amongst those who were rich enough to rear such
fish. C. Hirtius was the first to construct fish ponds on the sea shore,
to which many visitors were attracted by their magnificence.[XXI-61] The
family of Licinius took their surname of _Muræna_ from these fish, in
order thus to perpetuate the most silly affection, and the remembrance
of their insanity.[XXI-62]

Sea-eels necessarily pleased men cloyed with pleasures, and who
substituted a kind of cold and cruel curiosity for the terrible emotions
which beings peculiarly organized hope to find in evil-doing:
gladiators murdering each other; lions or tigers lacerating the
_bestiarii_; all these agonies of the amphitheatre had long since lost
the attraction of novelty. It was a much more exciting spectacle to
witness a swarm of sea-eels tearing to pieces an awkward or rebellious
slave; besides, it greatly improved the fish. The atrocious Vedius
Pollio, who understood these matters, never failed to have sea-eels
served him after their odious repast, that he might have the pleasure of
eating some part of the body of his victim.[XXI-63]

Thank Heaven! however, some amateurs of this dreaded fish were not so
barbarous; they fattened them very well without having recourse to such
criminal food. Veal was cut into thin slices, and steeped in the blood
of the animal for ten days, after which the fish greedily regaled
themselves with it.[XXI-64]

It was, doubtless, in this manner that the skilful speculator,
Hirtius,--the same already mentioned--nourished his sea-eels, which
produced him an immense revenue. His fish ponds contained so great a
number that he was able to offer six thousand to Julius Cæsar on the
occasion of the public feast that general gave the day of his triumphal
return from the conquest of Gaul.[XXI-65]

The greater part of the Roman emperors were exceedingly fond of
sea-eels. The greedy Vitellius, growing tired of this dish, would at
last only eat the soft roes: and numerous vessels ploughed the seas in
order to obtain them for him.[XXI-66] This exquisite rarity again
appeared too common to the maniac child, who dismayed and astonished
Rome for the space of three years. Heliogabalus brought the soft roe of
the sea eel into disrepute by ordering that the peasants of the
Mediterranean should be gorged with it.[XXI-67] This folly amused him,
and only cost several millions. That was a trifle when compared with the
blood which almost always flowed to satisfy his whims.

The Greeks and Latins thought much of sea-eels caught in the straits of
Sicily.[XXI-68] They were sometimes served surrounded with
crawfish;[XXI-69] but more frequently they were dressed with a seasoning
much in fashion, composed of pepper, alisander, savory, saffron, onion,
and stoned Damascus plums. These various substances were mixed together,
and to them were added wine, sweet sun-made wine, old wine reduced by
boiling, garum, vinegar, and oil.[XXI-70]

At Rome the fish market was abundantly supplied with sea-eels from the
Tiber. Connoisseurs thought nothing of them;[XXI-71] they were sold at
a low price, and their disgrace became complete directly they appeared
on plebeian tables.

The Egyptians venerated this fish, and always esteemed it sacred.[XXI-72]
Among the Sybarites, just appreciators of its culinary qualities, the
fishers and sellers of sea-eels were exempt from all taxes.[XXI-73] They
often procured some of such enormous size, that we should be tempted to
accuse the old chroniclers of exaggeration, if we were not aware that
this animal attains considerable dimensions. In the year 1786 a sea-eel
was taken in the Elbe, weighing sixty pounds. This extraordinary fish
measured seven feet two inches in length, and twenty-five inches in the
girth.[XXI-74]


LAMPREY.

In spite of its soft and viscid flesh, this fish occupied in Rome a most
honourable rank among the multitudinous dishes which intemperance was
ever augmenting, and preference was given to that species caught by
enterprising speculators in that strait which separates Sicily from
Italy. These good people averred that lampreys which rise to the surface
of the sea are immediately dried up by the sun, and cannot any more
descend to the depths of the ocean.[XXI-75] This little story did no
harm to their sale; on the contrary, they became on that account more
curiously interesting.

It was also said, and the serious Gesner himself has repeated this
fable:[XXI-76] That if the fish fastens its mouth to the side of a
vessel it immediately stops, and that the combined power of the wind and
the efforts of the rowers are unavailing.[XXI-77] The fact is that, by
means of a kind of suction, it can fasten firmly on any bodies; and one
weighing only three pounds has been seen to sustain in the air, with its
mouth, a stone weighing twelve pounds.[XXI-78]

The lamprey has not always been the fashion, but it has had brilliant
and glorious epochs. In 1135 it caused so great a fit of indigestion to
Henry I., King of England, that that prince died in consequence of
it.[XXI-79] Since then, in the 16th century, it has been honoured with
the reputation of having caused more than one death.[XXI-80] It was sold
at a very high price, £3 at least, and at certain periods the Roman
nobles even paid as much as £20 for one of these fish.[XXI-81] The
ancient metropolis of the world had sometimes strange reminiscences of
her former grandeur.

The Italian epicures of that remarkable era used to kill the lamprey in
Candian wine. A nutmeg was placed in the mouth, and a clove in each of
the openings of the gills. They rolled them round in a saucepan, and
after adding crushed almonds, bread crumbs, Candian wine, and spices,
the whole was cooked over a slow fire.[XXI-82]


SEA-WOLF.

Hicesius, one of the most estimable ichthyophagists of antiquity, does
not hesitate to place the sea-wolf above all the fish which by their
excellence were dear to Greece;[XXI-83] and the great Archestratus says,
that the _lubridan_ (a species of the sea-wolf) is a child of the
gods.[XXI-84]

The Romans, touched no doubt by these magnificent praises, granted to
the sea-wolf that favour which a high reputation commands. The immense
sturgeon itself was eclipsed by it, and the sea-wolf had the glory of
throwing this powerful and renowned rival into oblivion.[XXI-85]

Their love for its white and tender flesh knew no bounds,[XXI-86] and
the fishermen of the Tiber were no longer equal to the task of supplying
them for the impatient gluttony of the rich inhabitants of the Palatine
Mount. Still this fish only fetched a high price when taken in a certain
part of the river; from any other place it hardly commanded a few _as_
(pence). Between the Sublicius and Senatorius bridges, a deep, black,
and fetid water announced the presence of the continual flood of filth
which the giant city poured into it night and day. It was in the midst
of these impurities that shoals of sea-wolves were seen disporting; they
fattened on that shocking slime, and thence passed to the delicate
tables of Lucullus and Cæsar.[XXI-87]

The Greeks contented themselves with lubridans taken in clear water, and
preferred the head to any other part.[XXI-88]


SCARUS, OR, PARROT-FISH.

The scarus--its modern name is still problematic--furnished the Greeks
with one of those exquisite dishes the remembrance of which never dies.
The Romans were not yet acquainted with it, when Octavius, the commander
of a fleet, brought on board the vessels a great quantity of this fish,
which he ordered to be thrown into the sea along the coast of Campania,
and which soon became the delight of the epicures of Rome.[XXI-89]
History has shown too much disdain by neglecting to say more than a few
passing words on the subject of this great service. May a tardy homage
of gratitude be paid to the memory of the benefactor of his country.

The scarus was prepared without being embowelled, and epicures found it
impossible to satiate themselves with the entrails,[XXI-90] which
obtained for it a gastronomic vogue it long enjoyed without a
rival.[XXI-91] It was asserted that the fish ruminates;[XXI-92] that it
feeds only on herbage;[XXI-93] and that, far from being mute, like the
other inhabitants of the water, it not only emits sounds, but is able to
express by its cries the different sensations it experiences.[XXI-94]
These anomalies, either real or supposed, had, perhaps, as great a share
in rendering the scarus celebrated, as the delicacy of its flesh, and
the exquisite flavour of its intestines. Merit the most real can so
rarely keep the field unsupported by cajollery.


TURBOT.

Rome and Italy were indebted to the prætor, Sempronius, or to Rufus
Rutilius,[XXI-95] for the turbot, which they taught their countrymen to
appreciate. This fish quickly obtained the success which it merited, and
was compared to the pheasant, as soles were likened to partridges,
lampreys to quails, and sturgeons to peacocks. Some preferred turbot
from the Adriatic Sea, others that of Ravenna;[XXI-96] but all united in
declaring that there was not a more delicious food, and that a feast
loses all its charm when this delicacy is wanting.

In the reign of Domitian a monstrous turbot was taken; such a one had
never been seen in the imperial kitchens.[XXI-97] The emperor convoked
the senate, and deferred to them to decide in what dish it should be
cooked, in order that it might be served whole. The deliberation was
long and stormy; all Rome was in a state of expectancy; and the august
assembly strove to prove itself worthy of the high confidence reposed in
it by Cæsar. At length the illustrious old men were tolerably unanimous
in their idea that the best way would be to make a dish expressly for
the fish--since there was none large enough ready-made--and also that a
stove should be constructed vast enough to allow the dish to be placed
commodiously upon it.[XXI-98]

The emperor, the city, and the court applauded the profound wisdom of
this decision; and “_le turbot fut mis à la sauce piquante_.”[XXI-99]

Aristotle does not mention this fish; but his compatriots esteemed
highly the turbots of Attica.[XXI-100]


TUNNY.

The Greeks greatly praised the tunny fish of Pachynum.[XXI-101] Persons
who prided themselves on their knowledge in the art of good living, eat
only the belly part,[XXI-102] and never touched the remainder.

The Synopians formerly gained immense sums by the tunny fishery along
their shores,[XXI-103] the effigy of which, perhaps in gratitude, they
stamped on their money. This fish came from Palus Meotides, and passed
thence to Trebizond and Pharnacia, whence it followed the coast of
Sinopus, and, at length, reached Byzantium, where they took nearly all
those which escaped the fisheries of the two first-named
stations.[XXI-104]

The Romans offered tunny fish in sacrifice to Neptune, in order that
that god might deign to prevent the _xiphias_ fish from tearing their
nets, and forbid the too officious dolphins to assist in their
escape.[XXI-105] They sold it at a very good price during the autumn and
winter; but it fetched less in summer because it was thought to be
unwholesome during that season.[XXI-106] The jole and belly were thought
the most delicate parts.[XXI-107] They were either fried or boiled, with
pepper, alisander, cummin, onion, mint, sage, and dates, to which was
added a mixture of honey, vinegar, oil, and mustard.[XXI-108]

Archestratus, who, on account of his gastronomic voyages, was looked
upon as a high authority, asserts that Sicily and the neighbourhood of
Constantinople furnished excellent tunny fish; but that the best were
those from Samos.[XXI-109] These latter were much renowned among the
Greeks, who carefully prepared the entrails, and feasted on this dish.
Athenæus relates, on this subject, a witticism of the poet Dorio, a keen
and caustic spirit of the period of Aristotle and Philip of Macedon.
Being at supper with that prince, a guest ridiculously praised a dish
of tunny-fish intestines, just placed on the table. “They are certainly
excellent,” said Doric, “when eaten as I eat them.” “How, then, do you
eat them?” rejoined the gastronomic courtier. “With the firm
determination,” replied the poet, “of thinking of nothing
better.”[XXI-110]

This fish abounds in certain seas, and Pliny avers that it obstructed
the navigation of the Indian Sea to such an extent, that the fleet of
Alexander the Great was obliged to change its course, in order to avoid
this impassable barrier.[XXI-111]

Tunny fish sometimes attain an immense size. Father Cetti tells us, that
some were caught in Sardinia weighing no less than 1,000 lbs., and
sometimes even 1,800 lbs.[XXI-112]


CONGER-EEL.

Near Sicyona, a city of the Peloponnesus,[XXI-113] they formerly caught
conger-eels of such immense size, that it required a waggon drawn by
oxen to carry a single one.[XXI-114] The body, the whole of the head,
and even the intestines[XXI-115] were eaten. This dish, worthy of being
offered by Neptune to his divine colleagues, was capable, like ambrosia,
of bestowing immortality on those who had the good fortune of tasting
it, and the dead would return to life, had it been possible to serve
them with a piece of this exquisite fish.[XXI-116]

These childish exaggerations have not prevented Galen from treating the
conger-eel with very little respect: he affirms, that nothing is more
hard or indigestible.[XXI-117] And, indeed, epicureans of some repute
allowed only the head to appear on their tables;[XXI-118] and then only
at rare intervals, and under the auspices of a relishing sauce which
assured its reception.

The Romans had still less esteem for this too highly praised fish.
However, sometimes a fried conger-eel occupied on the _sigma_ an obscure
place, in the midst of a seasoning flavoured highly with pepper,
alisander, cummin, wild marjoram, dried onion, and hard yolks of eggs;
with which a skilful hand carefully mixed to the whole, vinegar, sweet
wine, garum, and cooked wine.[XXI-119]


EEL.

In some parts of Egypt the eel was not eaten, because it was thought
indigestible.[XXI-120] In other places it received religious
worship.[XXI-121] They were ornamented, whether they liked it or not,
with silver, gold, and precious stones, and priests daily offered them
the entrails of animals and cheese.[XXI-122]

The Greeks thought highly of eels. “Behold the Helen of feasts!” cried
Eidicastes, at the moment when one was served; “I will be her
Paris!”[XXI-123] and the glutton seized and devoured it immediately.

Bœotia--where this fish was immolated to the gods[XXI-124]--the
straits of Sicily,[XXI-125] and the Copian lake, furnished eels
remarkable for their delicacy and size;[XXI-126] these were served fried
and enveloped in beet leaves.[XXI-127] They enjoyed a high reputation
among the Sybarites, a choice nation, who would have invented cookery if
the art had not already existed, and among whom a repast was so serious
a matter, that a whole year was not thought too long in order to
meditate upon it and get it ready.[XXI-128]

But Hippocrates did not like the eel, and he forbade it to his patients,
and to persons attacked with a pulmonary affection.[XXI-129] So that
this Queen of Luxury, as Archestrates calls it,[XXI-130] met with as
many enemies as partisans. Egypt adored it, Greece was enamoured of it,
Rome despised it, and the plebeian alone reserved it to the humiliation
in his brutal orgies.[XXI-131]

Apicius, however, has condescended to notice this fish. Mix, says he,
pepper, alisander, parsley seed, dill, and dates; add to this honey,
vinegar, garum, oil, mustard, and cooked wine;[XXI-132] serve this sauce
with the eel.

Nations have their ages of splendour--viands have their epochs of
celebrity and glory. This one seems to us fast falling into decay, in
spite of some isolated efforts in order to make it reflourish.

When Rockingham was named member of parliament, he ordered thirteen
barrels of eels to be brought to London, for the banquet he gave on that
occasion.[XXI-133] No one to our knowledge has since prepared so
gigantic a _matelote_.

Travellers formerly saw in the Ganges beautiful eels 300 feet
long[XXI-134]--a magnificent species never seen in Europe.

“The eel, so much despised by the Romans, is rather in favour in several
countries; certain species are much esteemed, that named _Guiseau_,
among others, deserves the preference it always obtains at
Rouen.”--BOSC.


PIKE.

The pike was very little esteemed by ancient gastronomists, who viewed
it only as an ignoble inhabitant of muddy water, and the implacable
enemy of frogs.[XXI-135] It was a received opinion that this despotic
ruler of ponds lived for several centuries, and it may be correct.

Among the examples of longevity of this fish, the most remarkable is
that of the pike of _kaisers’-lantern_, which was nineteen feet long,
weighed 350 lbs., and had lived at least 235 years. It is reported that
the Emperor Barbarossa himself threw it, on the 5th of October, 1262,
into the pond where it was caught in 1497; and that this enormous pike
wore a golden ring, which was made so that it would expand, and on which
was engraved the date when the fish was spawned. Its skeleton was for a
long time preserved at Mannheim.[XXI-136]

The multiplication of pikes would be immense if the spawn and pickrel,
in the first year of their existence, were not the prey of several other
fishes; for it has been calculated that in a female pike of middling
size 184,000 eggs were found.

“In the north, and particularly in Siberia, the pike is preserved salted
and smoked; the largest only are used, those weighing about two pounds.
When they have been drawn, cleaned, and washed, they are cut in pieces,
stratified with salt, in barrels. A brine is formed in which they are
left for three days, then they are dried or smoked for one month. After
this time they are put in another barrel, with fresh salt, wetted with
vinegar.”--BOSC.


CARP.

The carp occupied a very honourable rank with the Greeks and Latins, but
only as a fish of the second order.[XXI-137] At Athens, they picked out
the bones and stuffed it with silphium, cheese, salt, and
marjoram.[XXI-138] The Romans boiled it and mixed it with sows’ paps,
fowls’ flesh, fig-peckers, or thrushes; and when the whole was made into
a kind of pulp, they added raw eggs and oil; then they sprinkled it over
with pepper and alisander; after which they poured wine, garum, and
cooked wine over it; and when the culinary combination was completed in
the stewpan, by the assistance of a slow fire, it was then thickened
with flour.[XXI-139]

In several countries it is known at what period the carp was
naturalized. Peter Marshall brought it to England in 1514; Peter Oxe to
Denmark in 1560. A few years after, it was introduced into Holland and
Sweden. The fecundity of this fish is surprising; no less than 621,600
eggs were found in a carp weighing nine pounds; and it is very
long-lived. Several have been seen in the moats of the castle of
Ponchartrain, which were proved to be 150 years old. Carp are capable of
acquiring considerable dimensions. The most gigantic on record was that
caught at Bisshofs-hause, near Frankfort on the Oder; it weighed 70
lbs.[XXI-140]


EEL-POUT.

The liver of the eel-pout (also known by the names, _lota_, _lote_, and
_lotus_) is particularly large, and so delicate that a certain Countess
of Beuchlingen squandered a large portion of her income to gratify her
taste for them.[XXI-141] That lady, worthy, by her refined and antique
taste, of the proudest period of Roman extravagance, was, perhaps, not
aware that the most fastidious epicureans of Italy, enthusiastic
admirers of the liver of this fish,[XXI-142] had it served with a sauce
composed of vinegar, grated cheese, and garlic; to which they added
leeks and onions, chopped fine.[XXI-143]


TROUT.

Elian speaks of a fish found in the river Astræus, in
Macedonia,[XXI-144] which Gesner believed to be identical with the
trout. It does not appear, however, that the Greeks knew the real value
and merit of this fish; but on the other hand, the Romans assigned to it
the foremost rank, next to the sturgeon, red mullets, and the sea-eel,
especially when they had been fattened in the thick waters of the Tiber,
on the very spot where the labridans acquired their plumpness and
value.[XXI-145]

The trout was dressed like the preceding fish.


GOLD FISH.

This fish, dear to the Greeks,[XXI-146] had the honour of giving its
name to the celebrated icythyophagist, Sergius, who was passionately
fond of it, and who took the name Orata (from _Aurata_--gold fish), to
preserve in his family the remembrance of his gluttony or of his
affection.[XXI-147] His compatriots, the Romans, highly valued the gold
fish,[XXI-148] and sought with eagerness those which had fed on the
shell fish of the lake of Lucrin[XXI-149]--that precious reservoir
between Baiæ and Cumæ, which never deceived the hopes of the
gastronomist, nor the greedy expectations of the fishermen.[XXI-150]

The gold fish was served with a gravy composed of pepper, alisander,
carrots, wild marjoram, rue, mint, myrtle leaves, and yolk of eggs;
mixed with honey, vinegar, oil, wine, and garum.[XXI-151] The slow
cooking of these various ingredients gave them the required
homogeneousness.


WHITING.

The flesh of this _gadus_ is so light that, according to an old French
proverb, the “_Merlans mangée ne pèsant non plus dans l’estomac que
pendus à la ceinture_.”[XXI-152] “Whitings weigh no more when eaten than
when hung to the girdle.” Nevertheless, the Greeks did not think much of
it, and they said that the whiting was only good for those who could not
obtain more delicate fish.[XXI-153]

The Romans, less severe or not quite so particular, cooked their
whitings with a sauce composed as follows:--put with the fish, in a
stewpan, some garum, chopped leeks, cummin, savory, and a sufficient
quantity of cooked wine, and some wine slightly diluted; cook it on a
slow fire.[XXI-154]


COD FISH.

The cod fish supplied the ancients with the most exquisite dish next to
the sturgeon.[XXI-155] The only fault found with it was, that it cost
less than others. The Greek cooks sprinkled it with grated cheese,
moistened with vinegar; then they threw over it a pinch of salt and a
few drops of oil.[XXI-156] Persons with delicate stomachs did not
scruple to partake of this aliment, which Galen warranted as being
excellent.[XXI-157]

The average size of this fish is about three feet in length; but some
are found of ten feet. The common weight is fifteen pounds, and some
have been seen weighing 60lbs. Leuwenhoek has said that 9,344,000 eggs
had been found in one fish. It is probable he made a mistake, as a cod
fish of our days, weighing 50lbs., produced only 3,686,000 eggs--a
number sufficiently prodigious, and which shows pretty well its great
fecundity.[XXI-158]

It is supposed that the discovery of the great and small banks of cod
fish is due to the Basque fishermen, who arrived there in pursuit of
whales, one hundred years before Columbus’ voyage. Others give that
honour to James Cartier, a native of Falkland Islands.

“As early as the 14th century, the English and the inhabitants of
Amsterdam busied themselves with cod fishing; and later, the Irish,
Norwegians, French, and Spaniards competed with them more or less
successfully. In 1533, Francis I. having sent J. Verrazzano, and
afterwards, Jacques Cartier, to explore the neighbourhood of
Newfoundland, the French fishermen followed them, and brought back also
this fish from those distant countries in the beginning of the 16th
century.

“Man annually seizes upon a prodigious quantity of cods, and were it not
for the immense extent of the means of reproduction allowed to it by
nature, the species for a long time past would have been annihilated. It
is even hardly conceived how it has been possible to preserve it; for it
is well known, that as early as 1368, the inhabitants of Amsterdam had
brought up fishermen on the coast of Sweden; and, in the first quarter
of 1792, according to a report presented to the minister, Roland, at the
National Convention, that, from the ports of France only, 210 vessels,
forming together 191,158 tons, went out for the cod fisheries; and that
every year more than 10,000 vessels of all nations employed at this
trade, throw in the commercial world more than 40,000,000 of salted and
dried cod. If we add to this enumeration the havoc made among the
legions of these fishes by the great _squales_, sharks, and others,
besides the destruction of a multitude of young ones by the other
inhabitants of the seas and sea birds, together with the myriads of eggs
destroyed by accident, it really is extraordinary to see this fish in so
great a quantity now; but who can wonder, since each female can every
year give birth to more than 9,000,000 of young ones.”--DR. CLOQUET.


PERCH.

The Greeks were acquainted with the perch.[XXI-159] Diocles used to give
the flesh to the sick;[XXI-160] Xenocrates extolled those from the
Rhine;[XXI-161] and Ausonius, the poet, has sung the praises of those
fed in the Moselle.[XXI-162]

With the Romans, this fish obtained a renown almost equal to that
bestowed on the trout; and all eyes bespoke its welcome at supper, when
it appeared on the table, covered with a seasoning in which pepper,
alisander, cummin, and onions were artistically combined with stoned
Damascus plums--thanks to the clever use of wine, vinegar, sweet wine,
oil, and cooked wine. This ingenious amalgamation acquired over a slow
fire the requisite consistence and cohesion.[XXI-163]


SCATE.

The ancients liked or disliked scate, according to the places where they
eat it. So, now, this fish is rejected in Sardinia, and thought
excellent in London and Paris.[XXI-164]

The Greek gastronomists of fashion sometimes partook of the back of the
scate;[XXI-165] the remainder seemed unworthy of their attention, and a
certain poet maintains that a piece of stuff, boiled, offers to the
palate a flavour quite as agreeable.[XXI-166]

Italian gluttony always gave a cold reception to this dish, which they
owed to the Greek cooks, and which their magiric writers have not
sufficiently studied.

Aristotle knew of two species of scate;[XXI-167] Pliny speaks of
them;[XXI-168] Lacépède enumerates thirty-nine species.[XXI-169]

That celebrated naturalist, Buffon’s pupil and competitor, assures us
that several eastern nations consider the smoke arising from the eggs of
scates, thrown on burning coals, and inhaled by the mouth and nostrils,
as an excellent remedy against intermittent fever.[XXI-170] It would
cost but little to make the experiment.


SALMON.

It is reported that the salmon was thus named on account of its frequent
leaping.[XXI-171] It has been sung by Ausonius.[XXI-172] Its absence
left a chasm in the delights of Greece, and it was late before it became
known in Rome. Pliny is the first of Latin authors who name it.[XXI-173]
Ichthyophagy will cherish the memory of this laborious author. He speaks
with praise of the salmon taken in the Garonne and Dordogne. He extols
those of the Rhine, but he seems to give a decided preference to those
magnificent fishes covered with a silvery mail, which disport in the
limpid waters of that picturesque and beautiful Aquitaine.[XXI-174][L]

Two centuries ago, there was such a great quantity of salmon taken in
the rivers of Scotland, that, instead of being considered a delicate
dish, it served commonly as food for servants, who it is said,
stipulated sometimes, that they should not be obliged to eat that
common, tasteless aliment more than five times per week.[XXI-175]


SEPIA, OR, CUTTLE-FISH.

Pliny has extolled the constancy of conjugal affection in the
cuttle-fish, and the courage with which the male defends his companion
in the moment of danger.[XXI-176] The poet Persius describes its flight,
protected by the thick, black liquid with which it blinds its enemies.
Apicius, struck more by its succulent qualities, opens this fish,
empties it, and stuffs it with cooked brains, to which he adds raw eggs
and pepper; he then boils it in a seasoning of pepper, alisander,
parsley seed, and cooked wine, mixed with honey, wine, and
garum.[XXI-177] Thus prepared, the cuttle-fish passed at Rome as an
estimable dish, and which might be offered at an unpretending repast.


SWORDFISH.

The Greeks were fond of the swordfish, and often partook of it,[XXI-178]
with a sauce of which oil was the basis, and with which were mixed yolks
of eggs, leeks, garlic, and cheese.[XXI-179] The Romans thought very
little of this fish, and prayed Neptune to send it far from their nets.


SHAD.

The shad was caught during the summer, and sold to the people,[XXI-180]
who boiled it and dished it up with strong herbs and oil. This plebeian
fish was excluded from all respectable banquets.[Y]

“Modern taste has allowed this estimable fish to re-appear on the
table, where it is always seen with pleasure. This fish is caught in
most of the great rivers of Europe, Asia, and northern Africa.”--BOSC.


RHOMBO, OR, RHOMBUS.

The rhombo claimed the attention of the discriminating ichthyophagists
of Rome by the delicacy of its flesh, and few fish would have been
preferred to it had it not been feared that it rendered digestion
difficult.[XXI-181] Some intrepid stomachs, however, greeted this dish
without much repugnance when presented to them fried and sprinkled with
pepper, in the midst of a seasoning in which pepper, cummin, coriander,
benzoin, wild marjoram, and rue, heightened by a little vinegar, were
mixed with dates, honey, cooked wine, and oil. This boiling sauce was
poured over the rhombo, but not before it had been enriched with
garum,[XXI-182] which we had almost forgotten--that inevitable brine
which the ancient magiric genius placed everywhere, and whose prodigious
renown ought to have preserved it from oblivion.


MUGIL.

This fish, singular instrument of a punishment invented by
Rome,[XXI-183] entered into the bill of fare of a fashionable supper,
but one without that magnificence which a feast of parade exacts. It was
prepared with pepper, alisander, cummin, onion, mint, rue, sage, and
dates, mixed with honey, vinegar, mustard, and oil.[XXI-184]

The Greeks also esteemed mugils, and gave a preference to those sold by
the fishermen of Scyathus.[XXI-185]


MACKEREL.

Commentators do not agree on the origin of this word. Scaliger, who
perceived Greek in everything, says it is derived from _makarios_,
“happy.” But, then, in what does the felicity of this fish consist? The
old writer Belon, more wise in his conjecture, thinks this word comes
from the Latin, _macularelli_, “little spots,” because it is marked on
the back with black stripes.[XXI-186]

Let the etymology be what it may, the epicurean cares very little about
it. Mackerel was much liked in Greece, where it was believed to be a
native of the Hellespont;[XXI-187] and throughout Italy, where it was
supposed to come originally from Spain.[XXI-188]

It is very probable that from mackerel was obtained one of the varieties
of garum, known by the name of _garum sociorum_. Further on, we intend
to devote a special chapter to the subject of this celebrated condiment.

“Neither the size nor the weapons of mackerel make them formidable; they
have, however, a violent appetite, and on account, perhaps, of the
confidence they feel in the number of each shoal, they are bold and
voracious, frequently attack fishes larger and stronger than themselves,
and even dart with blind audacity upon the fishermen who bathe where
they happen to be. Thus Pontoppidan relates that a sailor, bathing in
the port of Carcule, in Norway, missing one of his companions, saw him a
few minutes afterwards dead, the body mangled and covered with a
multitude of mackerel, tearing his remains to pieces.”--DR. CLOQUET.


HADDOCK.

The haddock, like the sturgeon, was surrounded with the ridiculous
honours of an almost divine pomp.[XXI-189] It was served interwoven with
garlands, and trumpeters accompanied the slaves who, with uncovered
heads and foreheads crowned with flowers, brought to the guests this
dish, the merit of which was, perhaps, exaggerated by capricious
fancies.[XXI-190]


TENCH.

Ausonius, who lived in the 4th century of the Christian era, is the
first who has spoken of the tench, in his poem of the
“_Mostella_.”[XXI-191] It was abandoned to the common people, who alone
feasted on it.[XXI-192] This fish, long the victim of an unjust disdain,
ultimately conquered from the great that esteem which they at first
refused to it.


DRAGON WEAVER.

The dragon weaver traversed unseen the long and brilliant gastronomic
period of the Romans. Greece rendered it more justice;[XXI-193] but its
too modest qualities were not able to preserve it from forgetfulness and
indifference.


LOLIGO.

At Rome the loligo, a species of cuttle-fish, was sometimes served with
pepper and rue, mixed with garum, honey, sweet wine boiled, and a few
drops of oil.[XXI-194]


SOLE.

This fish, which the Greeks caught on the coast,[XXI-195] was much
sought after on account of the delicacy of its nourishing and light
flesh.[XXI-196] The flounder, the brill, the diamond and Dutch plaice,
which, together with the sole, were known under the general name of
_passeres_, enjoyed an equal esteem, and had attributed to them the same
qualities.


ANGEL-FISH.

In Holland there are angel fish of enormous size;[XXI-197] and
Aldrovandus relates that some have been seen which weighed as much as
160 lbs.[XXI-198] In the time of this naturalist the common people did
not eat them very willingly.


FILE-FISH.

The flesh of this species of the _bulistes_ is only good when fried,
according to Marcgrave. Columella thinks much of it,[XXI-199] and Pliny
ranks it among the _saxatiles_, the most esteemed by
connoisseurs.[XXI-200]


PILCHARD.

Among the Greeks this fish was considered only as fit for the people.
Those from the environs of Phaleres were much esteemed, when left only
an instant in boiling oil.[XXI-201] The Romans, who gave them the first
rank among salt fish,[XXI-202] stuffed them, in order to render them
better, in the following manner:--[XXI-203]

They bruised pennyroyal, cummin, pepper, mint, and pine nuts; these they
mixed with honey, and with this paste they filled the anchovy, after
having carefully boned them. They then wrapped them in paper,[M] and
cooked them in a _bain-marie_, or saucepan, immersed in boiling water.
They were served with oil, dregs of fish-brine, and cooked
wine.[XXI-204]


LOACH.

The Greeks liked loaches,[XXI-205] but many abstained from eating them,
lest the Syrian goddess, the protectress of these fishes, should gnaw
their legs, cover their bodies with ulcers, and devour their
liver.[XXI-206]

The inhabitants of Italy, free from this singular superstition, cleaned
the loaches, left them some time in oil, then placed them in a saucepan
with some more oil, garum, wine, and several bunches of rue and wild
marjoram. Then these bunches were thrown away, and the fish was
sprinkled with pepper at the moment of serving.[XXI-207]


GUDGEON.

The gudgeon--thought excellent by every one, but which no one
mentions--appeared with honour in the most magnificent repasts at
Athens.[XXI-208] At Rome, it was served fried, at the beginning of
supper;[XXI-209] and it disposed the guests to attack boldly the
culinary _corps de réserve_, which took up the position as soon as the
skirmish with the gudgeon was over.

“This fish is in abundance, principally in France and Germany; it is
very good, and easily digested. They are served either fried or stewed;
when done as last-mentioned, they must be drawn and wiped dry, put in a
flat stewpan with butter, salt, pepper, good red wine, spring onions,
mushrooms, shalots, thyme, bay leaves and basil--these last plants
chopped very fine; stew the whole a quarter of an hour, and
serve.”--BOSC.


HERRING.

Herrings were unknown in Greece and Rome. Bosc says it is a manna that
nature doubtless reserved for the northern nations, which they, however,
have only turned to account in modern times.

The first herring fishery known in Europe was on the coast of Scotland;
but that nation knew not how to profit by the treasure that the sea
offered them. All the Scotch historians mention this fishery, the
produce of which was bought by the Dutch. This transaction took place
under the reign of King Alfred, about the year 836.

After some time the Scotch quarrelled with the Dutch, who undertook the
herring fishery themselves. As they caught a great many more than they
could consume, they salted them, and sold them in foreign countries.
Such was the origin of that immense commerce, which had its rise,
according to Eidous, about the year 1320, a short time after the Teutons
had established themselves in the Baltic.

It is said that we owe the art of salting and barreling herrings to a
Dutch fisherman, named William Beuckels, who died in 1449. The Dutch
nation raised a mausoleum to his memory; and it is asserted that Charles
V., who visited it in 1536, eat a herring upon it to render homage to
the author of a precious discovery.

In the year 1610, Sir Walter Raleigh gave a statistical account of the
commerce carried on by the Dutch in Russia, Germany, Flanders, and
France, with the herrings caught on the coasts of England, Scotland,
and Ireland. The sale of this fish amounted, in one year, to the sum of
£2,650,000.

It has been erroneously thought that the herring was the _halec_, or,
_alec_, of the Romans. This name was given by them to a kind of
brine;[XXI-210] it was not the name of any particular fish.

There are two prevalent methods of preserving herrings, and fishmongers
sell them under the denominations of salted herrings and red herrings.

The process employed for the first-named is as follows:--

As soon as the herring is out of the sea, a sailor opens it, removes the
gills and the entrails, washes the fish in salt water, and puts it into
a brine thick enough for it to float. After fifteen or eighteen hours,
it is taken out of the brine and laid in a tub with a quantity of salt.
It remains in this tub until the port is reached. There the herrings are
placed in barrels, where they are artistically arranged one over
another, with fresh salt between each layer. Care is always taken to
employ fresh brine.

Red herrings are prepared by leaving the fish at least twenty-four hours
in the brine; and when they are taken out, little twigs are run through
the gills, and then they are suspended in a kind of chimney, made on
purpose, under which a small fire is made with wood, which produces a
good deal of smoke. The herrings remain in this state until they are
sufficiently dry, that is to say, about twenty-four hours.

In Sweden and Norway they are somewhat differently prepared. The
Icelanders and Greenlanders simply dry them in the air.[XXI-211]


ANCHOVY.

Sonnini thinks that garum was simply composed of anchovies cooked and
crushed in their brine, to which was added a little vinegar, and chopped
or pounded parsley.

The fishermen of the Mediterranean and the coasts of the ocean salt
almost all the anchovies they take. They cut off their heads, which are
thought to be bitter, take out the entrails, wash them in soft or salt
water, and stratify them in barrels with salt. The fishermen of
Provence think it is essential to the good preservation of anchovies
that the salt be red; and, consequently, they colour it with ochreous
earths. Moreover, these fishermen do not change the brine which is
formed in the barrels: they simply fill them up when any is lost by
evaporation or leakage.

The fishermen of the north only use bay salt, and they change the brine
three times, whence it results that their anchovies keep much longer;
but the greater acridness of those which have remained in the same brine
is esteemed a good quality by most consumers, and therefore they are
more sought after.

In sea ports, anchovies are eaten either fried or roasted. Salted
anchovies are to be preferred when they are new, firm, white outside,
vermilion coloured inside, and free from all putrid smell. After having
taken out the backbone, and washed them well, cooks commonly make use of
anchovies in salads, and to flavour sauces made with butter, cullis, &c.
In this case they are employed raw.

They are not unfrequently fried, after having been deprived of the salt,
and surrounded with an appropriate paste. Some persons toast slices of
bread, cover them with strips of anchovies, and serve them with a sauce
composed of oil, vinegar, whole pepper, parsley, scallions, and
eschalots, all in abundant quantities, and chopped very small.[XXI-212]


SHELL FISH.

The Emperor Caligula had made immense preparations to invade Great
Britain. He set off, and when he arrived in sight of that Albion he was
going to attack, he commanded his troops to form in close array along
the shore, the trumpets to sound the charge, and sat himself on the
quarter-deck of his galley, from whence he might have directed the
action. For a short time he contemplated his warlike cohorts, and having
thus gratified his pride, he ordered his troops to pick up the shells
which abounded on the strand, and returned to Rome, where he showed the
“_spolia opima_” the ocean had delivered up to him. Caligula expected to
receive the honours of a triumph; but the senate, having some sense of
modesty left, would not award them, and the implacable Cæsar, from that
moment, swore the ruin of the senators.[XXI-213]

The inhabitants of Greece and those of Italy thought a great deal of
shell fish, which was always served at the beginning of the repast, just
as they came from the sea: others cooked under the ashes, or fried. In
most cases they were seasoned with cummin and pepper.[XXI-214]

The purveyors of fish in Rome gave the preference to those taken in the
lake of Lucrinus.[XXI-215] The Greeks esteemed those from the promontory
of Polarea.[XXI-216]

The city of Baiæ, in Campania, celebrated for its charming position, and
the unreserved lax manners of its inhabitants, was not less renowned for
its culinary labours, and the nicety which presided over their joyful
banquets. Apicius has left us the recipe of a most exquisite stew,
_emphractum_, which the epicureans of Rome often went to degust among
their rivals, the Campanian gastronomists.

Cut up oysters, muscles, and sea-hedgehogs; let the pieces be rather
small; put them into a stewpan with pine almonds, fried and chopped,
some parsley, rue, pepper, coriander, and cummin; add, with proper care
and discretion, some cooked wine, garum, and oil; cover, and boil the
whole for a long time on a slow fire.[XXI-217]

We will point out the shell fish most in vogue in Italy, and for which
the seasoning was generally composed of a mixture of pepper, parsley,
dried mint, alisander, a great quantity of cummin, and a little of the
decoction of spikenard.[XXI-218]


OYSTER.

The pontiffs of pagan Rome, men of exquisite delicacy and matured taste,
caused oysters to be served at every repast.[XXI-219] This little piece
of epicurism was very expensive, and it was necessary for these grave
personages to carry the whole of the devotion which characterized them
in their love of good cheer to the highest degree, to dare eat of a dish
still uncommon a century before the Christian era. At this epoch a
_borriche_ (a sort of basket) of oysters was worth one hundred sesterces
(£9).[XXI-220] It is unnecessary to remark that the poor never tasted
them.

The Greeks and Romans, like ourselves, were remarkably fond of this
delicious shell fish, and eat them (French fashion) at the beginning of
a banquet.[XXI-221] For this reason Athenian epicures called oysters
“the gastronomic prelude to the supper.”[XXI-222] They were often served
raw,[XXI-223] and were then dexterously opened by a slave on the
table,[XXI-224] in presence of the guests, whose experienced eyes
greedily sought the light purple net which, according to them, surrounds
the fattest and best.[XXI-225]

The inhabitants of Italy preferred large oysters,[XXI-226] and exacted
that this dainty manna of the sea[XXI-227] should be always fresh and
abundant at their feasts.[XXI-228] This displayed wisdom on their part:
this delightful fish excites the appetite and facilitates
digestion.[XXI-229] To add to its delicate flavour, the “Roman club of
epicureans,” a useful association, which modern Europe envies antiquity,
caused to be sent from Spain, at a vast expense, that precious
garum,[XXI-230] the recipe of which seems to have been lost, and the
condiment itself forgotten by the whole of the Peninsula.

The magiric genius of Rome did not hesitate to demonstrate that oysters
do not form an exception to the law of perfectibility which governs all
beings, and that it is possible to render their flesh more succulent and
delicate by transporting them from their damp cradle into reservoirs
exposed to the mild influence of the sun.[XXI-231] Sergius Orata or,
perhaps, Fulvius Hirpinus, was the first who received this happy
inspiration. He caused to be constructed, near Pouzzole, a short time
before the civil war of Pompey, a fishpond, where be stowed oysters,
which he fattened with paste and cooked wine worked into the consistence
of honey[XXI-232]--_sapa et farre_. This worthy Roman enriched himself
by the sale of them,[XXI-233] and bequeathed a name to posterity--a
two-fold happiness for the gastronomist Fulvius, whose good fortune the
poet Homer did not partake.

Apicius esteemed highly oysters from the lake of Lucrinus, from Brindes,
and Abydos, and studied deeply the succulent qualities of this shell
fish. He knew how to preserve them fat, fresh, and alive, during long
and fatiguing journeys; and, thanks to a delicate attention on the part
of this immortal _bon vivant_, the great Trajan was enabled to regale
himself with oysters sent from Rome while carrying on a distant war
against the Parthians.[XXI-234] This present of the king of epicureans
to the master of the world was worthy of both the giver and receiver,
but it completed the ruin of the generous Apicius.

The Roman ladies shared their husbands’ taste, and eagerly partook of
oysters from the lake of Lucrinus, brought into fashion by Sergius
Orata, and when their fatigued stomachs struggled painfully with
gluttony, this delicacy soon obtained an easy triumph by disposing the
appetite to fresh exertions. The means of defence, however, were not
very formidable; sometimes a little warm and limpid water--oftener a
dazzling plume from the bird of Juno--hastened the struggle, and,
without effort, decided the victory.[XXI-235] This ingenious method was
very much relished by polyphagists, and the Emperor Vitellius
particularly honoured it.[XXI-236]

Cape Pelorus furnished the Greeks with highly prized oysters,[XXI-237]
which were eaten alone, fried, stewed, or nicely dressed with
marsh-mallows, dock-leaves, and with some kind of fish.[XXI-238]

The Romans at length became disgusted with those found on the coasts of
Italy, or in the Dardanelles; an instinct of greediness caused them to
prefer oysters from the Atlantic ocean, and especially from the shores
of Armorica, now called Britany.[XXI-239] Bordeaux supplied imperial
tables, and this high distinction is sufficient for its praise.[XXI-240]

It may not be useless to remark here, that no sooner had Ausonius
praised this fish in his lines than it was forgotten, and did not
re-appear till the 17th century on the tables of distinguished
personages. May our descendants be more just than our forefathers.

At Rome oysters were served with a seasoning of pepper and alisander,
mixed with the yolks of eggs, vinegar, garum, oil, wine, and a little
honey.[XXI-241]

They were preserved in a vase smeared with pitch, washed with vinegar,
and hermetically closed.[XXI-242]

“Oysters of a fine quality are generally of easy digestion, but not very
nourishing, particularly when eaten raw. They are sought for to open the
appetite, which is the case, owing to the nature of the water, agreeably
salted, contained in them. Some mention is made of persons who can eat
from fifteen to twenty dozen without being ill. It is not the same when
cooked; then they become hard, more tough, and, consequently,
indigestible. They are also eaten pickled with vinegar and sweet herbs.
In this state they are sent to countries distant from the sea, piled up
one upon the other, without the shell, in small barrels.”--DE
BLAINVILLE.


SEA-HEDGEHOG.

Under this denomination were classed all animals, more or less
orbicular, whose envelope bristles with calcareous points, on which
account they were compared to hedgehogs.

The Greeks thought them delicious when caught at the full moon,[XXI-243]
and prepared with vinegar, sweet cooked wine, parsley, and
mint.[XXI-244] Oxymel often replaced vinegar.[XXI-245]

The Romans also esteemed highly this dish, which was recommended to
sluggish appetites under the auspices of the faculty;[XXI-246] and
Apicius furnished the following recipe for the preparation of it:--

“Procure a new saucepan,” thus says the great master, “place in it a
little oil, garum, sweet wine, and pepper. When the mixture begins to
boil, stuff the sea hedgehogs, then submit them to the action of a slow
fire; add a large quantity of pepper, and serve.”[XXI-247]


MUSSEL.

The two great nations of antiquity have granted uncommon praise to
mussels, and partook of them at their most sumptuous feasts. At the
wedding repast of the graceful Hebe, Jupiter wished the inhabitants of
Olympus to exchange for this shell fish their celestial though
monotonous ambrosia.[XXI-248] Epicharmus, who records the fact, does not
inform us with what sauce the _chef de cuisine_ of the gods dressed the
flesh of those mussels. The reader must thus content himself with the
seasoning invented by simple mortals, and which appeared good to them.
It was composed of a suitable mixture of pepper, alisander, parsley,
mint, with a quantity of cummin seed, a little honey, vinegar, and
garum.[XXI-249] With this mixture they covered the boiled and widely
opened mussels, and the guests found it impossible to satiate themselves
with this dish, so much more digestible and nourishing than
oysters.[XXI-250]


SCALLOP.

The effeminate inhabitants of Tarentum, the abode of luxury, delighted
in good living, and boasted of possessing the finest scallops of
Campania, and of the whole empire.[XXI-251] The infallible authority of
this voluptuous city in matters of taste gave a surprising vogue to this
fish. Rome, and all the population of Italy, believed it was forced to
eat the scallops of Tarentum prepared with oysters, and at other times
with mussels.

It now remains to be mentioned that some kinds of _testacea_ appeared
worthy of the reputation they acquired among the ancients.


TORTOISE.

The Greeks and Latins speak with admiration of the enormous size of
certain tortoises in their time, the whole species of which were
comprised under the generic word _testudo_.[XXI-252] The Indian Sea
produced some so large, that the shell of one only amply served to roof
a comfortable and elegant cottage.[XXI-253] The inhabitants of the
shores of the Red Sea never troubled themselves with building sloops;
large shells of tortoises spared them the trouble, by supplying them
with charming little barks, which lightly floated on the water.[XXI-254]
And, lastly, in the Ganges, tortoise shells were found, capable of
containing no less than 20 _amphoræ_, or about 560 pints.[XXI-255]

The inhabitants of the Peloponnesus did the tortoise the signal honour
of representing its image on their money.[XXI-256] The blood cured
diseases of the eye,[XXI-257] and the flesh--in great request--was
thought excellent eating. It was cut into pieces of a middling size, and
placed in a saucepan with pepper, rue, and scallions, crushed in the
same mortar; over this was poured honey, garum, raisin wine, common
wine, and a small quantity of good oil. At the moment of ebullition, the
whole was thickened with flour.[XXI-258]

Sometimes the tortoise was boiled, and covered with a seasoning, for
which the following is the recipe:--

Mix pepper, alisander, parsley, mint, and wild marjoram, with the yolks
of eggs, honey, garum, wine, cooked wine, and oil; add mustard and
vinegar.[XXI-259]


SEA-CRAWFISH.

Apicius sought relief from his culinary studies at Minturnus, in
Campania, where that great master regaled himself with delicious
sea-crawfish, in order to keep up his gustatory powers. Genius reposes
amidst studious leisure. Being told that Africa produced some of these
_testacea_ of an immense size, immediately the worthy Roman tears
himself away from the sweet solitude he had created; he freights a
vessel, Æolus smiles on the undertaking, Neptune protects him, and he
arrives in sight of the African shore. Scarcely was he disembarked when
some fishermen brought him a few sea-crawfish; he examines, rejects
them, and demands finer ones to be brought. He is informed that it will
be impossible to procure any larger than those before him. At this
Apicius smiles disdainfully, and commanding the presence of his pilot,
orders him to steer back for Italy.[XXI-260] Decidedly magiric genius
never revealed itself by a more sublime action.

However, Pliny somewhere mentions certain magnificent sea-crawfish,
which he describes as being four cubits in length[XXI-261]--very large
ones, certainly.

Roman tables often presented to the sight of guests boiled sea-crawfish,
peppered and garnished with asparagus,[XXI-262] but they were generally
covered with a gravy composed of honey, vinegar, wine, garum, oil, and
cooked wine; to which were added scallions, chopped small, pepper,
alisander, carrots, cummin, and dates. Mustard was then mixed with the
whole.[XXI-263]


LOBSTER.

Antiquity rendered justice to the lobster, and the taste for it did not
change, being founded on truly estimable and sterling qualities. It was
opened lengthwise, and filled with a gravy, into the composition of
which entered both pepper and coriander. It was then slowly cooked on
the gridiron, and every now and then basted with the same kind of gravy,
with which the flesh became impregnated.[XXI-264]


RIVER CRAYFISH.

The Greeks were remarkably fond of this fish,[XXI-265] especially when
obtained from Alexandria.[XXI-266] They were not less esteemed in Rome,
where they eat them boiled with cummin, and seasoned with pepper,
alisander, parsley, dried mint, and a great quantity of cummin; the
whole carefully and well ground, and mixed with honey, vinegar, and
garum, to which was sometimes added some liquid perfume.[XXI-267]

“Crayfishes can be preserved several days, not too warm, in baskets with
some fresh grass, such as the nettle, or in a bucket with three-eighths
of an inch of water. If there were enough water in it to cover them,
they would die in a few moments, because their great consumption of air
does not allow them to live in water unless it is continually
renewed.”--BOSC.


CRAB.

Would you like to eat crab sausages? Boil some of these animals; reduce
them to a pulp; mix with this some spikenard, garum, pepper, and eggs;
give to this the ordinary shape of sausages, place them on the stove or
gridiron, and you will, by these means, obtain a delicate and tempting
dish.[XXI-268] Apicius assures us of the fact: Apicius was a
connoisseur!

A crab may also be served whole, boiled, and accompanied by a seasoning
of pepper, cummin, and rue, which the cook skilfully mixes with garum,
honey, oil, and vinegar.[XXI-269]

Is it preferred stuffed? Then fill it with a skilful mixture of cummin,
mint, rue, alisander, pine nuts, and pepper, the whole long soaked in
garum, honey, vinegar, and wine.[XXI-270]


FROGS.

The ancients thought nothing of frogs, which they left at liberty to
propagate. There was such a great number among the Abderites, that these
good people gave up to them their native soil, and left the place in
search of another spot.

At the present day, in some countries, frogs are sought for as a most
agreeable and wholesome food; in other parts--England in
particular--they are disdainfully shunned. But in France there is a
great consumption of them, especially in the spring. About a century
since, they were greatly in fashion at Paris; and it is stated that a
countryman from the province of Auvergne, named Simon, made a
considerable fortune by feeding and fattening them in one of the suburbs
of that city, which were sent to him from Auvergne.

“In Germany, the various parts of the frog are eaten, the skin and
intestine excepted; but in France they are satisfied with the hind legs,
which, by the size of their muscles, are themselves equivalent to all
the rest. They are dressed with wine as fish, with white or brown sauce;
fried, or roasted; when tender, and properly done, it is a most delicate
dish.”--BOSC.

       *       *       *       *       *

Before the conclusion of this article, we may as well mention a
frightful fish which modern good taste has banished from our tables, but
which the ancients allowed to appear at theirs. It is the _Polypus_,
highly esteemed both in Greece and Italy, when caught at a certain
period, and its numerous immoderate legs stretched far over the edges of
the dish prepared to receive it.[XXI-271]

This monster was cut in pieces, and eaten with a sauce composed of
pepper, garum, and benzoin.[XXI-272]

It will be easily understood that ancient nations must have early
accustomed themselves to fishing, the origin of which, doubtless, goes
back to the first ages of civilization. The holy writings often mention
fishermen,[XXI-273] fish-hooks, and nets. Homer speaks of them,[XXI-274]
and the poet, Hesiod, who flourished thirty years before Homer,[XXI-275]
places on the shield of Hercules an attentive fisherman, ready to throw
his net over some fish pursued by a dolphin.[XXI-276]

The Egyptians also practised this occupation; of which the following
anecdote is a proof:--

Antony being in Egypt, the beauteous Cleopatra sought to amuse him by
inventing for his entertainment each day new kinds of pleasure; but the
Roman general, seized with a violent love of fishing, fled from the
society of his numerous courtiers, and, alone on the borders of the sea,
or an isolated lake, vainly waiting for the smallest gudgeon, he forgot
long hours of vain expectancy and useless patience. The queen undertook
his cure. She commanded a diver to plunge into the water, and there a
hook a fish to the line of Antony. He, seeing it agitated, joyfully
withdrew it from the water, and unhooked a _salted sardine_. Cleopatra
then exclaimed: “Leave to Egyptians the task of fishing; Romans should
take only kings, cities, and emperors.”[XXI-277]

The inhabitants of Italy fished exactly in the same manner we do at this
day;[XXI-278] but Roman luxury, always greedy of extravagant profusion,
invented those celebrated fish ponds which cost immense sums, both to
build and maintain;[XXI-279] and to which Lucullus, Hortensius, and
Philippus, whom Cicero surnamed the “Tritons of fish pools,”[XXI-280]
consecrated almost entirely their anxiety and fortunes.

This folly was carried to such a height that fish ponds were constructed
on the roofs of houses.[XXI-281] More reasonable persons contented
themselves with bringing river-water into their dining-rooms.[XXI-282]
The fish swam under the table, and it was only necessary to stoop and
pick them out the instant before eating them.[XXI-283]

These expensive habits could only suit the most opulent and least
numerous class of Romans. The honest citizen modestly provided himself
at the fish-market, and the part not eaten by him the first day was
submitted to a very simple process, which assured its preservation. For
this, it was only necessary to cover it with boiling vinegar as soon as
it had been fried.[XXI-284]

Fish was also well preserved by surrounding it with snow, and placing it
at the bottom of an ice-house.[XXI-285]




XXII.


THE COOK.

The author of a rare and very curious work,[XXII-1] which no one at
present has time to read, formed the charitable project of reconciling
medicine and gastronomy. This was a noble enterprize, worthy of a true
philanthropist, and which assuredly presented less difficulties than
people may think. In effect, what was the moot question? To agree, _de
forma_, without interfering with the substance; to examine whether
culinary preparations poison, as has been said, the food which nature
gives us, and unceasingly paralyze the salutary action of the dietetic,
which the faculty prescribe.

For many centuries cooking has been exposed to these odious reproaches,
the gravity of which we do not pretend to attenuate; and yet, ever
pursuing its brilliant career amidst revolutions and ruins, the magiric
art, endowed with eternal youth, embellishes each new era of
civilization, receives its most constant homage, and survives it when it
fades away. Let us speak plainly: mankind has thrown on cooks all the
faults of which they ought to accuse their own intemperance. It was no
doubt easier, than to avoid the fatal abuse of pleasure, and the evils
it brings with it; but there was the crying injustice, which we do not
hesitate to denounce; _there_ lay the obstacle it was necessary to
overcome, in order to bring about a peaceful understanding between the
disciples of Galen and the followers of Apicius.

_Gourmandise_ would never have rebelled against the kitchen if all
polyphagists had obtained from the good Ceres the gift she granted to
Pandarea--a celebrated eater, who could pass days and nights at table,
without experiencing the slightest indigestion.[XXII-2]

“But,” say you, “Seneca, the philosopher, perpetually combats, with the
authority of his virtuous language, those dangerous men who are busied
with a single stomach,[XXII-3] and who lay the foundation for a train of
maladies.”

The reply to this is, that Seneca, the pedant, should have thundered
against the stomach, which alone is guilty (he has sometimes done so);
that this atrabilarious preceptor of Nero, attacked with an incurable
consumption, could only eat very little, which much enraged him; and
that his imprecations on the subject of the excessive riches and
prodigious luxury of the Romans of his age, neither hindered him from
possessing, and unceasingly increasing, a more than royal fortune; nor
from feeding--well or ill--several thousand slaves; nor from pompously
displaying in his palace five hundred tables--only five hundred--of the
most elaborate workmanship, of the rarest wood, all alike, and
ornamented with precious incrustations.[XXII-4]

How often have people extolled the Lacedæmonians and their legislator,
Lycurgus. Well, Lycurgus mercilessly commanded poor little children to
fast when they looked fresh and fat.[XXII-5] Strange law-giver of a
strange people, who never learned to eat, and yet who invented the
celebrated “black sauce,” the _jus nigrum_, for which the entrails of
the hare served as the foundation. So true it is that cookery always
preserves certain imprescriptible rights over the most fervent disciples
of frugality.

Moralists do not cease to repeat that Rome would never have had
sumptuary laws had it not been corrupted by cooks from Athens and
Syracuse. This is an error. All the ordinances of the consuls proscribed
profusion, excess--in a word, all the ruinous expenses of a passionate
and ridiculous gastrophagy,[XXII-6] at the same time, respecting the
magiric art itself; that is to say, that industrious chemistry which
composes, decomposes, combines, and mixes--in a word, prepares different
substances which gluttony, delicacy, the fashion, or luxury may confide
to it for the space of a few minutes.

Why render the cook responsible for the extravagant tastes and follies
of his age? Is it for him to reform mankind? Has he either the means or
the right?

What is asked of him? and what can be asked? To understand exactly the
properties of everything he employs, to perfect, and correct, if
necessary, the savours on which he operates; to judge with a true
taste, to degustate with a delicate palate, to join the skilful address
of the hand, and the prompt and comprehensive glance, to the bold but
profound conceptions of the brain; and above all--it cannot be too often
repeated--to identify himself so well with the habits, the wants, even
the caprices and gastronomic eccentricities, of those whose existence he
embellishes, that he may be able, not to obey them, but to guess them,
and even have a presentiment of them.[XXII-7]

Such is, to use an original expression of Rabelais, “_toute l’artillerie
de gueule_,” which the cook can master. It is the sum total of what has
been bequeathed to us by some great men, whose scattered instructions,
lying here and there in books of morality and philosophy--there are
numerous analogies between the act of eating and the art of living
well--have been collected with scrupulous care, classed with all the
attention we can command, and will serve, we hope, to beguile the
studious leisure of the lovers of antiquity and the culinary science.

Mankind had long obeyed that imperious and periodical necessity which
has been called hunger, when it announces its presence with its brutal
exigencies, before any one thought to form a code of doctrine calculated
to guide a sensation which, by its energy and duration, procures us the
most thrilling and lasting pleasures.

The primitive nations no doubt gave themselves up to their native
gluttony. They eat much, but they fed badly. They did not yet possess
gastronomy; and, consequently, they had no cooks, in the serious and
complete acceptation of the word.

The heroes of Homer prepared their repasts with their own hands,--and
what repasts, gods of taste!--and prided themselves on their culinary
talents. _Où la vanité va-t-elle se nicher?_ Ulysses surpassed all
others in the art of lighting the fire, and laying the cloth.[XXII-8]
Patroclus drew the wine, and Achilles very carefully turned the
spit.[XXII-9]

The conquerors of Troy shone more in the combat than under the tent
which served them as kitchen.

At length the aurora of the magiric ages began to dawn: it is not a
revolution, it is a creation which is preparing to appear. Man has only
known hunger; he shall now become acquainted with the charms of an
appetite. The King of Sidon learns how to eat, and it is Cadmus, the
grandfather of Bacchus, the future founder of Thebes, who takes upon
himself to instruct this august mouth.[XXII-10]

And since that time how many illustrious followers have descended into
the arena, how many glorious names will not culinary annals have to
register!

Somebody will, perhaps, one day publish a chronological history of
celebrated cooks. In the meantime, it may not be amiss to recall to
memory a few illustrious men, whose services and genius an ungrateful
posterity has too soon forgotten.

Thimbron, among the Greeks, took the culinary art from its cradle: he
watched devoutedly over its development, and only descended into the
tomb after having won the heart of the whole of Greece,[XXII-11] for his
favourite science. Timachidas of Rhodes, cook and poet of the highest
renown, composed an epopee on the art which he professed, in the midst
of emanations from the stoves and the spit.[XXII-12] His verses, glowing
with the sacred fire which inspired him, lighted up the magiric vein of
several of his disciples, among whom Numenius, Hegemon, and Metreas, are
still cited.[XXII-13]

Artemidorus collected and commented on all the words in use in the
kitchens of his time.[XXII-14] Greece owed to this patient terminologist
the possession of a culinary language, subject to certain unchangeable
rules.

Mithœcus gave the “Sicilian Cook”--a remarkable type of a multitude
of tiresome and insipid imitations.[XXII-15]

At length Archestratus appeared. He was of Syracuse, and passed all his
life in profoundly meditating on the functions, strength, anomalies, and
resources of the stomach. He discovered the laws which govern that
organ, and presented to the world his magnificent treatise on
gastronomy[XXII-16]--an inestimable master-piece of laborious
investigation of which time has deprived us, together with the works of
his useful predecessors.

We must not omit the names of some celebrated theoricians, to whom the
art owes its rapid progress:--Philoxenus of Leucadus, devoted himself to
the difficult study of degustation, and practised several experiments,
which were, however, ill-appreciated by his contemporaries. Thus, in the
public baths, he accustomed his mouth and hands to the contact of
boiling-water, in order to be able to seize and devour burning viands,
the instant they were placed on the table. He recommended cooks to serve
everything very hot, so that he alone exercised mastication and
deglutition, while other guests less inured, were obliged to content
themselves with looking at him.[XXII-17]

Pithyllus invented a sheath that covered the tongue, and protected it,
without paralyzing its action, against a caloric dangerous to its
delicate tissue.[XXII-18] This ingenious cuirass was not appreciated,
and history, in its thoughtlessness, has not even transmitted to us a
description of it.

It was then the good time of Athens: gluttons had made way for
epicureans; hunger, to a less fierce and gross sensation, already
subjected to examination and discussion. The magiric art possessed its
rules, its various partisans, its professors, and disciples. Great
masters studied deeply the appetite--indispensable basis, on which will
always rest the culinary exegesis; and they finished by classing it
definitively, according to the three degrees of intensity which
observation discovers in it.

_The bold appetite_, said they, is that which is felt when fasting. It
reflects but very little; is not squeamish about viands, and loses all
reserve at the sight of a very indifferent _ragoût_.

_The indolent appetite_ requires to be encouraged. It must be enticed,
pressed, irritated. At first, nothing moves it--but after having tasted
a succulent dish, it rouses, is astonished, its ardour becomes animated,
and is capable of performing prodigies. It is this appetite which has
consecrated the trivial but true proverb: “_L’appétit vient en
mangeant_.”

The _eclectic appetite_ owes nothing to nature; it is the child of art.
Happy, thrice happy, the skilful cook to whom it says: “Thou art my
father!” But how difficult is this creation--how rare! It is the work of
genius--but listen. Some guests, chosen amidst veteran epicureans, seat
themselves round a table covered with culinary offerings worthy only of
the God of Feasts, and a small number of the faithful. Their _indolent
appetite_ examines, compares, judges, and, at length, abandons itself to
the incomparable dainties from which it unceasingly seems to draw new
ardour. But alas! pleasure, like pain, has its limits here below.
Strength grows less, and becomes extinguished; the eye loses its greedy
covetousness;[XXII-19] the palate languishes; the tongue becomes
paralysed; the stomach sinks, and that which before pleased, now creates
only fatigue and disgust. It is then that a _cusinier hors ligne_, tries
a bold diversion, which must never be risked if the artist does not feel
in himself that force of generous efforts which is no other than genius.
By his orders, three or four dishes, prodigies of science and of luxury,
appear on the altar, which the sacrificers no longer heed. At this
sight, their looks brighten; desire revives; the smile reappears; the
magiric _facies_ shines forth with all its splendour; the chest dilates,
and you no longer distinguish your former guests. A man has transformed
them. Each one chooses, tries, tastes--is silent, and lost in wonder.
The appetite is perhaps tired, but not satiated; and the skilful cook at
length enjoys a deserved triumph.

In this solemn moment he received, among the ancients, a crown of
flowers[XXII-20]--sweet and noble recompense of his arduous toil. Nay, a
more substantial proof of gratitude often greeted his new dishes. In
Greece, the inventor alone had a right to prepare them during a whole
year, and drew from it all the honour and profit. It was necessary, in
order that these culinary preparations should fall into the public
domain, that some one of his colleagues should succeed in surpassing
him.[XXII-21]

At this epoch, the best cooks came from Sicily. Trimalcio was one of the
most celebrated. Athenæus tells us that, when he could not procure rare
and highly esteemed fish, he understood so well how to imitate their
form and flavour with common fish, that the most cunning epicures were
always entrapped. This reminds us of a certain cook of Louis XIV., who,
on Good Friday, served the king with a dinner, apparently composed of
poultry and butcher’s meat, which, in reality, offered nothing but
vegetables, and prepared, too, _au maigre_.

The Romans, inheritors of the luxury of Asia and Greece, did not erect a
temple to the greedy Addephagia, goddess of good cheer, who possessed
altars in Sicily;[XXII-22] but they thought it impossible to repay too
highly those who knew how to extend the limits of the pleasures of the
table,[XXII-23] and a generous senator offered his _chef_ at least four
talents, or more than £800 a year.

This is yet but little compared with the magnificence of Antony. He gave
a supper to Cleopatra; that princess praised the delicacy of the feast,
and immediately her lover called for the cook, and presented him with a
city, in recompense.

How times are changed! We, at the present day, treat all this as pompous
and ridiculous prodigality. It is because our somewhat mean epoch judges
the olden times by the narrow ideas of order, foresight, and economy.
The ancients enriched their _Archimagiri_, wasted their revenue in
feasts, and then killed themselves. We have adopted a very different
style of living. But, at the same time, how far are our most sumptuous
banquets behind the most modest collations of Greece and Rome! Lucullus
caused to be served to Cicero and Pompey a little _ambigu_, which cost
£1,000. There were only three of them to partake of it!

The Emperor Claudius had generally six hundred guests at his
table.[XXII-24]

Vitellius did not spend less than £3,200 for each of his
repasts;[XXII-25] and the composition of his favourite dishes required
that vessels should unceasingly ply between the Gulf of Venice and the
Straits of Cadiz.[XXII-26]

It must be confessed that cooks of that gastronomic era had to fulfil an
incessant and most laborious task. What was then more natural than to
abandon to them some thousands of those sesterces, which the profusion
of the master devoured by millions, in the form of phenicopters’
tongues, scarus or parrot-fishes’ livers, and peacocks’ brains?

We see that the Cæsars encouraged this frightful gastronomic monomania.
Tiberius gave more than £3,000 to the author of a dialogue, in which the
interlocutors were mushrooms, fig-peckers, oysters, and
thrushes.[XXII-27]

Galba breakfasted before day-break, and the breakfast would have
enriched a hundred families.[XXII-28] Ælius Verus invented the
_pentapharmacum_, a kind of _Macédoine_, composed of sows’ flanks,
pheasants, peacocks, ham, and wild boars’ flesh.[XXII-29] Geta insisted
upon having as many courses as there were letters in the alphabet, and
each of these courses must contain all the viands whose name began by
the same letter.[XXII-30]

These follies, which cooks were forced to obey, continued to astonish
the world until the moment when Rome--with her gods, the monuments of
her ancient glory, and of her recent turpitudes--crumbled beneath the
invincible weight of that horde of barbarians, that mysterious and
implacable scourge, which Divine vengeance reserved for the punishment
of unheard-of crimes.

But, as we have before remarked, the magiric art always survives
revolutions and ruin of empires. Modern Italy inherited the wrecks of
Roman cookery, and, thanks to her, Europe is at the present day
acquainted with the delights of good cheer, and the charm of joyous
repasts.

Under the reign of Louis XII. there arose a company of sauce
manufacturers, who obtained the exclusive privilege of making sauces.
Their statutes (1394) inform us that the famous sauce _à la cameline_,
sold by them, was to be composed “of good cinnamon, good ginger, good
cloves, good grains of paradise, good bread, and good vinegar.” The
sauce, _Tence_, was to be made of “good sound almonds, good ginger, good
wine, and good verjuice.” We find in Taillevant, the celebrated cook of
Charles V. and Charles VI., besides the _cameline_, _l’eau bénite_ (holy
water)--the sauce for pike, _le saupiquet_, _le mostechan_, _la
gélatine_, _la sauce à l’alose_, _au moût_, that of milk-garlic, cold,
red, and green sauces, _sauce Robert_, _Poitevine_, _à Madame rappée_,
and _à la dodine_.

Platina, a Latin author of the 15th century, speaks of other sauces, in
the composition of which sugar was frequently employed, according to the
proverb of those times: “Sugar never spoiled sauce.”

In the middle ages, poultry, butchers’ meat, and roast game, were never
eaten dry, as they are now, any more than fried fish. There were
different sauces for all those dishes, and even for the different parts
of each animal. The cooks of those days strove to acquire a reputation
by inventing strange and grotesque sauces, which had no other merit than
that of being surprising and difficult to make, as, for example: “eggs
cooked on the spit,” “butter fried or roasted.” &c.[XXII-31]

We recognize in some of our most common _ragoûts_, those of which our
ancestors were so fond in the middle ages, such as the _bœuf à la
mode_, _à la persillade_, _au vinaigre et persil_, _le miroton de
bœuf_, _veau percé de gros lard_, _fricassée de poulet_, _blanquette
de veau rôti_; but we have lost the _pot-pourri_, composed of beef,
veal, mutton, bacon, and vegetables, and the _galimafrée_, a kind of
_fricassée_ of fowl, seasoned with wine, verjuice, and spices, and
thickened with the famous sauce _cameline_.[XXII-32]

The cooks frequently placed on their masters’ tables _ragoûts_ and other
dishes borrowed from foreign nations. They had a German _brouet_, a
Flemish _chaudeau_, eggs _à la Florentine_, and partridges _à la
Catalane_. They knew the _olla_--a mixture of all sorts of vegetables
cooked with different kinds of meats, which we owe to the Spaniards, as
well as the _ragoût_ of fowl, called _à la Chipolata_, and the
_keneffes_--a kind of forced-meat balls made of bread and meat, to which
the Germans are very partial, and the _pilau_--a dish of mutton, fowl,
and rice, borrowed from the Turks.[XXII-33]

The art of cooking with its innumerable paraphernalia of sauces with
gravy, pepper, cinnamon, garlic, scallion, brains,[XXII-34] with its
gravy soups,

[Illustration: _Pl. 11._]

milk pottage, and _ragoûts_, had a signal triumph at the wedding of
Charles VI. of France. On that occasion a skilful cook covered the great
black marble table of the royal palace[XXII-35] with a hundred dishes
prepared in a hundred different ways.

The good physicians did not proscribe the art of cooking; several of
their number even deigned to write treatises upon it.[XXII-36]

A certain monkish servant, moved by an indiscreet zeal, wished not only
to mortify himself but all the Franciscans of the monastery.
Consequently, he prepared the repasts in the worst manner he could. But
the community held a chapter, and he was condemned to receive fifty
lashes; many of the monks wanted to enforce a more rigorous discipline
by giving a hundred.[XXII-37]

In the middle ages, the cook of a house of any note always seated
himself in a high arm chair to give his orders; he held a long wooden
spoon in his hand, with which he tasted, without quitting his place, the
various dishes that were cooking on the stoves and in the saucepans, and
which served him also as a weapon with which to chastise the idle and
gluttonous.[XXII-38]


THE KITCHEN.

Let as enter together one of those vast kitchens, where two thousand
years ago, the marvellous suppers of some rich senator were concocted.
In every direction, slaves are coming loaded with meat, game, sea-fish,
vegetables, fruit, and those expensive delicacies of which the dessert
of the Romans was principally composed. The slaves have been over the
principal markets of the city, especially those of the Trigemina gate,

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XI.

     No. 1. Remains of a kitchen-stove in the house of Pansa, at
     Pompeii, much like those of the present day; a knife, a strainer,
     and a kind of frying-pan with four cavities, probably intended to
     cook eggs.

     No. 2. Stock-pot, in bronze, to hang over the fire, if we may judge
     from the eye at the top of the handle.

     No. 3. A similar one of another shape, for boiling.

     No. 4. Ladles of various forms, for making libation from larger
     vessels.

     No. 5. A brazier; the thickness of the sides are hollow, and
     intended to contain water, and the four turrets are provided with
     moveable lids, at the side is a cock to draw off the water. The
     centre of course was filled with lighted charcoal, and if a tripod,
     or trivet, were placed above it, many processes of cooking, such as
     boiling, stewing, or frying, might be
     performed.--“_Pompeii._”--“_Lib. of Ent. Know._”

of the Metasudante,[XXII-39] of the Suburd Way,[XXII-40] and the Sacred
Way.[XXII-41] Each one lays his basket at the feet of the procurator or
major-domo, who examines the contents, and registers them on his
tablets;[XXII-42] then he has placed in the pantry, contiguous to the
dining room, those of the provisions which demand no
preparation,[XXII-43] but whose graceful and symmetrical arrangement is
confided to two Æolian servants designated under the name of
_structores_.[XXII-44]

All these porters are under the immediate orders of a confidential
servant--_obsonator_--charged with buying the provisions necessary for
the household, and who is obliged to make himself acquainted with the
taste of his master and also of each guest, that he may procure nothing
which they dislike.[XXII-45]

The remaining comestibles are placed in an airy and spacious apartment
adjoining the kitchen, and at the back of the house.[XXII-46] There,
around a table loaded with numerous wooden figures, representing a
variety of animals, some attentive young men are practising, under the
direction of an experienced master, the difficult art of carving game
and poultry;[XXII-47] whilst a melodious symphony accustoms their
skilful hands to hasten or retard their graceful movements according to
the time of the music.[XXII-48] In this learned rehearsal the eye and
ear, alike charmed, pass alternately from the peaceful emotions of the
pensive _adagio_ to the lively cadences of the rapid _allegro_, and from
the harmonious and calm _andante_ to the captivating and joyous accents
of a frenzied _prestissimo_.

In this spacious laboratory the most delicious emanations invite us. The
chief of the cooks, the _Archimagirus_,[XXII-49] seated on a raised
platform, embraces at a single glance the series of stock-pots and brick
stoves,[XXII-50] very similar to those in use at the present day, at
which the silent crowd of assistants,[XXII-51] ministers of his will,
elaborate and watch the expensive dishes destined to form a splendid
supper. As, at the moment of battle, the general, motionless on a height
which commands a view of his army, hastens, orders, scolds his scattered
battalions, absent and yet everywhere, animating with his own
inspiration the warlike masses, and exciting them with the excitement of
his own soul, he invokes victory, and victory replies, “Behold me!” The
_Archimagirus_ has also his days of triumph; and in the evening,
perhaps, the king of the feast will place on his head a crown of
flowers, precious recompense of his talent and success.

At some distance from the culinary autocrat, on the opposite side, an

[Illustration: _Pl. 12_]

immense iron grate,[XXII-52] carefully supplied with wood,[XXII-53]
which an unhappy slave unceasingly blows with his breath into a
flame,[XXII-54] throws around its lurid glare. The _Lares_, grotesque
figures, roughly carved in stone, protect this spot. A cock is
sacrificed to them in the month of December.[XXII-55]

Some learned men have supposed that the Greeks and Romans had no
chimneys; it is, however, easy to prove the contrary. Philocleo, a
character in the comedy of the “_Wasps_” of Aristophanes, hides himself
in a chimney. A slave who hears him, cries out, “What a noise there is
in the pipe of this chimney!” Philocleo, being discovered, exclaims, “I
am the smoke, and I am trying to escape.”[XXII-56]

Appian, speaking of the proscriptions of the triumvirs, relates that
several citizens fled into the pipes of the chimneys.[XXII-57]

These two examples will preclude the necessity of more ample citations.

A vast cauldron of brass from Argos,[XXII-58] or Dodona,[XXII-59] placed
on a tripod above the fireplace, furnishes the hot water required for
the service of the kitchen. The frying-pan, beside it, serves in the
cooking of certain delicate cakes or fish.[XXII-60]

The magiric laboratory, to which the reader is invited, is very nicely
decorated with a profusion of utensils similar in every respect to our
own in point of shape--such as gridirons, cullenders, dripping-pans, and
tart dishes. These objects are of tolerably thick bronze, plated with
fine silver.[XXII-61] Charming shells of the same metal, serve to mould
the pastry,[XXII-62] which is afterwards disposed with order on the
shelves of a country oven,[XXII-63] or in the upper part of the
authepsa,--a kind of saucepan of Corinthian brass, of considerable
value, and made with such art that its contents cook instantly and
almost without fire.[XXII-64] This simple and ingenious vessel possesses
a double-bottom; the uppermost one holds

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XII.

     From the ancients very little is left us of their kitchen utensils;
     however, the vessels and instruments which they used must have been
     in great variety; they had boilers called by the names of
     _caldarium_, _cacabus_, _cortina_, _adhenum_; chaldron, _lebes_;
     stewpan, _sartago_; saucepan, _pultarium_; the cullender, with
     small holes perforated, Pliny calls _colum_, and more modern
     writers _verna_; spoons, in Latin, _cochlear_ or _cochleare_; forks
     and hooks, to draw the meat out of the stockpots, they named
     _creagra_ and _fuscina_; the dishes were called _lances_, _disci_,
     _patina_, _patella_, or _catini_; and distinguished from plates by
     the size, and sometimes the shape.

     =No. 1.= Stockpot, with a large ladle and cullender attached, with
     small holes; appeared on the column of Trajan, together with the
     stewpan of Silenus.

     =No. 2.= Broken stewpan, in bronze.

     =No. 3.= Smaller one. These three articles of kitchen utensils are
     from the cabinet of M. l’Abbé Charlet.--“_Antiquités de
     Montfaucon._”

the light delicacies destined for the dessert, and the fire is
underneath.[XXII-65]

The diploma, or double-vase, which has sometimes been confounded with
the authepsa, does not in the least resemble the latter. It is thus they
named the vessel called by us a “_bain-marie_;”[XXII-66] the ancients
made great use of this mild and gentle process of cooking, which is
often mentioned in the treatise of Apicius.[XXII-67]

These brass boilers, which boil on the hearth, supported by three feet,
are precisely like those used by the French at the present day.[XXII-68]
Boilers also of a rather different kind are sometimes used, in which the
operation of ebullition takes place sooner than in the first mentioned;
they are closed with a cover in the form of a dome, and a large hollow
cylinder, fixed beneath, hastens and keeps up the action of the
caloric.[XXII-69]

The saucepans, around which a host of cooks are busily engaged, are for
the greater part made of brass or earthenware,[XXII-70] tolerably wide
and deep, which they place on the stoves, and in which are concocted the
delicate and scientific preparations. Some are of silver.[XXII-71] The
caprices of luxury have led them to suppose that certain expensive
viands acquire greater perfection when cooked in this precious metal.

A confidential slave, charged with the care of the plate, is cleaning
and polishing near a dresser a large number of bronze chafing-dishes,
which are to be used at table to prevent the plates from becoming cold.
It is in speaking of this useful invention that Seneca, the philosopher,
says, “Daintiness gave birth to this invention, in order that no viand
should be chilled, and that everything should be hot enough to please
the most pampered palate. The kitchen follows the supper.”[XXII-72] Each
of these elegant utensils is supported by three geese. It measures about
seven inches from the extremity of one of the bird’s heads to the
opposite edge of the circumference. This kind of tray is fifteen lines,
or an inch and a-quarter deep, and the feet raise it about two inches
above the plane. The three geese have their wings spread, and terminate
by

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XIII.

     No. 1. This boiler is made of bronze; the lower part was filled
     with water, and made to boil by means of the cylinder, covered with
     a lid, in which lighted charcoal was introduced; the ashes escaped
     through holes perforated at the bottom, and the basin has a tap to
     let the water out.

     No. 2. A flat saucepan, or sauté pan, with a fluted handle, and a
     ram’s head at the end.

     No. 3. A kettle similar to our teapots.

     No. 4. A gridiron, and a dripping-pan.

     No. 5. A trivet, a cleaver, and a butcher’s knife.--ST. NON,
     “_Cabinet of Herculaneum_.”

[Illustration: _Pl. 13._]

[Illustration: _Pl. 14_]

neats’ feet. The heads, raised on the breasts, form graceful
handles.[XXII-73] These chafing-dishes, arranged systematically on the
sigma, produce a delightful effect.

Dishes of massive silver occupy another compartment of the vast
cupboard. An opulent family could not possibly do without this luxury.
Sylla had some which weighed 200 marks, and Rome would produce more than
five hundred of the same weight.[XXII-74] It was in fact a perfect
_furore_, which afterwards greatly augmented. In the time of the Emperor
Claudius, one of his slaves, named Drusillanus Rotundus, possessed a
silver dish weighing 1,000 marks, which was served in the midst of eight
smaller ones weighing 100 marks each. These nine dishes were arranged at
table on a machine which supported and placed them prominently in view.

The _patinæ_ such was the name of these magnificent pieces of plate,
served for _ragoûts_ and fish; the _catinus_, an immense vase of
earthenware among the poor[XXII-75] and of silver with the rich, is more
especially reserved for liquid dishes, with much gravy, and what we call
pottage.[XXII-76]

Those silver cups and saucers, of the same shape and size as those we
employ for tea, have a destination very strange to our ideas. They are
used to drink hot water. They are worked in relief, with a taste and
delicacy which we cannot too much admire.[XXII-77]

The Roman spoons, rather different from our own, end on one side by a
point, to pick shell fish from their shell, and at the other by the bowl
of a spoon, with which eggs were eaten.[XXII-78]

Doubtless, forks were unknown to the Greeks, since Athenæus relates,
“that Pithyllus”--surnamed the Dainty--“did not content himself with
covering his tongue with a species of net, to appreciate the taste of
the various dishes, but cleaned and rubbed it with a fish. He also
enveloped his hands in a kind of glove, to eat everything burning
hot;”[XXII-79] a useless precaution if he had used a fork.

This indispensable addition to a modern table was, perhaps, not common
at Rome, but nevertheless, it was to be seen at the residence of some
wealthy families. The slave before-mentioned holds several in his hand.
These forks are remarkable for the beauty of their workmanship.

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XIV.

     No. 1. Chafing-dish to keep everything hot.

     No. 2. Silver cup, beautifully chased, to drink hot water.

