Chapter XXXI: Appendix (1)

LUXURIES OF THE TABLE IN FRANCE AND IN ENGLAND,
IN MEDIÆVAL AND MODERN TIMES.

According to Brantome, the first nobleman in France who introduced at court a more luxurious table was the Marshal St. André. The historian thus speaks of him:--“Et certes estoit par trop excessif en friandises et délicatesse de viandes, tant de chair que de poisson et autres friands mangers, tellement que quelqu’un qui n’eust ouy que de sa vie délicieuse n’eust jamais pu n’y en juger n’y croire qu’il fust esté si Grand Capitaine.” Among the kings of France, the first who distinguished himself by this sumptuosity of fare was Francis I., and he carried his table extravagance to a foolish and absurd extent; for besides the unequalled luxury of the royal table, there were, according to Brantôme, the tables of the grand master, of the great chamberlain, of the chamberlain, of the gentlemen of the chamber, of the gentlemen servants, and ever so many others. The graphic memoir writer, the Seigneur de Bourdeille adds:--“Et toutes si bien servies que rien n’y manquoit. Et ce qui estoit plus remarquable c’est que dans un village, dans les forêts, dans les assemblées, l’on y estoit traité comme si l’on eust esté dans Paris.”

Henri II. and Francis II. kept as good a table as their father and grandfather; but things changed under Charles IX. and Henry III., of whom Brantôme says, “C’était par boutades que l’on y faisoit bonne chere, car le plus souvent la marmité se renversoit; chose que hait beaucoup le courtesan qui aimeà avoir bouche à cour et à l’armée parceque alors il ne lui conte rien.”

Henry IV., for a long time, was as “heinously unprovided” (to use a Shakespearian phrase) as his royal predecessor. His finances were so straitened, say the “Memoirs of the Duke of Angouleme,” “que souvent sa table manquoit, et qu’il se trouvoit contraint d’aller manger chez quelqu’un de ses sérviteurs.” Louis XIII. established, in a great degree, the luxury of Francis I.; and Louis XIV., to use the words of Le Grand, effaced even the remembrance of the repasts of the most luxurious of former kings, by his elaborate feasts. It was under his reign that “collations grasses” were eaten after dinner. Madame de Sévigné writes, in 1680, “La Princesse de Tarente m’a faite une collation en viande; je la lui ai rendue. C’est une sotte mode; je pense que cela ne durera pas.” Bélon, who published his “Traité des Oiseaux,” in 1555, describes how magnificently the dinner tables were served in that day. “Pour entrées,” he says, “nous avons mille petits deguisemens de chair comme potages, fricassées, hachis, salades. Le second service est de rôti, de bouilli, de diverses viandes, tout de boucherie que de gibier. Pour issue de table choses froides comme fruictages, laictages, et doulceurs, rissoles, petits choux tout chauds, petits gateaux caveux, ratons de fromage, pommes de capendu, salade de citron ou de grenades.”

Gontier, who wrote in the seventeenth century, complains of the luxury of the dinners in 1668, at which period, he says, there were no less than eight courses. The “Mercure Galant” gives a description of the royal banquet that was given at Versailles, for the marriage of Mademoiselle de Blois, natural daughter of Louis XIV., with the Prince of Conti. At this feast there were three courses of 160 dishes at each course. The first course was half soups and half _entrées_; the second, half in _entremets_ and half in roasts; the third, dessert. The roasts were all small, and the ortolans alone cost 16,000 francs.

Later in the reign of Louis XIV., the mode of serving dinners in France a good deal resembled the system followed in the present day. In the entertainment given by Louvois to the Queen at Meudon, covers were laid for nineteen, and there were four courses.

The first course consisted of forty _entrées_, the second of forty roasts and salads, the third of hot and cold _entremets_, and the last course of dessert. In the kitchen of Louis XV. there were about thirty cooks employed, and four _pâtissiers-bouche_.

I now proceed to give a few bills of fare, from the days of Louis XIV. to the present time.

The first is the _menu_ of a dinner given 212 years ago by Matthew Molé, keeper of the seals in France to Mons. Le Prince Louis de Bourbon-Condé, on the 9th August, 1652:--

MENEU DU DISNER QUI FUST DONNÉ PAR MESSIRE MATHIEU MOLÉ,
GARDE DES SCEAUX DE FRANCE, À MONSIEUR LE PRINCE (LOUIS DE
BOURBON-CONDÉ), LE SAMEDI, 9 ΑOUT, 1652.

_XIV. potages maigres_,

dont
1 aux écrevisses du Rhyn et
vin d’Espaigne,
et l’aultre
aux huistres d’Angoulesme et
œufs de perdrix rouges,
lesquels servis aux deux costés
de son Altesse.

_XIV. plats de poissons._

1 un saulmon de vingt escus.
1 brochet de 19 liures.
1 carpe aux œufs, de Champlastreux.
1 truite de Suysse, 24 liures.
1 turbot du Hasvre de Grasce.
1 matelotte de lamperoyes d’Angers.
1 hochepot de gibiers de riuiesre.
1 gibelotte de poissons meslés.
1 anguille à la broche, 9 liures 16 sols.
1 pasté de barbottes du Rhosne.
1 fricassée de lottes aux asperges.
1 de morue fraische aux groseilles uerdes.
1 d’aloses de Rouen grillées.
1 d’esperlants farinnés au cédrat.

_XIV. plats de rost._

6 de poissons cuits au bleu.
4 de poissons à la poisle.
4 de gibiers de riuiesre, à la broche.

_XIV. sallades._

3 de légumes cuits.
3 d’herbes uerdes.
6 d’œufs accommodés diuersement.
2 de citrons musqués, 10 escus.

_XIV. assiettes gauffrées._

7 de pastisseries à fonds de cresme.
7 de pastisseries à fonds de fruict.

_XVIII. jattes de fruicts et aultres_,
desquels
6 agnanats touts entiers
et 12 pacquets de fleurs de joncquilles à confire.

Dont cxii. escus pour le coust d’yceulx fruicts et fleurs, et pour le tout de la despense généralle, mil neuf cens soixante et cinq liures, et unze sols,

Que certifie iuste et uallable:
MAUGIS.
Apprevvay cette partie de Mavgis.
Bon povr 1965 livres 11 sols, que playra payer
à lvy maistre Lordier de Lestanville.
MOLÉ.

The second is the _menu_ of a supper of the Regent Orleans, moitié gras, moitié maigre:--

MENU D’UNE TABLE DE DOUZE COUVERTS, POUR UN SOUPER
DU RÉGENT, SERVI MOITIÉ GRAS, MOITIÉ MAIGRE.

Pour le milieu une grosse pièce,
Deux potages pour les bouts de table:
Dix entrées, savoir, quatre jattes et six plats à festons, &c.

PREMIER SERVICE.

1 pièce de bœuf salé, garnie de carottes et de patates.

_Deux potages, savoir:_

1 maigre, coulis de brochet (un brochet).
1 de navets (un canard dessus).

