article should sell good butter to his customers. In France, for
instance, intolerance was carried so far as to forbid “all persons to
re-scrape, beat, or work up any butter, either fresh or salted; change,
mix, or mingle it, under _pain of being whipped_.”[XVIII-35] Since then
the strangeness of such a measure has become palpable, the more so as
modern good faith and honesty render it more useless than ever.
During the early ages of the Church, butter was burned in the lamps
instead of oil. This practice is still continued in Abyssinia.[XVIII-36]
The cathedral of Rouen has a tower, called the “Butter Tower.” It
acquired this name from the fact that George d’Amboise, who was
archbishop of that city in 1500, seeing that oil was scarce in his
diocese during Lent, authorised the use of butter, on condition that
each diocesan should pay _six deniers Tournois_ (about a farthing) for
the permission. The money obtained by these means served to construct
the “Butter Tower.”[XVIII-37]
To obtain butter instantly it is only necessary, in summer, to put new
milk into bottles some hours after it has been taken from the cow, and
shake it briskly. The clots which form, thrown into a sieve, washed and
pressed together, constitute the finest and most delicate butter that
can possibly be made.
One of the great means of preserving butter fresh for any length of time
is, first to press all the buttermilk completely out, then to keep it
under water (renewing the water frequently), and to abstract it from the
influence of heat and air by wrapping it in a wet cloth.
When butter has become very rancid, it is melted several times by a
moderate heat, with or without the addition of water, and, as soon as it
has been malaxated, after the cooling, in order to extract any water it
may have retained, it is put into brown freestone pots, sheltered from
the contact of the air. Frequently, when it is melted, a piece of
toasted bread is put into it, which acts in the same manner as charcoal;
that is to say, it attenuates the rancidity.[XVIII-38]
CHEESE.
A demi-god, Aristæus, the son of Apollo, and King of Arcadia, invented
cheese,[XVIII-39] and the whole of Greece welcomed with gratitude this
royal and almost divine present. Sober individuals willingly ate some at
their meals;[XVIII-40] gluttons perceived that it sharpened the
appetite; and great drinkers that it provoked copious libations. Thus
the aged Nestor, wise as he was, brought wine to Machaon, who had just
been wounded in the right arm, and did not fail to add to it goat cheese
and an onion, to force him to drink more.[XVIII-41]
This food was also well known to the Hebrews, and the holy writings
sometimes mention it.[XVIII-42]
Mare’s milk, or that of the ass, makes an excellent cheese, but much
inferior to that procured from the camel, for which an epicure could not
pay too dearly. Cow-milk cheese, although more fat and unctuous, was
only considered as third-rate.[XVIII-43]
The Phrygians made exquisite cheese by artistically mixing the milk of
asses and mares. The Scythians only employed the former; the Greeks
imitated them.[XVIII-44] The Sicilians also mixed the milk of goats and
ewes.[XVIII-45]
The Romans smoked their cheeses, to give them a sharp taste; they
possessed public places expressly for this use, and subject to police
regulations which no one could evade.[XVIII-46]
In the time of Pliny, little goat cheeses, which were much esteemed,
were sent every morning to the market for the sale of dainties, from the
environs of Rome.[XVIII-47] With the addition of a little bread, they
formed the breakfast of sober and delicate persons. Asia Minor, Tuscany,
the Alps, Gaul, and Nîmes especially, furnished very good ones for the
tables of the Romans,[XVIII-48] who sought in preference certain sweet
and soft qualities. The greater part of barbarous nations esteemed only
the strong cheese.[XVIII-49]
The Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans, always kept some of these last for the
provision of their armies, and it was among them a military
aliment.[XVIII-50] The Athenians fed their wrestlers with it,[XVIII-51]
and it was the sole treat of the shepherds of Italy.[XVIII-52]
The lower classes and country people prepared with cheese and various
salted substances a dish they thought most relishing, and which
epicureans only mentioned with horror. This was called _tyrotarichus_,
and Cicero often employs this word to designate a frugal style of
cookery.[XVIII-53]
Besides those countries celebrated for the goodness of cheeses already
mentioned, there is Tromelia, in Achaia,[XVIII-54] and the Island of
Cythnus, where they represented their cheeses on their money, an
ingenious manner of making them known, which succeeded wonderfully well;
and lastly, Salonia, a city of Bithynia, renowned for its rich pastures,
