THE COOKERY OF THE PHEASANT 251 



being filled to overflowing, and when the tumbrils, 

 with their melancholy loads, were continually jolting 

 to the guillotines. Beauvilliers was a genius in his 

 way, and was epicurean in the interests of others, who 

 rose serenely superior to passing incidents. He must 

 have brought a wonderful brain to his business, and 

 his speculations succeeded beyond all expectation. 

 Had he succumbed to the terrors and anxieties of 

 the time, the popularisation of high cookery might 

 have been delayed indefinitely. As it was, his new 

 establishment attracted appreciative guests, and its 

 master had soon a host of imitators. But Beauvilliers, 

 while he lived, could hold his own, as he did hold it 

 through the wars of the Empire to the Restoration. 

 Like old M. Pascal at Philippe's in the Rue Mont 

 Orgueil, he had a marvellous memory for faces, and 

 professed a seductive sympathy with the tastes of 

 his guests. As Brillat-Savarin remarked, he would 

 walk from table to table, suggesting special dishes 

 and wines with a charm there was no resisting. 

 When the bill came up, the tempter had disappeared, 

 and the party had their matwais quart d'heure all the 

 same. To such an eminently practical host the Revolu- 

 tion was an unmixed blessing in more ways than one. 

 It filled his cellars and larders as well as his salons ; 

 he bought cheap and sold dear. When the chateaux 