_Dix entrées, savoir: quatre dans quatre jattes, et six dans
six plats à festons._

_Les quatre jattes, savoir:_

1 de filets de mouton glacés et piqués, et des cornichons
par-dessus.
1 de poulets piqués de persil, avec une sauce à l’espagnole dessous
(2 poulets).
1 de brochets à la polonaise (un brochet).
1 de perches à la génevoise (6 perches, une bouteille de vin blanc).

_Les six plats à festons, savoir:_

1 de saurcroûte au maigre (un brochet).
1 quarteron d’huîtres, cuites avec une pinte de crême.
1 d’une noix de veau à la napolitaine.
1 de perdreaux en levraut (3 perdreaux).
1 d’anguilles à la bavaroise (2 belles anguilles).
1 demi-cent de belles écrevisses.

_Deux plats de poissons pour relever les potages, savoir:_

1 d’une carpe à l’anglaise.
1 de Water Fisch (2 douzaines de petites perches, quatre petits
brochetons).

SECOND SERVICE.

1 reins de sanglier marinés.

_Deux plats de pâtisserie, savoir:_

1 d’un gâteau fourré de marmelade d’abricots.
1 d’une tourte à la glace (6 pêches à l’eau-de-vie, une pinte de
crême).

_Quatre plats de rôt, savoir:_

1 d’éperlans frits, trempés dans des œufs et panés.
1 de 2 poulardes.
1 de soles frites (2 belles soles).
1 de 2 canards sauvages.

_Quatre salades différentes avec quatre différentes sauces._

_Quatre petits entremets chauds, savoir:_

1 de ris de veau piqués et glacés (6 ris de veau).
1 de pieds de cochon à la Sainte-Ménéhould.
1 de petits pois secs à la crême, d’œufs pochés dessus.
1 de pommes de reinette à la chinoise (6 oranges confites).

The following is the _menu_ of a supper of Louis XV. at La Muette, on 18th February, 1749:--

SOUPER DU ROI LOUIS XV. À LA MUETTE, LE
SAMEDI, 18 FÉVRIER, 1749.

_Deux grandes entrées._

Un râble de mouton de montagne.
Un quartier de veau, une blanquette dans le cuisseau.

_Deux oilles._

1 au riz.
1 à la jambe de bois.

_Deux potages._

1 à la faubonne.
1 aux choux verts.

_Seize entrées._

1 de côtelettes mêlées.
1 de petits pâtés à la Béchameil.
1 de langues de moutons à la duchesse.
1 de petits pigeons aux truffes entières.
1 de haricot de mouton aux navets.
1 de boudins d’écrevisses.
1 de filets de poularde à la d’Armagnac.
1 de matelote à la Dauphine.
1 de noix de veau aux épinards.
1 de membres de faisan à la Conty.
1 de filets de perdreau à la Périgueux.
1 de petits poulets à l’Urlubie.
1 de ris de veau à la Sainte-Ménéhould.
1 sarcelles à l’orange.
1 lapereaux en crépines.
1 poules de Caux en escalopes.

_Quatre relevés._

1 dindonneau à la peau de goret, sauce Robert.
1 pâté de bécassines.
1 quartier de sanglier.
1 noix de bœuf aux choux-fleurs.

_Deux grands entremets._

1 pâté de jambon.
1 gâteau de Savoie.

_Quatre moyens._

2 de buissons d’écrevisses.
2 gâteaux au fromage.

_Huit plats de rôts non mention-nés.--Seize entremets._

1 de cardes au jus.
1 de crêtes au bouillon.
1 d’amourettes.
1 de foies gras grillés.
1 de ragoûts mêlés à la crême.
1 de crême au chocolat.
1 d’abaisse de massepain.
1 d’œufs à l’infante.
1 d’huîtres au gratin.
1 de pattes de dindon à l’espagnole.
1 d’asperges.
1 de truffles à la cendre.
1 de crême glacée.
1 de canelons meringués.
1 de choux-fleurs.

Here is a _Carte Dinatoire_ for twelve persons, for the table of the Citoyen Directeur et Général Barras, le Décadi, trente floréal:--

CARTE DINATOIRE POUR LA TABLE DU CITOYEN DIRECTEUR ET
GÉNÉRAL BARRAS, LE DÉCADI, 30 FLORÉAL. DOUZE PERSONNES.

(Autographes de M. Théodore Vivien.)

1 potage.
1 relevé.
6 entrées.
2 plats de rôt.
6 entremets.
1 salade.
24 plats de dessert.

* * * * *

Le potage aux petits ognons à la ci-devant minime.

Le relevé; un tronçon d’esturgeon à la broche.

_Les six entrées._

1 d’un sauté de filets de turbot à l’homme de confiance ci-devant
maître-d’hôtel.
1 d’anguilles à la tartare.
1 concombres farcis à la moelle.
1 vol-au-vent de blanc de volaille à la Béchameil.
1 d’un ci-devant Saint-Pierre, sauce aux câpres.
1 de filets de perdrix en anneaux.

_Les deux plats de rôt._

1 de goujons du département.
1 d’une carpe au court-bouillon.

_Les six entremets._

1 d’œufs à la neige.
1 de betteraves blanches, sautées au jambon.
1 d’une gelée au vin de Madère.
1 de beignets de crême à la fleur d’orange.
1 de lentilles à la ci-devant Reine, à la crème au blond de veau.
1 de culs d’artichauts à la ravigote.
1 salade; céleri en rémoulade.

Trop de poisson. Otez les goujons. Le reste est bien. Qu’on n’oublie pas encore de mettre des coussins sur les siéges pour les citoyennes Tallien, Talma, Beauharnais, Hinguerlot et Mirande.

Et pour cinq heures très-précises.

Signé BARRAS.

Faites venir des glaces de Veloni. Je n’en veux pas d’autres.

Here is a _menu_ of a dinner served to the Emperor Napoleon and his family, on the Samedi Saint, 1811:--

MENU D’UN DÎNER DE LA FAMILLE BONAPARTE, AUX TUILERIES.

_Deux potages._

Au macaroni et purée de marrons.

_Deux relevés._

Une pièce de bœuf bouillie, garnie de légumes.
Un brochet à la Chambord.

_Quatre entrées._

Côtelettes de mouton à la Soubise.
Perdreaux à la Montglas.
Fricassée de poulet à la chevalière.
Filets de canard au fumet.

_Deux rôtis._

Un chapon au cresson.
Un gigot d’agneau.

_Deux plats de légumes._

Des choux-fleurs au gratin.
Du céleri-navet au jus.

_Quatre entremets au sucre._

Crême au café.
Gelée d’orange.
Génoise décorée.
Gauffres à l’allemande.

Now comes the first dinner _en maigre_ which Louis XVIII. had at Compiegne. It is certainly a most _recherché_ one:--

PREMIER DINER DU ROI LOUIS XVIII., À COMPIEGNE.

(En Maigre.)