The stags’ feet which terminate the handles, and the fillets with which
they are ornamented, bear witness by their execution to the rare talent
of the goldsmith. They are five inches and a half in length, and have
only two prongs.[XXII-80]

Other servants dispose the earthenware pails, in which the wine is to be
placed to cool,[XXII-81] and prepare the drinking cups and crystal
flagons.[XXII-82] One of them replenishes with vinegar, salt, and
pepper, little vases designated by the name of _acetabulum_, “vinegar
cruet.”[XXII-83] These are so many models of the most exquisite
elegance, in bronze, silver, and, sometimes, gold. They are manufactured
simply of earthenware, for the use of the middle classes of
people.[XXII-84]

The knives, destined to serve at table, are of brilliant steel, and
carefully sharpened; they bear each on the handle some whimsical
ornament, and seem to have served as models for those which were so much
in fashion towards the beginning of the 17th century, and which were
called Chinese knives.[XXII-85]

The most precious plate is arranged before the arrival of the guests on
the abacus, or sideboard, which decorates the dining room. This splendid
piece of furniture, which will be noticed hereafter, was introduced into
Rome 187 years B.C. It was also called the Delphic table.[XXII-86]

However, the _Archimagirus_ has drawn up a list of the repast, which
contains the bill of fare of the dishes, and which, both in Greece and
Rome, was always presented to the guests.[XXII-87] He descends from his
platform, and goes to cast an inspiring glance on the work of each
subordinate. Nothing escapes his learned investigation, from the
peacocks’ eggs of the first service, to the soft cheese commonly eaten
at the third.[XXII-88] Above all, he examines with minute attention the
ovens, at which preside those second cooks of whose talents he is not
certain, and who belong to that class of erratic artists who are to be
met with every day at the forum,

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XV.

     No. 1. Roman silver spoon, found at Autun, in France. Martial says
     expressly that spoons were used by the ancients to eat eggs and
     shell fish.

     No. 2. Brass knife, from Herculaneum. The shape of the handle is
     rather singular, being too small for the hand, but it was probably
     covered with horn, wood, or ivory. However, it may have been, the
     knife is thirteen inches in length, from the tip to the ring, which
     was used to hang it up. The handle is three inches long, and the
     blade in its largest width is one inch and a quarter. It was used
     no doubt for sacrifices.

     No. 3. A simpulum, or a sort of spoon for salt or eggs.

     No. 4. A simpulum, or cup with a long handle, commonly ending with
     a hook, which was used as a ladle to take wine or other liquids out
     of large vessels.

     No. 5. Fork mentioned in the text, and given as antique in the
     “_Recueil d’Antiq.,_” III., Pl. 84.

[Illustration: _Pl. 15._]

[Illustration: _Pl. 16_]

where they wait till some one comes to request their services.[XXII-89]
His remarks, full of sense and precision, proclaim profound study and
consummate experience. “Never will this _depsiticius_ bread,”[XXII-90]
says he to one of them, “obtain the necessary lightness by baking; the
flour should have been passed through a Spanish sieve of linen
thread;[XXII-91] Use the Gallic sieve of horsehair for the
_artocreas_,[N][XXII-92] and one of papyrus, or Egyptian rush,[XXII-93]
for the coarser kinds of flour.” “The grasshoppers require great
precaution,” he exclaims, an instant after, approaching a young
Sicilian; “fry them so that they obtain only a light gold
colour.”[XXII-94] Then, passing to a third stove, he shows to one of his
favourite pupils how to season highly an excellent sauce of snails (this
_hors-d’œuvre_, dear to the Romans), and by what marks to distinguish
those fattened by art in particular inclosures, from those which feed in
gardens and are only fit for the common people.[XXII-95] He then stops
before a stewpan, where a cook is browning large worms of a whitish hue,
which breed in the hollows of trees, and are considered by the
Romans[XXII-96] as a most delicious dish: “The flour with which these
cossi were fed was heated,” says he; “they will present to the teeth
only a soft and insipid substance.”[XXII-97]

We will not accompany this great master any further: his instructions
are already known to us. An enthusiastic disciple of Apicius, he
practises the lessons of that illustrious professor; and we should only
hear from him precepts which we have already faithfully transmitted.

When the moment of supper is arrived, we shall find the _Archimagirus_
presiding at that gastronomic order of battle on which depends the
success of the day. May Vesta and Comus be propitious to him.

In the 14th century, the refectories and kitchens of the numerous
communities of Paris presented a curious scene. Immense coppers
contained the pottage and boiled meat, and monster gridirons, on four
wheels, covered vast braziers. All the utensils of these kitchens were
of remarkable dimensions.

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XVI.

     No. 1. Roman silver knife handle.

     No. 2. Roman silver spoons.

     No. 3. A very deep dish of metal, either for sauces or some kind of
     liquid.




XXIII.

SEASONINGS.


THE animal and vegetable kingdoms furnish us with an abundant and
wholesome food, whose flavour gastronomic caprice unceasingly modifies
by the aid of various substances which we denominate seasonings. It is,
above all, the perfect knowledge of these ingredients, the manner of
employing them, and their skilful mixture, which constitute the art of
the cook. Labour and custom, and a kind of routine which the palate
acquires easily, will suffice for those who content themselves with this
calling, and who, carefully preserving the timid traditions of the past,
view progress as ruin and devastation, and the fruitful boldness of
inspiration as ridiculous and fatal innovations.

Heresy, and even schism (pardon these expressions), should be allowed in
cookery, as soon as they receive the sanction of the doctors
_ès-banquets_--the sole judges competent in such matters. It is to the
art professed by Apicius that the celebrated line of Voltaire appears
more peculiarly to apply:--

    “Tous les genres sont bons, excepté l’ennuyeux.”

Innovate, then, studious disciples of the illustrious Roman: consult
only the measures of your strength, the conscience of your genius, and
the infallible good taste of some chosen guests. Create for your
seasoning unheard-of combinations, the strangeness of which shall strike
and astonish; whose flavour shall subjugate and stifle criticism beneath
the sweet efforts of a voluptuous mastication.

Learn how to make your areopagitæ eat: this innocent seduction will
insure your triumph.

Treat not with too much disdain these Roman recipes; for although the
formidable list may excite a smile from the reader, and, perhaps, the
scorn of the cook, a great and prolific idea slumbers beneath the cold
ashes of the ovens of Apicius which a breath may rekindle; and, at the
same time, resuscitate some of those culinary wonders of a bygone
civilisation, and endow our modern age, so impatient of the future, so
curious concerning the past.

Two Phœnicians--whose names are never mentioned by forgetful
posterity--Selech and Misor, taught mankind the art of heightening the
flavour of their food by mixing with it a certain quantity of salt. The
science of seasoning has no other origin.[XXIII-1]


SALT.

The law of Moses commanded the Jews to mix salt with everything offered
in sacrifice.[XXIII-2] This prescription sufficiently testifies the use
of this condiment at an epoch which the uncertainty of profane writers
appears to invade on all sides, and which the great Hebrew legislator
alone enlightens with a ray invariably steady and pure.

The Asphaltite lake produced abundance of salt.[XXIII-3] It was sent
even to Rome, and was considered by Galen as the most desiccatory and
digestive of any kind.[XXIII-4]

The Greeks placed this substance in the list of things which ought to be
consecrated to the gods; and it is in this sense that Homer gives it the
epithet of divine. Pagan superstition, of which some traces may still be
remarked in the 19th century, threatened with some great misfortune any
one who spilt salt; and it was deemed a signal impiety to forget placing
salt-cellars on the table, or to dare go to sleep before removing them.
This strange superstition was common among the Greeks and
Romans.[XXIII-5] Those nations never failed consecrating their repasts
by filling salt-cellars, near to the vase in which they presented the
gods with the first portion of meat and fruit.[XXIII-6]

Certain nations, among others the Numidians, were not acquainted with
salt;[XXIII-7] and in the greater part of countries where it abounded,
cupidity almost invariably subjected it to a heavy tax, which rendered
its use less practicable.

The inhabitants of Troad provided themselves for a long time with salt
from Tragase without cost. King Lysimachus one day thought of exacting
a duty for every measure carried away. But, wonderful to relate, hardly
was the royal edict published, when the salt springs were found to be so
nearly dried up, that they hardly furnished wherewith to season a small
stew. Lysimachus comprehended the meaning of this prodigy, and abolished
the tax. The salt re-appeared.[XXIII-8]

At Rome, in the time of her Kings, every one was free to sell salt, and
its price became excessively high. The republican government withdrew
this right from private individuals, and from that time the common
people easily procured all the salt they required, and which they
willingly eat with bread.[XXIII-9]

Ancus Martius was the first Roman who established salt works near Ostia
towards the mouth of the Tiber.[XXIII-10] Afterwards, others were
formed, not only in Rome, but in the provinces. These were of two kinds,
public and private. The first belonged to the republic, and formed part
of the emperor’s domain; malefactors were condemned to labour in the
salt-works, and it was generally women on whom this punishment was
inflicted.[XXIII-11]

Ancus Martius was also the first who placed a duty on salt. It was
abolished after the expulsion of the Kings, but was afterwards again
established.

Down to the 14th century salt was a commodity of trade open to every one
in France. Philip the Long and Philip of Valois were the first to impose
a momentary tax on it; but after the fatal battle of Poictiers, in which
John was taken prisoner, Charles, his son, in order to pay the ransom of
that monarch, had recourse, among other extraordinary means, to the
establishment of the salt tax. The idea was found to be good, and it has
never since been given up.[XXIII-12]

There are four sorts of salt which are employed to season dishes,
obtained either from the evaporation of sea water, from certain lakes or
salt marshes, and also from saliferous sources drawn out of the bosom of
the earth in compact masses. Its particular savour is well known; it is
soluble in water, and easily becomes damp. In the scientific language,
this substance is called hydrochlorate of soda.


BRINE.

This was water in which bay salt had been dissolved. At Rome, it was
served at table to be mixed with the meat precisely in the same manner
as we serve salt in salt-cellars. The Romans plunged in this muria any
fish or meat they might wish to preserve.[XXIII-13]

Strong _muria dura_ was water so completely saturated with bay salt,
that no more could be dissolved in it.[XXIII-14] Olives were washed in
it.

The brine most sought after was that of Antibes, of Thurium, and of
Dalmatia.[XXIII-15] It was prepared with the blood and other juices
which, after death, escaped from the tunny fish,[XXIII-16] mixed with
garum, which rendered it more fluid and less expensive.

At the end of the repast, enigmas were often proposed to the guests.
Some delicious dish served as a reward to those who were fortunate
enough to guess them; the others were compelled to pour _muria_ into
their drink, and swallow a cup-full without taking breath.[XXIII-17]


DIGESTIVE SALTS.

The Romans were enormous eaters. Apicius, who was better aware of it
than any one, imagined providing against those accidents to which his
countrymen did not fear to expose themselves once every day, by offering
to them a preparation which our habits of sobriety would, doubtless,
render useless at the present day; but which the curious will not be
sorry to discover in these sketches of antique gastrophagy. Take a pound
of common salt, which torrefy and pulverize; mix it with three ounces of
white pepper, two ounces of ginger, an ounce of lamoni, an ounce and a
half of thyme, as much of celery seed, three ounces of wild marjoram, an
ounce and a-half of rocket seed, three ounces of black pepper, an ounce
and a-half of holy thistle, two ounces of hyssop, two ounces of
spikenard, two ounces of parsley, and two ounces of
anise-seed.[XXIII-18]

Take a small quantity of these salts after a too plentiful dinner; and
the stomach will immediately defy the most imminent indigestion.


GARUM.

When we have read all that has been written by the ancients on this
famous preparation, we become convinced, in spite of the obscurities
and continual contradictions of commentators, that if garum is no
longer manufactured in the present day, it is not on account of the
impossibility we find in discovering the recipe of the Greeks and
Latins, but solely because this rather strange brine has not the same
charm for us that it had for them. Let us, however, scan the
authorities.

The Greeks called the shrimp _garos_, the Romans _garus_: it may hence
be supposed that garum had originally for basis the flesh of shrimps, if
Pliny had not taken the trouble to inform us of the fact.[XXIII-19] It
was afterwards composed of other fish, but it always retained the name
which recalled its origin.[XXIII-20] In like manner the signification of
certain words is now applied to things quite different from the original
type: chicory, or succory, is received under the mask of coffee: a
certain pottage boldly usurps the honours due exclusively to turtle
soup. Nothing more easy than to multiply these examples of catachreses:
there are few figures which have become so common.

Well, then, they macerated the intestines of fish in water, saturated
with salt, until putrefaction began to show itself; they then added
parsley and vinegar.[XXIII-21]

A thick garum was also frequently obtained, by allowing the entrails and
other parts, generally thrown away, to liquefy in salt.[XXIII-22]

In the time of Pliny, mackerel[XXIII-23] was preferred, of which they
employed either the gills and intestines, or only the blood, directly
the fish left the water,[XXIII-24] and while yet living. They thus
obtained a precious liquid, and which the care necessary for its
production rendered so dear, that eight pints of it cost no less than
from fifteen to twenty pounds.[XXIII-25]

This expensive garum was especially esteemed when it came from Spain: it
was then called “garum of the allies”--_garum sociorum_--because it was
received from a nation allied with the Romans;[XXIII-26] or, again,
perhaps in allusion to the “band of gluttons,” of Rome, a sort of
fraternity of free-livers, who made great use of it.[XXIII-27]

The blood and entrails of the tunny fish, mixed with salt in a vase,
produced also a most elaborate garum. A hole was made in the vessel at
the expiration of two months, and the rich seasoning flowed from
it.[XXIII-28]

This brine became exquisite, and obtained an exorbitant price when made
from the liver of anchovies macerated in vinegar, pepper, salt, parsley,
garlic, white wine, and sweet herbs.[XXIII-29] But Apicius attained at
the first step the apogee of refinement of the most sensual gluttony, by
inventing garum made from the liver of red mullet.[XXIII-30] What we
have already said elsewhere with regard to this fish will enable the
reader to appreciate the value of this new preparation.

Amateurs who were more economical contented themselves with very little
saxatile fishes,[XXIII-31] of which only the intestines were taken, or
which were thrown whole into a vase with a great quantity of salt. These
were exposed to the sun, and the mixture long and often stirred. When
heat had caused fermentation, and the vessel contained only a kind of
pulp, or paste, almost liquid, a kind of willow basket was introduced,
into which the garum alone could penetrate. The thick part--the dregs
which remained at the bottom of the vase--was termed _alec_.[XXIII-32]

The following method was also frequently adopted:--

Mackerel, or small fish, were placed in a small vase with a large
quantity of salt; this was well stirred, and the mixture was then left
quiet all night. The next day it was transferred into an earthen pot,
which remained uncovered in the sun. At the end of two or three months,
it was hermetically closed, after having added a quantity of old wine
equal to one-third of the mixture.[XXIII-33]

When it was wished to obtain garum without waiting any length of time,
they took brine, carefully filtered, and so saturated with salt that an
egg would float on it; this was placed with the fish in a new saucepan;
wild marjoram was added, and the whole boiled over a gentle fire, until
the fish was entirely dissolved. Then wine, reduced to two-thirds by
boiling, was added. It was left to get cold; the liquid was several
times filtered, till it became quite clear, and was then finally placed
in an uncovered vase.[XXIII-34]

Although fish was generally used, the flesh of several animals was
sometimes employed in the formation of garum.[XXIII-35] It was, however,
submitted to the same preparations as those already mentioned.

Such was this wonderful seasoning, forming the chief delight of the
ancients, whose praises poets have sung, and the composition of which
formerly exercised the singularly mad intelligence of Maître François
Rabelais. The reader will doubtless remark, that the principal elements
of garum are almost invariably the same: fish, salt, and a greater or
less fermentation. But perhaps some one may exclaim: “This must be
detestable!” No doubt, but then no one ever thought of regaling himself
with this liquid; it was never taken alone; it was but reserved as a
seasoning for a host of dishes, in order to heighten their flavour.

It must also be observed, that a skilful cook always took care to
modify the garum before he sent it to table, by the help of various
ingredients, such as pepper, vinegar, Falernian wine,[XXIII-36] water,
and oil,[XXIII-37] according to the use to which it was destined, or the
degree of strength it was expedient it should possess. Hence that
variety of seasonings with garum,--sweet,[XXIII-38] sharp, mixed with
water, wine, vinegar, and many other substances which changed or
corrected the acid flavour of the primitive condiment,[XXIII-39] though
without in the least depriving it of the qualities which fermentation
had communicated to it.

It results from the different citations of which this chapter is
composed, that recipes for the making of garum are to be obtained more
easily than people seem to think at the present time. Everyone may not
be of the same opinion with regard to the kind of fish generally used by
the ancients to obtain this liquid, although all difficulties would be
removed by admitting--which certainly is nothing but right--that they
chose at one time mackerel or tunny fish; at others, gudgeons and small
sardines; sometimes even the red mullet, in spite of its rarity and
price. But it is evident that garum was prepared by either dissolving
and liquefying these fish in their brine, either whole, their
intestines, or their liver, and that, to effect this, it was only
necessary to expose to the sun the vessel containing them; or that they
simply put small fish into a dish, with vinegar and parsley, placed it
on a charcoal fire, and stirred it for some time, when it was wanted for
immediate use.

It must have been remarked in reading this work, that Apicius very
frequently employs garum; he places it in every sauce, but never makes
use of this seasoning unmixed, never does he serve it by itself as a
special dish. This celebrated gastronomist has bequeathed us the recipe
for a digestive garum. It is as follows:--

Mix with some honey, half an ounce of pepper, three scruples of
eschalots, six scruples of cardamum, one scruple of spikenard, and six
scruples of mint; add vinegar to this mixture, and then pour in some
garum.[XXIII-40]

The _Hypotrimma_, or stomachic condiment, of the same master, merits
also our attention:--Mix carefully some pepper, benzoin, mint,
pine-nuts, dried raisins, and dates, with fresh (not salt) cheese,
vinegar, oil, honey, and wine, reduced by boiling to one half; add garum
to this mixture.[XXIII-41]

The _Moretaria_ appears to be a variety of the Hypotrimma; it is a
mixture of mint, rue, coriander, fennel, the whole fresh, with benzoin,
pepper, honey, and vinegar; to this, garum is added.[XXIII-42]

Whatever may be the opinion the reader may form of this garum, of which
mention has so frequently been made, and which has been alternately
praised and despised by the moderns, it is certain that the most
fastidious persons were madly fond of it, and that in the time of Pliny,
it was so much esteemed, that its price equalled that of the most
precious perfumes.

“At the present day this celebrated seasoning is forgotten in Italy, but
in Turkey it is still in use. The inn-keepers of Constantinople preserve
in garum the cooked fish not consumed in the day.”--BOSC.


HONEY.

What is sweeter than honey?[XXIII-43] what is more pure,[XXIII-44] or
more nourishing?[XXIII-45] It is the milk of the aged, it prolongs their
existence,[XXIII-46] and when they descend into the tomb, it still
serves to embalm them.[XXIII-47]

Pagan antiquity ascribed the honour of the discovery of this useful
substance to the Athenian Aristæus, who taught mankind to feed on it.
This valuable service procured him a patent of nobility. He was made a
descendant of Bacchus or Apollo.[XXIII-48]

It is not necessary to say that honey was known in the east long before
the rise of Athens; it is already mentioned in the first book of the
holy writings.[XXIII-49]

It is said that Spain owed its knowledge of this delicious aliment to
Gorgor, King of the Curetes, who was polite enough to take some on the
occasion of a journey which he made into that country.[XXIII-50] The
Peninsula could afterwards furnish this delicacy for the tables of Rome
and Italy.

The Greeks esteemed honey most highly;[XXIII-51] they employed it in
pastry, and in _ragoûts_;[XXIII-52] their philosopher, Pythagoras, eat
nothing else with his bread, and, as he lived to be ninety years old, he
recommended his disciples to follow the same _régime_.[XXIII-53] They
profited by th sage’s counsel, and found themselves all the better for
it.[XXIII-54]

A benevolent goddess protected bees, hives, and the honeycomb. She was
called Mellona, and a grateful piety offered her honey every new-year’s
day.[XXIII-55]

Theophrastus distinguished three kinds of honey: that which the bees
extract from flowers, that which comes from the air, and lastly, the
honey from reeds.[XXIII-16] We clearly perceive that he means honey,
manna, and sugar.

Virgil thought that a gentle dew falls on the flowers, and became
immediately the prey of bees, which deposited it in their
cells.[XXIII-17] Pliny has adopted the same graceful error,[XXIII-18]
and even Galen himself partakes of it.[XXIII-19]

The ancients caused honey to be served at the beginning of a
repast;[XXIII-60] it was used in lieu of sugar in the preparation of
preserves and some kinds of beverages, which will hereafter claim our
attention. They preferred that of Attica,[XXIII-61] and insisted on its
being thick, clear, granulated, transparent, fresh, and aromatic, with a
somewhat sharp flavour.[XXIII-62] The faculty attributed to it great
virtues.[XXIII-63]

Honey served as a basis to the wonderful seasoning of Apicius, which we
present to the studious investigation of modern gastronomy:--Put fifteen
pounds of honey into a brass vessel, containing two pints of wine. Warm
at a very gentle fire, stir, and when it rises, pour over more wine. Let
the mixture rise three times, then take it from the fire, and skim it
the next day. Then add four ounces of ground pepper, three scruples of
gum, a drachm of spikenard, a drachm of saffron, five drachms of dried
dates, after softening them in wine; pour on the whole eighteen pints of
light wine.[XXIII-64]

The _Oxyporon_ was another seasoning much in vogue two thousand years
ago, and in which honey was the principal ingredient. It was composed by
mixing two ounces of cummin seed, one ounce of ginger, one ounce of
green rue, and six scruples of nitre, with one ounce of pepper, and
twelve scruples of fine dates; nine ounces of honey were then poured
over the whole.[XXIII-65]

Sometimes they contented themselves with macerating cummin seed in
vinegar, which they left to dry, and then pounded it; that done, it was
put into honey.[XXIII-66]

“The honey most esteemed is the white, granulated, and of an aromatic
flavour. The honey from the French provinces of Narbonne, the Gatinais,
or Britanny, is the most esteemed. Honey is next of kin to sugar, having
the same properties. It is frequently used in domestic economy, and in
medicine as a laxative. It enters into a number of remedies, either as a
corrective, or an excipient.”--“_Dictio. Encycl._”


SUGAR.

Theophrastus, the first among the ancients who speaks of sugar, classes
it among the number of honeys.[XXIII-67] Dioscorides also calls it
“honey of reeds;” he adds that these reeds grow in India, or in Arabia
Felix, and that the agreeable substance they contain has some analogy
with salt.[XXIII=68] Pliny also gives it the same name. It is, according
to this naturalist, a kind of honey, with which certain reeds are
filled, and used only in medicine.[XXIII-69]

This was also the opinion of many ancient authors;[XXIII-70] one of
whom, Paul Eginetta, calls sugar--Indian salt.[XXIII-71]

The sugar cane appears to be originally a native of the East Indies.
From the most remote ages the Chinese have understood the art of
cultivating it. The histories of the Egyptians, Phœnicians, and Jews,
make no mention of it. The Greek physicians are the first who speak of
it.

It was not till the year 1471 that a Venetian discovered the method of
purifying brown sugar and making loaf sugar. He gained an immense
fortune by this discovery.[XXIII-72]

Sugar cane, well purified, and disburthened of all foreign matter, is
white, solid, inodorous, soluble in water, of a soft and agreeable
savour. Its specific gravity is 1.6065; it is used as a seasoning in a
multitude of dishes, in preparing syrups, preserving of fruits, _&c._,
_&c._


CINNAMON.

In the time of Theophrastus, it was said that cinnamon grew in a dark
and silent valley, guarded night and day by fearful serpents. Animated
by the hope of gain, some individuals, careless of their existence,
risked their lives by gathering some of this precious bark. When they
had the good luck to avoid the vigilant reptiles, they consecrated to
the sun part of their booty, which the radiant orb immediately consumed
to prove his acceptance of the offering.[XXIII-73]

Others, thinking this little tale on the subject of cinnamon rather too
dramatic, pretended that the shrub furnishing it was found only on high
mountains, to which man was forbidden all access. But fortunately
certain birds--the phoenix, among others--great amateurs of aromatics,
make their nests of its small branches; these nests are taken, and in
this manner, whether the year be good or bad, a sufficient stock of
cinnamon is obtained without much trouble.[XXIII-74] Pliny recognises
two kinds of it--one white, the other black, both of which were brought
to Rome from Ethiopia, in the reign of Vespasian.[XXIII-75]

Eighty years after (A.D. 164), Galen informs us that cinnamon was still
very scarce in Italy; that the Emperors alone possessed any; and that
they even preserved it among the curiosities they made it their pleasure
to collect and keep in their palaces.[XXIII-76]

The same writer regards this so precious and uncommon cinnamon as an
excellent cordial and a good digestive.[XXIII-77]

We may add that it was only well known in Europe after the frequent
voyages of the Portuguese to India.[XXIII-78]

However, in 1168, an abbot of St. Gilles, in Languedoc, having a favour
to ask of Louis-le-Jeune, thought there was no better means of
persuading him to grant it than to send him a small stock of
cinnamon.[XXIII-79]

Our forefathers (in the middle ages) had their tables furnished with
cinnamon sauce; nutmeg, mustard, and garlic sauces; cold sauces; parsley
and vinegar sauces, hot sauces, hell sauces, burgher sauces; cherry,
plum, mulberry, grape, gorse, rose, and flower sauces. They were served
with roast meat.

Cinnamon is daily employed in medicine, in diarrhœa, several fevers,
&c., &c., and in pharmacy. That from China is much thicker than the
others, its colour darker, and its odour more powerful; essential oil is
drawn from it, and preserved in flagons, sealed with the arms of
government, and sold at a very high price.


CLOVES.

Cloves were very little known to the ancients. Theophrastus,
Dioscorides, and Galen do not speak of them.

Pliny says that some cloves were brought to Rome, very similar to
grains of pepper but a little longer; that they were only to be found in
India, in a wood consecrated to the gods; and that they served in the
fabrication of perfumes.[XXIII-80]

The conquest of India by the Portuguese rendered them common throughout
Europe.

Cloves contain a considerable quantity of essential aromatic oil, thick,
brown, and very heavy, to which it owes its aromatic properties and
sharp burning savour. Cloves are employed as a seasoning or as medicine.


PEPPER.

The two great cities of antiquity knew how to appreciate pepper, and
employed it largely in their culinary labours. They distinguished two
kinds: one round, the other long and thin.[XXIII-81]

Dioscorides and Pliny describe the shrub, on which are to be seen pods
filled with seeds of pepper, resembling millet, according to the first
of these writers, and like small beans, according to the
other.[XXIII-82]

Our readers no doubt remember the importance which Apicius ascribes to
pepper, in the learned recipes of that skilful _Archimagirus_.


VERJUICE.

Verjuice, the use of which is very ancient, was used more in
pharmaceutical preparations than in the seasoning of food.[XXIII-83]
Galen attributes to it refreshing qualities, and advises it in certain
cases.[XXIII-84]

Verjuice is a kind of grape, very acid, and which never gets perfectly
ripe. The _suc_ of verjuice is used in medicine and culinary preparation
as an astringent. The juice is not proper to make wine, but a very
agreeable syrup is obtained from it.


VINEGAR.

The greater part of ancient nations were acquainted with the use of
vinegar. Reapers in the east soaked their bread in it, to freshen
it[XXIII-85] The Greeks esteemed that of Cnide, of Sphette, of Cleone,
and above all the vinegar of Egypt,[XXIII-86] which was reputed to be
the best among the Romans, who tempered its acrimony by mixing with it
some sweet substance.[XXIII-87]

These masters of the world did not fancy they possessed all the comforts
of life when they wanted vinegar; therefore they always had a large
provision of it in their cellars, as all their seasonings
proved.[XXIII-88]

This passion (for it certainly amounted to a passion) is easily
explained by the admirable qualities they attributed to the pungent
liquid. It was believed to be astringent, digestive, antibilious,
refreshing, and an antiscorbutic.[XXIII-89] Mixed with water, it was the
drink of the soldiers,[XXIII-90] who, thanks to this beverage, braved
the intemperance of the seasons and the different climates of Europe,
Africa, and Asia.

The Greeks and Romans esteemed highly their pickles: these consisted of
flowers, herbs, roots, and vegetables, preserved in vinegar, and which
kept a long time in cylindrical vases with wide mouths.[XXIII-91] They
were prepared with the greatest care; and these plants were often
macerated in oil, brine, and vinegar, with which they were impregnated
drop by drop.[XXIII-92] Meat, also, cut in very small pieces, was
treated in the same manner.

Vinegar of an exorbitant price was obtained from some precious wines,
and that price was again increased by the proverbial cupidity of some
butlers in great houses. We doubt much, however, whether any of those
worthy personages ever made such a bill as a certain French seigneur
dared to do under the reign of Louis XIII. It is said that the Duc de la
Meilleraye, grand master of the artillery of France, presented to the
minister a bill in which figured an article of 1,300,000 francs
(£52,000), for vinegar to cool the cannons! The sum appeared rather
large, but La Meilleraye was a near relation of Richelieu, and the
article passed without the least contestation.[XXIII-93]


TRUFFLE.

A truffled turkey was to be eaten at a dinner where Buffon was invited.
A few minutes before setting down to table, an elderly lady inquired of
the celebrated naturalist where the truffle grew. “At your feet,
madame.” The lady did not understand; but it was thus explained to her:
“_C’est au pied des charmes_” (yoke elm tree). The compliment appeared
to her most flattering. Towards the end of the dinner, some one asked
the same question of the illustrious writer, who, forgetting that the
lady was beside him, innocently replied: “They grow _aux pieds des vieux
charmes_” (old yoke elm trees). The lady overheard him, and no longer
thought anything of his amiability.

Nevertheless Buffon was right. It was around the yoke elm trees of
Lampsachus, Acarnidea, Alopecomesia, and Elis, that those famous
truffles were discovered, whose reputation was spread in all parts and
which Italy envied Greece.[XXIII-94]

The truffle! beloved treasure that the earth conceals within her
bosom--as she does the precious metals, which she seems to have yielded
grudgingly to the patient researches of the gastronomist; the magiric
records do not tell us at what memorable epoch this exquisite tubercle
astonished, for the first time, the palate of man; but a doubtful
tradition maintains that a vile animal (a pig), guided by his marvellous
gluttony, found out the existence of this pearl of banquets.

Pliny was very much inclined to range the truffles amidst astonishing
prodigies. He fancied that he saw it at its birth increase without
roots, without the slightest fibre, without the least capillary vessel
likely to transmit to it nutritious juices;[XXIII-95] therefore he
believed that, sown by thunder-bolts in the autumnal storms,[XXIII-96]
this daughter of thunder grew like minerals by juxta-position, and
relates on this subject the history of Lartius Licinius, governor of
Spain, who, while biting a truffle with avidity, broke one of his teeth
against a Roman denarius which chance alone had inclosed within
it.[XXIII-97]

The Greeks thought a great deal of a delicious species of truffles,
smooth outside, red within, which were found just under the surface of
the ground, and did not show the slightest appearance of
vegetation.[XXIII-98] Another kind was also much sought after by
amateurs, probably on account of their scarcity. They were originally
from Africa, and called cyrenaïc, white outside, of an excellent
perfume, and exquisite flavour.[XXIII-99]

The Athenians, enlightened appreciates of all sorts of merits, accepted
with gratitude a _ragoût_ with truffles, invented by Cherips. That
culinary genius did not long enjoy his glory; a premature death carried
him off from his stoves, his honours, and his fortune; but the Greeks
did not bury their gratitude in his tomb; his sons became citizens of
Athens, and the name of their father, more fortunate than that of
Christopher Columbus, clung for ever to his brilliant
discovery.[XXIII-100]

The doctors of other days did not exactly agree upon the quality either
good or bad of truffles. Philoxenes, whose opinion met with many
partisans, would have it that a great quantity should be eaten cooked
under the ashes, and deliciously impregnated with a succulent
sauce.[XXIII-101] It was, however, recommended to choose them with the
most particular attention, because some had the reputation of being as
poisonous as mushrooms.[XXIII-102]

The Romans were as fond of truffles as the Greeks, and that is not
saying little.[XXIII-103] Apicius gives a method of preparing them which
is as follows:--

After they are boiled in water, put a little stick through them, and
then place them for an instant before the fire; season them afterwards
with oil, a little meat gravy, some skirrets, wine, pepper, and honey,
in proper proportions. When the sauce is boiling, make a thickening, and
serve.[XXIII-104]

The illustrious epicurean prepared them also with pepper, benzoin,
coriander and rue, to which he added a little honey, oil, and
gravy.[XXIII-105]

The estimable Platina insists that, in the first place, truffles should
be washed in wine, and afterwards cooked under the ashes; and that they
be served hot, and sprinkled over with salt and pepper.[XXIII-106]

This is the composition of a syrup of truffles, taken from the old
Arabian medicine. We believe it to be very little known, and should not
be surprised if it were, some day, to obtain the renown it seems to
deserve. It was composed of truffles, balm, and holy thistle, boiled in
water with sugar; and to each pound of the decoction was added one
scruple of water distilled from honey, and half an ounce of some
spirit--say, for example, spirits of wine--to each pound of liquor. The
whole was aromatised with musk and a little rose-water. Two ounces of
this syrup were administered hot,[XXIII-107] in cases of weakness.

Salmasius, who knew much of the Greek tongue, and very little of
cookery, avers that the ancients knew two different kinds of truffles.
One species was similar to ours, and the other a variety from Africa,
already mentioned, white outside and the size of a quince.[XXIII-108]
Leo the African, says that the Arabs cook these truffles in milk, and
that they think them exquisite. Thereupon Salmasius exclaims against the
insipidity of this dish, or the ignorance of Leo the African; and
immediately points out, with an air of triumph, the celebrated Avicenna,
who informs us that, after the truffles were peeled and cut in small
pieces, they were cooked in water and salt, and then dished up with oil,
benzoin, and spices. Salmasius will have it that Avicenna’s truffles had
no other flavour than that given by the sauce, and he has no forgiveness
for those poor Arabs who dared to dress them otherwise.

If this clever Hellenist had studied this savoury tubercle with as much
care as he bestowed on the writers of the history of Augustus, he would
have learned that the peculiar perfume which distinguishes it retains,
in the midst of seasoning the most laboriously prepared, the same power
it possesses when eaten by itself, and without any dressing.

Apicius had less of literature than Salmasius, but he was most assuredly
gifted in a very superior degree with that _mens divinior_ which makes
great cooks and illustrious poets. This assimilation has nothing
surprising in it, if we only remember that genius is nothing else than
the faculty of producing; and who ever bequeathed to posterity
productions more exquisite than those of Archestrates and Apicius?

Let us hear from this latter how to preserve truffles. You must be
careful not to put them in contact with water; that is to say, that they
ought to be kept very dry. They are placed separately in vessels, and
covered with iron filings, or saw-dust. Close each vessel hermetically
with plaster, and keep them in a dark and cool place.[XXIII-109]

The truffle is a very remarkable vegetable, which, without stems, roots,
or fibres, grows of itself, isolated in the bosom of the earth,
absorbing the nutritive juice. Its form is round, more or less regular;
its surface is smooth or tuberculous; the colour dark-brown outside,
brown, grey, or white within. Its tissue is formed of articulated
filaments, between which are spheric vesicles, and in the interior are
placed reproductive bodies, small brown spheres, called _truffinelles_.
Truffles vegetate to the depth of five or six inches in the high sandy
soils of the south-west of France, of Piedmont, &c., &c. Their mode of
vegetation and reproduction is not known. Dogs are trained to find them,
as well as pigs, and boars also, who are very fond of them. They are
eaten cooked under the ashes, or in wine and water. They are preserved,
when prepared in oil, which is soon impregnated with their odour.

Poultry is stuffed with them, also geese’s livers, pies, and cooked
pork, besides numerous _ragoûts_. They possess, it is said, exciting
virtues.


MUSHROOMS.

Agrippina, desirous of securing the crown to her worthy son, Nero, went
to a celebrated female poisoner, and procured a venomous preparation
which defied the most powerful antidotes.[XXIII-110] The Princess
slipped this terrible poison in a very fine _morel_ (a species of
mushroom), which Claudius eat at his supper. The unfortunate Emperor
died according to the desire of his amiable consort, who was, of course,
inconsolable for a long time, and placed among the gods the husband she
had murdered.[XXIII-111] Nero ascended the throne, and every time that
mushrooms were served at his table, true to the memory of his
father-in-law, he facetiously called this preparation the “dish of the
gods.”[XXIII-112]

To the poisonous effects of this vegetable have been attributed, also,
the death of the Emperor Tiberius, that of Pope Clement VII., King
Charles VI. of France, and many other important personages, who either
knew very little of good cooks, or of _morels_. Notwithstanding these
tragical events, mushrooms always retained a proud position, among the
ancients, above the most inoffensive culinary plants; and their rather
doubtful reputation has not prevented them from maintaining their ground
down to our time, for we find that they now claim the same rank which
they formerly occupied in the gastronomic _réunions_ of Athens and Rome:
a sad image of those fortunate criminals, whom society dreads, and yet
often loads with its favours.

This “voluptuous poison,” as Seneca, the philosopher,[XXIII-113] calls
it, which compels us to eat of it again, even when not
hungry,[XXIII-114] was much relished by the wealthy inhabitants of Rome
and Italy. These free-livers, careless of the morrow, preferred the
field mushroom,[XXIII-115] which they devoured with delight, having
previously covered it over with a pungent sauce, which they afterwards
neutralized with various iced beverages.[XXIII-116] It is true that this
dish, worthy of the gods, often inflicted a severe penalty on those who
yielded to its irresistible seduction; but what mortal could think of
the anguish of an uncertain poisoning, when he had the good luck to meet
with some _boleti_, or mushrooms, of the rarest description, which the
price of a beautiful toga would hardly have purchased,[XXIII-117] and
which promised some mouthfuls of ineffable, although ephemeral
enjoyment? Besides, does not pleasure possess more piquant charms when
danger is attached to it? The greater part of mushrooms are very
dangerous, say the ancients;[XXIII-118] but blind destiny, perhaps,
reserves for us certain kinds which are not so. Re-assured by this
judicious reflection, they gave orders to their cooks to stew
some,[XXIII-119] and season them with vinegar, oxymel, and
honey.[XXIII-120]

However, reasonable people--and there were still some to be
found--abstained entirely from this vegetable, or procured it by the
method which Nicander recommends; that is to say, they frequently
watered the trunk of a fig tree after manure had been placed around it.
That philosopher assures us that by these means we may grow mushrooms
perfectly wholesome.[XXIII-121]

Those of our readers who are in possession of fig trees will be able to
give their opinion on the merit of Nicander’s method.

To obtain the seeds of most mushrooms, it only requires to expose them,
when fresh, upon glass; the superficies of the glass is soon covered
with it. It is also obtained by shaking in the water the mushrooms which
are sufficiently developed. This water, thus impregnated, is used to
water the beds, which become thereby more productive.

The natural supply of mushrooms from the fields not being thought
sufficient, the art of raising them on beds during the whole year was
therefore indispensable, and required a mixture of _crottin de cheval_,
rotten dung, and mould, which is deposited in layers of one foot and
a-half in thickness and width. Seeds of mushrooms are sown on these
beds--that is to say, some of the mould of a former bog impregnated with
it. It is then covered over with all the dung not consumed, and then
copiously watered.

“At the end of a very few days, the beds begin to produce mushrooms, and
keep on producing until the winter.”--BOSC.




XXIV.

PASTRY.


The art of the pastry-cook consists in preparing certain delicate and
nice pastes in all sorts of shapes, in seasoning them with discretion,
and in sufficient quantity, with meat, butter, sugar, preserves,
&c.[XXIV-1] It is a most important branch of the culinary science;
unceasingly occupied with flattering the sight as much as the taste, it
raises graceful monuments, delicious fortresses, seductive ramparts,
which as soon as they are on all sides attacked, totter, crumble, and no
longer present anything but glorious and ephemeral ruins, like every
other work of man--all pass away whether they be temples, columns,
pyramids, or pies.

This charming art was known to ancient nations as soon as their
intellectual development had enabled them to understand a certain
gastronomic truth, long since become a trivial axiom, and of which we
dare scarcely remind the reader: “_On ne mange pour vivre que lorsqu’on
ne sait pas vivre pour manger._” (People only eat to live when they do
not understand how to live to eat.)

The oriental nations were acquainted with the art of making pastry at a
very early period. The Egyptians served many different sorts of cakes at
their tables;[XXIV-2] the Jews knew of at least three kinds--one sort
kneaded with oil, another fried in oil, and the last was merely rubbed
over with oil.[XXIV-3]

The enlightened gluttony of the Greeks and Romans inspired them with a
host of combinations more or less ingenious, and destined to revive a
failing appetite, or one already greatly compromised by vigorous
onslaughts.

Some of these pastries would appear very nice to us in the present day;
others we should think but little worthy of the epicures of Rome and
Athens. However, let us not be in too great a hurry to condemn these
great masters. Doubtless they had excellent reasons to like that which
modern taste may despise and dislike. In return, they might have thought
some of our most fashionable dishes detestable; perhaps Apicius might
have made a strange grimace at the sight of a dish of sour-crout, an
olla-podrida, or an immense plum-pudding.

_Oublies_, a light dainty for those who have weak stomachs, were thin
sheets of paste composed of flour and honey, which rolled into a spiral
form as soon as they approached the oven. They were eaten soaked in
cooked wine.[XXIV-4] Persons of taste preferred _oublies_ to fritters--a
bold mixture of flour kneaded with wine, seasoned with pepper, and then
worked up with milk, and, finally, with a little fat or oil.[XXIV-5]

Some cooks employed the finest flour only, mixed with oil, and served
this paste after having cooked it in a dish.[XXIV-6] Others worked
sesame flour a long time with honey and oil, and fried it.[XXIV-7] These
various kinds of fritters were, doubtless, much sought after by the
populace, for Cicero speaks of them with profound disdain.[XXIV-8]

The Jews, less dainty than the eloquent orator, offered some of this
paste in sacrifice. The recipe for its composition is given in
Leviticus; it was made of the finest flour, moistened with oil, and
cooked in the frying-pan.[XXIV-9]

Women and children--those two fragile roots of society--were always fond
of sweet and delicate cakes. The pastry-cooks of Attica prepared for
them some very excellent kinds; sometimes it was merely a sweet mixture
of honey and milk;[XXIV-10] others were made of honey, sesame flour, and
cheese or oil.[XXIV-11] Delicious fruit was frequently covered with a
light and perfumed paste.[XXIV-12] These Athenian dumplings met with a
great success.

Rome made the conquest of these precious recipes,[XXIV-13] and
vanquished Greece, conquered by her, had still the glory of dictating
laws to her haughty enemy: she imposed her cookery.

Gingerbread was not unknown to the ancients. Rhodes owed its reputation
to it. It was sweetened with honey, and that island furnished it to the
whole of Europe. The Greeks called this delicacy _Melitates_, and eat it
with pleasure at the close of their repasts.[XXIV-14]

Let us not forget, in this rapid survey of ancient sweets, that learned
and exquisite mixture now designated under the name of _Nougat_, which,
among the Greeks was composed of dried currants and almonds, and which
has lost none of its attractions, nothing of its celebrity, after so
many centuries.[XXIV-15]

The _Mustaceum_ did not deserve to occupy so high a standing; and yet
this rustic cake, composed of sweet wine and flour, a symbol of
abundance and happiness, never failed to be presented to the guests at a
wedding repast, and the newly-married pair sent a piece of it to each of
their absent parents or friends, who, in return, addressed them
congratulations, and wishes for their happiness.[XXIV-16] The mustaceum
was the wedding-cake of the Romans.

Modern civilization has also rejected with equal disdain the _Savillum_
pie, always eaten with pleasure by the voluptuous inhabitants of Rome
when they went to their villas in order to rest from their prodigious
excesses, and from the fatigues of intemperance. This nourishing and
agreeable dish required but little art in its composition. Half-a-pound
of flour and two pounds and a-half of cheese were well mixed together;
three ounces of honey and one egg were then added. When the whole had
been well beaten, it was placed in an earthen vessel rubbed over with
oil, and which was covered with a tart dish cover. It was carefully
watched to see that the process of cooking was going on; afterwards it
was taken from the dish, the pie was smeared with honey, and, for an
instant, replaced under the tart-dish cover, after having dredged the
top with pounded poppy seed. It was always served in the dish in which
it had been cooked, and was eaten with spoons.[XXIV-17]

We have already mentioned the _Artocreas_, a kind of hashed meat mixed
with bread, which Rome borrowed from Greece, together with its original
name. This pie, welcomed by modern gastrophagy, has reached our days
with merely some slight modifications, and deprived of its sonorous
Hellenic appellation.[XXIV-18] Formerly the Roman Emperors, for the
greater part, ruled badly; but, in return, they eat well. In that
gastronomic era--gone, never to return--Cæsar’s supper engaged the
attention of the court, the city, nay, the whole empire. The conquered
universe furnished the details for a banquet, and a royal hand sometimes
deigned to write the ordinance. Now and then, even the monarch, wrapped
in profound culinary meditations, long reflected, dictated to his
_Archimagirus_ a new dish, on which complaisant senators the next day
bestowed enthusiastic praises and a sincere admiration. Thus the Emperor
Verus, inventor of a pie, barely escaped an apotheosis of which his
genius was deemed worthy. It is true that, without any exaggerated
flattery, this pie was excellent, and that never was there imagined a
more happy mixture, a more ingenious combination, of meats, or a more
refined flavour. If any one be curious enough to wish to test this
imperial dish, let him prepare a succulent amalgamation of sow’s flank
(_sumen_), pheasant, peacock, iced ham, and wild boar’s flesh; let him
inclose this mixture within the thick casing of a laboriously worked
crust, and he may attack this kingly dish when a gentle and slow cooking
causes it to emit burning yet sweet emanations.[XXIV-19]

Here is a more modest recipe for a cake; but then it does not claim the
paternity of an emperor. However, Cato brought it much into fashion, for
the wise Cato often busied himself in the science of cookery, for which
reason he is greatly worthy of esteem. Well, we recommend to the reader
the _Libum_ of that philosopher, who indicates the manner of preparing
it:--

“Crush,” he says, “two pounds of cheese; mix with it a pound of rye
flour, or, in order to render it lighter, throw in merely half a pound
of wheat flour and an egg. Stir, mix, and work this paste; form of it a
cake which you will place on leaves, and cook in a tart dish on the hot
hearth.” This libum was much esteemed about twenty centuries ago; in
honour of Cato may it again be brought to light, if not completely
unworthy of our attention.[XXIV-20] Could we not also rehabilitate the
reputation of the most celebrated of ancient pies, the _Placenta_, which
so delighted mankind, and by which the gods even allowed their fury to
be appeased?[XXIV-21] Renowned writers have granted it the authority of
their praise;[XXIV-22] and the illustrious geoponist, already cited,
describes with lengthened complaisance the manner of preparing this
important dish:--

“Place, on one side, two pounds of rye flour, which will serve to form
the foundation, on which must be placed biscuits, formed of crisp paste;
on the other, put four pounds of wheat; and two pounds of alica (grains
of fine wheat, stripped of their husks and crushed; to which was added,
in order to whiten them, a peculiar kind of chalk found between Naples
and Pouzzoli[XXIV-23]). This latter must be left to infuse in water,
and, when well soaked, it must be thrown into a kneading trough, and
well worked with the hand. You then mix with it the four pounds of wheat
flour, in order to make the whole into biscuits, or dry marchpans. This
paste must be worked in a basket, and, as it dries, each separate
marchpan must be shaped. When they have acquired a convenient form, rub
them on all sides with a piece of stuff soaked in oil, and the same must
be done to the foundation of the placenta before placing the marchpans
on it. During these preparations, make the hearth very hot, as well as
the cover of the tart dish intended to cook it. Then spread the two
pounds of rye flour you have in reserve over fourteen pounds of cheese
of sheep’s milk. Make of this a light paste for the foundation already
mentioned. This cheese ought to be very fresh, and previously soaked in
three waters. It is allowed to drain slowly between the hands, and when
it has been left to dry, it is kneaded. Take a flour sieve, and pass the
cheese through it before mixing it with the rye. Then add four pounds
and a half of good honey; mix well; place the foundation, furnished with
its band, on a board a foot square, covered with bay leaves rubbed with
oil, and form the placenta. Begin by covering the whole of the base with
a layer of marchpans, which you place one after the other, and cover
slightly with cheese mixed with honey. Finally, you arrange the
marchpans on the foundation, and prepare the hearth to a moderate degree
of heat; place the placenta on it; cover it with the tart dish cover
already heated, and spread live charcoal underneath and all around. The
cooking must be done very slowly, and as soon as the pie is taken from
the hearth, it must be rubbed with honey.”[XXIV-24]

The great desire we had to inform the reader of some of the methods of
making ancient pastry will, perhaps, induce him to receive with
indulgence the rather diffuse recipe of the worthy Cato. The following
is much more concise; it relates to the relishing _Globi_, little
globes, or balls, eaten at dessert:

Mix cheese and alica, and of this mixture make the globi, which cook one
after the other, or two at a time, in boiling oil. Stir them constantly
with a spoon; take them out; rub them over with honey, and serve, having
previously dredged over them a little poppy-seed.[XXIV-25]

Everyone will confess that all these cakes are inferior to the simple
and elegant pastry with which the inhabitants of Picenum (marshes of
Ancona) regaled themselves. They placed some alica to soak in water, and
left it there for the space of nine days; the tenth day they kneaded it,
and formed it into round, flat cakes, which they cooked in the oven in
earthen baking-dishes easily broken. When these kind of biscuits were to
be eaten, they were first softened in milk and honey.[XXIV-26]

Apicius also made globi of great delicacy with the crumb of fine bread,
shaped into balls, which were left to soak in milk, and which, on their
being withdrawn from the boiling oil, he lightly covered with
honey.[XXIV-27]

We conclude with three recipes by this amateur cook, in the hope that
they may appear worthy of his genius:--

“Mix pine nuts, pepper, honey, rue, and cooked wine; cover with eggs
well beaten; submit this mixture to a slow fire, and serve, after having
smeared it with honey.”[XXIV-28]

“Cook the finest flour in some milk, of which make a tolerably stiff
paste; spread it on a dish; cut it in pieces, which, when you have fried
in very fine oil, cover with pepper and honey.”[XXIV-29]

“Make a compact mixture of milk, honey, and eggs; let it cook very
slowly, and serve, after having sprinkled over it a little
pepper.”[XXIV-30]

These details will, we hope, give a sufficient idea of ancient pastry.
We must remember that these recipes form, as it were, the starting
point. The oil fritter of the Hebrews and the meringues of our period
are wide apart: more than thirty-three centuries separate the two; two
thousand years have elapsed since Cato wrote the recipe for his somewhat
heavy tart. The author of the “Culinary Art,” Apicius himself, is very
old. The private life of the ancient people appears to be worthy of
serious study; but we too often only bestow on it our disdain. The
author of this work has observed their customs in the kitchen and in the
dining-room--the only places to which he had access--and he has taken
the liberty of writing the result of his investigations. Sometimes he
admires, but never does he despise, a civilisation different to our own,
but which was not without its good side. He conjures the reader to
believe him when he says, that whatever eccentricities the gastronomy of
ancient nations may present to us, those people (he has, perhaps,
acquired the right to venture such an assertion) doubtless eat in a very
different manner from ourselves; but they certainly knew how to eat.

The pastry just mentioned is certainly not altogether
irreproachable--that is clear; but many kinds reveal that exquisite
sentiment of the good which is nothing else than taste--whether it
relate to art, literature or cooking--and the entire development of
which seems to have been the appurtenance of a small number of
privileged centuries. Great epochs--such as those of Pericles, Augustus,
Leo XII., Louis XIV., and Queen Anne--have seen roses and myrtles
flourish by the side of the laurels with which the muses are crowned.
Charles XII. was fond of tartlets; Frederic II. gave himself fits of
indigestion by eating Savoy cakes; and the Maréchal de Saxe rested from
the fatigues of glory before a plate of macaroons.

We have renounced the kind of pastry with which our ancestors used to
regale themselves in the 14th century. Their stag pies[XXIV-31] are no
longer in vogue; neither have we any taste for their great pies which
contained a lamb or a stuffed kid, surrounded with goslings by dozens
and scores.[XXIV-32]

Their tarts have fallen into the same oblivion. Who thinks now of their
Janus, or double-faced, tarts, herb tarts, rose-leaf tarts, oat tarts,
or chesnut tarts?[XXIV-33]

The first statutes given to the pastry cooks by St. Louis (May, 1270),
sanctioned their custom of working on all festival days without
exception. Now, the motive for such a toleration was probably this: the
pagans had their festivals, which they passed in banqueting; the Romans
called them _dies epulatæ_.[XXIV-34] The early Christians, although they
gave up the worship of false gods, preserved certain customs in which
they had been brought up, among which was that of public and private
banquets on festival days.[XXIV-35] We still see some remains of these
customs in the village rejoicings on the Continent, on the day of their
patron saint. The Fathers of the Church and the Councils raised their
voices against this abuse;[XXIV-36] but they were obliged to tolerate
it, and the pastry-cooks, who were very busy on those occasions,
profited by the indulgence. It is as well to remark that they were, at
one and the same time, publicans, roasters (that is, they would roast
anything for anybody), and cooks.

Under the ministry of the Chancelier de l’Hôpital, little pies, or
patties, were hawked through all the streets of Paris, and there was an
enormous consumption of them. The severe minister considered them a
luxury, which it was incumbent upon him to suppress; so he prohibited,
not their sale, but the crying of them, as a temptation to gluttony.

There is a kind of cake much in vogue in England, on Good Friday,
designated hot-cross-bun, because it is always marked with a cross. The
reader will, perhaps, take some interest in the observations of Bryant
on the subject of this pastry:--

“The offerings,” says he, “which people in ancient times used to
present to the gods were generally purchased at the entrance of the
temple; especially every species of consecrated bread, which was
denominated accordingly. One species of sacred bread which used to be
offered to the gods was of great antiquity, and called _Boun_.” It was a
kind of cake, with a representation of two horns. Julius Pollux mentions
it after the same manner--a sort of cake with horns. Diogenes Laertius,
speaking of the same offering being made by Empedocles, describes the
chief ingredients of which it was composed:--“He offered one of the
sacred _liba_, called a _bonse_ (_bons_), which was made of fine flour
and honey.”[XXIV-37] England seems, then, to have retained the name and
the form of the ancient _bons_, though the people do not recognise in
the bun anything sacred or holy.

Titus Livy said, in speaking of Rome, “The greatest things have small
beginnings.” This applies equally to pastry, which appears so unworthy
of attention at the commencement of the middle ages that nothing seems
to announce its high destiny. At first, in the southern provinces,
people simply mixed flour, oil, and honey. The Roman school was still in
force. The inhabitants of the north had a mind to innovate; they
employed eggs, butter, and salt. Then came the idea of inclosing within
this paste cooked meat, seasoned with bacon and spices; and, from
progress to progress, they at last inclosed cream, fruit, and
marmalades.[XXIV-38]

We find pastry mentioned for the first time in a charter of
Louis-le-Débonnaire (802). It is there said that a certain farm of the
Abbey of St. Denis is to furnish, at certain festivals, sixteen measures
of honey, eleven hundred oxen, and five hogsheads of flour to make
pastry.[XXIV-39]

A charter of the church of Paris, 1202, mentions simnels or wigs, under
the name of “_panes leves qui dicuntur echaudati_.” Joinville speaks, in
“The life of St. Louis,” of cheese fritters cooked in the sun, which the
Saracens presented to that king and his knights when they restored them
to liberty. And, finally, so early as the 13th century, the _flans_ of
Chartres, the patties of Paris, and the tarts of Dourlans, were in great
renown; and a charter of 1301 informs us that, at that epoch, several
lords imposed on their vassals a tribute of _fugués_, or
puff-pastry.[XXIV-40]

The cook of Charles V. says, that the word _tourte_ signified a
household loaf of a round form; that this name was afterwards given to
delicate pastry; and that, by corruption, it was called _tart_ in
certain provinces.[XXIV-41]

Taillevant speaks of cream, almonds, and rose-water, as the
accompaniments of _Darioles_, a kind of custard; and of _Talmouses_, a
sort of cheese-cake, made of cheese, eggs, and butter, coloured with the
yolks of eggs.[XXIV-42]

Platina cites tarts made with radishes, quinces, gourds, elder-berry
flowers, rice, oatmeal, millet, chesnuts, cherries, dates, May-herbs,
roses, and, lastly, the white, or cream tart.[XXIV-43]




XXV.

WATER.


Thales, who borrowed from Egypt the elements of philosophy, which he
afterwards spread in Greece, taught that water is the vivifying
principle of all things; that nature is thereby made fruitful; that
without it the earth, arid and laid waste, would be a frightful desert,
where every effort of man to support his existence must fail.[XXV-1]

These ideas, for a long time adopted by Pagan theology, peopled
fountains, rivers, and seas, with divinities, and often confounded in
the same worship those gods, sons of gratitude, with the limpid waters
consecrated to them.

The Persians carried their veneration for this element so far, that they
dared not wash their hands, and would have preferred being consumed to
the very bone rather than dip themselves in a river.[XXV-2]

The Cappadocians were proud of treading in the same path.[XXV-3]

The Egyptians offered prayers and homage to water.[XXV-4] The Nile, in
particular, received their adorations under the name of _Ypeus_, or
_Siris_, and they offered to it--as a sacrifice--barley, wheat, sugar,
and fruit.[XXV-5]

The Scythians honoured the Danube on account of its vast extent; the
Thessalians prostrated themselves before the majestic shores of the
Peneus; the ancient combat of Achelous with Hercules made it sacred to
the Ætolians; by a special law, the Lacedæmonians were compelled to
implore the Eurotas; and a religious precept forced the Athenians to
incense in honour of the Ilissus.[XXV-6]

The Greeks and Romans did not fail to follow such good examples. The
fountains and rivers had their altars. The Rhine was called a god; and
when Æneas arrived in Italy, he prayed it might be favourable to
him.[XXV-7]

However strange such superstition may appear, it is, nevertheless,
conceivable that Paganism, struck with wonder at the flux and reflux of
the sea, and at the phenomena presented by several celebrated springs,
and seduced by the charming fictions of doubtful poesy, should have
deified an element both beneficial and terrible, since it could not cry
out with the prophet king: “The Lord on high is mightier than the noise
of many waters, yea than the mighty waves of the sea.”[XXV-8]

Thence came the innumerable number of tutelary gods to which the Ocean
alone gave an asylum. By Thetis it became the father of the seventy-two
Oceanides, and the fifty Nereides called it their grandfather. Hesiod
numbered three thousand nymphs, and he probably forgot a few of them. We
say nothing of the Naiades, the Napææ, the Limnades, and so many others
whom fable was pleased to recognise, and whom it described as joyfully
disporting in the water.

Greece exhausted the treasures of its poetical imagination to embellish
her fountains, beloved retreats of the timid Naiades. Several were
remarkable for the beauty of their architecture and the extreme delicacy
of their execution.

Megara, in Achaia, possessed one celebrated for its magnificence. That
of Pirene, at Corinth, was surrounded with white marble, in which were
placed grottoes which unceasingly supplied a vast and superb basin.
Another fountain of Corinth, named Lerna, offered to loungers an elegant
portico, under which some very commodious seats allowed them to enjoy,
during summer, the freshness which the water communicated to the
atmosphere.

In the sacred wood of Æsculapius, at Epidaurus, a splendid fountain was
seen whose marvellous beauty attracted all eyes.[XXV-9] Lastly, those of
Messina, known under the names of Arsinoe and of Clepsydra, yielded
nothing in richness of material and finish of details to the most
renowned monuments of Greece.

The Athenians named four officers to keep watch and ward over the
water.[XXV-10] The other Greek towns followed the example. These
officers had to keep the fountains in order and clean the
reservoirs,[XXV-11] so that the water might be preserved pure and
limpid.

The Romans at first contented themselves with water from the Tiber. King
Ancus Martius[XXV-12] was the first[XXV-13] to build aqueducts, destined
to convey the water of the fountain of Piconia from Tibur to Rome, a
distance of about thirty-three thousand paces. Some have honoured the
censor, Appius Claudius, for this magnificent undertaking,[XXV-14] to
whom is certainly due the celebrated Appian Way.[XXV-15] These gigantic
works greatly multiplied in time. Under the reign of Nero, Rome had nine
principal aqueducts[XXV-16] constructed, the pipes of which were of
bricks, baked tiles, stone, lead, or wood.[XXV-17]

According to the calculation of Vigenerus,[XXV-18] 500,000 hogsheads of
water were conveyed into Rome every twenty-four hours, by 10,850 small
channels, the internal circumference of which was one inch. The water
was received in large closed basins, above which were raised splendid
monuments. These basins--or _châteaux d’eau_--_castella
Aquarum_--supplied other subterraneous conduits connected with the
various quarters of the town,[XXV-19] which conveyed water to small
reservoirs--_fontes_--furnished with taps, for the exclusive use of
certain streets.[XXV-20] The water which was not drinkable ran out by
means of large pipes into extensive inclosures, where it served to water
cattle. At these places the people washed their linen, and here, too,
they had a ready resource in case of fire.[XXV-21]

Augustus created water commissaries, who took care that all water coming
into Rome by the aqueducts was fairly distributed in every public place,
and to those of the inhabitants who had obtained the privilege of having
it enter their houses.[XXV-22]

But the “ingenious thirst”[XXV-23] of the conquerors of the world could
not content itself with a delicious water which nature furnished free of
expense. Was it not too much for human endurance, that not only the air
and the sun could not be offered to the highest bidder,[XXV-24] but that
the same spring was to quench the thirst of obscure plebeians on equal
terms with the rich patrician?

Intemperance and luxury very soon contrived to find excellent means of
remedying a state of things so intolerable. The custom of preserving
snow in cellars, to obtain cool beverages, is very old. Aristotle
pointed out the method of boiling water, and putting the vessel
afterwards in snow, in order to obtain ice. Rome had recourse to this
expedient, which was afterwards replaced with advantage, under Nero, by
constructing ice houses for the use of opulent epicureans.[XXV-25]

This even was not enough for voluptuous Romans, slaves to their strange
caprices; their beverages did not appear to them as yet sufficiently
cool,[XXV-26] and the summit of the Alps was put under contribution to
furnish ice for the fashionable tables of the imperial city.[XXV-27]

The Romans were also frequently supplied with snow water,[XXV-28]
clarified by being passed through the _colum nivarium_, or snow
cullender,[XXV-29] a charming little utensil of silver, pierced with a
great number of holes, through which the iced beverage passed into a
recipient beneath. This drink was sometimes mortal, but always
exquisite.[XXV-30] From this vessel, it was poured into an _ampula_, or
a sort of crystal bottle of rotund form, which was often enormously dear
on account of the elaborate chasing with which it was
embellished.[XXV-31] This water bottle, with its long and narrow neck,
was the principal ornament of the sideboards and tables, when it bore
the name of some skilful artist from Campania or the Island of
Samos.[XXV-32][O]

Iced beverage lost all its charm at the end of the fine season, and hot
water took its place during winter.[XXV-33] The same custom existed in
Greece in the best classes of society.[XXV-34] At Rome, it was much more
general, for there were a great number of taverns, where the middle
classes and citizens of the lowest order gorged themselves copiously
with pork and warm water. The Emperor Claudius caused them to be closed,
and severely punished the proprietors of those houses who opposed his
ordinance.[XXV-35]

At the commencement of the repast, a copper vessel was placed on the
table purposely to boil water. It was much like a French _bouilloire_
(which nearly resembles a tankard), and contained a cylinder of about
four inches in diameter, covered with a moving lid, and pierced with
holes for the ashes to pass through. They fell into the lower part of
the cylinder. The space around was filled with water by means of a small
funnel soldered to the boiler. The taps of these vases were always
slightly above the bottom, so that the sediment of the water should not
pass into the cups.[XXV-36]

Ancient medicine attributed to water a singular curative virtue, which
it has also been supposed to possess in our days. This system, so much
talked about now by some persons, is, therefore, not new. Hippocrates
carefully distinguished the difference between good and bad
water.[XXV-37] The best, according to him, ought to be clear, light,
inodorous, without any flavour, and drawn from springs exposed to the
east.[XXV-38] He interdicts all those which proceed from melted
snow.[XXV-39]

Asclepiades made his patients drink plentifully of water, and frequently
ordered them cold baths.[XXV-40]

[Illustration: _Pl. 17._]

The physician, Musa, prescribed to Augustus the same regimen, and the
Emperor found himself much benefited by it.[XXV-41]

Under the reign of Nero, Charmis acquired a great vogue by extolling
cold baths,[XXV-42] even in the depth of winter. This dexterous native
of Marseilles knew so well how to persuade people, that he could hardly
attend to his immense connection; and as he sometimes required as much
as £800 from his patients,[XXV-43] he soon became as celebrated for his
riches as for his pretended medical genius. Who will say, after this,
that the water-cure system is good for nothing?

“In Egypt, rich people have the water brought to them from the Nile in
leather pouches. Large and porous earthen pots of an oval shape, kept up
by supporters, are filled with it. The water at the end of a few hours
has deposited the slime it contained. It is afterwards distributed in
small vases of terra cotta, called _bardaks_, of the size of our
water-jugs. These vases are taken in the most showy part of the
habitation. In a short time the clay of the _bardaks_ is impregnated;
their surface is covered with water, which, after borrowing from the
liquid within the caloric it requires for evaporation, reduces this to a
temperature of six or seven degrees under that which it had
before.”--PARMENTIER.

More than five centuries ago the Sieur de Joinville described the same
process. “The water of the Nile,” he said, “is of such a nature, that
when we hung it in white earthen pots, made in the country, to the
rigging of our ships, the water became in the heat of the day as cold as
spring-water.”[XXV-44]

Sea-water is not potable, but it has long since been remarked that the
vapours which rise from the sea are soft, and it was thence concluded
that, by collecting and condensing them, it would be possible to obtain
a potable liquid fit for domestic purposes. This phenomenon was known in
the time of Pliny, who informs us that, “fleece spread about the ship,
after having received the exhalations from the sea, becomes damp, and
that fresh water may be extracted from it.”[XXV-45]

About the middle of the last century means were found to remove

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XVII.

     No. 1. Pail, of bronze, with movable handle, covered with
     hieroglyphics, to carry water from the Nile for the Feast of Isis.

     No. 2. Pail, with two handles, same metal, placed on a small tripod
     to stand upon, owing to the convexity of the bottom.--ST. NON,
     “_Herculaneum_.”

the saline substances from sea-water. Boyle, Leibnitz, the Count of
Marsigli--all had made a great number of fruitless experiments. Mr.
Poissonnier invented a very simple distillating machine, with which, and
an absorbing powder, he succeeded in depriving sea-water of its
insufferable bitterness, and rendering it perfectly salubrious. About
1784, a successful experiment was made at York with a machine which
produced the same result.

Some travellers have related, that, at the Iron Island, the only soft
water was that which was collected from a large tree, in the centre of
the island, and which was incessantly covered with clouds. The water ran
continually from the leaves, and fell into two large cisterns,
constructed at the foot of the tree, which, according to Jackson,
furnished enough for 8,000 souls, and 100,000 cattle. “Let us see,” says
Bory de Saint-Vincent, “what amount of credit is due to the marvellous
tree of the Iron Island.” Abreu Galindo, in his manuscript treatise on
the Canary Islands, preserved in the archives of the country, says that
he wished to see with his own eyes what the tree was. He embarked,
arrived, took a guide to conduct him to a place called Tigulahe, which
is separated from the sea by a valley, and there, at the extreme
boundary, under a large cliff, was the holy tree, which in the country
is called Garoë. Its trunk is twelve spans in circumference, four feet
in diameter, and nearly forty feet in height. The branches are wide
apart and tufted; its fruit resembles an acorn, and the kernel is, in
colour and taste, like the little aromatic almonds which pine nuts
contain. It never loses its leaves, that is to say, the old ones do not
fall until the young ones are formed. On the north side, are two large
stone pillars, of twenty square feet, hollowed out to a depth of twenty
spans. These pillars are so placed that the water falls into one, and is
preserved in the other. Vapours and mists rise almost every day from the
sea, particularly in the morning, and at no great distance in the
offing; these vapours are carried by the east wind against the cliffs,
which block their passage, so that they cover the tree, become condensed
on its smooth leaves, and run off drop by drop. The more the east wind
reigns, the more abundant is the supply of water. It is distributed by a
man who guards the tree. A whirlwind tore up the Garoë in 1625.[XXV-46]




XXVI.

BEVERAGES, OF WHICH WATER IS THE FOUNDATION.


Water is certainly the most ancient beverage, the most simple, natural,
and the most common, which nature has given to mankind. But it is
necessary to be really thirsty in order to drink water, and as soon as
this craving is satisfied it becomes insipid and nauseous. What is then
to be done? Cyrus would have said: “Drink no more;” so would a
teetotaler of the present day. In the first ages of the world, the human
race, bound by no oath of temperance, succeeded, by sheer application of
their ingenuity, in finding something better, or perhaps worse,
according to the ideas of certain moralists, whose wise teaching,
however, commands respect. Certain it is that water, continuing to be
regarded with peculiar favour, was called to play a principal part in
various combinations by which it lost its insipidity and inoffensive
properties, and acquired the wonderful power of provoking a sort of
madness, known by the name of drunkenness.

Those beverages which man imbibes when he is no longer thirsty, which
cloud his weak mind, and render him ill when in good health, are called
fermented liquors.

Beer is one of the most ancient. If we are to believe Diodorus of
Sicily, Bacchus himself invented it.[XXVI-1] However, it is certain that
the absolute injunction not to drink wine, caused the inhabitants of
Egypt to have recourse to a factitious beverage obtained from
barley,[XXVI-2] often mentioned in history under the name of _zythum_
and _curmi_,[XXVI-3] and whose invention has been often attributed to
Osiris--which means, that its precise origin is entirely unknown.

It was a kind of beer composed of barley, and capable of being preserved
for a long time without decomposing;[XXVI-4] for instead of hops,
utterly unknown in that country, a bitter infusion of lupins was
added.[XXVI-5]

The Egyptians also used Assyrian corn in its composition, and probably
other aromatic plants, in which each one followed his peculiar taste.
The method of brewing varied much among them;[XXVI-6] but the one here
mentioned was that most generally in use to procure zythum in Lower
Egypt, where it was converted, like our beer, into vinegar, which the
Greek merchants of Alexandria exported to the European ports.[XXVI-7]

The Egyptians long drank nothing but this fermented liquor, because the
followers of Osiris believed that when Jupiter crushed the Titans with
thunderbolts, their blood, mixing with the earth, produced the vine.
They invented the zythum as a substitute for wine.[XXVI-8]

It is not probable that the Greeks, whose wines were so renowned in
antiquity, thought much of beer. Nevertheless, Aristotle[XXVI-9]
mentions drunkenness being caused by drinking a beverage drawn from
barley. Æschylus[XXVI-10] and Sophocles[XXVI-11] mention a liquor
procured from the same cereal.

The use of beer spread rapidly in Gaul, where wine was but little known
before the time of Probus. The Emperor Julian, governor of this country,
acquaints us of this fact in an epigram.[XXVI-12]

The Spaniards, and the aborigines of Britany and Germany, also
delightfully intoxicated themselves with an “infusion of barley,” called
by the first of these nations, _cœlia_, _ceria_,
_cerevisia_,[XXVI-13] and _curmi_ by the two latter. These various
denominations signify literally, _strong water_,[XXVI-14] and this
fermented drink was common to the nations just indicated.[XXVI-15] All
the people of Western Europe drank a strong liquor made with grain and
water. The manner of preparing it was not the same in Spain, in Gaul,
and elsewhere; but everywhere it possessed the same dangerous
properties.

“Man,” says Pliny, “is so skilful in flattering his vices, that he has
even found means to render water poisonous and intoxicating.”[XXVI-16]

The Danes and Saxons gave themselves up to an enormous consumption of
zythum and curmi, kinds of ale and beer, varying in no other respect
than in the manner of preparing them.[XXVI-17] The warlike piety of
their ingenuous and coarse-minded heroes, desired no greater recompense,
after a life of fatigue and rough combats, than to sing the praises of
Odin amidst eternal banquets, where these exhilarating beverages might
unceasingly maintain the joy and bravery of the warriors.[XXVI-18]

The ancient Britons had many vines, but they esteemed them only as
ornaments to their gardens; and they preferred, says Cæsar, the wine of
grain to that of grapes.[XXVI-19] It is historically demonstrated that
the English, at a very early epoch, applied themselves to the making of
beer.

It is mentioned in the laws of Ina, Chief, or King, of Wessex; and this
liquor held a distinguished rank among those that appeared at a royal
feast in the reign of Edward the Confessor.[XXVI-20]

Under the Normans, ale acquired a reputation it has ever since
maintained. Two gallons cost only one penny in the cities; in the
country, four gallons might be obtained at the same price. Happy age!
happy ale drinkers! At that period--the golden age for the apostles of
the Britannic Bacchus--the brewers rendered no account of the
preparation of this beloved beverage. The English nation did not yet
purchase the right of intoxicating themselves: it was not till the year
1643 that this authorization was to be bought.[XXVI-21]

The use of hops would appear to be of German invention. They were
employed in the Low Countries at the beginning of the 14th century; but
it was not till the 16th that they were appreciated in England.[XXVI-22]

Can it be true that beer or ale possessed, in certain cases, strange
curative properties? We find the following fact in a statistical account
of Scotland.[XXVI-23]

A poor coal miner of the county of Clackmannan, named William Hunter,
had been long suffering with acute rheumatism, or obstinate gout, which
deprived him of the use of his limbs. The eve of the first Monday of the
year 1758, some of his neighbours came to pass the evening with him. Ale
was drunk, and they got merry. The jolly fellow never failed to empty
his glass at each round. Scotch ale is a seductive drink, and as
perfidious as pleasure: it bewilders the senses, and finally masters the
reason. William Hunter lost his, completely; but his legs were restored,
and he was able to make marvellous use of them for more than twenty
years. After that happy evening, never did his old enemy, the gout, dare
approach him; and the worthy coal miner took care to keep it at a
distance, by reiterating the remedy which had proved so beneficial.
Nobody could blame him. Ale had become so dear to him! Gratitude and
prudence combined to make it a duty to remain unalterably attached, and
he was faithful to it till he breathed his last.

Antecedent to the use of hops beer was made in England as follows:

“_To make a Hogshead of Strong Ale._--It was necessary, first of all, to
make the _grout_, which was thus done:--Nine gallons of water was to be
well boiled, and put into a brewing-vessel; when it was a little cool
there was put therein three pecks of malt, which was left standing for
an hour and a-half, and then it ought to be drawn off into a cooler.
When it was near cold, it was put into a vessel provided for that
purpose, perfectly clean, and having a cover to stop it down close.
Being therein, it was closely covered down, that it might there stand to
sharpen; if the weather should be cold it might require about eighteen
hours, but if it was hot not quite so long. When it was ripe enough,
upon the sudden opening of the vessel, the strength of the fume arising
from the liquour would near, if not entirely, extinguish a lighted
candle, which ought to be provided short on purpose, and holden over for
the proof thereof. When the brewer was satisfied that the grout was
properly ripened, he poured it forth into the copper, and boiled it
moderately upon a slow fire for about an hour, constantly stirring it
all the while, and to know when it was boiled enough he provided a small
ashen stick, which, being alighted at the fire, he thrust suddenly into
the boiling liquor, drawing it forth as quick as possible, when, if the
fire on the stick remained still unextinguished, it was well boiled, but
not if it were otherwise. This being done, the liquor was put into a
vessel of twenty gallons, or thereabouts, and yeast put to it, that it
might work, which when it had sufficiently done, it was ready for the
wort to be put to it. The wort might be brewed of what strength the
brewer should please, so that it did not exceed sixty gallons to the
above proportion of grout. The grout being now properly ripe, and having
worked enough, a quantity of the wort, sufficient to fill up the
twenty-gallon vessel into which the grout is put, must be poured upon
it, and then the whole drawn off into the _yeeling fatt_, and there,
being mixed with the remainder of the wort, is left to work together,
which when it hath sufficiently done, it must be strained off into the
hogshead, through a hair sieve made for that purpose, where it must also
work like other beer or ale.”[XXVI-24]

In the ninth year of Edward II., things being very scarce, a gallon of
ale was sold for twopence, of the better sort for threepence, and of the
best for fourpence; but the Londoners ordained that, in the City, a
gallon of the bettermost sort of ale should be sold for three-halfpence,
and of the small ale for one penny only.[XXVI-25]

Holinshed says[XXVI-26] that every kind of wine could be procured in
England. “Nevertheless,” he adds, “ale and beere beare the greatest
brunt in drincking, which are of so many sortes and ages as it pleaseth
the brewer to make them. The beere that is used at noblemen’s tables is
commonly of a yeare olde (or, peradventure, of twoo yeares’ tunning, or
more, but this is not general); it is also brued in Marche, and is
therefore called Marche beere; but for the household it is usually not
under a monthe’s age, eache one coveting to have the same stale as he
might, so that was not soure, and the breade new as possible, so that be
not hote.”

Formerly, they drank beer in some parts of France--in others, wine.
Perhaps it is the same now. This difference of taste gave rise to a
rather jocose dispute between a grey friar and a white friar. One, who
was a Fleming, was for beer; the other, who was from Bordeaux, was for
wine. The Fleming cited passages without number from antiquity in proof
of the excellence of beer, known by the ancients under the name of
_zithum_, or _curmi_. The one from Bordeaux was not so learned, but he
was a native of Bordeaux, and with one word he terminated the dispute.
“Brother,” said he to his adversary, “I maintain that there is as much
difference between wine and beer as there is between St. Francis and St.
Dominick.” The whole community were for the Bordeaux monk, and the
Fleming was reduced to silence.[XXVI-27]

_Braket_ was formerly the cherished drink of the lower classes in
England. Arnold describes the preparation of it, in his “Chronicles of
London:”

“Take a pot of good ale and put thereto a porcyon of honey and pepper,
in this manner:--When thou hast good ale, lete it stonde (stand) in a
pott two dayes, and then drawe out a quart, or a pottell, of that ale,
and putt to the honey, and set it over the fyre and let it sethe well,
and take it of the fyre and scume it clene; and then sat it over the
fyre and scume it agayne, and then let it keele a whyle, and put thereto
the pepper, and then set hym on the fyre and let him boyle well togyder,
with esy fyre, but clere. Take four gallons of good ale, a pynte of fyn
tryed hony, and about a saucerful of powder of peper.”

Beer was hot unknown in Italy, but the Romans never granted it their
serious attention.[XXVI-28] We will give a brief sketch of those
beverages which, among them and the Greeks, replaced wine with greater
or less advantage.

Convalescents, sober persons who resisted the sweet seductions of
Falernian and Chios wines, drank a kind of barley-water _ptisana_, a
sorry liquid, of which the following is the recipe for the use of the
abstemious of the present day. They placed barley in water, and left it
there until it swelled; it was then dried in the sun, then beaten to
deprive it of its husk, and ground. Then, when it had been boiled in
water for a long time, it was again exposed to the sun. When they wished
to drink barley-water, a small quantity of this flour was boiled, the
water was strained off, and a few drops of vinegar were added.[XXVI-29]
The disciples of Comus have always shuddered at this beverage, when only
mentioned.

The _oxycratus_ was not much better. It was a mixture of water and
vinegar, with which the lower orders contented themselves when they
could obtain nothing more exhilarating to drink;[XXVI-30] and with which
the soldiers, especially in the camp, were compelled to quench their
thirst.[XXVI-31]

Some passages from Pliny, and also from other authors, prove that the
ancients were acquainted with cider.[XXVI-32] It is, however, asserted
that the use of this beverage goes no farther back than three or four
centuries, either in England or France;[XXVI-33] but this cannot be a
fact with regard to the last-named country, since the capitulars of
Charlemagne place among the number of ordinary trades that of
_sicerator_, or “cider maker.” This “wine of apples,”[XXVI-34] it is
said, was very common among the Hebrews. That is possible, but it would,
nevertheless, be difficult to prove it from the holy writings, since the
word _schecar_, which has been translated by _sicera_, and which, again,
has been rendered into cider, signifies all kinds of intoxicating
beverage, whether made from grain, honey, or fruit.[XXVI-35]

Gaul, covered with forests, and swarming with bees, possessed an immense
quantity of wild honey, of which, by the aid of fermentation in water,
the inhabitants composed a strong and intoxicating drink, called
_hydromel_. This beverage, highly esteemed both in Rome and Greece, was
prepared in the following manner: rain water was kept some time, and
then boiled until reduced to one-third, to which honey was added.[P]
This mixture was exposed to the sun for the space of forty days; it was
then placed in a vessel, and by these means they obtained, in time, a
vinous hydromel very similar to our Madeira wine.[XXVI-36] To make
_oxymel_, still more heady, ten pounds of honey were mixed with two
pints and a half of old vinegar, and one pound of sea-salt; the whole
boiled only an instant in five pints of water. This liquor was left to
get very old.[XXVI-37]

Juice of quinces and honey, boiled in water, produced _hydromelon_, a
delicious drink, which our century might envy the delicate drinkers of
Athens and Rome,[XXVI-38] especially when roses had been added to this
nectar, which changed it into _hydrorosatum_.[XXVI-39]

The _apomeli_ was nothing more than water in which honeycomb had been
boiled.[XXVI-40] _Omphacomeli_, an ingenious mixture of honey and
verjuice, quenched thirst during the summer, and produced that agreeable
gaiety which is to drunkenness what doziness is to sleep.[XXVI-41]

A mixture of honey and juice of myrtle seed, of course diluted with
water, composed _myrtites_, the aromatic flavour of which flattered the
palate, and rendered the breath more sweet.[XXVI-42] Sometimes
pomegranates were substituted for the myrtle, and it was then called
_rhoites_, and possessed an agreeable and pungent flavour.[XXVI-43]

Wine made of dates enjoyed a general esteem in the east. The Romans, who
knew also how to appreciate it, prepared it by throwing into water some
common, though very ripe, dates; and when they had well soaked, they
were put under a press.[XXVI-44] The same means were employed to procure
fig wine; but often the sediment of grapes was used instead of water, to
prevent its being too sweet.[XXVI-45]

“Artificial wines” were also procured by the aid of several other kinds
of fruits, such as sorbs, medlars, and mulberries.[XXVI-46] Fermentation
dispelled the sweet and insipid flavour which generally distinguishes
these fruits; and, at the commencement of a repast, the guests swallowed
with delight large cups of these beverages.[XXVI-47]

It was also the custom to serve very cold water, in which certain plants
had been infused, and which was freshened by being surrounded with snow
after it had been boiled for some time. The invention of this iced water
is attributed to the Emperor Nero, who made great use of it; and who
appears to have bitterly regretted it when, dethroned and flying from
his assassins, he was constrained through excessive thirst to drink
muddy water from a ditch. The unfortunate Cæsar then, for the first
time, thought of the strange vicissitudes of fortune, and casting a
sorrowful glance at the disgusting fluid he held in his hand, “Alas!” he
exclaimed, with a sigh, “is this the iced water that Nero
drank?”[XXVI-48]


TEA.

