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whether Cæfar introduced it into Britain: and it is strange he should take no noticce of it; where as he has recorded that they did not eat hare's flesh; that the ancients used to marinate their fish, by frying them in oil, and, the moment they were taken out, pouring boiling vinegar upon them. The learned annotator obferves, that the best way of keeping the liquor in oysters, is, by laying the deep shell downwards; and by this means A picius conveyed oysters to Tiberius when in Parthia; a noble invention, fince made ufe of at Colchefter with most admirable fuccefs! What eftates might Brawn or Locket have got in thefe days, when Apicius, only for broiling fprouts after a new fashion, defervedly came into the good graces of Drufus, who then commanded the Roman armies!

The first book having treated of fauces or tanding pickles for relish, which are used in most of the fucceeding receipts; the fecond has a glorious fubject, of faufages, both with fkins and without, which contains matters no less remarkakle than the former. The ancients that were delicate in their eating, prepared their own mushrooms with an amber, or at least a filver knife; where the annotator fhews elegantly, against Hardouinus, that the whole knife, and not only the handle, was of amber, or filver, left the ruftiness of an ordinary knife might prove infectious. This is a nicety which I hope we may in time arrive to; for the Britons, though not very forward in in ventions, yet are outdone by no nations in imitation or improvements.

The third book is of fuch edibles as are profuced in gardens. The Romans used nitre, to make their herbs look green; the annotator fhews our faltpetre at present to differ from the ancient aitre. Apicius had a way of mincing them first with oil and falt, and fo boiling them; which Pliny commends. But the prefent receipt is, To let the water boil well; throw in falt and a bit of butter; and fo not only fprouts, but fpinage, will be green. There is a molt extraordinary observa tion of the editor's, to which I cannot but agree; that it is a vulgar error, that walnut trees, like Ruffian wives, thrive the better for being beaten; and that long poles and ftones are used by boys and others to get the fruit down, the walnut tree be ing fo very high they could not otherwife reach it, rather out of kindness to themselves, than any regard to the tree that bears it. As for afparagus, there is an excellent remark, that, according to Pliny, they were the great care of the ancient gardeners, and that at Ravenna three weighed a pound; but that in England it was thought a rarity when a hundred of them weighed thirty; that cucumbers are apt to rife in the ftomach, unlefs pared, or boiled. with oil, vinegar, and ho. ney; that the Egyptians would drink hard without any disturbance, because it was a rule for them to have always boiled cabbage for their first difh at fupper; that the best way to roast onions is in colewort leaves, for fear of burning them; that beets are good for fmiths, because they, working at the fire are generally coftive; that

Petronius has recorded a little old woman, who fold the agrefte olus of the ancients; which honou I take to be as much due to those who in our days cry nettle tops, elder-buds, and cliver, in fpringtime very wholesome.

The fourth book contains the univerfal art of cookery. As Mathæus Sylvaticus compofed the Pandects of Phyfic, and Juftinian thofe of Law; fo Apicius has done the Pandects of his Art, in this book which bears that infcription. The first chapter contains the admirable receipt of a fai lacataby of Apicius. Bruife in a mortar parfleyfeed, dried pennyroyal, dried mint, ginger, green coriander, raifins ftoned, honey, vinegar, oil, and wine; put them into a cacabalum; three crufts of pycentine bread, the flesh of a pullet, goatftones, veftine cheese, pine kernels, cucumbers, dried, onions minced fmall; pour a foup over it, garnish it with fnow, and fend it up in the cacabulum. This cacabulum being an unusual veffel, my friend went to his dictionary, where, finding an odd interpretation of it, he was cafily persuaded, from the whimsicalness of the compo fition, and the fantasticalness of fnow for its garniture, that the propereft veffel for a phyfician to prefcribe, to fend to table upon that occafion, might be a bed-pan. There are some admirable remarks and annotations to the fecond chapter, concerning the dialogue of Afellius Sabinus, who introduces a combat between mushrooms, chats, or beccoficos, oysters, and redwings; a work that ought to be published: for the fame annota tor obferves, that this island is not deftitute of redwings, though coming to us only in the hardest weather, and therefore seldom brought fat to our tables; that the chats come to us in April, and breed, and about autumn return to Afric; that experience fhews us they may be kept in cages, fed with beef or wedder mutton, figs, grapes, and minced filberds, being dainties not unworthy the care of fuch as would preferve our British dishes; the firft delighting in hodge-podge, gallimaufreys, forced meats, juffels, and falmagundies; the latter in fpear-ribs, furloins, chines, and barons thence our terms of art, both as to dreffing and carving, become very different; for they, lying upon a fort of couch, could not have carved thote difhes which our ancestors when they fat upon forms used to do. But, fince the ufe of cushions and elbow-chairs, and the editions of good books and authors, it may be hoped in time we may come up to them: For indeed hitherto we have been fomething to blame; and I believe few of us have seen a dish of capon-tones at table (lamb. ftones is acknowledged by the learned annotator that we have); for the art of making capons has long been buried in oblivion. Varro, the great Roman antiquary, tells us how to do it by burning off their purs; which, occafioning their ftes rility, makes them capons in effect, though those parts thereby became more large and tender.