_Quatre potages._

Potage de poisson à la provençale.
Nouilles à l’essence de racines.
Potage à la d’Artois à l’essence de racines.
Filets de lottes aux écrevisses.

_Quatre relevés de poissons._

Croquettes de brochet à la Béchameil.
Vol-au-vent garni de brandade de morue aux truffes.
Filets de soles à la Dauphine.
Orly de filets de carrelets.

_Quatre grosses pièces._

Turbot au beurre d’anchois.
Grosse anguille à la Régence.
Bar à la vénitienne.
Saumon, sauce aux huîtres.

_Trente-deux entrées._

Escalopes de truites aux fines herbes.
Sauté de filets de plongeons au suprême.
Vol-au-vent de poissons à la Nesle.
Petites caisses de foies de lottes.

_Les croquettes de brochets._

Raie bouclée à la hollandaise.
Bayonnaise de filets de soles.
Quenelles de poisson à l’italienne.
Grondins grillés, sauce au beurre.

_La grosse anguille à la Régence._

Blanquette de turbot à la Béchameil.
Pain de carpes au beurre d’écrevisses.
Salade de filets de brochet aux laitues.
Filets d’alose à l’oseille.

_La marinade de bonne morue._

Plies à la poulette.
Pâté chaud de lamproies.
Pluviers de mer en entrée de broche.
Brême à la maître-d’hôtel.
Rougets à la hollandaise.
Filets de sarcelles à la bigarade.
Timbale de macaroni garnie de laitances.
Emincé de turbotin gratiné.

_Les filets de soles à la Dauphine._

Perches au vin de Champagne.
Darne d’esturgeon au beurre de Montpelier.
Turban de filets de merlans à la Conty.
Escalopes de morue à la provençale.

_La bar à la vénitienne._

Papillotes de surmulet à la d’Huxelles.
Boudins de poisson à la Richelieu.
Vives froides à la provençale.
Sauté de lottes aux truffes.

_La orly de filets de carrelets._

Caisse d’huîtres aux fines herbes.
Escalopes de barbue en croustade.
Filets de poules d’eau à la bourguignonne.
Eperlans à l’anglaise.

_Quatre grosses pièces d’entremets._

L’hermitage indien.
Le pavillon rustique.
Le pavillon hollandais.
L’hermitage russe.

_Quatre plats de rôts pour les contre-flancs._

Aiguillettes de goujons.
Poules de mer.
Sarcelles au citron.
Petites truites au bleu.

_Trente-deux entremets._

Céleri à l’essence maigre.
Gelée de punch.
Œufs brouillés aux truffes.
Petits nougats de pommes.

_Les aiguillettes de goujons._

Gâteau renversé au gros sucre.
Truffes à l’italienne.
Pudding au vin de Malvoisie.
Choux-fleurs au parmesan.

_L’hermitage Indien._

Laitues au jus de racines.
Blanc-manger à la crême.
Buisson de homards.
Gâteaux glacés à la Condé.

_Les poules de mer._

Petits soufflés de fécule.
Œufs pochés à la ravigote.
Gelée de citrons moulée.
Champignons à l’espagnole.
Concombres au velouté.
Gelée de café Moka.
Œufs pochés aux épinards.
Génoises en croissant perlées.

_Les sarcelles au citron._

Gâteaux glacés aux pistaches.
Crevettes en hérisson.
Fromage bavarois aux abricots.
Les pommes de terre à la hollandaise.

_L’hermitage Russe._

Cardes au jus d’esturgeon.
Pommes au riz glacées.
Truffes à la serviette.
Petits gâteaux de Pithiviers.

_Les petites truites au bleu._

Panachées en diadème au gros sucre.
Petites omelettes à la purée de champignons.
Gelée des quatre fruits.
Salsifis à la ravigote.

_Pour extra, dix assiettes de petits soufflés en croustades._

Soufflés aux macarons amers.
Soufflés à l’orange.

_Dessert._

8 Corbeilles et 10 corbillons.
12 Assiettes montées.
10 Compotiers.
24 Assiettes et 6 jattes.

There is now the bill of fare of the dinner given by the Emperor Alexander, on his birthday, at Vertus, near Chalôns, on the 11th September, 1815. Covers were laid for 300, and the dinner began with 600 plates of oysters, for which 300 lemons were provided:--

DINER DE L’EMPEREUR ALEXANDRE, À VERTUS, PRÈS
CHALONS-SUR-MARNE, LE 11 SEPTEMBRE, 1815, JOUR ANNIVERSAIRE DE
LA NAISSANCE DE SA MAJESTÉ.

(Table de 300 couverts, servie à la russe.)

600 assiettes d’huîtres, 300 citrons.

PREMIER SERVICE.

Les huîtres, les citrons.

_Trois potages._

Potage à la jardinière pour 150 personnes.
Soupe froide à la russe pour 150 personnes.
Crécy aux petits croûtons pour 150 personnes.

_Vingt-huit hors-d’œuvres._

De petits vol-au-vent à la purée de gibier.

_Vingt-huit entrées froides._

De galantines de poulardes à la gelée.

_Vingt-huit grosses pièces._

De filets de bœuf au vin de Madère, demi-espagnole.

_Cent douze entrées._

50 de filets de soles à la Orly, garnis d’une escalope de saumon.
12 de cailles aux fines herbes dans des bordures de racines.
25 de sautés de poulets au suprême, ragoût à la Toulouse.
25 de timbales de macaronis au chasseur.

_Vingt-huit plats de rôts._

10 de poulets gras, 10 de dindonneaux, 8 longes de veau.
60 salades pour 300 personnes.

_Cinquante entremets de légumes._

25 d’épinards au velouté.
25 de haricots verts à l’anglaise.

_Cinquante-six entremets au sucre._

De crèmes françaises à la vanille et de génoises aux amandes pralinées.
Huit souillés d’extra pour être placés à portée de S. M. Impériale.
60 assiettes de pâtisseries de petit four.
60 assiettes de fruits crus.
60 assiettes de fruits confits.
60 assiettes de fruits à l’eau-de-vie.
20 assiettes de fromages de France, &c.

Underneath is the bill of fare of the first diplomatic dinner given by the Duke of Wellington, when ambassador in Paris, in 1815. It will be seen that the fare was simple, and most of the dishes dressed in the English fashion:--

PREMIER DÎNER DIPLOMATIQUE DE L’AMBASSADEUR D’ANGLETERRE À
PARIS. MENU D’UN SERVICE À L’ANGLAISE POUR 20 COUVERTS.

PREMIER SERVICE.

_Potage._

1 potage de tête de veau en fausse tartine.

_Deux bouts de table._

1 d’un dindon bouilli, sauce au céleri.
1 rosbif aux pommes de terre.

_Six entrées._

1 d’une tranche de saumon bouillie, sauce aux câpres. Purée de navets.
1 de deux lapereaux, sauce aux ognons. Choux-fleurs sans sauce.
1 de quatre escalopes de veau.
1 de maquereaux bouillis, sauce au fenouil. Epinards bouillis à
l’anglaise.
1 deux poulets, sauce au
persil. Purée de pommes de terre.
1 de perdreaux étuvés. Bread sauce.