This plant is a native of China, and it is only in the Celestial Empire
that tea is cultivated to any great extent. Why, then, is it neglected
on all other points of the globe situated in the same latitude?
Doubtless, because the soil of China is superior for its culture to that
of any other country.

The shrub that produces tea is cultivated between the twenty-third and
thirty-third degrees of latitude; it thrives on the mountainous parts,
on the slope of the hills, and that which grows on high ground is far
superior to that gathered in the valleys. It is the same with this plant
as with the vine in France and in Europe; it grows on flat land, and
succeeds wonderfully on plains exposed to the sun’s rays.

The Chinese export teas of the first quality in much greater proportion
than those of an inferior kind. In England there is a larger consumption
than in any other country in the world.

In China, the tea that forms the habitual beverage of the people is a
very inferior species of the _Boo_ tea.

The provinces of Kiang-Nang, Kiang-Si, and Che-Kiang, furnish green tea
to Russia, the United States, Calcutta, and various European countries;
the province of Fo-Kien furnishes black tea to England, with the
exception of a third of the _boo_ tea, or _bohee_, which is exported
from a district called Wo-Ping, lying to the north-west of the province
of Canton.

It is in Fo-Kien that the cultivation of this precious shrub is held in
the highest estimation. In this province it is deprived of a large
number of its buds at the beginning of the spring. Of these are made the
tea _Pé-ko_, the most renowned of all kinds. Congo tea serves to perfume
part of these buds, and to impart to them a more agreeable flavour.

A first gathering of full-grown leaves takes place at the commencement
of May, a second towards the middle of June, and a third and last at the
end of the summer. This produces a tea inferior to the preceding kinds
in point of quality and perfume.

The inhabitants of Fo-Kien cultivate tea in inclosures; and at the time
of harvest sell the leaves to a class of persons who undertake their
preparation, which consists in drying the leaves in houses, first by the
simple contact with the air, afterwards in heated warehouses. When the
preparation is terminated, the merchants come and make choice of the
best qualities; then the desiccation of the tea is finished, and it is
forwarded in packets, each bearing its proper designation.

As soon as the leaves have been gathered and selected, they are plunged
in boiling water, where they remain about thirty seconds; they are then
quickly withdrawn, strained, and thrown on iron plates, large and flat,
placed above a furnace: the workmen’s hands can hardly endure the heat
of these plates. They continually stir the leaves till they are
sufficiently heated, after which they take them off, and spread them on
large tables covered with mats. Other workmen then busy themselves with
rolling them with the palm of the hand, while others cool them as
quickly as possible by agitating the air with large fans. This operation
must be continued until the leaves have completely cooled under the hand
of the person who rolls them, for it is by being quickly cooled that the
leaves remain longer curled. Thanks to the operation of rolling them,
which is repeated two or three times, the leaves are deprived of their
humidity, and the unwholesome bitter juice they contain. For teas of the
first quality, each leaf must be rolled separately; but for more common
kinds, several may be rolled at once. Tea, thus prepared, is dried, and
put into boxes or cases free from moisture. The Chinese then aromatise
it with various odoriferous plants, such as the flowers of the _olea
fragrans_, and those of the _camellia sesangua_, shrubs of the same
family as tea; or those of the scented tea-roses and orange-flowers.

This tea is destined for mandarins of the higher class, for the _Calaos_
or ministers, and even for the celestial sovereign of the _Centre of the
Earth_--or, in more simple words, the Emperor.

There are, in reality, but two kinds of tea, black tea and green tea;
each kind is again subdivided into many varieties. The best black tea is
the scented _Liang-sing_, worth in China about 10_s._ the pound.

The first of all green teas, destined for the great, and bearing an
exquisite perfume, is that called _Koo-lang-fyn-i_. M. de Rienzi assures
us that he has seen it sold in Canton for 32s. a pound.

New tea is considered by the Chinese as a powerful narcotic, therefore
it is never sold until a year after the gathering.

The Europeans and Americans, who trade with tea in Canton, have recourse
for their transactions with the Chinese to native tasters, or others,
who know how to distinguish the different qualities at the sight of the
colour produced by the infusion.

It is generally believed in Europe that tea exported thence has already
served as a beverage to the Chinese. It is a mistake, propagated by
persons who, having seen the tea put in water, have doubtless not well
understood the reason of this operation. We must, however, admit that
the merchants sometimes mix tea already used with tea of good quality; a
fraud only to be discovered by the weakness of the infusion.

Tea seems likely to spread over the world. Our books, wines, brandy,
cutlery, and jewellery, go round the globe, and are sought after by the
civilized nations as well as the wild tribes. On the other hand, we
receive our food, together with spices, from Malaisia; we sweeten them
with sugar from the Antilles or Siam; we enjoy the flavour and perfume
of coffee from Arabia and the Island of Bourbon; we intoxicate ourselves
with tobacco from Manilla, Virginia, of Havannah, and Latakia; and we
imbibe with luxurious pleasure the tea of those Chinese we are
continually laughing at, but of whom we have borrowed so many useful
things. We must, however, acknowledge that France is the country the
least advanced in this respect, and the use of this beneficent drink is
far from being as common as it ought to be. We do not fear to say that
when once acquainted with the method of preparing it better than is
generally done, this inferiority in the consumption will disappear. Some
witty delineator of manners and customs has pourtrayed upon the joyous
scene of a comic theatre of Paris, that famous tea party of _Mother
Gibou_ and _Madame Pochet_, one of those ridiculous Parisian and really
home-scenes, much more common than is generally supposed, and although
the picture is over-charged, it is nevertheless true.

It is not necessary here to give our private recipe to prepare an
infusion in which that excellent lady, _Madame Pochet_, thought herself
so perfect; suffice to say, that to make it agreeable to her guests she
added salt, pepper, some cinnamon, the yolk of an egg, and a tiny drop
of vinegar. We would beg the reader not to fail in attending these
charming and daily meetings, at which each housewife presides, and we
would say to strangers, let us seriously study an English tea.

“The use of tea in China dates from the greatest antiquity. The Japanese
attribute to it a miraculous origin. They say that Darma, a very pious
prince, and son of an Indian king, landed in China in the year 510 of
the Christian era, and wishing to edify mankind by his example, imposed
upon himself privations of all kinds. It happened, however, that after
several years of great fatigue, in spite of his care he fell asleep; and
believing he had violated his oath, and in order to fulfil it faithfully
for the future, he cut off his eyelids and threw them on the ground. The
next day, returning towards the same spot, he found them changed into a
little shrub, hitherto unknown to the earth. He eat some of the leaves,
which made him merry and restored his former strength. Having
recommended the same food to his disciples, the reputation of tea soon
spread, and has continued in use since that time.”--DESFONTAINES. See,
also, KŒMPFER, in his “_Aménités Exotiques_.”

We are ignorant of the period and motives which persuaded the Chinese to
use tea in infusion. Perhaps it was to render water more agreeable,
which is said to be brackish and of a bad taste in many parts of China.
In 1641, Tulpius, a Dutch physician, was the first to mention this
plant, in a dissertation he published. In 1657, Joncquet, a French
physician, called it the divine plant, and compared it to ambrosia. In
1679, Cornelius Bentekoe, a Dutch physician, published a treatise, in
which he declared himself a partisan of tea, and asserted that this
beverage in no way could injure the stomach, even if drank to the extent
of _two hundred cups_ a day. Many of his countrymen went even beyond
this: they made of it a universal panacea.

As at first the leaves of the tea plant were rare and but little known,
many persons thought they had discovered in Europe what others fetched
from such a distance. Thus Simon Pauli introduced the royal pimento
(_myria gale_ of LINN.), as the real tea of China. Others thought to
have found the marvellous virtues of tea in plants growing in our own
country, such as marjoram, veronica, myrtle, sage, agrimony, &c.; but it
happily ended in granting the preference to the real tea of China and
Japan.


COFFEE.

In the trade five principal kinds of coffee are enumerated--or rather,
five sorts--according to the different countries from whence they come,
although all derived from the same kind of coffee tree, _Coffea
Arabica_. These five kinds are as follows:--

1st. Mocha coffee, thus called from the country whence this kind of
coffee originates, a plant now so commonly spread over every American
colony. The grain of this coffee is generally round and small. From
Mocha coffee is derived the most sweet and agreeable beverage; it is
also the most esteemed, the dearest, and holds the first rank in the
trade.

2nd. The Bourbon coffee, cultivated in the Island of Bourbon; for some
time it occupied the second place in quality, but the _gourmets_ prefer
to it coffee from Martinique or Guadaloupe.

3rd. There are several kinds of Martinique or Guadaloupe, distinguished
by the various preparations.

4th. The Cayenne coffee. This kind is less known on account of the small
quantity cultivated there, and introduced in trade. This kind is
superior to the Martinique coffee.

5th. The St. Domingo coffee, in which is comprised that from Porto Rico,
and other leeward islands, is considered inferior to the four other
kinds.

Let us mention a few of the methods by which coffee in infusion is
obtained.

It is not exactly known who introduced the custom of taking coffee. Some
attribute its use to the prior of a convent, who becoming acquainted
with the properties of this plant by the effect it produced on the goats
which fed upon it, tried its influence on his monks, in order to keep
them awake during the performance of divine service. According to
others, the discovery is due to a mufti, who, wishing to surpass in
devotion the most religious dervishes, made use of coffee so as to
banish sleep, and thus be enabled to pray longer without interruption.
Whatever may be the origin of the use of coffee, it has become so
general up to the present day that it may almost be classed among the
articles of the greatest necessity. This extensive use has stimulated
the industry of inventors to seek means of rendering it most pleasant to
drink, as also its great consumption and high price have awaked both
economy and fraud, in order to find a substitute for this agreeable
beverage.

It would be useless here to describe the different methods of making
coffee; it will be sufficient to mention that all those which tend to
prepare it without boiling the water in which the pulverised coffee is
placed, are almost equally good.

In order to supplant coffee, which in Europe was found very expensive,
many different means have been tried. About fifty years since the Swiss
porter of a nobleman in Paris thought of roasting acorns, which he mixed
with roast coffee, ground; he sold it cheaper than any one; all bought
it, and the Swiss made his fortune.

The trick, however, being discovered, all sought means of gratifying
their taste without emptying their purses; barley and rye began to be
mixed with coffee.

In the mountains of Virginia, in America, the inhabitants make a coffee
simply of roasted rye; they by these means obtain a beverage in no way
resembling coffee, but it goes by that name, and at least the
imagination is satisfied.

In Belgium, in the province of Liege, coffee is mixed with wild chicory
root. This method, generally known, is at the present time practised
throughout the whole of Europe; and wild chicory root then opened for
Liege a new branch of commerce. Lastly, in Flanders some of the
inhabitants cultivate the lupin, which they complacently call coffee,
and whose seed, roasted, they drink instead of real coffee.

“The infusion of coffee is thought to be beneficial to stout and
phlegmatic persons, and for pains in the head; but it appears that its
admixture with cream or milk prevents these good effects, on account of
the relaxation it thus causes to the stomach. On the contrary, it gives
strength when taken pure. It is doubtless for this reason that the
inhabitants of the colonies take it three and four times a day--that is,
at four o’clock in the morning, a very strong infusion, sometimes
without sugar; at breakfast, with milk; after dinner, pure; and often in
the afternoon, for the fourth time.”--BEAUVAIS.

We are unacquainted with the period of the introduction of coffee into
Europe. Rauwolf is the first who speaks of coffee, in 1588. Prospero
Alpini then came, and described the coffee tree in Egypt by the name of
_bon_, _bun_, or _boun_: his work appeared in 1591. In 1614, Bacon
mentioned this oriental beverage, and Meissner published a treatise on
it in 1621.

It was not, however, until towards the year 1645, that it began to be
drunk in Italy. The first _cafés_ were opened in London in 1652, and in
Paris in 1669, a time at which a pound of coffee was worth forty crowns.
It was principally Soliman Aga, the ambassador from Turkey, who caused
coffee to become fashionable in Paris.

It penetrated into Sweden in the year 1674, where it was thought of use
in scorbutic diseases. The first person who made trial of coffee with
milk was Nieuhoff, the Dutch ambassador in China, in imitation of tea
with milk.

“The physical effects of coffee are well known: it accelerates the
circulation of the blood, but sometimes causes palpitation of the heart
and giddiness; it has even been thought to occasion apoplexy and
paralysis. Nevertheless, celebrated writers--such as Fontenelle and
Voltaire--made constant use of it, almost to an abuse. They were told,
_it is a slow poison_; it was indeed slow for these learned men, who
died, the one at a hundred, the other eighty-four years of age. However,
at the present time coffee is a beverage whose power over our
intellectual or moral habits has, perhaps, never been calculated as it
deserves, since it has become general, and almost suppressed the
drunkenness which disgraced our ancestors at the end of their grand
repasts.”--VIREY.

The subject we have just slightly touched upon recalls to our
recollection a whim of the charming Sévigné: “_Le café et Racine
passeront_,” said this amiable lady, nearly two hundred years ago. The
beautiful marchioness was mistaken: both coffee and Racine have
remained, and do not appear likely soon to bid us adieu.


CHOCOLATE.

Every one is aware that chocolate is an aliment obtained from the
cocoa-nut, roasted and reduced to paste, with sugar and aromatics.

But first, the choice of cocoa nuts is not indifferent.

Those from Soconusco, from Caracas, and Maracaibo, are the best and
sweetest; it is, however, well to mix with them other kinds, to correct
their insipidity by a certain sharpness far from being unpleasant; thus,
to four parts of Caracas cocoa, earthed--that is, rendered mild by a
sojourn of some weeks under the moist earth--a part of cocoa from the
Antilles, or Maragnon and Para, is added; this kind contains more of
sharp and bitter matter. These cocoas are slightly torrefied in an iron
pan. The Spaniards burn their cocoa much less than the Italians. Being
left to grow cold, this cocoa is slightly crushed, to separate the
envelopes or shells, which are thrown away. However, in England,
Switzerland, and Germany, these shells serve to make, with boiling
water, a warm infusion, mixed with milk and drank in lieu of real
chocolate. The envelopes of torrefied coffee are employed in a similar
manner in the east for the “Sultana coffee.” The mixtures of torrefied
cocoa are reduced into a fat paste of a brown colour, either between
stones, or by means of an iron roller upon a porphyry rock, warmed
underneath by live coals; this paste, regularly ground, is at last
incorporated with sugar, equal to its weight, then it is mixed together
as perfectly as possible. In this _chocolat de santé_ a small quantity
of very fine cinnamon powder is admitted, which makes it more palatable,
and neutralizes the action of the fat and heavy substance, or vegetable
butter, contained in the cocoa.

“The term chocolate belongs, it is said, to the language of the
Mexicans, and is derived from the two words _choco_, sound or noise, and
_atle_, water, because it is beaten in boiling water to make it froth,
according to the custom of this people. Before their conquest by the
Spaniards, it formed the principal aliment of the Mexicans. They held
the cocoa tree in such estimation, that its kernel served as current
coin, and this custom even now remains.”--HUMBOLDT.

The Mexican chocolate, besides the pimento, contained the _chile_, or
Indian wheat-flour, with honey, or sweet juice of the agava. To this was
added annotto, an astringent tinctorial juice, of a rosy hue, obtained
from the seeds of the _Bixa Orleana_. The chieftains, or lords and
warriors only, enjoyed the right of feeding on chocolate, as the most
restoring aliment, and the most capable, in their opinion, of repairing
worn-out strength and producing vigour. The addition of the perfume of
vanilla, again, augments this quality, according to the testimony of
physicians and travellers. Dias of Castilho relates that Montezuma drank
vanilla chocolate, and the Maréchal de Bellisle says, in his
“_Testament Politique_,” that the regent, Louis Philippe d’Orléans
regaled himself every morning with chocolate at his _petit lever_.

The ladies of Chiapa, in Mexico, are so fond of these perfumed
chocolates that they even have them carried to eat in church. The
Spanish Creole nuns have also brought to great perfection the art of
preparing fine chocolate, perfumed with amber.

The use of chocolate was soon brought from Mexico, after its conquest by
Fernando Cortes, into Spain, and this food has there become quite
habitual. First, it easily deceives hunger by reason of its oily
qualities and slow digestion; then it is softening and cooling, which
renders it particularly desirable in warm climates, especially such as
the Iberian peninsula. Thus the Spaniards but slightly roast their
cocoa-nuts; they prefer preserving but a very slight bitterness, and
mixing with it more aromatics. Besides, chocolate, so useful to dry and
nervous temperaments, is an agreeable analeptic, recommended against
hypochondria and melancholy, two affections so common to the Spaniards.
The beggars, even, could not live without it, and they accost each other
in the morning with inquiring if their lordships have taken their
chocolate.

This aliment is favourable to idleness, augments the calm of the body
and mind, and plunges one in a sweet quietude of _far niente_ at a small
expense.

From Spain the fashion of taking chocolate was introduced into Italy,
especially by the Florentine, Antonio Carletti. The Italians extract
from cocoa more exalted qualities by torrefication: they burn it till it
becomes bitter. The grave question arose among them, whether chocolate
taken in the morning by the monks broke the fast principally in Lent.
The Cardinal Brancaccio, and other learned casuists, battled long in
order to prove that chocolate, being evidently a beverage made of water,
could not be in the least considered as an aliment, nor break the fast.
We see, indeed, in the correspondence of the Princess des Ursins--all
powerful at the court of Philip V. of Spain--and Madame de Maintenon,
that the consciences of pious persons had been placed in full
tranquillity by this decision, and that any one might fast during the
whole Lent as perfectly by drinking chocolate as if he had only partaken
of a glass of cold water.

“Chocolate became pretty common in France from the time of Anne of
Austria, mother of Louis XIV.; however, it does not appear to have ever
excited the same enthusiasm as coffee; it is not favourable to good
cheer, nor is it exhilarating. To this may be traced, perhaps, the
indifference of the English for this beverage.”--VIREY.

In trade, as we have said, are distinguished a great variety of cocoas,
and they are called by the name of the country whence they come. Thus we
have the Caracas cocoa, the Surinam cocoa, &c. That which comes from the
French possessions is called also “cocoa of the isles.” The Caracas is
the most esteemed of all: it is more oily than the other kinds, and has
no sharpness of flavour. It is known by being larger, rough, of an
ovoid, oblong shape, not flattened, covered with a greyish dust, and by
the kernel being easily divided into several irregular fragments. “The
name of _cacao_, of which in French has been made the word _cacaoyer_,
is that given by the inhabitants of Guiana to this grain. As to the
scientific name, _theobroma_, Linnæus formed it from two Greek words,
signifying ‘food of the gods.’&nbsp;”--DEMEZIL.




XXVII.

DRINKING CUPS.


If men were wiser, the 19th century would probably not have seen a
beneficent apostle preaching temperance everywhere, and making his name
cherished and celebrated by a series of successes which could hardly
have been expected; numerous societies of _Hydropotes_, or
“teetotallers,” would not alarm, in our days, those joyful disciples of
Bacchus’s temple, hydrophobes by profession, by taste, and interest, who
sincerely bewail the desertion of newly made abstemious members; and no
person would promise, by a solemn and formidable pledge, to forego the
drinking of anything but water! The abuse must have been very great,
since it was necessary to have recourse to such a remedy.

It is true that the evil had taken deep root, and that the most ancient
people, the gods, and the heroes, have left us examples of this
dangerous seduction. The Scythians, the Celts, Iberians, and
Thracians,[XXVII-1] were confirmed drunkards. The wise Nestor himself,
who was so good a match for Agamemnon, often felt some difficulty in
finding his tent.[XXVII-2] Alexander the Great slept sometimes two days
and two nights, after having paid too much devotion to the god of good
cheer;[XXVII-3] and Philip, his father, very frequently left the table
with a very heavy head and staggering legs.[XXVII-4]

It is reported that Dionysius the Younger, tyrant of Sicily, lost his
sight through drinking too much, which will not be wondered at, if

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XVIII.

     No. 1. Drinking-cup, of terra cotta, in the form of a pig’s head,
     found at Herculaneum.--HAMILTON, I., IIe.

     No. 2. Also that of a dog’s head.--CAYLUS, I., Plan 35.

[Illustration: _Pl. 18._]

[Illustration: _Pl. 18A_]

what is supposed, be true, that this miserable man was drunk every day,
without fail, for three months together![XXVII-5] Shall we mention
Tiberius--surnamed by the army, _Biberius_ (Tippler)--who, after he
became Emperor, passed the days and nights drinking with Flaccus and
Piso, at the very time they were working at the reformation of the
Romans?[XXVII-6]

This pagan Solomon, having to choose from among several very
distinguished candidates who offered themselves for the quæstorship,
preferred the least known, because he had drunk a whole pitcher of wine,
which the prince himself had condescended to fill.[XXVII-7]

Intoxication, with the Greeks, was noted as belonging to low company, if
we are to judge by certain personages whom Æschylus and Sophocles did
not fear to bring on the stage, and who struck each other with vases--a
thing which the modern theatre has judiciously banished.[XXVII-8] Homer
is more reserved; for Achilles, after copious libations, only threw a
neat’s foot at Ulysses’ head,[XXVII-9] which probably was not of much
consequence.

The fact is, that the ancients did not at all profess the same
principles that we do respecting intemperance. Hippocrates himself,
advised men to seek mirth now and then in wine;[XXVII-10] Seneca
recommends us to drown cares and fatigue in it;[XXVII-11] and Musæus
decorates with crowns of flowers the foreheads of the sages who, sitting
by the side of Plato at all new banquets, should find in continual
drunkenness the sweetest reward for their virtues.[XXVII-12] A singular
bliss, which only reason in delirium could have imagined.

We have spoken of the delicious beverage which was so costly a seduction
to choice epicureans, who took merit to themselves for not resisting it;
for this reason, it was necessary to invent vessels worthy of containing
it; and art, encouraged by luxury, produced those magnificent vases of
which ostentatious antiquity has only left us a faint idea.

The cups of the Homeric times were all of equal capacity; one of them
was offered to each guest, but several were offered to persons of high
distinction.[XXVII-13]

The Greeks thought much of their cups; for them they were sacred relics
from father to son, and were only used on certain solemnities. Thus
Œdipus delivers the most frightful imprecation against his son
Polynices, who had presented, at a common repast, the cup of his
ancestors.[XXVII-14] That of Nestor was so large that a young man could
hardly carry it; as to him, he lifted it up without the slightest
difficulty.[XXVII-15]

The Athenians drank from cups in the shape of horns.[XXVII-16] Wax vases
were sufficient for the Spaniards.[XXVII-17] The Gaul who had thrown
down an Urus (wild ox) took its horns, decorated them with silver and
gold rings, and made his guests drink out of them.[XXVII-18] Often the
skull of an enemy, killed in single combat, was transformed into a cup
of honour, and reminded a Gallic family of the memorable action of a
valiant ancestor.[XXVII-19]

The first cups of the Romans were made of horns, or of the earthenware
of Samos.[XXVII-20] Those conquerors of the world had not yet enervated
their manly courage with the luxurious spoils of conquered nations.
Afterwards, some very simple ones were made of beech-wood[XXVII-21] or
elder;[XXVII-22] these possessed a marvellous property which they ought
to have always preserved--the wine only escaped from them, and they
retained the water which had been mixed with it.[XXVII-23]

But Rome, already tired of its austere simplicity, and its disdain for
the Greek cups of glass and crystal, soon began to desire something
finer. Those magnificent chalices, master-pieces of patience and skill,
in which gold and silver were amalgamated with a more brittle
material,[XXVII-24] were soon in much request, and appeared worthy of
their renown.

But it is to be observed, that the crystal of which the most precious
cups were made, had not the slightest similarity to that which we make
use of now, and which the least shock will break; it was flexible and
malleable;[XXVII-25] it might be thrown on the pavement with impunity,
and remained unhurt.[XXVII-26]

Here is, on this subject, a curious anecdote, which has been left to us
by Petronius:--

A certain skilful workman used to make crystal vases as strong as vases
of gold and silver. He produced an incomparable masterpiece; it was a
chalice of astonishing beauty, which he thought worthy of Cæsar only,
and which he felt a pride in offering to him. Tiberius highly praised
the skill and the rich present of the artist. This man, wishing to
increase still more the admiration of the prince, and secure his favours
to a greater degree, begged of him to give back the vase. He then threw
it with all his might on the marble pavement of the

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XIX.

     Nos. 1. and 2. Drinking horns; these give us an idea how the
     ancient Greeks and Romans made use of the horns: taken from two
     paintings at Herculaneum.

     No. 3. A horn, with a chimerical head, in Grecian terra
     cotta.--“_Herculan. Bronsi_,” II., 2, 3.

[Illustration: _Pl. 19._]

[Illustration: _Pl. 20_]

apartment: the hardest metal could never have resisted this terrible
shock. Cæsar appeared moved, and was silent. The artist, with a
triumphant smile, picked up the vase, which had only a slight dent, and
which, by striking it with the hammer, was soon brought to its original
state. This being done, no doubt remained on his mind that he had
conquered the good graces of the Emperor, and the esteem of an
astonished court. Tiberius asked him if he was the only one who knew how
to work crystal in so remarkable a manner? The workman immediately
answered that no one possessed his secret. “Very well,” said Cæsar, “let
his head be struck off without loss of time; for if this strange
invention were known, gold and silver would very soon have not the least
value.”[XXVII-27] Thus did the Emperor Tiberius encourage artists and
the arts.

There were, besides, cups made of the most pure crystal, “the
brittleness of which seems to have added to their price,”[XXVII-28] and
which were paid for dearer than gold and precious stones;[XXVII-29] but
much less, however, than those famous Murrhine vases, which have so long
exercised the useless sagacity of ancient commentators.

Among the rich spoils that Pompey, conqueror of Mithridates and master
of a part of Asia, ostentatiously displayed in his triumph,[XXVII-30]
the Romans, for the first time, admired vases and cups, the material and
workmanship of which surpassed all that the imagination could fancy the
most graceful and delicate.[XXVII-31] They were much in request; the
price was exorbitant, and thenceforth they were indispensable. One of
the ancient consuls thought himself too happy to give only a little more
than £6,000 for one of those Murrhines. Such was the name given to this
brittle and rare novelty. Petronius paid for a large basin £28,800;

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XX.

     This vase, made of one single piece of crystal, is in its original
     size; the delicacy of the work gives a great value to it. The body
     of the vase, and all other parts in relief, are of glass. It was
     discovered in 1725, and is preserved in the cabinet of the Marquis
     of Trivulsi, at Milan. The fillet round the body, and those forming
     the ordinary motto of the feasts--“BIBE VIVAS MULTIS ANNIS”--are
     isolated from the body of the cup about one quarter of an inch, and
     are attached to it by threads or fillets of glass, very fine. They
     are not soldered to the cup, but the whole of the labour is worked
     on a turning lathe, being seen more or less angular as the
     instrument may have been led to penetrate in the most difficult
     parts. The inscription is green; the fillet is blue: these two
     colours are very bright. The cup is an opaque or changing colour,
     without being able to distinguish whether that hue was intended to
     be so, as it happens to glass which has remained a long while
     buried, exposed to the vapours of a dunghill, or a sewer, &c., &c.
     A second antique vase is known to exist, whose workmanship is
     similar.--“_Histoire de l’Art_,” Liv. I., Chap. I., page
     45.--Paris: Janson.

and Nero spent the like sum for a vase with two handles, which he forgot
two days afterwards.[XXVII-32]

The Murrhine cups appeared on the table with the wine of the “hundred
leaves,” and the Falernian was poured into them, so as to preserve all
the generous delicacy of its odour.[XXVII-33]

The Murrhines were much sought after, on account of their form and
brilliant transparency: they were made of mother of pearl, according to
Belon, but others say of agate. Their dimensions, however, would incline
one to doubt it. Scaliger,[XXVII-34] Cardan,[XXVII-35] and Madame
Dacier,[XXVII-36] thought that the ancients gave unheard-of prices for
simple porcelain vases, which were precious on account of their rarity.
This opinion, which several modern _literati_[XXVII-37] have adopted,
rests plausibly enough, it appears, on one verse of Propertius, in which
this poet speaks of “Murrhine cups, baked in the furnace of the
Parthians.”[XXVII-38] It has been said that, perhaps the Parthians
learnt from the Chinese how to make porcelain; but this supposition,
entirely void of proof, has been contradicted in a most peremptory
manner by the author of a very curious book, who demonstrates
irrefragably that the Murrhines were not of porcelain, but of stones of
the species of onyx.[XXVII-39] The following fact will leave but very
little doubt on that subject:--

In 1791, the Constituent National Assembly, appointed a commission to
make an inventory and valuation of all objects in the Garde-Meuble of
the crown. They found, among other very beautiful sardonyx, two very
antique vases: one made in the form of an ewer, ten inches in height and
four inches in diameter, having its handle cut out of the same piece,
and the second, hollowed out as a bowl, ten inches in diameter, which
were recognised as real Murrhines--beautiful white and blue veins and
other shades, circulated about the bowl without interfering with its
semi-transparency; the bottom was of the same colour as the ewer. The
jewellers estimated these vases at £6,000 each, although there was
nothing engraved in the hollow nor in relief, but merely on
consideration of the beauty of the material, the fineness of the polish,
and the difficulty that must have attended the hollowing out of the
ewer.[XXVII-40]

These valuations would appear exaggerated, if it were not known that the
antique vase of the Duke of Brunswick, which formerly belonged to the
Dukes of Mantua, in 1631, and made of sardonyx, in the cruet shape, was
valued at 150,000 German crowns--or dollars of 4_s._ 3_d._ The relief

[Illustration: _Pl. 21_

MURRHIN CUP.]

engraving represented the mysteries of Ceres and Bacchus; but it had no
primitive handle, and the diameter was only two inches and
a-half.[XXVII-41]

By the side of these inestimable Murrhines were standing very graceful
chalices of amber, the prodigious workmanship of which absolutely gave
to them a most arbitrary value,[XXVII-42] but which Roman prodigality
never found too high.

Silver cups engraved were also nearly as much esteemed, when they came
from the hands of some well-known workman--such as Myos, Mentor, or
Myron.[XXVII-43] They were even preferred to gold cups,[XXVII-44] unless
these latter were enriched with precious stones.[XXVII-45]

All these vases presented still greater varieties in their forms than in
the materials employed. There were very large ones, some narrow, some
oblong; many ornamented with two handles, others had only one.[XXVII-46]
Some were much like a tympanon--or zoph, a musical instrument of the
ancient Hebrews--a small boat or ewer.[XXVII-47] In one word, the Greek
or Roman artist never listened to anything but his own fancy, and was
then far from supposing that he was preparing very long and wakeful
hours of study to many antiquarians, zealous to explain seriously the
strange wanderings of a fantastical imagination.

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XXI.

     MURRHINE VASE.--This vase is the most precious of all those which
     have come down to us. It is drawn here half the original size, and
     belongs to Prince de Biscari, in Sicily, which has been described
     by him in the dissertation entitled, “_De Vasi Murrini
     Ragionamenti_.” Three pieces of opal in the first place form the
     cup; the second, the stem; and the last, the base of the foot. If
     this vase is an antique, as it is said by the Prince de Biscari; if
     true that several pieces of opal have often been found as large and
     as fine (which appears doubtful, in the actual state of mineralogic
     knowledge), the question upon the Murrhine vases would be decided.
     They would have been of opal, and not porcelain; neither of
     sardonyx--_Pierre de lard_--as many have believed, nor of
     _cacholong_ (a species of chalcedony, opaque, and of a yellowish
     white), as I have described it.




XXVIII.

WINE.


Bacchus, son of Ammon, was born in Egypt, and was the first who taught
his countrymen the art of cultivating the vine, and of making wine. He
is the same as Osiris, the famous conqueror of India.[XXVIII-1] Should
this assertion be contradicted, we shall only entreat any and every
disputant to make his own choice of the god of vineyards, from among the
five heroes bearing the name of Bacchus, as we are too impartial to
prefer any one in particular.[XXVIII-2]

Œnopion, worthy son of one of these heroes, enriched the inhabitants
of Chios with the first rosy wine that ever yet obscured their
reason.[XXVIII-3] Greece, Italy, and Sicily owed this wonderful liquor
to the Egyptians. The Gauls received this sweet present from a Tuscan,
who had been banished from Clusium, his country;[XXVIII-4] and the
cultivation of the grape spread rapidly till the reign of the sanguinary
Domitian, who completed the catalogue of his crimes by tearing up the
vines.[XXVIII-5] The Emperor Probus restored them to the disconsolate
Gauls.[XXVIII-6] That prince was certainly worthy of his name!

Modern science, agreeing with holy writ,[XXVIII-7] looks upon the east
as the common cradle of the vine and the human race.

Palestine was renowned for its vines. Pliny speaks in praise of
them.[XXVIII-8] The vineyards constituted a part of the riches of the
country, and they were preserved with the greatest care; so much so that
Moses, with an especial view to vines, forbade the sowing of different
seeds in the same field, on pain of confiscation:[XXVIII-9] and it was
done to encourage their cultivation, that that wise legislator exempted
every person who had planted one from military service, and from all
public duties, until the first vintage.[XXVIII-10]

The growths of Lebanon,[XXVIII-11] of Helbon,[XXVIII-12] and of
Sorec,[XXVIII-13] enjoyed an extraordinary reputation, and the delicious
wine they produced was capable of inspiring the lyric David with that
celebrated praise[XXVIII-14] by which intemperance has often dared to
authorize reprehensible excesses.

However, the Hebrews, a sober people, like all eastern nations, rarely
made use of pure wine; they generally mixed it with a quantity of water,
and only drank a little at some ceremonial feasts, and at the end of
their repasts.[XXVIII-15] They sometimes mixed with it perfumes and
odoriferous drugs.[XXVIII-16]

Some nations seem to have had a great horror of wine. The Persians drank
nothing but water;[XXVIII-17] and the inhabitants of Pontus, the
Scythians, and the Cappadocians, partook of this strange
taste.[XXVIII-18] The Arcadians, who lived on chesnuts and acorns, were
not worthy of the favours of Bacchus; neither were the troglodytes, the
ichthyophagists, and other swarms of hydropotes who were as yet too
little civilized to ask of drunkenness its illusions and its
enchantments.[XXVIII-19]

The Egyptians would have thought it a profanation of their temples to
carry in a flagon of the rosy liquid; but Psammetichus came (670 B.C.),
and that wise prince made them understand that a pot of beer is not
worth a cup of good wine.[XXVIII-20]

The Romans asserted that their old king, Janus, planted the first vine
in Italy,[XXVIII-21] and that, later, Numa taught them how to trim
it.[XXVIII-22] That noble people knew how to appreciate such blessings,
and in order to demonstrate that wisdom is always to be found in wine,
they never failed to place on their altars the statue of Minerva beside
that of Bacchus.[XXVIII-23]

The inflexible muse of history has preserved to us the name of the
individual who doomed himself to a sorry sort of immortality by
inventing the custom of mixing water with wine; it was Cranaüs, King of
Athens, 1532 B.C.[XXVIII-24] The gods, doubtless to punish him, caused a
great part of Greece to be inundated, and it was not long before he was
dethroned.[XXVIII-25] Pliny accuses the obscure Staphil, sou of
Sithen,[XXVIII-26] of this depravation of taste, which gained upon
imitators to such an extent that, in the time of Diodorus of Sicily (45
B.C.), the guests still mixed water with their wine at the end of the
repast.[XXVIII-27] It is true that they were then all intoxicated.

Lycurgus was, no doubt, ignorant of this practice, when he had the
barbarity to destroy the vines of the Lacedæmonians, under pretext of
putting an end to the disorders caused by intemperance. It would have
been preferable, says Plutarch, to have united the nymphs with
Bacchus.[XXVIII-28] The ingenious philosopher insists on the mixture
being made by a fourth, a fifth, or an octave, in the same manner as the
chords in music, which charm our ears. The fifth was obtained by pouring
three measures of water on two of wine; one part water and two parts
wine made the octave; a quarter of wine and three quarters of water
produced the fourth,[XXVIII-29] a most inharmonious chord, struck only
by inexperienced and unskilful hands.

Hippocrates, great physician as he was, had already somewhere
advised[XXVIII-30] this deplorable dereliction from all wise doctrines,
so true is it, that science sometimes goes astray; but, happily for his
glory, that learned man, further on,[XXVIII-31] recommends us to drink
pure wine, and to drink enough for joy to dissipate our griefs, and rock
us in the sweet errors of hope.

The god of grapes had everywhere fervent admirers, except, perhaps,
among the Scythians. These schismatics refused to worship a divinity who
caused the faithful to become intoxicated.[XXVIII-32] In other places
they sacrificed to him a tiger, in order to show the power of his
empire;[XXVIII-33] and zealous disciples, with their heads crowned with
branches of the vine, holding in one hand a crater and in the other a
torch, ran with dishevelled hair about the streets, shouting to the son
of Jupiter, the terrible Evius,[XXVIII-34] in the silence of the
night.[XXVIII-35]

The Romans addressed to him special prayers twice a year, on the
occasion of the wine festivals,[XXVIII-36] which took place in the
months of May and September. In the first, they tasted the
wine;[XXVIII-37] and, during the second, they implored the god to grant
Italy fine weather and abundant vintages.[XXVIII-38]

The god could not reasonably refuse this request, for the vine-dressers
spared neither labour nor fatigue to procure an abundant harvest. They
were constantly seen disincumbering the plant of a too luxurious
foliage, thereby exposing the grapes to the sun’s rays, which bring them
to maturity, and breaking with indefatigable perseverance the least
clods of earth which, accumulating around the tendrils, appeared to
fatigue them by their weight.[XXVIII-39] And woe to the thief whom they
detected by night stealing any of these carefully reared grapes; his
crime was punished with death, unless the inexperience of youth pleaded
in his favour. In that case a severe flagellation impressed on

[Illustration: _Pl. 25._]

him permanently the remembrance of his fault and of the rights of
property.[XXVIII-40]

The imperial jurisprudence afterwards softened the Draconian rigour of
this law of the Decemviri.[XXVIII-41]

The ancients, like ourselves, were fond of seeing fresh grapes appear on
their tables at all periods of the year. They preserved them by covering
them with barley flour,[XXVIII-42] or by placing fine bunches in rain
water, diminished to a third by boiling. The vase was hermetically
sealed with pitch and plaster, and then placed in a spot where the sun’s
rays could not enter. This water was an excellent beverage for the
sick.[XXVIII-43]

The method of making wine was precisely the same both in Greece and
Italy.

The vine gatherers carefully rejected the green grapes,[XXVIII-44] and
piled the others in deep baskets,[XXVIII-45] the contents of which were
instantly emptied into large vats. There men, hardly clothed in the
lightest garments, trampled them under their feet,[XXVIII-46] whilst
joyous songs and sounds of flutes hastened their movements, and animated
them to work faster.[XXVIII-47]

Wine obtained in this manner was much esteemed, and kept very
well.[XXVIII-48] The wort which escaped from the vat as soon as they had
thrown in the grapes, and which came from the pressure occasioned by
their laying one on the other, enjoyed the preference. This first liquor
was transformed into an exquisite wine.[XXVIII-49]

The grapes, crushed by the feet, were placed under the press,[XXVIII-50]
and an opening made in the lower part of the vat allowed the wort to
flow into earthen jars, whence it was subsequently poured into the
barrels.[XXVIII-51]

The press was always raised at a little distance from the cellar and
kitchen.[XXVIII-52] Its mechanism was very simple. The antiquities of
Herculaneum will furnish us with an example. Two trees were firmly fixed
in the ground, at a few feet distance one from the other, and a strong
horizontal beam rested on their summit. Other pieces of wood, similar

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XXII.

     No. 1. Wine-press, explained in the text.

     No. 2. A large vase, in which a man is sitting, supposed to be
     Diogenes. This amphora is broken, and the pieces are joined by ties
     of lead, cut dove-tailed. It is a bass-relief, from the Villa
     Albani, published by Winkelman.

     No. 3. Represents a beast of burthen, with a pack saddle, loaded
     with two amphoræ. This piece of terra cotta, drawn the size of the
     original, is taken from the collection of children’s playthings of
     Prince de Biscari. The difficulty of carriage was so great in
     mountainous countries, that the inhabitants of the Alps substituted
     for vessels of terra cotta, casks, or wooden tubs, put together
     with wooden circles, similar to our own. (See Plate III., No. 4.,
     Chariot with four wheels, loaded with a cask.)

to the top piece, were placed underneath. The grapes occupied the space
between the vat and the lower plank. Between each of the cross planks
wedges were introduced, and two persons kept striking them with hammers,
one on each side; it is thus the pressure was effected.[XXVIII-53] Wine
from the press, inferior to those just mentioned, served for the
ordinary consumption of the family, and for the servants.[XXVIII-54] It
was not racked, but simply taken from the barrel as it was
wanted.[XXVIII-55]

The lees were taken from the press when it yielded no more liquor; a
certain quantity of water was poured over them, and the whole subjected
to a second pressure. The weak kind of wine obtained by this new
operation must have somewhat resembled that acrid stuff called
_piquette_, in France; it was the beverage of the people, and especially
of the country people during the winter.[XXVIII-56]

A part of the wort--that which was required for immediate use--was put
aside, and clarified with vinegar.[XXVIII-57] A portion of that obtained
from the crushed grapes was put to boil on furnaces, supported on three
legs, at a little distance from the press, in coppers, the contents of
which were continually stirred.[XXVIII-58] This liquor, reduced by a
third, was called carenum;[XXVIII-59] when the half only remained, it
was called _defrutum_;[XXVIII-60] and, lastly, when the ebullition left
only a third part remaining, this substance, very similar to honey, took
the name of _sapa_.[XXVIII-61] It was mixed with flour, to fatten the
snails reared by skilful speculators, who reserved them for the Roman
sybarites.[XXVIII-62]

This wort, thus prepared by night, when the moon did not
shine,[XXVIII-63] and carefully skimmed,[XXVIII-64] served to preserve
wines, to give more body to those which were thought too weak, and
became the base of several beverages sought in preference by Roman
ladies, at that period of life when maturity of years made alliance with
sensuality.[XXVIII-65]

Those who wished to preserve sweet wine during a whole year, filled with
the second wort--that is to say, that which was produced by the pression
of the feet--some amphoræ covered with pitch inside and out. They were
then hermetically sealed, and buried in the sand, or plunged in cold
water, where they remained at least two months.[XXVIII-66]

There still was left a large quantity of wort as it came from the
grapes. This was taken into the cellar,[XXVIII-67] which was always
situated a little below the level of the ground; or to the ground floor,
where no kind of smell was allowed to penetrate, or any emanation
capable of spoiling the bouquet of the wine it contained.[XXVIII-68]

[Illustration: _Pl. 26._]

At Herculaneum a spacious cellar has been discovered, round which
hogsheads were ranged, and built into the wall.[XXVIII-69] Another
cellar, at Pompeii, remarkable for its small size, is divided into two
compartments, both containing barrels, and divided one from the other by
an horizontal wall.[XXVIII-70]

Large earthen vessels were found there, with and without handles, very
carefully executed, and smeared with pitch.[XXVIII-71] We know that the
cynic, Diogenes, dwelt in one of these vases; and that the king,
Alexander, found him crouching in his strange kind of
carapace.[XXVIII-72] The ancients had butts also, but they used them
only in cold countries.[XXVIII-73]

The _Dolia_--for so they were named--were first subjected to a
fumigation with aromatic plants; then watered with sea-water, and buried
half way in the earth. They were separated each one from another, and
strict attention was paid to see that the cellar contained neither
leather, nor cheese, nor figs, nor old casks. Sometimes persons who
inhabited the country paved the store-room, spread sand, and placed the
dolia on it.[XXVIII-74]

At the end of nine days, when the fermentation had cleared the wine from
those substances it rejects, they carefully covered the dolia, after
having smeared all the upper part of the inside, as well as the covers
themselves, with a mixture of defrutum, saffron, mastic, pitch, and pine
nuts.[XXVIII-75] The butts of aqueous wine were exposed to the north;
spirituous wines often braved the rain, the sun, and every change of
temperature.[XXVIII-76]

They accelerated the fining of the wine by throwing in plaster, chalk,
marble dust, salt, resin, dregs of new wine, sea-water, myrrh, and
aromatic herbs.[XXVIII-77] The butts were uncovered once a month, or
more frequently, in order to refresh the contents; and before the head
was put on again, it was rubbed with pine nuts.[XXVIII-78] Wine was also
clarified by drawing it off into another butt, and mixing yolks of eggs
beaten with

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XXIII.

     COLUM NIVARIUM.--A strainer, used to separate the dregs from the
     wine. Two are preserved in the collection of Herculaneum; they are
     made of white metal, and worked with elegance. Each is composed of
     two plates, round and concave, of four inches in diameter, supplied
     with flat handles. The two dishes (as it were) and their handles
     adapt to each other so well, that when put together they appear as
     one; holes in great number are symmetrically perforated in the
     upper dish, which keeps the dregs, and lets the clear liquid pass
     through the lower one. The strainer here represented is taken from
     Montfaucon’s “_Antiquities_,” and was found at Rome, towards the
     end of the 17th century. It is of bronze, and ornamented. On the
     handles are reliefs in silver, referring to the worship of
     Bacchus.

salt,[XXVIII-79] or straining it through the _colum nivarium_ (already
described),[XXVIII-80] covered with a piece of linen.[XXVIII-81]

Fine wines were kept in the wood for two, three, or four years,
according to their different properties; after which they were
transferred to amphoræ, and that operation required the greatest
care.[XXVIII-82]

The amphoræ were earthen pitchers with two handles,[XXVIII-83] reserved
for choice wines.[XXVIII-84] To prevent evaporation through their pores,
they covered them with pitch, and stopped the neck with wood or cork,
covered with a mastic composed of pitch, chalk, and oil, or any other
fat substance. The name of the wine was inscribed on the amphora; its
age was indicated by the designation of the consuls who were in office
when it was made. When the amphora was of glass, it was ticketed with
these details.[XXVIII-85] For this kind of vessels they had store-rooms,
which were commonly at the top of the house.[XXVIII-86] By exposing them
to the sun and to smoke the maturity of the wine was
hastened.[XXVIII-87] The discovery of this means of ripening, which the
Roman œnophiles never failed to practice, was attributed to the
Consul Opimius.[XXVIII-88]

Pliny assures us that the vineyards of the entire world produce 195
different kinds of wine; or double that number, if we reckon every
variety.[XXVIII-89] The whole universe, says he, furnishes only 80 of
superior quality, and of this number, two-thirds belong to
Italy.[XXVIII-90] Modern agriculture must have singularly disturbed the
calculations of the Roman naturalist.

Let that be as it may, the best Greek wines were those of
Thasos,[XXVIII-91] Lesbos,[XXVIII-92] Chios,[XXVIII-93][Q] and
Cos.[XXVIII-94] Italy boasted of the Sentinum,[XXVIII-95] the

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XXIV.

     No. 1. Amphora, or Dolium. Upon one of the handles is engraved the
     _sigles_ P. S. A. X; the first two, probably, are the initials of
     the proprietor, and the last describes the capacity of the vase,
     being 250 quarts.--MONTFAUCON’s “_Antiquities_,” expl.

     Nos. 2 and 3. Smaller Dolium, found at Herculaneum, buried at the
     bottom of a cellar. The mouths of these vases were fixed in a
     marble slab, and closed with a cover of the same material. There is
     in the Villa Albani, an amphora of terra cotta of this kind, which
     contained 18 Roman amphoræ, or 463 quarts, as marked by numerical
     letters, engraved upon the outside. In 1750, one of these amphoræ
     was found at Pouzzole, which was five feet six inches in height,
     and five feet in diameter, containing 1,728 quarts. Several amphoræ
     from Herculaneum and Pompeii have inscriptions written in colours,
     and which give the name of the Prætor Nonnius; the same as those
     found at Rome, which were inscribed with the name of the consul, to
     fix the year of the vintage.

[Illustration: _Pl. 27._]

Falernum,[XXVIII-96] the Albanum,[XXVIII-97] and the
Mamertinum.[XXVIII-98] After these, a number of other excellent wines
occupied a very distinguished place in a long nomenclature to be found
in Pliny[XXVIII-99] and Athenæus.[XXVIII-100]

The ancients professed to have a very particular veneration for wines of
a renowned growth, which had ripened slowly in amphoræ. Some gastronomic
archæologists produced, on their tables certain wines which had so far
dried up in leather bottles, that they were taken out in
lumps;[XXVIII-101] others, placed in the chimney corner, became in time
as hard as salt.[XXVIII-102] Petronius speaks of a wine of a hundred
leaves.[XXVIII-103] Pliny says that guests were served with wine more
than two hundred years old: it was as thick as honey.[XXVIII-104] This
wine was thinned with warm water, and passed through the straining bag
(_saccatio vinorum_).[XXVIII-105]

This predilection for good old wine was common to the
Greeks;[XXVIII-106] the Romans--who liked it for the bitterness it had
contracted by age;[XXVIII-107] and the Egyptians, who, notwithstanding
their time-honoured love of beer, were not unjust towards the beverage
with which their Osiris found it so delightful to intoxicate
himself.[XXVIII-108]

Athenæus sets no bounds to his praise of old wine. He says it is
excellent for the health; it is the best thing to dissolve the food; it
strengthens; it assists the circulation of the blood, and assures a
peaceful sleep.[XXVIII-109] Who, then, would be ungrateful enough to
refuse to drink?

The topers of antiquity did not disdain white wine, but they seem to
have viewed it as of secondary importance. It digests easily, says the
writer just cited, but it is weak, and has but little body.[XXVIII-110]
Red wine, on the contrary, is full of strength and energy, and it is the
first that the inhabitants of Chios learned to make,[XXVIII-111] when
Œnopion, the son of Bacchus, had planted the vine in their
country.[XXVIII-112]

However, there was no lack of amateurs of white wine, and, like
ourselves, the ancients doubtless preferred it when they eat snails,
oysters, or any of those shell fish with which the Lucrine lake
abounded. They even took it into their heads (how ingenious is
gluttony!) to change red wine sometimes into white. To do this it was
only necessary to put three whites of egg, or some bean flour, into a
flagon, and shake it a long time. The same result was obtained with
ashes from the white vine.[XXVIII.113] Now, is Apicius jesting with us a
little when he gives this recipe; or was it a legerdemain trick to amuse
the guests at the end of a repast, when too frequent libations had
rendered them incapable of distinguishing clearly one colour from
another?

The Greeks endeavoured to preclude the disastrous effects of
intoxication by putting sea-water into the wine; a mixture which they
also thought had the effect of assisting digestion. One measure of water
was enough for fifty measures of wine.[XXVIII-114] And, again, the
merchants of that nation took so much interest in the health of foreign
consumers that they never shipped the wines of the Archipelago for Rome
or elsewhere without diluting them in this manner. Such, for example,
was the course followed in concocting that celebrated wine of Chios,
which Cato imitated so as to deceive the best judges.[XXVIII-115] That
honest geoponic has transmitted us his secret. Fifty-six pints of old
sea-water are thrown into a pipe of sweet wine made with grapes dried in
the sun; or two-thirds of a bushel of salt are put into a rush basket,
and suspended in the middle of the pipe, where it is left to
melt.[XXVIII-116]

This very simple process metamorphoses the most indifferent liquor into
that delightful nectar which gave renown and fortune to the isle of Cos.

The saline wine of the Greeks (_vinum tethalassomenon_) was nothing
else.[XXVIII-117] Their _thalassites_ wine, so much in demand in Italy
on account of its apparent age, owed its reputation to the fact of its
having been plunged for some time in the sea.[XXVIII-118] This little
trading knavery was a tolerably innocent means of increasing the profits
of the speculator, who hastened the maturity of his wines without
employing any of those deleterious ingredients which illicit traders
have introduced at a later period. When the wine had remained a
sufficient time in the sea to give it age, it was drawn off into
goatskin bottles, well coated with pitch, and, in this manner it
supported the longest sea voyages.[XXVIII-119]

The following are the made wines most in vogue in olden times.

The _Passum_ was one of those most esteemed in Rome, particularly, when
it came from Crete.[XXVIII-120] It was made with grapes, spread in the
sun until they were reduced in weight to one-half. The pips, thus dried,
were then put into a butt containing some excellent wort. When they were
well soaked, they were crushed with the feet, and then subjected to a
slight pressure in the wine-press. Sometimes they simply plunged the
fresh grapes into boiling oil, instead of exposing them to the sun, and
the result was the same.[XXVIII-121]

The _Dulce_ wine was obtained by drying the grapes in the sun for three
days, and crushing them with the feet on the fourth, at the time of the
greatest heat.[XXVIII-122] The Emperor Commodus thought this a most
delectable drink.[XXVIII-123]

The _Mulsum_, or honeyed wine, was an exquisite mixture of old Falernian
wine and new honey, from the Mount Hymettus.[XXVIII-124] The physician,
Cœlius Aurelianus, recommends the holding of warm mulsum in the mouth
as a palliative in cases of violent head-ache.[XXVIII-125]

The name of _Anisites_ wine was given to that in which some grains of
aniseed had been infused.[XXVIII-126]

The _Granatum_ was prepared by throwing thirty broken pomegranates into
a pipe of wine, and pouring over them ten pints and a-half of a
different wine, hard and sour. This drink was fit for use at the end of
thirty days.[XXVIII-127]

Apicius gives us the recipe for the _Rosatum_:--“Put,” says he, “some
rose leaves into a clean linen cloth; sew it up, and leave it seven days
in the wine; take out the roses, and put in fresh ones; repeat the
operation three times, and then strain the wine. Add some honey at the
time of drinking. The roses must be fresh, and free from
dew.”[XXVIII-128]

The _Violatum_ is made in the same manner, only violets are used instead
of roses.[XXVIII-129]

Rosatum may also be obtained without roses, by putting a small basket
filled with green lemon leaves into a barrel of new wine before the
fermentation has taken place, and leaving them there for forty days.
This wine is to be mixed with honey before it is drunk.[XXVIII-130]

Myrrh wine--_Myrrhinum_, among the ancients--was wine mixed with a
little myrrh, to render it better and make it keep longer. They thought
much of it.[XXVIII-131]

All these wines, like those previously mentioned, were strained through
the _colum vinarium_ before they were served to the guests. This
strainer was composed of two round, deep dishes, of four inches in
diameter. The upper part was pierced, and received the wine, which ran
into the lower recipient, whence the cups were filled.[XXVIII-132]

In Rome the price of common wine--sometimes adulterated[XXVIII-133]--was
300 sesterces for 40 urns, or 15 sesterces for an amphora; that is to
say, about sixpence per gallon.[XXVIII-134] At Athens it was thought
dear when it cost fourpence per gallon. This measure was commonly sold
for not more than twopence.[XXVIII-135]

In the early days of the Roman republic women were forbidden to drink
wine;[XXVIII-136] but that law fell into disuse, and noble matrons often
carried intemperance as far as their toping husbands.


LIQUEUR WINE.

It must be owned that the Roman law was, for a long time, tyrannical in
the extreme with regard to women. Totally interdict the use of wine!
Kill the unfortunate creatures who were unable to resist the seductions
of that dangerous liquor! For the Roman history furnishes us with more
than one example of that atrocious chastisement inflicted on the guilty
thirst of the fair sex. The barbarous Micennius immolated his wife on
the butt, at which he caught her one day, quenching her thirst at the
tap or the bunghole. The ferocious Romulus thought this act simple and
natural: he did not even reprimand the cruel husband.[XXVIII-137]

Another unfortunate creature discovered the place where her husband kept
the keys of the cellar. She took them, and had the imprudent curiosity
to go and visit the mysterious and inauspicious treasure, to which she
was forbidden all access. Her family perceived this innocent larceny,
and refused her every kind of food, to punish her for an imaginary
crime. She died in the tortures of hunger.[XXVIII-138]

Is it necessary to speak of C. Domitius, that uncourteous judge, who
deprived a lady of her marriage portion because she had taken the
liberty to drink a spoonful or two of wine unknown to her lord and
master?[XXVIII-139] But, let us say it at once--Roman civilisation put
an end to such strange manners; and so early as the age of Augustus,
Livia, the consort of that emperor, affirmed, when eighty-two years old,
that she was indebted to Bacchus for her long existence.[XXVIII-140] Let
us remark, by the way, that the great prince, her husband, honoured the
labours of the vine-dresser and the serious study of wines,[XXVIII-141]
to which little attention had been paid down to his time. It began then
to be understood that this grateful drink draws the ties of friendship
closer,[XXVIII-142] and all honest people, all generous souls, were
eager to taste it.

The good Trajan quaffed off numberless cups every day: of course he
became the idol of the human species.[XXII-143] Agricola wished to
drink before he died.[XXII-144] The imbecile Claudius often found some ray of
wisdom at the bottom of an amphora.[XXVIII-145] Domitian merited the
pardon of his crimes, thanks to the streams of wine which during the
night ran from the fountains;[XXVIII-146] and Caligula would, perhaps,
have obtained that popularity which always failed him, had he possessed
sufficient sense to offer to the Roman people the delicious Falernian
wine he allotted to his favourite horse.[XXVIII-147]

The ladies ventured, in the first place, to wet their lips with a few
drops of those light wines which the sun seemed to ripen for them at
Tibur, in the environs of Cumæ, and throughout Campania.[XXVIII-148]
After a short time, they braved the Falernian itself--true, they
generally mixed it with iced water or snow;[XXVIII-149] but the boldest
are reported to have risked that dangerous liquor without taking such
timid precautions. Falernian was a noble wine! They began to drink it as
soon as it had reached its tenth year. Then it was possible to bear up
against it. When it was twenty years old, it could only be mastered
after it was diluted with water. If older, it was unconquerable; it
attacked the nerves, and caused excruciating headache.[XXVIII-150] The
ladies struggled a long time for the victory; but, alas! the Falernian
always had the best of it. Tired out, at length, with so many useless
efforts, the wisest of them left it to their husbands, and sought other
beverages which possessed less dangerous charms. Greece and Italy
invented new drinks for them, which had a well-merited vogue,
notwithstanding the discredit into which they have fallen for many
centuries past. Our modern beauties would smile with an air of
incredulity if we were to extol asparagus wine, winter savory wine, wild
marjoram wine, parsley seed wine, or those made from mint, rue,
pennyroyal, and wild thyme; and yet these liquors were the delectable
drinks of the most distinguished women of ancient Rome, of those women
who could never find in the culinary productions of the entire universe
anything sufficiently delicate or rare. Are we, then, to blame their
taste, or question our own?

Leaving aside this knotty question, which we do not feel ourselves
called upon to resolve, let us state that these different drinks were
prepared in a very simple manner. Two handfuls of one of the above-named
plants were put into a butt of wort; a pint of sapa and half a pint of
sea-water were added.[XXVIII-151] This wine was drunk by the Greek and
Roman ladies at breakfast,[XXVIII-152] and was an excellent substitute
for the _silatum_, a drink prepared with ochre, and which we can hardly
believe to have been introduced by sensuality alone.[XXVIII-153]

It frequently happened, after a banquet, that the wearied and palled
stomach refused with loathing the least nourishment. An intelligent
slave failed not, under such circumstances, to present his languishing
mistress with a cup of wormwood wine, before she quitted her couch.
Anon, the livid paleness of her complexion brightened into the rosy hue
of health, the dimmed eye resumed its wonted lustre, and that very
evening the brilliant matron could seat herself fearlessly at a fresh
banquet. That precious wine, that fashionable tonic, which modern
sobriety--be it said to our praise--has rendered almost useless, sold
well in Rome under the reigns of the Emperors. It was composed by
boiling a pound of wormwood in 240 pints of wort until it was diminished
one-third. There was also a more simple method of making it, which was
to throw a few handfuls of wormwood into a butt of wine.[XXVIII-154]

The live wood, or the leaves of the cedar, the cypress, the laurel, the
juniper-tree, or the turpentine-tree, boiled a long time in wort,
produced different bitter liqueurs, to which intemperance complacently
attributed benign qualities and numerous medical virtues.[XXVIII-155]
Equal praise may be accorded to hyssop wine, that famous mixture of
three ounces of the plant in twelve pints of wort.[XXVIII-156] Its
effects were surprising, and the most popular physicians would not have
failed to prescribe it for their languishing patients, whose strength
and gaiety it restored.

But, thank Heaven! our Roman beauties were not always obliged to have
recourse to the gloomy experience of the disciples of Æsculapius; and
when they were in good health, more exhilarating liqueurs lent their aid
to toast their return to health and pleasure. They were then seen
sipping myrtle wine, a mild beverage, the light vapours of which brought
down calm and profound sleep. It was wisdom to drink it; for, alas! not
all that would, can sleep! If the reader be troubled with wakefulness,
he will hail with joy the recipe for this beneficent narcotic. Let him
take young myrtle branches with the leaves, pound them, and boil one
pound in eighteen pints of white wine, until it is reduced to
two-thirds.[XXVIII-157] Let him drink this liqueur of the Roman ladies,
and, without doubt, he will sleep as they did.

The _petites maîtresses_, those delicate women, whose life seemed to be
a tissue of vapours mingled with tears--Rome abounded with them--would
have fainted even at the smell of the wines made up in the manner
indicated above. Their frail, nervous organization, required a different
kind of drink, and one was invented for them,--the _Adynamon_. This
adynamon, or wine without strength, was the most inoffensive of
liqueurs. It was obtained by boiling ten pints of water in twenty pints
of white wort.[XXVIII-158] A small cup of this salutary beverage
restored a debile Cynthia, a sickly Julia, when, negligently seated at
her toilet, a Bœotian slave brought a nosegay of lilies instead of a
crown of roses. These charming creatures would soon have lost the use of
their senses, if the adynamon had not been promptly applied to their
lips. But hardly had they tasted the marvellous liqueur when animation
resumed its calm and peaceful course; nay, after the lapse of a few
seconds, they were enabled, without any inconvenience whatever, to
witness the chastisement of the slave, whose naked shoulders and breasts
were lacerated by their orders with a thong studded with sharp
points.[XXVIII-159] Who, after that, would dare doubt the properties of
the adynamon wine?

The _Œnanthinum_ wine was destined for more vigorous constitutions,
for natures of less exquisite delicacy. The Roman ladies, somewhat fond
of rusticating, who passed a part of the year in their villas, prepared
it by putting two pounds of wild vine flowers into a butt of wort. They
were left there thirty days, and then the liquor was drawn off into
other vessels.[XXVIII-160]

Such were the vinous drinks which fashion formerly brought into repute
in the capital of the world. The women set no bounds to their taste for
these concocted wines; but went on from one excess to another as long as
the empire lasted. These strange habits, now buried under the Roman
colossus, have been replaced by a new order of civilisation. Woman, that
graceful being of whom antiquity was not worthy, now appears such as
Christianity has made her, to reveal to us virtues which ancient Greece
and Italy never knew. Daughter, wife, and mother, she consoles,
encourages, and supports man amid the trials of life. Her sweet smile
welcomes him at the cradle; her prayer accompanies him to the tomb. It
was she who softened the ferocious instincts of the barbarous hordes
that the forests of the north vomited over Europe; and still exercising
her empire over modern society, she is hailed as a queen, whose virtues
and chaste attractions render her the living embodiment of the flower
and the angel, those sweet symbols of love and beauty, between which a
modern poet has gracefully placed her throne.

       *       *       *       *       *

The primitive inhabitants of Great Britain learned from the Romans to
plant the vine, under the reign of the Emperor Probus. The conquerors
taught them also the art of cutting it, and how to make wine. But, as
Strutt observes, the vine could never be of any great utility in this
country. It was more ornamental than useful, with the exception that it
afforded the means of procuring a cool retreat and shade.[XXVIII-161] However,
some provinces of England became celebrated for their wines. “The county
of Gloucester is renowned for its vines,” says William of Malmesbury;
“and the wines it produces are scarcely inferior to those of
France.”[XXVIII-162]

Saint-Louis was the first who established statutes for the dealers in
wine.[XXVIII-163] New ones were framed in 1585,[XXVIII-164] and the
dealers were then divided into four classes, each of which was
designated by a particular name, viz., the inn-keepers, the publicans,
the tavern-keepers, and the wine-dealers by measure. The inn-keepers had
accommodation for man and horse; the publicans served drink with
table-cloth and plates--that is to say, they might serve food and drink
at the same time; the tavern-keepers served drink alone; and the retail
dealers could only sell it in considerable quantities at one
time.[XXVIII-165] In 1680 these four classes were reduced to
two--wine-merchants and retail wine-dealers.

Under the reign of Louis XIV., a great dispute arose concerning the
relative merits of Burgundy and Champagne wines, and the preference due
to the one or the other. This quarrel originated in a thesis, maintained
at the commencement of the 17th century at the Medical School of Paris,
in which it was asserted, that the wine of Beaune, in Burgundy, was not
only the most agreeable but the most wholesome. This thesis excited no
murmur at the time: from the 13th century the wine of Beaune had always
enjoyed the highest reputation, and no one dreamed of disputing it. But
forty years later they risked a proposition much more rash than the
preceding one: it was maintained, in the same school, that the wines of
Burgundy were not only preferable to those of Champagne, but that the
latter attack the nerves, cause a fermentation of the humours, and
infallibly bring on the gout in persons not naturally subject to it.
They fortified this incredible opinion with the authority of the
celebrated Fagon, chief physician of Louis XIV., who had just forbidden
the king, as they said, the use of Champagne wine.

The Champagne people took fire--it was time--the dangerous heresy
threatened to spread; so they attacked the Burgundians bravely. The
latter defended themselves with equal courage. The battle waxed warm.
Each party sought to crush their antagonists with heavy writings. The
inhabitants of Burgundy pretended that the wine of Champagne owed its
vogue entirely to the influence of Colbert and Louvois, the then
ministers, one of whom was a native of Champagne, and the other in
possession of immense vineyards. The Champagne growers proved that this
assertion was false in every particular. Long before the time of these
two statesmen, said they, the French got tipsy on Champagne wine; ergo,
they valued that exhilarating liquor. This argument was irrefragable.
They might have added that, from the 16th century, the wine of Aï, a
canton of Champagne, enjoyed such renown that the Emperor Charles V.,
Pope Leo X., Henry VIII. of England, and Francis I. of France, were
anxious to possess this nectar, and tradition assures us that each of
these great sovereigns purchased a close at Aï, in which a little house
was built for a vine-dresser, who sent them every year a stock of wine,
which enlivened their repasts.[XXVIII-166]

The epicureans took part in this great discussion, and that they might
give their judgment after mature deliberation, founded on a perfect
knowledge of facts, they have been tasting Champagne and Burgundy wines
these two hundred years. May the vouchers in this suit never fail them!

Wine was long used for presents and fees--a custom established under
Charlemagne. After a baptism, a marriage, or a burial, the priests
received the _vicar’s wine_; before marriage, _wedding wine_ was offered
to the intended bride; after a law-suit, the counsellor was presented
with _clerk’s wine_; the _wine of citizenship_ was given to the mayor of
a town in which any person took up his abode. This present subsequently
took the name of _pot-de-vin_ (bribe), still in great favour. It has
changed its character, certainly, but the variations have multiplied to
infinity.[XXVIII-167]

In the middle ages sober people intoxicated themselves regularly once a
month. Arnaud de Villeneuve examines seriously the advantages of this
Hygienic custom.[XXVIII-168] There was a kind of glory attached to the
swallowing of more wine than any other man without being _non compos
mentis_. There was, however, a means of avoiding these bacchanalian
encounters. It was, to choose a champion who, as in judicial combats,
accepted the challenges for his candidate, to whom the victory or defeat
was attributed, as if he himself had drank.[XXVIII-169]

In the middle ages, and in the 16th century, intoxication was severely
punished in France.

By five ordinances, in the years 802, 803, 810, 812, and 813,
Charlemagne declares habitual drinkers unworthy of being heard before
courts of justice in their own cause, or as witness for
another.[XXVIII-170]

Francis I. decreed, by an edict, in the month of August, 1536, that
whosoever should be found intoxicated was to be imprisoned on bread and
water for the first offence; the second time, flogging in the prison was
added; the third time, he was publicly flogged; and if the offender was
incorrigible, his ears were out off, he was deemed infamous, and
banished the kingdom.[XXVIII-171]

Now every one is free to quench his thirst, and drink more if he
chooses.

“_The Crafte to make Ypocras._--Take a quarte of red wine, an ounce of
synamon, ane halfe an once (ounce) of gynger, a quarter of an unnce
(ounce) of greynes and long pepper, and halfe a pound of suger, and
brose all this (not too small), and then put them in a bage of wullen
clothe, made therefore (for that purpose), with the wire, and it hange
over a vessel tyll the wine be run thorowe
(through).”[XXVIII-172]--Quoted by STRUTT.

The English were extremely partial to a drink they called _Clarey_, or
_Clarre_. According to Arnold[XXVIII-173] it was compounded in the
following manner:--

“For eighteen gallons of good wyne, take halfe a pounde of ginger,
quarter of a pound of long peper, an ounce of safron, a quarter of an
ounce of coliaundyr, two ounces of calomole dromatycus, and the third
part as much honey that is clarifyed as of youre wyne, streyne them
through a cloth, and do it into a clene vessell.”

John, in the first year of his reign, made a law that a tun of Rochelle
wine should not be sold for more than twenty shillings, a tun of wine
from Anjou for twenty-three shillings, and a tun of French wine for
twenty-five shillings, except some that might be of the very best sort,
which was allowed to be raised to twenty-six shillings and fourpence,
but not for more, in any case. By retail, a gallon of Rochelle wine was
to be sold for fourpence, and a gallon of white wine for sixpence, and
no dearer.[XXVIII-174]




XXIX.

REPASTS.


Mortals were formerly remarkably sober, and the gods themselves set them
the example, by feeding exclusively on ambrosia and nectar.[XXIX-1] The
most illustrious warriors in the Homeric ages were generally contented
with a piece of roast beef; for a festival, or a wedding dinner, the
frugal fare was a piece of roast beef; and the king of kings, the
pompous Agamemnon, offered no greater rarity to the august chiefs of
Greece, assembled round his hospitable table. It is true that the guest
to be most honoured received for his own share an entire fillet of
beef.[XXIX-2]

The vigorous but uncultivated appetites of these heroes were hardly
satisfied when everything disappeared, and none of them thought to
prolong the pleasures of good cheer.[XXIX-3] Happy times of ingenuous
and ignorant frugality! what has become of you?

It must not, however, be imagined that they were entirely destitute of
more refined aliments. Homer gives to the Hellespont the epithet of
_fishy_; Ithaca, and several other islands of Greece, abounded in
excellent game;[XXIX-4] but the magiric genius was asleep--it awoke at a
later period.

Beware, however, of a mistake: those men--with so little choice
respecting their viands--all possessed stomachs of astounding
capacity.[XXIX-5] Theagenes, an athlete of Thasos, eat a whole
bull;[XXIX-6] Milo of Crotona did the same thing--at least once.[XXIX-7]
Titormus had an ox served for supper, and when he rose from table, they
say not a morsel remained.[XXIX-8] Astydamas of Miletus, invited to
supper by the Persian, Ariobarzanes, devoured a feast prepared for nine
persons.[XXIX-9] Cambis, King of Lydia, had such an unfortunate
appetite, that one night the glutton devoured his wife![XXIX-10] Thys,
King of the Paphlagonians, was afflicted with voracity nearly
similar.[XXIX-11] The Persian Cantibaris, eat so much and so long that
his jaws were at last tired, and then attentive servants used to press
the food into his mouth.[XXIX-12]

These are facts of which we do not exactly guarantee the truth, for
history--it is no secret--has some little resemblance to the microscope:
it frequently magnifies objects by presenting them to us through its
deceitful prism.

We close this singularly incomplete list of the ancient polyphagists by
adding that the Pharsalians[XXIX-13] and the Thessalians[XXIX-14] were
redoubtable eaters, and that the Egyptians consumed a prodigious
quantity of bread.[XXIX-15]

In more modern times, some men have acquired, by the energy of their
hunger, an illustration they would have vainly demanded from their
genius or their virtues. The Emperor Claudius sat down to table at all
hours and in any place. One day, when he was dispensing justice
according to his own fashion in the market-place of Augustus, his
olfactory nerves scented the delicious odour of a feast which exhaled
from one of the neighbouring temples. It was the priests of Mars, who
were merry-making at the expense of the good souls in the surrounding
locality. The glutton emperor immediately left his judgment-seat, and,
without any further ceremony, went and asked them for a knife and
fork.[XXIX-16] Never, no, never, adds the biographer of this prince, did
he leave a repast until he was distended with food and soaked with
drink, and then only to sleep. Yes, the ignoble Cæsar slept; but still,
the “peacock’s feather,” an unseemly invention of Roman turpitude, was
called into requisition to prepare the monarch for new
excesses.[XXIX-17]

Galba could taste nothing if he was not served with inconceivable
profusion. His stomach imposed limits upon him, but his eyes knew none;
and when he had gloated to his heart’s content upon the magnificent
spectacle of innumerable viands for which the universe had been
ransacked, he would have the imperial dessert taken slowly round the
table, and then heaped up to a prodigious height before the astonished
guests.[XXIX-18]

Vitellius, the boldest liver, perhaps, of the whole imperial crew, and
the most active polyphagist of past times, caused himself to be invited
the same day to several senatorial families. This deplorable honour
often caused their ruin, for each repast cost not less than 400,000
sesterces (£3,200). The intrepid Vitellius was equal to the whole,
thanks to the peacock’s feather, which, doubtless, was cursed more than
once by the unfortunate victims of his dreadful gluttony.[XXIX-19]

True, this poor prince was continually tormented with a hunger that no
aliment seemed capable of satisfying. In the sacrifices, like the
Harpies of whom Virgil speaks,[XXIX-20] he took the half-roasted viands
from the altars, and disputed the sacred cakes with the gods. As he
passed through the streets he seized the smoking-hot food spread out
before the shops and public-houses; he did not even disdain the
disgusting scraps that a miserable plebeian had gnawed the evening
before, and which a hunger-stricken slave would have hardly contested
with him.[XXIX-21]

Such were the masters of the world, the proud Cæsars! before whom
haughty Rome bowed the head and trembled, and from whom it basely
implored a smile, up to that day when some soldiers, tired of their
shameful obedience, kicked the imperial corpse into the Tiber, after
having mutilated it in presence of the populace, who crowded joyously
around the Gemoniæ.[XXIX-22]

These terrific examples of insatiable voracity have become rare and
obscure. A few isolated facts may perhaps be met with at very distant
periods, which remind us of the polyphagic celebrities of Greece and
Italy. There are, however, two which would have merited the attention of
Vitellius himself.

The ingenuous Fuller[XXIX-23] speaks of a man, named Nicholas Wood, to
whom the county of Kent proudly claims the honour of having given birth,
who once eat a whole sheep at one meal. One day three dozen of pigeons
were placed before him, of which he left only the bones. Another day,
being at Lord Wootton’s, and having a good appetite, he devoured
eighty-four rabbits and eighteen yards of black-pudding for his
breakfast. We leave to Fuller the responsibility of the figures. Any
how, the brave Nicholas Wood must have been a vigorous trencher-man!

The second anecdote is from Berchoux:--

Marshal Villars had a house-porter who was an enormous eater. “Franz,”
said he, one day, “tell me, now, how many loins you could eat?” “Ah! my
lord, as for loins, not many: five or six at most.” “And how many legs
of mutton?” “Ah! as for legs of mutton, not many: seven or eight
perhaps.” “And fatted pullets?” “Ah! as for pullets, my lord, not many:
not more than a dozen.” “And pigeons?” “Ah! as for pigeons, not many:
perhaps forty--fifty at most, according to the appetite.” “And larks?”
“Ah! as for that, my lord--little larks--for ever, my lord, for
ever!”[XXIX-24]

A truce to gluttons. Let us speak of epicureans.

It is to them that gastronomic civilization owes the laws by which it is
regulated; they were the legislators of the table: they introduced
regularity and order at repasts. The breakfast, dinner, collation, and
supper were created by those sages. Fashion has often modified the
nomenclature, but assuredly it will never be able to supersede it.

The Greeks submitted to it for many years;[XXIX-25] and then, that
fickle people, whom everything wearied, declined the drudgery of
masticating so frequently. The lower orders and the army eat twice a
day;[XXIX-26] the fashionable people contented themselves with one
repast,[XXIX-27] which some had served at mid-day,[XXIX-28] but the greater
part just before sunset.[XXIX-29] The party of resistance had, as yet,
yielded only on one point--the collation; and they continued bravely to
breakfast, dine, and sup.[XXIX-30] But the monophagists were not sparing
in their jokes, and the new fashion triumphed at last over the
prescription of ancient usages.[XXIX-31] Pagan sobriety was doubtless
far from suspecting that the Book of Ecclesiastes, in accordance with it
on this subject, pronounces an anathema against the kingdom whose
princes eat in the morning.[XXIX-32]

The Greek manners were introduced in Rome, and persons of a certain
rank, who did not make a profession of gluttony, gave themselves up to
the pleasures of the table only once a day.[XXIX-33]

The tyranny of fashion was not, however, such that all persons thought
themselves bound to obey it under pain of being shamed and ridiculed.
Many unscrupulously transgressed its laws, and more than one respectable
Greek of good family, following the example of Ulysses, who prepared his
breakfast at sun-rise,[XXIX-34] had the _acratism_ brought so soon as
the crowing of the cock announced the return of day.[XXIX-35] This
frugal breakfast was composed of bread steeped in pure wine.[XXIX-36]
The adults restricted themselves to this slight repast, but the children
received more substantial nourishment.[XXIX-37]

The Romans, when they were not asleep, breakfasted at three or four
o’clock in the morning.[XXIX-38] A little bread and cheese,[XXIX-39] or
dry fruits,[XXIX-40] enabled them to wait for the solemn hour of the
banquets.

It would appear that the Jews dined at mid-day;[XXIX-41] it was the hour
at which St. Peter was hungry.[XXIX-42] This repast took place also
among the Greeks about the middle of the day,[XXIX-43] if we are to
believe Athenæus. However, Cicero relates that the philosopher Plato
appeared to be very much astonished, when travelling in Italy, to see
the inhabitants eat twice every day.[XXIX-44] It will only be necessary
to repeat that the supper alone formed the rule, and that the breakfast
and dinner were exceptions; they depended entirely upon the casualties
of will.

About mid-day[XXIX-45] the sober Romans had a slight collation.[XXIX-46]
Seneca, who never loses sight of himself in his fastidious treatises on
wisdom, informs us that a little bread and a few figs were all that his
virtue required.[XXIX-47]

The senators, the knights, and the luxurious freed-men, spared no
expense either for dinner or supper. The priests of Mars, of whom we
have already spoken, set them an example too seductive for them not to
follow it.[XXIX-48] It is to be remarked, by the way, that those worthy
ministers of the god of war took this repast in the most secret part of
their temple, where they hardly allowed any one to come and interrupt
them. This gastronomic quietude was also very much the taste of a
celebrated modern sailor, the Bailiff de Suffrein. He was at dinner in
Achem, India, when a deputation from the town was announced. Being a
witty glutton, he conceived the happy thought of sending word to the
importunate troop that an article of the Christian religion expressly
prohibited every Christian from occupying himself with anything besides
eating, that function being of the most serious importance. This reply
singularly edified the deputation, who retired with respect, admiring
the extreme devotion of the French general.[XXIX-49]

The collation--_merenda_--was little in use. It took place about the end
of the day, before supper, particularly in summer, among the workmen and
farm labourers.[XXIX-50]

We now come to the principal repast, to that which threw such brilliancy
over the latter centuries of Rome, when a culinary monomania, a sort of
gastronomic furor, seemed to have seized the sovereign people, who, no
longer great by their conquests, betrayed a desire to become so by the
number and audacity of their follies.

The Hebrews supped at the ninth hour, that is to say, about three
o’clock in the afternoon.[XXIX-51] Their custom of two repasts would be
sufficiently proved by the fact that, on fast days, they took food only
in the evening.[XXIX-52] Hence, when they did not fast, they also eat at
another hour. Their ordinary aliment was very simple; we shall have to
speak of it hereafter.

In the primitive times, kings prepared their own suppers.[XXIX-53] Beef,
mutton, goat’s flesh--such were the viands which then satisfied the
daintiest palates.[XXIX-54] Baskets, filled with pure wheaten bread,
were carried round to the guests,[XXIX-55] and heaps of salt, placed on
the table, gave proof of the hospitality of those simple and
unsophisticated ages.[XXIX-56]

The fierce warriors of that warlike period never forgot to invoke the
gods before they satisfied their appetites: libations of wine rendered
them favourable.[XXIX-57] This pious duty once fulfilled, they gave
themselves up without restraint, to the joys of good cheer; and the
sounds of the lyre and the buffooneries of mountebanks enlivened the
banquet,[XXIX-58] which again received fresh animation from the copious
healths, which persons the least versed in the forms of society never
forgot.[XXIX-59]

It often happened that each one paid his share, or brought provisions
with him[XXIX-60] to these joyous suppers, of which the last rays of the
setting sun always gave the periodical signal.[XXIX-61] The uncertainty
of these amicable meetings constituted their charm. Pic-nics, as we see,
may be traced rather far back.