where numerous herds of cows were kept, and whose milk furnished an
exquisite kind known by the name of Salonite cheese.[XVIII-55] It
appears to have been often served to the Emperor Augustus, who ate it
with brown bread, little fish, and fresh figs.[XVIII-56]
The art of giving a relish to the cheese, by mixing with it odoriferous
herbs, is said to be more than nine hundred years old. This operation
was designated _persiller_, showing that originally parsley was
introduced.[XVIII-57] We cannot say whether the Romans made use of this
plant to give a pungency to their cheese, but it is certain that they
often mixed some herbs with it.[XVIII-58] Thus Columella informs us that
sometimes the leaves and small branches of the fig tree were used to
communicate an agreeable flavour.[XVIII-59] The same writer has
transmitted to us a very simple process, much in use in his time, for
preserving cheese. They first covered it with brine, and then dried it
in a thick smoke obtained from straw or green wood.[XVIII-60]
The following are some of the dishes of which cheese served as the
basis:--
_Salad of Cheese à la Bithynienne._--Cut some slices of excellent bread;
leave them for some time in vinegar and water; then make a mixture of
this bread with pepper, mint, garlic, and green coriander; throw on it a
good quantity of cow’s cheese salted; add water, oil, and
wine.[XVIII-61]
_Dish of Tromelian Cheese._--Take fresh cheese; mix it well with pepper,
alisander, dried mint, pine nuts, sun raisins, and dates; then add
honey, vinegar, and afterwards, garum, oil, wine, and cooked
wine.[XVIII-62]
The celebrated cheese of Rouergue, known under the name of “Roquefort
cheese,” was made, in the 17th century as follows--we cite from
Marcorelle:--
“The curd employed is made from sheep’s milk, mixed with a little goat’s
milk. It is broken as small as possible. When it is taken from the
moulds, it is bound with a linen band and taken to the drying room; then
to the caves, where it is rubbed with salt on the two flat sides of the
surface. The downy substance which subsequently covers the crust is
frequently scraped off; after which, it is left to ripen on tablets
exposed to currents of air which proceed from the interstices of the
rocks in which the caves are formed.”
Besides salt, employed as a seasoning and condiment for cheeses, they
contain in their composition different substances which give rise to an
infinite variety of odours, taste, and colour. In the Vosges, for
example, they mix with the cheese of Gerardmer seeds of plants belonging
to the family of umbellifers; in the country of Limburg, they
incorporate chopped parsley, scallions, and tarragon; the Italians make
use of saffron to colour the Parmesan cheese, and the English of roucou
for the Cheshire cheese. Others are in the habit of cutting away a
portion of the middle of the cheese, and filling the cavity with Malaga
or Canary wine.[XVIII-63]
EGGS.
Orpheus, Pythagoras, and their sectators--good and humane people as ever
lived--unceasingly recommended in their discourses to abstain from eggs,
in order not to destroy a germ which nature had destined for the
production of chicken.[XVIII-64] Many allowed themselves to be
persuaded, and would have believed it an unpardonable crime if they had
eaten a tiny _omelette_, or boiled eggs.
Many of the most learned philosophers held eggs in a kind of respect
approaching to veneration, because they saw in them the emblem of the
world and the four elements. The shell, they said, represented the
earth; the white, water; the yolk, fire; and air was found under the
shell.[XVIII-65]
In India and Syria, there was less scruple about swallowing a few eggs;
but the hens were devoutly worshipped, because the world is indebted to
them for chickens.[XVIII-66]
The Greeks and Romans, although more reasonable, felt, however, for
eggs a trifling weakness not exempt from superstition. They already made
use of them in their sacrifices, and carried them with great pomp in the
festivals of Ceres.[XVIII-67] For them it was also a symbol of the
universe, and an expiation would not have been complete if some eggs had
not been broken on the altar of the irritated gods.[XVIII-68]
Magicians and sorcerers, who abounded in Rome, established singular
fables with regard to eggs. Livia, the happy consort of Nero, being
_enceinte_, consulted a sorceress, who said to her, “warm in your bosom
a new laid egg until hatched; if a male chicken comes forth, thank the
gods, who will grant you a son.” The empress followed this advice; a
cock chick came, and the princess gave birth to Tiberius.[XVIII-69] This
anecdote circulated in Rome, and all ladies in the same interesting
situation, imitating Livia, amused themselves with hatching chickens.