SECOND SERVICE.

_Milieu._

1 quartier de chevreuil à la broche, sauce à la gelée de groseilles.
1 d’une poularde rôtie.
1 d’un levraut farci.

_Deux salades._

1 d’herbes vertes.
1 de citrons entiers.

_Six entremets._

1 d’une gelée de vin de Madère.
1 d’un plum-pudding.
1 d’une tourte aux confitures.
1 de welches rabbits.
1 d’un pudding de riz.
1 d’une gelée de citrons.

_Treize assiettes de dessert._

2 compotes.
4 assiettes de fruits crus.
2 de biscuits.
2 de mendiants.
2 de fromages.
1 assiette montée.

I conclude French bills of fare with a _menu_ of a royal banquet given at the Tuileries, on Twelfth-day, 1820, at which Louis XVIII., Monsieur (afterwards Charles X.), and the Duchess of Angouleme, the Duke and Duchess of Berri, the Duke and Duchess of Orleans, the Duke and Duchess of Bourbon were present:--

MENU DU GRAND-COUVERT, OU BANQUET ROYAL AUX TUILERIES,
POUR LE JOUR DES ROIS, 6 JANVIER, 1820.

_Deux potages._

Printanier de santé.
Bisque d’écrevisses.

_Quatre grosses pièces._

Faon de daim à la broche.
Turbot, sauce aux huîtres et aux moules.
Carpe à la Régence.
Casserole au riz à la Saint-Hubert.

_Seize entrées._

Filets glacés aux laitues.
Sauté de filets de perdreaux aux truffes.
Grenadins de filets de lapereaux à la Toulouse.
Côtelettes de chevreuil à la Soubise.
Filets de lottes à la Villeroy, sauce vénitienne.
Quenelles de volailles au consommé réduit.
Attelets à la Bellevue à la gelée.
Escalopes de levrauts au sang.
Poularde à l’estragon.
Cremeskis au velouté.
Blanquette (le filets de poulardes à la Conty.
Perches à la waterfisch.
Poulets à la Reine à la Chevry.
Petits pâtés à la Béchameil.
Filets d’agneaux aux pointes d’asperges.
Purée de gibier à la polonaise.

_Quatre grosses pièces._

Buisson d’écrevisses.
Sultane à la Chantilly.
Soufflé au fromage.
Jambon de sanglier glace.

_Quatre plats de rôts._

Faisans de Bohême.
Perdreaux rouges.
Eperlans frits.
Bécasses du Morvan.

_Seize entremets._

Asperges en branches.
Choux-fleurs au parmesan.
Champignons à la provençale.
Truffes au vin de Champagne.
Laitues à l’essence.
Epinards au consommé.
Salade à la piémontaise.
Concombres au consommé.
Gelée d’oranges.
Crème à l’anglaise.
Pannequets aux citrons confits.
Œufs pochés au jus.
Gâteaux soufflés.
Macaroni à l’italienne.
Pommes au beurre de Vanvres.
Gaufres à la flamande.

_Deux plombières, extra. Dessert._

8 corbeilles, 4 corbillons, et le reste en proportion de cette donnée.

At the period when luxurious tables became prevalent in France, good cheer also prevailed in London. In the time of Queen Mary, according to Maitland, luxury prevailed to such an excessive degree in the sumptuousness and extravagance of the city magistrates, that many of the principal citizens chose rather to retire into the country than to serve expensive offices. It was enacted by the Common Council, to prevent such extravagances, that the mayor should have no more than one course either at dinner or supper; and that on a festival day, a flesh day, a repast was to consist of no more than seven dishes, whether hot or cold; and on every festival day being a fish day, of eight dishes; and on every common flesh day, six dishes; and on every common fish day, seven dishes, exclusive of brawn, collops with eggs, salads, potage, butter, eggs, herrings, sprats, and shrimps, together with all sorts of shell-fish and fruits.

Regulations were also issued for the aldermen, sheriffs, and City companies at their several entertainments.[37] They were to have neither swan, crane, nor bustard under the penalty of forty shillings.

During the reign of Elizabeth, the city venison feasts became offensive to the queen and her nobility. In consequence, a letter, signed by the Lord Mayor and two aldermen, was addressed to Lord Burleigh, in which these officials say, “For avoyding the excessive spending of venison and other vitail in the halles of this citie, which we understand to have been offensive to her ma^{tie} and the nobilitie, we have by act of common counsel forbidden such festes hereafter to be kept, and have restrained the same only to necessary metinges in w^h also venison is permitted as by copie of this act herewith sent into y^r L. may appere.” These worshipful personages go on to assure Lord Burleigh that, unless similar proceedings be adopted in St. Martin’s and Westminster, the restraints imposed on the City of London would be of little use.

The golden age of cookery in modern times in England, however, was the reign of Queen Anne. The Queen herself was fond of good eating, and elaborate feasts became the custom among the nobility, gentry, and wealthy traders. In this reign it was that Dr. King published his “Art of Cookery,” in imitation of Horace’s “Art of Poetry,” making an attempt to introduce French dishes. In an oft-quoted passage of his poem he says:--

“The French our relish help, and will supply
The want of things too gross by decency.
Our fathers most admired their sauces sweet,
And often asked for sugar with their meat;
They butter’d currants on fat veal bestow’d,
And rumps of beef with virgin honey strew’d.”

Sir John Hill, M.D., followed Dr. King, with “Mrs. Glasse’s Cookery Book,” in which are some few receipts for French dishes. The great Lord Chesterfield, however, was the first nobleman who made the most strenuous efforts to introduce French cookery. He engaged as his cook La Chapelle, a descendant of the famous cook of Louis XIV. La Chapelle published a treatise on cookery in three volumes, which is now very rarely met with. It is entitled “The Modern Cook,” by Vincent La Chapelle, chief cook to the Earl of Chesterfield, and was printed for the author in 1733, and sold by Nicholas Prevost, a Frenchman, over against Southampton Street, in the Strand.

About the period of the publication of this book, Lord Chesterfield was lord steward of the household to George II., and undoubtedly was the most renowned and fashionable host in London. His dinners and suppers were then deemed perfection; and these entertainments were one of the few items in which his expenditure was liberal. Lord Chesterfield lived till 1773, and I more than once heard the late Earl of Essex say, more than thirty years ago, at Brookes’s Club, that he remembered as a boy of fourteen or fifteen seeing the Earl seated on a rustic seat, inhaling the air outside the court-yard of his house in May Fair. Chesterfield House was ninety-one years ago at the very extremity of London, and all beyond it was an expanse of green fields.

The table of twenty or twenty-five covers was one of the noble earl’s official dinners, but the supper was for a party of intimate friends:--

A TABLE OF TWENTY OR TWENTY-FIVE COVERS, SERVED WITH
TWENTY-NINE DISHES.

FIRST COURSE.

