250 THE COOKERY OF THE PHEASANT 



soon came to be doubly appreciated as establishing 

 swift communications with the subterraneous fires. 

 It must have chilled the ardour of any rotisseur to 

 know that the game, done to a turn, was to be cooled 

 in the passage through interminable corridors ; now 

 the tinkle of a silver bell demanded the change of the 

 courses ; and the chef who respected himself often 

 kept his master waiting. He felt that the cook must 

 be superior to the caprices of amorous dalliance or 

 frivolous talk ; and, on the other hand, on the per- 

 fection of his repasts he knew that he staked his 

 character and fortunes. 



The Revolution reversed everything, and the lines 

 of the French chefs fell in uncongenial places when 

 they followed the ruined tmigrks to Coblenz and else- 

 where. Yet some of those who stayed at home found 

 occupation, and others who had emigrated were soon 

 tempted to return. For, strange to say, the troubles 

 of the Revolution were the birth-time of those Parisian 

 restaurateurs who have made themselves a world-wide 

 notoriety. It is said that the reaction from intense 

 excitement brings factitious cravings ; and we know 

 from Boccaccio and the records of the Plagues that men 

 who despair of the morrow do their best to live in the 

 day. It is certain that Beauvilliers established his 

 famous restaurant when the prisons of Paris were 