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The fifth book is of peafe-porridge: under which are included, frumetary, water-gruel, milkporridge, rice-milk, fiumary, ftir-about, and the like. The Latin or rather Greek name is AnU uj

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Sprios; but my friend was pleafed to entitle it
Pantagruel, a name used by Rabelais, an eminent
phyfician. There are some very remarkable things
in it; as, the emperor Julianus had seldom any |
thing but fpoon-meat at fupper: that the herb
fenugreek, with pickles, oil, and wine, was a Ro-
man dainty; upon which the annotator obferves,
that it is not ufed in our kitchens, for a certain
ungrateful bitterness that it has; and that it is
plainly a phyfical diet, that will give a ftool; and
that, mixed with oats, it is the best purge for
horfes: an excellent invention for frugality, that
nothing might be loft; for what the Lord did not
eat, he might fend to his ftable!

the sweetest of any animal, its natural fear contti-
buting to that excellence. Though the empero
and nobility had parks to fatten them in; yet in
the time of Didianus Julianus, if any one had fent
him one, or a pig, he would make it laft han
three days; whereas Alexander Severus bad og
every meal, which must have been a great expence.
and is very remailable. But the most exquifits
animal was referved for the last chapter; and that
was the dormouse, a harmless creature, whole inse
cence might at least have defended it both from
cooks and physicians. But Apicius found out m
odd fort of fate for thofe poor creatures; fome to
be boned, and others to be put whole, with odd
ingredients, into bogs-guts, and fo boiled for fau
fages. In ancient times, people made it their bt-
finess to fatten them. Aristotle rightly obferva,
that fleep fattened them; and Martial from
thence too poetically tells us, that fleep was ther
only nourishment. But the annotator has cleared
that point: he, good man, has tenderly obferved
one of them for many years, and finds that it does
not fleep all the winter, as falfely reported, bet
wakes at meals, and after its repaft then rolls it-
felf up in a ball to fleep. This dormouse, accord
ing to the author, did not drink in three years
time; but whether other dormice do fo, I cannot
tell, because Bamboufelbergius's Treatife of
"Fattening Dormice" is loft. Though very
coftly, they became a common difh at great c
tertainments. Petronius delivers us an odd re-
ceipt for dreffing them, and ferving them up with
poppies and honey; which must be a very fopo-
riferous dainty, and as good as owl-pye to fuch as
want a nap after dinner. The fondness of the
Romans came to be fo exceffive towards them,
that, as Pliny fays, "the cenforian laws, and
"Marcus Scaurus in his confulfhip, got them
"prohibited from public entertainments." But
Nero, Commodus, and Heliogabalus, would not
deny the liberty, and indeed property, of their
The eighth book treats of fuch dainties as four-fubje&s in fo reasonable an enjoyment; and there
footed bealts afford us; as, 1. the wild boar, which
they ufed to boil with all its bristles on. 2. The
deer, dreffed with broth made with pepper, wine,
honey, oil, and ftewed damfons, &c.
3. THe
wild feep, of which there are "innumerable in
"the mountains of Yorkshire and Weftmorland,
"that will let nobody handle them;" but, if they
are caught, they are to be fent up with an "ele-
gant fauce, prefcribed after a phyfical manner,
"in form of an electuary, made of pepper, rue,
"parfley-feed, juniper, thyme dried, mint, penny-
"royal, honey, &c." with which any apothecary
in that country can furnish you. 4. Beef, with
onion fauce, and commended by Celfus, but not
much approved by Hippocrates, because the
Greeks fcarce knew how to make oxen, and pow-
dering tubs were in very few families: for phyfi-
cians have been very peculiar in their diet in all
ages; otherwife Galen would fcarce have found
out that young foxes were in season in autumn.
5. The fucking pig boiled in paper. 6. The bare,
the chief of the Roman dainties; its blood being

