OPSOPHA&T. 497 



without a rival ; Zamos rests his fame on a black sauce 

 (beurre noir ?) ; the white sauce {k la poulette ?) of a sixth 

 pupil has already brought him into notice ; and my last 

 the other day got immense icvSo^ and a place in the 

 family of a nobleman, who had witnessed his extraordi- 

 nary feat of serving a large pig at table, one half of 

 which was roasted, and the other boiled ; the most won- 

 derfiil part of the whole being that though the porker 

 was stuffed with a farcie of whole birds and fish, there 

 was no discernible trace of a suture, nor any other ap- 

 parent means by which they had been introduced. All 

 these young men have been trained to their profession 

 under my own immediate eye at home ; but the advan- 

 tages accruing from my acquirements are felt out-of- 

 doors as well : I am often stopped in the street for ad- 

 vice : either it is a stew that has been deluged in sauce, 

 a scarus poisoned with allspice, or some principal dish in 

 the second course gone wrong, and what's to be done ? 

 The other day I was summoned in breathless haste into 

 a kitchen by a poor feUow who had roasted all the juices 

 out of a pig tiU it was as dry as a board ; this misfor- 

 tune had taken away his wits, but they were instantly 

 restored on my telling him the case was not without re- 

 medy, but Idcrifiov, provided no time was lost in plung- 

 ing the burnt carcase, while stiU hot, into a bath of sauce 

 proper for it. I stood by whilst he did so, and soon left the 

 pig filling his skin, and the youth in transports of grati- 

 tude.'* ' We need not prolong our colloquy, my friend. 



* Pigs appear to have been favoTirite subjects for experiments 

 in Greek and Eoman kitchens. ' A vast swine was then brought 

 in cooked as the boar had been. ' Ha!' cried Lentulus rising from 

 his couch, in order to inspect it more closely, ' I really believe that 

 the cook has forgotten to disembowel the animal. Bring him hither 

 directly.' The cook appeared with troubled mien, and confessed, 

 to the indignation of the whole party, in his hurry he had forgot- 

 ten to cleanse the beast. 'Now really,' said the enraged Cae- 