_The middle of the table._

_A surtout in the middle._

1 Piece of beef garnished with attelets.
1 quarter of veal with gravy.

_Two terrines._

1 of fillets of pikes with crayfish.
1 of a matellottée of one eel and two carps, and two large pikes.

_Two pots of olió._

1 of water.
1 of roots with oil.

_Two terrines._

1 of fillets of soles.
1 of fillets of eels.
At each of the tables 2 dishes of _petits pâtées_.

_Four soops._

1 of bisque of cray-fish.
1 of muscles.
1 of pottage _de Santé_.
1 soop, (_à la St. Cloud_.)

_Eight entries, four with meat, and four in meager._

1 of chickens, Italian sauce.
1 of young turkeys with trufles.
1 of fricandoes of veal glazed.
1 of pheasants, with a carp sauce, a carp.

_The four meager dishes._

1 of a pudding of old ling (_à la Muscovite_).
1 of carps forc’d (_à la Dauphine_), 3 carps.
1 of eels rowl’d, 1 eel.
1 of tenches (_à la Ste. Menehout_).

Eight small dishes of melons, figs, and radishes.

_Four removes for the soops._

1 of pikes (_à la Civita Vecchia_).
1 of perches, the Dutch way.
1 of trouts (_à la Genoise_).
1 of turbot broil’d, with shalot sauce, and oil.

_To remove the eight small dishes of melons, figs, and
radishes._

1 of lottes with champagne.
1 of soles, the Italian way.
1 of sturgeon roasted, sharp sauce.
1 of fillets of pikes, with an Italian sauce.

_Four of meat._

1 of quails with oil.
1 of young partridges, the Spanish way.
1 of pigeons (_à la d’Huxelles_).
1 of fillets of fowls with cray-fish.

SECOND COURSE.

_For the large entremets for the middle of the table._

1 ham pasty.
1 turkey pasty.
1 salmon.
1 turbot.
2 of cray-fish.

_For the two sides of the table._

1 Savoy cake.
1 croquante.

_Eight dishes of roast, viz., four of meat and four meager._

1 of 6 chickens (_à la Reine_).
1 of fowls.
1 of 6 young partridges.
1 of 4 wood pigeons.
4 sallets and 4 sauces.

_The four meager._

1 of soles fry’d in oil.
1 of barbots.
1 of trouts.
1 of fry’d pikes.

THIRD COURSE.

_Eight entremets, to remove the eight dishes of roast._

1 of small loaves of pistaches.
1 of _Puis d’Amour_.
2 Tourtes (_à la Glace_).
2 of Turkey caps.
1 of _Crême soufflée_.
1 of _Crême veloutée_.

_Eight hot entremets to remove the four sallets and four
sauces._

2 of trufles, the Italian way.
2 of lamb-stones.
2 of little artichokes, in surprize.
2 of quisselles.

A BILL OF FARE FOR A SUPPER OF FIFTEEN OR SIXTEEN COVERS,
SERVED UP WITH A GREAT DISH, TWO MIDDLING, FOUR SMALL, AND SIX
HORS D’ŒUVRE.

FIRST COURSE.

_For the middle._

1 quarter of veal in cawl.

_Two pots of olió, one for each end._

1 _à la jambe de bois_.
1 with rice and cray-fish cullis.

_Four entries._

1 of pullets (_à la Montmorency_).
1 of partridges, the Spanish way.
1 of young ducks with orange-juice.
1 of pigeons (_à la d’Huxelles_).

_Six small dishes._

1 of mutton-cutlets, glaz’d with endive.
1 of fricando’s of veal, glaz’d with sellery.
1 of popiettes, the Italian way.
1 of larks, the Muscovite way.
1 of fillets of soles with champain.
1 of eels, glaz’d with an Italian sauce

_To remove the two pots of olió._

1 of a turbot, glaz’d.
1 of a jowl of salmon boiled, with shrimp-sauce.

SECOND COURSE.

_Entremets._

1 of a roasted ham for the middle.

_For both ends of the table._

1 of a Savoy cake.
1 of a cake of mille feuilles.

_Four dishes of roast fowl._

1 of turkeys.
1 of fowls.
1 of partridges.
1 of young pigeons, dress’d like ortolans.

_Four sallets and 2 sauces._

THIRD COURSE.

_Ten hot small entremets to remove the sauces, sallets, and
roast-meat._

1 of cray-fish, the Italian way.
1 of sweetbreads of veal (_à la Dauphine_).
1 of artichokes, the Italian way.
1 of green pease.
1 of lamb-stones.
1 of anchovies in Canappé.
1 of cocks’ combs.
1 of ducks’ tongues.
1 of _Peaux d’Espagne_.
1 of eggs with gravy.

Sixteen or seventeen years after the death of Lord Chesterfield, a great number of French refugees of the highest family, who had emigrated in consequence of the Revolution to England, mixed much in English society, and the consequence was that French cookery became more prevalent. Several of our nobility vied with each other in entertaining the French princes, the Count de Lille, and the Count d’Artois (afterwards Louis XVIII. and Charles X.), and also the Dukes of Condé and Bourbon. Among the foremost of these were the Marquis of Buckingham and the Earl of Moira, both of whom expended vast sums in these hospitalities.

The Count de Lille and others of his family occupied, in 1807, Gossfield House, near High Garret, in Essex, a seat belonging to the Marquis of Buckingham; and in 1808 these princes were received with the most splendid marks of hospitality at the princely mansion of Stowe, where their residence was commemorated by a Latin inscription. For several months there was a dinner prepared daily for Louis XVIII., the Count d’Artois, the Duke d’Angoulême, the Duke of Berry, the Duke of Orleans, the Count de Beaujolais, the Prince of Condé, and the Duke of Bourbon. But Stowe was a scene of even greater festivity in 1805, when the Heir Apparent (afterwards George IV.), the Duke of Clarence (afterwards William IV.), with Mr. Fox, and all the members of the new coalition, were present. On this occasion 800 persons were invited. Grand entertainments were given during several successive days; illuminations took place in the evening, and the grotto in which their Royal Highnesses supped was illuminated with from 10,000 to 15,000 lamps.

At the Christmas dinner of the Duke of Buckingham, in 1808, Louis XVIII. was present, and the following was the bill of fare, as prepared by Mr. Simpson, the duke’s cook. It is undoubtedly more substantial than elegant.