It was then that pleasure presided at those repasts; dulness had its
turn when luxury proscribed the supper in open air, and in
common,[XXIX-62] after the manner of the Jews, who assembled in gardens,
or under trees,[XXIX-63] and mingled the sweet harmony of music with the
less delicate seductions of their banquets.[XXIX-64]

The breakfast has always taken place after rising; dinner in the middle
of the day; the collation in the course of the afternoon; and the supper
in the evening. In the 14th century, people dined at ten o’clock in the
morning.[XXIX-65] One or two centuries later, they dined at eleven
o’clock. In the 16th century, and at the commencement of the 17th, they
dined at mid-day in the best houses. Louis XIV., himself, always sat
down to table at that hour.[XXIX-66] This order was not modified until
the 18th century.

The Sicilian cooks taught unheard-of refinements, and were sought after
with strange eagerness.[XXIX-67] The chine of beef and haunch of mutton
of the Homeric epoch, gave way to sumptuous banquets, and a learned
prodigality divided them into two or three acts, or courses,[XXIX-68]
the order and luxurious majesty of which have been adopted in modern
times.

It appears that three or four o’clock in the afternoon--the ninth
hour--was the time invariably fixed for the supper of the
Romans.[XXIX-69] Like the Greeks of yore, they contented themselves at
first with simple aliments, and few in number; subsequently, three
courses, sometimes seven,[XXIX-70] or even many more, appeared to them
to be hardly sufficient to satisfy the ardent voracity of their eyes,
and glut stomachs which odious precautions assimilated to the buckets of
Danaus’s daughters.

These suppers, the details of which always appear to us as bearing the
impress of exaggeration, notwithstanding the authority of the writers
who furnish them, were insufficient for certain prodigies of
extravagance and furious gluttony, who were served at midnight with a
sort of “wake” (_comissatio_),[XXIX-71] at which some of them gave proof
of renewed greed and vigour.

Vitellius was renowned for this kind of nocturnal debauchery;[XXIX-72]
others shone in the second rank, but no one equalled that monarch-cook,
who made the empire a market, and his shameful reign an unceasing
banquet.

Sensual enjoyments, and every variety of barbarity that follows in their
train, were carried to the highest pitch. There was something vast and
monstrous, of which nothing can give us an idea, in the eclipse of mind,
and the depravity of their hearts. All that force of intelligence and
will which, under the influence of Christian spiritualism, has revealed
itself in modern times by so many chivalric inspirations, so many moral
institutions, so many scientific discoveries, so many industrial works,
then ingulfed in the senses, was taxed solely for their gratification.
The sensual organization of man had acquired a development apparently as
vast as that of intelligence, because intelligence had become the
handmaid of the senses: hence those colossal proportions in the tastes,
the banquets, the pleasures of the ancients, when compared with ours,
which make us regard them as an extinct race of giants, if we consider
them in a sensual point of view; and as a race of pygmies, if we measure
them by that power of ideas--that metaphysical and moral elevation--to
which we have attained, and which would make a child of our days the
catechist of all the philosophers of antiquity.[XXIX-73]

Down to the time of the conquest of the north of Europe by the Romans,
the food was very simple. Chopped herbs boiled in cauldrons, served in
wooden bowls on the hide of an ox, spread on the ground, in the midst of
the forest; balls composed of different kinds of flour, and some strips
of meat grilled on the embers--such was the food of our
forefathers.[XXIX-74]

The table at which the Anglo-Saxons took their repasts, was covered with
a very clean cloth. Each one received a horn cup, which contained some
kind of pottage, or ale--the beverage for which they had a
predilection.[XXIX-75] The plates with which Strutt has enriched his
work give a satisfactory idea of the culinary intelligence of the
nation. They had spits, knives, plates, and dishes in abundance. England
was marching with giant strides towards civilization.[XXIX-76]

The Anglo-Saxons were particularly fond of boiled meat. They cut up the
animal they intended to cook, put the pieces into a cauldron, supported
by a tripod, and then lighted a fire on the ground. They stirred their
_ragoût_ incessantly with a long two-pronged fork, which also served
them to take out the meat when it was done.[XXIX-77]

All the deplorable excesses of the Romans ought not to divert us from
the fact, that religion and sound policy seem to have consecrated
repasts in common, as one of the means best calculated to unite men more
closely in the bonds of concord and friendship.[XXIX-78] The Scriptures
furnish us with the first examples. Among the Israelites, the banquets
which followed the sacrifices always took place in an assembly of
relations, neighbours, or friends.[XXIX-79] They eat together and in
public on wedding days and solemn festivals.[XXIX-80]

The first Christians promptly adopted this custom: their love
feasts--their _agapæ_--were served in the church, after the Communion.
The rich contributed to them abundantly; the poor according to their
means; and the indigent who presented themselves with nothing in their
hands, were received and treated as brethren.[XXIX-81] Admirable
association of penury and opulence, which will never be replaced by the
crude Utopias of modern philanthropy!

As an act of justice to Pagan legislators, we are compelled to say that
sometimes they had excellent views, which go far to extenuate many of
their aberrations. The laws of Minos prescribed to the Cretans the
annual levy of an impost, the half of which was to be consecrated to the
nourishment of the people. No one could eat alone; a certain number of
families met together to take their repasts in common.[XXIX-82] At
Lacedæmon, each one brought his share of the provisions necessary for
the supper of the whole;[XXIX-83] or he sent at the commencement of the
month to the steward of the common halls, wine, cheese, figs, a measure
of flour, and a small sum of money to defray other expenses.[XXIX-84]
Friendship, sobriety, and concord presided, without exception, at these
meetings.

Solon decreed that the Athenians should assemble at the Prytanea to eat
together--sometimes one, sometimes another--at the public expense. Each
was invited in his turn, and was expected to be there on the day
named.[XXIX-85] The Prytanea of Athens, Megara, Olympia, and Cyzica,
contained a great number of porticoes, under which were the tables at
which the citizens sat.

The founder of Rome also had the wisdom to ordain that, in certain
cases, the inhabitants of the same ward should take their repasts in
common, as a sign of peace and good feeling; nay, more: he decreed these
suppers to be a part of the religious worship, and they were called
“sacred banquets.”[XXIX-86]

Man abuses every thing. The Romans, tired of eating merely to support
life, and disdaining, little by little, that austere sobriety which
rendered them the masters of the world, gave themselves up at last to
unbridled luxury, which appears to have redoubled during the war of
Italy, and the civil wars of Marius, 83 B.C. Cornelius Sylla assumed the
government, and one of the terrible dictator’s laws (_Lex Cornelia_)
renewed the ancient sumptuary regulations, and fixed the prices of
provisions.[XXIX-87] Julius Cæsar also made great efforts to oppose the
redoubtable invasions of Roman gastronomy. That prince stationed guards
in the markets, with orders to seize whatever they found there in
contravention of the laws. If, through want of vigilance or fidelity,
they allowed anything to escape, it was sure to be confiscated by more
active agents, on the very tables, and in presence of the assembled
guests.[XXIX-88] Resistance only increased the evil. Augustus thought to
render the laws more efficacious by modifying them. He permitted twelve
persons to meet in honour of the twelve great gods, and to spend eight
shillings in ordinary repasts; twelve shillings in the banquets of the
calends, the ides, and the nones; and even two pounds on wedding days
and the day following.[XXIX-89]

Tiberius granted still more. Under his reign, a worthy citizen might
spend for supper the sum of four pounds, without having to fear that any
one would find fault with it.[XXIX-90]

Caligula, Claudius, and Nero--doubtless better judges of liberty than
their predecessors--allowed every one the right to ruin himself as
joyously as he pleased. These good princes, so far from repressing the
luxury of the table, strove to fortify it with the authority of their
examples.[XXIX-91]

Vitellius was by nature a non-reformer. That voracious Cæsar operated on
a large scale; he spent in four months, for his suppers, a little more
than five millions sterling.[XXIX-92] A trifle for a Roman emperor! Did
not the riches and labour of Europe, Asia, and Africa, form his civil
list? It is quite true that out of this modest revenue he had to find
corn to stop the cravings of the proletarians, and provide the games of
the Circus, in order to amuse them in their dangerous idleness. But
Vitellius, who had no other passion than that of good cheer, was royally
equal to the task. And these things cause no surprise when we remember
that a Roman general, Lucullus, spent not less than £1,000 to offer a
little collation to two of his friends, who refused him the time he
required to treat them in a less unceremonious manner.

We find in the history of “_Jack of Newbury_”[XXIX-93] instructions
relative to the manner in which an English tradesman was to feed the
persons in his employment in the 16th century, which would certainly not
be very pleasing now to that useful and laborious class:--

“You feed your folks with the best of beef and the finest of wheat,
which is an oversight; neither do I hear of any knight in this country
that doth it, and, to say the truth, how were they able to bear that
part which they do, if they saved it not by some means? Come thither,
and I warrant you that you shall see brown bread upon the board; if it
be of wheat and rye mingled together, it is a great matter, and bread
most highly commended, but most commonly they eat barley bread, or rye
mingled with peasen or such-like coarse grain, which is doubtless of
small price, and there is no other bread allowed except it be at their
own board; and in like manner for their meat, it is well known that
necks and points of beef is their ordinary fare; which, because it is
commonly lean, they seeth therewith now and then a piece of bacon or
pork, whereby they make their pottage fat, and therewith drive out the
rest with more content: and this you must do. And besides that, the
midriffs of oxen, and the cheeks, the sheep’s heads, and the gathers,
which you give away at your gate, might serve them well enough; this
would be a great spareing to your meat, and by this means you would save
much money in the year, whereby you might better maintain your French
hood and silk gown.”

The following is the style of living at the court of the Dauphin of
France in the 14th century:--

As in all well-regulated houses, there were five repasts, viz.: the
morning (except on fast days), the breakfast; the repast of ten
o’clock,--(_dix heures_, or the _décimheure_; by abbreviation _décimer_,
and by a second abbreviation, _dîner_)--the dinner; the second dinner,
the supper (_souper_), at which they eat no more soup than we do; and
lastly, the night repast, which they called a collation.

As an every-day fare, the Dauphin took for his dinner a rice pottage,
with leeks or cabbage, a piece of beef, another of salt pork, a dish of
six hens or twelve pullets, divided in two, a piece of roast pork,
cheese, and fruit; at supper, a piece of roast beef, a dish of brains,
neat’s feet, with vinegar, cheese and fruit. Other days, other dishes,
which were also pre-arranged with respect to kind and quantity. The
barons of the court had always the half of the quantity of the Dauphin;
the knights, the quarter; the equerries and chaplains, the eighth. The
distributions of wine and bread were made in the same proportions; such
a rank, such weight, such measure; so that the young and delicate
baroness had four pots of wine, while the chorister and the chaplain had
but one.[XXIX-94]

We are indebted to the learned Monteil for the following details
relative to the public repasts of Louis XIV.:--[XXIX-95]

The usher of the court, at the hour named, goes and knocks with his wand
at the door of the hall of the body-guard, and says: “Gentlemen, to the
king’s table!” a guard is dispatched, who follow him to the goblet,
where one of the officers for the service of the table takes the nave.
The guard accompany him, marching by his side, sword in hand.

Having arrived at the dining-room, the officers spread the cloth, try
the napkins, the fork, the spoon, the knife, and the tooth-picks; that
is to say, they touch them with a morsel of bread, which they afterwards
eat.

The usher returns again to the hall of the body-guard, knocks at the
door with his wand, and cries: “Gentlemen, the king’s meat!” Four guards
then follow him to the ambry, where the equerry of the household and the
chief steward, or major-domo, test the dishes, by dipping a piece of
bread, which they eat. After this, the king’s meat is carried, the
guards marching with their drawn swords on either side; the chief
steward, preceded by the usher, walking in front. When he arrives near
the table, he approaches the nave, and makes his obeisance to it; and if
the announcer, or any other person desire also to do it, he may. The
gentlemen-in-waiting place the dishes successively, and the table being
covered with them, the king then enters.

It is to be remarked, that it is always a prince or a great personage
who presents the wet napkin to him with which to wash his hands, whereas
it is a simple valet who presents him with the dry napkin to wipe them.

The king takes his seat.

The equerry-carver carves the viands.

The king serves himself on a plate of gold.

When he asks for drink, the cup-bearer calls aloud: “Drink for the
king!” At the same time he makes his obeisance to him, goes to the
buffet, takes two crystal decanters, one of which is filled with wine,
and the other with water, returns to the king, makes another obeisance,
removes the cover of the glass, and presents it to the king, who pours
out wine and water according to his own pleasure.

During the dinner or supper of the king, a group of lordly courtiers
stand behind his chair, and endeavour--though frequently in vain--to
divert him, and make him laugh; and another group, composed of ladies of
the court, stand behind the queen’s chair, who, on their part, try to
amuse her, and excite a smile.

Whether the king eat in public or private, the table is always served in
the same manner:--


AT DINNER.

         TWO LARGE TERRINES OF SOUP.
         TWO MIDDLING-SIZED ONES.
         TWO SMALL ONES AS SIDE DISHES.

    FIRST COURSE.                     SECOND COURSE.
  TWO LARGE DISHES.                 TWO LARGE DISHES OF ROAST.
  TWO MIDDLING-SIZED ONES.          TWO MORE, AS SIDE DISHES.
  SIX SMALL ONES, AS SIDE DISHES.


AT SUPPER.

_The same number of dishes, only there is but three-fourths of the quantity
                               of soup._

The king eats only with the royal family and princes of the blood.

Sometimes, however, the Pope’s nuncio has the honour of sitting at his
table, but always at the distance of four places.[XXIX-96]

The luxury of the table was carried so far under Edward III. of England,
that that prince was constrained, in the 17th year of his reign, to
impose sumptuary laws on his subjects, forbidding the common people the
indulgence of costly food and fine wines.[XXIX-97]

The necessity for this measure is demonstrated by the fact, of which we
read in the chronicles of Stow,[XXIX-98] that, “at the marriage of
Lionel, Duke of Clarence, the third son of Edward III., with Violentis,
the daughter of Galeasius II., Duke of Milan, there was a rich feast, in
which above _thirty_ courses were served at the table, and the fragments
that remained were more than sufficient to have served a thousand
people.”

The same chronicler also informs us that King Richard II. held the
Christmas feasts in the great hall of Westminster in 1399, “and such
numbers came, that every day there were slain twenty-six or twenty-eight
oxen and three hundred sheep, besides fowls without number.”[XXIX-99]

Richard Nevil, Earl of Warwick, kept so good a table, that his guests
often eat six fat oxen for their breakfast.[XXIX-100] “In number of
dishes and change of meate,” says Holinshed,[XXIX-101] “the nobilitie of
Englande do most exceede, sith there is no daye in maner that passeth
over their heades, wherein they have not onely beefe, mutton, veale,
lambe, kidde, pork, conie, capon, pigge, or so many of these as the
season yieldeth, but also some portion of the redde or fallow deere,
beside great varietie of fishe and wilde fowle, and thereto sundrie
other delicates, wherein the sweet hand of the portingale is not
wanting.”

So early as the 16th century the inhabitants of the City of London were
remarkable for the astonishing profusion of their repasts, if we are to
believe the poet Massinger--

    “Men may talk of country Christmas, and court gluttony,
     Their thirty pounds for buttered eggs, their pies of carps’ tongues,
     Their pheasants drenched with ambergrise; the carcases
     Of three fat wethers bruised for gravy, to
     Make sauce for a single peacock:--yet their feasts
     Were fasts, compared with the City’s.”[XXIX-102]

The description of one dish will enable us to judge of the others--

    “Three sucking pigs, served up in a dish,
     Took from the sow as soon as she had farrowed,
     A fortnight fed with dates and muskadine,[Z]
     That stood my master in twenty marks a piece;
     Besides the puddings in their bellies, made
     Of I know not what.”[XXIX-103]

Hang thyself, voluptuous Apicius! thou hast never dreamed of such
delicate fare!

In the comedy of the “_Parson’s Wedding_,”[XXIX-104] the captain orders
for his supper “chines fry’d and the salmon calver’d, a carp and black
sauce, red deer in the blood, and an assembly of woodcocks and
jacksnipes, so fat you would think they had their winding-sheets on; and
upon these, as their pages, let me have wait your Sussex wheatear, with
a feather in his cap; over all which let our countryman, general chine
of beef, command. I hate your French pottage, that looks as if the
cook-maid had more hand in it than the cook.”

The luxurious munificence of Norman kings is almost as remarkable as
that of the emperors of degenerate Rome.

William the Conqueror had himself crowned three times in the same year,
and the banquets he gave on those occasions were such that they
impoverished the kingdom.[XXIX-105]

At the dinner given on the marriage of Richard, Earl of Cornwall, and
brother of Henry III., with the daughter of Raymond, Earl of Provence,
more than _thirty thousand_ dishes were served on the table of the bride
and bridegroom.[XXIX-106]

In the year 1252, “John Mansel, the king’s counsellor, gave a stately
dinner to the kings of England and Scotland and their queens; there was
also present Edward, the king’s son, the Bishop of London, and many
earls, barons, knights, and citizens; in short, so large was his
company, that his house at Totehill could not contain them; therefore he
set up tents and pavilions for their reception; _seven hundred_ messes
of meat was not sufficient to serve them for the first
course.”[XXIX-107]

The following details, which we borrow from Monteil’s excellent
work,[XXIX-108] give us some idea of the style of living in the mansions
of France during the 14th century:--

“Whenever there is a dinner of ceremony, the clerks of the church are
requested to bring holy water. The repast is commenced and concluded
with fruit. The bread eaten is in loaves of nine ounces only. Every
bason of meat is surrounded with sage, lavender, or other aromatic
herbs; and on Sunday, or any holiday, negus is given. The sideboard, or
buffet, is always in the middle of the room, covered with jugs and large
drinking cups of gold and silver.

“The cellars, store-rooms, kneading troughs, dairies, and fruit-stores,
are filled and emptied unceasingly--take who will, when he will, and as
much as he will. Provisions of every kind are heaped up with a profusion
that announces magnificence allied with riches.

“The great number of nobles, knights, huntsmen, falconers, pages,
kitchen servants, butlers, bakers, the numerous valets, workmen,
gardeners, harbingers, door-keepers, porters, and guards are not equal
to the task of consuming so much. From all sides come relations, allies,
neighbours, friends, pilgrims, and travellers, all of whom remain or
depart at will, being feasted as if it were the morrow of a wedding, or
a patronal festivity.

“The kitchen chimney-places are not less than twelve feet in width. One
man would not have strength sufficient to use the tongs or the shovels.
The andirons do not weigh less than a hundred pounds, the trivets forty
pounds; copper saucepans of thirty pounds are common, and so are spits
of eleven and twelve pounds. One roast is composed of one, two, or three
calves, two, three, or four sheep, besides game, venison, and poultry.
The boiling of the saucepans, the exhalations from the grease, render
the atmosphere so fat, so thick, that it is only necessary to breathe in
it to feed. A person would not dare enter one of those kitchens on the
eve of a feast day, for fear, as it were, of breaking his fast.

“In the 16th century persons washed their hands at the commencement of a
repast, and a second time when it was concluded. When the master of the
house was particular on the point of civility, he had a bason sent round
at this second ablution, filled with perfumed water.[XXIX-109]

“When the person seated in the chief place was a guest of distinction,
politeness made it indispensable to present him with water to rinse his
mouth.[XXIX-110]

“One of the most difficult points of French civility in the 16th century
was to drink to a person’s health, or return the compliment in a proper
manner.[XXIX-111] A guest at one end of the table held up his glass, and
called out: ‘Mr. Such-a-one, to your health!’ He replied: ‘I love it
from you!’[XXIX-112] During the whole of the repast, healths were
bandied to and fro, in every sense. At the end they touched glasses
together at a central point, which created a very singular kind of
clash, and, at the same time, the arms underneath formed a sort of
fasces of sleeves and cuffs.”[XXIX-113]




XXX.

VARIETY OF REPASTS.


The fertile country inhabited by the Jewish people furnished them with a
very great variety of excellent provisions. Those of which they made the
greatest consumption, and which we find generally mentioned in the
Scriptures, are bread, flour, barley, beans, lentils, wine, raisins,
figs, honey, butter, oil, sheep, oxen, fatted calves, &c.[XXX-1]

The fat of animals offered in sacrifice was reserved for the
Lord;[XXX-2] but, with this exception, the Hebrews could freely make use
of it. They esteemed it much, and when they wished to speak of a rich
banquet, they called it “a banquet of fat animals.”[XXX-3] “He that
loveth wine and oil,”[R] says Solomon, “shall not be rich.”[XXX-4]

The extreme simplicity of the greater part of the Biblical repasts ought
not to induce us to suppose that the Jews were entire strangers to the
inspirations of good cheer. “Solomon’s provisions for one day were
thirty measures of fine flour, and three score measures of meal, ten fat
oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, besides
harts, and roebucks, and fallow-deer, and fatted fowl.”[XXX-5]

That primitive nation also knew different kinds of banquets, which,
conformably with their _naïve_ manners, were associated with the
celebration of a religious solemnity, a sad or a joyful event, a family
festivity or mourning, a victory or a public calamity.[XXX-6]

The Greeks and Romans, skilful masters in the art of good living, were
early on the alert to assure the collection of all things necessary for
the support of life. “Take care,” said Aurelian to Flavius, “take care,
above all things, that the markets of Rome be well supplied: nothing
more gay or more peaceful than the people, when they are well
fed.”[XXX-7] This remark is much more profound than it at first appears.

At Athens, special officers visited the markets, and only permitted each
citizen to purchase and keep in his own house the quantity of provisions
necessary for one year.[XXX-8]

The ediles of Rome performed nearly similar functions.[XXX-9] The
prefect of the town was invested with the power of making regulations
for the markets,[XXX-10] and the prefect of provisions had the
inspection of the sale of bread, meat, wine, fish, and all other kinds
of aliment required either for the table of the rich or poor
plebeian.[XXX-11]

During a long time, in Greece and Italy, the only charm of repasts was,
that they furnished an opportunity for the exercise of those duties of
kind hospitality, which Apollodorus has described in the following
ingenuous style: “As soon as a friend,” says he, “steps on the threshold
of his host, the porter receives him with a smiling face; the dog of the
house comes immediately to caress him, amicably wagging his tail; then
some one runs and presents him a seat without being told.”[XXX-12] This
last trait is charming.

But afterwards, they thought much more of honouring the god of good
cheer than Jupiter Hospes, and joyous Comus became everywhere the
fashionable divinity. One of the ancients describes him in the following
manner: “He is seen at the door of an apartment communicating with the
banqueting hall; his smiling face is fresh, plump, and ruddy; his head
is crowned with roses, and he sleeps standing; his left hand rests on a
thyrsus, but sleep makes him loose his hold; he staggers, and the torch
will soon fall from his grasp.”[XXX-13]

The Greeks were fervent in their worship of this god, at an epoch when
Rome still prided herself on her transcendant sobriety. Conon gave a
banquet to all the Athenians after the battle of Cnidos, about four
centuries before the Christian era; and his celebrated contemporary, the
handsome Alcibiades, conqueror in the Olympic games, magnificently
regaled the numerous spectators who had just applauded his
triumph.[XXX-14]

The pagan temples themselves often rung with the sound of the music, the
chaunts, and the dances which always accompanied the religious banquets.
These feasts in honour of the immortals must have been rather unedifying
to the truly faithful, for gaiety generally degenerated into extreme
licentiousness.[XXX-15]

The conquest of Asia was fatal to the Romans. Their savage rudeness
yielded to the effeminate manners of the vanquished; and henceforth, the
epicureans of Italy studied but one thing--gastronomic delectation; had
but one worship--that of the goddess Victua,[XXX-16] protectress of
food, and sovereign of the table.

Luxury made appalling progress. Nearly a century B.C., the Romans did
not blush to give 50 denarii (£1 16_s._) for a young fatted peacock; 3
denarii at least (more than 2_s._) for a thrush;[XXX-17] and, a century
later, 4,000 sesterces (£36) were given for a couple of fine young
pigeons.[XXX-18]

Worse followed!

Seneca describes in few words the luxury of the table among the
voluptuous Romans:--“Behold,” says he, “Nomentanus and Apicius, those
happy conquerors of all that is delectable on earth or in the sea.
Behold them at table, stretched on their couches, and contemplating
innumerable viands. Harmonious songs flatter their ears, a variety of
pleasing objects occupy their eyes, and the most exquisite savours
captivate their insatiable palates.”[XXX-19]

The genius of gluttony multiplied the banquets by prescribing luxurious
gastronomic assemblages, sometimes in honour of the gods, and often for
the gratification of simple mortals themselves.

Each year, at the ides of November, a repast was offered to Jupiter in
the Capitol (_cœna Capitolina_). The statue of the god was present at
the banquet, reclining on a magnificent couch, with Juno and Minerva
seated on either side. These divinities were splendidly served, and, as
they touched nothing, in the middle of the night the seven epulary
priests joyously eat the supper of the three immortals.[XXX-20]

The cereal banquet (_cœna Cerealis_) was equally splendid, and Ceres
maintained the same frugality.[XXX-21]

A sterile reminiscence of the equality which reigned among men in the
golden age, placed the slaves at table by the side of their masters,
during the celebration of the Saturnalia (_cœna Saturnalis_).[XXX-22]
This usage was common to the Greeks and Romans.[XXX-23]

The ninth day of the August calends, and the thirteenth day of the
November calends, a gastronomic solemnity--a monstrous gala--brought
together the Roman pontiffs to celebrate the day of their inauguration
(_cœna pontificalis_). This banquet was worthy of the proverbial
delicacy of those sacred stomachs.[XXX-24]

The augurs treated themselves magnificently in their turn (_cœna
auguralis_), when they entered on their functions. The pagan priests of
Rome vied one with another in a noble emulation of exquisite refinement
and ruinous viands;[XXX-25] but it is said that the ministers of Mars,
who had the reputation of being arch-epicureans (_cœna saliaris_),
always won the palm in this struggle of magnificence and
voluptuousness.[XXX-26]

The day the Emperor took the title of Augustus, he gave a supper
(_cœna imperatoria_) to the senators and magistrates. The tributes of
a year were sometimes hardly sufficient to indemnify the grand master of
these imperial orgies.[XXX-27]

The triumphal banquets (_cœna triumphalis_) were less elegant, no
doubt, but they cost the victor who invited the people immense
sums.[XXX-28] The guests crowded into the vast inclosure of the temple
of Jupiter Capitolinus,[XXX-29] or the temple of Hercules.[XXX-30]

They sat down to table to celebrate the anniversary of a birth-day
(_cœna natalitia_),[XXX-31] the happy wedding-day (_cœna
nuptialis_),[XXX-32] the arrival of a friend (_cœna
adventitia_),[XXX-33] the sad day of his departure (_cœna
viatica_).[XXX-34] The melancholy ceremony of interment was followed by
a supper (_cœna funebris_), at which the guests were the relations
and friends of the deceased.[XXX-35] They drank to his manes, and, by
degrees, the wine not only stifled their laments but called forth joyous
smiles. The Romans have bequeathed to certain modern nations more than
the remembrance of their funeral repasts.

In the palmy days of Athens, the Greeks evinced more of the epicurean
than the glutton--a fact which may be inferred from the description of
the supper of Dinias.[XXX-36] The most magnificent of their repasts was,
perhaps, that which Alexander the Great had served to ten thousand
guests, who received, each one, a present of a golden patera.[XXX-37]

In Greece, as in Rome, the greater part of the events of life occasioned
the joyous meeting of relations and friends. At the birth of a
child,[XXX-38] a banquet was given in his honour; he was named on the
tenth day, and the ceremony terminated with a banquet,[XXX-39] in which
they offered the guests cooked Cherso cheese, cabbage boiled in oil,
pigeons, thrushes, fish, and brimming cups of excellent wine.[XXX-40]
The teething repast took place when the child had attained his seventh
month, and the weaning supper when he began to eat.[XXX-41]

These family feasts, more or less sumptuous according to the fortune and
rank of the individuals who gave them, were generally signalized by a
custom which ridiculous and egotistical vanity could alone authorise and
maintain. On the banquet day care was taken to throw the feathers of the
poultry before the door of the house, in order to excite the fruitless
greed of the poor wretches, who, as they passed,[XXX-42] prayed heartily
that the infernal divinities might take the proud amphitryon, his
guests, and even the meanest of his servants.

       *       *       *       *       *

In France, about 1350, the setier (about twelve English bushels)
of--[XXX-43]

                                         £  _s._ _d._
  Wheat was worth                        0   0    7
  Rye                                    0   0    3
  Oats                                   0   0    2½
  Beans                                  0   0    5
  Peas                                   0   0    6
  A Hogshead of Wine                     0   4    7
  A Load of Hay                          0   1   10
  An Ox                                  0   6   10
  A Horse                                0  11    6
  A Calf                                 0   1    2
  A Sheep                                0   0    4
  A Fat Pig                              0   2    0
  A Gosling                              0   0    1
  A Hen                                  0   0    0¾
  100 Eggs                               0   0    1½
  1lb of Butter                          0   0    3½
  1lb of Honey                           0   0   10½
  1lb of Wax                             0   1   10

Prices of a few articles in France during the 15th century:[XXX-44]

                                         £   _s._ _d._
  1lb of Bread                           0    0    0¼
  1 Pint of Wine                         0    0    0¼
  1 Pint of Mustard                      0    0    0¾
  1 Bushel of Salt                       0    0    2½
  1lb of Pepper                          0    0    2
  1lb of Cinnamon                        0    1    2
  1lb of Bacon                           0    0    0¾
  A Pair of Pigeons                      0    0    1¼
  A Pair of Partridges                   0    0    2½
  A Cart-load of Wood (_une voie_)       0    0    8
  A Sack of Charcoal                     0    0    1
  1lb of Candles                         0    0    0½

In England, under the reign of Edward III., a royal proclamation fixed
the price of the following articles:--[XXX-45]

                                         £   _s._ _d._
  A Swan                                 0    0    4
  A Porcelle                             0    0    8
  An Ewe                                 0    0    6
  A Capon                                0    0    6
  A Hen                                  0    0    4
  A Pullet                               0    0    2½
  A Poucyn                               0    0    2
  A Coney                                0    0    4
  A Teal                                 0    0    2
  A River Mallard                        0    0    5
  A Snipe                                0    0    1
  A Woodcock                             0    0    3
  A Partridge                            0    0    5
  A Plover                               0    0    3
  A Pheasant                             0    1    4
  Twelve Eggs                            0    0    1
  Twelve Small Birds                     0    0    1

The funeral repast of Sir John Redstone, Mayor of London, who died in
153l, occasioned the following expenses:--

                                         £   _s._ _d._
  Shipe Brede                            0    7    5
  7lbs of Sugar for the same             0    4    1
  Two unces of Saffrun                   0    2    0
  Two unces of Clovys and Mace           0    1    8
  Seven unces of Pepper                  0    0   10½
  Sixty Eggs                             0    0    7½
  Seven dysshes of Butter, at 4¼_d._
    the gallone                          0    3    3¾
  Manchet Brede                          0    1    0
  400 of Peers                           0    2    4
  1lb of Bysketts                        0    0    8

  TO THE PYKE-MONGER.

  Sixteen Pikes, at 1_s._ 4_d._ a piece  1    1    4
  Eight roundes of Sturgeon              1    2    0

  TO THE PULTER.

  Six roundes of Brawne                  0   11    8
  Ten Swannes, at 6_s._ a piece          3    0    0
  Two dozen of Quayles                   0   10    0
  Three dozen of Rabetts                 0    6    6
  Twenty-two Capons                      0   12   10
  Nine dozen of Pygeons, at 10_d._
    per dozen                            0    7    6
  Four Gese                              0    2    8
  300 Eggs                               0    3    9

  TO THE BOWCHER.

  A Surloyne of Beffe                    0    2    4
  Half a Vele (Calf)                     0    2    8
  Four Marybones                         0    0    8

  TO THE MYLKE-WYFFE.

  Two Gallones and Six Dishes of Butter  0    4    2
  Eight Gallones of Creme                0    4    0
  Twelve Gallones of Curdde              0    1    6

  TO THE BREWER.

  Three Barrelles of Ale                 0   11    0
  A Kylderkyn of Bere                    0    1    0
  For Double Bere to the Tabull          0    0    4
  Yest                                   0    0    4

  TO THE VYNTENER.

  Thirty two Gallones of Redde and
    Clarett Wyne, at 10_d._ per gallon   1    6    8
  Three Gallones of Mackeray             0    0    4
  A Rundlett of Muskadine                0    6    0
  1lb of Bread                           0    0    0¼

  THE GROCER.

                                         £   _s._  _d._
  Six unces of Pepper                    0    0    9
  Four unces of Clovys and Mace          0    2    4
  Two unces of Saffrone                  0    1   10
  18lb of Pruenes                        0    3    0
  8lb of Corans                          0    1    8
  6lb of Dates                           0    2    0
  11lb of Byskettes                      0    0   10
  12lb of Sugar                          0    7    0
  Five unces of Cynimion                 0    1    3
  Four unces of Gynger                   0    0    6

  THE BAKER.

  Four busshelles of Chete, at 1_s._
    10_d._ the busshelle                 0    7    4
  For Hot Brede                          0    4    0
  For Fyne Flour                         0    0   11
  For Basterde Flour                     0    1   10

  THE CHAUNDELER.

  A Peck and a-half of Salt              0    0    6
  For Candelles                          0    0    4
  For Vennyger                           0    0    4
  For Vergeys                            0    0    6
  For Pack-threade and Mustarde          0    0    2
  For Cappys (Capers)                    0    0    2
  For Lop of Pottes                      0    0    8
  For Hyer of Pottes                     0    0    4

  THE COOKE.

  For hys labor and companye for
    eighteen messes of meat              0   15    0
  For Yerbys                             0    0    8
  A Quarter of a Hundred of Fagottes     0    1    2
  For Coles                              0    1    6
  Paide the turners of broches and
    skulyons, four of them               0    1    4

The following is a correct copy of a monster bill of fare, from a paper
found in the Tower of London:--[S]

   300 Quarters of Wheat.
   300 Tuns of Ale.
   104 Tuns of Wine.
   One Pipe of Spiced Wine.
    10 Fat Oxen.
     6 Wild Bulls.
   300 Pigs.
  1004 Wethers.
   300 Hogs.
  3000 Calves.
   300 Capons.
   100 Peacocks.
   200 Cranes.
   200 Kids.
  2000 Chickens.
  4000 Pigeons.
  4000 Rabbits.
  4000 Ducks.
   204 Bitterns.
   400 Hernsies.
   200 Pheasants.
   500 Partridges.
  5000 Woodcocks.
   400 Plovers.
   100 Curlews.
   100 Quails.
  1000 Eggets.
   200 Rees.
  4000 Bucks, Does, and Roebucks.
   155 Hot Venison Pasties.
  4000 Cold Venison Pasties.
  1000 Dishes of Jellies.
  2000 Hot Custards.
  4000 Cold Custards.
   400 Tarts.
   300 Pikes.
   300 Breams.
     8 Seals, and 4 Porpoises.

At the feast, the Earl of Warwick was steward; the Earl of Bedford,
treasurer; the Lord Hastings, comptroller, with many noble officers;
servitors, 1000; cooks, 62; kitcheners and scullions, 515.

In France (14th and 15th centuries) the repasts were commonly divided
into five parts, called courses, or dishes.[XXX-47]

The first course was composed of cherries, tender fruits, citrons, and
salads.[XXX-48]

Milk-porridge, puddings, and pottages followed; it was the second
course.[XXX-49]

The third consisted of roast, with various sauces.[XXX-50]

The second roast, or fourth course,[XXX-51] presented the guests with
venison and game.

The fifth course took the name of fruit-course. At this they served
tarts made with all sorts of herbs, flowers, grains, vegetables, and
fruit.[XXX-52]

[Illustration: _Pl. 28._]




XXXI.

THE DINING-ROOM.


The _cœnaculum_ (dining-room), properly so called, was the place in
the upper part of the house where they eat.[XXXI-1] It was reached by a
staircase,[XXXI-2] and thither persons repaired during the summer,
particularly in the country. The Roman villas terminated by a platform,
on which the Romans often collected at meal-time; the air was not so
hot, and the panorama of the neighbouring country-seats was presented
without obstruction, to the gaze of the guests.[XXXI-3]

The dining-room was commonly decorated with fasces of arms and
trophies,[XXXI-4] which served as a momento of the warlike virtues of
the ancestors of the master of the house. Enchanting frescoes stood out
marvellously from the obscure shading of the wall, round which were
twined fresh garlands of flowers; and a mosaic floor--master-piece of
art and patience--harmonised with the fascinating landscape of the
ceiling, the site of which varied with every course.[XXXI-5]

The Emperor Nero, who carried this taste for the beautiful rather too
far, devised a sort of vault, in the most elegant style, and entirely
composed of movable leaves of ivory, which exhaled sweet

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XXV.

     No. 1. Large vase, or _cratère_; a vessel which was placed in the
     banqueting-room, and also on the empty space left on the tables. In
     it was put wine and water, which was taken out with a _simpulum_, a
     kind of small cup, fixed to a very long handle, bent at the
     extremity as a hook, to fill the cups of the guests. When the
     _cratères_ were not fixed on tripods (_engytheca_, or _angotheca_),
     which supported them, they only differed from the cups by their
     size. Some were of such dimensions that Herodotus speaks of two
     _cratères_, one containing 300 amphoræ, and the other 600; there
     vases commonly exceeded ten-fold the size of the cups, to which
     they were very similar in shape and handles.

     No. 2. A glass vase, with two handles, for iced water.

     No. 3. Glass bottle, with its cup, placed on the table for each
     guest.

perfumes, and whence flowers fell on the guests. In another of his
dining-rooms admiration was excited by a magnificent dome, the rotary
movement of which imitated, day and night, the course of the celestial
bodies.[XXXI-6] These prodigies of ancient mechanism adorned the palace
that the prodigal Cæsar called “the gilded house.”[XXXI-7] The colossal
statue of that prince rose in the middle of the hall: it was 120 feet
high![XXXI-8]

Studious people, or those who wished to appear so, covered some part of
the dining-room with books; for it was a custom introduced into Rome to
have recitations or readings during the repast.[XXXI-9] Atticus had
always a reader;[XXXI-10] and Juvenal promises the friend he invites to
supper that he shall hear some fragments from Virgil and Homer.[XXXI-11]

The Greeks yielded willingly to this intellectual pastime at the
commencement of the banquet, whilst incense and other perfumes filled
the room with a light vapour.[XXXI-12]

Opposite the entrance-door stood a buffet, sometimes of iron, but more
generally among the Greeks of sculptured wood, bronze, or silver, on
which were represented the heads of oxen or satyrs.[XXXI-13] This piece
of furniture was placed under the protection of Mercury, and a curtain
commonly veiled the front of it. It served for the display of precious
plate--vases of silver, silver-gilt, and gold, enriched with magnificent
precious stones.[XXXI-14]

The buffet of the Romans,--a sort of sideboard, of rare
workmanship,--was appropriated to the same use.[XXXI-15] Sometimes a
single foot supported a white marble table, surrounded with a border of
_vert-antique_, and plates and dishes were arranged on two elegant
shelves placed above.[XXXI-16] Again, the artist frequently conceived
the idea of giving a whimsical form to the buffet, which enhanced its
price--it was a ship laden with the vases necessary for the banquet;
four enormous amphoræ occupied the deck, on the two sides of the mast;
towards the prow was a candelabrum, and at the stern was displayed a
large-bellied cantharus, or vase, with mobile handles;[XXXI-17] the
main-topmast

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XXVI.

     No. 1. A glass vase, with two handles.

     No. 2. A glass vase, with three handles.

     No. 3. Etruscan vase, with three handles, terra cotta.

     No. 4. A large silver vase, to hold wine and water; when placed on
     the table, the liquor was taken out with simpulum, to fill the
     drinking cups.

     No. 5. A large-bellied cantharus--“_Herculaneum_.”

[Illustration: _Pl. 20._]

[Illustration]

[Illustration: _Pl. 21._]

was replaced by a large urn, and two cups of Bacchus were gracefully
balanced at either extremity of the yard,[XXXI-18] along which were
suspended craters, or vases, used in drinking wine.[XXXI-19]

The buffet of the Greeks and Romans survived the ruins of those two
celebrated nations; we find it again in the middle ages, and even in
more modern times. Then also, rich people loved to display their plate
on a very apparent piece of furniture, which, being dressed, took the
name of “dresser.” Monstrelet, describing the magnificence of the Duke
of Burgundy during his sojourn in Paris, relates: “that in the room of
his mansion in which he eat was a square dresser (_dressoir_) with
shelves, which dresser was covered and loaded with very rich gold and
silver plate.”[XXXI-20]

Sovereigns who affected great munificence had buffets of metal; there
were three--one for silver, one for silver-gilt, and one for gold. At
the banquet which the King of France, Charles V., gave to the Emperor
Charles IV., his uncle, each of the three buffets was of the same metal
as the plate it supported.[XXXI-21]

After the birth of a child, ladies, when they received visits, had a
dresser placed in their room. Those of countesses and great ladies had
three shelves; those of the wives of the younger sons of baronets had
two; women well-connected but not titled could have no shelf. Those who
enjoyed the honours of the court placed by the side of the buffet a
little table, covered with a white cloth, destined for the hippocrass
and spiced wine they offered their visitors,[XXXI-22] and which they
drank in hanaps, or a kind of chalice of earthenware, gold, or silver.
Those of crystal were much esteemed. Charles the Bald gave to the Abbey
of St. Denis a hanap, said to have belonged to Solomon. “It was of pure
gold, fine emeralds, fine garnets, and the work so marvellous that in
all the kingdoms of the world never was there anything so
perfect.”[XXXI-23]

The great lords also indulged in metal dressers,[XXXI-24] to which the
16th century gave the name of “buffets.” Under Henry II. of France the
court called them _crédence_, from an Italian word bearing the same
meaning,[XXXI-25] and which they have retained.

The Hebrews probably knew nothing of chimneys. When King Jehoiakim
burned the book which Jeremiah had written, “he sat in the winter-house
in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before
him.”[XXXI-26]

When, among the Greeks or Romans, they wanted to warm the dining-room,
they also had recourse to braziers or bronze furnaces of the dimension
of a middling-sized table, resting on lion’s claws. Foliage in copper,
bronze, and silver, was artistically incrusted round the edge. The
bottom was a very thick iron grating. Above and beneath, brick-work
prevented the coal from touching the upper part, or escaping through the
interstices.[XXXI-27]

They also made use of two kinds of stoves to warm the dining-room--the
one was concealed under ground in the massive wall, and little pipes
extended from its orifice to the apartment; the other, portative and
light, disappeared whenever it was judged expedient.[XXXI-28]

Among the pagans, the dining-room was lighted by torches made of a
resinous wood,[XXXI-29] or tallow candles.[XXXI-30] The rich had lamps,
candelabra,[XXXI-31] or magnificent lustres suspended from the
ceiling.[XXXI-32] They even knew the luxury of wax candles.[XXXI-33]

In the middle ages, the sovereigns and the great lords had, in the
middle of their dining-rooms, fountains playing, which poured fourth
wine, hippocrass, and other liquors. Some gave rose-water and divers
odoriferous liquids to perfume the banqueting-hall.

Rubruquis found in Tartary a Parisian goldsmith, Guillaume Boucher, who
had settled under the sway of the Khan, and had made him one of those
fountains.

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XXVI A.

     THE DUKE OF BRUNSWICK’S VASE.--This is one of the finest monuments
     we have yet seen, which has reference to the mysteries and
     sacrifices of Ceres and Bacchus. It is a precious vase, made of one
     single piece of onyx, from the cabinet of the Duke of Brunswick,
     and of the size represented in the engraving. It was published, and
     learnedly explained, in 1682, by Jean Henry Eggeling, and printed
     in the same year. This vase is of a singular form; has one handle,
     and on the other side a spout, which begins at the bottom, and
     finishes by a bend towards the top, to pour out the liquor.
     Eggeling believes that this vase is of the number of those the
     ancients called _guttus_, because the liquor came out drop by drop:
     he comes to that conclusion from a passage of Varro--“_Quo vinum
     dabant, ut minutatim funderent, a guttis guttum appellarunt_.” The
     vase is divided in three parts by two bands of gold, by which it is
     girdled: that of the middle, which forms the largest space,
     contains also a larger number of figures. The third diminishes
     towards the foot, and has figures also, all of which represent the
     mysteries and sacrifices of Ceres and Bacchus.

     The reader will probably feel interested how this vase came into
     the possession of the Duke of Brunswick. It was in the cabinet of
     the Duke of Mantua. When that city was taken and sacked, in 1629, a
     soldier, who had possession of the vase, offered it to Francis
     Albert, Duke of Lower Saxony, his commander, who gave him a hundred
     ducats as a reward. This prince left it by will to the Princess
     Christina Marguerite of Mecklenburg, his wife, who left it in the
     same way to her sister, the Princess Sophia, Duchess of Brunswick.
     She also gave it by will to her son, Ferdinand Albert, Duke of
     Brunswick. The lapidaries thought so much of it, that they offered,
     in turn, from sixty to ninety thousand imperials. In the inventory
     of the Princess Sophia it was valued at one hundred and fifty
     thousand imperials.[T]

[Illustration: DUKE OF BRUNSWICK’S VASE.]

The municipal bodies adopted them. At the entrance of Charles VII. into
Paris, one of this kind was seen in the Rue St. Denis:--“One of the
tubes spouted milk, another vermilion-coloured wine, another white wine,
and another pure water; and persons stood all round with silver cups to
give drink to the passers-by.”

In the 17th century playing fountains were still used at
repasts.[XXXI-34]




XXXII.

THE TABLE.


It is pretended, says Athenæus, that in the Homeric times each guest had
a table to himself,[XXXII-1] on which he was served with “a saddle-back
of beef, or a whole sheep or goat.” It was the custom among the heroes,
all men of high lineage, and tolerably aristocratic in their tastes. The
burghers of those warlike times and the villeins of the epoch eat their
dinner, without form or ceremony, on a heap of grass, which also served
them as a seat or couch.[XXXII-2]

Wooden tables--at first very clumsy ones, no doubt--only came into use
when the development of human industry had enabled men to understand
that they might be preferable to a truss of hay.[XXXII-3] A passage in
Homer would seem to show that they were very much like ours.[XXXII-4]
Perhaps the circular form was generally preferred.[XXXII-5]

Luxury soon called for the most precious materials, and the Greeks had,
at a very early period, tables of bronze,[XXXII-6] and even of fine
silver.[XXXII-7] The isle of Rhenea produced magnificent ones,[XXXII-8]
and an expensive fashion caused those luxurious pieces of furniture to
be prized when they presented delicate incrustations of silver, bronze,
or ivory, and rested on lions’ claws or leopards’ feet.[XXXII-9]

Cneus Manlius introduced these rarities into Rome after the conquest of
Asia.[XXXII-10] He was also the originator of tables veneered with
plates of gold,[XXXII-11] which ere long adorned the dining-rooms of
princes and senators, and the excessive price of which was only
surpassed by that of tables made of precious woods from distant
countries.[XXXII-12] The maple, the whitten, and a species of African
lemon-tree occupied the first rank,[XXXII-13] and the prodigious skill
of the workmen gave them a value superior to gold and silver.[XXXII-14]

The most beautiful of these tables were spotted or veined to imitate the
tiger’s or panther’s skin; but they acquired an exorbitant claim upon
the admiration of connoisseurs when they bore the marvellous design of a
peacock’s tail. This fantastic play of nature commanded a boundless
price.[XXXII-15]

An artist of unrivalled talent, Carvilius Pollio, was the first,
according to Pliny,[XXXII-16] who enriched these magnificent woods with
buhl-work of ivory and shell in the acme of perfection.[XXXII-17] Under
the reign of Nero, the Romans dyed this shell, and thought to increase
its primitive value by giving it the tints and accidental shades of the
cedar, the maple, and the lemon tree.[XXXII-18]

These splendid pieces of furniture were at first square;[XXXII-19] then
round;[XXXII-20] then in the form of a half-circle or half-moon, and
this horseshoe-shaped table they called a _sigma_, from the name of that
Greek letter, which resembled our C.[XXXII-21] The guests whom any
person wished to honour most were placed at the extremities of this
hemicycle,[XXXII-22] overlaid with magnificent covers, which replaced
the skins of beasts, formerly used for their adornment; and, in
addition, they were spread with tissues of fine linen and rich stuffs
elaborately worked.[XXXII-23]

The tables were changed at each course.[XXXII-24] The Greeks cleaned
them with sponge;[XXXII-25] the Latins used a sort of thick, plushed,
linen cloth.[XXXII-26]

The opulent citizens possessed a great number of tables; some were of
ivory,[XXXII-27] others of maple wood, cedar of Mount Atlas,[XXXII-28]
or lemon.[XXXII-29][U] Cicero had one of this latter kind of wood which
cost him 200,000 sesterces--about £1,480.[XXXII-30] They rested on one,
two, or three feet,[XXXII-31] and were called monopedes, bipedes, and
tripedes.

The Romans often changed tables only twice during the repast. Fish and
flesh appeared on the first, and the fruit was served on the
second.[XXXII-32] The same custom was common to the Greeks and the
oriental nations. The Hebrews had also two tables in their solemn feasts
and sacrificial banquets; on one was served the flesh of the victim, and
on the other they placed the cup of benediction, which passed round from
one to another, and was called “the cup of praise.”[XXXII-33]

The luxury of Rome seemed to revive after she had become extinct. Saint
Rémi, Bishop of Rheims, left to his heirs a silver table, embellished
with figures.[XXXII-34] Charlemagne had three made of the same
metal--the first represented the ancient capital of the world; the
second, Constantinople; the third, every known region of the
earth.[XXXII-35] Aymar, Viscount of Limoges, found on his estate a
treasure, which consisted of a table, round which were seated an
emperor, his wife, and several children--all as large as life, and of
massive gold. Richard Cœur-de-Lion pretended that the treasure
belonged to him as Lord of Limousin, and went to lay siege to the castle
of Chalons, to which Aymar had retired, where the king received a wound,
of which he died the 6th of April, 1199.[XXXII-36]

Silver tables still existed in the 17th century. Madame de Sévigné
(1689), speaking of persons who, following the example of Louis XIV.,
sent their plate to the mint, says: “Madame de Chaulnes has sent her
table, two _guéridons_, and her beautiful toilet of silver gilt.”

At some distance from the sigma, on a slightly raised platform, were
three kinds of elegant _crédences_ for the cups, wines, and
vases.[XXXII-37] The major-domo himself, generally attended to this part
of the service.

A very curious old book, cited by Strutt, “_The Booke of
Kervynge,_”[XXXII-38] contains the following instructions as to the
manner of laying the cloth for the King of England:--

“Serve your Soverayne with wafers and ypocras. Also loke your composte
be fayre and clene, and your ale fyve dayes olde before men drynke it,
and be curtays of answere to eche persone; and whan ye laye the clothe,
wype the borde clene with a cloute (_cloth_); then lay a couch
(_cloth_), take your feluwe, that one ende, and holde you the other
ende, then drawe the clothe straught, the bought on the utter edge, take
the utter parte and hange it even, then take the thyrde clothe, and laye
it bought on the inner edge, and laye estat with the upper parte halfe a
fote brode, then cover thy cupborde and thyne ewery with the towel of
dyaper; than take thy towell about thy necke, and laye that on syde of
the towel upon thy lefte arme, and thereon laye your soveraynes napkyn,
and on thyn arme seven loves of brede, with thre or foure trenchour
loves, with the ende of the towel, in the lefte hande as the maner is;
then take thy salte seller in thy lefte hande, and take the ende of the

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XXVII.

     No. 1. Etruscan flat vase, of terra cotta, with a cover, to hold a
     particular drink (warm, perhaps).

     No. 2. A marble vase, ornamented, for water.

     No. 3. A metal vase, to fill the cups of the guests.

     No. 4. A Greek Etruscan drinking vase, of terra cotta, in form of a
     seated Bacchanal.--“_Hercul._”

[Illustration: _Pl. 27._]

towell in your ryght hand, to bear in spones and knyves; than set your
salte on the ryght syde, where your soverayne shall sytte, and on the
lefte syde the salte set your trenchoures; than laye your knyves, and
set your brede one lofe by another; your spones, and your napkyns, fayre
folder besyde your brede, than over your brede, and trenchours, spones,
and knyves, and at every ende of the table set a salte seller, with two
trenchour loves, and yf ye wyll wrappe youre soverayne’s brede stately,
ye must square and proporcyon your brede, and see that no lofe be more
than another; and than shall ye make your wrapper manerly; than take a
towell of reynes, of two yerdes and an halfe, and take the towell by the
endes double, and laye it on the table; than take the ende of the bought
a handfull in your hande, and wrape it harde, and laye the ende so
wrapped betwene two towells, upon that ende so wrapped laye your brede,
bottom to bottom, syx or seven loves; than set your brede manerly in
fourm, and whan your soverayne’s table is thus arrayed, cover all other
bordes with salt, trenchours, and cuppes; and se thyn ewery be arrayed
with basyns and ewers, and water, hote and colde; and se ye have
napkins, cuppes and spones; and se your pottes for wyne and ale be made
clene, and to the surnape make curtesy, with a clothe, under a fayre
double napry; than take the towelle’s ende next you, and the utter ende
of the clothe, on the utter syde of the table, and holde these three
endes at ones, and folde them at ones, that a plyte passe not a fote
brode; than laye it as it should lye: and after mete wasshe with that,
that is at the ryghte ende of the table, ye must guyde it out, and the
marshall must convey it; and loke on eche clothe, the ryghte syde be
outwarde, and draw it streygthe; than must ye reyse the upper parte of
the towell, and laye it without ony grouyng, and at every ende of the
towell, ye must convey halfe a yarde that the sewer may make reverently
and let it be. And whan your soverayne hath washen, drawe the surnape
even; than bere the surnape to the myddes of the borde, and take it up
before your soverayne, and bere it into the ewery agayne; and whan your
soverayne is set, loke your towell be aboute your necke; then make your
soverayne curtesy; than uncover your brede, and set it by the salt, and
laye your napkyn, knyfe, and spone, afore hym; than knele on your knee
till the purpayne passe eyght loves; and loke ye set at your endes of
the table foure loves at a messe; and se that every persone have napkyn
and spone, and wayte well to the server, how many dysshes be covered,
that so many cuppes cover ye; than serve ye forth the table manerly,
that every man may speke your curtesy.”


THE TABLE SEATS.

The Jews originally sat down to their meals; but when they became
subject to Persia they laid on couches at their repasts, like their
conquerors, and other oriental nations, from whom the Greeks and Romans
borrowed their custom.[XXXII-39] The most distinguished place was at the
head of the table, at the extremity of the room, near the wall. Saul sat
in this place of honour.[XXXII-40] Under the reign of Solomon, the
Hebrews still used seats.[XXXII-41] The Egyptians were early acquainted
with the effeminate sumptuousness of table couches. They often placed on
them the venerated images of Jupiter, Juno, and their king
himself.[XXXII-42]

Before they had adopted this refinement of oriental luxury, the Greeks
sat at their repasts on chairs, more or less costly, but all very
elegant, similar to those which adorn our drawing-rooms, and which have
been modelled from theirs.[XXXII-43]

Homer’s heroes sat down to table,[XXXII-44] and Alexander the Great
appears to have preserved the custom. That prince giving a repast to ten
thousand persons, caused all to be seated in silver arm-chairs, covered
with purple.[XXXII-45] However, Hegesander assures us that, among the
Macedonians, he who had succeeded in killing a wild boar, reclined at
full length, whilst the other guests remained seated.[XXXII-46]

Italy always imitated Greece, and, like her, had table couches, which at
first, were only used by men: a feeling of propriety interdicted their
use by women.[XXXII-47] But the relaxation of morals, seconded by
fashion, soon banished this seeming reserve, and the two sexes could
only eat in a reclining posture.[XXXII-48]

A round, low table, made of common wood, and resting on three legs, was
placed in the dining-room of persons in humble life; the rich had it
made of lemon or maple wood, and supported by a single ivory
foot.[XXXII-49] Three couches at most were arranged round this table
(_triclinium_);[XXXII-50] sometimes two, which Plautus names
_biclinium_;[XXXII-51] and these they covered with purple or other
magnificent stuffs.[XXXII-52] Before they placed themselves, the guests
performed their ablutions and threw off their togas, to substitute the
“dinner robe.”[XXXII-53] They then took off their sandals,[XXXII-54]
and lay down, three or four on each couch.[XXXII-55] The rules of good
society did not allow that number to be exceeded.

The upper part of the body was supported by the left elbow; the lower
part was extended. The head was slightly raised, and downy little
cushions supported the back.[XXXII-56] When several persons occupied the
same couch, the first placed himself at the head, in such a manner that
his feet nearly reached the shoulders of the second guest, whose head
was before the middle of the body of the preceding one, from whom he was
separated by a cushion; and his feet descended to the back of the third
guest, who followed the same order with respect to the fourth.[XXXII-57]

When a couch contained three persons, the one in the middle occupied the
place of honour; when there were four, that distinction belonged to the
second. The place at the head of the couch was only offered to the most
worthy, when not more than two persons were on the couch.[XXXII-58]

Among the Persians, the middle place was reserved for the king. Cyrus
placed on his left the guest to whom he wished to do the most honour,
the next on his right, the third on the left, the fourth on the right,
and so on, down to the last.[XXXII-59] In Greece, the most distinguished
personage occupied the head of the table.[XXXII-60]

The voluptuous Heliogabalus only made use of couches stuffed with hares’
down or partridges’ feathers.[XXXII-61] The Emperor Œlius Verus
introduced a more exquisite novelty: he had his filled with lily and
rose leaves.[XXXII-62] The first of these princes--a cruel monarch, or
capricious child, according to his strange whims--amused himself,
sometimes, by placing on a couch, round the sigma, at one time eight
bald men; at another, eight gouty men; one day, eight grey-headed old
men; another day, eight very fat men, who were so crowded together that
it was almost impossible for them to raise their hands to the mouth. And
the brainless dolt shook with laughter at their efforts and their
contortions.[XXXII-63] One of his favourite diversions consisted in
filling a leathern table-couch with air, instead of wool; and while the
guests were engaged in drinking, a tap, concealed under the carpet, was
opened, unknown to them; the couch sank, and the drinkers rolled
pell-mell under the sigma, to the great delight of the beardless
emperor, who enjoyed greatly his _espiéglerie_.[XXXII-64]

The Celts seated themselves at their repasts on hay, before very low
tables;[XXXII-65] the Belgians reclined on a kind of couch;[XXXII-66]
the Gauls on the skins of dogs or wolves.[XXXII-67] These different
authorities are easily reconciled; for they relate to different cantons
of Gaul.

The use of couches was not unknown in the middle ages; we find the proof
of it in the _fabliaux_ of the 13th century. We have also the
description of a magnificent repast given by a bishop to two great
officers of Charlemagne, at which the prelate was seated, or lying, on
feather cushions.[XXXII-68] But this fashion was unsuccessful, and
people preferred wooden seats and stools, covered with carpet. When they
gave a great feast, they seated the guests on benches--_bancs_--whence
comes the word “banquet.”[XXXII-69] Henry III. of France introduced
arm-chairs for himself, and folding stools for his suite.[XXXII-70]
Sometimes people eat on the floor. St. Arnold, Bishop of Soissons, took
his repast in that manner on the day of the dedication of a church,
after having had carpets spread on the ground.[XXXII-71] In winter the
banqueting place was spread with straw or hay, and in summer with grass
and leaves. Publicans and tavern-keepers decorated their rooms in like
manner.[XXXII-72]

The gallantry of the middle ages had led to the adoption of a rather
singular custom, which consisted in placing the guests two and two, man
and woman, and serving for each couple one common dish, which they
called “eating in the same porringer.” Neither had they more than one
cup. In families the same goblet served for all. Saint Berlanda was
disinherited by her father, who was exasperated because, under pretext
that he was leprous, she had washed his goblet before making use of it
for herself.[XXXII-73]

A passage in Martial would seem to imply that the guests, among the
Romans, laid the cloth themselves;[XXXII-74] that is to say, they spread
on the sigma the stuff, more or less precious, with which it was to be
adorned.

A somewhat whimsical custom was established in the middle ages of
chivalry. When it was intended to affront any one, a herald, or
king-at-arms, was sent to cut the cloth before him, and turn his bread
upside down. That was called “cutting away the cloth,” and was practised
in reference to cowards and faithless vassals. It is thought that
Bertrand Duguesclin was the originator of this custom.[XXXII-75]

Mention is made of table-cloths in the life of St. Eloi. They were in
use on common tables; but the costly ones were not covered. These cloths
were plushed and shaggy, as we find by the description of Nigellus, the
author of a poem on Louis-le-Débonnaire. They were of vast dimensions.
In the inventory of certain effects in the monastery of Fontenelle, in
the 9th century, we read of four table-cloths, each of which measured
twelve yards and a-half by two and a-half; another, twelve and a-half by
three and three-quarters; and thirteen, three yards and three-quarters
wide.

In the 12th and 13th centuries table-cloths were called, in France,
_doubliers_, doubtless because they were folded in two. This practice
was eventually given up; and instead of a doubled cloth, the first was
covered by a smaller one, and removed at the last course. Henry III.
required this dessert cloth to be artistically plaited, so as to present
pleasing designs.[XXXII-76]

Napkins were much used in Greece and Italy. In the time of Augustus, and
many years after, each guest brought his own, as we bring our
pocket-handkerchiefs. Catullus complains of a certain Asinius, who had
stolen his. Martial brings a similar accusation against a parasite named
Hermogenes.[XXXII-77]

Napkins were sometimes made of asbestos, and they were thrown into a
brazier to clean them.[XXXII-78] But these rarities were seldom
possessed by any but princes, for asbestos was as expensive as
jewels.[XXXII-79]

The constitution of St. Ansegisius for the monastery of Fontenelle
mentions plush napkins to wipe the hands, but they were only used before
and after the repast. The town of Rheims was renowned in the middle ages
for the manufacture of table linen. When Charles VII. made his entrance
there they presented him with napkins, “very rich and curious by reason
of the beautiful flowered work.”




XXXIII.

THE SERVANTS.


All the opulent families had a great number of servants, or slaves,
whose low extraction,[XXXIII-1] the chances of war,[XXXIII-2] or the
parental will,[XXXIII-3] subjected to the caprices of the rich as a mere
thing possessed, a right, a property (_res_).

They were known, like the slaves of the Jews[XXXIII-4] in former times,
by their ears, which were pierced with an awl;[XXXIII-5] an ineffaceable
stigma, which always reminded the freed-man of his former humiliation.
The slave was also often marked with a hot iron on the back, the hands,
the cheeks, or the forehead; and the characters thus imprinted served
the master as an evidence against his fugitive servant in whatsoever
place he might find him.[XXXIII-6] It is, perhaps, to similar marks that
the prophet Zechariah makes allusion, when he says: “What are these
wounds in thine hands?”[XXXIII-7] Plautus, whose comic vein respects
neither the power of the Gods nor the sanctity of misfortune, calls
these unfortunate creatures “lettered slaves” (_servos
literatos_).[XXXIII-8]

A house of any note could not do without a crowd of servants, to whom
the steward (_dispensator_) apportioned the labour, the food, and the
chastisements.[XXXIII-9]

In a lodge near the vestibule was the porter (_ostiarius_),[XXXIII-10]
whose watchful eye observed every one who went in or out by day or
night. They made sure of his vigilance by chaining him to his
place.[XXXIII-11]

The hall (_atrium_) was guarded by an intelligent and confidential
servant, whose functions raised him above the other slaves.[XXXIII-12]
The _atriensis_--such was his designation--had the care of the arms,
trophies, precious furniture, and books, which adorned this apartment.
He had also to take extreme care of the paintings and wax figures there
preserved from motives of vanity or by a sentiment of respect; and it
was he who carried those images of venerated ancestors before the
funeral procession of the head of the family when, in his turn, death
had numbered him with his progenitors.[XXXIII-13]

The _obsonator_ bought in the markets the meat, fruit, and delicacies
necessary for the repasts.[XXXIII-14]

The _vocatores_ carried the invitations, received the guests, and placed
them at table according to their rank.[XXXIII-15] These functions
required a peculiar kind of urbanity and long experience on the part of
the individual who fulfilled them.

The arrangement, the keeping in order, and adornment of the
table-couches belonged exclusively to the _cubicularii_
(valets).[XXXIII-16] These servants are mentioned in Suetonius and other
ancient authors. The Cæsars had a great number of _cubicularii_ who
obeyed one particular chief.[XXXIII-17]

The _dapiferi_ brought the dishes into the dining-room,[XXXIII-18] and
the nomenclators (_nomenculatores_) immediately informed the guests of
the names and qualities of the things with which they were going to be
served.[XXXIII-19]

The _structor_ arranged the dishes symmetrically.[XXXIII-20] The
_scissor_ (carver) cut up the meats to the sound of musical instruments,
of which he followed the measure. Finally, young slaves
(_procillatores_),[XXXIII-21] served the guests attentively, and poured
out their drink. Those chosen for this employment were fine, beardless,
adolescent youths, with a fresh complexion, whose long silky hair fell
in curls over the shoulders. A wide riband which went twice round the
waist confined their fine, white tunic--a light, graceful vestment,
which descended in front to the knees, and behind hardly covered the
hamstring.[XXXIII-22]

While the guests, softly reclining on their table-couches, were enjoying
the agreeable surprise reserved for them by an amiable amphitryon,
slaves (_sandaligeruli_) attended to their sandals, and fastened them on
at the moment of departure.[XXXIII-23] Others, (_flabellarii_) armed
with fans of peacocks’ feathers,[XXXIII-24] drove away the flies, and
cooled the banqueting-hall.[XXXIII-25]

The banquet terminated, servants with torches and lanterns
(_adversitores_) conducted their masters home, and pointed out to them
the stones that might be lying in their path, and which repeated
libations might have prevented their visual organs from
discovering.[XXXIII-26]

We must not omit, in this nomenclature of the principal servants of a
good house, the taster (_prægustator_), who tasted or tried the viands
before the guests touched them;[XXXIII-27] nor the chief steward
(_triclinarches_), and director of the repast, who had to occupy himself
with an infinity of details in the kitchen, the cellar, the pantry, the
buffet, and the dining-room.[XXXIII-28]

A living synthesis of these multiplied services, he performed them all
himself. The least negligence, the slightest absence of mind on his
part, would have ruined the reputation, utterly marred the sumptuous
hospitality, of his master.

Never did the general of an army tremble under the weight of a
responsibility so redoubtable.

_Procillatores_, or cup-bearer, an officer whose duty was to fill and
present the cup to the king and princes. This charge was known in Egypt,
and the ancients transformed Ganymede into a cup-bearer to the gods.

Charlemagne had master cup-bearers. These officers signed royal
charters, and kept rank amongst the great officers of state. The head
one took the title of _Echanson_ to the king, of master, premier, or
great _échanson_. In the 15th century the _échansons_ exercised their
functions only on the coronations, marriages, and entries of kings and
queens. Louis XVIII. re-established the office of _premier échanson_. It
was abolished in 1830.

There was, moreover, a class of miserable, obscure, despised slaves,
whose useful labours rendered them necessary, and who were treated much
the same as beasts of burden. This order of subaltern servants were
composed of:--

The _lecticarii_. They carried the elegant palanquin in which the
haughty matron or the noble senator were conveyed to the
banqueting-hall.[XXXIII-29]

The stokers (_focarii_), who cut the wood, lighted, and attended to the
fires.[XXXIII-30]

The sweepers (_scoparii_), whose indefatigable activity kept the
apartments and furniture clean.[XXXIII-31]

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XXVIII.

     No. 1. Procillatores, or _Echanson_, from a painting at
     Herculaneum.

     No. 2. Triclinium, from a sculpture at Pompeii.

[Illustration: TRICLINIUM.]

[Illustration: PROCILLATORES.]

The washers (_peniculi_). With a sponge and a cloth they cleaned the
precious tables which adorned the _cœnaculum_, or dining-room.
Sometimes, also, they had to lay the covers.[XXXIII-32]

This rapid sketch will enable the reader to form a sufficiently correct
idea of the comfort and luxury which prevailed among the Romans, and of
which the Greeks set them the example. It is hardly necessary to remark
that the cup-bearers, stewards, carvers, and other household officers,
whose names belong to modern Europe, perform functions analogous to
those which similar servants performed formerly in Italy. But these last
were debased by the stigma of slavery, and degraded by long habit,
whilst the others were citizens.




XXXIV.

THE GUESTS.


The Jews and the Egyptians washed the feet of the persons whom they
received into their houses, and offered them larger portions as a mark
of greater honour.[XXXIV-1] These homely and hospitable usages have
disappeared with the simplicity of the primitive ages.

The Greeks required their guests to arrive neither too soon nor too
late. It was a rule of politeness from which nothing could exempt
them,[XXXIV-2] and which we ourselves observe at this day.

In the Homeric ages each one received his share of meat and
wine,[XXXIV-3] and the man who at that epoch piqued himself on his
knowledge of the science of life, never failed to offer his neighbour a
part of his dinner. So Ulysses gives Demodochus one-half of the “chine
of beef” with which he is served.[XXXIV-4] It is true that the King of
Ithaca was regarded as a perfect model of complaisance and delicacy.

Another custom (adopted it is said only in the modern taverns and
dining-rooms) was that of warming the remains of a preceding banquet for
other guests.[XXXIV-5] It must have constituted very poor fare, for the
Greeks were remarkable for a formidable appetite, and their repasts were
prolonged indefinitely. The banquet of Menelaus, noticed by Athenæus, is
a proof of it. They eat at first without speaking, and after prodigies
of mastication they began to discourse. Then, having washed their hands,
face, and beard, a fresh attack was commenced, more formidable than the
first; and when the ardour and energy of the assailants seemed to be
exhausted, they hardly took time to breathe ere they fell on the viands
with renewed avidity. Nothing resisted them; the dishes were cleared;
only a few bones remained to certify their achievement.[XXXIV-6] A
saddening, unsatisfactory trophy for future guests.

Archestrates, whose gastronomic axioms we cannot respect too much, was
averse to large dinner parties. Three or four persons--five at
most--chosen with care, assembled with taste, appeared to him
sufficient[XXXIV-7] for those solemnities in which silence was to be
maintained so long, under pain, said Montmaur, of no longer knowing what
one eats.

The Lacedæmonians admitted as many as fifteen guests, but they elected a
king of the banquet, and that ephemeral autocrat decided without appeal
all questions which might have compromised the tranquillity of the
banquet.[XXXIV-8]

Greater numbers met together in Athens. Plato gave a supper to
twenty-eight of his friends.[XXXIV-9] Hundreds of citizens often met
together at the public repasts; but then a magistrate was deputed to see
that modesty, moderation, and temperance were observed.[XXXIV-10]

The Romans understood that it is at table that one lives; so they gave
those whom they invited the name of _conviva_ (_cum vivere_, living
conjointly), a charming type of that easy, gentle cordiality which
arises, is fortified, and displayed between those who partake of the
same dishes, drain in friendship cups of the same wine, and separate
with the hope of soon seeing a return of the same pleasures.

People were very polite in Rome, as in Greece, when they met in the
dining-room. Never did they fail to make a low bow.[XXXIV-11] This act
of Roman courtesy recalls a very pretty expression of Fontenelle’s,
which we cannot refrain from citing. This grand nephew of the great
Corneille passed, on his way to the table, before Madame Helvétius, whom
he had not perceived. Fontenelle was then ninety years of age. “See,”
said she, “what esteem I must have for your gallantry: you pass before
me without looking at me.” “Be not surprised, Madam,” replied the old
gallant; “if I had looked at you I should never have passed.”

In the year of Rome 570 (182 B.C.), the tribune of the people, C.
Orchius, was the prime mover of the first sumptuary law, which enacted
that the number of guests were not to exceed that of the Muses, nor be
less than that of the Graces.[XXXIV-12] Subsequently seven were thought
to be sufficient, and some insisted that when there were more the
banquet ought rather to be called a rout.[XXXIV-13]

In the year of Rome 548, the Consul C. Fannius carried a law (_Lex
Fannia_) which prohibited the assembling of more than three persons of
the same family on ordinary days, or more than five at the nones, or on
festival days.[XXXIV-14] This rigorous measure was pressingly solicited
by the rational portion of every order of citizens, who could not
witness without a shudder the whole of Italy plunge into the most
brutifying excesses, after obscene orgies which we dare not
describe.[XXXIV-15]

But who could dissipate that fearful bewilderment with which nations
seem to be seized when they are about to fall? Rome blushed for her
ancient virtues, and veiled them with dissolution and crimes. She had
exhausted all the prodigies that the genius of debauchery could
invent--she created monsters!

Ruinous banquets soon revived, and the number of guests had no other
rule than the unbridled desire of ostentation and expense.

Let us not forget those miserable parasites who managed to get to the
corner of a table in Greece and Italy, and to whom meagre portions were
conceded as a reward for cringing servility, such as the vilest slave
would have been ashamed to exhibit. There were three kinds of parasites.
Some, under the name of buffoons, amused the company with their
grotesque attitudes and ridiculous sayings.[XXXIV-16] Others allowed
their ears to be boxed, and suffered a thousand different torments,
provided a piece of meat or a bone were afterwards thrown to them. These
patient sufferers[XXXIV-17] diverted the Greeks and Romans very much.
The adulatory parasites were the most skilful of these hungry parias.
They were well treated and almost respected. They were persons who
possessed a kind of merit which was always equally appreciated, and to
which we still render justice--they flattered whosoever gave them a
supper.[XXXIV-18]

An energetic, familiar expression in French often replaces the word
_parasite_, transmitted to us by the Greeks and Romans: that expression,
which conveys the same idea, is _pique-assiette_, an image necessarily
associated with disdain and insult.

The Count de Gerval had invited to his table several persons of high
distinction, among whom was remarked one of those intruders who find
means to get themselves received, notwithstanding the profound contempt
they inspire. The dessert was just served, and a magnificent pear
attracted the attention of the parasite, who endeavoured to bear it off
on the point of his knife, but, in so doing, he broke a valuable plate.
“The deuce take it, sir,” said the master of the house; “_piquez
l’assiette_ as long as you like, but don’t break it!”

The guests always washed their hands, and frequently their feet, before
they placed themselves on the triclinium.[B][XXXIV-19] They received
that custom from the orientals, and we find numerous examples of it in
the Old and New Testaments.[XXXIV-20] Perfumes were then poured on their
heads,[XXXIV-21] as among the Jews,[XXXIV-22] and wreaths of flowers
were offered them.[XXXIV-23]

It was at this solemn moment that the guests turned their attention to
the election of the king of the banquet, whose grave functions consisted
in regulating the number of cups that each one was expected to empty
during the repast.[XXXIV-24]

Among the Anglo-Saxons, he who wished to drink asked the nearest person
to pledge him. The latter replied affirmatively, and immediately armed
himself with his knife or his sword to protect the other while he
emptied his cup. The death of Edward the Martyr, it is said, gave rise
to this custom. Elfrida, his mother-in-law, caused him to be basely
assassinated from behind whilst he was drinking.[XXXIV-25]

“The following,” says Strutt, “according to ancient historians, is the
manner in which Rowena, daughter or niece of Hengist, drank to the
health of Vortigern, King of the Britons. She entered the
banqueting-hall where the prince was with his guests, and, making a low
curtsey, she said: ‘To your health, my lord and king.’ Then, having put
the cup to her lips, she presented it on her knees to Vortigern, who
took it and emptied it, after having replied: ‘I drink to your
health.’&nbsp;”[XXXIV-26]

We find in the works of Pasquier an affecting anecdote of the
unfortunate Queen of Scotland, Mary Stuart: “On the eve of her death,”
says he, “towards the end of the supper, she drank to all her
attendants, commanding them to pledge her; the which obeying, and
mingling their tears with their wine, they drank to their mistress.”

Divers spectacles, of which we shall have occasion to speak hereafter,
occupied the leisure of the guests during the interval necessary to
remove the remains of one course and serve the next. These
representations and amusements, of which they never tired in the middle
ages, received from our ancestors, in France, the name of _entre-mets_;
a designation much more true and just than the modern acceptation
imposed on the word--anything served between the roast and the dessert.

The _entre-mets_ were interludes, pantomimes, concerts, and even
melodramas performed between each course. So that a piece which in our
days attracts crowds to one or other of the theatres, would have been
then a little _entre-met_, or a cold side-dish (_hors-d’œuvre_).

In 1287, at the marriage of Robert, son of Saint-Louis, with Machault,
Countess of Artois, very singular spectacles were given between each
course of the banquet. A horseman crossed the hall by making his horse
walk on a thick cord, extended above the heads of the guests. At the
four corners of the table were musicians seated on oxen; and monkeys,
mounted on goats, seemed to play the harp.[XXXIV-27]

A droll custom prevailed at the court of the Frank kings. St. Germier
having come to solicit some favour from the King of the Franks, Clovis,
that haughty Sicamber received the bishop with kindness, and had an
excellent dinner served for him. The holy bishop took leave of the king
after the banquet, and the king, who sometimes piqued himself upon his
politeness, pulled out a hair, according to the custom of the time, and
offered it to his guest. Each of the courtiers hastened, in his turn, to
imitate the benevolent monarch, and the virtuous prelate returned to his
diocese enchanted with the reception he had met with at the
court.[XXXIV-28]

Among other amusements prepared for Queen Elizabeth, during her sojourn
at the celebrated castle of Kenilworth, “There was,” says Laneham, “an
Italian juggler who performed feats of strength and leaps, and cut such
capers with so much suppleness and ease, that I began to ask myself
whether it were a man or a sprite. Indeed I know not what to say of that
comical fellow,” adds the artless chronicler; “I suppose his back must
resemble that of a lamprey--it had no bone.”[XXXIV-29]

In England, during the middle ages, the courts of princes and the
castles of the great were crowded with visitors, who were always
received with sumptuous hospitality. The pomp displayed by the lords was
truly extraordinary, and it is difficult to understand how their
fortunes could suffice for it. They had their privy-counsellors,
treasurers, secretaries, chaplains, heralds, pursuivants-at-arms, pages,
guards, trumpeters--in a word, all the officers, all the servants, with
which royalty itself is surrounded. And besides this numerous domestic
establishment, there were troops of minstrels, clowns, jugglers,
strolling players, rope-dancers, &c., lodged there at the great
banqueting times. Each of the apartments open to the guests presented
spectacles in harmony with the gross taste of the epoch. It was a
marvellous confusion, a prodigious chaos, in which the ear was struck at
once with the sound of dishes, of cups clashing one against another, of
harmonious music, with the bustle of the dance, the notes of the song,
pasquinades, somersaults, and everywhere the most boisterous laughter.
The face of decency alone was slightly veiled.[XXXIV-30]

Sometimes the term _entre-mets_ was also applied to decorations, which
were paraded through the banqueting hall, and which represented cities,
castles, and gardens, with fountains, whence flowed all kinds of
liquors. At the dinner which Charles V. of France gave to the Emperor
Charles IV. there was a grand spectacle, or _entre-met_. A vessel
appeared with its masts, sails, and rigging; it advanced into the middle
of the hall, by means of a machine concealed from the view of all. A
moment after there appeared the city of Jerusalem; its towers covered
with Saracens. The vessel approached it, and the city was taken by the
Christian knights who manned the vessel.[XXXIV-31]

Among the Egyptians a funereal idea was made the means of rousing the
erewhile buoyant spirits of the guests at the end of a repast. A servant
entered carrying a skeleton, or the representation of a mummy, which he
took slowly round the dining-room. He then approached the guests, and
said: “Eat, drink, amuse yourselves to-day; to-morrow you
die.”[XXXIV-32]

Greece, and Rome in particular, adopted this lugubrious emblem of the
rapid flight of time and pleasure. This sepulchral image hurried them on
in the enjoyment of the present: it never revealed to paganism a “hope
full of immortality.”[XXXIV-33]




XXXV.

A ROMAN SUPPER.


Two lustres had passed since the world obeyed Domitius Nero, son of
Agrippina. The Romans, a herd of vile slaves, docile adulators of the
infamous Cæsar, had already celebrated nine anniversaries of his happy
accession to the empire, and the Flamen of Jupiter solemnly thanked the
gods at each of these epochs for all the benefits that the well-beloved
monarch had unceasingly lavished on the earth.

Few princes, it is true, ever equalled Nero. He and his mother had
poisoned Junius Silanus, the pro-consul of Asia; subsequently the young
emperor made away with Agrippina, and the senate applauded that horrible
crime, which was only the prelude to outrageous enterprises which
astonish the historian who narrates them.

The Flamen was, indeed, bound to offer up solemn thanksgivings to
Jupiter for having hitherto restrained the crowned monster from the
commission of evil which afterwards marked his flagitious career.

It was the 64th year of the Christian era. The emperor had passed some
time at Naples, whence it was thought he would go into Greece; but
suddenly changing his project, he returned to the capital of the world,
to prepare, it was said, a spectacle of unheard-of splendour, and such
as Nero alone could conceive.

One of his ancient freed-men, Caius Domitius Seba, resolved to celebrate
the return to Rome, and the tenth anniversary of the reign of his
master, who was now become his patron and friend. That man possessed
immense riches, a formidable credit at court, and an insolence which had
struck so much terror into the souls of the proudest families of the
empire, that they had long since humbled themselves before him.

[Illustration: ROMAN BANQUET IN THE YEAR 64.]

So that it was no sooner whispered among the Roman aristocracy that the
magnificent Seba intended to give a banquet, than one and all became
anxious to be numbered with the guests of Cæsar’s favourite.

However, days past, the time for the nocturnal festival approached, and
the Invitor had not made his appearance.

Among the Hebrews, nothing was more simple and unsophisticated than an
invitation to dinner;[XXXV-1] but, with the Romans, etiquette required
that the amphitryon should send one of his servants to each person who
was to participate in his pompous hospitality. This servant, who was
generally a freed-man, went from house to house, and indicated, with
exquisite politeness, the day and precise hour of the banquet.[XXXV-2]

Seba’s Invitor was at last announced to the two consuls of the year,
Lecanius Bassus and Licinius Crassus, who accepted with tender gratitude
the distinguished honour which the enfranchised slave deigned to confer
upon them.

After them the same favour was received with the same gratitude by the
Agrippas, the Ancuses, the Cossuses, the Drususes, and all those who
were the most noble, powerful, and proud in Rome.

