THE FORMATION OF THE ENGLISH PALATE. 



By R. S. FERGUSON, F.S.A. 



(Presidential Address, delivered at the Penrith Annual Meeting.) 



The leai-ned and ingenious author of " The Romans of Britain," 

 Mr. Coote, F.S.A., in a paper on The Cuisine Bottrgeoise of Ancient 

 Rome* (which he communicated to the Society of Antiquaries) 

 observed that " no one has yet written the history of the Roman 

 palate, such as it became when the successes of that people had 

 given occasion for its artificial cultivation." Mr. Coote's observa- 

 tion may be widely extended : we have many recipe books, and 

 many cookery books, but Ave have no general history of the palate, 

 and no history of cookery considered as one of the fine arts. Two 

 books I may mention as exceptions, M. Brillat-Savarin's Physiologic 

 du Gout,\ and M. Soyer's Pantropheon, or the History of Food and 

 its Preparation from the Earliest Age of the World. Mr. Coote 

 well says, in allusion to the want of a history of the Roman palate, 



* ArchcEologia, vol. 41, pp. 283-324. 

 + Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, judge of the Court of Cassation, member of the 

 Legion of Honour, and of most of the scientific and literary societies of France, 

 was born in 1755 at Belley. The Physiologie dtc Gout was published some time 

 in 1825, and ran rapidly through five or six editions, besides reprints in Belgium. 

 An English edition has just (1884) been published. The late Mr. Hayward, 

 Q.C., says of it, "Its great charm consists in the singular mixture of wit, 

 humour, learning, and knowledge of the world — bons t?wts, anecdotes, ingenious 

 theories, and instructive dissertations — which it presents. The Art of Dining, 

 Murray, London, 18S3, p. 49, where is a charming account of the Physiologie 

 du Gout. 



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