It appears that the egg played also a most important part in dreams. A
man having dreamed that he had eaten one, went to consult a soothsayer,
who told him that the white signified he would soon have silver, and the
yolk that he would receive gold. The fortunate dreamer really received
very soon afterwards a legacy partly consisting of those two precious
metals. He hastened to thank the diviner, and offered him a piece of
silver. “This is very well for the white,” said the latter, “but is
there nought for the yolk?”[XVIII-70] It is not known whether the heir
was generous enough to understand this _bon mot_.
All these pagan follies are to be accounted for by the doctrine of the
poet Orpheus, who first taught the Greeks that a primitive egg had
produced all other beings;[XVIII-71] a very ancient idea, no doubt,
transmitted to them by the Egyptians, who, as well as the Phœnicians,
Persians, and Chaldeans, represented the world by that symbol.
It is now time to describe eggs as an aliment.
The shepherds of Egypt had a singular manner of cooking them without the
aid of fire: they placed them in a sling, which they turned so rapidly
that the friction of the air heated them to the exact point required for
use.[XVIII-72]
In Rome and in Greece, new-laid eggs were served at the beginning of a
repast;[XVIII-73] and the Roman gourmets asserted that, to maintain
oneself in health, “it was necessary to remain at table from the egg to
the apple.”[XVIII-74] We have adopted the half of that proverb, and we
say every day, this story must be taken up _ab ovo_.
The Romans did not confine themselves to hens’ eggs, of which they
preferred the long ones;[XVIII-75] they sought those of the partridge
and pheasant, which Galen considered the most delicate.[XVIII-76] They
also thought much of peacocks’ eggs. It was Quintus Hortensius who set
the example of this luxury,[XVIII-77] which, however, was discarded by
degrees when the precious fecundity of the hens of Adria began to be
appreciated.[XVIII-78]
The ancients appear to have been very partial to soft-boiled eggs, which
may be sucked at once. Nicomachus mentions them: “My father,” says he,
“had left me a poor little estate; in a few months I made it as round as
an egg; then, breaking the shell, I made but one gulp of it.”[XVIII-79]
At Rome, this aliment was prepared in twenty different manners; they
pickled it,[XVIII-80] cooked it in water, on hot ashes, on charcoal, and
in the fryingpan. Eggs eaten in the shell, however, were thought the
most wholesome.[XVIII-81]
_Eggs à la Romaine._--Cook some eggs; cut them, and throw over a
seasoning composed in the following manner. Bruise some pepper,
alisander, coriander, and rue, to which add garum, honey, and a little
oil.[XVIII-82]
_Hard Eggs à l’Athénienne._--Cut each egg in four, and sprinkle over
garum, oil, and wine.[XVIII-83]
_Fried Eggs à l’Epænète._--Fry some eggs; place them in a dish, and
season with a mixture of pepper, alisander, pine nuts, garum, benzoin,
and pepper.[XVIII-84]
_Egyptian Egg Pudding._--Take the yolks of a good number of hard eggs;
reduce them to a paste with crushed pine nuts, an onion, a leek, some
gravy, and pepper; add a little wine and garum. Stuff an intestine with
this pulp, and cook.[XVIII-85]
_Dish of Eggs à la Macédonienne._--Put in a mortar some pepper, mint,
parsley, pennyroyal, cheese, and pine nuts; when this is well crushed,
add honey, vinegar, fresh water, and garum; then a large number of yolks
of eggs; mix well with the rest; throw the whole into a saucepan; add
bread soaked in vinegar and water,--which, however, must be well
squeezed out--with fresh cow’s-milk cheese, cucumbers, almonds, chopped
onions, fowls’ livers, and garum.[XVIII-86]
_Lesbian Eggs aux Roses._--Pluck the leaves of some roses; take only the
whitest part, and put them into a mortar with garum. Stir a long time;
add half a small glass of gravy; stir and strain; put into this liquor
the brains of four fowls and eight scruples of ground pepper; stir a
long time; add to it eight eggs, half a small glass of wine, and as
much cooked wine, and, lastly, a little oil. Grease well the inside of a
dish, pour the whole into it, and place it over a very slow charcoal
fire. Cook, sprinkle with pepper, and serve.[XVIII-87]
It was a custom, common to every agricultural population throughout
Europe and Asia, to celebrate the new year by eating eggs; and they
formed a part of the presents made on that day. Care was taken to dye
them different colours, particularly red--the favourite colour of the
ancients, and of the Celts in particular.[XVIII-88]
It appears that, formerly, people consumed an astonishing number of eggs
in England on Easter Sunday. We find the following article in an account
of expenses for the king’s household (Edward I.) on the occasion of this
festival:--
“For four hundred and a half of eggs, eighteen pence.”[XVIII-89] At that
epoch eggs were not so dear in England as they are now; nor did kings
fail to eat more of them.
