1826.] Kitchiners Housekeeper's Ledger for 1826. 31 



the authenticity of Prince Hohenlohe's miracles, the propriety of dressing 

 a statue in tawdry ribbons, the peculiarity of Mr. Shiel's metaphors, or 

 Sir Harcourt Lee's tropes, and all the other highly important and 

 useful inquiries which at present occupy the mind of that talented and 

 well-judging country, they may find time to turn their thoughts to other 

 particulars. When we see a Milton arise among them, in about a hun- 

 di'ed years after we may look for the birth of an Irish Kitchiner. Mean- 

 while the Doctor must legislate for the three kingdoms.* 



As for Mrs. Rundell nmch may be said, but v.e have not time now to 

 enter into a comparison, in the manner of Plutarch, between the gentle- 

 man and lady of the gridiron. In general, however, we may remark 

 that, with all possible feeling of a chivalrous devotion for the female sex, 

 we cannot compliment them on their knowledge of gastronomic philo- 

 sophy. It would take us too much time, and open up too wide a field of 

 ph3'siological and metaphysical science, to inquire into the causes of 

 this undeniable fact ; but a woman is by nature disqualified from com- 

 manding armies, writing tragedies, and dressing a dinner. This subject 

 is, we understand, to be discussed at some of our most eminent philo- 

 sophical societies ; whether at the cyder-cellar or the co-operatives, we 

 do not now recollect, and we feel therefore the less reluctance in pass- 

 ing it by here. We must observe, however, before we quit this sub- 

 ject, that Mrs. Rundell's dinners, as given at the end of her volume, are 

 most miserably scanty. We ourselves, who have a small appetite, have 

 frequently taken for luncheon by ourselves what she calls a dinner of 

 seven dishes. It must be a very unfortunate case to be asked to dine 

 with her ; and we recommend any person in that condition to provision 

 himself beforehand with a hundred of oysters, or a couple of pounds of 

 beef-steak, or some equally light refection, previous to encountering the 

 starvation of Mrs. R.'s table. 



So far by way of a preface to the reader. We had no notion of 

 writing so much, but were led on gradually by the subject- To get 

 back to Kitchiner, we must frankly express our opinion that he is the 

 first genius of the age, or at all events ranks with the first : the au- 

 thor of Waverley, the Marquess La Place, the Duke of Wellington, Sir 

 Thomas Lawrence, Mr. William Wordsworth, Mr. Thomas Sj^ring, and 

 others the spirits of the age. He has been at every thing in the eating 

 world. He has taught us how to make the dishes ; then how to digest 

 them. He has furnished us with spectacles to see the savoury fare set 

 before us with the greatest advantage, and he has supplied us with jolly 

 songs to cheer our spirits after dinner is done. ^Vllat i-emains behind ? 

 Nothing, in fact, but to teach the best way of checking the accounts, 

 which are the most unsavoury part of a man's establishment, and giving 

 us such sundry good pieces of advice as to make the most of the proceeds 

 vhich the gods have placed in our hands. This he has done in this 

 book. He may now say, nunc opus exegi. There does not want a single 

 stone to the great pyramid of his fame. 



He does not, in this economical work, lose sight for a moment of his 

 main object — eating ; and, like all good anhaeologists, begins with tlie 

 beginning. 



* ' Launcelot Sturgeon,' the author of some admirable ' Essays on Good Living,' 

 must be minister of the home department. No man should have the effrontery to 

 furnish a dining-room without consulting him. — Edit, 