The next day, about two o’clock in the afternoon (the repast was to
begin at six o’clock), an unusual movement reigned in the Palatine
baths, and those of Daphnis, near the Sacred Way. The _mediastini_ kept
up a steady fire under the coppers; the _capsarii_ folded with care the
clothes of the bathers; the _unguentarii_ sold their oils and unguents;
and the _fricatores_, armed with the _strigil_--a sort of wooden, iron,
or horn spoon--rubbed and scraped the skin before the _tractatores_ came
gently to manipulate the joints, and skilfully shampoo the body, which
gained by this operation more elasticity and suppleness.[XXXV-3]

The upper classes of the Romans never sat down to table until they had
undergone all these preliminaries of minute cleanliness.[XXXV-4]

The future guests return home, after the bath, to employ the skill of
the barbers (_tonsores_), who are in waiting to give more grace to the
hair, and remove, with the aid of tweezers and pumice, the first silvery
indications of the lapse of years, which, though incessantly effaced,
still re-appeared.[XXXV-5]

A more serious occupation succeeded. Epicureans should never neglect
their teeth--particularly at the approach of a banquet. Nor did the
ingenious gastronomy of the first century of our era neglect to invent
tooth-powder, which cleaned the enamel without injuring it, and
fortified the gums--those fortresses of mastication. Some persons made
use of substances which no one would adopt in the present day, because
our delicacy revolts against them.[XXXV-6] But preparations less
offensive were employed, and men of good taste, as well as fashionable
ladies, extolled ox-gall, goats’ milk, the ash of stags’ horns, of pigs’
hoofs, and of egg-shells.[XXXV-7]

Thus were the teeth equipped, as the comic Plautus has it;[XXXV-8] or,
rather, thus were they prepared to undergo the labour required of them.

Those who had had the misfortune to lose some of those powerful
gastrophagic auxiliaries substituted false ones of ivory, which art
found means to render absolutely similar to their neighbours. The eye
was deceived: what more could be required?[XXXV-9]

But the clepsydræ[XXXV-10] and the celebrated clock of the field of
Mars[XXXV-11] announce that it is time to put on the white, light robe,
a little longer than the pallium of the Greeks, and to which the Latins
have given the names of _vestis cœnatoria_, _vestis triclinaria_,
_vestis convivalis_.[XXXV-12] This last part of their toilet finished,
the guests set out for the magnificent abode of their host, preceded by
a few slaves, and followed by their shadows--those hungry hangers-on of
whom mention has already been made, and who strive to obtain, on the
road, a smile or a word by dint of cringing obsequiousness.

Arrived at the _atrium_, the crowd of Roman nobles are conducted into
the interior of the house by the parasites of Seba. The proud freed-man
disturbed himself for nobody; but, like the opulent Greeks, whom he
aped, he left to these ignoble familiars the care of replacing him in
the honours of his palace.[XXXV-13]

They enter an immense hall, decorated with unheard-of luxury, lighted by
lustres,[XXXV-14] and round which are several ranks of seats, not unlike
the folding-stools and arm-chairs we meet with in the present day in the
most elegant _boudoirs_.[XXXV-15] The guests seat themselves, and anon
Egyptian slaves approach with perfumed snow-water, which flows from
golden vases of the most graceful forms, and cools the hands of senators
and Roman knights,[XXXV-16] whilst other servants disincumber them of
their patrician shoes, the end of which represents a crescent.[XXXV-17]
The feet then received a similar ablution, and fresh slaves, skilful
orthopœdists, accomplish in a twinkling the delicate toilet of these
extremities,[XXXV-18] and imprison them again in elegant and commodious
sandals, fastened by ribands which cross on the top.[XXXV-19]

Here and there a few persons are remarked who still wear their togas,
having doubtless forgotten to substitute the banqueting dress. So soon
as the major-domo perceives them he makes a sign to some youths clothed
in white tunics, who hasten to present to each of these guests a
_synthesis_, or short woollen vestment of different colours,[XXXV-20]
which envelopes the whole body, but leaves the shoulders and breast
uncovered if the wearer desire it.[XXXV-21]

These indispensable preliminaries being terminated, the seats
disappeared, and the guests stood waiting for the freed-man, Seba, who
speedily entered accompanied by the two consuls, for whom places of
honour had been reserved on couches beside their pompous amphitryon. The
latter deigned to address a few words of welcome to his noble company,
and each one stretched himself on his couch of gold and purple. The
fourth couch was given up to the parasites and shadows.[XXXV-22]

Meanwhile, slaves were burning precious perfumes in golden vases
(_acerræ_), and young children were pouring on the hair of the guests
odoriferous essences, which filled the banqueting hall with balmy
fragrance. Rome had borrowed this custom from the east.[XXXV-23]

The golden panelling of the hall shone with dazzling brightness as it
reflected a torrent of light from the crystal candelabra,[XXXV-24] and
the melodious sounds of the hydraulic organ[XXXV-25] announced the
commencement of the banquet.[XXXV-26]

At this signal, servants, richly dressed, place within the circle formed
by the couches lemon-wood tables of inestimable price,[XXXV-27] which
they immediately cover with a rich tissue of gold and silk. That done,
sylph-like hands spread them over with a profusion of the rarest flowers
and rose leaves.[XXXV-28]

Musicians (_symphoniaci_) then occupy a kind of orchestra or platform,
raised at one of the extremities of the hall,[XXXV-29] among whom the
flute and harp players are to be particularly remarked.[XXXV-30] The
former constitute, among the Romans, a special body dubbed with the name
of _College_, and they have the exclusive right to attend banquets and
enliven the pomp of ceremonies.[XXXV-31]

These musicians execute a slow, dulcet melody while the slaves are
placing on the tables the statues of some of the principal
gods,[XXXV-32] together with that of the divine Nero, whom a
pusillanimous flattery ranks already with the immortals. At this moment
they also arrange here and there the salt-cellars,[XXXV-33] while the
more meditative of the guests invoke Jupiter, before they give
themselves up to the pleasures of the feast.[XXXV-34] Hardly is this
short prayer finished when joyous cup-bearers distribute charming little
crystal cups,[XXXV-35] which Æthiopian slaves[XXXV-36] fill to the brim
with a generous, honeyed wine, drawn, in the first instance, from those
large pitchers which the Greeks have named _amphoræ_.

Some drops of the exhilarating liquid are offered to the _Lares_
(household gods), by sprinkling it in their honour on the floor and the
table.[XXXV-37] This pious libation precedes the entrance of the first
course (_antecœna_),[XXXV-38] composed of the lightest and least
succulent kinds of viands, by means of which a generous host stimulates
the appetites of his guests, as a preparative for brilliant
exploits.[XXXV-39]

Lettuces, olives, pomegranates, Damascus plums,[XXXV-40] tastefully
arranged on silver dishes,[XXXV-41] serve to encircle dormice, prepared
with honey and poppy juice,[XXXV-42] forcemeat balls of crab, lobster,
or cray-fish, prepared with pepper, cummin, and benzoin root.[XXXV-43] A
little further, champignon and egg sausages, prepared with
garum,[XXXV-44] are placed by the side of pheasant sausages, a delicious
mixture of the fat of that bird, chopped very small, and mixed with
pepper, gravy, and sweet sun-made wine, to which a small quantity of
hydrogarum is added.[XXXV-45] Tempting as these delicate viands may be,
the practised epicureans seem to have a decided preference for peacocks’
eggs, which they open with spoons. These eggs, a master-piece of the
culinary artist, who presides over Seba’s stoves, are composed of a fine
perfumed paste, and contain, each one, a fat, roasted, ortolan
surrounded with yolk of egg, and seasoned with pepper.[XXXV-46]

We will not go through the list of all the dishes which composed the
_antecœna_. The nomenclature was offered, according to custom, to the
guests of the rich freed-man, but the reader would doubtless think it a
little tiresome. We must, however, inform him, that the true
gastronomists--and there were many at that banquet--did no more than
give note of preparation to their appetite, by plying it with pickled
radishes,[XXXV-47] some few grasshoppers of a particular species, fried
with garum,[XXXV-48] grey peas, and olives fresh from their
brine.[XXXV-49]

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XXX.

     No. 1. A Greek Etruscan vase, or amphora, of terra cotta, for wine
     and water, commonly placed on the dinner table.--HAMILTON.

     No. 2. A Greek terra cotta vase, for a particular wine.--CAYLUS.

     No. 3. Etruscan terra cotta vase, to hold wine on the
     table.--CAYLUS.

     No. 4. A glass amphora, or vase, of large dimensions, for Falernian
     wine.

     All found at Herculaneum.--SAINT-NON.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: _Pl. 34._]

The first course was removed to the sound of music.[XXXV-50] Now came
chased silver cups, much larger than those of crystal[XXXV-51]--no doubt
because thirst is excited by drinking. Amphoræ of a secular wine were
ranged by the major-domo on the mosaic flooring of the hall, at some
distance from the triclinium, and they proceeded, by the invitation of
the consuls, to the choice of the _symposiarch_ (or master of the
banquet), upon whom devolved the duty of regulating how often any person
was to drink, and of preventing the guests, in the best manner he could,
from yielding too easily to bacchic provocations, which commonly led to
unseemly gaiety and the loss of reason.[XXXV-52]

This sort magiric magistracy was obtained by lot, or the unanimous call
for a personage worthy of such a distinction.[XXXV-53] That memorable
evening every voice named the senator Drusillus, one of the most
determined drinkers of the Roman aristocracy. Drusillus smiled, snapped
his fingers,[XXXV-54] and, by the order of his master, thus intimated, a
slave, who was standing behind him, filled a golden crater[C] with wine,
and presented it to the symposiarch.

Thereupon, the latter, slightly raising his head from the downy cushions
on which it rested, and supporting it from the left elbow,[XXXV-55]
makes a graceful bow to the amphitryon, the consuls, and the rest of the
assembly. Then, with a stentorian voice: “Slaves,” he cried, “bring
wreaths of flowers.[XXXV-56] Fugitive images of the spring and of
pleasure, they shall bind our brows.[XXXV-57] At the same time let
garlands adorn our craters, in which the cherished liquor of the son of
Semele sparkles;[XXXV-58] and let us bestow no thought, during the fleet
joys of the banquet, on the uncertain and fatal hour when Atropos shall
pronounce our doom.”

This speech, slightly impregnated with the epicurean philosophy so much
in fashion during the reign of Nero, had at least the merit of a
praiseworthy conciseness. Nor did it fail to attract applause from the
auditors, whose brows and cups were speedily adorned with wreaths of
roses, which young boys, clothed in white tunics, arranged with
marvellous art.

The slight rustling of the flowers was soon drowned by the shrill noise
of the trumpets which announced the second course. A flattering buzz
welcomed this profusion of viands, which encumbered the tables, and
well-nigh crushed them with their weight. There were the
peacock,[XXXV-59] the duck, whose breast and head are so much
coveted;[XXXV-60] capons’ livers,[XXXV-60] peppered
becaficoes,[XXXV-61] grouse, the turtle-dove, the phenicopter,[XXXV-62]
and an infinite number of rare birds, the costly tribute that Europe,
Asia, and Africa, exchanged against the gold of the prodigal Seba. Other
gold and silver dishes contained these inestimable fishes which Roman
luxury brought so much into fashion; the scarus, or parrot fish,
sturgeons, turbots, mullets, and those numerous inhabitants of every sea
with which the tanks were stocked, to supply the kitchen of the
freed-slave.

Moreover, there were wild boars _à la Troyenne_,[XXXV-63] ranged in the
centre of the table, in silver basins of a prodigious value; stuffed
pigs, quarters of stag and roebuck, loins of beef, kidneys surrounded
with African figs,[XXXV-64] sows’ paps prepared with milk,[XXXV-65]
sows’ flank,[XXXV-66] and some pieces of Gallic bacon,[XXXV-67] which
certain gluttons loved to associate with a piece of succulent venison.

While the carvers were cutting up the meats with incredible address, to
the sound of a light but animated music, Numidian slaves filled the cups
from small leathern bottles with old Greek wine,[XXXV-68] a servant
carried bread round the tables in a silver basket,[XXXV-69] and others
ventilated the apartment,[XXXV-70] or offered the guests warm and iced
water.[XXXV-71]

In every direction trays circulated, covered with divers kinds of
meats,[XXXV-72] which they took care to humect with peppered
garum,[XXXV-73] that strange condiment, which the freed-slave procured
from Spain at a price equal to its weight in gold.

Suddenly the symposiarch commands silence: the musicians obey--the
slaves are motionless.

“Let us drain our cups,” said he, “in honour of Cæsar. Let us celebrate
the tenth anniversary of his glorious reign, and his happy return to the
metropolis of the world. Let us drink, senators and knights, as many
craters as there are letters in the cherished name of the
emperor.”[XXXV-74]

Sense and reason must have succumbed, had the patrician assembly toasted
Caius Lucius Domitius Nero: it would have been constructive treason not
to empty twenty-three cups; but they limited themselves to four, which
represented the last of these names.

Joy unrestrained floated with the fumy wine, furnished from large

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XXXI.

     No. 1. Curious silver dish, with Etruscan letters engraved around
     the head of Medusa. Petronius speaks of two silver dishes, upon
     which were engraved the name of Trimalcion, and the weight of each
     dish.--ATHEN.; STUART.

     Nos. 2 and 3. Silver dishes.--GORRIE, “_Etruscan Mus_.”

[Illustration: _Pl. 35._]

glass amphoræ, on which were these words: “Falernian wine of a hundred
leaves, made under the consulship of Opimius.”[XXXV-75][D] The consuls
and the Roman nobles almost forgot, in the voluptuousness of the
splendid repast, that the executioner of Britannicus and Burrhus, the
crowned tiger, was doubtless thinking at that very moment of taking some
of the heads then present. A funereal spectacle soon aroused their
dormant fears.

An officer of the palace presented himself at the door of the banqueting
hall. He advanced slowly, followed by two slaves, who laid on the table
an object covered with a winding-sheet. “Pressing occupations,” said the
imperial messenger, “prevent Cæsar from sharing with you the hospitality
of Seba; but he thinks of you, and sends you a testimony of his
remembrance.”

“Long live Cæsar!” cry the consuls, the freed-slave, and some few
trembling voices. The officer retires. The veil which shrouds Nero’s
present from every eye is removed, and all perceive a silver skeleton,
of terrifying truthfulness, and which, by its admirable mechanism,
proclaims artist to be one of those Greeks who have come to Rome to seek
fortune and celebrity.[XXXV-76]

This episode engrossed the thoughts of the greater part of the guests,
and the old senator, Lucius Vafra, could not help saying, with a sigh,
to his neighbour, Virginius Rufus, one of the consuls of the preceding
year: “Fear the Greeks: fear this disastrous present!”[XXXV-77]

But the hot wine which was being served,[XXXV-78] and the healths which
succeeded without interruption, drove the sinistrous presage from their
minds; and, moreover, the present of the emperor was nowise contrary to
the manners of the epoch, and the thought of death would only have
enlivened the repast, if it had been presented by any other than Nero.

At first healths were drunk in the Greek fashion,--that is, beginning by
the most distinguished personages, he who drank bowed and said: “I wish
you every kind of prosperity;” or simply: “I salute you.” In pronouncing
these words, he who drank the health took only a part of the wine
contained in the cup, and sent the remainder to the guest he had just
designated.[XXXV-79]

Many craters were then emptied in honour of the mistress of the house
(_dominæ_); neither were the illustrious dead nor absent friends
forgotten. The formula was nearly the same for all: “To your healths,”
said the symposiarch, “to our own, to that also of the friend whom we
cherish.”[XXXV-80]

Sometimes Drusillus, still fascinated with that dulcet poetry of the
Greeks with which, when young, he had stored his mind, would take up the
harmonious cadences of Horace, and thus personate, as it were, those
divine chanters of Attica who have immortalised themselves by
celebrating love, wine, and pleasure.

One of his extempore strains, while sipping the sparkling liquor from
his cup, was:--

    This dream of bliss maintain, prolong these happy hours,
    O, all-enchanting wines! perfumed with flowers
                Which Cos and Cyprus rear;
    Let nothing ever change this soul-felt, rich delight;
    For I would say, when parting for the realms of night,
                I never knew a tear.

This sensual philosophy found numberless echoes in that vainglorious
Rome, who exhausted her disdain, outrage, and punishments on the (so
called) new fantastic folly that the Nazarenes were endeavouring to
introduce. A few years more, and their doctrine will subjugate the
universe!

Time passed rapidly, and the meats, divided into equal portions, were
served to the guests, who frequently did not touch them, but gave their
share to their servants, or sent it home.[XXXV-81]

So soon as the major-domo perceived that appetite began to flag, he
ordered the whole to be cleared, and the dessert, spread on ivory
tables,[XXXV-82] to be substituted for the more substantial comestibles,
with which the guests were satiated.

Exquisite drinks, artificial wines, delicate and light
aliments,[XXXV-83] still came to titillate the palate and the burthened
stomach--pears, apples, walnuts, dried-figs, grapes;[XXXV-84] a thousand
different kinds of raw, cooked, and preserved fruits; tarts, cakes, and
those incredible delicacies which the Latins designated by the
collective generic term _bellaria_, wooed the epicurean--if we may be
allowed the expression--with their mild, material, dangerous, and
irresistible eloquence.

Some one proposed to replace the half-faded flowers by Egyptian wreaths,
and every brow was soon bound with garlands of roses and myrtle,
interspersed with little birds, which, by their fluttering and
chirping, soon restored the drowsy company to that animation which
seemed to wane.[XXXV-85]

Then began the amusements of the evening.

A troop of strolling players were admired for their agility and
suppleness. Some rolled round a cord like a wheel which turns on its
axle; they hung by the neck, by one foot, and varied these perilous
exercises in a thousand different ways. Others slid down a cord, lying
on the stomach, with their arms and legs extended. Some revolved as they
ran along a descending cord. Some, in a word, performed feats of
strength and address on the horizontal rope which were truly
incomprehensible, and at an elevation from the flooring which would have
rendered a fall fatal.[XXXV-86]

To these acrobats succeeded prestigiators, who appeared to receive a
peculiar degree of attention. One placed under cups a certain number of
shells, dry peas, or little balls, and he caused them to disappear and
re-appear at will.[XXXV-87] The spectators strained their eyes without
being able to comprehend anything. Another of these mountebanks wrote or
read very distinctly while whirling rapidly round.[XXXV-88] Some vomited
flames from the mouth, or walked, head downwards, on their hands, and
beat with their feet the movements of the most agile dancers.[XXXV-89]
Then a woman appeared, holding in her hand twelve bronze hoops, with
several little rings of the same metal, which rolled round them. She
danced gracefully, throwing and successively catching the twelve hoops,
without ever allowing any of the rings to fall.[XXXV-90] After that,
another juggler rushed, with his breast uncovered, into the midst of a
forest of naked swords. Every one thought him to be covered with wounds,
but he re-appeared, with a smile on his countenance, whole and
sound.[XXXV-91]

These feats were followed by an interlude, in which the parts were
amusingly sustained by marionettes. The Greeks knew this childish
pastime,[XXXV-92] and Rome did not disdain it.[XXXV-93] These little
bronze and ivory figures[XXXV-94] played some comic scenes tolerably
well, and obtained the applauses of grave senators, who more than once
forgot their senility as they contemplated the grotesque pantomime.

The only thing now wanting to render Seba’s supper a worthy specimen of
nocturnal Roman feasts was, to produce before the guests one of those
spectacles which outrage morals and humanity. Nero’s freed-man had been
too well tutored to refuse them this diversion. Young Syrians,[XXXV-95]
or bewitching Spanish girls,[XXXV-96] went through lascivious
dances,[XXXV-97] which raised no blush on the brow of rigid
magistrates, who forgot, in the abode of the vile slave, the respect due
to their age and dignity.

After the voluptuous scenes of the lewd Celtiberians, blood was
required: for they seem to have been formed by nature to take a strange
delight in sudden contrasts. Ten couples of gladiators, armed with
swords and bucklers, occupied a space assigned to them, and ten horrible
duels recreated the attentive assembly. For a long time nothing was
heard but the clash of arms; but the thirst for conquest animated those
ferocious combatants, and they rushed with loud cries on one another.
Blood flowed on all sides; the couches were dyed with it, and the white
robes of the guests were soon spotted. Some of the combatants fell, and
the rattles announced approaching death; others preserved, in their last
struggle, a funereal silence, or endeavoured to fix their teeth in the
flesh of their enemies standing erect beside them.[XXXV-98] The
spectators, stupified with wine and good cheer, contemplated this
carnage with cold impassibility; they only roused from their torpor when
one of those men, happening to trip against a table, struck his head on
the ivory, and his antagonist, prompt as lightning, plunged his sword
into the throat of his foe, whence torrents of black, reeking blood
inundated the polished ivory, and flowed in long streams among the
fruits, cups, and flowers.

The deed was applauded; servants washed the tables and the floor with
perfumed water, and these stirring scenes were soon forgotten. A last
cup was drunk to the good genius,[XXXV-99] whose protection they invoked
before returning home.

Meantime a stifling atmosphere pervades every part of the hall, and a
hollow noise, rumbling in the distance, excites at intervals in the
minds of the guests a sort of undefinable apprehension--the ordinary
presage of an unknown but imminent catastrophe. The consuls raise
themselves on their couches and listen; their host endeavours to calm
their fears; but at this moment a slave, panting for breath, rushes
towards Seba, and pronounces a few inarticulate words. “Fire!” cries the
anguished freed-man. “Where is the fire?” inquire all the terrified
guests, who have heard but this one sinistrous word. “Everywhere!”
replies the slave; “it has burst forth simultaneously in every part of
the city!” No one waits to hear more. Consuls, senators, knights,
musicians, and servants, jostle one another; and, abandoning those who
fall, arrive pell-mell at the atrium. The porter still chained, trembles
at his post; the flames already envelop the sumptuous edifice--the
entire street is one vast brazier! Rome burns, and will soon be a heap
of ruins and ashes! Flight is impossible--the flames intercept every
issue! * * * Nero has taken his measures well.

We will not attempt to depict the mute but terrible despair of those
proud patricians, at bay in the midst of an ocean of fire, in which they
are fated ere long to perish. The wreaths of flowers which bind their
brows are already parched by the scorching breath of those roaring
flames, which engulf and consume everything as they sweep along. A thick
smoke begrimes the lustrous robes, whose graceful folds erewhile
displayed the exquisite urbanity of Seba’s guests, and which now exhibit
only a sad emblem of festive joys. The dread of death, and I know not
what strange anguish at this all-important moment, blanch those human
faces, to which the choicest wines of Greece and Italy had just given a
hue of purple. These men feel--instinct tells them--that life is theirs
no longer, and they have not the courage to die!

The opulent freed-man calls to his slaves, and promises them their
liberty if they consent to risk their lives in an attempt to save his.
But the vile herd is already dispersed; the porter alone remains--for no
one has thought to liberate him--and he, in his impotent fury, replies
by insulting clamours to the cowardly supplications of his quondam
master.

This horrible scene soon changed by the very action of that torrent of
fire which was pursuing its devastating course; and the next day, when
Aurora appeared, a heap of ruins was all that remained of the odious
Seba’s magnificent palace.

The two consuls and some of the senators were fortunate enough to escape
the common danger. Less besotted, perhaps, by the wine and good cheer,
and finding in despair that incredible energy which sometimes operates
the same prodigies as courage, they rushed through the flames, and
gained the country, or those obscure portions of the city which the son
of Agrippina had apparently forgotten.

Thus it was that Lucius Domitius Nero celebrated the tenth anniversary
of his glorious reign. While the fire was rolling on with its resistless
flood of flame from temples to palaces, and from the Circus to the
Pantheon, the young, poetic Cæsar, his brow bound with laurel, and
holding in his hands a golden lyre, viewed from the top of a
tower--where he was surrounded by a troop of histrions and buffoons--the
conflagration he had just kindled.

And while the imperial Apollo sang some melancholy verses on the fatal
destiny of the antique city of Troy, his ignoble courtiers cried with
enthusiasm: “May the Gods preserve Nero, their august son, and the
delight of the human race!”

Such was the last gorgeous feast at which the magiric genius presided in
that Rome which Romulus had founded, and which engulfed the treasures
and wonders of the world. Destroyed by the imperial incendiary, it arose
from its ashes with increased beauty and voluptuousness; and the wild
joy of its new banquets caused the thoughtless queen of nations quickly
to forget the disasters of the past, and the sinistrous presages of the
future.

[Illustration: _Pl. 32._

NERO.

HELIOGABALUS.]




BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.


NERO.

Lucius Domitius Nero’s father was Caius Domitius Ænobarbus; Agrippina
was his mother. He took the reins of the empire at the age of eighteen
(A.D. 54), and governed at first with clemency and equity. The Roman
people, transported with love for their young prince, indulged the fond
hope of long and unalloyed felicity; but they were soon aroused from
this delusion to a sense of the dire reality. Nero had forgotten himself
in the path of virtue; he rallied by trying his hand at crime, and found
at last his true vocation. Others have recounted his detestable
infamies: we will merely remind our readers that he poisoned
Britannicus,--that he caused his mother to be slain,--that he killed his
wife Octavia by kicking her,--and that Seneca, his preceptor, only
escaped his cruelty by having his veins opened. In the year 64 he took
it into his head to set fire to the city of Rome, and then accused the
Christians of that prodigious atrocity. Language cannot describe the
unbridled luxury of this ignominious emperor. His gilded house, his
ivory ceilings, his murrhine vases, the nets of gold and scarlet with
which he fished, the incalculable profusion of his repasts--everything
connected with Nero betrayed a species of pompous monomania, leading to
excesses so immeasurable and abominable that in these days they excite
doubt or incredulity.

The entire world detested the monster. Galba and the Roman army revolted
against him, and the pusillanimous Cæsar fled bare-footed, and wrapped
in a sordid robe. But, alarmed at the idea of the tortures he would have
to undergo if he fell alive into the hands of the cohorts and the
people, and finding no executioner more infamous than himself, he
plunged a sword timidly into his breast, while a freed-man,
Epaphroditus, guided his trembling hand. This happy event happened in
the year 68. Nero had reigned thirteen years!

This prince sat down to table at mid-day, and did not quit it till
midnight (Sueton. in Neron. 27),--he had reservoirs stocked with the
most rare and exquisite fish,--and he gave to his boon companions
suppers which vied in delicacy with their astonishing magnificence. Let
this, then, plead our excuse for having classed the cruel but epicurean
Cæsar among the high culinary notabilities whose names, glory, or
excesses we record in this work.


HELIOGABALUS.

Heliogabalus (Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Verus), son of Antoninus
Caracalla and Semiamira, immortalised himself by his follies, and
merited the name of the _Sardanapalus of Rome_. His grandmother,
Mœsa, had a fancy to have him invested with the functions of Priest
of the Sun, and the following year (218) the army elected him to succeed
Macrinus. He was then only fourteen years old. It would be impossible to
give a complete catalogue of the crimes which stained this precocious
monster. His luxury knew no bounds, and his insatiable gluttony led him
to send into distant provinces for rare birds, unknown in Italy. The
golden lamps of his palace were supplied with a precious balm, and
scented waters of exquisite delicacy were daily renewed in the vast
piscina of this beardless Cæsar. His beds were adorned with coverlets of
a cloth of gold, and in his kitchens none but skilfully chased silver
utensils were employed. It is said that Heliogabalus invented
after-dinner lotteries: his guests took the tickets at random, and fate
gave to one some vase of inestimable value, to another a simple
toothpick; a fortunate adventurer would receive for his allotment ten
elephants, richly caparisoned, and his less lucky neighbour had to
content himself with ten flies, and loud bursts of laughter from the
imperial stripling.

Thank Heaven! this frightful phenomenon of turpitude and folly never
attained manhood. The soldiers of his guard massacred him after a reign
of something less than four years, and threw to the populace the dead
body of a young man of eighteen, who, in the course of his brief
existence, had exhausted the treasures of the empire, and enlarged the
sphere of every crime.

The gastronomic art is, however, indebted to the odious Heliogabalus for
some useful discoveries, and for that reason alone is he here mentioned.


EPICURUS.

Epicurus--born 337 years B.C., in the market-town of Gargettus, near
Athens--taught in his gardens a system of philosophy, which, though
indulgent towards the requirements of the senses, possessed the merit of
a sovereign disdain for every kind of superstition. Epicurus had a great
number of disciples among the ancient pagans, and the sensual philosophy
of modern times hails him as a patron. At this very day the dainty
livers rally under the joyous banner of the moralist of Gargettus, and
his cherished shade inspires the guests and presides over the soothing
intoxication of banquets.




MODERN BANQUETS.[E]


We have endeavoured to describe in the preceding pages some of those
antique entertainments, which seem to be the summum bonum of the
gigantic power of those shameless dominators of the Roman empire, whose
reigns might be counted as so many banquets, and for whom the entire
world was transformed into one vast market.

We are reduced to despair when we attempt to depict such sensualism, and
we also despair of inspiring belief. When one goes back into those old
pagan times,--when one shuts out the world as it is, to evoke the
manners and customs of days gone by, and breathe in their
atmosphere,--the mind experiences a sort of stupefaction, so much is it
immersed in the senses, so thick is the moral darkness, so low has man
fallen!

And, as if it had been decreed that everything should concur to
consummate the annihilation of the human species, on the one hand,
almost the whole family of man was, for the first time since their
dispersion, collected into one body under the Roman domination, which
spread its corruption throughout the several members; while, on the
other hand, the hordes of barbarians who pressed round--like ferocious
beasts waiting till the arena opened--were about to over-run the earth,
in the absence of any civilising element that could interpose to stay
the destruction, by snatching the conquered from the hands of victory,
and the conquerors themselves from their own ferocity.

It belongs not to us to portray this fearful cataclysm, this sudden
transition from the development of all the arts which perpetuate the
enjoyments of life to the profound ignorance, the savage rudeness, which
the northern conquerors imposed on enslaved Europe.

The fifth was the last century of Rome. It was then that barbarism
became everywhere victorious. The Vandals were masters of Africa, the
Lombards of Italy, the Visigoths of Spain, the Franks of Gaul.
Literature followed the destiny of the empire, and seemed to perish at
the same time. It is, however, impossible for nations not to receive, as
an inheritance from people civilised before themselves, a great part of
their intellectual cultivation. Happily modern Europe was swayed by this
law: the barbarians reduced Rome by the force of arms,--Rome triumphed
in the long run over the barbarians by the genius of civilisation and
her arts.

It is known that even after the introduction of vulgar idioms, the
learned of the middle ages continued the use of Latin, and that in the
15th century that beautiful language, purified from barbarian
corruptions, became once more classic, particularly in Italy.

At that epoch, an obscure inhabitant of Mentz, John Guttenberg,
immortalised himself by the discovery of printing, just as the love of
antiquity was causing the old literary masterpieces to be sought out,
and creating a demand for copies of the manuscripts.

Then, as if they had risen from their tombs after a thousand years of
forgetfulness, all the writers of antiquity re-appeared, to charm,
instruct, and renovate the world.

It was the era of regeneration, when you, O, beloved masters! Pliny,
Apicius, Petronius, Athenæus,--and you, ingenuous and faithful
chroniclers of the gastronomic follies of the people-king,--were
resuscitated in all your glory! Others instructed the universe in
philosophy, eloquence, and history,--you taught man how the ancients
dined; and, thanks to your lessons, our fathers began to comprehend
that, since the table is the great scene of life where bonds of
friendship are formed and cemented, banqueting is indispensable to the
prosperity of nations.

No one will accuse us, we hope, of endeavouring to establish a paradox
for which we could hardly find an excuse, in our love of the culinary
art, as long experience, and public facts within the memory of all,
victoriously confirm our assertion.

Let us interrogate the 19th century. Hardly had the lamentable wars
which divided the nations of Europe ceased,--hardly had the vibration of
the last cannon-shot died away,--when the people of every clime--too
long disunited--sealed by fraternal banquets their tardy but frank
reconciliation. The destructive genius of war is succeeded by those
grand struggles of commerce and industry, which, aided by the arts and
sciences of civilisation, dispense to all the blessing of reproductive
wealth.

And then dinner is the _sine quâ non_,--to that goal all our efforts
tend. The Englishman dines in Paris, the Frenchman dines in London; the
time-honoured national dishes become cosmopolite, like those who dwell
on the banks of the Thames or the Seine; on both sides the people are
proud to communicate the arcana of those delicate preparations, which
have only to cross the frontier to obtain, under a favourable sky, a
more ample illustration and a new right of citizenship. Appetite, the
roasting-jack,--in a word, gastronomy, serves perhaps to unite men much
more firmly than motives of interest; and more than one thought useful
to the human species has often originated in the midst of the creative
excitement of a banquet, where, to say the least, we meet with that
hearty goodwill and friendly aid which might be wanting elsewhere.

Shall we mention that prodigious enterprise with which a noble
prince--the enlightened protector of industry and the arts, and so
worthy of our love and respect--has deigned to couple a name dear to
public gratitude?

The royal plan was nothing less than this: to erect an immense, costly,
and sumptuous palace, in which each nation should deposit the material
proofs of its intelligence. Neither Rome nor Greece ever conceived such
a thought! Louis XIV., with all his magnificence, and the magic pomp of
his reign, imagined nothing equal to it!

This great and complex idea struck many persons no doubt with surprise;
but England--we must do her the justice which facts prove to be her
due--is always ready to undertake impossibilities, and generally
performs them.

However, it was necessary to bring together a certain number of
influential, scientific, patriotic, and wealthy men, and obtain their
co-operation to realise that modern arch of crystal, into which the
industry of the world would be summoned to send its most marvellous
productions. Banquets were proposed, and banquets took place, in honour
of a prince who was about to connect all parts of the globe in the bands
of commercial fraternity. The Lord Mayor of the city of London--that
celebrated factory of the world’s trade!--invited all the mayors of the
three kingdoms to come and place themselves by the side of the august
spouse of their sovereign, at a feast worthy of such guests by its
delicate profusion and splendid magnificence. There his Royal Highness
Prince Albert received the enthusiastic assurance of the realisation of
a colossal project, a philanthropic thought,--the union of nations, by
rousing the noble pride of their nationality!

In their turn, the mayors of Great Britain and Ireland were desirous of
offering to the Lord Mayor of the city of London a banquet, at which his
Royal Highness would be present; and this feast, a grandiose and
sympathetic demonstration on the part of the votaries of the memorable
London Exhibition, took place the 25th October, 1850, in the gothic
Guildhall of York, where remembrance of the past was blended with hopes
for the future.

It was resolved to intrust us with the direction of the gastronomic
department, and, let us add, the artistic arrangement of that banquet,
which, by reason of its unprecedented richness and truly magic aspect,
no pen can describe, owing partly to the magnificence of the maces,
swords, banners, &c., of each county being for the first time displayed
under the same roof. The engraving which we present to our readers[F]
will perhaps convey an idea of a portion of the splendour of the
entertainment.

The guests at the royal table consisted of the following distinguished
personages:

The Lord Mayor of York being in the chair, there were seated on his
right his Royal Highness Prince Albert, his Grace the Archbishop of
York, Earl Fitzwilliam, Lord John Russell, Earl Minto, Lord Overstone,
Lord Beaumont, and the Right Honourable Sir Charles Wood. On his
Lordship’s left were the Lord Mayor of London, the Marquis of
Clanricarde, the Earl of Carlisle, the Earl of Abercorn, Lord Feversham,
the Earl Granville, the High Sheriff of Yorkshire, the Right Honourable
Sir G. Grey, Bart., and Sir J. V. Johnstone, Bart.

As this table formed a prominent feature in the entertainment, the
following distinct bill of fare was provided:--


BILL OF FARE FOR THE ROYAL TABLE.

                        FIRST COURSE.

  [Sidenote: Rissolettes à la Pompadour.]

  [Sidenote: Rissolettes à la Pompadour.]

      _Trois Potages._                            _Trois Poissons._

  Potage à la Victoria.                     Turbot à la Mazarine.
  Id. à la Prince of Wales.                 Rougets à l’Italienne Blanche.
  Id. Tortue Transparente.                  John Dory à la Marinière.

                         _Trois Relevés._

                 L’Extravagance Culinaire à l’Alderman.[G]
                 Chapons à la Nelson.
                 Quartier d’Agneau de Maison à la Sévigné.

  [Sidenote: Venison.]

  [Sidenote: Venison.]

                         _Quatre Flancs._

                 Timballe de Riz à la Royale.
                 Jambon à la York.
                 Vol au vent à la Talleyrand.
                 Cannetons Canaris, Macédoine de Légumes.

                         _Six Entrées._

  Sauté de Faisans au fumet de Gibier.
  Blancs de Volaille à la York Minster.
  Turbans de Quenelles de Lapereaux aux Truffes.

  Côtelettes de Mouton à la Réforme.
  Riz de Veau à la Palestine.
  Filets de Canneton à la Séville.


                              SECOND COURSE.

                              _Trois Rôtis._

                    Paon à l’ancienne Rome garni d’Ortolans.
      Bécasses aux Feuilles de Céleri.             Guillenôts des Ardennes.

                             _Dix Entremets._

  Crême de la Grande Bretagne à la Victoria.
  Galantine d’Oisons à la Volière.
  Gelée de Fraises Françaises à la Fontainebleau.
  Mireton de Homard.
  Tartelettes pralinées aux cerises de Montmorency.

  Crême de la Grande Bretagne à l’Albert.
  Salade de Grouse à la Soyer.
  Chartreuse de Fruits aux Pêches.
  Gâteaux crêmants à la Duke of York.
  Rocailles aux Huîtres gratinées à l’Ostend.


  [sidenote: Légumes à la Française.
  Petite Pois Verts.]

  [sidenotnote: Légumes à la Française.
  Grosses Asperges à
  l’Américaine.]

                             _Trois Relevés._

                   Hure de Sanglier à l’Allemande en Surprise.
                        Jambon Croquant aux Abricots.
                   Paniér de Fruit glacé à la Lady Mayoress.

                       _Dessert Floréal à la Watteau._

  Raisins de Fontainebleau.
  Fraises des bois Françaises.
  Pêches de Montreuil.
  Ananas.

  Raisins Muscats.
  Melons.
  Bananas.
  Compote de Chaumontelle.


[Illustration: _Pl. 33._

York Banquet]


GENERAL BILL OF FARE FOR 248 GUESTS.


                                      FIRST COURSE.

  _Trente-deux Potages._

  Quatre Potages à la Victoria.
  Quatre Id. à la Prince of Wales.

  Huit Potages à la Tortue Transparente.
  Seize Id. à la Moderne.

    _Trente-deux Poissons._

  Huit Turbots à la Mazarin.
  Huit Truites Saumonées à la Marinière.

  Huit Filets de Merlans à la Crême.
  Huit Crimp Cod aux Huîtres.


  _Trente-deux Relevées._

  Six Chapons à la Nelson.
  Six Saddleback de Mouton Gallois.
  Quatre Aloyaux de Bœuf au Raifort.
  Six Haunches de Venaison.

  Six Quartiers d’Agneau de Maison à la Sévigné.
  Quatre Dindonneaux en Diadême.


  _Trente-deux Flancs._

  Huit Jambons à la York.
  Huit Poulardes à la Russe.

  Huit Timballes de Riz à la Royale.
  Huit Pâtés chauds à la Westphalienne.


  _Quarante-huit Entrées._

  Huit Sautés de Faisans au fumet de Gibier aux Truffes.
  Huit de Côtelettes de Mouton à la Vicomtesse.
  Huit de Blancs de Volaille à la York Minster.
  Huit de Riz de Veau à la Palestine.
  Huit de Rissolettes de Volaille à la Pompadour.
  Huit de Salmi de Gibier à la Chasseur.


  SECOND COURSE.

  _Quarante Rôtis._

  Huit de Perdreaux aux feuilles de Céleri.
  Huit de Faisans bardés au Cresson.
  Six de Cannetons au jus d’Oranges.

  Six de Grouses à l’Ecossaise.
  Six de Levreaux au jus de Groseilles.
  Six de Bécasses et Bécassines au jus.


  _Cent Entremets._

  Dix Chartreuses de Pêches.
  Dix Gelées de fraises Françaises à la Fontainebleau.
  Dix Salades de Grouses à la Soyer.
  Dix Galantines Aspiquées à la Volière.
  Dix Crêmes transparentes au Kirchenwasser.

  Dix Crevettes au Vin de Champagne.
  Dix Gâteaux crêmants à la Duke of York.
  Dix Petites Macédoines de fruit cristallisée.
  Dix Mirotons de Homard aux Olives.
  Dix Tartelettes prâlinées aux Cerises de Montmorency.


  _Vingt Relevées._

  Dix paniers de Fruits Glacés à la Lady Mayoress.
     Dix Jambons en Surprise à l’Ananas.

  _Side Table--Vegetables._

  Céleri à la Crême.
  Choux Fleurs au beurre.
  Haricots Verts.
  Choux de Bruxelles.

  Céleri à la Crême.
  Choux Fleurs au beurre.
  Sea Kale.
  Choux de Bruxelles.


  _Grand Dessert Floréal à la Watteau._

_L’Extravagance Culinaire à l’Alderman, or the One Hundred Guinea
Dish._--The opportunity of producing some gastronomic phenomenon for the
royal table on such an occasion as the York Banquet was irresistible;
accordingly, the following _choice morsels_ were carefully selected from
all the birds mentioned in the general bill of fare, to form a dish of
delicacies worthy of his Royal Highness and the noble guests around him.

The extravagance of this dish, valued at one hundred guineas, is
accounted for, by supposing, that if an epicure were to order a similar
one for a small party, he would be obliged to provide the undermentioned
articles, viz.:

                                                     At the cost of
                                                      £  _s._ _d._
    5 Turtle heads, part of fins, and green fat      34    0    0
   24 Capons, the two small _noix_ (nuts) from
      each side of the middle of the back only used,
      being the most delicate part of every bird      8    8    0
   18 Turkeys, the same                               8   12    0
   18 Fatted pullets, the same                        5   17    0
   16 Fowls, the same                                 2    8    0
   10 Grouse                                          2    5    0
   20 Pheasants, _noix_ only                          3    0    0
   45 Partridges, the same                            3    7    0
    6 Plovers, whole                                  0    9    0
  100 Snipes, _noix_ only                             5    0    0
    3 Dozen Quails, whole                             3    0    0
   40 Woodcocks, _noix_ only                          8    0    0
    3 Dozen Pigeons, the same                         0   14    0
    6 Dozen Larks, stuffed                            0   15    0
      Ortolans from Belgium                           5    0    0
      The _garniture_, consisting of cockscombs,
      truffles, mushrooms, crawfish, olives, American
      asparagus, _croustades_ (paste crust),
      sweetbreads, _quenelles de volaille_
      (strips or slices of fowl), green mangoes,
      and a new sauce                                14   10    0
                                                   --------------
                                                   £105    5    0

In order to present to the reader the striking contrast of extravagance
in ancient and modern cookery, we here give an engraving of the
celebrated Roman dish (Wild Boar à la Troyenne) described in page 185.
It appears to have been one of those extraordinary efforts of genius
which the artist could only produce under the sanction of a lavish
patron. It was a veritable _tour-de-force_, and, no doubt deserved the
commendation it received, not only because it was of colossal size, and
the good taste displayed, but also on account of the various culinary
delicacies of which it was composed. We have no account of the cost of
such a dish, but, judging from the excessive prices given in ancient
times for all _recherché_ articles at the tables of the great, it must
have been enormous.

We will now resume our description of the York Banquet. In front of
the

[Illustration: _Pl. 34._

WILD BOAR A LA TROYENNE.

EXTRAVAGANCE CULINAIRE A L ALDERMAN]

[Illustration: _Pl. 35_

LORD MAYOR OF YORK’S CUP.

HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE ALBERT’S CUP.

LORD MAYOR OF LONDON’S CUP.]

principal table, on a raised platform, covered with purple cloth, was a
collection of maces, swords, &c., estimated by competent judges to be
worth £12,000.

The most conspicuous ornament was placed immediately behind the great
circular table; it was designed by the author, and is represented in the
accompanying engraving. It consisted of a large emblematic vase, twenty
feet in height, painted and modelled by Mr. Alfred Adams. Around the
base are Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, presenting specimens of
industry to Britannia. From the centre of the base springs a palm tree,
surrounded by the arms of the cities of London and York; medallion
portraits of her Majesty and Prince Albert, encircled by the shields of
the principal cities and towns of the United Kingdom, form the body of
the vase; two figures of Ireland and Scotland the handles; the Prince of
Wales’s emblem the neck, and the royal arms the apex. Appended were
graceful wreaths of flowers, in which the symbols of the Houses of York
and Lancaster (red and white roses) predominated; and when a brilliant
flood of gaslight, aided by powerful reflectors, was thrown upon this
splendid decoration, the effect was truly magnificent.

Having illustrated this volume with a murrhine vase, belonging to the
House of Brunswick, and a curiously worked crystal cup, as gems of
ancient production, we give here, as modern works of art, an engraving
representing three superb drinking cups,--one for his Royal Highness
Prince Albert, and one each for the Lord Mayors of London and York: the
first is in ruby glass, a portion of the stem and base internally
checquered with silver, and on the sides bearing white sunken medallions
of her Majesty and the Prince Consort, and the royal arms of England.
The other two cups were of the same size and shape, but, instead of
being ruby and silver, the colours were emerald and silver; and on the
sides were the private arms of each of the Lord Mayors, together with
the usual heraldic emblazonments of the cities of London and York
respectively. They were presented by the author of this work in the name
of the Patent Silvered-Glass Company.

This banquet was of so interesting a nature, that we could not omit
giving some particulars of it in this work; at all events, the pomp and
splendour of modern times, as far as banqueting is concerned, must prove
that--from the Greeks and Romans, down to the middle ages--we have not
been exceeded, except, perhaps, in waste and extravagance.

The national entertainments given within the last fifty years, to
commemorate striking events, are too fresh in our memory to pass them in
silence.

Many persons can still remember the coronation of the Emperor Napoleon
in 1805. On that occasion a grand banquet was given to all the
dignitaries of the Empire and their ladies, nothing being omitted that
was calculated to solemnise with sumptuosity such an event.

In 1810 the city of Paris offered to Napoleon and Maria-Louisa
(Archduchess of Austria) a banquet as extraordinary as it was costly. A
semicircular gallery of the Corinthian order was erected on the whole
square of the Hôtel-de-Ville, where above a thousand guests joined the
festival.

In 1815 a magnificent entertainment was given to the allied sovereigns
by the city of London, where richness of decoration, massive gold and
silver plate, and profusion of culinary rarities struck the beholder
with wonder.

At the Coronation Banquet of George IV., in 1820, the old customs and
privileges were ransacked to give _éclat_ to that solemnity, one of the
grandest, and perhaps, the most sumptuous that ever could he imagined in
ancient or modern times.

In France, in the year 1824, the coronation of Charles X. was celebrated
at Rheims with royal magnificence; the banquet excited the admiration of
all present. At that solemnity the Duke of Northumberland was appointed
Ambassador Extraordinary from England, and few, if any, ever equalled
the liberality of his Grace, or the display he made of his wealth, to
represent and honour his sovereign and country at the court of Charles
X. The fêtes and banquets given by his Grace--and at which the author
was present--were of the most costly if not extravagant description, for
we are told that the expenses of that munificent nobleman were not less
than £200,000.

The grand banquets and receptions of King Louis Philippe during eighteen
years exhibited too much liberality and splendour to be forgotten; and
at the marriage of his eldest son, the unfortunate Duke of Orleans,
Versailles presented a scene of banqueting and rejoicing unparalleled
since the time of Louis XIV.

On her Majesty’s visit to the city of London a banquet was given in the
Guildhall, the grandeur of which was scarcely ever exceeded, showing the
loyalty, devotedness, and noble hospitality of the wealthiest commercial
citizens in the world.

In 1838, at the coronation of Queen Victoria, Buckingham Palace
witnessed a most elegant, chaste, and splendid banquet. The Ambassadors
Extraordinary, sent from all the foreign courts, were not more
conspicuous for the brilliancy of their costumes than the native
nobility who graced the festive-board of the youthful Queen of Great
Britain.

On this occasion a very elaborate and graceful fountain of massive gold
of about three feet in height and two feet in diameter, was prominent on
the royal table. It spouted four different sorts of delicious wine into
as many shells, from which it dripped into four reservoirs, and was
served to the guests by means of a golden ladle. This fountain can be
seen, with the regalia, in the Tower of London.

On that joyful day the members of the Reform Club intrusted to our care,
at Gwyrdir House, a sumptuous entertainment for fifteen hundred persons,
on a scale of liberality deserving of the highest praise.

The marriage of Her Majesty with H. R. H. Prince Albert formed one of
those memorable epochs to be preserved in the annals of banqueting.

The opening of the Royal Exchange, in 1846, was also one of those
extraordinary days on record, where the Queen of a great nation gave
proof of her sympathy in the prosperity of her merchant-princes, by
presiding over a splendid entertainment to commemorate the
re-establishment of that commercial edifice.

On the 3rd of July in the same year, his Highness Ibrahim Pacha, son of
Mehemet Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, was entertained by the members of the
Reform Club to a magnificent and most sumptuous banquet provided for two
hundred guests. The author, having full scope to do honour to the
invitation, provided the following liberal selection of gastronomic
dishes, many of which were innovated for the occasion:--


BILL OF FARE.

  _Seize Potages._

  Quatre à la Victoria.
  Quatre à la Comte de Paris.

  Quatre à la Louis Philippe.
  Quatre à la Colbert, aux Légumes Printaniers.


  _Seize Potages._

  Quatre de Turbots, Sauce à la Mazarin.
  Quatre de Buissons de Filets de Merlans à l’Egyptienne.

  Quatre de Saumons de Severn à la Crême.
  Quatre de Truites Saumonées en Matelotte Marinière.


  _Seize Reléves._

  Quatre de Chapons à la Nelson.
  Quatre de Saddleback of Southdown Mouton, rôti à la Soyer.

  Quatre de Poulardes en Diadême.
  Quatre de Saddleback d’Agneau, rôti à la Sévigné.


  Baron of Beef à l’Anglaise.

  Entrée Pagodatique de riz à la Luxor.

  _Cinquante-quatre Entrées._

  Six de Poussins Printaniers à l’Ambassadrice.
  Six de Côtelettes de Mouton à la Reform.
  Quatre de Riz de Veau piqués en Macédoine de Légumes.
  Quatre de Petits Vol-au-vents aux Laitances de Maquereaux.
  Quatre Timballes de Riz aux Quues d’Agneau.
  Quatre de Jambonneaux Braisés au Vin de  Madère.

  Quatre de Volailles Farcies à la Russe aux Légumes Verts.
  Quatre de Pâtées Chauds de Cailles à la Banquière.
  Quatre de Rissolettes à la Pompadour.
  Quatre de Grenadins de Bœuf à la Beyrout.
  Six de Côtelettes d’Agneau à la Vicomtesse, et
  Quatre de Turbans Epigramme de Levreau au Fumet.


  _Seize Rôts._

  Quatre de Turkey Poult, Piqués et Bardés.
  Quatre de Cannetons au Jus de Bigarades.

  Quatre de Levreaux au Jus de Groseilles, et
  Quatre de Gros Chapons au Cresson.


  _Cinquante-quatre Entremots._

  Six de Gelées Macédoine de Fruits au Dantzic.
  Quatre Turbans de Meringues Demi-Glacées.
  Quatre de Charlotte Prussienne.
  Six de Croquantes d’Amandes aux Cerises.
  Quatre de Galantines à la Volière.
  Quatre de Mirotons de Homard à l’Indienne.

  Quatre de Salades de Volaille à la Soyer.
  Quatre de Haricots Verts au Beurre Noisette.
  Six de Tartelettes Prâlinées aux Abricots.
  Quatre de Pain de Pêches au Noyeau.
  Quatre de Petite Pois à l’Anglo-Francaise, et
  Quatre de Gelées Cristallisées à l’Ananas.


  _Relevés de Rôts._

  Crème d’Egypte à l’Ibrahim Pacha.
  Gâteau Britannique à l’Amiral.
  Quatre de Jambons Glacés en Surprise.
  Quatre de Côtelettes en Surprise à la Reform.

  Quatre de Manivaux de Champignons au Curaçao en Surprise.
  Deux de Meringues Chinoises-Pagoda aux Fraises.


We hardly need mention the annual entertainment which takes place on the
9th of November, when the city of London makes a king of a citizen.

In the course of the year 1844, King Louis Philippe paid a visit to her
Majesty Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle, and during the time a series
of banquets were given in honour of the King’s visit by her Majesty. The
gold plate--worth, it is said, a million sterling--was used on that
occasion. We shall not attempt to describe the extraordinary beauty of
that service: the value in itself must leave the impression that nothing
like it is in existence.

In the year 1848 the return of Lord Hardinge, Governor-General of India,
from his glorious campaigns in the East, was solemnised by a sumptuous
banquet offered to his lordship by the members of the Carlton Club.

In the year 1850 the annual meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society
was held in the fine old city of Exeter, where the Society was welcomed
with the most enthusiastic rejoicings, and we had the honour of being
selected by the committee to provide a dinner for one thousand and fifty
members. As this rustic banquet was admitted to be one of no ordinary
kind we give here the general bill of fare, and a short narrative of the
first attempt to roast a whole ox by gas.


GRAND AGRICULTURAL PAVILION DINNER.

[Sidenote: Baron of Beef à la Magna Charta.]

  33 Dishes of Ribs of Beef.
  35 Dishes of Roast Lamb.
  99 Dishes of Galantine of Veal.
  29 Dishes of Ham.
  66 Dishes of Pressed Beef.
  2 Rounds of Beef à la Garrick.
  264 Dishes of Chicken.
  33 French raised Pies à la Soyer.
  198 Spring Mayonnaise Salad.
  264 Cherry, Gooseberry, Raspberry, and Currant Tarts.
  33 Exeter Puddings.
  198 Dishes of Hot Potatoes.

[Sidenote: Grand Agricultural Trophy.]

Homer tells us that a royal culinary artist placed before Ajax and his
voracious companions in arms a whole bullock roasted. Since those heroic
ages many no doubt have shared the same fate; and we know that in this
country, on the occasion of a rich heir coming of age, a roasted ox is
often given to the tenants as a substantial fare, with a well-nursed
butt of ale, twenty-one years old. Many can remember that in the winter
of 1812 a bullock was roasted on the frozen Thames, which certainly was
something to wonder at. Another monster effort was attempted at
Hammersmith some years ago, but the animal, clumsily suspended from the
summit of an apparatus formed of three beams, was burnt, emitted a rank
smell, and did not roast. All those who have had to attend such an
operation agree that it is rather an awkward affair, and not performed
without great difficulties, on account of the immense fire, which
requires constant attention to keep up and regulate the necessary
heat,--and, after all, it is seldom entirely successful.

For the present festival, the author, who knew well the power and
efficacy of gas, wished to honour the guests with a dish of _his own_,
never yet attempted, and which he has entitled the “_Baron and
Saddleback of Beef à la Magna Charta_.” He therefore proposed to roast a
baron and saddleback of beef, weighing five hundred and thirty-five
pounds, in the open air. The magistrates very willingly put the castle
yard at his disposal, and it was anticipated that a large Pandemonium
fire would have been seen; but, to the surprise of every one, a few
bricks, without mortar, and a few sheets of iron, forming a temporary
covering to a space six feet six inches in length, and three feet three
inches in width, were the only appearance of an apparatus, with two
hundred and sixteen very small jets of gas coming through pipes
half-an-inch in diameter. It was hardly credited that such a monster
joint could be properly done by such means; however, incredulity soon
vanished on seeing it frizzling and steaming away; and after eight
hours’ roasting it was thoroughly dressed, at a cost of less than five
shillings for gas.

After having allowed it to cool it was removed, and carried by eight men
through the principal streets of the ancient and loyal city of Exeter,
accompanied by a band of music, playing “The Roast Beef of Old England,”
and followed by thousands of the incredulous of the previous day. On its
arrival at the pavilion it was deposited under the grand triumphal arch,
designed and erected by the author; it was 17 feet high, and 10 feet
wide, and composed of all the produce of agriculture and the farm.

The following list will give some idea of its magnitude: it consisted
of--

One swan, two turkeys, four geese, four ducks, eight fowls, eight
pigeons, four rabbits, one fine barn-door cock, six ox heads, four
calves’ heads, two rams’ heads, two stags’ heads, two whole lambs--all
natural, and in their plumage or skin--ornamented with vegetables,
fruit, and flowers, viz., cabbages, turnips, potatoes, carrots, leeks,
celery, rhubarb, onions, French beans, peas, asparagus, sea-kale stalks;
sheaves of wheat, oats, barley; pine apples, citrons, cherries, grapes,
melons, peaches, apricots, greengages, apples, gooseberries,
strawberries, currants, and the choicest kinds of flowers--all being the
production of the county--and surmounted by various implements of
agriculture. There was also an elegant jug, ornamented with flowers,
filled with clotted cream. On the top of the huge piece of beef, was
placed a black pig’s head, weighing eighty pounds when killed.

It was in the recollection of many persons, that thirty-five years ago a
baron of beef, weighing only two hundred and forty-two pounds was
roasted in Exeter, under the superintendence of twelve blacksmiths, at
their forge fire, for a banquet given at the time peace was proclaimed.

The Parisians have not forgotten the great fête of the distribution of
eagles by his Majesty the Emperor of the French, on that day when he
relinquished the functions of President of the Republic for a more
august title. That military solemnity was followed by a splendid
banquet, at which there were several thousands of guests. It would be
superfluous to add, that the arrangements for that gigantic repast
evinced the intelligent taste and incredible resources of imagination of
our continental neighbours.

An entire volume would not suffice, if we attempted to recount all the
pompous feasts which followed in succession during the last century,
“the age of powder and suppers.” But we cannot pass in silence the
memorable punch given in 1746 by Sir Edward Russell, Commander-in-Chief
of the British forces, which can only be assimilated in point of
extravagance to the great banquet of the Earl of Warwick, the
description of which was extracted from the “Gastronomic Regenerator,”
and reproduced in this work, page 362.

The bowl was the marble basin of a delightful garden, forming the
central point of four vast avenues, bordered with orange and lemon
trees. A magnificent collation was served on four immense tables, which
occupied the whole length of the several avenues. The basin had been
filled with four large barrels of brandy, eight barrels of filtered
water, twenty-five thousand citrons, eighty pints of lemon juice,
thirteen hundred weight of sugar, five pounds of nutmeg, three hundred
biscuits, and a pipe of Malaga wine. An awning over the basin protected
it from rain, which might have disturbed the chemical combination of the
delicious beverage; and, in a charming little rose-wood boat, a cabin
boy, belonging to the fleet, rowed about on the surface of the punch,
ready to serve the joyous company, which numbered more than six thousand
persons.[H]

We cannot terminate this rapid sketch, without mentioning that, after
several years of research in compiling this work, we completed our task
on the day following that on which her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen
of England offered the largest royal banquet since her accession to the
throne, to an assembly of kings, queens, and princes, and the flower of
the British aristocracy, consisting of a hundred and twenty guests, on
the occasion of the baptism of his Royal Highness Prince Leopold George
Duncan Albert. This regal entertainment took place on the 28th of June,
and never, perhaps, did the august sovereign display so much
magnificence and majesty. We shall not publish the details of this
imposing banquet; and, moreover, we should inform our readers of nothing
new, were we to tell them of the artistical selection, execution, and
perfection of the bill of fare,--of the richness of the ornaments and
service,--of the royal and feminine gracefulness of the mother, wife,
and queen. “May Heaven grant,” say we, in the words of the immortal
Bossuet, “that the children of this illustrious princess, like a crown
of olive saplings, may cling round her, and grow in virtue, strength,
and renown; may the Ruler of empires throw a halo round the destiny of
the august mother, and show to all that His mighty hand upholds thrones
and protects kings!”


FOOTNOTES:

 [A] This lemon-tree wood was a species more precious and more
 beautiful than that which we now possess.

 [B] See Plate XXVIII., p. 378, for the triclinium.

 [C] Cup, or _crater_, used by the Greeks and Romans at their repasts,
 made either of gold, silver, or earthenware (terra cotta).--HAMILTON,
 “_Herculaneum_.”

 [D] See Plate XXX., No. 4.

 [E] The following descriptions of various banquets and bills of fare
 are here introduced, in the anticipation that in after years they may
 prove interesting, and induce, for the future, culinary artists to
 enlarge and preserve those magiric archives.

 [F] For the general illustration of the banquet, see the “_Illustrated
 London News_,” of November 2nd, 1850.

 [G] See page 406.

 [H] While thus hastily enumerating some modern banquets, we cannot
 refrain mentioning that illusive feast of the most effeminate of
 Assyrian kings, the plan of which seems to have been imparted by the
 magiric genius himself to our celebrated tragedian Charles Kean. Every
 night, Sardanapalus, the sensual king of the too joyous Ninevites,
 rising from his tomb, with his twenty-six centuries of renown, seats
 himself at table, in order to unveil to us long buried splendours,
 and confirm our belief in those sumptuous orgies of which history
 preserves to us but uncertain details.

 The admirable works of Botta, Flandin, Layard, and Bonomi, have
 allowed the ingenious major domo who presides at these Assyrian feasts
 of the 19th century, to invest them with that _couleur locale_ which
 would formerly have been sought in vain; and, should the shade of
 the voluptuous prince wander amidst the guests seated at his table,
 it may still recognise the cup from which he imbibed intoxication
 and forgetfulness of his tragic destiny. Altogether, this scenic
 representation appears to us the realisation of an extraordinary
 dream, and we have been tempted to place this fictitious repast of
 Sardanapalus amongst the modern banquets here called to remembrance.

 [I] Since the above was written, my researches have been rewarded
 by success, and I have given a complete description of it in this
 work.--_See page 269._

 [J] No less than £52,000, if Pliny really means the grand sesterce,
 which everything leads us to believe.

 [K] Smallage, a species of parsley, known by the name of celery, is
 diuretic and aperitive. The celery, as cultivated now, is derived from
 the smallage.

 [L] It is a question whether they could compete in quality with those
 caught in the Severn at the present day.

 [M] This paper did not resemble our own of the present day; it was a
 kind of papyrus, which perfectly resisted all moisture.

 [N] Pie of meat and flour.

 [O] See Plate No. XXVII., No. 4., a plain bottle, with a long neck.

 [P] A pound of honey to three pounds of water.

 [Q] We are not aware that any of our dramatic authors ever gave such
 proof of generosity after a triumph as did the poet, Ion. Crowned at
 Athens, after the representation of a tragedy, he made a present to
 each Athenian of a vase filled with wine of Chios.--“_Athen._,” I., 5.

 [R] _Fat meat_, according to the vulgate.

 [S] Dinner given by the Earl of Warwick, at the installation of an
 Archbishop of York, in the year 1470.

 [T] Imperial, a gold coin, current in Russia. The Imperial of ten
 roubles (1755) was worth nearly £2 2s. 0d.

 [U] This lemon-tree wood was a species more precious and more
 beautiful than that which we now possess.

 [V] A grand banquet was held by the Royal Agricultural Society, at
 Exeter, on July 20th, 1850, for description of which see end of volume.

 [W] Apicius composed the œnogarum (or rather eleogarum, for wine is
 not mentioned in his recipe) in the following manner: bruise, in a
 mortar, pepper, alisander, coriander, and rue; then add some garum,
 honey, and a little oil.[IX-119]

 [X] The word Ox--_Bos_--is a general term applied equally by sacred
 and profane writers to the bull, ox, and cow.--VALLA, lib. iv., cap.
 42. It would appear that the castration of bulls originated with the
 Greeks, though they and the Romans, their imitators, saw only in this
 operation the facility of subduing them, and accustoming them to the
 yoke.--GEOPONICS, COLUMELLA, PLINY, &c.

 [Y] We saw, in 1836, while at Colne Castle, about one ton weight taken
 out of the water in a few hours.

 [Y] A sort of wine, much esteemed.




TABLE OF REFERENCES

TO

Ancient and Modern Writers.


I.

AGRICULTURE.

 [I-1] Plutarch. De Isid. et Osirid.; Ovid. Fabul. lib. v. 6, 7; Aurel.
 Vict. De Orig. Gent. Roman.

 [I-2] Genes. cap. ii. 15.

 [I-3] Ibid. cap. iii. 23.

 [I-4] Cuvier, Discours sur les Révolutions du Globe, 6e. édit. p. 171.

 [I-5] Judic. cap. vi. 11, 14.

 [I-6] Ruth, cap. ii. 3, 5.

 [I-7] I. Samuel, cap. xi. 5.

 [I-8] I. Reg. cap. xix. 19.

 [I-9] Guénée, Lettres de Quelques Juifs, tom. iii. p. 23, edit. in
 12mo.

 [I-10] Levitic. cap. xxv. 23.

 [I-11] Diodor. Sicul. lib. ii. § 3.

 [I-12] Aristot. De Republ. lib. ii. cap. 7.

 [I-13] Levitic. xxv. 3, 6.

 [I-14] Mishna, passim.

 [I-15] Exod. iii. 8.

 [I-16] Joseph. De Bello Judaic. lib. iii. cap. 8.

 [I-17] Juvenal. Sat. xv. 10.

 [I-18] Genes. cap. xii. 10.

 [I-19] Ibid. cap. xlii. 1, 2, 3.

 [I-20] Varro. De Re Rustic.; Plin. xviii. 7; Plutarch. In Cæsar.

 [I-21] Plutarch. De Isid.; Tibull. lib. i. eleg. vii. 29.

 [I-22] Fabretti. Inscript. p. 574.

 [I-23] Homer. Il. x. 351; Odyss. viii. 124.

 [I-24] Polydor. Virgil.

 [I-25] Plin. xviii 4.

 [I-26] Aul. Gell. i. 23.

 [I-27] Plin. iv. 3; Flor. i. 2.

 [I-28] Flor. viii. 3.

 [I-29] Columell. ii. 5.

 [I-30] Ibid. ii. 2.

 [I-31] Varro. i. 29.

 [I-32] Encyclopédie Méthodique; Antiquités Planches.

 [I-33] Cato. De Re Rustica, x. xi.

 [I-34] Strutt, Manners and Customs, &c., vol. i. p. 32, fig. vii.

 [I-35] Plin. xvii. 5, 8.

 [I-36] Varro. i. 13, 38; Columell. ii. 5, 6, 9.

 [I-37] Geoponic. xii. 4; Virgil. Georg. i. 81; Plin. xvii. 9.

 [I-38] Cato. cap. xxx.; Plin. xviii, 53; Varro. ii. 2.

 [I-39] Column. Trajan. tab. 83.

 [I-40] Passerii Lucern. Fictil. tab. 9.

 [I-41] Gessner. ii. tab. 32, no. 75.

 [I-42] Mongez. Encyclop. Méthod. Antiquit. Planches.

 [I-43] De Re Rustica, i. 50.

 [I-44] Virgil. Georg. lib. iv.

 [I-45] Plin. viii. 30.

 [I-46] Columell. ii. 21.

 [I-47] Isaias, xxviii. 27.

 [I-48] Herculan. v. 95.

 [I-49] Geoponic. ii. 27, 31; Plin. xviii. 30; Varro. i. 57; Columell.
 i. 6.

 [I-50] Dioscorid.; Diodor. Sicul.; Dio. Nicæus.

 [I-51] Id.

 [I-52] Strab.; Plin.; Strutt, Manners, &c., of the Ancient Britons,
 vol. i. p. 7.

 [I-53] Strutt, Ibid. p. 43.

 [I-54] Id. Ibid. pp. 43, 44.

 [I-55] Fontan. tom. ii. liv. iii. titre 33, p. 1190.


II.

CEREALS.

 [II-1] Tit. Liv. Decad. i. lib. 1.

 [II-2] Plin. xviii. 8.

 [II-3] Cato. R. R. cap. 86.

 [II-4] Virgil. Georgic. i. 210.

 [II-5] II. Samuel, cap. xvii. 28.

 [II-6] Sueton. In August. xiv.

 [II-7] Exod. cap. ix. 31.

 [II-8] Virgil. Georgic. i. 216.

 [II-9] Xenophon. De Expedit. Cyri. lib. vii.; Plin. xviii. 7.

 [II-10] Geoponic. ii. 38.

 [II-11] Plin. xviii. 40.

 [II-12] Id. xviii. 16.

 [II-13] Dioscorid. ii. 16.

 [II-14] Virgil. Georgic. i. 153.

 [II-15] Plin. xviii. 17.

 [II-16] Id. xviii. 7, 10.

 [II-17] Dioscorid. ii. 117.

 [II-18] Galen. De Facultat. Aliment. i. 17.

 [II-19] Herodot. ii. 36.

 [II-20] Dioscorid. lib. ii. cap. 3; lib. iii.

 [II-21] Plin. xxii. 25.

 [II-22] Id. ii. 7.

 [II-23] Petron. cap. i.

 [II-24] Plaut Pœn. act. i. sc. 2, 112.

 [II-25] Leg. xii. Tabul. pars ii. L. ix.

 [II-26] Ulp. 50 Dig. t. v. l. 2; Arc. ad. Charis. D. 50, t. iv. l. 18,
 § 5; Wolfius, t. v. Oper. Demosth. f. 358.

 [II-27] Samuel Petit. Comment. lib. v. tit. 5.

 [II-28] Plin. lib. xviii.

 [II-29] Dio. lib. xi. 3; Isidor. lib. ult. cap. 14.

 [II-30] Panem et Circenses.

 [II-31] Demosth. In Phorm.

 [II-32] Plutarch. In Cat. Maj.; Cic. in Verrem.

 [II-33] Sueton. In Jul. Cæsar. cap. 41.

 [II-34] Dio Cassius. lib. xliii.

 [II-35] Id. lib. lv.

 [II-36] Sueton. In Neron. cap. 10; Tacit lib. xv.

 [II-37] Spartian. In Sever.; Liv. lib. ii.

 [II-38] Socrat. ii. 10, 13; Sozomen. iii. 6.

 [II-39] Cic. Pro Leg. Manil.

 [II-40] Liv. lib. xxxiii.; Cic. Ad Attic. ep. ix. et seqq.; Varro. R.
 R.; Plin. xviii. 7.

 [II-41] Stow’s Chronicles, p. 167.

 [II-42] Fabian. vol. ii. p. 30.


III.

GRINDING OF CORN.

 [III-1] Apud Athenæum.

 [III-2] Ovid. Fast. iv. 399.

 [III-3] Tibull. ii. eleg. 3.

 [III-4] Pausan. In Arcad.

 [III-5] Virgil. Georg. iv. 81.

 [III-6] De Mensura Cibi.

 [III-7] Lucret. v. 14.

 [III-8] Plin. vii. 51.

 [III-9] Encyclop. Méthod. Antiquit. Planches.

 [III-10] Varro. apud Nonnium.

 [III-11] Plin. xviii. 3.

 [III-12] Polyb. i. 22.

 [III-13] Deuteronom. xxiv. 6.

 [III-14] Exod. xi. 5.

 [III-15] Numer. xi. 8.

 [III-16] Pausanias, v. μυλη, Histor. Laconicor.

 [III-17] Homer. Odyss.

 [III-18] Id. Ibid. vii. 105.

 [III-19] Plin. xviii. 11.

 [III-20] Gell. xxxi. 3; Terent. Andr. act. i. sc. 2.

 [III-21] Gell. xiii. 22.

 [III-22] Virg. Georg. i., et ibi Servius, v. 267, 274.

 [III-23] Ovid. In Fastis; Rosin. Antiquit, Roman, iv. 10.

 [III-24] Paschal. Coron. p. 260.

 [III-25] Rosin. loc. cit.

 [III-26] Apul. Milesiar. lib. ix.

 [III-27] Terent. Andria. act. i. sc. 2.

 [III-28] Meursius, Criticar. Exercitat. part i. cap. 9.

 [III-29] Id. Ibid.

 [III-30] Gell. iii. 3.

 [III-31] Vitruv. x. 10.

 [III-32] Plin. xviii. 10.

 [III-33] Vid. Turneb. Salmas, et Perrault, section Vitruve.

 [III-34] Goetzius, De Pistrinis Veterum.

 [III-35] Strabo, Geograph.

 [III-36] De Canone Frumentar, Urb. Rom. L. iv. Cassiodor. Variar. iii.

 [III-37] 5th century.

 [III-38] Decernimus de Aquæductu, L. x.

 [III-39] Anno 536.

 [III-40] Procop. De Bello Gothico. i. 15.

 [III-41] Vitruv. x. 5; Schneider; Palladius, R. R. i. 42.

 [III-42] Plin. xxxvi. 30.

 [III-43] Odyss. xx. 105, 119; Cato. R. R. cap. 56.

 [III-44] Leges Ethelberti.

 [III-45] Strutt, Manners, &c., vol. ii., p. 13.

 [III-46] Apud Strutt, ibid.

 [III-47] Ibid. p. 14.

 [III-48] Heringius.

 [III-49] Monast. Anglic. t. i. p. 316; t. ii. p. 459; t. iii. p. 107.


IV.

MANIPULATION OF FLOUR.

 [IV-1] Montaigne, Essais.

 [IV-2] Genes. xviii. 6.

 [IV-3] Exod. xii. 39.

 [IV-4] Reg. xix. 6.

 [IV-5] Levitic. vii. 9.

 [IV-6] Calmet. Bible, tom. vi. p. 257, fol.

 [IV-7] Waserus, De Antiq. Mensuris, ii. 5.

 [IV-8] Genes. iii. 19.; Exod. ii. 20; xviii. 12; et passim.

 [IV-9] Calmet. loc. cit.

 [IV-10] Fleury, Mœurs des Israélites, chap. 12.

 [IV-11] Ruth, ii. 14.

 [IV-12] Calmet. loc. cit.

 [IV-13] Plin. xviii. 11.

 [IV-14] Exod. xii. 15, 17 to 20, 34, 39.

 [IV-15] Levitic. vii. 9.

 [IV-16] Genes. xv. 17.

 [IV-17] Levitic. ii. 4; vii. 9; xi. 35; xxvi. 26; Calmet. Bible, tom.
 vi.

 [IV-18] Genes. xl. 1, et seqq.

 [IV-19] Cassiodor. Variar. vi.; Olai Magni Hist. xiii. 13; Panis a
 Pane.

 [IV-20] Cic. Pro Cluentio; Isidor. xx. 2.

 [IV-21] Paître--Manger.

 [IV-22] Nonnius Marcellus, De Prop. Sermon.

 [IV-23] Athen. iii. 13.

 [IV-24] Id. Ibid.

 [IV-25] Id. Ibid.

 [IV-26] Id. Ibid.

 [IV-27] IV-Aristoph. Ran. v. 856.

 [IV-28] Galen. De Aliment. Facultat. lib. i.

 [IV-29] Athen. iii. 29.

 [IV-30] Cæl. Rhodig. xxvi.

 [IV-31] Athen. loc. cit.

 [IV-32] Id. Ibid.

 [IV-33] Id. Ibid.

 [IV-34] Id. Ibid.

 [IV-35] Id. Ibid.

 [IV-36] Id. iii. 13.

 [IV-37] Plin. xviii. 7.

 [IV-38] Athen. loc. cit.

 [IV-39] Plaut. Pœn. et Mostellar; Plin. xviii. 8.

 [IV-40] Tit. Liv. Dec. i. lib. v. cap. 48--Florus.

 [IV-41] Galen. De Aliment. Facultat. i. 18.

 [IV-42] Festus; Lactant. Divinar. Institut. cap. 20; Ovid. Fast. ii.
 525.

 [IV-43] Plin. xviii. II.

 [IV-44] Pomp. Sabin. In Moret. Virgil.

 [IV-45] Maximar. C. De Excusat. Muner. L. xii.

 [IV-46] Vitruv. Architect. vi. 9.

 [IV-47] Plin. xviii. 10.

 [IV-48] Plin. xviii. 11.

 [IV-49] Aurel. Vict.; si quis De Pistorib. L. ii.; si cui, Ibid. L. iv.

 [IV-50] Optio, Ibid. L. iv.

 [IV-51] Nulli Pistori, Ibid. L. xxi.

 [IV-52] Ne Quis, Ibid. L. xv.

 [IV-53] Quicumque, Ibid. L. xxii.

 [IV-54] Gell. xv. 19.

 [IV-55] Brod. Miscellan. v. 21; Plin. xix. 1; Columell. v. 10; Petron.
 85.

 [IV-56] Juvenal. Sat. x. 82.

 [IV-57] Ammian. Marcellin. xxvi.; Sueton. In Claud. cap. 18.

 [IV-58] Plin. xviii. 7, 9, 10, 11.

 [IV-59] Id. xix. 4.

 [IV-60] Id. Ibid.

 [IV-61] Gronovius.

 [IV-62] Richard. Gorræi. Annal. Principio.

 [IV-63] Plin. xviii. 11.

 [IV-64] A.D. 75.

 [IV-65] Ovid. Fast. vi., 260, et seqq.

 [IV-66] Pitt. Ercolan. tom. ii. p. 141.

 [IV-67] Gronovius.

 [IV-68] Cels. ii. 18; Galen. De Facultat. Aliment. i.

 [IV-69] Id. iv. 6.

 [IV-70] Ammian. Marcellin. xvii. 17; Senec. Epist. 83.

 [IV-71] Athen. iii. 28.

 [IV-72] Encyclop. Méthodiq. Antiquités.

 [IV-73] Plaut. Aulul. act. ii. sc. 9, ver. 4; Plin. xviii. 11.

 [IV-74] Encyclop. Méthod. Antiq.

 [IV-75] Ibid.

 [IV-76] Ibid.

 [IV-77] Strutt, loc. cit.

 [IV-78] Delamarre, Traité de la Police.

 [IV-79] Réglement du 20 Mars, 1635.

 [IV-80] Monteil. Hist. des Français, tom, ii., pp. 47, 48.


V.

FRUMENTA.

 [V-1] Servius.

 [V-2] Theophrast. ex versione Gazæ.

 [V-3] Hippocrat. De Victûs Ration.; Galen. De Aliment. Facult. lib. i.

 [V-4] Plin. xviii. 7; xx. 25; Bruyerin. v. 7; et seqq.

 [V-5] Deuteron. viii. 8.

 [V-6] II. Samuel, xvii. 28.

 [V-7] Paralipomen. ii. 9.

 [V-8] Sueton. In August. cap. 14.

 [V-9] Theophrast.; Menand.; Plin. xviii. 7.

 [V-10] Galen. De Aliment. Facultat. lib. i.

 [V-11] Id. Ibid.

 [V-12] Athen. iii. 36.

 [V-13] Bruyerin. v. 6.

 [V-14] Hippocrat. De Victus Ratione.

 [V-15] Id. Ibid.

 [V-16] Plin. xviii. 17; Villichius, cap. xii.

 [V-17] Colman, Lexicon; Meursius.

 [V-18] Cato. R. R. cap. lxxxvi.

 [V-19] Galen. De Aliment. Facultat. i. 17; Bruyerin. v. 21.

 [V-20] Varro. De Ling. Lat.; Columell. ii.

 [V-21] Virgil. Georg. lib. iv.

 [V-22] Plin. xviii. 7.

 [V-23] Id. Ibid.

 [V-24] Dioscorid. ii. 120.

 [V-25] Plin. xviii. 24.

 [V-26] Plin. Jun. Epist. ad Septic. Clar.

 [V-27] Cato. R. R.

 [V-28] Columell. xii. 55; Cato. cap. 86.

 [V-29] Plin. xviii. 7; Bruyerin. v. 23; Galen. De Aliment. Facultat.
 lib. i.

 [V-30] J. A. St. John, The Hindoos, vol. i. p. 357.

 [V-31] Martial.

 [V-32] Athen. vii.

 [V-33] Plat. in Gorg.

 [V-34] Athen. i. 13.

 [V-35] Andrieux, “Les rois malaisément souffrent qu’on leur résiste.”

 [V-36] Athen. 13.


VI.

GRAINS: SEEDS.

 [VI-1] Plin. xx. 22.

 [VI-2] Nonnius, De Re Cibariâ, i. 14.

 [VI-3] Plin. xix. 8, 22.

 [VI-4] Matth. xiii. 31; xvii. 20; Marc. iv. 31; Luc. xiii. 19; xvii. 6.

 [VI-5] Boerhaave, Hist. Plant.

 [VI-6] See Les Bigarrures du Seigneur des Accords. Paris, 1662, p. 62.

 [VI-7] Plin. xx. 20.

 [VI-8] Varro. R. R.

 [VI-9] Plin. xviii. 7, 14.

 [VI-10] Id. Ibid.

 [VI-11] Athen. i. 15.

 [VI-12] Ibid. ii. 14.

 [VI-13] Plin. xviii. 14.

 [VI-14] Bruyerin, vii.

 [VI-15] Plin. xix. 1.

 [VI-16] Galen. De Aliment. Facult. i.; Bruyerin. vii. 12.

 [VI-17] Plin. loc. cit.

 [VI-18] Bruyerin, vii. 13.

 [VI-19] Simeo. Sethi, De Aliment. Facult.


VII.

VEGETABLES.

 [VII-1] Nonnius, De Re Cibar. i. 5.

 [VII-2] Plin. xviii. 10.

 [VII-3] Genes. ix. 3.

 [VII-4] Ibid. xxv. 34.

 [VII-5] Samuel, xvii. 28.

 [VII-6] Daniel, i. 12, 16.

 [VII-7] Athen. i. 45.

 [VII-8] Iliad.

 [VII-9] Athen. ii. 8.

 [VII-10] Varro. De Re Rust, i. 23, 32; Isidor. Orig. xvii. 4.

 [VII-11] Cato. 35, 36; Virgil. Georg. i. ii.; Varro. De Re Rust. i.
 23, 32.; Ovid. Fast. v.; Gell. iv. 11.

 [VII-12] Virgil. Georg. translat. by Delille.

 [VII-13] Sigonius, De Nominib. Roman.

 [VII-14] Cic. lib. vii. Epist. 26 ad Fab. Gall.

 [VII-15] 97 years B.C.

 [VII-16] Dio. Epitom. Tiber.

 [VII-17] Apicius, De Obsoniis. i. 23.

 [VII-18] Caroli Magni Capitul.


VIII.

DRIED VEGETABLES.