The fixth book treats of wild-fowl; how to drefs oftridges (the biggeft, groffeft, and most difficult of digeftion, of any bird), phoenicoptrices, parrots, &c,

The feventh book treats of things fumptuous and coftly, and therefore chiefly concerning bor meat; in which the Romans came to that exceis, that the laws for bad the usage of hogs-harflet, fweet-breads, cheeks, &c. at their public fuppers; and Cato, when cenfor, fought to reftrain the extravagant ufe of Brawn, by feveral of his orations. So much regard was had then to the Art of Cookery, that we fee it took place in the thoughts of the wifeft men, and bore a part in their most important councils. But, alas! the degeneracy of our prefent age is fuch, that I believe few befides the annotator know the excellency of a virgin fow, especially of the black kind brought from China; and how to make the most of her liver, lights, brains, and pettitoes; and to vary her into thofe fifty dishes which Pliny fays were ufually made of that delicious creature. Befides, Galen tells us more of its excellencies: "That fellow "that eats bacon for two or three days before he "is to box or wrefle, fhall be much stronger "than if he should eat the best roast beef or bag pudding in the parish."

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fore we find them long after brought to table is the times of Ammianus Marcellinus, who tells us litewife, that "feales were brought to table i thole ages, to weigh curious fishes, birds, and dormice," to fee whether they were at the standard of excellence and perfection, and fome times, I fuppofe, to vie with other pretenders to magnificence. The annotator takes hold of this occafion, to fhew" of how great use scales would "be at the tables of our nobility," efpecially p on the bringing up of a difh of wild-fowl: "fer, "if twelve larks (fays he) should weigh below "twelve ounces, they would be very lean, and "fcarce tolerable; if twelve, and down weight, "they would be very well; but, if thirteen, they "would be fat to perfection." We fee upon how nice and exact a balance the happiness of eating depends!

I could scarce forbear fmiling, not to say work, at fuch exactness and fuch dainties; and told my friend, that thofe fcales would be of extraordinary ufe at Dunftable; and that, if the annotator bad

not preferibed his dormoufe, I fhould upon the firft occafion be glad to vifit it, if I knew its vifiting days and hours, fo as not to disturb it.

My friend faid, there remained but two books more, one of fea, and the other of river fish; in the account of which he would not be long, feeing his memory began to fail him almost as much as my patience.

«<<'Tis true, in a long work, foft flumbers creep, "And gently sink the artist into fleep*;" especially when treating of dormice.

:

giving an excellent relish to Burton ale, and not cofting above fixpence, an inconfiderable price for fo imperial a dainty!

