1827.] Domestic Economy and Cookery. 31 



But the fact is, that 



" What one-half of the community pays any price for, the other will not eat for pay." 



And then comes another delicious morceau, in the shape of an anecdote. 

 The " rice pot " (literary) never picked up a richer bit than this 



" A gentleman, travelling to Scotland, found in Aberdeen the turbot so cheap, that he 

 determined to remain some time there ; and, wishing his servants to enjoy the luxury with 

 him, lie ordered turbot and lobster sauce for them all. Some days after the coachman 

 gave up his place, feigning some necessity to return to London. Another [probably 

 the footman] appeared, to take his leave. The master asked what was the matter. 

 The servants said, that though their master could live upon fish, they could not. So 

 he very properly discharged them," 



Beech mart and horse-flesh, however, are not our only substitutes for beef 

 and mutton 



" Sauces and ketchups are, also, a great saving and comfort to the lower classes , 

 particularly to artisans, who labour from morning till night," &c. &c. " To this 

 valuable class, I anxiously wish to give instruction with respect to proper diet. Were 

 they to use soups, and little ragouts, seasoned with ketchups, they would be better fed 

 than upon chops and porter." 



A similar hint is before conveyed, in page 13, that the " poor " might make 

 their own " soy" But we wonder that our Domestic Economist should have 

 omitted to recommend turtle to their consideration ! It is true that, not 

 having been accustomed to it, indeed, they might not like it at first; but, with 

 a couple of glasses of iced punch between every other mouthful, they would 

 soon be able to get it down ; and it would be if they could be brought to it 

 a most palatable and nutritious food. 



Any little change, indeed, of this kind, we have no doubt would soon 

 become the more grateful and agreeable to " the poor ;" because, certain it is 

 even to an extent we protest we know nothing of that they are monstrously 

 ill-treated under the existing regime. 



" It is a notorious fact, that the poor pay much more than the rich. As to tea, 

 which is one of their greatest comforts, if a poor woman goes to buy it, she approaches 

 the counter as if it were for charity, and receives for her money the most abominable trash. 

 When the poor go to market, they are absolutely blackguarded into buying; and, though 

 they are forced to pay much more than the middling classes, they receive, as' if it were 

 a charitable contribution, the meat that is absolutely thrown at them ! In their coals, they 

 are in the same manner brorv-beaten and cheated. What wonder is it that they are 

 degraded below savages and slaves /" 



We ought almost to apologize to our readers; but there is such an obvious 

 veracity about the anecdotes in this book, that we absolutely must have one 

 more of them 



" For the honour of humanity, I am glad to have found some noble actions of ser- 

 vants. One instance I shall relate, of a servant "who was cook in the family of an 

 officer, the son of a nobleman, who went to a very particular friend of her mistress's, 

 and, after exacting the strictest sccresy, told her that her mistress was in the utmost 

 want ; that she pretended, before her husband, that she could make every thing meet, 

 but that it was impossible ; that she would order dinner before him, but, upon getting 

 him to go out, she would countermand it, saying that she was too ill to eat, * and shall 

 I, madam,' continued the faithful creature, ' see her living upon gruel, and we, her 

 servants, taking our tea and hot dinners, and not dare to speak of it to any one !' By 

 the conduct of this faithful servant, the poor mistress was preserved a little longer, 

 though she certainly fett a sacrifice in the end !" 



The sufferings of those persons who have ten thousand pounds a year are 

 indeed great ; but we had not imagined their state had been so desperate, as 

 that any of them absolutely died of hunger. We live, however as the pro- 

 verb says to learn ; and we have no doubt that our readers, as well as our- 

 selves, will have learned a good many things from the " Domestic Economist," 

 which they had never learned before. 



It is impossible for us, as we observed in the beginning, to go at length into 



