A Peep into a Salad Bowl. 103 



sir, on the tables of the ancients as it is now, and was eaten in the same 

 way, sir, dressed with oil and vinegar. We get, sir, from Atheneus some 

 idea of the condiments used ; not all of these contributed to make a salad ; 

 but it shows they had the materials : 



• Dried grapes, ami salt, and eke new wine 

 Newly boiled down, and assafcetida. (pah !) 

 And cheese, and thj'me, and sesame, (open sesame.) 

 And nitre, too. and cummin-seed. 

 And sumach, honey, and marjorum. 

 And herbs, and vinegar, and oil. 

 And sauce of onions, mustard and capers mixed. 

 And parsley, capers too, and eggs. 

 And lime, and cardamoms, and th' acid juice 

 Which comes from the green fig-tree ; besides lard, 

 And eggs and honey, and flour ^Tapped in fig-leaves, 

 And all compounded in one savory force-meat.' 

 "They had pepper, too. Opheliau says : 



' Pepper from Libya take, and frankincense.' 

 So, sir, if you had dmed with Alcibiades, no doubt he would have dressed 

 a salad for you with Samian oil, and Sphettian vinegar, sir, pepper from 

 Libya, and salt from — ah — hem — " 

 " Attica, Doctor." 



" Attica, my learned friend ; thank you. Now, sir, there was one thing 

 the ancients did with lettuce which we do not do. They boiled it, sir, 

 and served it up like asparagus ; so, too, did they with cucumbers — a cou- 

 ple of indigestible dishes they were, no doubt. Lettuce, my dear friend, 

 should have a quick growth, in the first place, to be good ; it should have 

 a rich mould, sir, that it may spring up quickly, so as to be tender and 

 crisp. Then, sir, it should be new-plucked, carried from the garden a few 

 minutes before it is placed upon the table. I would suggest a parasol, 

 sir, to keep the leaves cool until it reaches the shadow of within-doors. 

 Then, sir, it must be washed — mind you, ice water I Then place it upon 

 the table — what Corinthian ornament more perfect and symmetrical ? 

 Now, sir, comes the important part, the dressing. 'To dress a salad,' 

 says the learned Petrus Petroniiis, ' you must have a prodigal to furnish 

 the oil, a counsellor to dispense the salt, a miser to dole out the vinegar, 

 and a madman to stir it !' Commit that to memory, my learned friend I" 

 " It is down, Doctor." ( Tablets.) 



'• Let me show you," continued Dr. Bushwhacker, "how to dress a 

 salad. Take a small spoonful of salt, thus : thrice the quantity of mus- 

 tard — 'Durham' — thus : incorporate : pour a slender stream of oil from 



