NATURAL HISTORY 59 



1807 in Portugal, the library of the famous 

 Alcantara convent was pillaged by Junot's 

 soldiers, and its precious manuscripts used 

 in the making of cartridges. An officer 

 of the commissariat who was present 

 happened on an old book of recipes selected 

 by the monks, and among them the one 

 now under notice, which was applied only 

 to partridges. 



It struck him as interesting, and after 

 trying it when he returned to France in 

 the following year, he gave it to the 

 Duchesse D'Abrantes, who preserved it 

 in her memoirs. It was perhaps, as 

 Monsieur L'Escoffier remarks in a pathetic 

 aside, the only good thing the French 

 derived from that unfortunate campaign. 

 Here is the simple little dish on which the 

 worthy monks, who among other things if 

 we remember aright were called upon to 

 renounce the flesh, used to regale them- 

 selves : 



Empty the partridges from the front ; 

 bone the breasts and stuff them with fine 

 duck's foies gras, mixed with quartered 



