COOKERY OF THE HARE 237 



him, ridiculed the fooHsh scruples of the past, and in 

 his ' Almanach des Gourmands' (1803) placed the 

 flesh of hares first in the Hst of dark meats. 



AVe have now tracked our hare to the period of its 

 history when at length it was given its proper position 

 amongst game in the larder. Thenceforward it 

 received the earnest attention of cooks and the esteem 

 of connoisseurs ; and I hardly think that the con- 

 sumption of its flesh— with all due deference to Dr. 

 Tobias Venner— has materially added to the hst of 

 suicides, or of those unfortunate insanes who suffer 

 from melancholia. Let us now discuss the cookery 

 of the animal according to the canons of modern 

 gastronomy. 



' First catch your hare.' Now this I say in sober 

 earnest. It is not a misquotation from good Mrs. 

 Glasse, who neither made use of the words so often 

 imputed to her, nor the sentence which commentators 

 have ingeniously substituted, 'first case your hare.' 

 If we consult the 'Art of Cookery made Plain and 

 Easy,' we find that what Hannah actually wrote was, 

 ' take your hare when it is cased.' No : I use the 

 old saying to show that first and foremost there is a 

 great deal in the choice of the animal for the table, 

 for in plain truth there be hares and hares. Importa- 

 tion from abroad has brought all sorts of game - the 