 [VIII-1] Ovid. Fast, iii.; Festus, De Verb. Signif.; Nonnius, i. 5.

 [VIII-2] Festus, loc. cit.

 [VIII-3] Nonnius, loc. cit.

 [VIII-4] Id. loc. cit.

 [VIII-5] Theophrast. De Caus. Plant.; Clem. Alex. Strom.; Cic. De
 Divinat. i.; Plin. xviii. 7, 12.; Simeo. Sethi, De Aliment. Facult. p.
 134.

 [VIII-6] Hippocrat. iii. aphor. 20.

 [VIII-7] Plin. xviii. 12.

 [VIII-8] Pollux et Eustath.

 [VIII-9] Isidor. Orig. vii.; Nonnius, i. 5.

 [VIII-10] II. Reg. xvii. 28.

 [VIII-11] Ezech. iv. 9.

 [VIII-12] Athen. iii. 1.

 [VIII-13] Id. Ibid.

 [VIII-14] Id. Ibid.

 [VIII-15] Dioscorid. ii. 99; Athen. loc. cit.; Plin. xxi. 15;
 Theophrast. v.

 [VIII-16] Plin. xvi. 30; xxiv. 2.

 [VIII-17] Pinkerton’s Ancient Scot. Poems, vol. ii. p. 431.

 [VIII-18] Anecdotes of Some Distinguished Persons, vol. iii. p. 317.

 [VIII-19] Boemus Aubanus. Mores, Leges, &c., Omnium Gentium, Genev.
 1620, p. 266.

 [VIII-20] Brand’s Popular Antiquities, vol. i. p. 24.

 [VIII-21] Athen.

 [VIII-22] Virgil. Georg. i. 227.

 [VIII-23] Athen. ii. 15.

 [VIII-24] Galen. De Aliment. Facult. ii.

 [VIII-25] Id. Ibid. v.; Nonnius, i. 5.; Platina, De Tuend. Valetud.

 [VIII-26] Columell. ii. 10.

 [VIII-27] Mélanges Tirés d’une Grande Bibliothèque.

 [VIII-28] II. Reg. xvii. 28.

 [VIII-29] Martial i. 42.

 [VIII-30] Lambinus; Erasm. In Adagiis.

 [VIII-31] Columell. ii. 10.; Plin. xviii. 12.

 [VIII-32] Martial. loc. cit.

 [VIII-33] Horat. Sat. i. 3.

 [VIII-34] Athen. iv.; Nonnius. De Re Cibar.; Bruyerin. vii. 3.;
 Florentin. ap. Constant. Cæsar. xi.

 [VIII-35] Athen. vi. 4.

 [VIII-36] Id.; Nonnius; Bruyerin. loc. cit.

 [VIII-37] Genes. xxv. 34.

 [VIII-38] II. Reg. xvii. 28.

 [VIII-39] Ibid. xxiii. 11.

 [VIII-40] Ezech. iv. 9.

 [VIII-41] Cic. Tuscul. iv.; Virgil. Georg. i. ii.; Isidor. Orig. xvii.

 [VIII-42] Appian. De Bello Parthico; Plutarch. In Vitâ Crassi.

 [VIII-43] Virgil. Georg. i. 228.

 [VIII-44] Plin. xv. 12.


IX.

KITCHEN GARDEN.

 [IX-1] Delille, Préface du Poème des Jardins.

 [IX-2] Num. xxiv. 6.

 [IX-3] Virgil. Georg. iv.

 [IX-4] Esth, vii. 7, 8.

 [IX-5] Ex Trog. Pompeio. Justin, xxxvi.

 [IX-6] Q. Curt. v. 1.

 [IX-7] Odyss. vii.

 [IX-8] Dio. xlvii.; Sueton. Cæs. 83.

 [IX-9] Cato. Varro. Columell. passim.

 [IX-10] Cal. Siculus. Eclog. ii.

 [IX-11] Frontin. Cœl. Sympos. Œnigm. 72; Pallad. ix. 11.

 [IX-12] Scriptores Rei Rustic. passim.

 [IX-13] Ibid.

 [IX-14] Hippocrat. Aphorism.

 [IX-15] Plin.

 [IX-16] Cato. De Re Rustic. 156, 157.

 [IX-17] Athen. ix. 2.

 [IX-18] Cato. loc. cit.

 [IX-19] Ch. St Laurent, Diction. Encyclopéd.

 [IX-20] Apicius, De Obsoniis, iii. 9.

 [IX-21] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-22] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-23] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-24] Olivier de Serres.

 [IX-25] Columell. x. 251 et 254.

 [IX-26] Plin. xix. 8.

 [IX-27] Athen. i. 6.

 [IX-28] Id. ix. 2.

 [IX-29] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-30] Martial. xiii. 13.

 [IX-31] Apicius, iii. 2.

 [IX-32] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-33] Id. iii. 11.

 [IX-34] Dioscorid.

 [IX-35] Stephan. Thesaur. Ling. Latin.; Ch. St. Laurent, Dict.
 Encyclop.

 [IX-36] Beckmann, Hist. of Invent.

 [IX-37] Hispanicum Olus.

 [IX-38] Athen. ii. 18.

 [IX-39] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-40] Horat. Epod. ii. 58.

 [IX-41] Martial. iii. 89.

 [IX-42] Cic. vii. Familiar. 26.

 [IX-43] Plin. xx. 21.

 [IX-44] Apicius, iii. 8.

 [IX-45] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-46] La Fontaine, Fables.

 [IX-47] Athen. ii. 21.

 [IX-48] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-49] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-50] Plin. xix. 4.

 [IX-51] Id. xix. 8.

 [IX-52] Sueton. Oct. Cæs. 87.

 [IX-53] Apicius, iii. 3.

 [IX-54] Plin. loc. cit.

 [IX-55] Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles.

 [IX-56] Plin. xix. 5.

 [IX-57] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-58] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-59] Athen. ii. 18.

 [IX-60] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-61] Propert. iv. 2, 43.

 [IX-62] Juvenal. Sat xiv. 47.

 [IX-63] Athen. ii. 18.

 [IX-64] Athen. ii. 18.

 [IX-65] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-66] Id. ix. 3.

 [IX-67] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-68] Apicius, iii. 4.

 [IX-69] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-70] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-71] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-72] Athen. i. 6.

 [IX-73] Scriptores Rei Rustic.

 [IX-74] Apicius, iii. 13.

 [IX-75] Plin. xix. 5.

 [IX-76] Id. xxi. 15.

 [IX-77] Apicius, iii. 21.

 [IX-78] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-79] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-80] Festus.

 [IX-81] Dr. Charbonnier.

 [IX-82] Plin. xx. 20.

 [IX-83] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-84] Id. xix. 12.

 [IX-85] Apicius, iii. 11.

 [IX-86] Plin. xix. 8.

 [IX-87] Athen.

 [IX-88] Apicius, iii. 9.

 [IX-89] Ruell. i. 20.

 [IX-90] Athen. ii. 13; Pollux, vi. 9.

 [IX-91] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-92] Dioscorid. iii. 14.

 [IX-93] Plin. xxi. 16.

 [IX-94] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-95] Hermolao Barbaro.

 [IX-96] Ruell. i.

 [IX-97] 2nd cent. A.C.

 [IX-98] Galen. De Aliment. Facult.

 [IX-99] Columell. x. 236.

 [IX-100] Geoponic. xii. 39.

 [IX-101] Ibid.

 [IX-102] Apicius, iii. 19.

 [IX-103] Ch. St. Laurent, Dict. Encycl.

 [IX-104] Apicius, loc. cit.

 [IX-105] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-106] Tertullian, De Animâ, cap. 32.

 [IX-107] Id. Adv. Marc. iv. 40.

 [IX-108] Plin. xx. 2.

 [IX-109] Num. xi. 5.

 [IX-110] Apicius, iii. 4.

 [IX-111] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-112] Ch. St. Laurent, Dict. Encyc.

 [IX-113] Apicius, iii. 5.

 [IX-114] Num. xi. 5.

 [IX-115] Athen.

 [IX-116] Geoponic. xii. 7, 4.

 [IX-117] Plin.

 [IX-118] Apicius, iii. 6.

 [IX-119] Apicius, i. 31.

 [IX-120] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-121] Id. iii. 6.

 [IX-122] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-123] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-124] Exod. xii. 8; Num. ix. 11.

 [IX-125] Athen. ii. 18.

 [IX-126] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-127] Martial. xiii. 14.

 [IX-128] Bibl. Sacra. loc. cit.

 [IX-129] Athen. i. 12.

 [IX-130] Theophrast. Hist. Plant. vi. 7.

 [IX-131] Galen. De Aliment. Facult.

 [IX-132] Sueton. In August.

 [IX-133] Ch. St. Laurent, Dict. Encycl.

 [IX-134] Apicius, iii. 15.

 [IX-135] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-136] Platina; Taillevant.

 [IX-137] Plin. xx. 8.

 [IX-138] Virgil. Georg. i. 120.

 [IX-139] Columell. x. 3.

 [IX-140] Pallad. i. 30; Apul. De Herb. 47.

 [IX-141] Apicius, iii. 18.

 [IX-142] Geoponic. xii. 31.

 [IX-143] Num. xi. 5.

 [IX-144] Socrat. In Zenophont. Symposio.

 [IX-145] Plin. xix. 6.

 [IX-146] Horat. lib. i. Epod. xii. 21.

 [IX-147] Apicius, iii. 15.

 [IX-148] Alexand. v. 10.

 [IX-149] Num. xi. 5.

 [IX-150] Geoponic. xii. 29.

 [IX-151] Ibid.

 [IX-152] Athen. ix. 3.

 [IX-153] Apicius, iii. 10.

 [IX-154] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-155] J. A. St. John, The Hindoos, vol. i. p. 357.

 [IX-156] Suidas. Tiber. iii.

 [IX-157] Geoponic. xii. 20.

 [IX-158] Ibid.

 [IX-159] Ibid.

 [IX-160] Apicius, iii. 7.

 [IX-161] Pasquier, Recherches sur la France.

 [IX-162] Babylonic Talmud.

 [IX-163] Athen. i. 6.

 [IX-164] Plin. xix. 5.

 [IX-165] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-166] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-167] Varro. R. R.; Columell. xi.; Plin. xviii.

 [IX-168] Geoponic. xii. 21; Varro. i. 11.

 [IX-169] Sueton. In Vespas. iv.

 [IX-170] Apicius, iii. 13.

 [IX-171] Id. i. 24.

 [IX-172] Athen. ii. 16.

 [IX-173] Plin. xix. 5.

 [IX-174] Athen. loc. cit.

 [IX-175] Theophrast. Hist. Plant. vii. 4.

 [IX-176] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-177] Id. Ibid.

 [IX-178] Geoponic. xii. 22.

 [IX-179] Ibid.

 [IX-180] Ibid.

 [IX-181] Ibid.

 [IX-182] Ibid.

 [IX-183] Apicius, iii. 14.

 [IX-184] Plin. xx. 6.

 [IX-185] Suidas.

 [IX-186] Plaut. Pœn. v. 5, 34.

 [IX-187] Suidas.

 [IX-188] Virgil. Eclog. ii. 9.

 [IX-189] Dict. des Sciences Naturel.

 [IX-190] Athen.

 [IX-191] Geoponic. xii. 30.

 [IX-192] Ibid.

 [IX-193] Plin. xix. 16.

 [IX-194] Banier, Mytholog. tom. vii. p. 198.

 [IX-195] Plutarch. Sympos. v. 3.

 [IX-196] Anacreon, passim.

 [IX-197] Horat. Od. i. 36.

 [IX-198] Paschal. Coron. p. 436.

 [IX-199] Homer. Iliad, ii.

 [IX-200] Plin. xx. 1.

 [IX-201] Apicius, iii. 2.

 [IX-202] Id. iii. 15.

 [IX-203] Plutarch. Sympos. v.

 [IX-204] Columell. xi. 3.

 [IX-205] Apicius, iii. 12.

 [IX-206] Cic. In 5 Tuscul. cap. 34.

 [IX-207] Id. De Finib. ii. 92.

 [IX-208] Plutarch. De Virtute et Vitio, sub fin.

 [IX-209] Dr. Charbonnier.

 [IX-210] Geoponic. xii. 27.

 [IX-211] Ibid.

 [IX-212] Ibid.

 [IX-213] Plin. xix. 8.

 [IX-214] Apicius, iii. 16.

 [IX-215] Id. Ibid.


X.

PLANTS USED IN SEASONING.

 [X-1] Plin. xix. 8.

 [X-2] Id. Ibid.

 [X-3] Nonnius, De Re Cibariâ.

 [X-4] Dalechamp, Ad Plin. xx. 25.

 [X-5] Petron. cap. i.

 [X-6] Plin. loc. cit

 [X-7] Dioscorid. ii. 120.

 [X-8] Plin. xx. 20.

 [X-9] Geoponic. xii. 26.

 [X-10] Ibid.

 [X-11] Ovid. Remed. Amor. 402; Juvenal. Sat. ix. 134; Columell. x. 171.

 [X-12] Isidor. xvii. 11.

 [X-13] Geoponic. xii. 34.

 [X-14] Virgil. Eclog. ii. 48.

 [X-15] Columell. xi. 3.

 [X-16] Dioscorid. i. 52.

 [X-17] Id. v. 41.

 [X-18] Apicius, vi. 9; vii. 6.

 [X-19] Plin. xx. 17.

 [X-20] Id. Ibid.

 [X-21] Psalm l. 9.

 [X-22] Columell. vii. 5.

 [X-23] Plin. xxv. 11.

 [X-24] Columell. xii. 35.

 [X-25] Plin. xx. 17.

 [X-26] Dioscorid. v. 38.

 [X-27] Cato. R. R. 127.

 [X-28] Columell. x. 238.

 [X-29] Id. xii. 35.

 [X-30] Plin. xx. 22.

 [X-31] Id. xxi. 22.

 [X-32] Id. Ibid.

 [X-33] Const. Cæs. vi. 14.

 [X-34] Plin. xx. 14.

 [X-35] Geoponic. xii. 33.

 [X-36] Athen.

 [X-37] Macer. i. 12.

 [X-38] Athen.

 [X-39] Geoponic. xii. 25.

 [X-40] Turneb. Advers. viii. 5.

 [X-41] Ovid. Metam.

 [X-42] Plin. xx. 14.

 [X-43] Geoponic. xii. 24.

 [X-44] Ovid. Art. Amat. ii. 418.

 [X-45] Apicius, i. 29; iv. 2.

 [X-46] Plin. xix. 8.

 [X-47] Martial. iii. 77, 5.

 [X-48] Apicius, i. 30.

 [X-49] Id. x. 2, 7.

 [X-50] Plin. xii. 7.

 [X-51] Apicius.

 [X-52] Lamprid. Elogab. 21.

 [X-53] Plin. xxvii. 7.

 [X-54] Strabo. Geograph. vii.

 [X-55] Apicius, i. 3.

 [X-56] Martial. viii. 68.


XI.

FRUITS.

 [XI-1] Genes. ii. 16.

 [XI-2] Deuteron. xx. 19.

 [XI-3] Levitic. xix. 23, 24.

 [XI-4] Deuteron. xx. 6.

 [XI-5] Ovid. Metam. xiv. 623.

 [XI-6] Propert. iv. 2, 10.

 [XI-7] Ovid. Fast. i. 415.

 [XI-8] Virgil. Georg. i. 18.

 [XI-9] Natalis Comes. vii. 15.

 [XI-10] Id. ii. 1.

 [XI-11] Id. i. 10.

 [XI-12] Tibull. ii. 3, 67.

 [XI-13] Athen. ix.

 [XI-14] Sueton. In August. 76.

 [XI-15] Vid. Stuckium, Nonnium, Bruyerinum, &c.

 [XI-16] Seneca, Epist 122.

 [XI-17] Id. De Irâ, i. 16.

 [XI-18] Id. Controv. v. 5.

 [XI-19] Apicius, i. 20.


XII.

STONE FRUIT.

 [XII-1] Constant. Cæs. ix. 1.

 [XII-2] Id. Ibid.

 [XII-3] Æsch. Agam.

 [XII-4] Statius. Theb. ii.

 [XII-5] Euripid. Heracl. act ii.

 [XII-6] Apollon. Rhod. iv.

 [XII-7] Id. ii. et ibi Scholiast.

 [XII-8] Id. Ibid.

 [XII-9] Diodor. Sicul. vi.

 [XII-10] Genes. i. 11, 12.

 [XII-11] Genes. xxviii. 18.

 [XII-12] Diodor. v.; Justin. xiii.

 [XII-13] Exod. xxv. 6.

 [XII-14] Ibid. xxix. 7.

 [XII-15] Ibid. xxiii. 40.

 [XII-16] Exod. Levitic. Numer. Deuteronom. passim.

 [XII-17] Mishna.

 [XII-18] Plin. xv. 4.

 [XII-19] Athen. ii. 25.

 [XII-20] Id. Ibid.

 [XII-21] Id. iv. 4.

 [XII-22] Plin. xxiii. 3.

 [XII-23] Ruellius.

 [XII-24] Athen. ii. 8.

 [XII-25] Theophrast. Hist Plantar. passim.

 [XII-26] Plin. xv. 1.

 [XII-27] Id. i. 2.

 [XII-28] Id. viii., xii., xv., xvi.

 [XII-29] Cato. i. 1, 3, 31, 67, 68, 144.

 [XII-30] Varro. R. R. i. 2.

 [XII-31] Columell. i. 6, v. 8; xii. 50.

 [XII-32] Plin. xv. 3.; Mathiol. In Dioscorid. i.

 [XII-33] Plin. loc. cit.

 [XII-34] Martial, xii.

 [XII-35] Tit. Liv.

 [XII-36] Spartian. xxii.

 [XII-37] Horat. Od. 6. lib. ii.

 [XII-38] Plin. xiii. 2.

 [XII-39] Sueton. In Cæs. 53.

 [XII-40] Salmas. De Homonym. Hyles Intricæ. cap. 103.

 [XII-41] Plin. xxii. 24.

 [XII-42] See p. 269.

 [XII-43] Apicius, i. 5.

 [XII-44] Vid. Pontan.

 [XII-45] Natal. Com. vii. 15.

 [XII-46] Bibl. Sacr. passim.

 [XII-47] Levitic. x. 9; Deuteron. xiv. 26.

 [XII-48] Guénée, Lettres de Quelques Juifs, tom. iii. p. 270, edit.
 8vo.

 [XII-49] Joseph. De Bell. Judaic. ii. 2.

 [XII-50] Theophrast. ii. 8.

 [XII-51] Plin. xiii. 14.

 [XII-52] Plutarch.; Athen.

 [XII-53] Hieronym. Ad Eustochium, epist. 19.

 [XII-54] Plin. xv. 25; Ammian. Marcell. xx. 13.

 [XII-55] Plin. xv. 25.

 [XII-56] Virgil. Georg.

 [XII-57] Athen. ii. 11.

 [XII-58] Theophrast. iii. 13; ix. 1.

 [XII-59] Plin. xv. 25.

 [XII-60] Id. Ibid.

 [XII-61] Columell. v. 10; xi. 2.

 [XII-62] Galen. De Aliment. Facultat. ii.; Dioscorid. i. 131.

 [XII-63] Plin. xv.

 [XII-64] Theophrast. iii. 5.

 [XII-65] Plin. xv. 14.

 [XII-66] Columell. x. 17.

 [XII-67] Plin. xiii. 9; xv. 13.

 [XII-68] Galen. ii.

 [XII-69] Dioscorid. i. 131.

 [XII-70] Apicius, i. 26.

 [XII-71] Theophrast. i. 11; iv. 3; ix. 1.

 [XII-72] Athen. ii. 10.

 [XII-73] Theophrast. et Athen. loc. cit.; Geoponic. x. 40.

 [XII-74] Virgil. Eclog. ii.

 [XII-75] Plin. xiii. 10; xv. 12.

 [XII-76] Dictionnaire des Origines.

 [XII-77] Mémoires de Dangeau.

 [XII-78] Gaillard, Hist. de François I.

 [XII-79] Théâtre d’Agriculture.


XIII.

PIP FRUIT.

 [XIII-1] Theophrast. ii. 4.

 [XIII-2] Athen. iii.

 [XIII-3] Cato. De Re Rusticâ.

 [XIII-4] Plin. xv. 11.

 [XIII-5] Galen. De Aliment. Facult.

 [XIII-6] Columell. v. 10.

 [XIII-7] Pallad. xi. 20.

 [XIII-8] Forum Cupedinarium.

 [XIII-9] Dioscorid. v. 20.

 [XIII-10] Ulpian. ix. Sess. de Trit. Vin. OI.

 [XIII-11] Athen. iii. 6.

 [XIII-12] Id. Ibid.

 [XIII-13] Apicius, i. 19.

 [XIII-14] II. Reg. v. 23, 24; 1 Paralip. xiv. 14, 15.

 [XIII-15] Theophrast. ii. 23, et passim.

 [XIII-16] Plin. xv. 15.

 [XIII-17] Galen. De Simpl. Medicam. v.; De Aliment. Facult. ii.

 [XIII-18] Grandes Chroniques Françaises; Vita B. Francisc.

 [XIII-19] Cant. ii. 3, 5; vii. 8; viii. 5; Joel, i. 12.

 [XIII-20] Cant. ii. 3.

 [XIII-21] Bruyerin. xi. 16.

 [XIII-22] Athen. i. 21.

 [XIII-23] Strab. xv.

 [XIII-24] Turneb. De Vino. p. 22.

 [XIII-25] Virgil. Georg. ii. 126, et seqq.

 [XIII-26] Athen. iii. 4.

 [XIII-27] Theophrast. i. 22; iv. 4; viii. 8.

 [XIII-28] Athen. loc. cit.

 [XIII-29] Dioscorid. i. 136.

 [XIII-30] Athen. loc. cit.

 [XIII-31] Lib. i. cap. 21. Lond. 1705, 8vo.

 [XIII-32] Plin. xii. 3; xxiii. 6; xxv. 28.

 [XIII-33] Pallad. xii. 7.

 [XIII-34] Athen. iii. 4.

 [XIII-35] Apicius, i. 21.

 [XIII-36] Plin. xxiii. 6; Athen. iii. 4; Galen. Simplic. Medic, vii.

 [XIII-37] Année Littéraire, 1755.

 [XIII-38] Nouveau Dict. Class. d’Hist. Nat. Paris, 1844.

 [XIII-39] Année Littér. 1755.

 [XIII-40] Brand’s Popular Antiquities, vol. i. p. 9.

 [XIII-41] Dictionnaire d’Histoire Naturelle.

 [XIII-42] Genes. iii. 7.

 [XIII-43] Num. xx. 5.

 [XIII-44] Ibid. 24, 28.

 [XIII-45] II. Reg. iv. 25.

 [XIII-46] IV. Reg. xviii. 31.

 [XIII-47] Guénée, Lettr. de Quelq. Juifs, tom. iii. pp. 271, 272.

 [XIII-48] Pausan. In Atticis.

 [XIII-49] Athen. iii.

 [XIII-50] Id. iii. 2.

 [XIII-51] _Sukon_, fig, and _phainô_

 [XIII-52] Plutarch. De Curiosit.

 [XIII-53] Athen. xiv.

 [XIII-54] Plin. xv. 18.

 [XIII-55] Cato. R. R. 94, 99, 133.

 [XIII-56] Varro. R. R.

 [XIII-57] Plin. loc. cit.

 [XIII-58] Athen. iii. 14.

 [XIII-59] Bruyerin. xi. 37.

 [XIII-60] I. Reg. xxv. 18, 27.

 [XIII-61] Clem. Alex. In Pædag.

 [XIII-62] Plin. xii. 1; Plutarch. In Camill. 390 B.C.

 [XIII-63] Athen. iii.

 [XIII-64] Galen. De Cibis Boni et Mali Succi.

 [XIII-65] Hippocrat. De Diœt. ii.

 [XIII-66] Plin. xxiv. 14; Dioscorid. iv. 33.

 [XIII-67] _Uva crispa_, and _ribes_.

 [XIII-68] Mathiol. In Dioscorid. i. 105.

 [XIII-69] Virgil. Eclog. iii. 92.

 [XIII-70] Ovid. Metam. xiii. 816.

 [XIII-71] Id. Ibid. i. 104.

 [XIII-72] Plin. xvi. 25.

 [XIII-73] Athen. ii. 12.

 [XIII-74] Apicius, i. 22.

 [XIII-75] Psalm lxxxiv. 6; I. Chron. xiv. 14, 15.


XIV.

SHELL FRUIT.

 [XIV-1] Macrob. 2; Saturnal. 14; Columell. v. 10.

 [XIV-2] Athen. i. 49.

 [XIV-3] Genes. xliii. 11.

 [XIV-4] Athen. iii.

 [XIV-5] Id. Ibid.

 [XIV-6] Apicius, iv. 2.

 [XIV-7] Plin. xxiii. 4.

 [XIV-8] Id. xvi. 25.

 [XIV-9] Dutour; Amandier.

 [XIV-10] Theophrast. Hist. Plant.

 [XIV-11] Exod. xxv. 33; xxxvii. 19.

 [XIV-12] Cant. vi. 10.

 [XIV-13] Plin. xv. 22.

 [XIV-14] Varro. L. L. iv.; Dioscorid. i. 141.

 [XIV-15] Theophrast. i. 3, et passim.

 [XIV-16] Catul. In Epithal. Tulliæ et Malli.

 [XIV-17] Servius, In Virgil. Eclog. viii.

 [XIV-18] Plin. xv. 22.

 [XIV-19] Pers. Sat. i.; Hesych. Lexic. voc. Nux.

 [XIV-20] Galen. Simpl. Medicam.

 [XIV-21] Mathiol. In Dioscorid. i. 141.

 [XIV-22] Avicen. v. 4.

 [XIV-23] Athen. ii. 7.

 [XIV-24] Id. Ibid.

 [XIV-25] Plin. xxiii. 8; Q. Seren. Sammonic.

 [XIV-26] Theophrast. i. 5; Athen. ii. 7.

 [XIV-27] Cato. R. R. 8; Macrob. Saturnal. iii. 18.

 [XIV-28] Nucula. Festus.

 [XIV-29] Nonnius. i. 37.

 [XIV-30] Galen. De Aliment. Facult. ii.; Dioscorid. i. 42.

 [XIV-31] Hospinian. De Orig. Fester. Christian. fol. 113. B.

 [XIV-32] Plin. xiii. 5.

 [XIV-33] Theophrast. iv. 5.

 [XIV-34] Plin. xv. 22.

 [XIV-35] Galen. De Alim. Facult. ii.

 [XIV-36] Avicen. lib. ii.

 [XIV-37] Athen. ii. 13.

 [XIV-38] Virgil. Eclog. ii. 52.

 [XIV-39] Id. Eclog. i. 82.

 [XIV-40] Nicand. Interp. Turneb.

 [XIV-41] Sipont.

 [XIV-42] Natalis Comes. iii. 16.

 [XIV-43] Martial. i. 44.

 [XIV-44] Columell. xii. 41.

 [XIV-45] Plin. xiii. 19.

 [XIV-46] Columell. loc. cit.

 [XIV-47] Apicius, i. 18.

 [XIV-48] Athen. xiv.

 [XIV-49] Pausan. et Diodor. passim.


XV.

ANIMAL FOOD.

 [XV-1] Genes. i. 29; iii. 17, 18, 19.

 [XV-2] Ibid. iii. 21.

 [XV-3] Ibid. iii. 19.

 [XV-4] Ibid. iv. 4.

 [XV-5] Ibid. xviii. 8.

 [XV-6] Xenoph. De Cyri Expedit.; Varro. R. R. ii. 1; Bruyerin. ii. 1;
 iv. 1.

 [XV-7] Hieronym. Adv. Jovin. Arnob. Cont. Gent. ii.

 [XV-8] Plutarch. De Esu Carn.; Porphyr. De Non Necand. &c.

 [XV-9] Bossuet, Discours sur l’Hist. Universel.

 [XV-10] Genes, ix. 3.

 [XV-11] Herodot. Hist. i.; Virgil. Georg. i.; Ovid. Metam. i. et xv.

 [XV-12] Bruyerin. ii. 1; Plin. xvi. 5.

 [XV-13] Ovid. Metam. i. 3.

 [XV-14] Porphyr. De Non Necandis ad Epuland. Animantib. i.

 [XV-15] Plin. vii. 5; Porphyr. i. ii.; Polyd. Virgil. De Rer.
 Inventor. iii. 2.

 [XV-16] 756 years after the Deluge.

 [XV-17] 943 years after the Deluge; Athen. ix. Var. R. R. ii. 4; Ovid.
 Metam. xv.

 [XV-18] Ibid. loc. cit.

 [XV-19] Plin. vii. 56.

 [XV-20] La Fontaine, Les Animaux Malades de la Peste.

 [XV-21] Plin. loc. cit.; Nonnius ii. 1; Ælian. Var. Hist. i. 3; Paus.
 i.

 [XV-22] 895 B.C.

 [XV-23] Porphyr. loc cit.

 [XV-24] Homer. passim.

 [XV-25] Plutarch. De Esu Carnium.

 [XV-26] Genes. ix. 3.

 [XV-27] Levitic. xxii. 24.

 [XV-28] Deuteron. xxv. 4.

 [XV-29] Exod. xxiii. 5.

 [XV-30] Deuteron. xx. 10.

 [XV-31] Exod. xxiii. 12.

 [XV-32] Genes. passim.

 [XV-33] Xenoph.

 [XV-34] Homer.

 [XV-35] Leg. xii. Tabul. L. 72; Ulric. Zasii Catalog. Leg. Antiq.

 [XV-36] Ibid. lxxi.

 [XV-37] Columell. i. 3.

 [XV-38] Cic. In Brut.

 [XV-39] Hyginius in Frontin. De Controvers. Agror. cap. De Loc.
 Publicis.

 [XV-40] Leg. i. De Abigeis. iii. Oves ss. De Abigeis.

 [XV-41] _Scrofa_, a sow.

 [XV-42] Varro. ii. 1.

 [XV-43] Geoponic. passim; Cato. Varro. Plin. Columell. Pallad. passim.

 [XV-44] Varro.

 [XV-45] Aul. Gell. xiii. 21.

 [XV-46] Ovid. Fast. iii. 523.

 [XV-47] S. Augustin. De Civitat. Dei. vi. 9.

 [XV-48] Geoponic. xvii.

 [XV-49] Paralipom. xxiii. 15; xxxiii. 14; II. Esdras, iii. 1, 28; xii.
 38; Sophon. i. 10.

 [XV-50] Tit. Liv. xxix. 37.

 [XV-51] Rosin. Antiquit. Rom. p. 39.

 [XV-52] Id. Ibid. p. 38.

 [XV-53] Ulpian. De Officio Præfect. Urbis.

 [XV-54] Homer.

 [XV-55] Turneb. Advers.

 [XV-56] Gruter. p. 647, n. 6.

 [XV-57] Encyclop. Méthod. Antiquit.; Gruter. loc. cit.; Montfaucon,
 Antiq. Expliq.

 [XV-58] Cod. Theod. L. x. De Suariis et Pecuariis.

 [XV-59] Ibid.

 [XV-60] Cod. Valent. De Suariis.

 [XV-61] Ibid.

 [XV-62] Ibid.

 [XV-63] Ibid.

 [XV-64] Onuphr. Panvin. Descript. Urb. Rom.

 [XV-65] Sext. Rufin. Descript. Urb. Rom.

 [XV-66] _Geoponic._ iii.

 [XV-67] Apicius, i. 10.

 [XV-68] Id. i. 8.

 [XV-69] Delamarre. liv. v. titre 23, chap. 6.

 [XV-70] Monteil. Histoire des Français, tom. ii. p. 46.

 [XV-71] Arrêt du Parlement, 18 Mai, 1366.

 [XV-72] Delamarre.

 [XV-73] Règlement du 20 Mars, 1635.


XVI.

ANIMALS.

 [XVI-1] Athen. iii. 7.

 [XVI-2] Id. ix. 5; Bulenger. ii. 24.

 [XVI-3] Herodot. ii. 47.

 [XVI-4] Plutarch. De Isid. et Osirid; Ælian. De Animal. x. 16.

 [XVI-5] Levitic. xi. 7, 8.

 [XVI-6] I. Macchab. i. 65, 66; II. Macchab. vi. 18, et seqq.

 [XVI-7] In Barakama. vi. 7. § 7; Maimonides, In Niskemamon. cap. v.

 [XVI-8] Kibuschim. 49.

 [XVI-9] Hoorabeck. De Conviv. Judæis, vii. 1.

 [XVI-10] Herodian. v.

 [XVI-11] Ælian. xvi. 37.

 [XVI-12] Koran, chap. vi.

 [XVI-13] Varro. R. R. ii. 4; Clem. Alexandr. Stromat. ii.

 [XVI-14] Scholiast. Aristophan. In Acharn.

 [XVI-15] Macrob. Saturn. i. 6; Aul. Gell. iv. 6.

 [XVI-16] Varro. loc. cit.

 [XVI-17] Fest. De Verb. Signific.

 [XVI-18] Varro. loc. cit.

 [XVI-19] Id. Ibid.

 [XVI-20] Johan. Pierius, Hieroglyph. ix.

 [XVI-21] Plutarch. Sympos. v. 10; Cic. De Natur. Deor. ii.

 [XVI-22] Galen. De Aliment. Facult. iii.

 [XVI-23] Id. De Cib. Boni et Mali Succi.

 [XVI-24] Id. Method. Medendi. vii.

 [XVI-25] Athen. passim.

 [XVI-26] Id. iii. 7, 9; ix. 6, et passim.

 [XVI-27] Id. iv. 1.

 [XVI-28] Athen. ix. 4, 5.

 [XVI-29] Bulenger. ii. 24.

 [XVI-30] Petron. Satyr.

 [XVI-31] Macrob. Sat. iii. 13.

 [XVI-32] Athen. ix. 7.

 [XVI-33] Varro. R. R. ii. 41.

 [XVI-34] Plin. viii. 51.

 [XVI-35] Petron. Satyr.

 [XVI-36] Lamprid. In Alexand. Sever.

 [XVI-37] Macrob. Saturn. iii. 13.

 [XVI-38] Plin. xi. 37.

 [XVI-39] Nonnius, ii. 3.

 [XVI-40] Strabo. vi. 3, 7; Martial. Lemmate de Pernâ.

 [XVI-41] Nonnius; Stuckius.

 [XVI-42] Cato. R. R. cap. ultimo.

 [XVI-43] Strabo, iv.

 [XVI-44] Plutarch. Sympos. v. 10; Varro. R. R. ii. 4.

 [XVI-45] Bruyerin. xiii. I.

 [XVI-46] Athen. ix. 1; Petron. Satyr.

 [XVI-47] Juvenal. Sat. xi.

 [XVI-48] Spartian. In Adrian.

 [XVI-49] Plin. viii. 57.

 [XVI-50] Dio. ex Xiphil. In Vespasian. cap. x.

 [XVI-51] Id. In Claud. v.

 [XVI-52] Apicius, i. 9.

 [XVI-53] Plutarch. Apophteg.

 [XVI-54] Apicius, viii. 7.

 [XVI-55] Id. Ibid.

 [XVI-56] Id. Ibid.

 [XVI-57] Cato. R. R. 163.

 [XVI-58] Apicius, vii. 3.

 [XVI-59] Id. vii. 9.

 [XVI-60] Athen. iii. 21.

 [XVI-61] Id. ii. 4.

 [XVI-62] Id. Ibid.

 [XVI-63] Id. vii. 2.

 [XVI-64] Id. Ibid.

 [XVI-65] Id. vii. 3.

 [XVI-66] Id. Ibid.; Plin. viii. 51.

 [XVI-67] Apicius, vii. 9.

 [XVI-68] Id. ii. 1.

 [XVI-69] Id. ii. 4.

 [XVI-70] Id. ii. 1.

 [XVI-71] Id. ii. 2.

 [XVI-72] Fontan. Ordonnances.

 [XVI-73] Delamarre, Traité de la Police.

 [XVI-73A] Trésor de la Santé, liv. iii.

 [XVI-73B] Champier, xiii. 2.

 [XVI-74] Clem. Alexandr. Stromat. v.

 [XVI-75] Banier, Mythologie, tom. i. p. 354.

 [XVI-76] Ælian. Hist. xii. 34.

 [XVI-77] Euripid. Alcest. act v.

 [XVI-78] Pollux, ix.

 [XVI-79] Banier, tom. i. p. 448; Ælian. Hist. viii. 3.

 [XVI-80] Cic. De Natur. Deor. ii.

 [XVI-81] Aristophan.

 [XVI-82] Plutarch. Solon.

 [XVI-83] Homer. passim.

 [XVI-84] Genes. xii. 16; xx. 14; xxi. 27; xxiv. 35; xxxii. 5, et
 passim.

 [XVI-85] Ibid. xviii. 7, 8.

 [XVI-86] Ibid. ix. 3.

 [XVI-87] Ibid.

 [XVI-88] Deuteron. xiv. 4.

 [XVI-89] Galen. De Ration. Vict. ii.

 [XVI-90] Poseidip. apud Athen. x. 2.

 [XVI-91] Theodor. Ibid.

 [XVI-92] Marm. Sandwic. p. 35.

 [XVI-93] II. Reg. vi. 19; Homer. et Athen. passim.

 [XVI-94] Nonnius.

 [XVI-95] Homer. Iliad.

 [XVI-96] Athen. iii. 7.

 [XVI-97] Id. Ibid.

 [XVI-98] Id. iv. 7.

 [XVI-99] Id. vi. 9.

 [XVI-100] Encyclop. Méthod. Antiquités.

 [XVI-101] Horat. ii. Sat. 5; I. Epist. 15.

 [XVI-102] Apicius, viii. 5.

 [XVI-103] Id. Ibid.

 [XVI-104] Apicius, viii. 5.

 [XVI-105] Id. Ibid.

 [XVI-106] Pers. Sat. ii. 43; Apul. Metam. ii.; Fulgent. De Vocib.
 Antiq.

 [XVI-107] Valer. Maxim, viii. 1.

 [XVI-108] Sonnini; Desmarest: Bœuf.

 [XVI-109] Taillevant.

 [XVI-110] Senec. Natur. Quæst. iv. 6.

 [XVI-111] Banier, tom. i. p. 354.

 [XVI-112] Natal. Com. Mytholog.

 [XVI-113] Exod. xix. 38 to 42.

 [XVI-114] Banier, tom. i. p. 447.

 [XVI-115] Exod. xii. xxiii.

 [XVI-116] Genes. xxiii. 19.

 [XVI-117] IV. Reg. iii. 4.

 [XVI-118] Amos, vi. 4, 7.

 [XVI-119] Athen. i. 16.

 [XVI-120] Id. iv.

 [XVI-121] Id. vii. 24.

 [XVI-122] Id. passim.

 [XVI-123] Cels.

 [XVI-124] Apicius, viii. 6.

 [XVI-125] Id. Ibid.

 [XVI-126] Id. Ibid.

 [XVI-127] Id. Ibid.

 [XVI-128] Id. Ibid.

 [XVI-129] Beckwith’s edition of Blount’s Jocular Tenures, p. 281.

 [XVI-130] Genes, xxvii. 9, 17.

 [XVI-131] Exod. xii. 5.

 [XVI-132] Judic. xv. 1.

 [XVI-133] Luc. xv. 29.

 [XVI-134] Herodot.

 [XVI-135] Ibid.

 [XVI-136] Athen. iii. 1; iv. 7.

 [XVI-137] Id. ix. 3.

 [XVI-138] Athen. i. 6; Clem. Alexandr. Pædagog. ii. 1.

 [XVI-139] Athen. ix. 13.

 [XVI-140] Juvenal. Sat. xi.

 [XVI-141] Varro. R. R. ii. 3.

 [XVI-142] Apicius, viii. 6.

 [XVI-143] Id. Ibid.

 [XVI-144] Id. Ibid.

 [XVI-145] Id. Ibid.

 [XVI-146] Id. Ibid.

 [XVI-147] Levitic. xi. 26.

 [XVI-148] IV. Reg. vi. 25.

 [XVI-149] Galen.

 [XVI-150] Plin. viii. 43.

 [XVI-151] Galen. De Aliment. Facultat. iii.

 [XVI-152] Id. De Ration. Vict. cap. 7.

 [XVI-153] Id. De Alim. Facult. iii.

 [XVI-154] Id. Ibid.

 [XVI-155] Hippocrat. De Diœt. ii.

 [XVI-156] Fest. Pomp.

 [XVI-157] Athen. viii.

 [XVI-158] Plutarch. De Fortunâ Romanorum.


XVII.

POULTRY.

 [XVII-1] Aristot. De Longit. et Brevit. Vitæ, cap. 4.

 [XVII-2] Galen. De Aliment Facult. iii. 18.

 [XVII-3] Macrob.; Dio.

 [XVII-4] Genes. i.

 [XVII-5] Lucian. xvi. De Syriæ Deâ.

 [XVII-6] Oppian. Cilix. Cyneget. ii. 189.

 [XVII-7] Aristophan. In Avibus.

 [XVII-8] Ælian. Var. Hist. ii. 28.

 [XVII-9] Plin. x. 21; Columell. viii. 2.

 [XVII-10] Plin. loc. cit.

 [XVII-11] Erasm. Chiliad. i. cent. 1; Columell. viii. c. 2.

 [XVII-12] Plin. x. 50.

 [XVII-13] L. Fannia. Sumptuar. In Catalog. Leg. Antiq. Ulrici. p. 143.

 [XVII-14] Macrob. Saturnal. iii. 17.

 [XVII-15] Aul. Gell. ii. 24; Plin. x. 50.

 [XVII-16] Martial. xiii. 63, 64.

 [XVII-17] Apicius, vi. 9.

 [XVII-18] Rosin. Antiquit. Roman. p. 207.

 [XVII-19] Galen, De Aliment. Facult. iii.; Nonnius. ii. 22.

 [XVII-20] Athen. ii. 12; iv. 1; ix. 4.

 [XVII-21] Plin. x. 50.

 [XVII-22] Varro. R. R. iii. 9.

 [XVII-23] Columell. viii 7; Plin. x. 51.

 [XVII-24] Plin. Ibid.

 [XVII-25] L. Fannia. loc. cit.

 [XVII-26] Nonnius. ii. 22.

 [XVII-27] Apicius, vi. 9.

 [XVII-28] Cic. De Divinat.

 [XVII-29] Val. Maxim. i. 4.

 [XVII-30] Aristot.; Vopiscus.

 [XVII-31] Athen. iv. 7, et passim.

 [XVII-32] Apicius, iv. 1.

 [XVII-33] Id. vi. 9.

 [XVII-34] Id. Ibid.

 [XVII-35] Id. Ibid.

 [XVII-36] Id. Ibid.

 [XVII-37] Aristophan. In Avib.

 [XVII-38] Id. Acharn. iv. 1, 14.

 [XVII-39] Athen. ii. 12; iv. 1, et passim.

 [XVII-40] De Comp. Medic. Second. loc. v. 4.

 [XVII-41] Plutarch. In Caton.

 [XVII-42] Athen. ix.

 [XVII-43] De Aliment. Facult. xiii.

 [XVII-44] Avicen. Canon Medicinæ.

 [XVII-45] Macrob. Saturnal. iii. 13.

 [XVII-46] Martial xiii. 52.

 [XVII-47] Apicius, iv. 2.

 [XVII-48] Id. iv. 6.

 [XVII-49] Ælian. v. xii.; Gessner. iii.; Aldrovand. xix.

 [XVII-50] Aristot. Hist. Animal. i. 1.

 [XVII-51] In Aristotel. loc. cit.

 [XVII-52] Homer. Odyss.

 [XVII-53] Athen. ii. 12; iv. 1, et passim.

 [XVII-54] Diod. Sicul. ii. 3.

 [XVII-55] Athen. ix. 7.

 [XVII-56] Aristoph. In Avib.; Porphyr. De Abstin. iv.

 [XVII-57] Cæsar. De Bello Gall. v.

 [XVII-58] Brand’s Popular Antiquities.

 [XVII-59] Plin. x. 22.

 [XVII-60] Polyb. ii.; Plut. In Camillo.

 [XVII-61] Pierii Hieroglyph.

 [XVII-62] Columell. viii. 13.

 [XVII-63] Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. iii. 12.

 [XVII-64] Plut. De Roman. Fortunâ.

 [XVII-65] Nonnius. ii. 3.

 [XVII-66] Plin.

 [XVII-67] Lamprid. In Sever.

 [XVII-68] Pallad. i. 30; Athen. ix. 7; Plin. x. 22.

 [XVII-69] Plin. Ibid.

 [XVII-70] Id. ix. 20.

 [XVII-71] Id. Horat. Sat.

 [XVII-72] Plin. viii. 51.

 [XVII-73] Martial, xiii. 58.

 [XVII-74] Plin. x. 22; Galen. De Aliment. Facult. iii. 20; Æginet. ii.
 82.

 [XVII-75] Athen. ix. 7.

 [XVII-76] Pallad. i. 30.

 [XVII-77] Apicius, vi. 8.

 [XVII-78] Id. vi. 5.

 [XVII-79] Id. vi. 9.

 [XVII-80] Brand’s Popular Antiquities.

 [XVII-81] Strab. vii

 [XVII-82] Homer. Odyss.

 [XVII-83] Hesychius.

 [XVII-84] Selden, De Diis Syris. ii. 3; Tibull. i. 8, 18.

 [XVII-85] Bibl. Sacr. passim.

 [XVII-86] Cantic. passim.

 [XVII-87] Levitic. i. 14, 17.

 [XVII-88] S. Chrysost. Homil. de Patientiâ Job.

 [XVII-89] Homer.

 [XVII-90] Athen. ii 12; iv. 1, 5; ix. 11, et pass.

 [XVII-91] Id. Ibid.

 [XVII-92] Quintilius, In Geoponic. ap. Gessner de Avibus, iii

 [XVII-93] Plin. x. 37.

 [XVII-94] Id. Ibid.

 [XVII-95] Varro. R. R. iii 7.

 [XVII-96] Hippocrat. De Inter. Affect.; Galen. De Rat. Vict.

 [XVII-97] Apicius, vi. 9.

 [XVII-98] Varro. R. R. iii. 9.

 [XVII-99] Martial. sub Lemmat Numidicæ.

 [XVII-100] Plin. xix. 4.

 [XVII-101] Apicius, vi. 9.

 [XVII-102] Athen. i. 10.

 [XVII-103] Sophocl. ap. Plin. xxxvii. 2.

 [XVII-104] Aristot. Hist. Animal. vi. 2.

 [XVII-105] Apud Athen. xiv. 9.

 [XVII-106] Ibid. ix. 8.

 [XVII-107] Varro. R. R.

 [XVII-108] Sueton. In Caligul. 22.

 [XVII-109] Hesych. Lexic. Suidas. In Verb. Meleagrides.

 [XVII-110] Volteran. De Urbe.

 [XVII-111] Beckmann; Diction. des Découvertes.

 [XVII-112] Hurtaut, Dict. Historiq. de la Ville de Paris, tom. iv. p.
 417.

 [XVII-113] Apicius, vi. 9.

 [XVII-114] Hurtaut. loc. cit.

 [XVII-115] Aldrovand. xiii. 1; Nonnius. ii. 24.

 [XVII-116] Ælian. xiii. 18.

 [XVII-117] Diodor. Sicul.

 [XVII-118] Ælian. xi. 33.

 [XVII-119] Varro. R. R. iii. 6; Athen. xiv. 9, 25.

 [XVII-120] Aul. Gell. vii. 16.

 [XVII-121] Ælian. v. 21; Aldrovand. xiii. 1.

 [XVII-122] Athen. xiv. 25.

 [XVII-123] Id. Ibid.

 [XVII-124] Macrob. Saturn. iii. 13.

 [XVII-125] Juvenal.

 [XVII-126] Varro. R. R. iii. 6; Ælian. v. 21; Plin. x. 20.

 [XVII-127] Horat. lib. ii. Sat ii.

 [XVII-128] Varro. R. R.

 [XVII-129] Alexand. ab Alexandr. Genial. Dier. ii. 13.

 [XVII-130] Galen. De Aliment. Facult. iii.

 [XVII-131] S. Augustin. De Civit. Dei, xxii. 4.

 [XVII-132] Apicius, vi. 5.


XVIII.

MILK, BUTTER, CHEESE, AND EGGS.

 [XVIII-1] Genes. xviii. 8.

 [XVIII-2] Exod. iii. 8; Levitic. xx. 24; Numer. xiii. 28; et passim.

 [XVIII-3] Proverb. xxvii. 27.

 [XVIII-4] Ovid. Metam. i. 3; Fast. iv.

 [XVIII-5] Homer.

 [XVIII-6] Herodot. iv.

 [XVIII-7] Strabo.

 [XVIII-8] Cæsar; Tacit.

 [XVIII-9] Longus. iii.

 [XVIII-10] Rosin. Antiq. Roman. p. 237.

 [XVIII-11] Varro. R. R. ii. 11.

 [XVIII-12] Hippocrat. Aphorism. v. 64.

 [XVIII-13] Galen. De Ration. Vict.

 [XVIII-14] Nonnius, ii. 15.

 [XVIII-15] Sueton. In Othon. xii.

 [XVIII-16] Martial. x. 68.

 [XVIII-17] Juvenal. Sat. vi.

 [XVIII-18] Plin. xxviii. 12: xxxiii. 11.

 [XVIII-19] Nonnius, ii. 15.

 [XVIII-20] Apicius, iv. 2.

 [XVIII-21] Beckmann.

 [XVIII-22] Rabbi Salom.

 [XVIII-23] Job, xxix. 6.

 [XVIII-24] Aristot. Hist. Animal. iii. 20.

 [XVIII-25] Id. Ibid.

 [XVIII-26] Hippocrat. De Morbis, iv.

 [XVIII-27] Hecat. Abderan. apud Athen. x. 14.

 [XVIII-28] Galen. De Aliment; Id. Simpl. Medicam. x.; Plin. xxviii. 9.

 [XVIII-29] Plin. Ibid.

 [XVIII-30] Id. xi. 41.

 [XVIII-31] Galen. De Aliment. Facult.

 [XVIII-32] Dioscorid. ii. 81.

 [XVIII-33] Herodot. iv. 2.

 [XVIII-34] Plin. xxviii. 9.

 [XVIII-35] Règlement du 20 Mars, 1635.

 [XVIII-36] Antiquitat. Ecclesiast.

 [XVIII-37] Dictionnaire de la France.

 [XVIII-38] Parmentier: Beurre.

 [XVIII-39] Justin. xiii.

 [XVIII-40] Apollodor. ii.; Pausan. viii.

 [XVIII-41] Homer. Iliad.

 [XVIII-42] I. Reg. xvii. 18; Judith, x. 5; Job, x. 10.

 [XVIII-43] Aristot. Hist. Animal. iii. 20.

 [XVIII-44] Hippocrat. De Morbis. iv.; Aristot. loc. cit.

 [XVIII-45] Plin. xi. 41; xxviii. 9.

 [XVIII-46] Ulpian. in L. viii. sicut. § Aristo.

 [XVIII-47] Onuphr. Panvini.

 [XVIII-48] Athen. i. 30; Plin. xi. 42.

 [XVIII-49] Plin. xi. 41.

 [XVIII-50] Stuckius, Antiq. Convival. i. 21.

 [XVIII-51] Pausan. vi.

 [XVIII-52] Varro. De Ling. Lat iv. 22.

 [XVIII-53] Cic. Epist. xiv. 16; Famil. xi. 16, 17, 20.

 [XVIII-54] Athen.

 [XVIII-55] Strabo. xii

 [XVIII-56] Sueton. In August. 76.

 [XVIII-57] Grégoire, Essai Historiq. sur l’Agricult.

 [XVIII-58] Ovid. Fast. iv. 371.

 [XVIII-59] Columell. vii. 8.

 [XVIII-60] Id. Ibid.

 [XVIII-61] Apicius, iv. 1.

 [XVIII-62] Id. i. 33.

 [XVIII-63] Parmentier: Fromage.

 [XVIII-64] Plutarch. Sympos.

 [XVIII-65] Alexand. Ab Alexandr.; Villichius, De Arte Magiricâ, 10.

 [XVIII-66] Lucian. De Deâ Syr.

 [XVIII-67] Tit Liv. xli.; Varro. R. R. i. 2.

 [XVIII-68] Suidas; Juvenal.; Macrob. vii. 16.

 [XVIII-69] Plin. x. 55.

 [XVIII-70] Cic. De Divinat.

 [XVIII-71] Plutarch. Sympos.; Macrob. Saturnal. vii. 16.

 [XVIII-72] Suidas; Cœl. Rhodig.

 [XVIII-73] Triph. apud Athen. ii.

 [XVIII-74] Horat. Sat i. 3.

 [XVIII-75] Id. Sat. ii. 4.

 [XVIII-76] Galen. De Aliment. Facult.

 [XVIII-77] Macrob. Sat. iii. 13.

 [XVIII-78] Plin. x. 53.

 [XVIII-79] Apud Athen. ii. 16.

 [XVIII-80] Plin. x. 20.

 [XVIII-81] Galen. De Dynamidiis; Plin. xxix. 3.

 [XVIII-82] Apicius, vii 17.

 [XVIII-83] Id. Ibid.

 [XVIII-84] Id. Ibid.

 [XVIII-85] Id. ii. 3.

 [XVIII-86] Id. iv. 1.

 [XVIII-87] Id. iv. 2.

 [XVIII-88] Court de Gebelin, Monde Primitif, tom. xiv. p. 251.

 [XVIII-89] Brand’s Popular Antiquities, vol. i. p. 147.

 [XVIII-90] Diction. des Origines.


XIX.

HUNTING.

 [XIX-1] Genes, x. 9.

 [XIX-2] Ibid. xxi. 20.

 [XIX-3] I. Reg. xvii. 34, et seqq.

 [XIX-4] Ovid. lib, ix. Fab. 3.

 [XIX-5] Artemidor. ii Oneirocrit 35.

 [XIX-6] Xenophon.

 [XIX-7] Natalis Comes. Mythol.

 [XIX-8] Homer.

 [XIX-9] Aristot. De Republ. cap. 4.

 [XIX-10] Plato. De Legibus, Dialog. viii.

 [XIX-11] Horat. Epist. i. 18.

 [XIX-12] Jul. Poll.

 [XIX-13] Homer. Iliad. v.; Odyss. iv.

 [XIX-14] Plut. In Pelopid.

 [XIX-15] Id. In Alexandr.

 [XIX-16] Id. In Philopœm.

 [XIX-17] Xenoph. De Venatione, passim.

 [XIX-18] Symmach. Epist. v. 66.

 [XIX-19] Xenoph. loc. cit.

 [XIX-20] Id. Ibid.

 [XIX-21] Claudian, De Laud. Stilich. iii.; Symmach. Epist. ii. 17.

 [XIX-22] Montfaucon, Antiq. Expl.

 [XIX-23] Id. Ibid.

 [XIX-24] Apul. Milesiar. viii.

 [XIX-25] Prob. Grammatic. ad lib. iii. Georgic.

 [XIX-26] Sidon. Apollinar. Carm. vii. 198; Ovid. Metam. viii.

 [XIX-27] Strab. Geograph.

 [XIX-28] Lucret.

 [XIX-29] Martial.

 [XIX-30] Pollux, Onomast. v. 4.

 [XIX-31] Jul. Firmic. Maternus.

 [XIX-32] Dio Chrysost.

 [XIX-33] Varro. R. R. ii. 3; Plin. viii. 52.

 [XIX-34] Instit. Justinian. De Rer. Division. L. i. De Acquir. Doman.
 § 11.

 [XIX-35] L. iii. Quod enim. De Acquir. &c.

 [XIX-36] Genes, xxvii. 3, 4.

 [XIX-37] III. Reg. iv. 23.

 [XIX-38] Xenoph. Exped. Cyri, i.

 [XIX-39] Id. De Republ. Lacedæm.; Herodot. Hist vii.; Athen. iv.
 passim; Petron. Sat.

 [XIX-40] Asserius, Vita Ælfredi.

 [XIX-41] W. Malmsbur. Hist. Reg. Anglor. ii. 6.

 [XIX-42] Id. Ibid. cap. 8.

 [XIX-43] Id. Ibid. cap. 13.

 [XIX-44] Ducarrel’s Anglo-Norman Antiquities.

 [XIX-45] Johan. Sarisburiensis, De Nugis Curialium, i. 4.

 [XIX-46] Strutt’s Sports and Pastimes, edit. 1801, p. 6.

 [XIX-47] Aristot. Hist. Animal. ix. 6.

 [XIX-48] Plin. viii. 32.

 [XIX-49] Galen. De Rat. Vict.

 [XIX-50] Deuteron. xii. 15, 22.

 [XIX-51] III. Reg. iv. 23.

 [XIX-52] Stuckius.

 [XIX-53] Nonnius, ii. 10.

 [XIX-54] Apicius, viii. 2.

 [XIX-55] Id. Ibid.

 [XIX-56] Id. Ibid.

 [XIX-57] Galen. loc. cit.; De Alim. Facult.

 [XIX-58] Athen. i. 4.

 [XIX-59] Xenoph. Exped. Cyri. i.; Athen. ii; Plin. viii. 53.

 [XIX-60] Apicius viii. 2.

 [XIX-61] Id. Ibid.

 [XIX-62] Id. Ibid.

 [XIX-63] Plin. loc. cit.; Nonnius, ii. 10.

 [XIX-64] Apicius, loc. cit.

 [XIX-65] Athen. xii.

 [XIX-66] Petron. Sat.

 [XIX-67] Virgil. Æneid. ii. 1.

 [XIX-68] Macrob. Saturnal. iii 13.

 [XIX-69] Plin, viii. 51.

 [XIX-70] Athen. iv. 1.

 [XIX-71] Hippocrat. De Diœt. ii.; Plin. viii. 51, 52.

 [XIX-72] Juvenal. Sat. i. 141.

 [XIX-73] Plin. viii. 51; Mercurial. ii. 23.

 [XIX-74] Caton. Censor. Orat.; Plin. loc. cit.

 [XIX-75] Eubul. apud Athen. vii. 24.

 [XIX-76] Varro. R. R. iii. 13.

 [XIX-77] Senec. Epist. 90.

 [XIX-78] Varro. loc. cit.

 [XIX-79] Senec. De Providentiâ. cap. 4.

 [XIX-80] Apicius, viii. 1.

 [XIX-81] Id. Ibid.

 [XIX-82] Id. Ibid.

 [XIX-83] Id. Ibid.

 [XIX-84] Id. Ibid.

 [XIX-85] Apicius, viii. 1.

 [XIX-86] Plutarch. Sympos. iv. 5.

 [XIX-87] Joseph, contra Apion.

 [XIX-88] Levitic. xi. 6.

 [XIX-89] Cæsar, De Bell. Gall. v.

 [XIX-90] Xenoph. Exped. Cyri.

 [XIX-91] Herodot. vii.; Athen. iii. 1.

 [XIX-92] Apud. Athen. ix. 12.

 [XIX-93] Archestrat. ap. Athen. ix.

 [XIX-94] Athen. xiv.

 [XIX-95] Stuckius. ii. 8.

 [XIX-96] Hippocrat. De Diœt. ii.

 [XIX-97] Galen. De Aliment. Facult. et passim.

 [XIX-98] Lamprid. In Sever.

 [XIX-99] Martial, ad Gelliam.

 [XIX-100] Horat. Sat. lib. ii. 4.

 [XIX-101] Proverb, xxx. 26.

 [XIX-102] Martial. xiii. 60; Varro. R. R. iii. 12.

 [XIX-103] Plin.; Varro.

 [XIX-104] Bochart, De Animal. Sacr. Script iii. 31.

 [XIX-105] Strabo. Geograph. iii.

 [XIX-106] Galen. De Alim. Facul. iii.; Varro. R. R. iii. 12; Plin.
 viii. 29.

 [XIX-107] Varro. R. R.

 [XIX-108] Plin. vii. 55.

 [XIX-109] Galen. De Alim. Facult. iii.

 [XIX-110] Athen. iv. 4.

 [XIX-111] Martial.

 [XIX-112] Aristot. Hist. Animal. vi. 26.

 [XIX-113] Athen. iv. 6.

 [XIX-114] Strabo. Geograph.

 [XIX-115] Photin. Biblioth. p. 1355.

 [XIX-116] Le Vaillant, Voyages, tom. ii. p. 27. edit. 18mo.

 [XIX-117] Id. Ibid. pp. 27 to 29.

 [XIX-118] Senec. Epist. 85, sub fin.

 [XIX-119] Id. De Brevit. Vitæ, cap. 13.


XX.

FEATHERED GAME.

 [XX-1] Levitic. xi. 13 to 19.

 [XX-2] Clem. Alexandr. Stromat. vii. fol. 718. Lutet. 1629.

 [XX-3] Aristophan. In Avib. 532, et 1578.

 [XX-4] Plin. x. 51.

 [XX-5] Belon. Histoire des Oiseaux. anno 1555.

 [XX-6] Aristophan. In Avib.; Martial xiii. 72.

 [XX-7] Manilius, 370.

 [XX-8] Isidor. xii. 7.

 [XX-9] Calixen. apud Athen. xix. 8.

 [XX-10] Ptolem. Everget. Comment. xii.

 [XX-11] Aristophan. in Nubib. 109; Philoxen. ap. Athen. iv. 2.

 [XX-12] Athen. xiv. 9.

 [XX-13] Plin. x. 22; xi. 33, 37; xix. 4.

 [XX-14] Sueton. In Vespasian.

 [XX-15] Id.

 [XX-16] Lamprid. xxxvii.

 [XX-17] Sueton. In Caligul. 22.

 [XX-18] Id. Ibid. 30.

 [XX-19] Petrarca, De Remed. Dialog. xviii.

 [XX-20] Galen. De Aliment. Facult. et passim.

 [XX-21] Athen. ii. 12, et passim.

 [XX-22] Plin. iv. 48.

 [XX-23] Ælian. De Animal. Nat. ii. 1.

 [XX-24] Lamprid. In Sever.

 [XX-25] Aldrovand. Ornithol. xiii. 17.

 [XX-26] Athen. i. 6.

 [XX-27] Id. ix. 11.

 [XX-28] Bochart. De Animal. Script. part. ii. lib. i. cap. 19.

 [XX-29] Galen. De Part. Facili. cap. 155.

 [XX-30] Athen. loc. cit.

 [XX-31] Exod. xvi. 13.

 [XX-32] Athen. ii. 12; iv. 1.

 [XX-33] Aristophan. apud Athen. ix. 11.

 [XX-34] Aristot. Hist. Animal. ix. 8.

 [XX-35] Varro. R. R. iii. 5.

 [XX-36] Plin. ix. 23, 72.

 [XX-37] Galen. Epidemior. v. comm. 5, text 45.

 [XX-38] Apud Athen. xi.

 [XX-39] Aristot. Hist. Animal. ix. 8.

 [XX-40] Lucian. In Dialog. de Gymnasiis.

 [XX-41] Aldrovand. Ornith. xiii. 22.

 [XX-42] Quintilian. Institut. Orat. v. 9.

 [XX-43] Athen. ii. 12.

 [XX-44] Id. xiv. 6; Aristophan. In Avibus.

 [XX-45] Athen. iv. 1, et passim.

 [XX-46] Clem. Alexandr. Pædagog. ii. 1.

 [XX-47] Varro. R. R. iii. 2, 3.

 [XX-48] Id. i. 38.

 [XX-49] Id. iii. 5; Nonnius, ii. 29.

 [XX-50] Varro. loc. cit.

 [XX-51] Pers. Sat. vi.

 [XX-52] Martial. iii 51.

 [XX-53] Plaut. Triummo. act ii. sc. 4.

 [XX-54] Lamprid. Elogabal.

 [XX-55] Horat. Epist. xv. 41; Martial. xiii. 92.

 [XX-56] Plutarch. In Pompeio.

 [XX-57] Athen. ii. 12, et passim.

 [XX-58] Varro. R. R. i. 38; Horat. Epist. ii.

 [XX-59] Galen. De Cibis Boni et Mali Succi. i.

 [XX-60] Chroniq. Scandal. de Louis XI.

 [XX-61] Plin. x. 42.

 [XX-62] Athen. ii. 12.

 [XX-63] Galen. De Sanit. Tuendâ. xi. 16.

 [XX-64] Apicius, x. 48.

 [XX-65] Latinus Latinius; Bayle.

 [XX-66] Molière; Amphitryon.

 [XX-67] Kiranides. c. 7.

 [XX-68] Martial. xiii. 66.

 [XX-69] Sueton.; Lamprid.; Plin. x. 48.

 [XX-70] Histoire Générale des Voyages, tom. i. p. 269.

 [XX-71] Petron. c. 33.

 [XX-72] Aristot. Hist. Animal. ix. 49; Plin. x. 29.

 [XX-73] Athen. xiv.

 [XX-74] Martial. xiii. 48.

 [XX-75] Juvenal. xiv. 7.

 [XX-76] Varro. R. R. iii. 5.

 [XX-77] Id. Ib.

 [XX-78] Strabo. xvi.

 [XX-79] Marmol. Africa.

 [XX-80] Lamprid. In Elogab.

 [XX-81] Rosin. Antiquit. Roman. p. 207.

 [XX-82] Horat. Sat. lib. i. 2, 49.

 [XX-83] Nepot. Fragm. x. 1.

 [XX-84] Aristot. Hist. Animal. ix. 26.

 [XX-85] Varro. R. R. iii 9.

 [XX-86] Athen. i. 28.

 [XX-87] Plin. x. 22.

 [XX-88] Martial. xiii. 76.

 [XX-89] Antiphan. apud Athen. ii. 12.

 [XX-90] Ambros. In cap. i. Epist. ad Rom.

 [XX-91] Martial, xiii. 85.

 [XX-92] Aristot. Hist. Animal.

 [XX-93] Banier. Mytholog. tom. i. p. 354.

 [XX-94] Martial. v.

 [XX-95] Galen. De Simplic. Medic. Facultat. xi. 33.

 [XX-96] Suidas In Vitell.

 [XX-97] Nicolas, Etudes sur le Christianisme. tom. i. 254.

 [XX-98] Horat Sat. i. 3.

 [XX-99] Plutarch, Vita Caton.

 [XX-100] Id. Vita Flamin.

 [XX-101] Tacit.

 [XX-102] Nicolas, loc. cit.

 [XX-103] Plin. xxxii. 8; Cels. v. 6, 18; Dioscorid.

 [XX-104] Diction. d’ Hist. Nat.


XXI.

FISH.

 [XXI-1] Columell. R. R.

 [XXI-2] Levitic. xi. 10.

 [XXI-3] Strab. xvii. 1.

 [XXI-4] Clem. Alexandr. Strom. vii. fol. 718; Lutet. 1619.

 [XXI-5] Athen. viii. 4.

 [XXI-6] Odyss. xii. 332.

 [XXI-7] Plat. De Republ. iii.

 [XXI-8] Athen. i.

 [XXI-9] Id. viii.

 [XXI-10] Lucian. Bion Praxis.

 [XXI-11] Athen. vii. 20.

 [XXI-12] Id. vi. 2.

 [XXI-13] Xenarch. Comic. Apud Athen.

 [XXI-14] Plutarch. Sympos. iv. 4.

 [XXI-15] Plin. xviii. 3.

 [XXI-16] Senec. Quæst. Natural. iii. 17, 18.

 [XXI-17] Juvenal iv. 11.

 [XXI-18] Plin. ix.

 [XXI-19] Cic. Epist. xx. ad Atticum. 1.

 [XXI-20] Plin. loc. cit; Dio Cassius, L. iv.; Senec. De Clement. i. 18.

 [XXI-21] Senec. De Ira. iii. 40.

 [XXI-22] Id. Ib.

 [XXI-23] Dio In Sever, xxi.

 [XXI-24] Règlements de St. Louis.

 [XXI-25] Edit sans date.

 [XXI-26] Lettres Patentes du 19 Mars, 1543.

 [XXI-27] Ib. du 16 Septembre, 1606.

 [XXI-28] The Popish Kingdome, fol. 55.

 [XXI-29] Delamarre.

 [XXI-30] Poésies des Troubadours.

 [XXI-31] Athen. vii. 6, 12; Macrob. Saturnal. iii. 16.

 [XXI-32] Athen. loc. cit.

 [XXI-33] Id. Ib.

 [XXI-34] Plin. ix. 17.

 [XXI-35] Martial. xiii. 91.

 [XXI-36] Dio liii.

 [XXI-37] Statutum de Prærogativa Regis; anno 17, Edward, ii. c. 11.

 [XXI-38] Sonnini, Poissons. tom. iv. p. 351.

 [XXI-39] Id. Ib. p. 341.

 [XXI-40] Id. Ib.

 [XXI-41] Diction. de la Conversation, tom. ii. 533.

 [XXI-42] Diction. d’Histoire Naturel. tom. x. p. 485.

 [XXI-43] Ib.

 [XXI-44] Athen. i. 11.

 [XXI-45] Senec. Quæst. Natur. iii. 17, 18.

 [XXI-46] Plin. ix. 30.

 [XXI-47] Horat. Sat. ii.

 [XXI-48] Martial. x. 31.

 [XXI-49] Juvenal. iv. 11.

 [XXI-50] Sueton. In Tiber. 34.

 [XXI-51] Senec. Epist. 95.

 [XXI-52] Galen. De Aliment. Facultat.

 [XXI-53] Plin. ix. 31.

 [XXI-54] Lamprid. Elogab. 20.

 [XXI-55] Apicius, ix. 13.

 [XXI-56] Id. Ib.

 [XXI-57] Athen. vii. 22.

 [XXI-58] Macrob. Sat. iii. 15; Ælian. Var. Hist. c. 173; Porphyr. De
 Abstin. ab Animal.

 [XXI-59] Id. Ib.

 [XXI-60] Plin. x. 70; Lucian. De Deâ Syr.; Martial, x. 30.

 [XXI-61] Varro. R. R. iii. 2, 17.

 [XXI-62] Id. viii. 16.

 [XXI-63] Tertullian. De Pallio.

 [XXI-64] Geoponic. xx.

 [XXI-65] Varro. iii. 3; Platina, De Tuendâ Valetudin.

 [XXI-66] Sueton. In Vitel.

 [XXI-67] Lamprid. In Elogab.

 [XXI-68] Athen. i. 6.

 [XXI-69] Horat. Sat ii. ult.

 [XXI-70] Apicius, x. 8.

 [XXI-71] Galen. De Aliment. Facul. iii.

 [XXI-72] Herodot. ii.

 [XXI-73] Sonnini, Poissons, tom. vi. p. 51.

 [XXI-74] Id. Ib. p. 60.

 [XXI-75] Macrob. Saturnal. ii. 2.

 [XXI-76] Gessner, De Aquatilibus, iii.

 [XXI-77] Oppian. Halieuticon, x.

 [XXI-78] Pennant, British Zoology, vol. iii. p. 78.

 [XXI-79] Bloch. Ichtyologie: Lamproie.

 [XXI-80] Paolo Giovio.

 [XXI-81] Platina.

 [XXI-82] Id.

 [XXI-83] Athen. vii.

 [XXI-84] Id. Ib.

 [XXI-85] Plin. ix. 17.

 [XXI-86] Id. Ib.

 [XXI-87] Marlianus, Topographia, v.

 [XXI-88] Plato. apud. Athen. vii. 8.

 [XXI-89] Horat. Epod. ii. v. 49.

 [XXI-90] Athen. vii.; Martial xiii. 84.

 [XXI-91] Plin. ix. 17.

 [XXI-92] Aristot. ii. 17.

 [XXI-93] Ælian. i. 2.

 [XXI-94] Oppian. Halieut. iv, 78.

 [XXI-95] Horat.

 [XXI-96] Plin. ix. 42.

 [XXI-97] Juvenal. Sat. iv.

 [XXI-98] Id. Ib.

 [XXI-99] Berchoux, Gastronomie.

 [XXI-100] Clem. Alexandr. Pædagog.

 [XXI-101] Athen. i. 6.

 [XXI-102] Plat. apud Athen. vii. 8.

 [XXI-103] Strab.

 [XXI-104] Encyclop. Méthod. Antiquités.

 [XXI-105] Nonnius, Ichthyophagia, p. 9.

 [XXI-106] Aristot. Hist. Animal. viii. 13.

 [XXI-107] Plin. ix. 15.

 [XXI-108] Apicius, ix. 12.

 [XXI-109] Athen.

 [XXI-110] Id.

 [XXI-111] Plin. ix. 3.

 [XXI-112] Cetti, Pesce di Sardegna, p. 134.

 [XXI-113] Aldrovand. De Piscibus; Gessner, De Piscibus.

 [XXI-114] Eudox. apud Athen. vii.

 [XXI-115] Archestrat. apud Athen. Ib.

 [XXI-116] Philœmon. apud Athen. Ib.

 [XXI-117] Galen. De Aliment. Facult.

 [XXI-118] Plat. apud Athen. vii. 8.

 [XXI-119] Apicius, x. 2.

 [XXI-120] Paw.

 [XXI-121] Herodot. Hist.

 [XXI-122] Apollodor. In Chronic.; Plutarch. De Solert. Animal.; Ælian.
 De Piscibus.

 [XXI-123] Athen. vii.

 [XXI-124] Agathiocid. apud Athen.

 [XXI-125] Macrob. Saturnal. ii.

 [XXI-126] Aristophan. In Lysistrat. 36.

 [XXI-127] Bulenger. De Conviviis. xi. 30.

 [XXI-128] Athen. vii. 12, 13.

 [XXI-129] Hippocrat. De Internis Affect.

 [XXI-130] Apud Athen.

 [XXI-131] Juvenal. Sat v.; Nonnius, iii. 5.

 [XXI-132] Apicius, x. 14.

 [XXI-133] Bloch. Ichtyolog. Anguille.

 [XXI-134] Plin. ix. 2.

 [XXI-135] Auson. Mosella.

 [XXI-136] Bloch. Ichtyolog.

 [XXI-137] Aristot. iv. 8; vi. 14; Athen. vii.; Plin. xxxii. 11.

 [XXI-138] Alexand. apud Athen. vii.

 [XXI-139] Apicius, iv. 2.

 [XXI-140] Bloch.

 [XXI-141] Id.

 [XXI-142] Plin. ix. 29.

 [XXI-143] Athen. vii.

 [XXI-144] Ælian. Hist. Animal. xvii. 1.

 [XXI-145] Varro. iii. 3.; Plin. ix. 17, 54.

 [XXI-146] Athen.

 [XXI-147] Macrob. Saturnal. iii. 15.

 [XXI-148] Plin. xxxii. 5.

 [XXI-149] Martial xiii. 90.

 [XXI-150] Festus.

 [XXI-151] Apicius, x. 12.

 [XXI-152] Rondelet. Poissons.

 [XXI-153] Athen.

 [XXI-154] Apicius, ix. 9.

 [XXI-155] Plin. ix. 17.

 [XXI-156] Athen. vii. 20.

 [XXI-157] Galen. De Aliment. Facult. iii.

 [XXI-158] Bloch.; Sonnini.

 [XXI-159] Aristot vi. 14.

 [XXI-160] Athen.

 [XXI-161] Id.

 [XXI-162] Auson. In Mosel.

 [XXI-163] Apicius, x. 6.

 [XXI-164] Lacépède, Poissons, tom iii. p. 131, note.

 [XXI-165] Plato apud Athen. vii. 8.

 [XXI-166] Dorion. apud Athen. vii.

 [XXI-167] Arist. Hist. Animal. ii. 5.

 [XXI-168] Plin. ix. 42.

 [XXI-169] Lacépède, Poissons, tom. iii.

 [XXI-170] Id. Ib. p. 117.

 [XXI-171] Salmo à Saltu; Olaus Magnus, xx. 3.

 [XXI-172] Auson. In Mosel. 97.

 [XXI-173] Plin. ix. 18.

 [XXI-174] Id. Ib.

 [XXI-175] Sir W. Scott, The Covenanters, vol. i. chap. viii.

 [XXI-176] Plin. ix. 29.

 [XXI-177] Apicius, ix. 4.

 [XXI-178] Athen. vii. 7; Aldrovand. iii.

 [XXI-179] Scholiast. Aristophan. In Equit. 768.

 [XXI-180] Auson. Mosel. 827.

 [XXI-181] Horat. Sat. ii. 2.

 [XXI-182] Apicius, x. 1.

 [XXI-183] Juvenal. xv. 317.

 [XXI-184] Apicius, ix. 11.

 [XXI-185] Athen. i. 6.

 [XXI-186] Vid. Ælian. Hist. Animal. xiv. 1.

 [XXI-187] Athen. i. 49.

 [XXI-188] Horat. Sat. ii. 8.

 [XXI-189] Plin. xxii. 11.

 [XXI-190] Id. Ib.

 [XXI-191] Auson. Mosel. 125.

 [XXI-192] Id. Ib.

 [XXI-193] Mnesim. apud Athen. ix. 15; Aldrovand. De Piscibus, ii.

 [XXI-194] Apicius, ix. 3.

 [XXI-195] Athen. vii. 22.

 [XXI-196] Galen. De Cib. Boni et Mali Succi.

 [XXI-197] Sonnini, Poissons, tom. iv. p. 143.

 [XXI-198] Aldrovand. De Piscibus, iii. 66.

 [XXI-199] Columell. viii.

 [XXI-200] Plin. xxxii. 11.

 [XXI-201] Athen. vii. 8; Aldrovand. ii.

 [XXI-202] Galen. De Aliment. Facult. iii.

 [XXI-203] Apicius, ix. 10.

 [XXI-204] Id. Ib.

 [XXI-205] Athen. i. 6.

 [XXI-206] Plutarch. De Superstit.

 [XXI-207] Apicius, iv. 2.

 [XXI-208] Anaximand. apud Athen. vii.

 [XXI-209] Martial. xiii. 88.

 [XXI-210] Plin. ix. 17.

 [XXI-211] Bosc. Hareng.

 [XXI-212] Sonnini, Anchois.

 [XXI-213] Dio. Caligul.

 [XXI-214] Athen. iii. 12.

 [XXI-215] Horat. Epod. ii. 49.

 [XXI-216] Athen. i. 6.

 [XXI-217] Apicius, ix. 14.

 [XXI-218] Id. ix. 7.

 [XXI-219] Macrob. Saturnal.

 [XXI-220] Lucilius, Sat. xiii.

 [XXI-221] Plutarch. Sympos. ix.; Senec. Epist 108.

 [XXI-222] Athen. iv.; Clem. Alex. Pædag. ii.

 [XXI-223] Athen. loc. cit.

 [XXI-224] Senec. Epist. 88.

 [XXI-225] Plin. xxxii. 6.

 [XXI-226] Juvenal. vi. 302.

 [XXI-227] Plin. loc. cit.

 [XXI-228] Athen. iv.; Macrob. iii.

 [XXI-229] Nonnins, iii. 36.

 [XXI-230] Plin. loc. cit

 [XXI-231] Id. ix. 54.

 [XXI-232] Plin. loc. cit; Varro. R, R. iii.

 [XXI-233] Plin. loc. cit.

 [XXI-234] Athen. i. xiii.

 [XXI-235] Senec.

 [XXI-236] Dio.; Sueton.

 [XXI-237] Athen. i. 6.

 [XXI-238] Id. Ib.

 [XXI-239] Auson. Epist. xiii.

 [XXI-240] Id. Ib.; Sidon. Apollinar.

 [XXI-241] Apicius, ix. 6.

 [XXI-242] Id. i. 12.

 [XXI-243] Athen. iii. 23.

 [XXI-244] Id. Ib.

 [XXI-245] Id. Ib.

 [XXI-246] Trallian. De Epilepsiâ.

 [XXI-247] Apicius, ix. 8.

 [XXI-248] Id. iii. 5.

 [XXI-249] Id. i. 29.

 [XXI-250] Athen. loc. cit.

 [XXI-251] Horat. Sat. lib. ii. 4.

 [XXI-252] Isidor. Origin. xii. 6.

 [XXI-253] Strabo. vii.; Plin. ix. 19.

 [XXI-254] Plin. Ib.

 [XXI-255] Ælian. De Animal. xii. 41.

 [XXI-256] Chiliad.

 [XXI-257] Plin. xxxii. 2.

 [XXI-258] Apicius, ix. 2.

 [XXI-259] Id. Ib.

 [XXI-260] Athen. i. 12.

 [XXI-261] Plin. ix. 2.

 [XXI-262] Juvenal.

 [XXI-263] Apicius, ix. 1.

 [XXI-264] Id. Ib.

 [XXI-265] Maton. Parog. apud Athen.

 [XXI-266] Ib.

 [XXI-267] Apicius, loc. cit.

 [XXI-268] Id. Ib.

 [XXI-269] Id. Ib.

 [XXI-270] Id. Ib.

 [XXI-271] Athen. i. 8.

 [XXI-272] Apicius, ix. 5.

 [XXI-273] Isai. xix. 8; Jerem. xvi. 16; Ezech. xlvii. 10.

 [XXI-274] Homer. Odyss. xxii. 384.

 [XXI-275] 944 years B.C.

 [XXI-276] Hesiod. Scut. Hercul. v. 212.

 [XXI-277] Plutarch. Sympos.

 [XXI-278] Ercolano. 1757, tom. i. Tavola, 36.

 [XXI-279] Varro.

 [XXI-280] Cic. Epist. lib. ii. ad Atticum.

 [XXI-281] Senec. Controv. v. 5.

 [XXI-282] Id. Epist. 100.

 [XXI-283] Id. Nat. Quæst. iii. 17.

 [XXI-284] Apicius, i. 2.

 [XXI-285] Galen. De Cib. &c. 15.


XXII.

THE COOK.

 [XXII-1] Medicus ad Palatum.

 [XXII-2] Anton. Liberal. Fab. ii.

 [XXII-3] Senec. Epist. 95.

 [XXII-4] Dio In Neron.

 [XXII-5] Alexand. ab Alexandr. Genial. Dier.

 [XXII-6] Lex Fannia; L. Orchia; L. Cornelia, &c.

 [XXII-7] Martial. Domini debet habere gulam.

 [XXII-8] Athen. i. 31.

 [XXII-9] Homer. Iliad.