BILL OF FARE.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| FIRST COURSE. | | SECOND COURSE. |
| _Rice Soup_, | | _Four Partridges._ |
| removed with a | +----------------+--+----------------+
| TURKEY AND TRUFFLES. | | Carmel Basket | | Savoy Cake. |
+----------------+--+----------------+ | with Pastry. | | |
| Semels Souffle,| | Beef Collops à | +----------------+ +----------------+
| and poivrade | | la Tortue and | | | | |
| sauce. | | Truffles. | +----------------+ +----------------+
+----------------+ +----------------+ |Cauliflower à la| |Jerusalem Arti- |
| | | | | Flamond. | | chokes à la |
+----------------+ +----------------+ | | | Crême. |
| Three Sweet- | | Poulard à la | +----------------+ +----------------+
| breads larded, | | Daube, larded, | | | | |
| and asparagus | | and mushrooms. | +----------------+ +----------------+
| peas. | | | | A Cheesecake. | | Mince Pies. |
+----------------+ +----------------+ +----------------+ +----------------+
| | | | | | | |
+----------------+ +----------------+ +----------------+ +----------------+
| Three Chickens | | Leg of Lamb, | | Spinage and | | French Beans. |
| à la Reine. | | and haricot | | Croutons. | | |
| | | beans. | +----------------+ +----------------+
+----------------+ +----------------+ | |
| | | |
+---------+ +---------+ | |
| S c | | S w | +---------+ +---------+
| o w h | | o i o | | S | | |
| u i i | | u t f | | i | | P |
| p t n | | p h | | x | | h |
| , h e | | , v | | | | e |
| , | +--------+ | a e | | S | +--------+ | a |
| r a | | Frame. | | r n | | n | | Frame. | | A s |
| e r | +--------+ | e h i | | i | +--------+ | a |
| m b o | | m a s | | p | | n |
| o a a | | o u o | | e | | t |
| v c s | | v n n | | s | | . |
| e o t | | e c . | | . | | |
| d n e | | d h | +---------+ +---------+
| d | | | | |
+---------+ +---------+ | |
| | | |
+----------------+ +----------------+ +----------------+ +----------------+
| A Neat’s | | Three Chickens,| | Asparagus. | | Red Cabbage |
| Tongue. | | and celery. | | | | à l’Alemand. |
+----------------+ +----------------+ +----------------+ +----------------+
| | | | | | | |
+----------------+ +----------------+ +----------------+ +----------------+
| Two Rabbits | | | | Mince Pies. | | Apricot Tourte.|
| à la Portuguez | | Grenadines, | +----------------+ +----------------+
| larded, and | | and endive. | | | | |
| sorrel sauce. | | | +----------------+ +----------------+
+----------------+ +----------------+ | Ragout Mellé. | | Mushrooms. |
| | | | +----------------+ +----------------+
+----------------+ +----------------+ | | | |
| A Souties of | | Petit Pâtés of | +----------------+ +----------------+
| Mutton, and | | Oysters. | |Chantillie Cake.| | Carmel Basket, |
| cucumber. | | | | | | with meringues.|
+----------------+ +----------------+ +----------------+ +----------------+
| _Giblet Soup_, | | |
| removed with a | | _Two Guinea Fowls: one larded._ |
| SIRLOIN OF BEEF. | | |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Of French cookery the Prince Regent was during his life a great admirer, and no one in his Majesty’s dominions, or out of it, kept a more _recherché_ or expensive table. But the Coronation Dinner at Westminster Hall, in 1822, was a monster banquet merely, and it gives no indication whatever of the king’s more refined taste in cookery. As a curiosity I print the bill of fare of this great feast.

BILL OF FARE OF THE BANQUET GIVEN BY GEORGE IV. ON THE
19TH OF JULY, 1822, IN WESTMINSTER HALL, ON THE DAY OF HIS
CORONATION.

HOT DISHES.--160 tureens of soup; 80 of turtle; 40 of rice; 40 of vermicelli; 80 dishes of turbot; 40 of trout; 40 of salmon; 80 dishes of venison; 40 of roast beef; 3 basins of beef; 40 dishes of mutton and veal; 160 dishes of vegetables, including potatoes, peas, and cauliflowers; 480 sauce-boats; 240 lobsters; 120 of butter; 120 of mint.

COLD DISHES.--80 of braised ham; 80 savory pies; 80 of geese _à la daube_, two in each dish; 80 of savory cakes; 80 of braised beef; 80 of braised capons, two in each dish; 1190 side dishes of various kinds; 320 of mounted pastry; 400 of jellies and creams; 80 of lobsters; 80 of crayfish; 161 of roast fowls; 80 of house-lamb.

TOTAL QUANTITIES.--Beef, 7442 lbs.; veal, 7133 lbs.; mutton, 2474 lbs.; house-lamb, 20 quarters; legs of ditto, 20; lamb, 5 saddles; grass-lamb, 55 quarters; lamb sweetbreads, 160; cow-heels, 389; calves’-feet, 400; suet, 250 lbs.; geese, 160; pullets and capons, 720; chickens, 1610; fowls for stock, 520; bacon, 1730 lbs.; lard, 550 lbs.; butter, 912 lbs.; eggs, 8400.

THE WINES.--Champagne, 100 doz.; burgundy, 20 doz.; claret, more than 200 doz.; hock, 50 doz.; moselle, 50 doz.; Madeira, 50 doz.; sherry and port, about 350 doz.; iced punch, 100 gallons. The champagne, hock, and moselle, were iced before being placed upon the table.

The expenses of this banquet and the coronation together amounted to the sum of 238,238_l._ As a contrast to this, it may be also mentioned that the banquet and coronation of his Majesty William IV., which took place September, 1831, did not cost 50,000_l._

It may be mentioned that, at the coronation of George IV., the glut of fruit was unprecedented; a gentleman of Lambeth cut sixty ripe pine-apples on the occasion; and that many hundreds of pines remarkable for size and flavour came from distant parts of the country; one from Lord Cawdor’s weighed 10 lbs., and formed part of the royal banquet.

The taste of the royal _gourmand_ will be more fully disclosed by a bill of fare of one of the private dinners given at the Pavilion, Brighton, in 1817.

Carème was at that period for eight months _chef de cuisine_ to the Prince Regent of England (afterwards George IV.), and for seven months of that period the _chef_ says he never quitted his post. During these seven months, if we are to believe this celebrated _cuisinier_, his Royal Highness never felt any attack of gout, whereas before the cookery was so highly spiced (_aromatisée_) that the royal _gourmand_ was tormented with it both day and night. Here is one of those _menus_ of thirty-two _entrées_, given at the Pavilion, Brighton, on the 8th of Jan., 1817, which gave no gout:--

_Quatre potages._

Le potage de lièvre au chasseur.
Le potage de sauté au consommé de volaille.
Le potage aux laitues.
Le macaroni lié à l’italienne.

_Quatre relevés de poissons._

Les perches au vin de champagne.
L’anguille à la régence.
Le turbot grillé, sauce aux homards.
Le cabillaud à la hollandaise.

_Quatre grosses pieces._

Le dindon braisé aux huîtres.
Le filet de bœuf piqué glacé.
Les poulets à la financière.
Le quartier de sanglier, gelée de grosseilles.

_Quatre contre-flans._

Le pain de gibier sur un socle.
La poularde sur un socle.
Le turban sur un socle.
La galantine sur un socle.

_Quatre plats rôts._

Le chapon au cresson.
Le lièvre à l’anglaise.
Le dindonneau au cresson.
Le pluviers bardés.