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The tenth book, as my friend tells me, is concerning fib fauces, which confift of variety of ingredients, amongst which is generally a kind of frumetary. But it is not to be forgotten by any perfon who would boil fish exactly, that they threw them alive into the water, which at present is faid to be a Dutch receipt, but was derived from the Romans. It seems, Seneca the philofopher (a ma from whole morofe temper little good in the art of Natural Questions, correcting the luxury of the of cookery could be expected), in his third book times, fays, the Romans were come to that daintinefs, that they would not eat a fish unless upon the fame day it was taken, “that it might taste "of the fca," as they expreffed it; and therefore had them brought by persons who rode poft, and made a great outcry, whereupon all other people were obliged to give them the road. It was an ufual expreffion for a Roman to fay, "In other matters I may confide in you; but in a thing of "this weight, it is not confiftent with my gravity and prudence. I will truft nothing but my own ་ eyes. Bring the fish hither, let me fee him "breathe his laft." And, when the poor fish was brought to table swimming and gafping, would cry out, "Nothing is more beautiful than a dying upon these as jefts made by the ftoics, and "mullet!" My friend fays, the annotator looks "Spoken abfurdly and beyond nature;" though the annotator at the fame time tells us, that it was wash their fish, but bring them as they came out a law at Athens, that the fishermen fhould not of the fea. Happy were the Athenians in good laws, and the Romans in great examples! But I believe our Britons need with their friends no longer life, than till they fee London ferved with live herrings and gafping mackarel. It is true, we are not quite fo barbarous but that we throw our crabs alive into fcalding water, and tie our lobsters to the spit to hear them fqueak when they are roafted; our eels ufe the fame peristaltic motheir guts are out, as they did before; and our tion upon the gridiron, when their kin is off and gudgeons, taking opportunity of jumping after they are flowered, give occafion to the admirable remark of fome perfons' folly, when, to avoid the My friend faid, that the mention of eels put him danger of the frying-pan, they leap into the fire. in mind of the concluding remark of the annotator, "That they who amongst the Sybarites would "fifh for cels, or fell them, fhould be free from all "taxes." I was glad to hear of the word conclude; and told him nothing could be more acceptable to me than the mention of the Sybarites, of whom I fervedly banished cocks for waking them in a fhortly intend a hiftory, fhewing how they demorning, and fmiths for being useful; how one cried out becaufe one of the rofc-leaves he lay on was rumpled; how they taught their horfes to dance; and fo their enemies, coming against them with guitars and harpsichords, set them fo upon their round-o's and minuets, that the form of their battle U u iij

The ninth book is concerning fea fish; where, amongst other learned annotations, is recorded that famous voyage of Apicius, who, having spent many millions, and being retired into Campania, heard that there were lobsters of a vaft and unusual bigness in Africa, and thereupon impatiently got on fhipboard the fame day; and, having fuffered much at fea, came at last to the coaft. But the fame of fo great a man's coming had landed before him, and all the fishermen failed out to meet him, and prefented him with their faireft lobfters. He afked, if they had no larger. They answered," "Their fea produced nothing more excellent than " what they had brought." This koneft freedom of theirs, with his disappointment, fo difgufted him, that he took pet, and bade the matter return home again immediately and fo, it feems, Africa left the breed of one monfter more than it had beforet. There are many receipts in the book, to dress cramp-fifh, that numb the hands of thofe that touch them; the cuttle-fith, whofe blood is like ink; the pourcontrel, or many-feet; the fea-urchin, or hedge-hog; with feveral others, whofe fauces are agreeable to their natures. But, to the comfort of us moderns, the ancients often ate their oyfters alive, and fpread hard eggs minced over their sprats as we do now over our falt-fifh. There is one thing very curious concerning herrings: It feems, the ancients were very fantastical, in making one thing pafs for another; fo, at Petronius's fupper, the cook fent up a fat goofe, fish, and wild fowl of all forts to appearance, but fill all were made out of the feveral parts of one fingle porker. The great Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, had a very delightful deception of this nature put upon him by his cook: the king was extremely affected with fresh herrings; (as indeed who is not?) but, being far up in Afia from the fea-coaft, his whole wealth could not have purchafed one; but his cook contrived fome fort of meat, which, put into a frame, fo refembled a herring, that it was extremely fatisfactory both to this prince's eyes and gusto. My friend told me, that, to the honour of the city of London, he had seen a thing of this nature there; that is, a herring, or rather a falmogundy, with the head and tail so neatly laid, that it furprized him. He fays, many of the pecies may be found at the Sugar Loaf in Bell Yard, as

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was broken, and three hundred thousand of them flain, as Gouldman, Littleton, and feveral other good authors, affirm. I told my friend, I had much overstayed my hour; but if, at any time, he would find Dick Humelbergius, Cafpar Barthius, and another friend, with himself, I would invite him to dinner of a few but choice dishes to cover the table at once, which, except they would think

of any thing better, fhould be a falacacaby, a dif of fenugreek, a wild-fheep's head and appartenance with a fuitable electuary, a ragout of capon's stones, and fome dormouse sausages.

If, as friends do with one another at a venifoo pafty, you should fend for a plate, you know you may command it; for what is mine is yours, a being entirely your, &c,

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Eldeft Son of his Excellency the Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, Baron Herbert of Caerdiff, Rofs of Kendal, Parr, Fitzhugh Marmion, St. Quintin, and Herbert of Shutland, Knight of the Garter, &c. &c.

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