man would not have strength sufficient to use the tongs or the shovels.
The andirons do not weigh less than a hundred pounds, the trivets forty
pounds; copper saucepans of thirty pounds are common, and so are spits
of eleven and twelve pounds. One roast is composed of one, two, or three
calves, two, three, or four sheep, besides game, venison, and poultry.
The boiling of the saucepans, the exhalations from the grease, render
the atmosphere so fat, so thick, that it is only necessary to breathe in
it to feed. A person would not dare enter one of those kitchens on the
eve of a feast day, for fear, as it were, of breaking his fast.
“In the 16th century persons washed their hands at the commencement of a
repast, and a second time when it was concluded. When the master of the
house was particular on the point of civility, he had a bason sent round
at this second ablution, filled with perfumed water.[XXIX-109]
“When the person seated in the chief place was a guest of distinction,
politeness made it indispensable to present him with water to rinse his
mouth.[XXIX-110]
“One of the most difficult points of French civility in the 16th century
was to drink to a person’s health, or return the compliment in a proper
manner.[XXIX-111] A guest at one end of the table held up his glass, and
called out: ‘Mr. Such-a-one, to your health!’ He replied: ‘I love it
from you!’[XXIX-112] During the whole of the repast, healths were
bandied to and fro, in every sense. At the end they touched glasses
together at a central point, which created a very singular kind of
clash, and, at the same time, the arms underneath formed a sort of
fasces of sleeves and cuffs.”[XXIX-113]
XXX.
VARIETY OF REPASTS.
The fertile country inhabited by the Jewish people furnished them with a
very great variety of excellent provisions. Those of which they made the
greatest consumption, and which we find generally mentioned in the
Scriptures, are bread, flour, barley, beans, lentils, wine, raisins,
figs, honey, butter, oil, sheep, oxen, fatted calves, &c.[XXX-1]
The fat of animals offered in sacrifice was reserved for the
Lord;[XXX-2] but, with this exception, the Hebrews could freely make use
of it. They esteemed it much, and when they wished to speak of a rich
banquet, they called it “a banquet of fat animals.”[XXX-3] “He that
loveth wine and oil,”[R] says Solomon, “shall not be rich.”[XXX-4]
The extreme simplicity of the greater part of the Biblical repasts ought
not to induce us to suppose that the Jews were entire strangers to the
inspirations of good cheer. “Solomon’s provisions for one day were
thirty measures of fine flour, and three score measures of meal, ten fat
oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, besides
harts, and roebucks, and fallow-deer, and fatted fowl.”[XXX-5]
That primitive nation also knew different kinds of banquets, which,
conformably with their _naïve_ manners, were associated with the
celebration of a religious solemnity, a sad or a joyful event, a family
festivity or mourning, a victory or a public calamity.[XXX-6]
The Greeks and Romans, skilful masters in the art of good living, were
early on the alert to assure the collection of all things necessary for
the support of life. “Take care,” said Aurelian to Flavius, “take care,
above all things, that the markets of Rome be well supplied: nothing
more gay or more peaceful than the people, when they are well
fed.”[XXX-7] This remark is much more profound than it at first appears.
At Athens, special officers visited the markets, and only permitted each
citizen to purchase and keep in his own house the quantity of provisions
necessary for one year.[XXX-8]
The ediles of Rome performed nearly similar functions.[XXX-9] The
prefect of the town was invested with the power of making regulations
for the markets,[XXX-10] and the prefect of provisions had the
inspection of the sale of bread, meat, wine, fish, and all other kinds
of aliment required either for the table of the rich or poor
plebeian.[XXX-11]
During a long time, in Greece and Italy, the only charm of repasts was,
that they furnished an opportunity for the exercise of those duties of
kind hospitality, which Apollodorus has described in the following
ingenuous style: “As soon as a friend,” says he, “steps on the threshold
of his host, the porter receives him with a smiling face; the dog of the
house comes immediately to caress him, amicably wagging his tail; then
some one runs and presents him a seat without being told.”[XXX-12] This
last trait is charming.
But afterwards, they thought much more of honouring the god of good
cheer than Jupiter Hospes, and joyous Comus became everywhere the
fashionable divinity. One of the ancients describes him in the following
manner: “He is seen at the door of an apartment communicating with the
banqueting hall; his smiling face is fresh, plump, and ruddy; his head
is crowned with roses, and he sleeps standing; his left hand rests on a
thyrsus, but sleep makes him loose his hold; he staggers, and the torch
will soon fall from his grasp.”[XXX-13]
The Greeks were fervent in their worship of this god, at an epoch when
Rome still prided herself on her transcendant sobriety. Conon gave a
banquet to all the Athenians after the battle of Cnidos, about four
centuries before the Christian era; and his celebrated contemporary, the
handsome Alcibiades, conqueror in the Olympic games, magnificently
regaled the numerous spectators who had just applauded his
triumph.[XXX-14]
The pagan temples themselves often rung with the sound of the music, the
chaunts, and the dances which always accompanied the religious banquets.
These feasts in honour of the immortals must have been rather unedifying
to the truly faithful, for gaiety generally degenerated into extreme
licentiousness.[XXX-15]
The conquest of Asia was fatal to the Romans. Their savage rudeness
yielded to the effeminate manners of the vanquished; and henceforth, the
epicureans of Italy studied but one thing--gastronomic delectation; had
but one worship--that of the goddess Victua,[XXX-16] protectress of
food, and sovereign of the table.
Luxury made appalling progress. Nearly a century B.C., the Romans did
not blush to give 50 denarii (£1 16_s._) for a young fatted peacock; 3
denarii at least (more than 2_s._) for a thrush;[XXX-17] and, a century
later, 4,000 sesterces (£36) were given for a couple of fine young
pigeons.[XXX-18]
Worse followed!
