1829. ] Affairs in General. 183 
On the strength of a mere approximation to this sublime discovery, 
Dr. Paris sells an edition of ten thousand in as many months ; Dr. Uwins 
pours out octavos unnumbered ; Dr. Philip shines a star of the first 
magnitude in the catalogues; and a hundred other aspirants for the 
honour of contributing to the ease of the human stomach, roll in their 
own cabriolets. 
+ But John Bull is a straitforward animal, and cookery-books have 
a still higher claim on his love. The power to know of what his medi- 
cine may be composed, is prohibited by the physician, for, probably, 
very sufficient reasons ; but the power to ascertain the ingredients of his 
own dinner, is an indulgence which no man, born in a free country, can 
be fairly expected to relinquish. On this principle, cookery-books 
have exhibited the finest instances of popularity since the invention of 
printing. Amatory tales, political libels, and Moore’s Almanack, may 
boast of a handsome circulation ; but what are their exploits to the half- 
million annual copies of Mrs. Rundell’s modes of dressing fish, flesh, and 
fowl—to the late ever-lamented Kitchiner’s receipts for sorrel-sauce and 
salmagundi—to the ancient glories of Madame Glasse, or the rising 
fame of “ Every Man his own Cook-Maid?” Yet, if these fine applica- 
tions of human genius to human utility take the highest rank, next, and 
not far below, are those works which look to the well-being of the 
human outside. Such works are hitherto few among us; and we have 
not more than half-a-dozen that teach a yellow skin to rival the snow, 
or a snowy skin to assume the tincture of the rose. The ladies generally 
manage these matters for themselves, without the aid of books; but 
there are cases in which neither a Parisian marchande, nor Messrs. Bay- 
ley and Blew, can help them; and the case to which Mr. Wadd turns 
his charitable pen is one. 
_ We must let his title tell his story; nothing can be more expres- 
sive :— 
ComMENts oN CoRPULENCY ; 
LryeAMENts OF LEANNESS ; 
Mens. oF 
Drier AND DrIererics. 
By Wm. Waonp. 
Every particle in this epigraph is full of intelligence. Even the 
author’s name is one of those happy instances of fortune, which, like 
that of Kitchiner to a cookery-book, is equivalent to excellence. “ Fast- 
ing made Easy, by Wadd,” will, we undertake to say, be considered a 
stock-book until the art of distention is no more. 
The book begins in the mysterious manner suited to its lofty subject : 
—The celebrated traveller, Dr. Clarke, alluding to the Pyramids, says, 
‘ The mind, elevated by wonder, feels at once the force of the axiom— 
that in Vastness, whatever be its nature, dwells sublimity.’” From 
this the conclusion is rapid and irresistible :—“ Why may not the moun- 
tains of fat—the human Olympi and Caucasi—excite our attention ? 
They fill a large space in society, are great objects of interest, and 
ought to afford us no small maatter of instruction.” 
On the matter of cookery, he quotes that unquestionable maxim 
which has given immortality to Monsieur Ude :—“ Music, dancing, 
encing, painting, poetry, generalship, politics, and mechanics in general, 
