OPSOPHAGY. 489 



ing any idea which deserves recording, that may have oc- 

 curred to me whilst following my avocations; and in the 

 following lines you have what I conceive to be the dis- 

 tinction plainly pointed out : — 



To trim and cut, 



Scale, scour, and gut. 



Put things before tlie fire ; 



PuU peacock, duck, 



Or turkey pluck, 



A tettix may aspire. 



Msesonic cooks, from Cadmus sprung. 



All sucli pretenders scout, 



Wto, so they pop their pudding in. 



Care not how it comes out ; 



Who serve flesh fit for cannibals. 



Or boil'd to shreds and pieces. 



Trusting blind chance to rule the roast, — 



'AXX' EOTi Tif (fipovrja-LS.' 



'Is there any other mode of distingniishing a Mseson 

 from a pretender ?' ' Yes ; one causes every guest to 

 sneeze and weep the supper through; the other, more 

 discreet in the use of the pepper-box and onions, never 

 makes such a blunder ; and whUst all professors have one 

 common stock to deal with, the. real cook manufactures 

 out of it, much, — he that is no cook, nothing : add to 

 which, you will always find in the former a devotion to 

 his art, in the latter a devotion only to self-interest. 

 Whatever he may already know, the conscientious chef 

 studies to possess himself of the hints of distinguished 

 predecessors and contemporaries, and for this purpose he 

 dare not neglect the literature of his profession. Philoso- 

 phers make much talk about their 'midnight oH,' yet 

 when it has been burnt out, what is the world often the 

 better for all their pretended discoveries ? but our re- 

 searches, unlike theirs, are at once practical and useful ; 

 and no sooner are we installed and fixed in some good 

 place, than our ambition is roused, and we resolve to 

 lose no opportunity of advancing cookery, nor of leaving 



y 3 