In 1533, a bishop of Paris, authorised by a bull from the Pope, Julius
III., being disposed to permit the use of eggs during Lent, the
parliament took offence, and prevented the execution of the episcopal
mandate. It is this severe abstinence from eggs during Lent which gave
rise to the custom of having a great number of them blessed on Easter
eve, to be distributed among friends on Easter Sunday; whence comes the
expression, “to give Easter eggs.” Pyramids of them were carried into
the king’s cabinet after the high mass. They were gilded, or admirably
painted, and the prince made presents of them to his
courtiers.[XVIII-90]
XIX.
HUNTING.
From the first ages of the world man has passionately loved the exercise
of hunting; the dangers he then encountered inflamed his courage. It was
glorious to struggle with the terrible inhabitants of the forest or the
desert; to conquer them; to bring home their bleeding spoils; to furnish
an heroic name for the songs of poets, and the admiration of posterity.
The sacred writings have handed down to us the name of the first mighty
hunter before the Lord;[XIX-1] they inform us that Ishmael, in the
solitude of Arabia, became skilful in drawing the bow;[XIX-2] and that
David, when yet young, dared to fight with lions and bears.[XIX-3]
Fable, that veiled light of truth, through which it sometimes glimmers,
caused Hercules to be ranked with the gods when he had overthrown the
lion of Nemæa, the hydra of Lerna, and the wild boar of
Erymanthus.[XIX-4]
Diana descended to the earth, and pursued in the forests the timid
stag.[XIX-5] The Greeks raised altars to her, and the centaur Chiron
learned of her the noble art of venery, which he, in his turn, taught to
illustrious disciples, among whom are mentioned Æsculapius, Nestor,
Theseus, Ulysses, and Achilles.[XIX-6]
Pollux trained the first hunting dogs, and Castor accustomed horses to
follow the track of wild beasts.[XIX-7] From that time, heroes, when
resting from real conquests, sought diversion in games nearly as
formidable, and imitative of their combats, which often placed their
lives in danger. Ulysses, for example, always bore the scar of a wound
inflicted by a wild boar.[XIX-8]
The most grave philosophers, and the most illustrious poets have
bestowed praises on the chase.
Aristotle advised young men to apply themselves to it early.[XIX-9]
Plato finds in it something divine,[XIX-10] Horace looks upon it as
healthful exercise, strengthening to the body, and preparing the way for
glory;[XIX-11] and indeed, this heroic and royal exercise[XIX-12] always
possessed irresistible attraction for the greatest men of antiquity.
The warriors of Homer,[XIX-13] Pelopidas,[XIX-14] Alexander of
Macedon,[XIX-15] Philopœmen,[XIX-16] seemed to derive from it fresh
warlike ardour.
The ancients hunted in the open country, in forests, and in parks.
Mounted on fiery steeds, armed with javelins and long cutlasses, or with
swords and lances,[XIX-17] they excited their indefatigable hounds, and
promised to consecrate to Diana the stag’s horns, or the tusks of the
boar,[XIX-18] which might become their prey.
