138 On Cookery in general. 



mouth, great understanding." Under which is a more intel- 

 ligible but homely observation of the great lexicographer, 

 Johnson, " that he who does not mind his belly will hardly 

 mind any thing else." 



French cookery seems to have been in a very inferior state, 

 up to the time of the Reformation, when the illustrious Luther 

 made mastication, as well as morals, an object of considera- 

 tion : ancient dogmas on dishes were done away, and freedom 

 of eating and thinking came into fashion together; the enjoy- 

 ments of feasting succeeded the severities of fasting ; and the 

 great Gonthier appeared to raise the culinary edifice, as 

 .Descartes raised that of philosophy. 



The English reader, whose excursions in culinary affairs 

 have not extended beyond the pages of that primitive old 

 lady, Mrs. Glasse, may never have heard of d'Alegre, Sou- 

 vent, Richant, and Mezelier, but it is not to be believed 

 that there can be any one unacquainted with the "great Gon- 

 thier !" he who overturned bromatoloyical traditions, and esta- 

 blished the nervous glands as the sovereign judges of the 

 table ! — <c who in less than ten years invented seven culisses, 

 nine ragouts, thirty-one sauces, and twenty-one soups J" — We 

 cannot, we repeat, for one moment believe that there can be 

 an individual who is not familiar with the discoveries of the 

 great Gonthier ! We recollect that the discovery of the fri- 

 candeau alone was the glory of the reign of Henri de Valois, 

 and though " its discovery," as Mons. Ude justly observes, 

 " appears not more wonderful than that of America," yet it 

 required, nevertheless, " une grande force de tUe" 



We know nothing, however, of the latter days of this cook- 

 ing Copernicus, aud whether he was roasted or broiled for 

 conforming to the Reformation, or died a natural death, is now 

 matter of conjecture. The pedantic historians, who have cir- 

 cumstantially described the foolish disputes of the sixteenth 

 century, calculated to shorten the duration of human life, are 

 silent about him, whose labours went to its extension, and who 

 gave action to a system, which, he trusted, might prevent the 

 world from returning to its original chaos. 



During the reigns of Louis XII. and XIV. cookery made 

 great strides, and what Lorenzo di Medici did for learning and 