 [XXII-10] Evemer. apud Athen. xiv. 22.

 [XXII-11] Athen. vii.

 [XXII-12] Id. i. 8.

 [XXII-13] Id. Ib.

 [XXII-14] Id. Ib.

 [XXII-15] Plato. In Gorg.

 [XXII-16] Athen. i. 7.

 [XXII-17] Id. i. 9.

 [XXII-18] Id. i. 10.

 [XXII-19] Senec. Oculorum Gula.

 [XXII-20] Athen. xii.

 [XXII-21] Id. Ib.

 [XXII-22] Ælian. Var. Hist. i. 27.

 [XXII-23] Plutarch. Præcept. San.

 [XXII-24] Sueton. In Claud. 32.

 [XXII-25] Id. In Vitell.; Dio.

 [XXII-26] Id. Ib.

 [XXII-27] Sueton. In Tiber. 42.

 [XXII-28] Id in Galba. 22.

 [XXII-29] Spartian. In Vero. 5.

 [XXII-30] Id. In Getâ.

 [XXII-31] Taillevant.

 [XXII-32] Id.

 [XXII-33] Id.

 [XXII-34] Histoire dn Dauphiné.

 [XXII-35] Froissart, tom. iv. chap. 2.

 [XXII-36] Ecole de Salerne, &c.

 [XXII-37] Monteil, Histoire des Français, tom. ii. p. 68.

 [XXII-38] Mémoires de Lamarche.

 [XXII-39] Onuphr. Panvini.

 [XXII-40] Martial. vii. 30.

 [XXII-41] Varro. R. R. i. 2.

 [XXII-42] Petron. edit. Nodot. tom. i. p. 116.

 [XXII-43] Donat. In Adelph. act iv. sc. 2.

 [XXII-44] Juvenal. vii. 184.

 [XXII-45] Senec. Epist. 47.

 [XXII-46] Varro. De Vitâ Popul. Roman. i.

 [XXII-47] Vid. Lips. Saturn. ii. 2; Juvenal. v. 121.

 [XXII-48] Petron. c. 36; Senec. Epist 47.

 [XXII-49] Sidon. Apollin. ii. Epist. 9.

 [XXII-50] Ercolano.

 [XXII-51] Petron. c. 47.

 [XXII-52] Stephan. v. Foculus.

 [XXII-53] Horat. Od. i. 9, v. 5.

 [XXII-54] Juvenal. Sat. ii. 262.

 [XXII-55] Rosin. Antiquit. Roman. p. 237.

 [XXII-56] Aristophan. Vesp. act i. sc. 2.

 [XXII-57] Appian. Bell. Civil. iv.

 [XXII-58] Athen. i. 49.

 [XXII-59] Virg. Æneid. iii. 466.

 [XXII-60] Athen. i. viii.; Plin. xvi. 11.

 [XXII-61] Ercolano.

 [XXII-62] Ib.

 [XXII-63] Ib.

 [XXII-64] Lamprid. Elogab. 19; Cic. Pro Rosc. Amer. 133.

 [XXII-65] Encyclopéd. Méthod. Antiquités.

 [XXII-66] Galen. De Compos. Medicam. iii. 5.

 [XXII-67] Apicius, passim.

 [XXII-68] Ercolano; Varro. De L. L. iv. 27.

 [XXII-69] Encyclopéd. loc. cit.

 [XXII-70] Columell. xii. 46.

 [XXII-71] Apud Siracidem. xiii. 3.

 [XXII-72] Senec. Epist. 85.

 [XXII-73] Caylus, Antiquit. Romain. tom. i.

 [XXII-74] Plin. xxiii. 2.

 [XXII-75] Cato. R. R. 84.

 [XXII-76] Varro. De L. L. iv.; Plin. xxxiii. 4.

 [XXII-77] Ercolano; Winckelmann.

 [XXII-78] Petron. c. 33; Martial. xiv. 121.

 [XXII-79] Athen. i. 6.

 [XXII-80] Caylus, Recueil d’Antiquités, tom, iii. pl 84, no. 5.

 [XXII-81] Ercolano.

 [XXII-82] Ib.

 [XXII-83] Coel. Rhodig. xiii. 32.

 [XXII-84] Aristophan. In Avibus. 361.

 [XXII-85] Mat Régnier, Sat. x.

 [XXII-86] Cic. Tuscul. v. 21; Martial. xii. 67; Tit. Liv. xxxix. 6.

 [XXII-87] Athen. ii. 9.

 [XXII-88] Petron. Satyr.

 [XXII-89] Beyerlink. Theatr. Vitæ Human.

 [XXII-90] Cato. c. 74.

 [XXII-91] Plin. xviii. 11.

 [XXII-92] Pers. Sat.; Plin. loc. cit.

 [XXII-93] Plin. Ib.

 [XXII-94] Athen. iv.

 [XXII-95] Varro. R. R. iii. 14.

 [XXII-96] Plin. xviii. 24.

 [XXII-97] Id. Ib.; Veget. De Arte Vet. i. 52.


XXIII.

SEASONINGS.

 [XXIII-1] Euseb. Præpar. Evang. i.; Polydor. Virgil. De Rerum. Invent.
 iii. 5.

 [XXIII-2] Levitic. ii. 3.

 [XXIII-3] Diodor. Sicul. ii. 48.

 [XXIII-4] Galen. De Simplic. Medicam.

 [XXIII-5] Festus.

 [XXIII-6] Arnob. ii.

 [XXIII-7] Sallust. Bell. Tugurt.

 [XXIII-8] Athen. iii. 1.

 [XXIII-9] Tit. Liv. xi. 9.

 [XXIII-10] Plin. xxxi. 7.

 [XXIII-11] Lib. vi. F. F. De Captiv. et Post.

 [XXIII-12] Delamarre.

 [XXIII-13] Plant Pœnul. i. 2, 32.

 [XXIII-14] Columell. xii. 6.

 [XXIII-15] Plin. xxxi. 8.

 [XXIII-16] Vid. Scaliger.; Auson. Lect. ii. 28, p. 165.

 [XXIII-17] Pollux, vi. 9; Athen. x.

 [XXIII-18] Apicius. i. 27.

 [XXIII-19] Plin. xxxi. 3, 7.; xxxii. 11.

 [XXIII-20] Isidor. Origin. xx. 3.

 [XXIII-21] Plin. loc. cit.

 [XXIII-22] Id. xxxi. 43.

 [XXIII-23] Id. Ib.

 [XXIII-24] Martial. xiii. 102.

 [XXIII-25] Plin. xxxi. 8.

 [XXIII-26] Plin. à Lemaire. tom. viii. p. 439, note.

 [XXIII-27] Stephan. Thesaur. Ling. Græc. v. Garon.

 [XXIII-28] Id. Ib.; Geoponic. xx.

 [XXIII-29] Apicius; Plin. à Lemaire. tom. viii. p. 435, note.

 [XXIII-30] Plin. ix. 17.

 [XXIII-31] Id. viii. 31.; Nonnius. iii. 44.; Columell. vi 9.

 [XXIII-32] Geoponic. xx.

 [XXIII-33] Ib.

 [XXIII-34] Ib.

 [XXIII-35] Dioscord.; Stephan. loc. cit.

 [XXIII-36] Stephan. Ib.; Martial. viii. 26.

 [XXIII-37] Stephan. Ib.

 [XXIII-38] Galen. De Simplic. Medici, ii.

 [XXIII-39] Lamprid. Elogab. 29.; Apicius, i. 31.

 [XXIII-40] Apicius, i. 34.

 [XXIII-41] Id. i. 33.

 [XXIII-42] Id. i. 35.

 [XXIII-43] Judic. xiv. 18.

 [XXIII-44] Plin. xxii. 24.

 [XXIII-45] Geoponic. xv. 7.

 [XXIII-46] Ib.

 [XXIII-47] Plin. loc. cit.

 [XXIII-48] Apollod. ii.; Pausan. viii.; Plin. vii. 56.

 [XXIII-49] Genes. xliii. 11.

 [XXIII-50] Justin. xiii.

 [XXIII-51] Plin. xi. 13.; xxi. 10.

 [XXIII-52] Athen. iii. 25.

 [XXIII-53] Diog. Laert Vitæ Philosophor. viii.

 [XXIII-54] Athen. ii. 6.

 [XXIII-55] Fulgentius. De Obscuris Vocibus.; Arnob.

 [XXIII-56] Theophrast. De Melle.

 [XXIII-57] Virgil. Georg. iv.

 [XXIII-58] Plin. x. 5, 12.

 [XXIII-59] Galen. De Aliment. Facult. iii.

 [XXIII-60] Varro.

 [XXIII-61] Aristot. Hist. Animal. iii 10.

 [XXIII-62] Dioscorid. ii. 75.

 [XXIII-63] Id. Ib.; Plin. xxii. 24.

 [XXIII-64] Apicius, i. 1.

 [XXIII-65] Id. i. 32.

 [XXIII-66] Id. Ib.

 [XXIII-67] Theophrast. loc. cit.

 [XXIII-68] Dioscorid. ii. 75.

 [XXIII-69] Plin. xii. 8.

 [XXIII-70] Strabo. xv.; Senec. Epist. 64; Galen. De Simpl. Medic. vii.

 [XXIII-71] Panl. Æginet. De Ling. Asperitate, c. 2.

 [XXIII-72] Pancirol. Rerum Mirabilium, &c. ii. 5.

 [XXIII-73] Theophrast. Hist. Plant. iv. 6; ix. 4, 5.7.

 [XXIII-74] Herodot. Hist.; Aristot. Hist. Animal. ix. 14.

 [XXIII-75] Plin. xii. 19.

 [XXIII-76] Galen. De Antidotis.

 [XXIII-77] Id. De Simplic. Medic. vii.

 [XXIII-78] Mathiol. In Dioscorid. i. 13; anno 1570.

 [XXIII-79] Saint-Foix, Essais sur Paris.

 [XXIII-80] Plin. xii. 7.

 [XXIII-81] Theophrast. ix. 22.

 [XXIII-82] Dioscorid. ii. 153; Plin. xii. 27.

 [XXIII-83] Dioscorid. v. 6, et ibi Mathiol.

 [XXIII-84] Galen. De Simplic. Medicam. iv. v.

 [XXIII-85] Ruth ii. 12.

 [XXIII-86] Athen. ii. 26.

 [XXIII-87] Juvenal xiii. 85; Martial xiii. 122.

 [XXIII-88] Columell. xii. 17; Plin. xiv. 20.

 [XXIII-89] Dioscorid. v. 17; Galen. Simpl. Medic. i; Æginet. De Simpl.
 p. 51.

 [XXIII-90] Spartian. In Hadrian.

 [XXIII-91] Columell. xii. 4.

 [XXIII-92] Salmas. Exercitat Plinianæ, p. 898; Plin. xx. 20.

 [XXIII-93] Amelot de la Houssaye, Mémoires Historiques.

 [XXIII-94] Athen. ii. 21.

 [XXIII-95] Plin. xix. 2.

 [XXIII-96] Id. xix. 3.

 [XXIII-97] Id. xix. 2.

 [XXIII-98] Dioscorides.

 [XXIII-99] Id.

 [XXIII-100] Athen.

 [XXIII-101] Philoxen. apud Athen.

 [XXIII-102] Athen. ii. 21.

 [XXIII-103] Martial xiii. 50.

 [XXIII-104] Apicius, i. 31.

 [XXIII-105] Id. Ib.

 [XXIII-106] Platina, De Honestâ Voluptate.

 [XXIII-107] Avicenn.

 [XXIII-108] Plin. xix. 2.

 [XXIII-109] Apicius, i. 25.

 [XXIII-110] Dio. In Claud. sub. fin.

 [XXIII-111] Id. Ib.

 [XXIII-112] Id. Ib.

 [XXIII-113] Senec. Epist. xcv.

 [XXIII-114] Id. Epist. cviii.

 [XXIII-115] Horat. ii. Sat. iv.

 [XXIII-116] Senec. Nat. Quæst. iv. 13, sub fin.

 [XXIII-117] Martial, xiii. 47.

 [XXIII-118] Athen. ii. 19.

 [XXIII-119] Id. Ib.

 [XXIII-120] Id. Ib.

 [XXIII-121] Id. Ib.


XXIV.

PASTRY.

 [XXIV-1] Dictionnaire de la Conversation, tom. xlii. p. 344.

 [XXIV-2] Genes. xl. 17.

 [XXIV-3] Calmet. Bible, tom. vi. p. 257, fol.; Levit. ii.

 [XXIV-4] Athen. iii. 25.

 [XXIV-5] Id. Ib.

 [XXIV-6] Hesychius; Plin. viii. 2.

 [XXIV-7] Athen. iv. 14.

 [XXIV-8] Cic. Familiar. ix. 20.

 [XXIV-9] Levitic. ii. 5.

 [XXIV-10] Athen. xiv. 14.

 [XXIV-11] Id. Ib.

 [XXIV-12] Id. Ib.

 [XXIV-13] Lamprid. In Elogab. c. 27.

 [XXIV-14] Athen.

 [XXIV-15] Id. xiv.

 [XXIV-16] Juvenal. vi. 202.

 [XXIV-17] Cato. R. R. c. 84.

 [XXIV-18] Pers. vi. 50.

 [XXIV-19] Spartian. In Vero. 5.

 [XXIV-20] Cato. R. R.

 [XXIV-21] Fabri Thesaurus v. Placenta.

 [XXIV-22] Horat. Epist. i. 10, 11; Plin. vii. 53; Athen. ii.

 [XXIV-23] Plin. xviii. 11.

 [XXIV-24] Cato. R. R.

 [XXIV-25] Id. Ib. c. 80.

 [XXIV-26] Plin. xviii. 11.

 [XXIV-27] Apicius, vii 11.

 [XXIV-28] Id. Ib.

 [XXIV-29] Id. Ib.

 [XXIV-30] Id. Ib.

 [XXIV-31] Taillevant.

 [XXIV-32] Id.

 [XXIV-33] Id.

 [XXIV-34] Plutarch. Vita. Coriolan.; Plin. xxxvii. cap. ultimo.

 [XXIV-35] Polydor. Virgil. v. 2; Nouvelles Ephémérides: 6 Janvier.

 [XXIV-36] Tertullian. De Idolol. c. 14; S. Cyprian. Epist. 103;
 Concil. Trull. can. lxii.

 [XXIV-37] Brand’s Popul. Antiquit. vol. i. p. 132, 133.

 [XXIV-38] Stuckius; Platina.

 [XXIV-39] Fontanon, Ordonnances.

 [XXIV-40] Delamarre.

 [XXIV-41] Taillevant.

 [XXIV-42] Id.

 [XXIV-43] Platina, De Honest Volupt.


XXV.

WATER.

 [XXV-1] Aristot. Metaphys. i. 3; Senec. Nat. Quæst. iii. 13.

 [XXV-2] Herodot.; Cyrill. adv. Jul.

 [XXV-3] Strabo.

 [XXV-4] Jul. Firmicus, De Profan. Relig.; Athanas. orat. contra. Gent.

 [XXV-5] Banier, Mythologie, tom. iv. p. 279.

 [XXV-6] Id. Ib.

 [XXV-7] Virgil. Æneid. viii. 72.

 [XXV-8] Psalm. xciii. 4.

 [XXV-9] Pausan.

 [XXV-10] Tolosanus, In Syntag. Juris. i. 4; Sigonius, De Republ.
 Athen. iv.

 [XXV-11] Plato. De Legib. vi.

 [XXV-12] 460 years B.C.

 [XXV-13] Plin. xxxi. 3.

 [XXV-14] Frontin. De Aquæduct. i.; Lips. De Magnitud. Rom. iii.

 [XXV-15] Eutrop. ii. 9.

 [XXV-16] Plin. iii. 15; Cassiodor. vii. ep. 6.

 [XXV-17] Plin. xxxi. 6.

 [XXV-18] In Tit. Liv. i.

 [XXV-19] Rosinus, Antiquit. Rom. p. 60.

 [XXV-20] Frontin.

 [XXV-21] Id.

 [XXV-22] Sueton. In. Aug. cap. 13.

 [XXV-23] Ingeniosa Sitis. Martial. xiv. 117.

 [XXV-24] Senec. Nat Quæst. iv. 13.

 [XXV-25] Ant. Marc. Salvin. in Lect. Acad. Furfur.

 [XXV-26] Senec. loc. cit.

 [XXV-27] Rosin. Ant. Rom. p. 403.

 [XXV-28] Gell. xix. 5; Plin. xix. 4.

 [XXV-29] Martial. xiv. 117.

 [XXV-30] Montfaucon. Antiquit. Expliq.

 [XXV-31] Sueton. In Domit. 21.

 [XXV-32] Id. Ib.

 [XXV-33] Martial. xii.; Juvenal. Sat. v. 60.

 [XXV-34] Athen. i. ii.

 [XXV-35] Dio. In Claud.

 [XXV-36] Antich. Ercolan.

 [XXV-37] Hippocrat. De Diæt.

 [XXV-38] Id. Ib.

 [XXV-39] Ib.

 [XXV-40] Cels. iv. 19.

 [XXV-41] Sueton. In August.

 [XXV-42] Plin. xix. 1.

 [XXV-43] Id. Ib.

 [XXV-44] Mémoires du Sire de Joinville.

 [XXV-45] Plin. xxi. 37.

 [XXV-46] Bory St. Vincent, Essai sur les Iles Fortunées, pp. 220 et
 seqq.


XXVI.

BEVERAGES,

OF WHICH WATER IS THE FOUNDATION.

 [XXVI-1] Diodor. Sicul. iv.

 [XXVI-2] Herodot. ii. 77.

 [XXVI-3] Plin. xxii. 25; Columell. x. 116; Dioscorid. ii. 79, &c.

 [XXVI-4] Plin. loc. cit.

 [XXVI-5] Paw.

 [XXVI-6] Strab.

 [XXVI-7] Plin.; Strab.; Paw.

 [XXVI-8] Plin.

 [XXVI-9] Aristot. De Ebrietate.

 [XXVI-10] Eschyl. In Lycurgo.

 [XXVI-11] Sophocl. In Triptolemo.

 [XXVI-12] Antholog. Græc.

 [XXVI-13] Plin. xxii.

 [XXVI-14] Meibom. De Cerevisia, 6, 7; In Thesaur. Gronovii, tom. ix.

 [XXVI-15] Tacit. De Morib. German. c. 23; Plin. xiv. 22.

 [XXVI-16] Plin. Ib.

 [XXVI-17] Dioscorid. ii. 80, 81.

 [XXVI-18] Mallet, Northern Antiquities, 6.

 [XXVI-19] Cæsar. De Bell. Gall.

 [XXVI-20] British Cyclopedia.

 [XXVI-21] Ibid.

 [XXVI-22] Beckmann. Invent. tom. iv.

 [XXVI-23] Vol. xv. p. 201, Edinburgh, 1795.

 [XXVI-24] From a Manuscript, quoted by Strutt, Manners, &c. vol., iii.
 pp. 72, 73.

 [XXVI-25] Stow’s Chronicles, p. 218.

 [XXVI-26] Holinshed, Descript. Brit. 94.

 [XXVI-27] Monteil, Histoire des Français, tom. ii. pp. 49, 50.

 [XXVI-28] Plin.

 [XXVI-29] Hippocrat. De Dentitione; Cels. iii. 7.

 [XXVI-30] Mercurial. Observ. iii.; Cœlius, xxx. 21.

 [XXVI-31] Spartian. In Hadrian.

 [XXVI-32] Plin. xiv.; Q. Curt. lib. xxiii. Hort. c. 16, ex Palladio.

 [XXVI-33] Dictionnaire des Origines.

 [XXVI-34] Plin. xiv. 16.

 [XXVI-35] Deuteron. xiv. 26; xxix. 6; et Bibl. Sacr. passim;
 Ambrosius, De Helia et Jejun. c. 15; Hieron. ad Nepotian.

 [XXVI-36] Plin. xiv. 17.

 [XXVI-37] Id. Ib.

 [XXVI-38] Isidor. xx. 3.

 [XXVI-39] Id.; Paul. Æginet.

 [XXVI-40] Paul. Æginet.

 [XXVI-41] Dioscorid. v. 22; Pallad. August. 13.

 [XXVI-42] Columell. xii. 37; Pallad. xiii. 2.

 [XXVI-43] Discorid. v. 34; Plin. xiv. 16.

 [XXVI-44] Plin. Ib.

 [XXVI-45] Id. Ib.

 [XXVI-46] Id. Ib.

 [XXVI-47] Cœl. Rhodig. vii. 26; xxi. 7.

 [XXVI-48] Sueton. In Neron. c. 48.


XXVII.

DRINKING CUPS.

 [XXVII-1] Clem. Alexandr. Pædagog, ii. 2.

 [XXVII-2] Homer.

 [XXVII-3] Eumen. Cardian. et Diodot. Erythræus, In Diariis Rerum ab
 Alexandroe Gestarum.

 [XXVII-4] Theopomp. Hist. 26.

 [XXVII-5] Aristot. In Syracusan. Polit.

 [XXVII-6] Sueton. In Tiber. 42.

 [XXVII-7] Id. Ib.

 [XXVII-8] Athen. i. 30.

 [XXVII-9] Homer. Odyss.

 [XXVII-10] Hippocrat. De Diœt. iii. sub. fin.

 [XXVII-11] Senec. De Tranquillitate Animæ, sub fin.

 [XXVII-12] Plat. De Republ. ii.

 [XXVII-13] Athen. i. 21, 23.

 [XXVII-14] Id. xi. 14.

 [XXVII-15] Musonius, De Luxu Græcor. c. 2.

 [XXVII-16] Id. Ib.

 [XXVII-17] Strab.

 [XXVII-18] Cæsar.

 [XXVII-19] Id.

 [XXVII-20] Valer. iv. 3; Senec. Epist. 95.

 [XXVII-21] Ovid. Fast. iii.; Tibull. i. 10.

 [XXVII-22] Plin. xvi. 35.

 [XXVII-23] Id. Ib.

 [XXVII-24] Apul. Milesiar. ii.

 [XXVII-25] Plin. xxxvi. 26.

 [XXVII-26] Cœl. Rhodig. Antiq. Lection. xx. 30; Crinitus. Honest.
 Disciplin. xxiii. 4; Douza. Comment. In Petron.

 [XXVII-27] Petron. à Nodot. tom. 1. pp. 198, 200.

 [XXVII-28] Plin. Præfat. ad libr. xxxiii.

 [XXVII-29] Rosin. Antiq. Roman. p. 398.

 [XXVII-30] 61 years B.C.

 [XXVII-31] Plin. xxxvii. 2.

 [XXVII-32] Id. Ib.

 [XXVII-33] Martial. xiv. 113.

 [XXVII-34] Scaliger. Exercitat. 92.

 [XXVII-35] Cardan. De Subtilit. v. f. 143.

 [XXVII-36] Mme. Dacier, Eutrop. Delphin. p. 104.

 [XXVII-37] Mariette; Caylus, &c.

 [XXVII-38] Propert. lib. 4, eleg. 5.

 [XXVII-39] Christius, De Murrinis, &c. Lips. 1743.

 [XXVII-40] Mongez.

 [XXVII-41] Montfaucon, Antiquit. Expliq. tom. ii. pl. 78

 [XXVII-42] Apuleius; Sidon. Apollinar. carni. 24 in fine.

 [XXVII-43] Martial, viii. 51.

 [XXVII-44] Plin. xxxiii. 12.

 [XXVII-45] Id. Præfat. ad lib. xxxiii.

 [XXVII-46] Athen. xi.

 [XXVII-47] Montfaucon. Antiq. Expliq.


XXVIII.

WINE.

 [XXVIII-1] Herod. ii.; Plutarch. De Isid. et Osirid. Diodor. iii.

 [XXVIII-2] Cic. De Natur. Deor. iii.

 [XXVIII-3] Theopomp.

 [XXVIII-4] Plutarch.

 [XXVIII-5] Aurel. Victor.

 [XXVIII-6] Eutrop. ix. 17.

 [XXVIII-7] Genes, ix. 20.

 [XXVIII-8] Plin. xiv.

 [XXVIII-9] Deuteron. xxii. 9.

 [XXVIII-10] Ib. xxii. 6.

 [XXVIII-11] Osee. xiv. 8.

 [XXVIII-12] Ezech. xxvii. 18.

 [XXVIII-13] Genes, xlix. 11; Jerem. ii. 21.

 [XXVIII-14] Psalm ciii. 15.

 [XXVIII-15] Calmet. Commentaire sur Esther. v. 6.

 [XXVIII-16] Cantic. viii. 2.

 [XXVIII-17] Herodot. i.

 [XXVIII-18] Id. Ib.

 [XXVIII-19] Banier, Mythologie, tom. i. p. 464.

 [XXVIII-20] Plutarch. De Isid. et Osirid.

 [XXVIII-21] Athen. xv.

 [XXVIII-22] Tit. Liv.

 [XXVIII-23] Horat. Epist. lib. ii. ad Torquat.

 [XXVIII-24] Serenus Sammonicus.

 [XXVIII-25] Euseb. In Chron.

 [XXVIII-26] Plin. vii. 56.

 [XXVIII-27] Diodor. Sicul. v.

 [XXVIII-28] Plutarch. De Legend Poet.

 [XXVIII-29] Plutarch. Sympos. iii. 10.

 [XXVIII-30] Hippocrat. De Diætet.

 [XXVIII-31] Id. Ib.

 [XXVIII-32] Herodot. iv.

 [XXVIII-33] Martial. viii. 26.

 [XXVIII-34] Horat. Od. ii. 11, 17.

 [XXVIII-35] S. Augustin. De Civ. Dei. xviii. 13.

 [XXVIII-36] Ovid. Fast. iv. 861, et seqq.

 [XXVIII-37] Plin. xviii. 19.

 [XXVIII-38] Banier, Mythol. tom. i. p. 548.

 [XXVIII-39] Columell. xi. 2; iv. 28.

 [XXVIII-40] Leg. Duod. Tabul. L. lxii.; Plin. xviii. 3.

 [XXVIII-41] Ulpian.

 [XXVIII-42] Apicius, i. 17.

 [XXVIII-43] Id. Ib.

 [XXVIII-44] Geoponic. vi. 11.

 [XXVIII-45] Ib.; Virgil. Georg. ii. 241.

 [XXVIII-46] Georg. ii. 7.

 [XXVIII-47] Athen. v.; Anacr. Od. xvii.

 [XXVIII-48] Columell. xii. 41.

 [XXVIII-49] Plin. xiv. 11; Athen. i.

 [XXVIII-50] Vitruv. xi. 9.

 [XXVIII-51] Longus. ii. 1, 2.

 [XXVIII-52] Cato. R. R. 12, 13, 18; Vitruv. vi. 6.

 [XXVIII-53] Le Pitture Antiche d’Ercolano, Napoli, 1757, tom. i;
 Tavola, 35.

 [XXVIII-54] Varro. i. 54; Cato. 23.

 [XXVIII-55] Cic. De Clar. Orat. c. 83.

 [XXVIII-56] Nonnius, xvii. 13.

 [XXVIII-57] Geoponic. vi. 15.

 [XXVIII-58] Le Pitture, &c. loc. cit.; Athen. i. 31; Dioscor. v. 9.

 [XXVIII-59] Pallad. xi. 18.

 [XXVIII-60] Plin. xiv. 9.

 [XXVIII-61] Id. Ib.

 [XXVIII-62] Ib. ix. 57.

 [XXVIII-63] Id. xviii. 74.

 [XXVIII-64] Id. Ib.

 [XXVIII-65] Ovid. Fast. iv. 782; Festus, Burranica.

 [XXVIII-66] Geoponic. vi. 16; Plutarch. Quæst. Nat. 26; Plin. xiv. 11.

 [XXVIII-67] Geoponic. vi. 12.

 [XXVIII-68] Varro. R. R. i. 13; Geoponic. vi. 2, 12.

 [XXVIII-69] Le Pitture, &c.

 [XXVIII-70] Antiq. de Pomp.

 [XXVIII-71] Sponii, Miscell. Erud. Antiq. p. 125.

 [XXVIII-72] Id. Ib.; Juvenal, xiv. 311.

 [XXVIII-73] Plin. xiv. 21.

 [XXVIII-74] Geoponic. vi. 2; Varro. R. R. i. 13; Cato. R. R. 23.

 [XXVIII-75] Columell. xii. 25, 80; Cato. 107; Varro. i. 65; Geoponic.
 iv. 12.

 [XXVIII-76] Id.

 [XXVIII-77] Id.

 [XXVIII-78] Geoponic. vii. 15; Columell. xii. 38.

 [XXVIII-79] Geoponic. vii. 22.

 [XXVIII-80] Ib. vii. 37.

 [XXVIII-81] Pollux, vi. 19; x. 75.

 [XXVIII-82] Geoponic. vii. 5, 6.

 [XXVIII-83] Horat. Art. Poet. v. 21.

 [XXVIII-84] Id. Od. i. 20.

 [XXVIII-85] Petron. 34.

 [XXVIII-86] Senec. Epist. 115; Columell. xii. 41.

 [XXVIII-87] Columell. i. 6; Horat. Od. iii. 8.

 [XXVIII-88] Plin. xiv. 4.

 [XXVIII-89] Id. xiv. 6, 29.

 [XXVIII-90] Id. xiv. 13.

 [XXVIII-91] Virgil. Georgic, ii. 91.

 [XXVIII-92] Horat. Epod. ix. 34.

 [XXVIII-93] Id. Sat. i. 10, 24.

 [XXVIII-94] Geopon. passim.

 [XXVIII-95] Plin. xiv. 6.

 [XXVIII-96] Id. Ib.

 [XXVIII-97] Id. Ib.

 [XXVIII-98] Id. Ib.

 [XXVIII-99] Id. xiv. et xxiii.

 [XXVIII-100] Athen. i. et ix.

 [XXVIII-101] Aristot.

 [XXVIII-102] Galen.

 [XXVIII-103] Petron. c. 34.

 [XXVIII-104] Plin. xiv. 4.

 [XXVIII-105] Martial, xi. 60.

 [XXVIII-106] Apul. Milesiar. ii.

 [XXVIII-107] Senec. Epist. 64.

 [XXVIII-108] Lucan. Pharsal. x. 164.

 [XXVIII-109] Athen. i. 47.

 [XXVIII-110] Id. Ib.

 [XXVIII-111] Id. Ib.

 [XXVIII-112] Id. Ib.

 [XXVIII-113] Apicius, i. 6.

 [XXVIII-114] Athen. i.

 [XXVIII-115] Plin. xiv.

 [XXVIII-116] Cato. R. R.

 [XXVIII-117] Plin. xiv. 8.

 [XXVIII-118] Id. Ib.

 [XXVIII-119] Museum Borbonicum. tom. iii.; Ta. vol. 28.

 [XXVIII-120] Plin. xiv. 9.

 [XXVIII-121] Varro. De Vitâ Pop. Rom.; Columell. R. R.; Martial, xiii.
 106; Juvenal. xiv. 270.

 [XXVIII-122] Columell. xii. 27.

 [XXVIII-123] Dio. Commod.

 [XXVIII-124] Macrob. vii. 12; Plin. xxii.

 [XXVIII-125] Leclerc, Histoire de la p. 479.

 [XXVIII-126] Geoponic. viii.

 [XXVIII-127] Ibid.

 [XXVIII-128] Apicius, i. 4.

 [XXVIII-129] Id. Ib.

 [XXVIII-130] Id. Ib.

 [XXVIII-131] Plin. xiv. 13.

 [XXVIII-132] Ercolano.

 [XXVIII-133] Plin. xxiii. 1.

 [XXVIII-134] Columell. iii. 3.

 [XXVIII-135] Bockh, Public Economy of Athens, vol i. p. 133.

 [XXVIII-136] Valer. Max. ii. 1.

 [XXVIII-137] Plin. xiv. 13.

 [XXVIII-138] Fab. Pictor. apud Plin. Ib.

 [XXVIII-139] Plin. Ib.

 [XXVIII-140] Id. xiv. 6.

 [XXVIII-141] Id. xiv. 28.

 [XXVIII-142] Athen. v.

 [XXVIII-143] Dio. Trajan.

 [XXVIII-144] Id. In Sever.

 [XXVIII-145] Sueton. In Claud.

 [XXVIII-146] Dio. Domitian.

 [XXVIII-147] Id. In Caligul.

 [XXVIII-148] Athen. i. 47.

 [XXVIII-149] Tibull. iii. eleg. 6; Martial, v. 65.

 [XXVIII-150] Athen. i. 48.

 [XXVIII-151] Plin. xiv. 16.

 [XXVIII-152] Plutarch. Sympos. viii. 6.

 [XXVIII-153] Festus.

 [XXVIII-154] Plin. loc. cit.

 [XXVIII-155] Id. Ib.

 [XXVIII-156] Id. Ib. Columell. xii. 35.

 [XXVIII-157] Plin. loc cit.; Columell. xii. 37.

 [XXVIII-158] Dioscorid. v. 13; Plin. loc. cit.

 [XXVIII-159] Meursius.

 [XXVIII-160] Plin. loc. cit.

 [XXVIII-161] Strutt, Manners and Customs of the Ancient Britons, vol.
 1. p. 7.

 [XXVIII-162] W. Malmsbur. De Pont. lib. iv.

 [XXVIII-163] Delamarre, Traité de la Police.

 [XXVIII-164] Id. Ib.

 [XXVIII-165] Id. Ib.

 [XXVIII-166] Mélanges Tirés d’une Grande Bibliothèque.

 [XXVIII-167] Ménage.

 [XXVIII-168] Arnaud de Villeneuve; Traité du Régime de la Santé.

 [XXVIII-169] Les Bigarrures du Seigneur des Accords.

 [XXVIII-170] Baluze. Capitul. Reg. Franc. passim.

 [XXVIII-171] Fontanon. Conf. des Ordon. tom. ii. p. 822.

 [XXVIII-172] Strutt, Manners and Customs, &c.

 [XXVIII-173] Id. Ib.

 [XXVIII-174] Id. Ib.


XXIX.

REPASTS.

 [XXIX-1] Athen. i. 16.

 [XXIX-2] Id. i. 15.

 [XXIX-3] Homer. Iliad.

 [XXIX-4] Athen. i. 16.

 [XXIX-5] Aristot. Probl. xxvi. 45.

 [XXIX-6] Posidippus. In Epigr.

 [XXIX-7] Hierap. Theodor. de Certam.

 [XXIX-8] Ætol. Alexand.

 [XXIX-9] Theodorus.

 [XXIX-10] Xanthus, In Lydiacis.

 [XXIX-11] Theopomp.

 [XXIX-12] Clearch.

 [XXIX-13] Mnesimach, In Philippo.

 [XXIX-14] Crates Theban. In Lamia.

 [XXIX-15] Hecatæus apud Athen.

 [XXIX-16] Sueton, In Claud. 33.

 [XXIX-17] Id. Ib.

 [XXIX-18] Id. In Galba. 22.

 [XXIX-19] Id. In Vitell. 13.

 [XXIX-20] Virgil. Æneid. iii.

 [XXIX-21] Sueton. loc. cit.

 [XXIX-22] Id. In Vitell. 17.

 [XXIX-23] Fuller’s Worthies.

 [XXIX-24] Berchoux, Gastronomie, note.

 [XXIX-25] Athen. i. 19.

 [XXIX-26] Herodot. i. 63; Theophrast. Charact. c. 3.

 [XXIX-27] Plat. Epist. 7.

 [XXIX-28] Athen. i. 9.

 [XXIX-29] Id. Ib.

 [XXIX-30] Id. v.

 [XXIX-31] Plutarch. Sympos. viii. 6.

 [XXIX-32] Ecclesiast. x. 16.

 [XXIX-33] Mercurial. Variar. lect. iv. 17, In Arte Gymnast. i. 11.

 [XXIX-34] Homer. Odyss.

 [XXIX-35] Athen. i. 19; Aristophan. In Avib. 1286.

 [XXIX-36] Id. Ib.; Schrevelius; Plutarch. Sympos. viii. 6.

 [XXIX-37] Apuleius, Metam. i.

 [XXIX-38] Martial. xiv. 233.

 [XXIX-39] Apul. loc. cit.

 [XXIX-40] Sueton. In August. 76.

 [XXIX-41] Genes. xliii. 16.

 [XXIX-42] Act. x. 9, 10.

 [XXIX-43] Athen. i. 9. Plutarch. Sympos. viii. 6.

 [XXIX-44] Cic. Tusculan. Quæst. 5.

 [XXIX-45] Sueton. In Caligul. 58.

 [XXIX-46] Horat. Sat. i. 6.

 [XXIX-47] Senec. Epist. 84, 87.

 [XXIX-48] Sueton. In Claud. 32.

 [XXIX-49] Berchoux, Gastronomie, notes.

 [XXIX-50] Isidor. Origin. xx.

 [XXIX-51] Joseph. De Bello Jud. vii.

 [XXIX-52] Jud. xx. 26; II. Reg. i. 12; Ib. iii. 25.

 [XXIX-53] Biblia Sacra, passim; Iliad, ix. 206, 218; Odyss. xv. 322.

 [XXIX-54] Homer. Iliad. xxi. 363.

 [XXIX-55] Id. Ib. ix. 217.

 [XXIX-56] Id. Odyss. xvii. 455.

 [XXIX-57] Id. Iliad. vii. 480.

 [XXIX-58] Id. Ib. xii. 311.

 [XXIX-59] Id. Ib. ix, 225.

 [XXIX-60] Id. Odyss. i. 226; Terent. Eunuch. iii. 4; Athen. viii.

 [XXIX-61] Aristophan. Eccl. 652.

 [XXIX-62] Macrob. Saturnal. ii. 13; Val. Max. ii. 1.

 [XXIX-63] Biblia Sacra, passim.

 [XXIX-64] II. Reg. xix. 35.

 [XXIX-65] See La Farce de Pathelin.

 [XXIX-66] Mémoires de Dangeau.

 [XXIX-67] Plato. De Republ. iii. 13.

 [XXIX-68] Pollux, vi. 83.

 [XXIX-69] Martial. iv. 8.

 [XXIX-70] Juvenal. i. 95.

 [XXIX-71] Liv. ix.

 [XXIX-72] Sueton. in Vitell. 13.

 [XXIX-73] Nicolas, Etudes sur le Christianisme, tom. i. p. 254.

 [XXIX-74] Strabo; Diodor. Sicul.; Cæsar.

 [XXIX-75] Strutt, Manners, &c. vol. i. p. 48.

 [XXIX-76] Id. Ib.

 [XXIX-77] Id. Ib. p. 49.

 [XXIX-78] Plutarch. Sympos. i.; Xenoph. Respubl. Laced.; Plat. De
 Conviviis.

 [XXIX-79] Exod. xxxii. 6; I. Reg. ix. 22, et passim.

 [XXIX-80] Philo. De Vitâ Contempl.

 [XXIX-81] S. Paul. I. Corinth, xi. 20, et seqq.; Chrysostom. Homil.
 27; Tertull. Apologet. c. 39; Augustin. Epist. 64; Baron. Annal. sub
 an. 57, 377, 384.

 [XXIX-82] Plat. De Conviviis; Aristot. Polit. ii. 8; vii. 10.

 [XXIX-83] Xenoph. De Repub. Lac.; Plutarch. In Vita Lycurg.

 [XXIX-84] Plutarch. Ib.

 [XXIX-85] Diogen. Laert.; Plutarch. Vita Solon.

 [XXIX-86] Flor. i. 1; Liv. i. 6; Dionys. Halicarn. Ant. Rom. i.;
 Plutarch. Vita Romuli.

 [XXIX-87] Plutarch. Vita Sullæ.

 [XXIX-88] Sueton. In J. Cæsar.

 [XXIX-89] Bulenger, De Conviviis.

 [XXIX-90] Id. Ib.

 [XXIX-91] Vid. Sueton.; Lamprid.; Dio. &c.

 [XXIX-92] Id.

 [XXIX-93] Apud Strutt, Manners, &c. vol. iii. p. 111.

 [XXIX-94] Monteil, Histoire des Français, tom. ii. p. 126.

 [XXIX-95] Id. Ib. tom. vii. p. 338, et seqq.

 [XXIX-96] See Piganiol, Description de la France.

 [XXIX-97] Holinshed, p. 969.

 [XXIX-98] Stow, Chron. p. 267.

 [XXIX-99] Id. Survey of London, p. 521.

 [XXIX-100] Strutt, Manners, &c. vol. ii. p. 104.

 [XXIX-101] Holinshed. Descrip. Brit. 94.

 [XXIX-102] Massinger, The City Madam.

 [XXIX-103] Id. Ib.

 [XXIX-104] Killigrew, The Parson’s Wedding.

 [XXIX-105] Strutt, Manners, &c. vol. ii. p. 19.

 [XXIX-106] Mathieu Paris, anno 1243.

 [XXIX-107] Stow’s Survey of London; apud Strutt, vol. ii. p. 19.

 [XXIX-108] Monteil, Histoire des Français, tom. i. p. 106, et seqq.

 [XXIX-109] L’Isle des Hermaphrodites.

 [XXIX-110] Contes d’Eutrapel.

 [XXIX-111] Ibid.

 [XXIX-112] Des Accords, Les Bigarrures, ch. 6.

 [XXIX-113] Aventures de Foeneste, liv. iv. ch. 2.


XXX.

VARIETY OF REPASTS.

 [XXX-1] Biblia Sacra, passim.

 [XXX-2] Levitic. iii. 16.

 [XXX-3] Isai. xxv. 6.

 [XXX-4] Prov. xxi. 17.

 [XXX-5] III. Reg. iv. 22, 23.

 [XXX-6] Biblia Sacra, passim.

 [XXX-7] Ap. Ulric. Rasium, In Catal. Legg. Antiquar. ad Leg. Jul. de
 Annonâ.

 [XXX-8] Plato. De Leg. vi. xxxiv.; Aristot. de Republ. iv. 4, 15; vi.
 8; Postel. De Magistrat. Athen.

 [XXX-9] Gorræi. Annal.

 [XXX-10] Accurs.

 [XXX-11] Rosin. Antiquit. Roman, p. 533.

 [XXX-12] Athen. i. 4.

 [XXX-13] Philostrat.

 [XXX-14] Athen. i. 5.

 [XXX-15] Id. v.; Homer. Virgil, passim; Banier; Stuckius.

 [XXX-16] Arnob. iii.

 [XXX-17] Varro.

 [XXX-18] Columell.

 [XXX-19] Senec. De Vitâ Beatâ, c. 11.

 [XXX-20] Liv. xxiv.

 [XXX-21] Plaut. Menech. i. 1, 25.

 [XXX-22] Tibull. i. 3.

 [XXX-23] Macrob. Saturnal. i. 7.

 [XXX-24] Horat. Od. ii. 14.

 [XXX-25] Varro. R. R. iii. 6.

 [XXX-26] Apul. Metam. iv. 152.

 [XXX-27] Sueton.; Lamprid.; Dio.

 [XXX-28] Plin. ix. 55.

 [XXX-29] Possidon. ii.

 [XXX-30] Crinit. De Honest. Discipl. xxiv. 5.

 [XXX-31] Spartian.; Stuckius.

 [XXX-32] Lucian. In Lapith.

 [XXX-33] Sueton. In Vitell. 13.

 [XXX-34] Plaut. Bacch. i. 1, 61.

 [XXX-35] Vatin. c. 12; Varro. apud Nonnium. i. 234.

 [XXX-36] Barthélémy, Anacharsis.

 [XXX-37] Pererius, Comment. In Daniel.

 [XXX-38] Athen. iv.

 [XXX-39] Polyæn. Strateg. vi.

 [XXX-40] Athen. ii. ix.

 [XXX-41] Id. iv.

 [XXX-42] Aristoph. Acharn.

 [XXX-43] Monteil. Histoire des Français, tom. i. p. 203.

 [XXX-44] Id. Ib. iii. p. 489.

 [XXX-45] Strutt. Manners, &c. vol. iii. p. 113.

 [XXX-46] From a Manuscript in the Harleian Library, quoted by Strutt,
 Manners, &c. vol. iii. p. 114.

 [XXX-47] Taillevant. Le Viandier.

 [XXX-48] Id. Ib.

 [XXX-49] Id. Ib.

 [XXX-50] Id. Ib.

 [XXX-51] Id. Ib.

 [XXX-52] Id. Ib.


XXXI.

THE DINING-ROOM.

 [XXXI-1] Valla. iv.

 [XXXI-2] Fest. Pomp. iii.

 [XXXI-3] Vid. Fabr. v. Solarium.

 [XXXI-4] Petron. Satyric.

 [XXXI-5] Ercolano, &c.; Gell’s Pompeiana, passim; Senec. Epist. 90.

 [XXXI-6] Sueton. In Neron. 31.

 [XXXI-7] Id. Ib.

 [XXXI-8] Id. Ib.

 [XXXI-9] Senec. De Tranquill. Anim. c. 9.

 [XXXI-10] Cornel. Nepos.

 [XXXI-11] Juvenal. Sat. ii.

 [XXXI-12] Athen. iii. 21; Gell. iii. 19.

 [XXXI-13] Athen. Lys. Frag. 46.

 [XXXI-14] Athen. Pollux, x. 122; Plat. Repub. iii.; Theophr. Charact.
 22.

 [XXXI-15] Juvenal, iii. 204.

 [XXXI-16] Encyclop. Méthod. Antiquit.

 [XXXI-17] Ib.

 [XXXI-18] Ib.

 [XXXI-19] Virgil. Æn. vii. 528.

 [XXXI-20] Monstrelet, Chroniques.

 [XXXI-21] Mélanges Tirés d’une Grande Bibliothèque.

 [XXXI-22] Ib.

 [XXXI-23] Chroniques de St. Denis.

 [XXXI-24] Vigiles de Charles VII.

 [XXXI-25] L’Isle des Hermaphrodites.

 [XXXI-26] Jerem. xxxvi. 22.

 [XXXI-27] Ercolano, &c.

 [XXXI-28] Plin. Epist. ii. 17.

 [XXXI-29] Apul. Metam. iv.

 [XXXI-30] Columell. ii. 22.

 [XXXI-31] Sil. Italic. Punicor. vi.

 [XXXI-32] Petron. à Nodot. tom. i. p. 116.

 [XXXI-33] Paulinus, Episcop. Nolæ. D. Felicis Natali, 6.

 [XXXI-34] Mercure Galant. Mars, 1681.


XXXII.

THE TABLE.

 [XXXII-1] Athen. i. 20.

 [XXXII-2] Tibull. ii. 6; Valer. Flac. Argonaut. i.

 [XXXII-3] Plin. xxxiii. 11.

 [XXXII-4] Hom. Odyss, iii. 138.

 [XXXII-5] Athen. xi. 78.

 [XXXII-6] Athen. ix. 75.

 [XXXII-7] Homer. Odyss. iii. 354 et seqq.; 361 et seqq.

 [XXXII-8] Athen. xi. 27.

 [XXXII-9] Potter, ii. p. 377.

 [XXXII-10] Liv. ix. Decad. 4.

 [XXXII-11] Id. Ib.

 [XXXII-12] Plin. xvi. 27.

 [XXXII-13] Id. xiii. 15.

 [XXXII-14] Id. Ib.

 [XXXII-15] Id. Ib.; Senec. De Tranquil. Anim. c. i.; Id. De
 Beneficiis, vii. 9.

 [XXXII-16] Plin. ix. 11.

 [XXXII-17] Id. Ib.

 [XXXII-18] Id. xvi.

 [XXXII-19] Fest. v.

 [XXXII-20] Varro. L. L. iv.

 [XXXII-21] Sidon. Apollin. Epist. ii. 2.

 [XXXII-22] Id. Ib. i. 11.

 [XXXII-23] Rosin. Ant. Rom. p. 377.

 [XXXII-24] Servius. Æn. i. ad finem.

 [XXXII-25] Homer. Odyss. i. 259; Pind. Olymp. i. 26.

 [XXXII-26] Martial.

 [XXXII-27] Apul. Milesiar. ii.; Basil. Magnus Orat. ad Divites.

 [XXXII-28] Plin. xiii. 15.

 [XXXII-29] Id. Ib.

 [XXXII-30] Id. Ib.

 [XXXII-31] Id. Ib.

 [XXXII-32] Stuckius.

 [XXXII-33] Id.; Calmet.

 [XXXII-34] Gregor. Tur.

 [XXXII-35] Eginhard.

 [XXXII-36] Polydor. Virgil, p. 257; Rapin De Thoiras.

 [XXXII-37] Varro. L. L. iv. 26.

 [XXXII-38] Printed A.D. 1508


THE TABLE SEATS.

 [XXXII-39] Calmet.

 [XXXII-40] I. Reg. ix. 22.; xx. 25.

 [XXXII-41] Calmet. tom. v. fol. 256.

 [XXXII-42] Diodor, Sicul.

 [XXXII-43] Ercolano, tom. i. tav. 29; Athen. xi. 72.

 [XXXII-44] Athen. i. 31.

 [XXXII-45] Id. Ib.

 [XXXII-46] Id. Ib.

 [XXXII-47] Isidor. xx. 11.

 [XXXII-48] Valer. Maxim. ii. 1.

 [XXXII-49] Rosinus; Stuckius.

 [XXXII-50] Scholiast. Juvenal. Sat. v. 17.

 [XXXII-51] Rosin. p. 380.

 [XXXII-52] Athen. ii. 9.

 [XXXII-53] Martial. ii. 46.

 [XXXII-54] Id. iii. 49.

 [XXXII-55] Rosinus.

 [XXXII-56] Horat. Serm. ii. 3, 253.

 [XXXII-57] Stuckius; Rosinus; Ercolano, passim.

 [XXXII-58] Lambin. In Sat. iv. lib. ii.; Horat.; Mercurial. De Art.
 Gymnast.

 [XXXII-59] Xenoph. De Pæd. Cyri, viii.

 [XXXII-60] Plutarch. Sympos.

 [XXXII-61] Lamprid. In Elogab.

 [XXXII-62] Spartian. In Vero.

 [XXXII-63] Lamprid. loc. cit.

 [XXXII-64] Id. Ib.

 [XXXII-65] Possidonius.

 [XXXII-66] Strabo.

 [XXXII-67] Diodor.

 [XXXII-68] Le Moine de St. Gal.

 [XXXII-69] Ménage.

 [XXXII-70] L’Isle des Hermaphrodites.

 [XXXII-71] Vie de St. Arnould.

 [XXXII-72] Mélanges Tirés d’une Grande Bibliothèque.

 [XXXII-73] Vita S. Berlandæ.

 [XXXII-74] Martial. xii. 29.

 [XXXII-75] Alain Chartier.

 [XXXII-76] L’Isle des Hermaphr.

 [XXXII-77] Martial. loc. cit.

 [XXXII-78] Plin. xxxv. 15; xxxvi. 19.

 [XXXII-79] Id. Ibid.


XXXIII.

THE SERVANTS.

 [XXXIII-1] Gruterus, pp. 260, 966, 973.

 [XXXIII-2] Kipping. Antiquitat.

 [XXXIII-3] Dionys. Halicarnass. ii.

 [XXXIII-4] Exod. xxi. 6; Deuteron. xv. 17.

 [XXXIII-5] Juvenal. Sat. i.

 [XXXIII-6] Cœl. Rhodig. Antiquit. viii. 11.

 [XXXIII-7] Zachar. xiii. 6.

 [XXXIII-8] Plaut. Casin. act ii. sc. 6.

 [XXXIII-9] Gruterus, p. 596.

 [XXXIII-10] Petron. Satyric.

 [XXXIII-11] Columell. i.; Tibull. i. 7.

 [XXXIII-12] Vid. Pignorium, De Servis.

 [XXXIII-13] Id. Ib.; Petron. loc. cit.

 [XXXIII-14] Senec. Epist. 47.

 [XXXIII-15] Plin. xxxv. 10; Senec. De Irâ. iii. 37.

 [XXXIII-16] Pignor. loc. cit.

 [XXXIII-17] Sueton. In Domit. 16; Capitol. Pertin. 4.

 [XXXIII-18] Hildebrand. Compend. Antiquit. Rom.

 [XXXIII-19] Plin. xxxii. 6; Petron. c. 47.

 [XXXIII-20] Petron. c. 35.

 [XXXIII-21] Id. c. 36.

 [XXXIII-22] Philo. De Vitâ Contemplativâ.

 [XXXIII-23] Plaut. Trin. ii. 1, 22.

 [XXXIII-24] Propert. ii. 25, 11.

 [XXXIII-25] Terent. Eunuch, iii. 5, 47; Fulv. Ursin. In Appendic. ad
 Ciaccon.

 [XXXIII-26] Plaut. Most. iv. 1, 24; Terent. Adelphi. 12.

 [XXXIII-27] Pignorius; Sueton, In Claud. 44.

 [XXXIII-28] Petron. c. 22; Pignorius.

 [XXXIII-29] Senec. Epist. 29; Lips. Elector, i. 19.

 [XXXIII-30] Ulpian. L. i. § 5, Dig. De Naut. Caupon. et Stabular.

 [XXXIII-31] Id. Dig. xxxviii. t. 7, L. viii. Fin. § 1.

 [XXXIII-32] Stuckius.


XXXIV.

THE GUESTS.

 [XXXIV-1] Genes. xliii. et passim.

 [XXXIV-2] Schol. Theocrit. In Idyll. vii. 24; Plut. Sympos. viii. 6.

 [XXXIV-3] Athen. i. 21.

 [XXXIV-4] Id. i. 23.

 [XXXIV-5] Homer.

 [XXXIV-6] Athen. i. 19.

 [XXXIV-7] Id. i. 7.

 [XXXIV-8] Xenoph. De Republ. Laced.; Plut. Vita Lycurg.

 [XXXIV-9] Athen. i.

 [XXXIV-10] Plutarch. Sympos.

 [XXXIV-11] Apul. Milesiar. x.

 [XXXIV-12] Macrob. Saturnal. iii. 17.

 [XXXIV-13] Gell. xiii. 11; De Num. Conviv.

 [XXXIV-14] Macrob. loc. cit.

 [XXXIV-15] Sammonic. Severus; Macrob. loc. cit.

 [XXXIV-16] Plaut.; Horat.

 [XXXIV-17] Plaut.

 [XXXIV-18] Athen. vi. 5; Terent. Eunuch, ii. 2, 13, et 16.

 [XXXIV-19] Virg. Æn. i.; Plaut. Pers. v. 2; Athen. xiv.

 [XXXIV-20] Genes. xviii. 4; xix. 2; Judic. xix. 21; Luc. vii. 44; 1
 Timoth. v. 10, et passim.

 [XXXIV-21] Tibull. Eleg. iv. 6.

 [XXXIV-22] Marc. xiv. 3.

 [XXXIV-23] Horat. Od. iii. 14; Anacr. passim.

 [XXXIV-24] Plin. xiv. 22; Plut. Sympos.; Athen. x.

 [XXXIV-25] Strutt, Anglo-Saxons, vol. i. p. 49.

 [XXXIV-26] Id. Ib. p. 48.

 [XXXIV-27] Froissard.

 [XXXIV-28] Saint-Foix, Essais sur Paris.

 [XXXIV-29] Laneham, Sports exhibited at Kenilworth.

 [XXXIV-30] Johan. Sarisburiensis, i. 8, p. 34.

 [XXXIV-31] Saint-Foix, Essais, tom. iv. p. 135.

 [XXXIV-32] Herodot. ii.

 [XXXIV-33] Sapient. iii. 4.


XXXV.

A ROMAN SUPPER.

 [XXXV-1] Genes, xviii.; Esther, v.; Matth. xxii.

 [XXXV-2] Plin. xxxv. 10.

 [XXXV-3] Mercurial. De Arte Gymnast, p. 94, edit. Frisii; Apul.
 Metamorph. v. In Principio; Id. lib. iv. Asini.

 [XXXV-4] Apul. loc. cit.

 [XXXV-5] Leclerc, Histoire de la Médecine, p. 573.

 [XXXV-6] Apul. lib. i. Apologiæ Suæ, ex Catull.

 [XXXV-7] Sammonic. Seren. De Medicinâ, c. 15.

 [XXXV-8] Plaut. In Captivis, act i. sc. 2, v. 84.

 [XXXV-9] Martial. v. 44.

 [XXXV-10] Plin. vii. 60.

 [XXXV-11] Id. xxxvi. 10.

 [XXXV-12] Turneb. Adversar. xxiii. 19; xxvii. 18.

 [XXXV-13] Theophrast. Charact. 20.

 [XXXV-14] Virgil. Æn. i. v. 729.

 [XXXV-15] Montfaucon, Antiq. Expl.

 [XXXV-16] Petron. à Nodot. tom. i. p. 122.

 [XXXV-17] Plutarch. Problem. Romanor. 76.

 [XXXV-18] Petron. loc. cit.

 [XXXV-19] Terent. Heautontimor. act i. sc. 1.

 [XXXV-20] Octav. Ferrarius, De Re Vestiariâ, i. 31.

 [XXXV-21] Le Pitture Antiche d’Ercolano, tom. i. tav. 14.

 [XXXV-22] Dio. lxix.

 [XXXV-23] Senec. De Vitâ Beatâ; Tibull. iv. 6; Psalm. passim.

 [XXXV-24] Sil. Ital. Punicor. vi.

 [XXXV-25] Petron. Conviv. Trimalcion.

 [XXXV-26] Just. Lips.

 [XXXV-27] Juvenal. Sat. xi.

 [XXXV-28] Pacatus.

 [XXXV-29] Vitruv. Architect. v. 8.

 [XXXV-30] Quintilian. Institut. Orator. i. 14.

 [XXXV-31] Valer. Maxim, ii. 1.

 [XXXV-32] Arnob. ii.

 [XXXV-33] Id. Ib.

 [XXXV-34] Quintilian. Declamat. 301.

 [XXXV-35] Juvenal. Sat. v. 32; vi. 154.

 [XXXV-36] Terent. Eunuch, act. i. sc. 2, v. 85.

 [XXXV-37] Virgil. Æn. v.

 [XXXV-38] Cic. ad Familiar. ix. 20.

 [XXXV-39] Horat. Sat. ix. 8, 9.

 [XXXV-40] Petron. à Nodot. tom. i. p. 124.

 [XXXV-41] Id. Ib.

 [XXXV-42] Id. Ib.

 [XXXV-43] Apicius, ii. 1.

 [XXXV-44] Id. Ib.

 [XXXV-45] Id. Ib.

 [XXXV-46] Petron. p. 128.

 [XXXV-47] Athen. iv.

 [XXXV-48] Id. Ib.

 [XXXV-49] Id. Ib.

 [XXXV-50] Petron. tom. i. p. 130.

 [XXXV-51] Alex. Trallian. lib. Problem 1.

 [XXXV-52] Aul. Gell. xv. 2.

 [XXXV-53] Plutarch. Sympos. i. Quæst. 4.

 [XXXV-54] Martial. vi. 89.

 [XXXV-55] Id. iii. 8.

 [XXXV-56] Lucan. Pharsal. lib. iii. carm. 14.

 [XXXV-57] Athen. iii. 21.

 [XXXV-58] Virgil. Georg. ii. 528.

 [XXXV-58A] Macrob. Saturnal. ii. 9.

 [XXXV-59] Martial. xiii. 52.

 [XXXV-60] Plin.

 [XXXV-61] Martial. iii. 5.

 [XXXV-62] Id. xiii. 71.

 [XXXV-63] Juvenal. i. 141.

 [XXXV-64] Petron. à Nodot, tom. i. p. 136.

 [XXXV-65] Martial. xiii. 44.

 [XXXV-66] Id. xiii. 56.

 [XXXV-67] Id. xiii. 55.

 [XXXV-68] Petron. tom. i. p. 130.

 [XXXV-69] Id. p. 136.

 [XXXV-70] Martial. iii. 82.

 [XXXV-71] Id. Ib.

 [XXXV-72] Horat. Sat. ii. 8, 86.

 [XXXV-73] Petron. p. 138.

 [XXXV-74] Martial. i. 62.

 [XXXV-75] Petron. p. 132.

 [XXXV-76] Id. Ib.

 [XXXV-77] Virgil. Æn. ii. 49.

 [XXXV-78] Plaut. Cur. i. 3, 15.

 [XXXV-79] Encyclop. Méthod. Antiquités.

 [XXXV-80] Plaut. In Sticho.

 [XXXV-81] Sueton. In Galba.

 [XXXV-82] Juvenal. Sat. xi.

 [XXXV-83] Gell. xiii. 11.

 [XXXV-84] Martial. v. 79.

 [XXXV-85] Fest. Paniroll. tom. ii. tit. 2, De Porcellanis.

 [XXXV-86] Nicephor. Gregoras; Manilius; Nicetas; Vopiscus.

 [XXXV-87] Casaub. In Athen. i. 15.

 [XXXV-88] Xenoph. In Conviv.

 [XXXV-89] Herodot. vi. 129.

 [XXXV-90] Xenoph. loc. cit.; Caylus, Recueil d’Antiquités. tom. i. p.
 202.

 [XXXV-91] Caylus, Ib.; Athen. iv.

 [XXXV-92] Socrat. In Conviv. Xenoph.

 [XXXV-93] Horat. Sat. lib. ii. 7, v. 82.

 [XXXV-94] Caylus, tom. iv. pl. 80, No. 1; tom. vi. pl. 90, No. 3; tom.
 vii. p. 164.

 [XXXV-95] Vet. Scholiast. Juvenal. ad v. 162, sat. 11.

 [XXXV-96] Rosinus, Antiquit. Roman. p. 391.

 [XXXV-97] Macrob. Saturnal. ii. 1.

 [XXXV-98] Rosinus, Ib.

 [XXXV-99] Id. p. 410.




TABLE OF RECIPES

OF

Ancient Cookery, and for the making of various Dishes.


                                                                    Page
  OXEN.

  Care taken of oxen at the plough                                    14
  Greek and Roman manure                                              14


  CEREALS.

  How to keep corn any length of time                                 15
  Marshal Vanban’s method for using
  corn in soup                                                        15

  Rural occupation of the Anglo-Saxons
  throughout the year                                             17, 18


  BREAD.

  Bread made of spelt                                                 19
  Granea porridge                                                     20
  Avena oats for cattle and porridge                                  20
  Seor bread                                                          31
  Azumos biscuit                                                      33
  Artolaganos biscuit                                                 33
  Escarites                                                           33
  Melitates                                                           33
  Tyrontes                                                            33
  Method of making leaven                                             36
  Autopyron bread                                                     37
  Athletæ’s bread                                                     37
  Cappadocian ditto                                                   38
  Artoplites ditto                                                    38
  Astrologicus ditto                                                  38
  Panis madidus paste                                                 38
  Various kinds of bread made in Paris
  in the 14th century                                                 40
  Alphiton, or barley gruel                                           41
  Another sort                                                        42
  How to obtain the flavour of vanille from
  oats, and make an excellent cream                                   42
  Rice good in consumption and spitting
  of blood                                                            43
  Carthaginian pudding                                                44
  Indian corn hasty pudding                                           44


  SEEDS.

  Mustard, its influence and qualities                                46
  Coriander, its properties                                           47
  Lupin, fit for fattening cattle                                     47


  VEGETABLES.

  Method of preserving vegetables                                     51
  Twelfth-Night cake                                                  54
  Haricots preserved                                                  56
  Apicius’s method of dressing cabbages                               61
  Dried cauliflowers                                                  61
  Beet, its medicinal qualities                                       62
  Apicius, on stewing the beet                                        63
  Beet-root as a salad                                                63
  Mallows as a salad                                                  64
  How to keep asparagus several days                                  65
  How to cook the gourd                                           66, 67
  Turnips, how to dress                                               67
  Carrots as a salad, and otherwise                                   68
  Purslaine, its internal use                                         69
  Sorrel, stewed                                                      69
  Method of rendering artichoke mild                                  71
  Way of dressing                                                     71
  How to preserve them                                                71
  Pompion, how to dress it; three recipes                             72
  Cucumber; four recipes                                              73
  Apicius’s œnogarum                                                  73
  Lettuce, method of cultivation by Aristoxenus                       74
  How to dress lettuces                                               75
  Endives, way of stewing them                                        76
  Onions, stewed                                                      76
  Leeks, stewed                                                       77
  Radishes, how to preserve them                                      79
  Horse-radish, its virtues                                           81
  Garlic, its qualities                                               82
  Parsley, stewed                                                     82
  Chervil, how used                                                   84
  Water-cress, its properties                                         85


  PLANTS USED IN SEASONING.

  Poppy, how used                                                     86
  Sow-thistle, good for rabbits                                       87
  Rocket, good for removing freckles                                  87
  Fennel, good for strengthening the sight                            88
  Dill, its qualities                                                 88
  Anise-seed, its properties                                          88
  Hyssop, good for cutaneous eruptions                                89
  Wild marjoram, a most delicate condiment,
  &c.                                                                 89
  Savory, its usefulness                                              89
  Thyme, its culinary value                                           89
  Wild thyme, efficacious, for the bite of
  serpents                                                            89
  Sweet marjoram, oil extracted from it                               89
  Pennyroyal, a digestive                                             90
  Rue, a cure for the ear-ache                                        90
  Mint, a preservative against curdling
  of milk                                                             90
  Assafœtida, chewed by the Persians
  and Indians                                                         92
  Ginger, an aperitive good for the
  scurvy and the chest                                                92
  Wormwood, good for giddiness                                        93


  STONE FRUIT.

  Olive tree, preparation of its fruit                                98
  ---- and qualities                                                  99
  Dates, their various uses                                          101
  Peaches, how to preserve them                                      104


  PIP FRUIT.

  Quinces, how to preserve them                                      107
  Pears, strengthening qualities                                     107
  Lemons, method of preserving                                       110
  Mulberry, a beneficent fruit, agreeable
  to the stomach, and digestible                                     116


  SHELL FRUIT.

  Almonds, how to dress them, and their
  various properties                                                 117
  Walnuts, considered astringent, stomachic,
  an antidote to poison, and digestible                              119
  Pistachios, good however dressed                                   121
  Chesnuts, how to preserve                                          122
  Pomegranate, preserving                                            123


  REARING OF CATTLE.

  Oxen, how to fatten them                                           128
  Method of salting and preserving meat                              131


  THE PIG.

  Hog à la Troyenne                                                  136
  Apician brine, for salting pork                                    138
  Apician pork                                                       138
  Macedonian pork                                                    138
  Stuffed sucking pig                                                139
  Aristoxenic ham                                                    139
  Lucullian ham                                                      139
  Ventre de truie à la Troyenne                                      139
  Ditto à la Romaine                                                 139
  Fillet of pork à la Bœotienne                                      139
  Tétines de truie à la Salienne                                     140
  Ditto à la Flamine                                                 140
  Olympian pig’s liver                                               140
  Capitolian pig’s liver                                             140
  Campanian bacon                                                    140
  Quenelles of pig’s liver and brains                                140
  Lucanian sausages                                                  140
  Imperial sausages                                                  141


  THE OX.

  Beef à l’Ibérienne                                                 144
  Stewed beef à la Sarmate                                           144
  Dish of veal à la Syracusaine                                      144
  Noix de veau à la Tarantaise                                       144
  Cisalpine preserve                                                 145


  THE LAMB.

  Lamb’s head à la Quirinale                                         147
  Quarter of lamb à l’Esquilon                                       147
  Palatine broil                                                     147
  Roast lamb à la Phrygienne                                         147
  Lamb à la Trimalcion                                               147


  THE KID.

  Kid à la Trans-Tibérienne                                          149
  Roast Kid à la Janiculum                                           149
  Kid à la Tarpéienne                                                149
  Kid à la Tivoli                                                    149
  Kid à la Mélisienne                                                149

  POULTRY.

  Capon à la Déliaque                                                155


  THE HEN.

  Poularde à la Viminale                                             156


  THE CHICKEN.

  Apician Macedonia of chicken                                       157
  Parthian chicken                                                   157
  Numidian chicken                                                   157
  Chicken à la Frontonienne                                          157
  Chicken à la Cœlienne                                              157


  THE DUCK.

  Ducks’ brains à l’Epicurienne                                      159
  Apicius’s seasoning for wild duck                                  159


  THE GOOSE.

  Sejus’s seasoning                                                  161
  Apician seasoning for roast goose’s
    liver                                                            161
  Boiled goose à la Gauloise                                         161


  THE PIGEON.

  Roast pigeon, with Servilian seasoning                             163


  THE GUINEA HEN.

  Guinea hen à la Numide                                             163


  THE TURKEY HEN.

  Turkey à l’Africaine                                               165
  How to fatten turkey                                               165
  Turkey’s eggs more delicate than hen’s
    eggs                                                             166
  How to preserve turkey                                             166


  THE PEACOCK.

  Peacock of Samos                                                   167


  MILK, BUTTER, CHEESE, AND
  EGGS.


  MILK.

  Hygeian qualities of milk                                          169
  Asses’ milk, good in weak constitutions                            169
  Macédoine Germanique of milk                                       170


  BUTTER.

  Method of preserving butter                                        172
  Method of preventing rancidity                                     172


  CHEESE.

  Salad of cheese, à la Bithynienne                                  174
  Dish of Tromelian cheese                                           174
  Cheese of Rouergue                                                 174


  EGGS.

  Eggs à la Romaine                                                  177
  Hard eggs à l’Athénienne                                           177
  Fried eggs à l’Epœnète                                             177
  Egyptian egg pudding                                               177
  Lesbian eggs aux roses                                             177


  THE STAG.

  Quarter of stag roast à l’Nêméenne                                 183
  Shoulder of stag à l’Hortensius                                    183
  Fillet of stag à la Persane                                        183


  THE ROEBUCK.

  Roebuck with spikenard                                             184
  Roebuck aux prunes                                                 184
  Roebuck aux Amandes de Pin                                         184


  THE DEER.

  Deer à la Marcellus                                                185


  THE WILD BOAR.

  Wild boar à la Troyenne                                            185
  Wild boar à la Pompée                                              187
  Quarter of wild boar à la Thebaine                                 187
  Fillet of wild boar à la Macédonienne                              187
  Wild boar’s liver à la Grecque                                     187
  Wild boar’s head à la Cantabre                                     187
  Green ham of wild boar à la Gauloise                               187


  ELEPHANT.

  Elephant’s feet roasted                                            192


  FEATHERED GAME.

  Pheasant’s flesh, good for weak stomachs                           195
  Starling, a nourishing and light food                              200
  Fig-pecker, an exquisite bird                                      203
  Ortolan, has the same reputation                                   203
  Ostrich, fatted and salted                                         203
  Ostrich’s eggs, enormous, how to cook
    them                                                             204
  Ostrich’s fat, used in the preparation of
    dishes; cures rheumatism and paralysis                           204
  Salangan’s nest, a delicious seasoning                             205
  Salangan’s nest, good for exhaustion and
    debile stomachs                                                  205
  Salangan’s nest, makes a fortifying
    pottage                                                          206
  Snipe, delicate savour of the fat                                  207
  Snipe, how to find, when in perfection                             207
  Lark, its supposed property                                        207
  The common lark, wholesome and
    delicate                                                         237


  FISH.

  Caviar, how manufactured                                           217
  Mullet, way of dressing                                            219
  Lamprey, Italian method of cooking                                 223
  Scarus, an epicurean dish                                          224
  Conger-eel, how dressed                                            226
  Eel, Apicius’s recipe                                              227
  Pike, preserved                                                    228
  Carp, curious way of dressing                                      229
  Eel-pout, how to dress the liver                                   229
  Trout, dressed as the preceding                                    230
  Gold-fish, how served                                              230
  Whiting, manner of cooking                                         231
  Cod-fish, how cooked by the Greeks                                 231
  Perch, way of dressing                                             232
  Scates, the eggs excellent for intermittent
    fever                                                            233
  Sepia, Apicius’s recipe                                            234
  Swordfish, how dressed by the Greeks                               234
  Shad, way it is cooked                                             234
  Rhombo, a delicate fish, how dressed                               235
  Mugil, how prepared                                                235
  Loligo, how prepared                                               237
  Sole, a nourishing and light food                                  237
  Pilchard, way of cooking                                           238
  Loach, how dressed                                                 238
  Gudgeons, how dressed                                              239
  Herring, methods of preserving                                     240
  Anchovy, how salted and how dressed                                241
  Emphractum stew                                                    242
  Oysters, how dressed at Rome                                       243
  Oysters, how preserved                                             244
  Sea-hedgehog, way of cooking                                       245
  Mussel, how dressed                                                245
  Tortoise, the blood supposed to cure
    diseases of the eyes, how dressed                                246
  Sea crayfish, Roman way of dressing                                247
  Lobster, how cooked                                                248
  River crayfish, how dressed and preserved                          248
  Crab sausages                                                      248
  Frogs, how dressed                                                 249
  Preserving of fish                                                 251


  SAUCE AND SEASONING.

  Sauce à la Cameline                                                258
  Tence sauce                                                        258
  Brine, how made                                                    269
  Digestive salt, how made                                           269
  Garum, various recipes                                       270 & 271
  Digestive garum (Apicius)                                          272
  Wonderful seasoning of Apicius                                     274
  Oxyporon seasoning                                                 274
  Honey, its medicinal properties                                    276
  Cinnamon, its medicinal properties                                 276
  Greek and Roman pickles                                            278
  Truffles, Apicius’s method of preparing                            280
  Syrup of truffles, how made                                        280
  Truffles, medicinal quality                                        281
  Truffles, how to preserve                                          281
  The Emperor Verus’s pie, how made                                  287
  Cato’s cake, how made                                              287
  Ancient pie, the placenta, how made                                287
  Globi, method of making                                            288
  Apicius’s globi, three recipes                                     289
  Original pastry, its progress, how made                            291
  Darioles, how composed                                             292
  Curious tarts                                                      292


  WATER.

  Aristotle’s method of obtaining ice                                295


  BEVERAGES.

  Zythum and Curmi, how composed                                     299
  Strong ale, how to make a hogshead                                 302
  Bracket, way of making                                             303
  Ptisana, recipe                                                    304
  Oxycratus, do.                                                     304
  Sicera, made of grain, honey, or fruit                             304
  Hydromel, method of making it                                      304
  Hydromelon, how composed                                           305
  Hydrorosatum, simple addition to the
    preceding                                                        305
  Apomeli, simple recipe                                             305
  Omphacomeli, ingenious mixture                                     305
  Myrtites, aromatic drink                                           305
  Date wine, how made                                                305
  Artificial wines                                                   305
  Nero’s refreshing water                                            305


  TEA.

  Various teas, how manufactured                                     306


  COFFEE.

  Various qualities of coffee                                        310
  Coffee, made with roasted rye                                      311
  Coffee, with chicory                                               311
  Coffee, made with lupin                                            311
  Coffee, its medicinal properties                                   311
  Coffee, its physical effects                                       312


  CHOCOLATE.

  Various kinds of cocoa                                             313
  Chocolate, how manufactured                                        313
  Chiapa, perfumed chocolate                                         314
  Chocolate, its properties                                          314


  WINE.

  Grapes, way of preserving fresh                                    325
  Wine, method of making                                             325
  Piquette, simple way of obtaining it                               326
  Carenum, how obtained                                              326
  Defrutum, how obtained                                             326
  Sapa, how obtained                                                 326
  Wine, how to preserve it                                           326
  Preparation of dolia for wine                                      327
  Wine, how to fine it                                               327
  Athenæus’s opinion of old wine                                     329
  Difference of properties between white
  and red wines                                                      329
  Process of preparation for Chios wine                              330
  Passum wine                                                        320
  Dulce wine                                                         330
  Mulsum wine                                                        331
  Anisites wine                                                      331
  Rosatum wine, Apicius’s recipe                                     331
  Violatum wine                                                      331
  Myrrhinum wine                                                     331


  LIQUEUR WINE.

  Various composition of liqueurs, herbs
    employed                                                         333
  Liqueur wine for Greek and Roman
    ladies                                                           333
  Wormwood wine, how made, its properties                            334
  Bitter liqueurs, how obtained                                      334
  Myrtle wine, its properties                                        334
  Adynamon wine, its properties                                      335
  Œnanthinum wine                                                    335
  Burgundy and Champagne wines                                       336
  Ypocras, how composed                                              338
  Clarey, how composed                                               338


  REPASTS.


  ROMAN SUPPER.

  Fly dishes, or dormice, what they consist
    of                                                               390
  Champignon and egg sausages, how
    made                                                             390
  Grasshoppers, how prepared and cooked                              390




INDEX.


