"_Still Beauty must be stealing hearts,
And knavery stealing purses;
Still cooks must live by making tarts
And wits by making verses._"
SOME fine day, perchance, I shall to market go and find there what all
housekeepers are "a-sighin' and a-cryin' for"--namely a new edible;
and be it fish, flesh, or fowl, I shall, with all haste, make you
acquainted with its nature, and with the name of the marketman who
introduces the boon; and methinks that nothing short of canonization
should reward the man, or woman, who finds "something new under the
sun."
But till that blessed day of discovery really arrives I must be
content with telling you of ways that may be new and tricks that are
worth trying for the serving of viands which have constituted human
nature's daily food since the world began. Unless, however, I can
bring to your minds by my suggestions a state of contentment which
will enable you to await that hour of revealment with patience almost
amounting to indifference, my duty is but half done.