_Huit entremets._

Les pommes de terre frites.
Les asperges.
Les huîtres au gratin.
La salade de volaille.
Les salsifis au beurre.
Les epinards à la française.
Les truffes à la serviette.
Les écrivisses au madère.

BILL OF FARE FOR TEN OR TWELVE PERSONS. JANUARY.

FIRST COURSE.

_Two soups._

_Soup à la Julienne._
_Purée_ of pheasant.

_Two fishes._

_Filets de sole à la Dieppoise._
John Dory, sauce _hollandaise_.

_Two roasts._

Roast turkey _à la financière, aux truffes_.
Westphalia, York, or Cumberland ham, with Madeira sauce.

_Four entrées._

Mutton cutlets _à la Soubise_.
_Filet de la pin à la Marechale._
_Ris de veaus piqué, aux épinard._
_Pâtés à la Reine._

SECOND COURSE.

_Two roasts._

A hare roasted.
A wild duck roasted.

_Four entremets._

Apricot _soufflé_.
_Salsifis à la crême._
_Ramequins._
_Œufs à la Neige._

DINNER FOR FOURTEEN PERSONS. APRIL.

FIRST COURSE.

_Two soups._

_Purée à la Reine._
_Purée des carottes au ris._

_Two fishes._

Crimped salmon, parsley and butter sauce.
_Soles au gratin._

_Two removes._

Roast fore-quarter of lamb.
_Poularde à la printanière._

_Four entrées._

Lamb cutlets, _sauce aux concombres_.
_Fricandeau de veau, sauce aux épinards._

SECOND COURSE.

Spring chickens.
Leverets.

_Four entremets._

_Champignons au gratin._
Seakale _à la sauce blanche_.
Vanille cream.
Apricot tartlets.

DINNER FOR SIXTEEN IN MAY OR JUNE.

FIRST COURSE.

_Two soups._

Clear turtle.
_Potage printanière._

_Two fishes._

Turbot, _au naturel_ with lobster or Dutch sauce.
Salmon slices, with parsley and butter or caper sauce.

_Two removes._

Roast filet of beef larded.
_Poivrade_ sauce.
Roast fore-quarter of lamb.

_Entrées._

_Noix de veaux à la St. Cloud._
_Filets de mouton piqué, sauce aux tomates._
_Suprême de volaille aux concombres._
_Un pâté chaud à la financière._
_Filets de laperaux, sauce aux oignons._
_Filets de maquereau, à l’anglaise._

SECOND COURSE.

Guinea fowls.
Pigeons.

_Six entremets._

_Macaroni à l’italienne._
_Choux-fleurs au parmesan._
_Gelée de marasquin._
_De tartelettes à la Chantilly._
_Les asperges à la sauce blanche._
A lobster salad with plovers’ eggs.

DINNER IN A PLAIN ENGLISH FASHION FOR FOURTEEN.

FIRST COURSE.

_Two soups._

Giblet soup.
_Soupe à la Julienne._

_Two Fishes._

Turbot boiled.
Slices of salmon, _Génevoise_ sauce.

_Two roasts._

A small fore-quarter of lamb.
A haunch of mutton.

_Eight entrées._

Lamb cutlets, cucumber sauce.
Lobster patties.
Mutton cutlets _à la Soubise_.
Croquettes of sweetbreads.
Chickens boiled, cream sauce.
Sweetbreads.
Filet of beef, sauce _poivrade_.
A tongue glazed, with Windsor beans.

SECOND COURSE.

2 turkey poults (1 _piqué_).
2 ducklings.

_Eight entremets._

Plovers’ eggs with aspic.
Prawns.
Jelly with strawberries.
Caramel basket with caramelled fresh fruits.
Noyeau jelly.
French beans.
Peas _à l’anglaise_.
Chantilly basket with trifle.

ANTHONY CARÊME.

Of Carème it is necessary I should say a little before he proceeds to tell his own story. If you believe him (see _passim_ the six volumes of his culinary works) he was the Homer and Virgil, the Corneille and Dryden, the Pope and Boileau, the Byron and De Béranger of cookery. Every other art, noble or ignoble, every other superiority, literary, legal, histrionic, saltatory, medicinal, modistical, may be contested with the Gauls; but great and little of all nations, peers and pork-men, boyars and butchers, _graffs_ and gastronomers, of whatever land, all by common consent agree in shouting, in loud cosmopolitan acclaim, the glories and the greatness of Carème. “He was a man,” says one of his disciples, “whose tension and activity of mind were never exhausted; the more tedious and difficult were his duties, the more brilliant he emerged from them.” The greatest men in ancient and modern times have written their own history. Plato in his choicest dialogues gives us an insight into his own character; Cicero, in his work “De Oratore,” paints himself under a feigned name; Caesar writes us an account of his own exploits in his “Commentaries,” as the Duke of Wellington does in his “Despatches;” Montecuculli penned his own Memoirs; and Napoleon laboured at the “Mémoriel de St. Hélène;” why, therefore, should not a greater man in his own estimation than any one among them all, reveal his own precious history and the mysteries of his science, and lay patent to the public the simple grandeur of his _batteries de cuisine_? Ay, why not? Open the pages of his instructive Memoirs and Autobiography, and see whether there is any one of the Useful Knowledge Society heroes who have gone so far in the pursuit of knowledge under imminent and impending difficulties, as that really noble fellow Anthony Carème? Did he not abandon the first families to write his cookery and the practice of some great contemporaries? for, observe you, Carème is not always peering a Brobdignagian _I_ under your nose, or flourishing the flaunting motto of “Ego et Rex Meus” before your perplexed eyes. No, this good savoury Samaritan cook has some bowels, some thoughts of others, some kindliness for the absent and the departed. He seems always with the modesty of real merit to say, though of the strongest in his generation, “Vixere fortes Agamemnona.” But his virtues were not merely negative, they were of the most positive kind. He would only accept places “where his taste for study would not be interfered with;” for his ambition was “serious and elevated.” Then he felt, poignantly felt, “the misery of living among men destitute of education.”

Rousseau, in that most eloquent of books, “The Confessions,” tells us under what circumstances certain of his writings were composed. The gruff Sam. Johnson, the delightful debt-contracting Oliver Goldsmith, the ingenious and fantastic William Hazlitt are equally communicative; but, _maugré_ this copious sincerity, what are these men to Carème? Is there any one sentence in all they have ever written equal to the following? “From the time I arranged the sideboard of the Saxon ambassador, the thought of the ‘Pâtissier Royale,’ and the ‘Cuisinier Parisien,’ entered my head.” Cause and effect are here beautifully, lucidly transparent. Dr. Brown and Dugald Stewart, and all the Scotch mystifiers, might have written on the subject till the crack of doom, and left the darkness more dim, and the subject more perplexed; it is only Carème who has made, in throwing off this bright sentence, the doctrine quite plain.

“It was at the little inn at Llangollen,” says Hazlitt, “after a supper, that I wrote such a sketch” (which he names). See how great geniuses fall on the same style and method. “It was in the night,” says Carème, “after a short sleep, that I lately dictated to my daughter my most recent chapters.”

