Chapter XXV: Preface (4)

Great was thy evening cluster!--often grac'd
With Dollond--Burgess--and Sir Humphry Davy!
'Twas there M'Dermot first inclin'd to taste,--
There Colburn learn'd the art of making paste
For puffs--and Accum analysed a gravy.
Colman, the cutter of Colman Street, 'tis said
Came there, and Parkins with his Ex-wise-head,
(His claim to letters)--Kater, too, the Moon's
Crony,--and Graham, lofty on balloons,
There Croly stalk'd with holy humour heated,
(Who wrote a light-horse play, which Yates completed),
And Lady Morgan, that grinding organ,
And Brasbridge telling anecdotes of spoons,
Madame Valbrèque thrice honour'd thee, and came
With great Rossini, his own bow and fiddle,--
And even Irving spar'd a night from fame,
And talk'd--till thou didst stop him in the middle,
To serve round _Tewah-diddle_![219]

VIII.

Then all the guests rose up, and sighed good-bye!
So let them:--thou thyself art still a _Host_!
Dibdin--Cornaro--Newton--Mrs. Fry!
Mrs. Glasse--Mr. Spec!--Lovelass--and Weber,
Mathews in Quotem--Moore's fire-worshipping Gheber--
Thrice-worthy worthy! seem by thee engross'd!
Howbeit the peptic cook still rules the roast,
Potent to hush all ventriloquial snarling,--
And ease the bosom pangs of indigestion!
Thou art, sans question,
The Corporation's love--its Doctor _Darling_!
Look at the civic palate--nay, the bed
Which set dear Mrs. Opie on supplying
"Illustrations of _Lying!"_
Ninety square feet of down from heel to head
It measured, and I dread
Was haunted by a terrible night _Mare_,
A monstrous burthen on the corporation!--
Look at the bill of fare, for one day's share,
Sea-turtles by the score--oxen by droves,
Geese, turkeys, by the flock--fishes and loaves
Countless, as when the Lilliputian nation
Was making up the huge man-mountain's ration!

IX.

Oh! worthy Doctor! surely thou hast driven
The squatting demon from great Garratt's breast--
(His honour seems to rest!--)
And what is thy reward?--Hath London given
Thee public thanks for thy important service?
Alas! not even
The tokens it bestow'd on Howe and Jervis!--
Yet could I speak as orators should speak
Before the worshipful the Common Council
(Utter my bold bad grammar and pronounce ill),
Thou shouldst not miss thy freedom, for a week,
Richly engross'd on vellum:--Reason urges
That he who rules our cookery--that he
Who edits soups and gravies, ought to be
A _Citizen_, where sauce can make a _Burgess_!

THE END.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 218: Captain Kater, the Moon's Surveyor.]

[Footnote 219: The Doctor's composition for a _nightcap_.]

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| |
| Transcriber Notes: |
| |
| P.5: 'INTRODUTION' changed to 'INTRODUCTION'. |
| P.83. 'beesech' changed to 'beseech'. |
| P.103. 'quetions' changed to 'questions'. |
| P.111. 'Futnre' changed to 'future'. |
| P.145. 'acqaintance' changed to 'acquaintance'. |
| P.187. 'Queeen' changed to 'Queen'. |
| P.188. '-cophronio' changed to '-cophornio |
| P.281. 'surpise' changed to 'surprise'. |
| Fixed various punctuation. |
| The equals sign is used to surround =bold text=; |
| underscores to surround _italic text_. |
| |
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