.....Page

Abacus, sideboard, 264

Abderites, give up their soil to frogs, 249

Ablution, 382, 388

Ablutions, before supper, 372

Acerræ, vases for perfumes, 389

Acetabulum, vinegar cruet, 264

Acetaria, pickles of the ancients, 64

Achilles turned the spit, 253

Acorns, a primitive food, 23

  “     eaten by the Spaniards, 24

  “     a substitute for wheat, 24

Acratism, breakfast, 342

Acrobats, known to the ancients, 395

Adephagia, the goddess of good cheer, 256

Adrian’s regulations respecting cattle, 127

Adversitores, Roman footmen, 377

Adynamon wine, 334

Æsopus’ dish of singing birds, 193

Agapæ, love feasts, 346

Agricultural Society of England (the Royal), 16, 410

  “         trophy, 411

Agriculture, 9

  “        its origin, 9

  “        developed the industry of the Jews, 11

  “        very ancient in Egypt, 12

  “        highly respected by the Roman Senate, 13

  “        first treatise on, 16

  “        honours paid to, 16

  “        protected by Charles IX. of France, 18

Aï wine, 337

Albanum wine, 329

Albert, banquets offered to H. R. H. Prince, 403

Alcibiades’ banquet, 355

Ale, its ancient reputation, 301

“ its curative properties, 301

“ how it was made in England, 302

Ale, its price under Edward II., 302

Alec, a kind of brine, 240, 271

Alexander the Great discovered the eschalot, 82

  “       was fond of apples, 108

  “       an admirer of peacocks, 166

  “       his magnificent banquet, 357

  “       his silver arm-chairs, 372

Alfred the Great a renowned hunter, 181

Alisander, a valuable remedy, 91

Almond tree, 117

  “        a native of Paphlagonia, 117

  “        highly valued in the East, 117

  “        how to augment its fertility, 117

Almonds, Apician preparation of, 117

  “      eaten before drinking, 117

  “      oil extracted from, 117

  “      paste obtained from, 118

  “      their various uses, 118

Alose sauce, 258

Alphonso of Castile, his repugnance to garlic, 81

Amalthæa, the goat, 23

Amboise (George d’), Archbishop of Rouen, 172

Ambrosia, the food of the gods, 23

Amphis, despised horse-radishes, 80

Amphoræ, vases used for wine, 328, 390

Ampulla, a crystal bottle, 296

Amusements of the guests, 383

Anacreon sung parsley, 83

Anaphe, an island desolated by hares, 188

Anchovies, 240

  “      how preserved, 240

  “      supplied a kind of garum, 240, 270

  “      how cooked, 241

Andalusia, renowned for its olives, 98

Anecdote, severity of Pygmalion, 125

  “      the eggs of Petronius, 201

Angel-fish, its size, 237

Anglo-Saxons, devoted to agriculture, 17

Anglo-Saxons, their rural occupations, 17

  “           their culinary utensils, 346

Animal food added to vegetables, 123

  “           when first introduced, 124

Animals, 133

Anise-seed, extolled by Pythagoras, 88

  “         recommended by Pliny, 88

Anisites wine, 331

Anna Perenna, a protectress of flocks, 128

Antecœna, first course, 390

Antidote of Mithridates, 119

Antiphanus, a patron of quails, 197

Antony was fond of fishing, 250

  “    his liberality towards a cook, 256

Apician pork, 138

Apicii, the three, 200

Apicius, he killed himself, 51

  “      his gastronomic treatise, 200

  “      his prize for a new brine, 213

  “      his voyage to Africa, 247

  “      his cakes, 289

Apollo was an ichthyophagist, 210

Apomeli, a kind of beverage, 305

Appetite, its three degrees, 255

Appius Claudius’ aqueduct, 295

Apple tree in Greece, 108

  “        seldom mentioned in Holy Writ, 108

  “        cultivated by the Latins, 109

  “        introduced into Gaul, 109

Apples, named after eminent personages, 109

Apricot tree, 103

Apricots, their price in Rome, 103

  “      how prepared, 104

Apronian cherry, 103

Apronianus, his decree respecting the Roman butchers, 130

Aqueducts of Rome, 294

Archestrates, his culinary meditations, 254

Archimagirus, chief cook, 256, 260

Argonauts, they discovered the pheasant, 194

Aristœus, the inventor of oil mills, 97

  “              “        of cheese, 173

  “          discovered honey, 273

Aristocracy of England, its munificent hospitality, 384

Aristoxenic ham, 139

Aristoxenus, his lettuces, 74

Armeniaca, apricot tree, 103

Artemidorus, regulated the culinary language, 254

Artichoke, known to the ancients, 70

  “        despised by Galen, 70

  “        sung by Columella, 70

Artichoke, forgotten during a long period, 70

  “        their preparation, 71

  “        how to render them mild, 71

  “        how preserved, 71

  “        when introduced into England, 52

Artificial dishes, 260

“  wines, 305

Artocreas, a kind of pie, 265, 286

Artolaganos, a kind of bread, 32

Artoplites, 38

Artopticius panis, 38

Arvales brothers, instituted by Romulus, 13

Asafœtida, esteemed by the ancients, 91

“ extraction of its resin, 92

Ascalon, the native place of eschalots, 82

Asparagus, 84

  “      brought from Asia; grown at Ravenna, 65

  “      Roman; their size; how prepared, 65

  “      boiled; how preserved; hurtful to the sight, 65

  “      when introduced into England, 52

  “      wine, 333

Ass, its flesh forbidden to the Jews; patronised by Mecænas, 150

Asses used in Roman mills, 26

  “   milk beneficial to Francis I., 169

  “    “   cheese obtained from it, 173

Astrologicus panis, a sort of bread, 38

Astydamas, a great eater, 339

Athelstan, a promoter of the art of venery, 181

Athenæus praises the Damascus plum, 105

Athenians, their epicurism, 126

Athletæ, fed on figs, 113

Atriensis, hall-keeper, 376

Atrium, hall, 376

Attalus fond of gardening, 59

Attica, its pomegranates, 122

Augurs, their banquet, 357

Augustus, cured by lettuces, 75

  “      was fond of cheese, 174

  “      his sumptuary regulations, 347

Autopyron, a coarse bread, 37

Aveline, filbert, 120

Avena, vats, 20

Aviaries for thrushes, 198

  “      Varro’s, 198

Aymar’s table of massive gold, 370

Azumos, a sort of bread, 32


Babylon, her celebrated gardens, 59

Bacchus, protector of the grapes; ripened the figs, 95

  “      kills a goat, 124

  “      the same as Osiris; cultivated the vine, 322

  “      worshipped by the Romans, 324

Bacon, a substitute for oil, 100

  “    was sold in public-houses, 138

Bailli de Suffren, a witty epicure, 343

Bain Marie of the ancients, 262

Bakehouses in Rome, 34

Baker, of King Pharaoh, 31

  “    Greek bakers, 32

  “    in Rome, 34, 35

  “    submitted to certain regulations, 35

  “    under the Norman kings, 38, 39

  “    in France; how they were admitted at Paris, 39

Bancs, benches, 374

Banquet of Geta, 126

  “     of Caranus, 155

  “     of Charles VI., 259

  “     of Alexander the Great, 357

  “     etymology, 374

  “     offered to Napoleon; to the allied sovereigns, 407

  “     to H. M. Queen Victoria, 408

  “     on the occasion of the baptism of Prince Albert Duncan, 412

Banquets of the ancients, 345

  “      of William the Conqueror, 352

  “      of the Hebrews, 354

  “      in the Temples, 355

  “      triumphal, 357

  “      modern, 401, 407, 408

  “      conducive to the prosperity of nations, 402

  “      offered to H. R. H. Prince Albert, 403

  “      given by the Reform Club, 408

Barbarossa’s pike, 228

Barbers in Rome, 387

Bardakes, cooling vases, 297

Barley, an ignominious food, 20

  “     a symbol of fertility, 41

  “    gruel, 41, 42

  “     water, 42, 304

Basque fishermen, 231

Baths in Rome, 387

Bean, a dismal food; offered to Apollo; served on good tables, 53

  “   Egyptian; Greek; royalty of the bean, 54

Beaune wine, 336

Beccafico, 201, 203

Beef, 143

  “  à l’Ibérienne; à la Sarmate, 144

Beer, an ancient beverage, 299

  “   a substitute for wine, 300

Bees, under the protection of Mellona, 273

Beet, etymology, 62

  “   preparation, 62, 63

  “   preservation, 63

  “   a vermifuge, 62

Belisarius, his watermills on the Tiber, 28

Bellaria, dessert, 394

Bellay, Bishop of Mans (Du), 24

Berlanda, disinherited by her father (St.), 374

Beuchlingen (Countess of), fond of eel-pouts, 229

Beuckels, the Dutch fisherman, 239

Beverages, of which water is the foundation, 299

Biclinium, 372

Bill of Fare, 264, 404, 405, 409

  “   of an English dinner in the 15th century, 362

Birds, when served, 193

  “    a dish of 7,000 birds, 207

  “    mixed with garlands of flowers, 394, 395

Birds’-nests, various opinions; described by Poivre, 205

  “        substantial food; of two sorts, 206

Bittern, 198

Black pudding, 138

  “   sauce of Lacedæmon, 252

Blackbirds, dear to the Roman epicures; medicinal properties;
   imprisoned by Louis XI, 199

Blé, wheat, 19

Blit, its insipidity, 68

Bœotia, produced excellent pomegranates, 122

  “       renowned for its ducks, 158

Bœuf-gras, a fatted ox, 145

Bold appetite, 255

Boleti, mushrooms, 283

Bon Chrétien pear, 107

Books placed in the dining-room, 364

Bordeaux, its oysters, 244

Botargo, a preparation from the eggs of mullets, 220

Bourbon coffee, 310

Bourriche of oysters, 242

Bouturon, butter, 171

Brahmin women, worship a cow, 145

Braket, a beverage for the lower classes, 303

Bramble of Ida, 115

Braziers of the ancients, 365

Bread, how made in the East, 30

  “     without leaven, 31

  “    of Athens; of Megara, 32

  “     various kinds in Greece, 32, 33

  “     baking, 33

  “    of the athletæ, 37

  “    soaked in vinegar, 278

  “     carried round the tables, 392

Breakfast of Galba, 257

  “   of the Romans; of the Greeks, 342

 “       first meal, 344, 349

Brill, 237

Brine, used to preserve cheese, 174

  “    from the blood of mackerel, 213

  “    served at table, 268

  “    brought from Dalmatia, 269

Britons, paid little attention to agriculture, 16

  “     their frugality, 17

  “      abstained from the hare, 188

  “    “  from fish, 214

Brocoli, esteemed by connoisseurs; how prepared, 69

Brouet, a German dish, 258

Bubona, the goddess of oxen, 128

Buccellatum, biscuit, 37

Buffets of the Romans, 364

  “       in the middle ages, 365

Buffon and the truffles, 279

Buffoons, 382

Buhl work, valued by the ancients, 369

Bun, its probable origin (Cross), 290

Buphonic feast, 125

Burgundy wine, 336

Bustard, 206

Butchers in Greece; in Rome; their patron, 129

  “      corporations; regulations, 130, 131

Butter, a substitute for oil, 100

  “    known in the East, 170

  “    its manipulation; used for pastry; served instead
   of oil; the food of the barbarians; a remedy, 171

  “  how to obtain it instantly; how to attenuate its
   rancidity; its preservation; burned in lamps, 172

  “    fried or roasted, 258

  “   regulations for its sale, 172

  “   Tower, the, 172

Butts, of the ancients, 327


Cabbage, cured all diseases, 50

  “      various preparations; brought into Gaul; how preserved, 61

Cacabaceus panis, a kind of bread, 38

Cadmus, the culinary tutor of a king, 253

Cæsar, served with bad oil, 99

  “    sumptuary regulations, 347

Cake, devoured by an ox, 125

Cakes of the ancients, 285

Caligula, made his own apotheosis, 165

  “      his expedition against Britain, 241

Calves, how fed, 143

Cambis devoured his wife, 339

Camels’-milk cheese, 173

  “      flesh, 190

Cameline sauce, 257

Campanian bacon, 140

  “         wines, 333

Canard, a French, 158

Candelabra, 389

Cantabria, renowned for hams, 137

Cantibaris, his stupendous gluttony, 340

Capers, left to the people; how prepared, 91

Capitolian pig’s liver, 140

Capon, first introduced, 154

  “     à la déliaque, 155

Cappadocians, venerated water, 293

Capreæ, excesses of, 126

Capsarii, attendants in the Roman baths, 387

Caracas cocoa, 313

Caranus, a Greek epicure; his wedding repast, 155, 186

Carenum, cooked wine, 326

Caria, its oil, 98

Carp, held in estimation; how cooked; its size; its
   fecundity; its longevity; where naturalised, 229

Carrots, much esteemed; how prepared, 68

Carthaginian chariot, 15

  “          apples, 122

Cartier (Jacques), 231

Carver, 377

Carvilius, an artist in buhl-work, 369

Carving, art of; with music, 260

Castella aquarum, large water basins, 295

Castor, trained horses, 179

Catalonia, celebrated for hams, 137

Catesby, his opinion of the flamingo, 201

Catinus, a vase, 263

Cato, noticed the fig tree, 114

  “    sold his old slaves, 208

  “   his recipe for a cake, 287

Cattle mentioned in the Mosaic law; valued by the
   Romans; rearing of cattle, 127

  “     markets of the Hebrews; of the Greeks, 128

  “     of the Romans, 129

Cattle, feeding of, 128

Cauliflowers unknown in England before Charles II., 52

Caviar, how prepared; of two sorts, 217

Cayenne coffee, 310

Cecilian cherry, 103

Celer, the price he gave for a red mullet, 213

Cellars of the ancients, 326

Celtiberia, swarming with rabbits, 189

Cereals, 19, 22

  “    name of a feast; when discovered, 22

Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, 9, 13

  “    a queen of Sicily, 24

  “    gave the fig tree to Phytalus, 113

  “    killed the first pig, 124

  “    was presented with milk, 169

Cerevisia, beer, 300

Chafing-dishes, 262

Chailly, bread of, 39

Chairs used by the Greeks, 318

Chalices of the Greeks, 372

  “      of amber, 321

Champagne wine, 33

Champignon sausages, 390

Charcutier, pork butcher, 132

Charlemagne’s kitchen-garden, 51

  “           silver tables, 370

Charles VI. of France; his wedding banquet, 259

  “         poisoned by mushrooms, 282

Charles IX. of France; his edict in favour of agriculture, 18

  “         an admirer of turkeys, 185

Charles X. of France; his coronation banquet, 408

Cheese, 168

  “   mentioned by Aristotle, 171

  “   invented by Aristœus; known to the Hebrews;
   a military aliment; various sorts; given to the Greek wrestlers, 173

  “   preserved in brine; Tromelian; à la Bithynienne, 174

Cherips, invented a new dish, 280

Cherry tree, cultivated by Mithridates; introduced by Lucullus, 102

  “          propagated in Italy, 103

Cherries praised, 102

  “      when served; various kinds;

  “      cherry wine, 103

Chervil, how prepared, 84

Chestnuts, preparation of; oil extracted, 121

  “        kept green all the year, 122

Chestnut tree, its native place, 121

Chickens, sacred, 156

Chickens, hatched in ovens; à la Cœlienne; à la Frontonienne, 157

Chicory, mixed with coffee, 311

Chimneys known to the ancients, 261

  “      unknown to the Hebrews, 365

Chinese, their respect for agriculture, 15

Chios wine, 328, 330

Chiron, a pupil of Diana, 179

Chocolat de santé, 313

Chocolate, 312

  “      used by the Mexicans, 313

  “      a favourite food in Spain; its properties;
   when introduced into France, 314

Christmas bread, 40

Christmas feasts under Richard II., 351

Chrodegand, Bishop of Metz, 24

Cicero’s valuable tables, 369

Cider maker, 304

Cinara metamorphosed into an artichoke, 70

Cinnamon, its mysterious growing, 275

  “       its scarcity; from China; offered as a present, 276

Cisalpine preserve, 145

City of London, its ancient gastronomic profusion, 351

Civilis panis, a kind of bread, 38

Clarence’s wedding repast (Duke of), 351

Clarey, an English drink, 338

Claudius, his guests, 257

  “       poisoned by mushrooms, 282

  “       his voracity, 340

Clement VII. poisoned by mushrooms, 282

Clerks’ wine, 337

Clerks’ feeding in the 16th century, 348

Cloths, dimensions of table; cutting away the table cloth, 374

Cloves, 276

Clovis, his politeness, 384

Club of Roman epicures, 243

Cock, consecrated to Mars; cock-fight in Greece; in Italy, 153

  “   white, proclaimed the hours, 154

Cocoa-nut, 312

Cod-fishing; weight; fecundity, 231, 232

  “  how dressed, 231

Cœlia, beer, 200

Cœna, supper, of various descriptions, 356, 357

Cœnaculum, dining-room, 363

Cœur, introduced the turkey (Jacques), 165

Coffee, of various kinds; its introduction, 310

  “     when mentioned; its properties, 311

Coffee when drunk in Italy; in London; in Paris;
   in Sweden; a slow poison; with milk, 312

Collation, 342, 344

  “      of the Romans, 343

  “      of Lucullus, 348

Colum nivarium, snow cullender, 296, 327

  “   vinarium, wine strainer, 331

Colymbades, a kind of olives, 98

Comissatio, a sort of “wake”, 345

Comus, his portrait, 355

Conflagration of Rome, 396

Conger-eel, bestowing immortality; of a considerable size, 226

  “         culinary preparation, 226

Connétable, a celebrated orange tree, 112

Conon’s banquet, 355

Conviva, guest, 381

Cookery, ancient, 266

  “      exposed to unjust reproaches, 251

Cooks, 251

  “   Greek, 126

  “   from Sicily, 256, 344

  “   erratic, 265

  “   how rewarded, 256

  “   in the middle ages, 259

  “   of Louis XIV., 215, 256

  “   his qualities, 252

Coriander used to preserve meat, 47

Corinth, its quinces, 106

Cormorant, 193

Corn, its aboriginal country, 22

  “   various kinds, 19

  “   best; Roman law, 21

  “   cutting, 14

  “   grinding, 23, 25

  “   its preservation, 15

Cornelian law, 347

Corporation of butchers, 130

Cos, its poultry, 154

  “  wine, 328

Cossi, large worms, 265

Couches for the repasts, 372

  “     of some emperors, 373

  “     in the middle ages, 374

Counts of Anjou, introduced the plum tree, 105

Courses, 362

  “     their number, 345, 390, 391

Cow, worshipped by Brahmin women, 145

  “  milk; cheese, 173

Condiments, 272

Crab, its seasoning; sausages; stuffed, 248

Cranaus mixed water with wine, 323

Crane, 193

Crater, a cup, 391

Crawfish, 247

Crayfish, seasoning; from Alexandria; how preserved, 248

Crédences, dressers, 365

Cross-bun, 290

Crow, 193, 207

Crowns of thrushes, 198

  “    for the guests, 391

Crucifixion, the punishment of slaves, 208

Cruet, 264

Crystal, malleable, 218

Crystal Palace, the, 402

Cubicularii, valets, 377

Cucumber, plentiful in Egypt; from Antioch; marvellous properties, 72

  “       protects all kinds of seeds; preparation; preservation, 73

Cummin, 91

Cups, 263, 316

  “  in the Homeric ages, 317

  “  variety of shapes, 318, 321

  “  of praise, 369

  “  modern, 407

  “  bearer, 378

Curlew, 207

Curmi, beer, 299

Cuttle-fish, 234

Cuvier, on the Pentateuch, 9

Cybele, her repugnance to garlic, 81

  “     patroness of the pine, 95

Cythnus, renowned for cheese, 174


Dalmatia, its brine, 269

Damascus plum trees, 105

Dampier, his opinion of the phenicopter, 201

Daphne, its thrushes, 197

Dapiferi, servants, 377

Darioles, a kind of pastry, 292

Dates, from Judea; how preserved; various preparations;
   honey from the dates, 101

Dauphin of France, his style of living in the 14th century, 348

Death of Vatel, 215

Decapolis, its olives, 98

Décimer, or Décimheure, dinner, 349

Decree of Apronianus, 130

Deer, 184

  “  à la Marcellus, 185

Defrutum, boiled wine, 326

Denarius, inclosed within a truffle (Roman), 279

Dessert, 394

Diamond, a fish, 237

Diana, taught Chiron, 179

Dies epulatæ, festivals, 290

Digestive garum, 272

 “  salts, 269

Dill, its properties, 88

Dining-room, its decoration, 363

“  of Nero, 364

Dinner, 342, 344, 349

“  served to T. Quintus, 136

“  of the Jews, 342

Diogenes, his earthen vase, 327

Diomus kills an ox, 125

Diphilus fond of cherries, 102

Diploma, double vase, 262

Dishes of the ancients, 261

“  thirty thousand, at a banquet, 352

Dispensator, steward, 376

Distribution of wheat, 21

“  of oil, 99

“  of pork-meat, 130

Dodine sauce, 258

Dog, a relishing dish, 150

“  nailed to a cross, 151

“  trained by Pollux, 179

“  names of hunting dogs; their qualities, 180

Dolia, wine vessels, 327

Dolphins, 215

Dolyres, a kind of bread, 33

Domingo Coffee (St.), 310

Domitian, his turbot, 224

Dorio, a wit, 225

“  an epicure, 226

Dormice, how prepared, 390

Doubliers, table-cloths, 375

Dove, an emblem of sweet virtues, 162

Dragon-weaver, 237

Dressers, in the middle ages, 365

Drinking, 383

“  in Roman banquets, 392

“  to the good genius, 396

“  cups, 316

“  horns, 318

Druids, their respect for the oak, 24

Drunkards among the ancients, 316

Drusus fond of brocoli, 69

“     favourite starling, 200

“     daughter, and the sea-eels, 214

Duck, an antidote; its flesh; sacrificed to Neptune;
   from Bœotia; served on good tables, 158

“  parts offered; brains à l’Epicurienne; seasoning, 159

Dulce wine, 330

Dumplings of Athens, 85

Dutertre, his opinion of the phenicopter, 201


Eagles, distribution of, 412

Easter eggs, 178

Eaters of renown, 340

Eau-bénite sauce, 258

Echansons, 378

Echaudé bread, 39

Eclectic appetite, 255

Eden, garden of, 9

Edgar, a destroyer of wolves (King), 181

Ediles of Rome, 355

Edward the Confessor, fond of hunting, 181

“  his sumptuary laws, 350

Eel, worshipped in Egypt; esteemed by the Greeks;
   by the Sybarites; despised by the Romans;
   noticed by Apicius; how prepared; sacrificed
   to the Gods; how served; its enemies; served at Rockingham’s banquet, 227

“  its fabulous length, 213, 228

Eel-pout, its liver, 229

“  its reputation, 213

Eggs, 168

“  venerated by some philosophers, 175

“  primitive; when served; cooked without fire;
   seen in dreams; symbol of the universe;
   carried with pomp, 176

“  soft boiled; à la Romaine; à l’Epænète;
   à l’Athénienne; à la Macédonienne; aux Roses, 177

“  pudding; red, 178

“  cooked on the spit, 258

“  Easter, 178

Egypt, the granary of the empire, 12

“  supplied the best vinegar, 278

Egyptians abhorred the pig, 134

“  esteemed the ox, 142

“  their veneration for the kid, 148

“  fond of fish, 211

“  their respect for the sea-eel, 222

“  for water, 293

“  consumed a great deal of bread, 340

“  wreaths, 394

Elephant, its flesh; its feet; trunk, 191

“  dancing elephants; à la Troyenne, 192

Elizabeth, fond of geese (Queen), 159

Emphractum, an Apician dish, 242

Endive, differently appreciated; curative qualities, 75

“  how prepared, 76

Entrails of the scarus, 224

   “     of the tunny-fish, 225

Entremets, 383, 385

Epicurean dish in the olden times, 351

Epicurus, 400

Epimeletes, a Greek magistrate, 129

Erichthonius, king of Athens, 125

Eschalots, by whom discovered, 82

Escharites, a kind of bread, 33

Etiquette in the 16th century, 353

Eumenes encouraged the rearing of pigs (King), 136

Exeter banquet, 410

Exhibition of 1851, 16, 402

Extravagance Culinaire, 406


Falcon, 194

Falernian wine, 329

Fannius, the consul, 381

Fare, bills of, 404, 405, 409

Fattening of poultry, 154

    “     of geese, 161

    “     of turkeys, 165

Feast in honour of Ceres, 356

Feathered game, 193

Feathers thrown before the door, 358

Fécule, flour, 22

Feeding of cattle, 128

   “    of clerks in the 16th century, 348

Fennel used to restore the sight, 88

Festival of St. Ulric, 215

Fête of the distribution of eagles, 412

Fig-pecker, how prepared, 201

Fig-tree dear to Bacchus, 95

   “     a tree of Eden, 112

   “     planted at Athens, 113

   “     varieties; brought war on Attica, 114

Figs, abounded in Canaan, 112

  “   exportation interdicted; an article of trade in Jerusalem;
   valued by the Hebrews; food of the athletæ;
   favourite food of Plato; of Attica;
   served to Persian kings, 113

  “   noticed by Cato; planted in the forum; food for entire armies, 114

  “   how served, 115

Filbert, 120

File-fish, 237

Fillet of pork à la Béotienne, 139

Fish permitted to the Jews, 210

  “  served to Queen Gatis; despised by the heroes of Homer, 211

  “  Athenian law on, 212

  “  disliked by the Britons, 214

Fish, of two hundred cubits, 213

  “   mania, 214

  “   prepared in the shape of game;
   its consumption in former times; its vogue under Louis XIV., 215

  “   ponds, 220

  “   hooks, 249

  “   preservation of; piscinæ on the roofs of houses, 250

Fishermen, 249

Fishing, 249

Fishmongers of Athens, 212

     “      supplying royal tables, 215

Flabellarii, servants, 377

Flamingo’s tongue, 200

    “      little known in Europe, 201

Flesh most in fashion in the age of Homer, 125

Flocks of the patriarchs, 127

  “    of the eastern nations, 146

Flounder, 237

Flour, its manipulation, 30

Flowers used by the guests, 383

   “    spread over the table, 389

Focarii, stokers, 378

Fontainebleau, its orange tree, 112

Fontenelle, his answer to Madame Helvétius, 381

Food, primitive, 345

  “   animal, 123

Forks, 263

Fornax, a goddess, 34

Forum pistrinum, the bread market, 37

Fountains of the ancients, 294

    “     in dining-rooms, 366

    “     spouting various liquors, 367, 385

Fowls flavoured at will, 161

Fox, 190

Francis I., how cured, 169

Francis of Paulo introduces a pear (St.), 107

Fraternity of free-livers, 270

French wine, its price in England, 338

Fricatores, servants, 387

Fritters, 285

Frogs had no repute among the ancients;
   in fashion in Paris; eaten in Germany; disdained in England, 249

Fruits, the primitive food; Hebrew legislation; how eaten, 95

   “    how preserved, 96

   “    when served, 96, 97

Fruit-trees on the house tops, 96

Frumenta, 41

Funereal banquet, 357

Furfuraceus panis, a sort of bread, 38

Furrows, their length, 18


Gala of the pagan pontiffs, 356

Galactophagists, drinkers of milk, 168

Galba’s breakfast, 257

  “  gastronomic profusion, 341

Galen, his opinion of the pear, 107

Game, feathered, 193

  “  its preservation, 194

  “  fabulous expenses for, 207

  “  abundant in Ithaca, 339

  “  permitted to the Hebrews, 193

Gardening in Great Britain, 17

  “  known at an early period, 59

Gardens, of Babylon; of Alcinous; Roman, 59

Garlic, a god in Egypt; a military food;
   given to cocks; used by countrymen; proscribed by a King of Castile, 81

  “  its virtues; how to render it milder, 82

Garoe, a curious tree, 298

Garos, a shrimp, 270

Garum, 213, 269

  “  sociorum; 236, 270

  “  obtained from anchovies, 240

  “  procured from Spain, 243

  “  its price; from shrimps; from mackerel;
   of the allies; from tunny-fish; from the red mullet, 270

  “  from saxatile fish; its preparation;
   used as a seasoning; from various animals, 271

  “  its modifications; digestive, 272

  “  used in Turkey, 273

Garus, a shrimp, 270

Gastronomy, where it has flourished, 126

  “  the offspring of appetite and sensuality, 210

  “  promotes friendship, 402

Gatis, Queen of Syria, 211

Gaul, renowned for hams, 137

Gauls, enticed by the figs of Italy, 114

Geese, saved the Capitol, 151

  “  appreciated by the ancients; their prudence; honoured by the Britons, 159

  “  kept in the Capitol; a symbol of safety; fattening, 160, 161

Gelatine sauce, 258

Gellia, anecdote of, 189

George IV., his coronation banquet, 408

Geta’s banquet, 126

  “  alphabetical dishes, 257

Getes, drinkers of milk, 168

Gills of mullets, 219

Ginger, 92

  “  bread, 40

  “  known to the ancients, 285

Gladiators, fighting to amuse the guests, 396

Globi, a kind of pastry, 288

Gloucestershire, renowned for its wines, 336

Goat, killed by Bacchus, 124

Gold-fish, how dressed; gave its name to Sergius, 230

Golden age, dietetic of the, 124

  “  apples, 109

Gods of the sea, 294

Gonesse, bread of, 39

Goose’s liver, 160, 161

Goose à la Gauloise; served on Michaelmas day, 161

Gorgor introduces honey into Spain, 273

Goslings, in repute among the Greeks, 159

  “  how fattened, 160

Gourd, brought from India; how prepared and preserved; from Antioch, 66

Grain, spread on the furrows, 14

Grains, 46

Granada, its olives, 98

Granatum, pomegranate, 122

  “  wine, 331

Granea, how prepared, 20

Grapes, offered to Bacchus, 95

  “  served on the Roman tables, 325

  “  preserved, 325

Grass, a primitive seat, 368

Grasshoppers, 265, 390

Greek-nut, 117

Greeks, fond of agriculture, 11

  “  their cattle-markets, 128

  “  eat dogs, 151

  “  laid the foundation of Ichthyophagy, 211

Grinding of corn, 23

Grinding-stones, by whom invented, 24, 25

  “  used by ancient nations, 25

Grindstones, of porous lava, 28

Gruel, of the Romans, 33, 34

Gudgeon, 238

  “  when served; seasoning, 239

Guests, 368

  “  their places, 372

  “  their number, 381

Guinea hen, native place; à la Numide, 163

 “  sacrificed to Caligula, 165

Guiseau, a kind of eel, 228

Haddock, served with pomp, 236

Halec, a kind of brine, 240

Hall, atrium, 376

Hall-keeper, atriensis, 376

Halmades, a kind of olives, 98

Hams, when served, 137

Hand-mills, 25

Hare, how prepared; forbidden to the Jews; abounded in Greece, 188

Hare’s down used for couches, 373

Haricots, introduced by Alexander, 55

  “  when served, 56

Harold, the British Nimrod (King), 182

Hazel-nut, 120

Healths, how drank, 383, 393, 394

Hebrews, their cattle-markets, 128

  “  their use of wine, 323

Hedgehog, 190

Heliogabalus, fond of pheasants, 195

  “  thrushes and ostrichs’s brains, 199, 204

  “  was served with gills of mullets, 219

  “  gorged the pheasants with an expensive delicacy, 221

  “  his couches, 373

  “  his childish espiégleries, 373

  “  biography, 400

Hempseed, 48

Hen of Numidia, 163

Henry I. of England, his death, 222

Hens, proscribed by C. Fannius, 154

  “  aviaries; inauspicious cackling; feeding, 155, 156

  “  worshipped, 175

  “  of Adria; eggs, 177

Hercules, the patron of butchers, 129

  “  a powerful hunter, 179

  “  resuscitated by a quail, 196

Heroes of Homer, fond of animal food, 126

  “  their culinary talents, 253

Heron, 193, 194

Herring, unknown to the ancients; caught
   on the coast of Scotland; sold by the Dutch, 239

  “  how preserved, 240

Hesperides apples, 109

Hippocrates, prejudiced against beans, 53

Hippolochus, a defender of quails, 197

Hirpinus’s park, 181

  “  fish-ponds, 243

Hirtius, celebrated for his fish-ponds, 220

  “  his sea-eels, 221

Hirundo esculenta, sea-swallow, 205

Hog à la Troyenne, 136

Homer, his heroes, 126

  “  his poem in favour of thrushes, 197

Honey, discovered by Aristæus;
   its qualities; introduced into Spain;
   recommended by Pythagoras; produced by the air;
   by flowers, 273

  “  by reeds; from Attica; when served; seasoning, 374

  “  obtained from dates, 101

Honeyed wine, 131

Hôpital, prohibits the sale of pies (Chancelier de l’), 290

Horace, fond of parsley, 83

  “  peacocks, 176

Hordeum, barley, 20

Horns, used for cups, 318

Hors-d’œuvre, 381

Horse-radish despised; various sorts; preparation of the seed, 80

  “  spoils the teeth, 81

  “  its properties, 80, 81

Horses, trained by Castor, 179

Hortensius, the first who served a peacock, 167

  “  his park, 181

  “  wept over the death of a fish, 214

Hospitality, described by Apollodorus, 355

  “  of the English aristocracy, 384

Hot-houses, known to the ancients, 94

  “  wine, 393

Hunting, its antiquity, 179

  “  of the ancients, 180

  “  permitted by the Roman law; in England, 181, 182

Hydromel, 304

Hydromelon, 305

Hydrorosatum, 305

Hyperbius, son of Mars, 124

Hypotrimma, a stomachic condiment, 272

Hyssop, its virtues, 88, 89

  “  wine, 334


Ibrahim Pacha, entertained by the Reform Club, 408

Ice, how obtained; from the Alps; ice-houses, 295

Iced beverages, 296

Ichthyophagy, 210

  “  of the Greeks; of the Romans, 208

Ichthyophilists, 212

Imperial sausages, 141

Incrustations, for tables, 368

Indolent appetite, 255

Innkeepers, 336

Intoxication, not unfashionable with the ancients, 317

  “  in the middle ages, 337

  “  punished in France, 337, 338

Invitation to dinner, 387

Irrigation of gardens, 59

Israelites, fed on quails, 196

  “  their public repasts, 346

Ivory tables, 394


James I. and lamb’s fleece, 182

Janus planted the vine in Italy, 323

Jews, devoted to agriculture, 10

  “  abstained from the pig, 134

  “            “        hare, 188

Judea, its fertility, 12

  “  produced excellent dates, 101

Jugglers, 384, 395

Jupiter, his stratagem against the Gauls, 33

  “  suckled by a sow, 134

Jus Nigrum, black sauce, of Lacedæmon, 252


Keneffes, German, 258

Kervynge, the Booke of, 370

Kid, venerated by the Egyptians;
   a favourite dish with the Hebrews;
   the Greeks; of Attica, 148

  “  Sicily; Tivoli; various preparations, 149

King of the banquet, 383

Kirschen-wasser, 103

Kitchen, ancient remains, 259

  “  description, 260

  “  in the middle ages, 353

Kitchen-garden, 59

Knives, 264


Ladies, fond of oysters (Roman), 244

  “  forbidden to drink wine, 332

Lady of the lamb, 148

Lamb, offered in sacrifice; Paschal, 146

  “  a luxury; in repute among the ancients; various preparations, 147

Lamprey, dried up by the sun; stops a vessel; its high price, 222

  “  killed in Candian wine; how prepared, 223

  “  compared to quails, 224

Lares, household gods, 390

Lark, 207

Latona, presented with leeks, 77

Leaven, known to the Jews, 31

  “  how used by the Greeks, 33

  “  different kinds, 36

Lecticarii, servants, 378

Leek, an Egyptian divinity; cured numerous diseases;
   how prepared; how to make them acquire
   an extraordinary size; they are offered to Latona, 77

Legislation, concerning the Roman slaves, 209

Lemon tree, its origin, 109

  “  received from Persia, 110

  “  used for tables and beds, 110, 368

Lemons, considered as a counter-poison;
   how preserved; lemon-peel, a digestive, 110

Lentils, etymology; known to the Hebrews;
   appreciated by the Egyptians; by the Greeks;
   not in high repute with the Romans; supposed to soften the temper, 57

  “  an ill-omened food; a funereal vegetable, 58

Lesbos wine, 328

Lettuce, eaten by the Hebrews; its narcotic
   virtue; irrigated with wine; served with eggs, 74

  “  how prepared, 75

Le Vaillant, his opinion of the elephant’s feet and trunk, 191

Libations, 390

Libum, a sort of cake, 287

Liburnian oil, 100

Licinian law respecting cattle, 127

  “  concerning the Roman diet, 51

Licinius Muræna, 220

Lighting of the ancients, 366

Linseed, 48

Liqueur wine, 332, 334

List of the repast, 264

Liver of the red mullet, 213

Livia and the sorceress, 176

  “  fond of good wine, 332

Livio contrived to fatten peacocks, 167

Loach, how dressed in Italy, 238

Loaves, Roman, 37

Lobster, a favourite dish, 247

  “  how prepared, 248

Loligo, how served, 237

Louis XI imprisons blackbirds, 199

  “  XIV., his public repasts, 349

  “  his dinners, 350

  “  suppers, 350

Lucanian sausages, 138, 140

Lucrinus, a lake renowned for its fish, 243

Lucullian ham, 139

Lucullus, introduced the cherry tree, 102

  “  his park, 181

  “  fed thrushes, 199

  “  brought up the sea to his gardens, 213

  “  his ambigu to Cicero and Pompey, 257, 348

Lupin, used for cattle, 47

  “  etymology, 48

Lutatian cherry, 103

Luxury of the Romans, 356

Lycurgus commanded little children to fast, 252

  “  destroyed the vines of Lacedæmon, 323

Lysimachus, his tax on salt, 267


Macédoine Germanique of milk, 170

Macedonia, its giant pigs, 136

  “  of chickens, 157

Macedonian pork, 138

Mackerel, 235

  “  its dangerous appetite; supplied a sort of garum, 236, 270

  “  appreciated by the ancients, 236

  “  etymology, 235

  “  furnished a valuable brine, 213

Madidus panis, a sort of cosmetic, 38

Mecænas introduced the flesh of the ass, 150

Magiric science, its beginnings, 123

Mahomedans abstain from the pig, 134

Majordomo, 260

Mallows, their properties; in high renown;
   among the ancient acetaria; how prepared; served as a salad, 64

Mamertinum wine, 329

Manlius, his trick with the Gauls, 33

Manure, Greek and Roman, 14

  “  obtained from thrushes, 198

Maple, used for tables, 368

Maragnon cocoa, 313

Mares’ milk cheese, 173

Marionettes with the ancients, 395

Marjoram wine (wild), 333

Markets, 128

Market-bell, 212

Marl, used as manure, 14

Martinique coffee, 310

Mary Stuart’s supper, 383

Mauviette, a species of lark, 207

Meals, their number, 342

Meat, preserved without salt, 131

  “  sold by mication, 129

  “  given by guests to their servants, 394

Median apples, 109

Mediastini, servants, 387

Megalartus, taught to knead flour, 32

Meilleraye, his bill for vinegar (Duke de La), 278

Meleager, mourned by turkeys, 164

Meleagrides, turkeys, 164

Melitates, a sort of pastry, 33, 285

Mellona, the protectress of bees, 273

Melon, 77

  “  from Asia; perfumed by the Greeks;
   appreciated in Rome;
   how to render it milder; its Hygienic qualities;
   how prepared; brought from Italy, 78

Mercury was presented with milk, 169

Merenda, 343

Mication, used for the sale of meat, 129

Michaelmas day, goose served at dinner, 161

Michaux, a botanist, 19

  “  brought peas into repute, 56

Miletus, the inventor of grinding-stones, 25

Milk, 168

  “  a primitive food, 123

  “  an emblem of fertility; the principal food of several nations, 168

  “  offered to Ceres; to Mercury; its qualities, 169

  “  Macédoine Germanique of, 170

  “  mixed with coffee, 312

Millers, their festival (Roman), 26

Millet, 43

  “  used for making cakes, 20

Millium, millet, 20

Mills introduced to Rome, 25

  “  of the ancients; hydraulic mills; mentioned by Vitruvius, 27

  “  where invented; constructed by Belisarius;
   description; known in England, 28

  “  wind-mills, 29

Milo, a notorious eater, 143, 339

Minerva, the patroness of the olive tree, 95

  “  produced the olive tree, 97

Minos, his sumptuary laws, 346

Mint, formerly a young girl; prevented milk from curdling, 90

  “  wine, 333

Minturnæ, the retreat of Apicius, 247

Mirabelle plums, 105

Misor taught the art of seasoning, 267

Mithœcus, a magiric writer, 254

Mithridates cultivated the cherry tree, 102

  “  his antidote, 119

  “  his opinion of the duck, 158

Mocha coffee, 310

Mola, a goddess, 25, 26

Monsieur, plums of, 105

Morel, a sort of mushroom, 282

Moretaria, a stomachic condiment, 272

Mortars, used to pound the grain, 24, 25

Mosaic law, concerning cattle, 127

Moses, promoted agriculture, 11, 322

Mostecham sauce, 258

Mountebanks enlivening the banquets, 344

Moût sauce, 258

Mugil, how dressed, 235

Mulberry tree, its wisdom; a native of Canaan; its juice and wine, 116

Mullet, red, 218

  “  killed on the table, 213, 218

  “  in brine, 213

  “  anecdote of Philoxenus, 218

  “  how cooked; its price, 218

  “  its liver and head; weight, 219

Mulsum wine, cure for head-ache, 331

Muræna, sea-eel, 208

  “  dear to Hortensius, 214

Murrhine vases, 319

Muria, brine; dura; a convivial punishment, 269

Muses, protected the palm-tree, 95, 100

Mushrooms, the dish of the gods; their
   poisonous effects; relished by the ancients, 282

  “  how they are grown, 283

Musicians, symphoniaci, 389

Mussels, praised by the ancients, served
   to the gods; how seasoned, 245

Mustaceum of the Romans, 286

Mustard, 46

  “  etymology, 46, 47

  “  a remedy against venomous serpents, 46

Myrrhinum wine, 331

Myrtites wine, 305

Myrtle wine, 334


Napkins used by the ancients, 375

Naples, its good cheer, 126

Napoleon I., his coronation banquet, 407

Nero’s iced water, 305

  “  dining-room, 363

  “  he sets fire to Rome, 369

  “  biographical note, 399

Nestor’s cup, 317

Nets, 249

New year eggs, 178

Nicolas of Damascus, his dates, 101

Nicomachus and his estate, 177

Nicomedes and his cook, 44, 45

Noisettes, hazel nuts, 120

Nomenculatores, servants, 377

Northumberland (Duke of), his munificence, 408

Nougat of the ancients, 285

Numidian chicken, 157

Nut-tree, 120

  “  nuts of Jupiter; Persian, 118

  “  of Heraclea, 120


Oak, supplied a primitive food, 24

Oatmeal, relished by the ancients, 43

Oats, 42

  “  appreciated by the Germans, 20

  “  oat soup; oat cream, 42

Obsonator, servant, 260, 377

Œnanthinum wine, 335

Œnogarum, 73

Officers appointed to watch over the water, 294

Oil, abounded in the East; used by the Patriarchs, 97

  “  the best; its price in Rome, 98

  “  served to Julius Cæsar; used at the baths; distribution of oil, 99

  “  Liburnian oil, 100

  “  of almonds, 117

  “  of chestnuts, 121

Oil-mills, invented by Aristæus, 97

Olive-tree, 96

  “  discovered by Minerva; its pre-eminence; used for various emblems, 97

  “  cultivated by the Jews; in Greece, 98

Olives, preserved by the Hebrews; of Andalusia; of Granada; cultivation, 98

  “  when served, 99

Olla, a Spanish dish, 258

Olympian pig’s liver, 140

Omphacomeli, a beverage, 305

Onions, brought into Greece; how prepared; with honey, 76

Orach, its pernicious properties, 87

Orange-tree, its native place; introduced
   by the Portuguese; unknown to the Romans, 111

  “  stuck with cloves, 112

Orchius, the Tribune, 381

Organs of the Romans, 389

Orpheus and the primitive egg, 176

Ortolans, sent to Rome, 203

Oryza, rice, 20

Osiris, the inventor of agriculture, 9

  “  introduced the plough into Egypt, 12

Ostiarius, porter, 376

Ostrich, fatted and salted, 203

  “  served on some tables; dish of ostrich’s brains; eggs; a friandise, 204

Otranto, the palm tree of, 100

Ovens, used by the Jews, 31

  “  near the hand-mills, 33

  “  first built in Rome, 34

  “  portable, 35

Ox, sacrificed by Prometheus, 124

  “  offered to Jupiter; devouring a sacred cake, 125

  “  roasted whole, 142, 410

  “  an emblem of agriculture; its image on coins; offered to pugilists, 142

  “  its flesh permitted to the Hebrews; praised by Hippocrates; price of, 143

  “  highly valued by the Romans, 145

  “  care taken of; tracing a furrow, 14

  “  sacrificed to Bubona, 128

Oxycrat, a military drink, 304

Oxymel, 304

Oxyporon, a seasoning, 274

Oysters, uncommon in ancient times; served
   to the pagan pontiffs; their price, 242

  “  preserved fat and alive; sent to Trajan;
   when served in Greece; often served raw; how fattened, 343

  “  how dressed; from the Atlantic ocean;
   from Bordeaux; how preserved; pickled;
   forgotten for a long period, 244


Palatine broil, 147

Pales, 128

Palestine, renowned for its wines, 322

Palladius cultivated the lemon tree, 110

Palm-tree, consecrated to the Muses, 95, 100

  “  of Otranto, 100

  “  its usefulness, 101

  “  supplied the schecar, 100

Pan, 31

Pandarus, exempt from indigestions, 251

Panic-grass, 43

  “  a favourite dish, 20

Panis, bread; etymology, 31, 32

Parasites, 382, 388

  “  their place in banquets, 380

Parks, 180

Parrot-fish, 223

Parsley given as a prize, 82

  “  its origin; culinary preparation; a symbol of mourning, 83

Parsley, the food of chargers; a favourite plant
   with Horace; sung by Anacreon, 83

  “  seed wine, 333

Parthian chicken, 157

Partridges, 195

  “  their price; the best parts; their fights, 196

  “  feathers used for couches, 373

  “  eggs, 177

Paschal lamb, 146

Passum wine, 330

Pastry of the Jews; among the Egyptians;
   with the Greeks and Romans, 284

  “  patronised by eminent persons, 290

  “  its progress, 291

  “  cooks, 285, 290

Patinæ, dishes, 263

Peach-tree, supposed to be poisonous; price of peaches; how preserved, 104

Peacocks, 166

  “  admired by Alexander the Great; kept in aviaries;
   their price; exhibited in Greece; appreciated in Rome, 166

  “  ridiculous consumption; fattened by Livio;
   of Samos; reared by Tiberius, 167

  “  served as if alive, 167

  “  sacrificed to Caligula, 165

  “  eggs, 177, 390

  “  utility of their feathers, 340

  “  used by Roman polyphagists, 244

  “  their tails designed on tables, 369

Pear-tree, its native place; qualities of pears, 107

Peas, 56

  “  green, little appreciated; grey, relished
   by the ancients; sold at the Circus, 56

  “  a kind of bribe, 57

Pelasgus patronised the beech tree, 23

Pelorus celebrated for its oysters (Cape), 244

Peniculi, washers, 379

Pennyroyal used as a digestive, 90

  “  wine, 333

Pentapharmacum of the Emperor Verus, 257

Pentateuch of Moses, 10

Pepper used by the ancients, 277

Perch, from the Rhine; given to the sick; fed in
   the Moselle; relished by the Romans; how dressed, 232

Perdix rustica, the wood-cock, 207

Perfumes, used by the guests, 383

Persians, fond of water-cresses, 84

  “  their veneration for water, 293

  “  predilection of their kings for figs, 113

Persiller, to give pungency to cheese, 174

Pertinax, fond of pheasants, 195

Pestles, used for bruising wheat, 25

Petronius’s eggs, 201

Pharsalians, their mighty appetite, 340

Pheasants, relished by Severus, 160

  “  eggs, 177

  “  discovered by the Argonauts; kept in aviaries;
   adorned the triumph of Ptolemy; served in sumptuous repasts, 194

  “  scarce in Italy; Vitellius relished their brains;
   sacrificed to Caligula; recommended to weak stomachs;
   sold frozen, 195

  “  sausages, 390

Phenicopter, flamingo, 200

Philip of Macedon, fond of apples, 108

Philip-le-Bel’s regulations for fast-days, 214

Philoxenus, died of indigestion, 212

  “  a witty epicure, 218

  “  devoted to degustation, 254

Phœnicians, abstained from pork, 134

  “  venerated the ox, 142

Phrygians, their respect for the ox, 142

Phytalus, received a fig-tree from Ceres, 113

Picenum cakes, 288

Pickled pork, 138

Pickles, relished by the ancients, 278

Pic-nics, known to the ancients, 344

Pie, invented by the Emperor Verus, 286

Pig, killed by Ceres, 124

  “  market at Rome, 129

  “  portrait of the; its qualities, 133

  “  offered to Venus; a sign of peace;
   an emblem of fecundity; abhorred by
   the Egyptians; forbidden to the Jews; to the Mahomedans, 134

  “  of Macedonia, 136

  “  stuffed with game, 137

  “  forbidden to ramble; of the Abbey St. Antoine, 141

  “  suckling, 137

  “  the discoverer of truffles, 279

Pigeons, how they were caught, 162

  “  a dainty dish; recommended to the sick; their price; how prepared, 163

Pigeon-houses, 162

Pike, little esteemed by ancient epicures;
   its multiplication; preparation; longevity, 228

Pilau, 258

Pilchard, how stuffed by the Romans, 238

Pine, consecrated to Cybele, 95

Pip-fruit, 106

Pique-assiette, parasite, 382

Piquette, weak wine of the ancients, 326

Pistachio-tree, a native of India; brought to Rome by Vitellius, 120

  “  nuts, recommended by Avicenna, 121

Pistores, corn grinders, 25

Pithyllus, his protector of the tongue, 255

Place of honour in banquets, 373

Placites, a kind of bread, 33

Plaice, 237

Plants, used in seasoning, 86

Plato was fond of figs, 113

Plautus worked at the mill, 27

Plough introduced into Egypt; the Egyptian plough, 12

  “  the primitive, 13

  “  its simplicity; ancient; Greek; Anglo-Norman; Gallic, 14

Plum tree; plums; how preserved; of Reine Claude;
   of Mirabelle; of Monsieur, 105

Plutarch, his vegetarian principles, 126

Pochet, her recipe for tea (Madame), 308

Poisonous peaches, 104

Poitevine sauce, 258

Poivre, his description of birds’ nests, 205

Poles, fond of cucumbers, 73

Politeness of King Clovis, 384

Pollio, his answer to Augustus, 99

Pollio’s (Vedius) atrocious cruelty, 221

  “  how he chastised his slaves, 214

Pollux trained hunting dogs, 179

Polypus, its seasoning, 249

Pomegranate, fatal to Proserpine; first cultivated
   in the east; brought into Italy; how preserved; different species, 122

Pomona, 95

Pompey and the thrushes of Lucullus, 199

Pompion, treated without ceremony, 71

  “  of Egypt; its qualities; how prepared, 72

Pontic nuts, 120

Pontiffs, their banquet (Pagan), 356

Poppæia used asses’ milk, 169

Poppy, its preparation, 86

Pork-meat distributed to the Romans, 130

  “  abhorred by some nations, 134

  “  recommended to wrestlers; its reputation, 135

  “  disguised in various ways, 136

  “  pickled, 138

Porpoises, 215

Porter, ostiarius, 376

Portugal orange, 112

Portughan, a name of the orange, 111

Portuguese, introduced the orange tree, 111

Pot-de-vin, a bribe, 337

Poularde à la Viminale, 156

Poultry, the best of aliments, 152

  “  permitted to some religious order, 153

  “  art of fattening, 161

Pounded bread, 40

Præcocia, apricots, 103

Præfectus annonæ, 36

Prægustator, 378

Prayers before meals, 344, 390

Prefect of Rome, 355

Prestigiators, 395

Priapus, a protector of fruit trees, 95

Priests of Mars, great epicures, 343

Probus restored the vine to Gaul, 322

Procillatores, servants, 377

Procurator, major-domo, 260

Præneste enriched by hazel nuts, 120

Profusion in the City of London (Ancient), 351

Prodigality of the Earl of Warwick, 351

Prometheus sacrificed an ox, 124

Proserpine, was too fond of pomegranates, 122

Provisions mentioned in the Scriptures, 354

  “  price of, 358

Prytanea in Greece, 347

Ptisana, barley water, 42

  “  a sorry liquid, 304

Pudding, Carthaginian, 43

  “  hasty, 44

  “  black, 138

Pullarius, his office, 156

Pultiphagists, 33

Punch given by Sir Edward Russell, 411

Purslaine mixed with salad, 68

  “  its properties, 69

Pyanepsia, one of the festivals of Apollo, 53

Pygmalion, his severity, 125

Pythagoras, abstained from beans, 53

  “  was a vegetarian, 126

  “  recommended honey, 273


Quails, a sovereign remedy, 196

Quails, food of the Israelites; supposed
   to cause epilepsy; banished from the Roman tables, 196

  “  fights, 197

Quenelles of pig’s liver and brains, 140

Quince tree, a native of Cydon, 106

Quinces, their beneficial qualities; preserved in honey, 106

Quince wine, 107


Rabbits taught mankind the art of fortification;
   overthrow Tarragona; defeated by the Roman troops, 189

  “  of Macedonia; how prepared, 190

Radishes of Judea; price in Rome; supposed
   to produce cabbages; how preserved, 79

  “  pickled, 390

Ragouts of the middle ages, 258

Raleigh, his account of the herring fishery (Sir Walter), 239

Rancidity of butter, how to attenuate it, 172

Raspberry, 115

Ratafia, 103

Rauwolf, the first to mention coffee, 311

Rearing of cattle, 127

Réaumur, his experiments to hatch chickens, 157

Red mullet, 218

Redstone’s funeral banquet (Sir John), 359

Reform Club, its splendid entertainments, 408

Reine Claude, plums of, 105

Remy’s silver table (St.), 370

René of Sicily introduced the plum-tree, 105

Repasts, 339

  “  in common, 346

  “  variety of repasts; of the Jews, 354

  “  offered to Jupiter, 356

  “  of Louis XIV, 349

Reservoirs on the house tops, 96

Rheumatism, cured by drinking ale, 301

Rhoites wine, 305

Rhombus, its seasoning, 235

Rice, 43

  “  a nutritious grain, 20

River cray-fish, 248

Rivers, venerated by some nations, 293

Roast beef, the principal article of food in the Homeric ages, 339

Robert sauce, 258

Robigus, a god, 19

Robus, a variety of corn, 19

Rochelle wine, its price in England, 338

Rocket, how used by the ancients; its properties, 87

Rockingham, his banquet (Lord), 227

Roebuck, with spikenard; aux prunes; aux amandes de pin, 184

Roll bread, 40

Romans, fond of agriculture, 11, 13

  “     eat dogs, 151

  “     their manipulation of butter, 171

  “     fond of fish, 212, 216

Rome its corruption; its fall, 401

Romulus, studied the advancement of agriculture, 13

   “     was found under a fig-tree, 114

Rope dancers, 395

Roquefort cheese, 174, 175

Rosatum wine, 331

Rousseau, (J. J.) was not a practical vegetarian, 126

Rue, a counter poison; its properties, 90

 “   wine, 333

Russell (Sir Edward), his memorable punch, 411

Rye, a detestable food, according to Pliny, 20

 “   a substitute for coffee, 311


Sacred chickens, 156

Salad could not be procured for a queen, 51

  “   in the middle ages, 75

Salangan, sea-swallow, 204

   “      nests, 205

Salmasius, on truffles, 281

Salmon, when first mentioned; sung by
   Ausonius; from Aquitaine; abundant in Scotland, 233

Salonite cheese, 174

Salt, consecrated to the gods; from the
   asphaltite lake; used by the Jews; tax on salt, 267

  “   superstitions concerning salt, 267

  “   salt works in Italy; eaten with bread; four sorts, 268

Salt-meat, its preparation, 131

    “      cellars, 389

Salts, digestive, 269

Samos, its oil, 98

Sandaligeruli, servants, 377

Sandals, 388

Sapa, cooked wine, 326

Sardinia, renowned for hams, 137

Saturn, the inventor of agriculture, 9

Saucepans of the ancients, 262

Saucers, 263

Sauces of various kinds, 257

Sauce manufacturers, 257

Saupiquet sauce, 258

Sausages of Lucania, 138

   “     various, 140

Savillum pie, 286

Savory, 89

  “     wine, 333

Scales of the ancients, 130

Scaliger, repugnance to water-cresses, 84

Scallop of Tarentum, 246

Scarus, a fish, 223

  “     its renown, 213

  “     celebrated for its anomalies, 224

Scate, its back appreciated by the Greeks, 233

  “    despised by the Romans; its varieties
   according to Lacépède; its eggs a curious remedy, 233

Scissor, a carver, 377

Scoparii, sweepers, 378

Scythians, drinkers of milk, 168

    “      their manipulation of butter, 171

Sea, peopled with gods, 294

 “   crawfish, its culinary preparation, 247

 “   eels, fed on the flesh of slaves, 208, 214

 “    “    heard their master’s voice; ornamented with necklaces, 220

 “    “    how fattened; where caught; how prepared; from the Tiber, 221

 “    “    venerated by the Egyptians; of a considerable size, 222

 “   hedgehog, relished by the ancients; how prepared, 245

 “   swallow, 204

 “   wolf, an exquisite fish; a child of the gods;
   eclipsed the sturgeon; where caught; relished by the Greeks, 223

Seals, 215

Seasoning, plants used in, 86

Seasonings, 266

    “       with garum, 272

Seats, 388

  “    used by the Hebrews, 372

Secale, rye, 20

Sechar, an exhilarating beverage, 100

Seeds, 46

Sejus seasoning, 161

Selech, his services to mankind, 267

Seneca, his declamations against luxury; his enormous wealth, 252

Sensualism of the ancients, 345

Sentinum wine, 328

Sepia, its black liquid; its conjugal affection; how it was dressed, 234

Sepia, an estimable dish, 234

Sergius, his fishponds, 243

Servants, 376

Sesame, how used, 86

  “     cakes, 20

Severus, fond of geese; of pheasants, 160, 195

   “     hares, 189

Sévigné, her opinion on coffee (Mde. de), 312

Shad, sold to the plebeians, 234

Shadows, a kind of parasites, 388

Sheep bread, 40

Shell, imitating precious woods, 369

  “    fish, 241

  “     “    its seasoning in Italy; how dressed by Apicius;
   from Lake Lucrinus; from Pelorus; how cooked;
   when served; relished by the ancients, 242

  “    fruit, 117

Shepherds, ancient, 127

Shoes of the Romans, 388

Shrimps used for garum, 270

Sicilian cooks, 344

Sicily, renowned for cooks, 256

Sideboard, 264

Sieves, 265

Sigma, a horse-shoe shaped table, 369

Silatum, a Roman drink, 334

Siligineus panis, a kind of bread, 38

Siligo, a species of wheat, 19

Simnels, or wigs, 291

Simon’s speculation on frogs, 249

Sitarchi, magistrates for the allotment of corn, 21

Sitocome, an inspector of corn, 21

Sitologi, officers to superintend the purchase of corn, 21

Sitometræ, officers watching over the measurement of corn, 21

Sitonæ, inspectors of corn, 21

Sitophylaces, officers regulating the sale, 21

Skeleton, exhibited to the guests, 385, 393

Slavery in ancient times, 208

Slaves, sold by Cato; cruelties practised
   against slaves; punished by crucifixion;
   put to death to amuse a friend, 208

  “     thrown to the sea-eels, 208, 214

  “     more null than vile, 209

  “     eating with their masters, 356

  “     their stigmas, 376

  “     lettered slaves, 376

Snails, a delicate hors-d’œvre, 265

  “     how fattened, 326

Snipe, 207

Snow, preserved in cellars, 295

 “    cullender, 226

Soles, 237

  “    compared to partridges, 224

  “    much sought after, 237

Solon, his sumptuary laws, 108, 347

Sorrel, how prepared, 69

Soterides, Nicomedes’ cook, 44

Sow, Jupiter’s first nurse, 134

Sow-thistle, given up to rabbits, 87

Sowing taught by Ceres, 24

Spain, celebrated for garum, 243

Spaniards, fond of acorns, 24

Spanish camomile, mixed with wine, 90

   “    dancers, 395

Spectacles introduced in banquets, 383

Spelt, a species of wheat, 19

Spinach, little known to the ancients, 63

Spoons, 263

Squirrel, 190

Stag, 182

Stags’ horns consecrated to Diana, 180

  “    flesh supposed to ensure longevity, 183

  “    fillet of stag; shoulder of stag;
   à la Persane; à l’Hortensius; à la Néméenne, 183

  “    pies, 290

Starling, recommended by physicians; an erudite starling, 200

Statues of gods placed on the table, 389

Steward, dispensator, 376

Stilphon, his answer to Cybele, 81

Stokers, focarii, 378

Stone fruit, 97

Stork, 193, 204

Stoves of the ancients, 366

Strawberries, highly appreciated, 115

Strigil, used in the baths, 387

Structores, servants, 260, 377

Strutiophagous tribes, 203

Stuffed sucking pork, 139

Sturgeon, 216

   “      a royal fish, 214

   “      its price; compared to ambrosia;
   honours it received; announced by the sound
   of trumpets; an imperial dish in China, 216

   “      its weight, 217

   “      compared to peacocks, 224

Style of living in the 14th century, 352

Sucking-pigs, 137

      “       stuffed, 139

Sucking-pig, with puddings, 351

Sugar, the honey of reeds; the Indian salt, 275

Sultana coffee, 313

Sumach, 92

Sumptuary laws, 152, 252, 346, 350, 381

Supper, 342

  “    of the Hebrews, 343

  “    primitive of the Romans; in the open air, 344

  “    given by the Roman Emperors, 357

  “    a Roman, 386

Swallow, sea, 204

Swan, 193

Sweepers, scoparii, 378

Sweet marjoram, when used, 89

Sweet wine, 326

Sword-fish, how dressed in Greece; despised by the Romans, 234

Sybaris, renowned for its good cheer, 126

Sybarites, their meditations upon a banquet, 227

Sycophants, 113

Symphoniaci, musicians, 389

Symposiarch, 391

Synthesis, a convivial dress, 389

Syracuse, its proverbial gastronomy, 127

Syrian dancers, 395

Syrup of truffles, 280


Tables, before each guest; veneered with
   gold; of bronze; of wood; of silver; circular, 368

  “     spotted or veined; of various forms;
   changed at each course; how cleaned; of Cicero, 369

  “     of ivory, 394

Taillevant, the cook of Charles VII. of France, 193

Talmouses, a kind of pastry, 292

Tarentum, renowned for its repasts, 126

   “      the abode of luxury, 246

Tarragona overthrown by rabbits, 189

Tarts, of various sorts, 290

Taste, its definition, 124

Tax on salt, 268

Tea, gathering, 306

 “   of two kinds; heating; rolling, 307

 “   its miraculous origin, 308

 “   compared to ambrosia, 309

 “   tasters, 308

Teal, 206

Teeth, of ivory, 388

Teething repast, 357

Tence sauce, 258

Tench, mentioned by Ausonius; left to the common people, 236

Tethalassomenon wine, 330

Tétines à la Flamine; à la Salienne, 140

Thalassites wine, 330

Thasian nut, 117

Thasos wine, 328

Theagenes, a beef eater, 143

    “      his voracity, 339

Theophrastus mentions the cherrytree, 102

     “          “      the plum tree, 105

     “       fond of pears, 107

Thesmophoria, a feast in honour of Ceres, 22

Thessalians, their appetite, 340

Thimbron, a culinary star, 254

Thorian law, respecting cattle, 127

Thrashing of corn, 14

Thrushes, 197

   “      supplied an abundant manure; not eaten by children;
   sung by Homer; sent as wedding presents; served at
   sumptuous feasts; from Daphne, 197

   “      kept in aviaries; sold by Varro’s
   aunt; how fed; their price; in the shape of crowns, 198

   “      prescribed to Pompey; recommended
   to convalescents; their brains; eaten by Heliogabalus, 199

Thurium, its oil, 98

Thyme, its qualities; used for aromatic liqueurs, 89

  “    wine, 333

Thys, his voracity, 339

Tiberius, fond of melons, 78

   “      reared peacocks, 167

   “      his generosity, 257

   “      poisoned by mushrooms, 282

   “      how he encouraged artists, 318

   “      his sumptuary regulations, 347

Timachidas, a cook and a poet, 254

Titormus, his voracity, 339

Tonsores, barbers, 387

Tooth-powder used by the Romans, 387

Tortoise, its blood; of an enormous size, 246

   “      how dressed, 246, 247

Tourte, a kind of cake, 291

Tractatores, servants in the baths, 387

Tremellius, took the surname of Scrofa, 128

Triclinarches, chief steward, 378

Triclinium, 372, 278

Trimalcio, a celebrated cook, 256

Trimestre, a species of corn, 20

Tripes, their reputation, 143

Triptolemus, the inventor of agriculture, 9

     “       was a vegetarian, 124

Triticum, wheat, 19

Trojan pig, 137

Tromelia, renowned for cheese, 174

Trophy of agriculture, 411

Trout, little appreciated by the Greeks;

  “    relished by the Romans; how dressed, 230

Troyenne, hog à la, 136

   “      wild boar à la, 406

Truffles, the daughters of thunder;

    “     where they grow; various sorts, 279

    “     how prepared, 280

    “     discovered by pigs, 135, 279

    “     syrup of, 280

    “     how preserved, 281

Tunny-Fish, its entrails; from Samos;

     “      offered to Neptune; of Pachynum;
   fishery of the Synopians; how prepared, 225

     “      obstructed the navigation of Alexander;
   of an immense size, 226

     “      used for garum, 270

Turbot, a delicious food; compared to the pheasant;
   the turbot of Domitian, 224

  “     of Attica, 225

Turnips, from Thebes; Amiternum; how they were eaten, 67

Turkey, still retains the use of garum, 273

Turkey-hen, 163

    “       how many are required to eat a turkey-hen;
   celebrated by Sophocles; bewailing the death of Meleager;
   reared in Roman farms; scarce in Egypt and Greece;
   introduced into Rome, 164

    “       sacrificed to Caligula; how fattened; à l’Africaine, 165

    “       how prepared, 166

    “       introduced into various countries; admired
   by Charles IX. of France, 165

    “       turkey eggs, 166

Turtle dove, 207

Twelfth-night cake, its composition, 54

Typhes, a sort of bread, 33

Tyrontes, a sort of bread, 33

Tyrotarichus, a popular dish, 174


Uladislas (King), his repugnance to apples, 108

Ulric (St.) festival of, 215

Ulysses, renowned for carving, 129

   “     laid the cloth, 252

   “     a model of delicacy, 380

Unguentarii, perfumers, 387

Utensils, culinary, 261

   “      of the 14th century, 265


Vanilla chocolate, 313

Variety of repasts, 354

Varro’s aviary, 198

Vase of the House of Brunswick, 302

Vases of Sardonyx, 320

  “   of silver; of gold, 321

Vatel, his tragic death, 215

Vauban’s recipe for eating corn in soup, 15

Veal, à la Syracusaine; à la Tarentaise, 144

Vegetables, 49

    “       dried, 53

    “       relished by the Romans, 50, 51

    “       how preserved; scarce in England, three centuries ago, 51

Vegetarians, 126

Venafrum, 99

Venison, appreciated by eastern nations, 181

Ventilation of the dining-room, 392

Ventre de truie à l’Athénienne; à la Romaine, 139

Verjuice, its ancient use, 277

Vertumnus, 95

Verus (the Emperor), invented a new dish, 257, 286

  “   his couches, 373

Vespucius (Americus) introduced the turkey into Portugal, 165

Vesta, the goddess of bakers, 37

Vestis cœnatoria, convivial dress, 388

Vicar’s wine, 337

Victoria, coronation banquet of H. M. Queen, 408

Victua, the goddess of food, 356

Villar’s Swiss porter, 341

Vine, cultivated in England, 335

Vinegar, its alleged qualities; from Egypt; used to cool the cannons, 278

   “     cruet, 264

Vines, protected by the Roman law, 324

Vinum Tethalassomenon, 330

Violatum wine, 331

Vitellius, brought the pistachio tree to Rome, 120

    “      regaled on pheasants’ brains, 195

    “      served with a dish of 7,000 birds, 208

    “      grew tired of sea-eels, 221

    “      his culinary expenses, 257, 348

    “      was an active polyphagist, 341

    “      his nocturnal banquets, 345

Vocatores, servants, 377

Voracity, examples of, 339, 341

Vulture, 194


Walnut tree, a native of Asia, consecrated to Jupiter,
   reserved to Persian kings, 118

Walnuts, when served; how eaten; their qualities;
   used as an antidote; strewed on the nuptial chamber, 119

Warwick, his prodigality (Earl of), 351

Washers, peniculi, 379

Water, a vivifying principle; venerated by ancient nations, 293

  “    conveyed into Rome, 295

  “    its curative virtue, 296

  “    cure system, practised by the Romans, 297

  “    hot, used to drink, 296

  “    cresses, a native of Crete; esteemed by the
   Persians; despised by Plutarch; their properties, 84

  “    an anti-scorbutic; how prepared 85

  “    hen, 206

  “    mills, 27, 28

Wax figures among the Romans, 377

 “  vases, 318

Weaning supper, 357

Wedding-cake of the Romans, 286

    “   wine, 337

    “   repast of H.R.H. the Duke of Clarence, 351

    “   day banquet, 357

    “   of Charles VI., 259

Weights of the ancients, 130

Westphalia celebrated for hams, 137

Whales, 215

  “     of four acres, 213

Wheat, 19

  “ its price in Greece; public distribution in Rome, 21

  “ its price in the olden times, 22

  “ Indian, 44

Whiting, its light flesh, 230

   “     its preparation, 231

Whitten used for tables, 368

Wild boar à la Troyenne, 185, 406

    “     of immense size; served by Caranus; raised on farms, 186

    “     how served, 187

    “     how prepared, 186, 187

    “     preceded by trumpeters, 187

Wild marjoram wine, 89

 “   thyme, 89

William the Conqueror, his sumptuous banquets, 352

Wind-mills, 29

Wine, of grain; of the Britons, 301

 “    obtained from fruits, 305, 322

 “    disliked by some nations, 323

 “    method of making, 325

 “    fining of; how clarified, 327

 “    of different kinds; Greek; Italian, 328

 “    of a hundred leaves; white; red; two hundred years
   old; how to change its colour, 329

 “    mixed with sea-water; of Chios; various made wines, 330

 “    interdicted to Roman ladies, 331, 332

 “    its price in Greece; in Rome, 331

 “    the drink of generous souls, 332

 “    of Campania, 333

 “    dealers in, 336

 “    used for presents and fees; of citizenship, 337

 “    sweet, 326

 “    hot, 393

 “    press of the ancients, 325

Wood, an extraordinary eater (Nicholas), 341

Woodcock, how prepared, 207

Wood-hen, 206

Wormwood, esteemed by the Egyptians; its various uses, 93

   “      wine; its composition; it prevented giddiness, 98, 334

Wreaths of flowers, 391

Wrestlers fed on pork, 135

    “     rewarded with an ox, 142

    “     fed with cheese, 173


Xerxes, fighting for figs, 114

Xiphias fish, 225


York banquet, 403

Ypocras, 338


Zea, rice wheat, 20

Zeno, of Citium, of the same nature as the lupins, 47

 “    cooked his lentils himself, 57

Zythum, beer, 299




ERRATA.


_Page_ 16, _line_ 19, _for_ which great and the, _read_ which the great
and glorious. _P._ 19, _l._ 16, _for_ Picardy to make bread, _read_ in
Picardy. To make bread. _P._ 19, _l._ 16, _for_ of leaven and, _read_ of
leaven is required, and. _P._ 26, _l._ 6, _for_ Flamine, _read_ Flamen.
_P._ 26, _l._ 25, _for_ leaves _read_ loaves. _P._ 27, _l._ 20, _for_
Cabire _read_ Cabira. _P._ 28, _l._ 28, _for_ hand-mill; by the Britons,
_read_ hand-mill, by the Britons. _P._ 32, _l._ 11, _for_ Megalarte and
Megalomar, _read_ Megalartus and Megalomazus. _P._ 33, _l._ 2, _for_
escarites, _read_ escharites. _P._ 33, _l._ 7, _for_ melitutes, _read_
melitates. _P._ 37, _l._ 8, _for_ Septier, _read_ Setier. _P._ 50, _l._
25, _for_ Ciens cheris, _read_ lieux cheris. _P._ 63, _l._ 28, _for_
chrysolacanon, _read_ chrysolachanon. _P._ 65, _l._ 34, _for_ has,
_read_ have. _P._ 67, _l._ 20, _for_ Amitermes, _read_ Amiternum. _P._
68, _l._ 18, _for_ possessed, _read_ possesses. _P._ 79, _l._ 11, _for_
Algidea, _read_ Algidus. _P._ 84, _l._ 25, _for_ dressed it in, _read_
dressed in. _P._ 93, _l._ 32, _for_ Corcyrus, _read_ Corcyra. _P._ 98,
_l._ 15, _for_ Halmade, _read_ Halmades. _P._ 99, _l._ 26, _for_
Venafra, _read_ Venafrum. _P._ 100, _l._ 31, _for_ sechar, _read_
schecar. _P._ 103, _l._ 11, _for_ Cæcilian, _read_ Cecilian. _P._ 106,
_l._ 18, _for_ fruit of, _read_ fruit, the. _P._ 124, _l._ 31, _for_
Hyberbius, _read_ Hyperbius. _P._ 125, _l._ 2, _for_ Erichtonius, _read_
Erichthonius. _P._ 129, _l._ 1, _for_ curators, _read_ curator. _P._
129, _l._ 25, _for_ life, _read_ life, the. _P._ 136, _l._ 16, _for_
Chalies, _read_ Chalcis. _P._ 139, _l._ 38, _for_ à la Bœotienne
_read_ à la Béotienne. _P._ 143, _l._ 15, _for_ Thasos, _read_ Thasus.
_P._ 149, _l._ 2, _for_ Mœlos, _read_ Melos. _P._ 153, _l._ 2, _for_
Carniphobis, _read_ Carniphobus. _P._ 150, _l._ 25, _for_ Scipio,
Metellus, and, _read_ Scipio Metellus and. _P._ 170, _l._ 26, _for_
philosopher, _read_ philologist. _P._ 171, _l._ 17, _for_ bouturos,
_read_ bouturon. _P._ 176, _l._ 7, _for_ consort of Nero, _read_ consort
of Augustus. _P._ 189, _l._ 5, _for_ consectuive, _read_ consecutive.
_P._ 203, _l._ 23, _for_ Marmot, _read_ Marmol. _P._ 213, _l._ 9, _for_
scare, _read_ scar. _P._ 216, _l._ 9, et passim, _for_ accipenser,
_read_ acipenser. _P._ 225, _l._ 8, _for_ Pachynum, _read_ Pachynus.
_P._ 296, _l._ 13, _for_ Sicyona, _read_ Sicyon. _P._ 230, _l._ 23,
_for_ pèsant, _read_ pèsent. _P._ 235, _l._ 21, _for_ of Scyathus,
_read_ of Sciathos. _P._ 236, _l._ 29, _for_ the Mostella, _read_ the
Mosella. _P._ 237, _l._ 17, _for_ the Bulistes, _read_ the Balistes.
_P._ 238, _l._ 2, _for_ of Phaleres, _read_ of Phalera. _P._ 242, _l._
9, _for_ of Polareo, _read_ of Pelorus. _P._ 247, _l._ 6, _for_
Minturnus, _read_ Minturnæ. _P._ 250, _l._ 12, _for_ a hook, _read_ to
hook. _P._ 251, _l._ 24, _for_ Pandarea, _read_ Pandarus. _P._ 253, _l._
12, _for_ the act of eating, _read_ the art of eating. _P._ 378, _l._ 3,
_for_ Cnide, _read_ Cnidus. _P._ 270, _l._ 12, _for_ Acarnidea,
Alopecomesia, _read_ Acarne, Alopeconnesus. _P._ 291, _l._ 26, _for_
eleven hundred, _read_ eleven. _P._ 293, _l._ 25, _for_ he prayed it
might be, _read_ he prayed that the Tiber might be. _P._ 309, _l._ 27,
_for_ Simon introduced Pauli, _read_ Simon Pauli introduced. _P._ 317,
_l._ 25, _for_ we have spoken, _read_ we will soon speak. _P._ 323, _l._
1, _for_ Helbon, _read_ Hebron. _P._ 325, _l._ 39, _for_ Plate III.,
_read_ Plate I. _P._ 366, _l._ 30, _for_ minutalim, _read_ minutatim.
_P._ 378, _l._ 15 and 36, _for_ Procillatores, _read_ Procillator.

     DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XXVI. A, PAGE 365.

     No. 1. Terra-Cotta Drinking-Vase, in the shape of a Bird.

     No. 2. Drinking-Vase in the shape of a Tea-pot.

     No. 3. Drinking-Cup, with Jupiter’s Head.

                  *       *       *       *       *

                  *       *       *       *       *

                          WORKS BY A. SOYER.

 _Lately Published, the Eighth Edition, Handsomely Bound, Price 15s._,

                                  THE

                       Gastronomic Regenerator:

                                   A

                      SIMPLIFIED AND ENTIRELY NEW

                          SYSTEM OF COOKERY,

                              WITH NEARLY

                    TWO THOUSAND PRACTICAL RECIPES,

                 SUITED TO THE INCOME OF ALL CLASSES.

                           ILLUSTRATED WITH

                         NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS,

   AND CORRECT AND MINUTE PLANS HOW KITCHENS OF EVERY SIZE, FROM THE
       KITCHEN OF A ROYAL PALACE TO THAT OF THE HUMBLE COTTAGE,
                 ARE TO BE CONSTRUCTED AND FURNISHED.


                             BY A. SOYER.


                                LONDON:
           SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., STATIONERS’ HALL COURT:
                              AND SOLD BY
                       JOHN OLLIVIER, PALL-MALL.
                                 1853.

            _For Criticisms see the Public Press in 1846._

                   *       *       *       *       *

                      The Gastronomic Regenerator

     TRANSLATION FROM THE FRENCH OF A CULINARY DIALOGUE BETWEEN LORD M.
     H. AND A. SOYER.--_From the “Gastronomic Regenerator,” p. 611._

S.--You are perfectly right, my Lord, the title of “Gourmet” belongs
only to him who eats with art, science, and care, and even with great
care.

LORD M.--The “Gourmand” is never entitled to the name of “Gourmet;” the
one eats without tasting, whilst the other tastes in eating.

S.--The proud and haughty man, my Lord, orders his dinner from
necessity; the man of the world--the profound epicure--orders his with
delight.

LORD R.--It is quite certain that too much attention cannot be given to
the proper execution of, and the intelligence displayed in, the order of
a dinner. The dinner--being of each day, each season, each century--is
not only an hereditary fashion, but also the soul of sociability; read
history, and you will perceive that, in all times, amongst all people,
the good which has been done--and sometimes the evil--was always
preceded or followed by a banquet.

S.--Nothing is more true, my Lord. Of all the pleasures which are
bestowed upon us in this world, that of the table is the only one which,
when the reins of the car of life become slack, parts from us with
regret, and often, as a faithful friend, leaves us but at the brink of
the tomb; whilst all other pleasures disappear gradually, like the
fading of a beautiful autumn, and cover our heads with the hoary locks
of winter.

LORD M.--It is positive that the gift of degustation belongs to all ages
of life,--a centenarian whom I knew well retained this pleasure until
his last hour.

S.--Our degustative senses require continual study, and unceasingly
claim a constant change.

LORD M.--The greatest wit lacks eloquence, if he neglect too much the
nature of his repast.

S.--Which proves, my Lord, that our most agreeable sensations depend,
not solely on nature, but on the care we take of ourselves.

LORD M.--Yes, the more sensitive the soul, the greater the power of
degustation. The degustative sensations operate with as great activity
on the palate as the charm of melody acts on the ear; for example, man
in a state of madness feels the want of eating, but the enchanting
pleasure of degustation is as much denied to him as that of reason.

S.--Your argument on this point is extremely just, my Lord; and are you
not of my opinion, that nothing disposes the human heart to amicable
feelings more than a dinner well conceived and artistically prepared?

LORD M.--It is that which has always made me say that a good cook is as
useful as a good tutor.

S.--I have always perceived, my Lord, that the finest palate is the most
difficult to please, but also the most just in praise.

LORD M.--The choice of wines is of great importance in the progress of a
dinner: a fine wine, light and generous, protects the cook and becomes
the benefactor of the guest.

S.--Permit me also to observe, my Lord, that a gastronomic _réunion_,
without the _beau sexe_ is to me a flower-bed without flowers, an ocean
without waves, a fleet without sails.

LORD M.--Certainly, such _réunions_ are the cradles of good manners and
sociability, even as intemperance is the tomb of morality.

                 *       *       *       *       *

        Just Published, the Thirtieth Thousand, Price 7s. 6d.,

                                  THE

                    Modern Housewife, or Menagere,

                              COMPRISING

Nearly One Thousand Recipes for the Economic and Judicious Preparation
                       of Every Meal of the Day,

                             AND THOSE FOR

                      THE NURSERY AND SICK-ROOM,

   WITH MINUTE DIRECTIONS FOR FAMILY MANAGEMENT IN ALL ITS BRANCHES.

                             BY A. SOYER,
               AUTHOR OF “THE GASTRONOMIC REGENERATOR,”

                 Illustrated with Numerous Engravings.

            _For Criticisms, see the Public Press in 1849._

                                LONDON:
          SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO., STATIONERS’ HALL COURT,

                                 1853.

                *       *       *       *       *

   COPY OF A LETTER RECENTLY RECEIVED BY THE AUTHOR FROM DR. ERASMUS
  WILSON, AUTHOR OF “HEALTHY SKIN, A POPULAR TREATISE ON THE SKIN AND
                                HAIR.”

17, HENRIETTA STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE,
_July 18th, 1853_.

     SIR,

     May I beg your acceptance of the accompanying small volume, for the
     part illustration of which I am indebted to your admirable
     “Housewife.” Your nursery dinner is one of the most valuable pages
     I have ever read on the subject of Diet; and it is calculated to
     confer an everlasting benefit on society.

I am, Sir,

Your faithful servant,

ERASMUS WILSON.


     A. SOYER, ESQ.


       *       *       *       *       *

Extract from “Healthy Skin, a Popular Treatise on the Skin and Hair.”

By Erasmus Wilson, F.R.S.

There is another branch of dietetics that calls for an observation from
me, I mean the diet of children. Children are growing animals; nutrition
in them is active, and calls for good and plentiful material in the
shape of nourishment. As far as period is concerned, the same law that
applies to adults is equally suited to them, three meals a day, an
interval of four hours between each. I speak of children out of arms,
not of infants. The substance of their meals cannot be too nutritive, or
too much varied.

That the diet of children cannot be too varied or extensive is a
doctrine I have long held; and I was recently much charmed in finding
the subject treated with such admirable sense and judgment by a high
authority in the science of living--Soyer. His letter entitled “The
Nursery Dinner,” in the “Modern Housewife,” I cannot too strongly
commend to the perusal and attention of my readers, and to the study of
those on whom the proper rearing of children in any way rests. Speaking
of the diet of children for the day, this author writes:--“Bread and
milk for breakfast at eight; the dinner at one, which was composed as
follows throughout the week,--roast mutton and apple pudding, roast beef
and currant pudding, baked apples; boiled mutton with turnips, after
which rice or vermicelli pudding; occasionally a little salt beef, with
suet dumplings, plain and with currants in them, or pease pudding; or if
unwell, a little veal or chicken broth, or beef-tea.”

This scheme of diet is intended for the children of persons in very
moderate circumstances; but for those who can afford it he prescribes,
as the dinner of one day, roast mutton: “then the next day I would give
them a small piece of mutton plain boiled, with turnips, and apple tart,
or a few slices of roast beef, or a small piece roasted on purpose,
after which a very plain currant pudding; or, occasionally, a little
pickled pork, with pease pudding, or roast pork, with baked apples, and
now and then a little salt beef, but very well boiled, with suet
dumplings, and occasionally, for change, either bread, vermicelli, or
tapioca puddings; in case of illness, and with the approbation of the
doctor, veal, mutton, or chicken-broth, sago, gruel, panada, &c. Many
people may perhaps imagine that there is too much variety of food for
children, but it is quite the contrary, for change of food is to the
stomach what change of air is to the general health; and of course, with
children, these changes must be effected with judgment.”

Soyer is perfectly right with regard to the question of variety of food
for children; and the intention is so rational, that it is difficult to
conceive how a difference of opinion can exist with regard to its truth;
and yet I have heard parents make a boast that their children were fed
exclusively upon mutton, as though it were their intention to render the
stomach incapable of supporting and digesting any other kind of
food,--in which they generally succeed.

Sameness of food, improper food, defective ventilation, and insufficient
exercise, are the causes of most of the diseases of children; and
especially of cutaneous complaints. This is the secret of the ring-worms
and scald-heads of public seminaries. In some of these institutions, as
I have heard, there is a ceremony in which the children take a public
meal in the presence of the governors and their friends. On these
occasions, the platters eclipse in whiteness the envious snow; a
suppressed burst of delight is heard from the spectators; the morsel of
cheese, cut with mathematical precision, would not vary a grain in the
thousand platters; the bread--what ingenuity!--each with his neighbour a
very twin. And how many days in the year do the children enjoy this
fattening collation?--365. For three hundred and sixty-five days, for a
thousand children, is this “_toujours perdrix_” feast the very same; and
yet there are people in the world who wonder that diseases should break
out, that skin affections should be rife, that consumptions should
prevail. Engraft a bud of Soyer on such an institution, and health and
happiness, learning, ability, and talent will take the place of disease,
melancholy, stupidity, and common-place intellect. What, now, in this
intelligent country, if there were a college of cookery, with Soyer for
its head?

                   *       *       *       *       *

                          _Now in progress_,

                 Soyer’s Plain Cookery for the People,

                     CONTAINING NUMEROUS RECIPES,

 Adapted for the Cottage of the Labourer, the Home of the Artisan, and
                      the Chamber of the Invalid.

                   *       *       *       *       *

                          NOTE BY THE AUTHOR.


In the year 1846 I published a work on Cookery, entitled “The
Gastronomic Regenerator,” which was very successful. At page 650 I
observed that if any author were to write a work on the History of Food
and Cookery, it would not only be very interesting, but also an
extremely useful production. No one, however, having entertained my
suggestion, I determined to undertake the task, and, after several years
of deep study and perseverance, have completed this voluminous work.

In the “Modern Housewife,” which I published in 1849, treating of sauces
prepared by the ancients, I said, that “In all ages and countries
removed from barbarism, where fish has formed an article of diet, sauces
of various kinds have been an accompaniment. With the Romans, in the
time of Lucullus, great care was observed in their preparation; the most
celebrated of those which they used were the _Garum_ and the _Muria_.

“The Garum was a sauce which the Romans used in nearly all their dishes;
the preference was given to that which came from Antipolis and from
Dalmatia. Horace praises that made at Byzantium, being the most esteemed
and the most expensive: its composition is unknown.”[I] The epicures of
the present day should offer a premium for that which, in their opinion,
may bear the greatest resemblance to this ancient relish. It is a
subject well worthy the attention of the professors of our universities;
perhaps some leaf yet undiscovered, that may have escaped the
conflagration of Alexandria, might throw some light upon so interesting
a subject.

A. SOYER.

_42 Trinity Square, Tower Hill._

Vizetelly and Company, Printers and Engravers, 155 Fleet Street, London.