“In the busiest period of my service with Alexander,” says this ingenious maker of sauces, “I never once abandoned my evening notes.” Admirable, glorious man! who will not think in reading this of the parallel passage in the life of Fox, who, in the busiest conflicts of party, left the blaze and bustle of the Commons to read Aristophanes, as the other great performer left the blaze and bustle of the kitchen to compose his evening notes. It was owing to these “viginti annorum lucubrationes”--it was owing to the “severe studies of the empire,” that he was at length, after wrestling with difficulties unheard of, enabled “to seize on sugared _entremets_ as his domain in fee.” He had, too, all the independence of mind of a great genius, “the surveillance of Russia appeared degrading to him, and he promptly left the land of the tyrant and the slave. Nor was this all: such was the profoundness of his _ennui_ in this work-a-day world of ours--in this heavy, muddy, manufacturing England--that he was forced to leave the service of George IV. to resume the composition of his works.

These works are collected in six volumes; and, as one great genius may be permitted to speak of another, “they are,” says William Hall, cook to Thomas Peere Williams, and “conductor” of the parliamentary dinners of Viscount Canterbury,--“they are the productions of a man whose imagination greatly enlarged the variety of _entrées_ and _entremets_ previously practised, and whose clear and perspicuous details render them facile, not only to the artist who has already an advance in his profession, but also to those whose knowledge of the higher code of the kitchen has been necessarily limited.”

The cooks of Rome and Athens stood in the market-place with aprons on, waiting to be hired for the occasion, and, after they had done the day’s service, were ignominiously dismissed out of doors; but the cooks of our day are the friends and familiars of the great. “I conversed for more than an hour on gastronomy with Prince Esterhazy,” says Carème, “and it is astonishing what a knowledge of the art he displayed.” How different, however, is the fate of different authors! Corneille died in an unknown corner, in forlornness and distress; Goldsmith was always in want of a guinea; Samuel Johnson was often sorely pinched; glorious John Dryden laboured hard for the day’s dinner; Fielding was often in the hands of bailiffs, and Savage and Otway lived and laboured in misery and distress: but Carème, unlike these, gained not only immortality, but money; not only praise, but good solid pudding. “My works,” says he, “created me, exclusive of places whose emoluments I sacrificed, a yearly income of more than 20,000 francs.”

The most amusing of these works is undoubtedly an autobiography, which he did not live to finish. As it has not appeared in an English dress, I give the gem in a translation made at the time it was published.

“Although born of one of the poorest families of France, of a family which counted amongst its members five-and-twenty children--although my father, to save me, literally flung me into the street; Fortune, nevertheless, rapidly smiled on me, and a good fairy often took me by the hand, to lead me in the right way. In the eyes of my enemies (and I have many) I have more than once appeared the spoiled child of Fortune. I have accepted and refused, at various times, the finest places; I have abandoned the first families in Europe to write my practice of cookery and that of some great contemporaries gone to their account, whose principles and practice were engraved in my memory.

“I have only accepted good places, however, in families where my taste for study, and the views which I early entertained as to eminence in my profession, would not be interfered with. In the rapid passage to all these places heaps of money were offered me half a score of times, but I have not been over-desirous of mere wealth. My ambition was serious and elevated, and very early in life I desired to elevate my profession into the dignity of an art. It is precisely in this road that I have encountered the greatest obstructions. I have everywhere found idleness and envy--that miserable disposition of mind made wretched by every superiority, and above all by that of a comrade. But I have had more success than I desired, though the exceptionable position in which I have been placed has never diminished the misery of often living among men destitute of all education. For some years I have sought the means to give these men a moral culture (_l’éducation du cœur_); but I could not very clearly see my way, for this self-education in the midst of an active life is the most difficult of acquisition. The example of a family is necessary to educate our soul.

“Here and there I have some remembrance of seriously disagreeable passages, owing to the low rich (_vilains riches_); but I ought, on the other hand, to recall to mind the good, the excellent conduct of gentlemen of truth, noble _seigneurs_ that I have served. I have never had to complain but of the conduct of a _parvenu_, a name which the fellow decorated himself with without tact. It was under the Empire that I was most employed; it was, above all, at this era that my studies were severe; “c’est surtout à cette époque que j’ai fait des fortes études.” My researches were made in good time; they were continuous; they were serious. At M. de Talleyrand’s I was under Boucher, _chef des services_ of the prince. I there perfected myself in one of the principal parts of cookery, which I afterwards developed. Some years previously I had executed many parts of the _beaux extras_. A little later I had the management of the charming little dinners given by a distinguished and lofty-minded man, M. de Lavalette. I also cooked the dinners and arranged the sideboard of the Saxon Ambassador. It is from that period that the first decided thought of the “Pâtissier Royal” and of the “Cuisinier Parisien,” first entered my mind. I now acquired the excellent habit of noting down in the evening, on returning home, the modifications that I had made in my labour, each day bringing some change. With pen in hand, I set down the reasons which had determined my mind. That which then particularly occupied me was the finer parts of the oven’s produce, and the cold sugared _entremets_. This labour is the most delicate portion of the art of the pastry-cook. I invented much in this branch--the foundation, the execution, the form--all these parts became easy to me, and I seized on them as of my domain in fee.

“I enjoyed perfect freedom at M. de Lavalette’s to compose my dinners. It was there I did the most to realize the problem whose solution I early sought--the union of order, delicacy, and economy. The guests were assiduous at these dinners; they were generally members of the senate, learned men, celebrated officers, all _connoisseurs_.

“I laboured as a supernumerary at the Prince de Talleyrand’s in 1814, when the Emperor Alexander arrived there. There I obtained the friendship and protection of an agreeable and distinguished man, the comptroller of his Imperial Majesty’s household, M. Muller. Under his direction I became chief cook of the kitchens of the emperor, and was charged with all the expenses and the ordering of the bills of fare. This was the most active moment of my life; yet I did not renounce my custom, but continued to write what I had changed remodelled. I thus fixed ideas and combinations in my memory which might have been effaced from it. When the Emperor Alexander quitted Paris, I refused simultaneously the offer of the situation of _chef de cuisine_ in many great houses. Soon after I decided to set out for Aix-la-Chapelle, still in the service of the Emperor Alexander. The congress of sovereigns was united, and M. Muller renewed his propositions of Paris, namely, that I should go and continue my labours at Petersburg. My mode of cookery pleased the emperor much, he said; that was easy, for everything was noble and truly imperial in that great establishment of the czar. My emoluments were 2400 francs per month, and the culinary expenses. That which I directed at Aix-la-Chapelle was from 80,000 to 100,000 francs a month; but this munificent expenditure was based on the greatest order and regularity, and the utmost strictness in making up the accounts.

“The Prince Louis de Rohan, a member of the congress, was one of my kindliest protectors. He advised me to enter into the regular service of the emperor. I wished for a delay, for I could not resolve to quit the researches and labours of digesting my works, which I had commenced at Paris.