1827.] 



'ytic and Foreign. 



429 



year for example, sometimes contained the 

 errors which had been pointed out in the 

 preceding one. Still, there was nothing 

 in the rest of Europe to compare with 

 them when the author of the work before 

 us undertook to supply the deficiency. Of 

 his competency to the task there cannot be 

 two opinions ; and of the singular fidelity with 

 which it has been discharged, the work it- 

 self is an irrefragable proof. To make the 

 numbers true to the last figure, recourse has 

 frequently been had to original calculations ; 

 while general accuracy has been insured by 

 independent comparisons with the best collec- 

 tions of logarithms extant. The work is 

 printed on yellow paper, as being more grate- 

 ful to the eye than white ; but we have not 

 space to detail the various arrangements by 

 which the ingenious editor has facilitated the 

 use of his work, and endeavoured to diminish 

 at once the labour of the computer, and the 

 sources of error to which be may be exposed ; 

 however, we state with pleasure that we never 

 have seen a work so well adapted to the end 

 for which it was designed. 



The French Cook, by Louis Bust ache 

 Ude, lute Steward to H.ll.H. the Duke of 

 York. The Eighth Edition : with tivo 



hundred Receipts. London, 1827 : The 



Italian Confectioner ; or Complete Economy 

 of Desserts: containing the Elements of the 

 Art, according to the most Modern and 

 Approved Practice, by G. A. Jarrin, Con- 

 fectioner, 1827. The French Cook! the 

 Italian Confectioner! one's mouth waters 

 at the auspicious sounds! If there be in 

 the world a talent truly national, it is that 

 of the French for cookery. If one art be, 

 more than another, naturalized to the south 

 of the Alps, it is not painting, not music, not 

 sculpture b ut confectionery ! Sooth to speak, 

 it has survived the decay of these its precur- 

 sors, and, instead of retrograding with them, 

 may now be considered as having reached 

 its Augustan Age, in these our days. 



We were very learned, a month or two 

 ago, in a " Dissertation on Dinners ;' ; but 

 our's was merely the general prattle of the 

 amateur scholar, which '' pales its ineffectual 

 fire" before the Porsonic condition of Ude. 

 This finished artist for such in his art he is 

 has just put forth the Eighth Edition of his 

 work ! This is even more astonishing than 

 the enormous sale of the books of Mrs. Run- 

 dell and Dr. Kitchiner. (Alas, poor Yorick !) 

 These were adapted to the meanest capa- 

 cities, and to moderate kitchens whereas, 

 M. Ude comes upon us, gorgeous in all the 

 magnificence of patrician and royal house- 

 holds, and laying bare before us mysteries 

 very little short of those of alchemy. We 

 must say, however, that he unfolds them 

 with the lucidness of a real professor. When 

 once he does admit the general gaze into the 

 secrets of his laboratory, his learning is 

 equally displayed by clear and brief expla- 

 nation, as it is by the value and rarity of the 

 thing explained. 



But, though this is probably the most 

 scientific cookery book extant, yet it is but 

 an improved species of a genius already nu- 

 merous. Cookery books some good, some 

 indifferent, and some very bad we have had 

 ever since the days of Mrs. Glasse, and pro- 

 bably much earlier. But a separate treatise, 

 devoted to the art of confectionery, was yet 

 unknown in our tongue. It was a want, in- 

 deed, of which the extent was probably never 

 fully known till it was supplied; for M. 

 Jarrin's book, now we have it, we should 

 be exceedingly sorry to part with. It will, 

 we are very sure, not only furnish many a 

 dainty which our palates would otherwise 

 have never known, but it will also save the 

 unhappy subject whose digestion is not 

 of the strongest from many a heart-burn, 

 caused by unfit ingredients, more unfitly 

 mingled together. In the single article of 

 liqueurs, M. Jarrin deserves the thanks of 

 all lovers of good living. That we have not 

 been guilty of mere inflation of style in call- 

 ing confectionery an art, will be apparent 

 from the following passage, which shews it 

 indeed io be rather an union of many arts : 



That part of the work which regards the DECO- 

 RATION OF THE TABLE, necessarily treats of 

 the articles which compose the various ornaments 

 used for this purpose ; as gum paste, and the most 

 approved mode of MODELLING flowers, animals, 

 figures, &c. ; of co/oursiov confectionery, with full 

 instructions how to prepare them ; of varnishing 

 and gilding ; of MOULDING, with directions to 

 enable every confectioner to make his own moulds ; 

 of works in pasteboard, gold and silver papers, 

 borders, &c. &c. ; and, to complete the whole, and 

 render the confectioner independent of every other 

 artist, the manner of ENGRAVING ON STEEL, and 

 on WOOD, is fully explained. 



The various arts of drawing, modelling, en- 

 graving, carving, moulding, and many other pur- 

 suits, usually considered foreign to the practice of 

 the confectioner, have been closely studied by the 

 author for many years ; and the very numerous 

 processes described in his work (many of which he 

 invented) have all been employed by him with the 

 most complete success. 



This is, indeed, assuming high ground 

 but it is well kept throughout the volume 

 so well, indeed, as thoroughly to justify its 

 assumption. We are sorry that we cannot 

 lay a specimen before our readers ; but it 

 would truly be judging of a house by a brick, 

 to form an opinion of a work embracing 

 from five to six hundred receipts, by the ex- 

 traction of one or two of them. 



For the future, these works, we think, 

 ought always to go together. If dinner be, 

 as we fully admit, the most important busi- 

 ness of the day, the couple of hours after it 

 must rank as its most important pleasure. 

 And where shall we find such able guides to 

 each as Messrs. Ude and Jarrin? Truly, 

 they deserve the gratitude of all who in any 

 degree eat or drink (as the Baron of Brad- 

 wardine phrases it) " quite causu, for the 

 oblectation of the gullet.' 1 



