456 Of Food. 



will be of feeding the poor with this kind of food, 

 it will be necessary to ascertain how much of it will be 

 required to give a comfortable meal to one person, and 

 how much the expense will be of providing the sauce 

 for that quantity of pudding. To determine these two 

 points with some degree of precision, I made the fol- 

 lowing experiment : Having taken my breakfast, con- 

 sisting of two dishes of coffee with cream, and a dry 

 toast, at my usual hour of breakfasting (nine o'clock 

 in the morning), and having fasted from that time till 

 five o'clock in the afternoon, I then dined upon my 

 hasty pudding, with the American sauce already de- 

 scribed. And I found after my appetite for food was 

 perfectly satisfied, and I felt that I had made a com- 

 fortable dinner, that I had eaten just i Ib. \\ oz. of the 

 pudding; and the ingredients of which the sauce which 

 was eaten with it was composed were half an ounce of 

 butter, three quarters of an ounce of molasses, and 21 

 grains or ^53 of a pint of vinegar. 



The cost of this dinner may be seen by the follow- 

 ing computation : 



For the Pudding. 



Farthings. 



I Ib. i^ oz. of hasty pudding, at T.\ farthings a pound . . 2-^ 



For the Sauce. 



Half an ounce of butter, at lod. per pound l^ 



Three quarters of an ounce of molasses, at 6d. per pound . I 

 3^-j of a pint of vinegar, at 2s. ^d. the gallon o^ 



Total for the sauce .... 2 j 5 ff farthings. 



Sum total of expenses for this dinner, for the pudding and 



its sauce 4]f farthings. 



Or something less than one penny farthing. 



I believe it would not be easy to provide a dinner in 

 London, at this time, when provisions of all kinds are 



