heard he was a great lover of that joint; and that a maid of an Inn poisoned him with one, faying, "If he is a "Prophet, he will difcover it; if he is an impoftor, no "matter what becomes of him." I fhall have occafion for the affiftance of all my friends in this great work. I fome pofts ago defired a friend to enquire what Manufcripts Sol. Harding, a famous Cook, may have left behind him at Oxford. He fays, he finds among his executors feveral admirable bills of fare for Ariftotle fuppers, and entertainments of country ftrangers, with certain prices, according to their feveral feafons. He fays, fome pages have large black croffes drawn over them; but for the greater part the Books are fair and legible.

See

Sir, I would beg you to fearch Cooks' Hall, what Manufcripts they may have in their Archives. what in Guildhall: what account of custard in the Sword-bearer's office: how many tun He, a Common Cryer, or a Common hunt, may eat in their life-time. But I tranfgrefs the bounds of a Letter, and have strayed from my fubject, which fhould have been, to beg you to read the following lines, when you are inclined to he most favourable to your friend; for elfe they will never be able to endure your juft cenfure. I rely upon your good-nature; and I am

Your inoft obliged,' &c.

LET

I HAVE reflected upon the difcourfe I had with you

the other day, and, upon ferious confideration, find that the true understanding of the whole "Art of "Cookery" will be useful to all perfons that pretend to the belles lettres, and especially to Poets.

I do not find it proceeds from any enmity of the Cooks, but it is rather the fault of their masters, that Poets are not fo well acquainted with good eating, as otherwife they might be, if oftener invited. However, even in Mr. D'Urfey's prefence, this I would be bound to fay, "That a good dinner is brother to a good "poem:" only it is fomething more fubftantial; and, between two and three a clock, more agreeable.

I have known a fupper make the moft diverting past of a Comedy. Mr. Betterton, in "The Libertine *,” has fet very gravely with the leg of a chicken: but I have feen Jacomo very merry, and eat very heartily of pease and buttered eggs, under the table. The Hoft, in "The Villain +," who carries tables, ftools, furniture, and provifions, all about him, gives great content to the fpectators, when from the crown of his hat he pro

*A Tragedy by Thomas Shadwell, acted 1676. A Tragedy by Thomas Porter, acted 1663.

duces

duces his cold capon: fo Armarillis (or rather Parthenope, as I take it) in "The Rehearfal," with her wine in her fpear, and her pye in her helmet; and the Cook that flobbers his beard with fack-poffet, in "The Man's the Mafter*;" have, in my opinion, made the most diverting part of the action. Thefe embellishments we have received from our imitation of the ancient Poets. Horace, in his Satires, makes Mæcenas very merry with the recollection of the unusual entertainments and dishes given him by Nafidienus; and with his raillery upon garlick in his Third Epode. The Supper of Petronius, with all its machines and contrivances, gives us the moft lively defcription of Nero's luxury. Juvenal fpends a whole Satire about the price and dreffing of a fingle fish, with the judgement of the Roman Senate concerning it. Thus, whether ferious or jocofe, good eating is made the fubject and ingredient of poetical entertainments.

:

I think all Poets agree that Episodes are to be interwoven in their Poems with the greatest nicety of art; and fo it is the fame thing at a good table and yet I have seen a very good Episode (give me leave to call it fo) made by fending out the leg of a goofe, or the gizzard of a turkey, to be broiled: though I know that Criticks with a good stomach have been offended that the unity of action should be so far broken. And yet, as in our Plays, fo at our common tables, many Episodes are allowed, as flicing of cucumbers, dreffing

A Comedy by Sir William Davenant, acted 1669.

of

of fallads, seasoning the infide of a furloin of beef, breaking lobfters' claws, ftewing wild ducks, toafting of cheese, legs of larks, and feveral others.

A Poet, who, by proper expreffions and pleafing images, is to lead us into the knowledge of neceffary truth, may delude his audience extremely, and indeed barbaroufly, unless he has fome knowledge of this "Art of Cookery," and the progrefs of it. Would it not found ridiculous to hear Alexander the Great command his cannon to be mounted, and to throw red-hot bullets out of his mortar-pieces? or to have Statira talk of tapefiry-bangings, which, all the Learned know, were many years after her death first hung up in the Hall of King Attalus? Should Sir John Falstaff complain of having dirtied his filk Stockings, or Anne of Boleyn call for her coach; would an audience endure it, when all the world knows that Queen Elizabeth was the first that had her coach, or wore filk flockings? Neither can a Poet put hops in an Englishman's drink before herefy came in: nor can he ferve him with a dish of carp before that time: he might as well give King James the First a dish of afparagus upon his first coming to London, which were not brought into England till many years after; or make Owen Tudor prefent Queen Catharine with a fugar-loaf, whereas he might as easily have given her a diamond as large, feeing the iceing of cakes at Wood-street Corner, and the refining of fugar, was but an invention of two hundred years ftanding, and before that time our Ancestors fweetened and garnished all with honey, of which there are fome remains

in Windfor bowls, baron bracks, and large fimnels, fent for prefents from Lichfield.

But now, on the contrary, it would fhew his reading, if the Poet put a hen-turkey upon a table in a Tragedy; and therefore I would advise it in Hamlet, instead of their painted trifles; and I believe it would give more fatisfaction to the actors. For Diodorus Siculus reports, how the fifters of Meleager, or Diomedes, mourning for their brother, were turned into hen-turkeys; from whence proceeds their stateliness of gate, refervedness in converfation, and melancholy in the tone of their voice, and all their actions. But this would be the most im

proper meat in the world for a Comedy ; for melancholy and distress require a different fort of diet, as well as language and I have heard of a fair lady, that was pleafed to fay," that, if he were upon a strange road, "and driven to great neceffity, the believed the might "for once be able to fup upon a sack-poffet and a fat capon."

I am fure Poets, as well as Cooks, are for having all words nicely chofen and properly adapted; and therefore, I believe, they would fhew the fame regret that I do, to hear perfons of fome rank and quality fay, "Pray cut up that goofe. Help me to fome of that "chicken, hen, or capon, or half that plover;" not confidering how indifcreetly they talk, before men of art, whofe proper terms are," Break that Goofe ;”— "fruft that Chicken;"—" spoil that Hen;"—fauce that "Capon;"―mince, that Plover."-If they are so much out in common things, how much more will they be