The Greeks and Romans reared hunting dogs with extreme care, and they
began to make use of them from the age of eight or ten months.[XIX-19]
These animals had names, short, sonorous, and easy to be pronounced,
such as Lance, Flower, Blade, Strength, Ardent, &c.[XIX-20]
The strongest and most courageous came from England and
Scotland;[XIX-21] Crete, Tuscany, and Umbria were the nurseries of the
most expert.[XIX-22] The Gallic dogs surpassed all others by their
agility and astonishing swiftness.[XIX-23]
Females were generally preferred to the males,[XIX-24] either because
they were more docile, or pursued the game with more ardour and
persistence. It may be as well to remark, too, in this place, that the
Greeks thought much more of mares than of horses for chariot
racing.[XIX-25]
The dogs were always chained. Their liberty was only given them at the
moment of starting for the chase.[XIX-26] Their fire and ferocity were
then incredible. They dashed off with fury, and when they succeeded in
coming up with their prey, some would suffer their legs to be cut off
rather than loose their hold. The Indian dogs, trained for lion hunting,
often gave this proof of obstinate and implacable rage.[XIX-27]
The ancients also took game by means of pits covered over with
brushwood, in snares,[XIX-28] with traps,[XIX-29] and with nets;[XIX-30]
moreover, they often made use of bows and arrows, and understood the art
of training falcons and hawks.[XIX-31]
Eastern princes amused themselves by hunting in parks where a great
number of wild beasts were kept.[XIX-32] The Romans had too much taste
and money, and too great a desire to spend it, not to imitate this
expensive and royal luxury. Fulvius Hirpinus possessed a park of forty
acres near Viterbo, in Tuscany. Lucius Lucullus, and Quintus Hortensius
hastened to create more beautiful ones, and they did not fail to have a
host of imitators.[XIX-33]
By the Roman law, hunting was unrestricted:[XIX-34] only, no person
could pursue game on another’s land without the owner’s
permission.[XIX-35]
Besides the pleasure which this amusement afforded, the ancients, like
ourselves, discovered profit in it; and the produce of their chase
became one of the finest ornaments of their feasts. Isaac ordered his
son Esau to go out with his weapons, his quiver and bow, and to prepare
for him savoury meat, such as he loved (venison).[XIX-36] Solomon had
stags, roebucks, and wild oxen served on his table every day.[XIX-37]
Cyrus, King of Persia, ordered that venison should never be wanting at
his repasts.[XIX-38] Is it necessary to add that it was the delight of
two nations the most gastronomic in the world?--of the effeminate
Greeks, and more especially those Romans for whom the animals of the
earth, ocean, and air were only to be valued in proportion to the
impossibility of obtaining them in Europe, Asia, and Africa; an immense
inheritance, conquered by noble ancestors, and which their degenerated
sons ransacked for their satisfaction and insatiable gluttony.[XIX-39]
The English have always loved hunting--the favourite pastime of their
kings.
Alfred the Great was not twelve years old when he had acquired the
reputation of being a skilful and indefatigable hunter.[XIX-40]
The noble and the wealthy differed from the serfs by their singular
taste for this royal diversion; and, in their pursuit of it, they spared
neither pains nor expense in procuring those famous dogs of pure race
which the ancient Greeks and Romans prized so highly. When Athelstan,
Alfred’s grandson, had subdued Constantine King of Wales, he imposed an
annual tribute. The vanquished monarch had to give him gold, silver,
cattle, and, which is remarkable, a certain number of hawks, and dogs
possessing a quick scent, and capable of unkenneling wild
beasts.[XIX-41] Edgar, the successor of Athelstan, changed the tribute
of money into an annual tribute of three hundred wolves’ skins.[XIX-42]
Notwithstanding his great piety, and the extreme reserve of his habits,
Edward the Confessor took great delight in following the hounds, and
exciting their ardour by his cries.[XIX-43]
King Harold never appeared anywhere without his favourite hawk on his
hand; neither was the approach of the British Nimrod announced otherwise
than by the joyous barking of the royal pack.[XIX-44] Indeed, at that
epoch, every person of distinction took the prince as his model, and
gave himself up, heart and soul, to what people are pleased to call “the
noble exercise of hunting.”
This aristocratic taste became so extremely prevalent under the
domination of the Norman kings, that a writer of the twelfth century has
judged it with great severity. “In our time,” he says, “hunting is
considered as the most honourable occupation, the most excellent virtue.
Our nobility show more solicitude, sacrifice more money, and make a
greater parade in favour of it, than they would if the question were
war. They are more furious in the pursuit of wild beasts, than they
would be if they had to conquer the enemies of Great Britain. As a
necessary consequence, they no longer retain any sentiment of humanity;
they have descended almost to the level of the savage animals they are
in the daily habit of tracking and unkenneling.”[XIX-45]
These uncomplimentary observations of John of Salisbury did not prevent
James I. from pursuing the cherished diversion of his predecessors. That
prince being one day at the hunt in the environs of Bury St. Edmunds,
remarked, among the persons composing his suite, an opulent citizen
magnificently dressed, whose rich costume eclipsed that of the lords the
most renowned at court for the elegance of their attire. The king asked
who the hunter was. Some one replied that it was Lamb. “Lamb, say you?”
rejoined the king, laughing; “I don’t know what sort of a lamb that may
be; but what I know well is, that he has got a superb fleece on his
back.”[XIX-46]
THE STAG.