Chapter VIII: VOL. I., p. 195

_Pastry Fortifications._

----"I have framed a fortification
Out of rye paste, which is impregnable;[17]
And against that for two long hours together,
Two dozen of marrow-bones shall play continually.
For fish I'll make you a standing lake of white broth,
And pikes come ploughing up the plums before them,
Arion-like, on a dolphin, playing Lachrymæ;
And brave king herring, with his oil and onion,
Crown'd with a lemon peel, his way prepared
With his strong guard of pilchers."

[_The Bloody Brothers, or Rollo Duke of Normandy_, by BEAUMONT and
FLETCHER, vol. VII. act II. scene II. p. 151.]

[Footnote 17: At the splendid entertainments of those days the
confectioners were very solicitous to present these and similar
fopperies on the tables of the great. Furnace the cook says, in
MASSINGER'S "_New Way to pay old Debts_,"

----"Since our master, noble Allworth, died,
Though I crack my brain to find out tempting sauces,
And raise _fortifications in the pastry_,
Such as might serve for models in the Low Countries;
Which, if they had been practised at Breda,
Spinola might have thrown his cap at it, and ne'er took it."

And again, in the Prologue to "_A Wife for a Month_," which was the
sole production of FLETCHER, we have the following lines on the
same subject--

"Our noble friend, who writ this, bid me say,
He had rather dress upon a triumph day
My Lord Mayor's feast, and make him sauces too,
Sauce for each several month; nay, further go,
He had rather build up those invincible pies
And castle custards,[18] that affright all eyes,
Nay, eat 'em and their artillery--
Than dress for such a curious company
One single dish."----

BEAUMONT and FLETCHER--Vol. VIII. p. 137.]

[Footnote 18: The ingenuity of ancient cooks in raising pastry
fortifications has been already noticed. In the text we have not
only fortresses of paste, but castles made of custards, furnished
with eatable artillery, on a triumph-day, that is one of the
greatest festivities at the Mansion-house. Another similar device
of march-pane is mentioned in "Witts and Fancies"--1595, 4to.: "At
a nobleman's banquet a ship of march-pane stuff was set upon the
board, wherein was all manner of fishes of the like stuff."

At a banquet given by Cardinal Birague to Henry III. King of
France, his queen, and mother, "A collation was there served upon
two long tables, consisting of between eleven and twelve hundred
dishes composed of confectionary and dried sweetmeats of various
kinds, constructed in the form of castles, pyramids, and other
elegant figures."--WRAXALL'S "_History of France_," vol. II. 449.]