Seneca describes in few words the luxury of the table among the
voluptuous Romans:--“Behold,” says he, “Nomentanus and Apicius, those
happy conquerors of all that is delectable on earth or in the sea.
Behold them at table, stretched on their couches, and contemplating
innumerable viands. Harmonious songs flatter their ears, a variety of
pleasing objects occupy their eyes, and the most exquisite savours
captivate their insatiable palates.”[XXX-19]
The genius of gluttony multiplied the banquets by prescribing luxurious
gastronomic assemblages, sometimes in honour of the gods, and often for
the gratification of simple mortals themselves.
Each year, at the ides of November, a repast was offered to Jupiter in
the Capitol (_cœna Capitolina_). The statue of the god was present at
the banquet, reclining on a magnificent couch, with Juno and Minerva
seated on either side. These divinities were splendidly served, and, as
they touched nothing, in the middle of the night the seven epulary
priests joyously eat the supper of the three immortals.[XXX-20]
The cereal banquet (_cœna Cerealis_) was equally splendid, and Ceres
maintained the same frugality.[XXX-21]
A sterile reminiscence of the equality which reigned among men in the
golden age, placed the slaves at table by the side of their masters,
during the celebration of the Saturnalia (_cœna Saturnalis_).[XXX-22]
This usage was common to the Greeks and Romans.[XXX-23]
The ninth day of the August calends, and the thirteenth day of the
November calends, a gastronomic solemnity--a monstrous gala--brought
together the Roman pontiffs to celebrate the day of their inauguration
(_cœna pontificalis_). This banquet was worthy of the proverbial
delicacy of those sacred stomachs.[XXX-24]
The augurs treated themselves magnificently in their turn (_cœna
auguralis_), when they entered on their functions. The pagan priests of
Rome vied one with another in a noble emulation of exquisite refinement
and ruinous viands;[XXX-25] but it is said that the ministers of Mars,
who had the reputation of being arch-epicureans (_cœna saliaris_),
always won the palm in this struggle of magnificence and
voluptuousness.[XXX-26]
The day the Emperor took the title of Augustus, he gave a supper
(_cœna imperatoria_) to the senators and magistrates. The tributes of
a year were sometimes hardly sufficient to indemnify the grand master of
these imperial orgies.[XXX-27]
The triumphal banquets (_cœna triumphalis_) were less elegant, no
doubt, but they cost the victor who invited the people immense
sums.[XXX-28] The guests crowded into the vast inclosure of the temple
of Jupiter Capitolinus,[XXX-29] or the temple of Hercules.[XXX-30]
They sat down to table to celebrate the anniversary of a birth-day
(_cœna natalitia_),[XXX-31] the happy wedding-day (_cœna
nuptialis_),[XXX-32] the arrival of a friend (_cœna
adventitia_),[XXX-33] the sad day of his departure (_cœna
viatica_).[XXX-34] The melancholy ceremony of interment was followed by
a supper (_cœna funebris_), at which the guests were the relations
and friends of the deceased.[XXX-35] They drank to his manes, and, by
degrees, the wine not only stifled their laments but called forth joyous
smiles. The Romans have bequeathed to certain modern nations more than
the remembrance of their funeral repasts.
In the palmy days of Athens, the Greeks evinced more of the epicurean
than the glutton--a fact which may be inferred from the description of
the supper of Dinias.[XXX-36] The most magnificent of their repasts was,
perhaps, that which Alexander the Great had served to ten thousand
guests, who received, each one, a present of a golden patera.[XXX-37]
In Greece, as in Rome, the greater part of the events of life occasioned
the joyous meeting of relations and friends. At the birth of a
child,[XXX-38] a banquet was given in his honour; he was named on the
tenth day, and the ceremony terminated with a banquet,[XXX-39] in which
they offered the guests cooked Cherso cheese, cabbage boiled in oil,
pigeons, thrushes, fish, and brimming cups of excellent wine.[XXX-40]
The teething repast took place when the child had attained his seventh
month, and the weaning supper when he began to eat.[XXX-41]
These family feasts, more or less sumptuous according to the fortune and
rank of the individuals who gave them, were generally signalized by a
custom which ridiculous and egotistical vanity could alone authorise and
maintain. On the banquet day care was taken to throw the feathers of the
poultry before the door of the house, in order to excite the fruitless
greed of the poor wretches, who, as they passed,[XXX-42] prayed heartily
that the infernal divinities might take the proud amphitryon, his
guests, and even the meanest of his servants.
* * * * *
In France, about 1350, the setier (about twelve English bushels)
of--[XXX-43]
£ _s._ _d._
Wheat was worth 0 0 7
Rye 0 0 3
Oats 0 0 2½
Beans 0 0 5
Peas 0 0 6
A Hogshead of Wine 0 4 7
A Load of Hay 0 1 10
An Ox 0 6 10
A Horse 0 11 6
A Calf 0 1 2
A Sheep 0 0 4
A Fat Pig 0 2 0
A Gosling 0 0 1
A Hen 0 0 0¾
100 Eggs 0 0 1½
1lb of Butter 0 0 3½
1lb of Honey 0 0 10½
1lb of Wax 0 1 10
Prices of a few articles in France during the 15th century:[XXX-44]
£ _s._ _d._
1lb of Bread 0 0 0¼
1 Pint of Wine 0 0 0¼
1 Pint of Mustard 0 0 0¾
1 Bushel of Salt 0 0 2½
1lb of Pepper 0 0 2
1lb of Cinnamon 0 1 2
1lb of Bacon 0 0 0¾
A Pair of Pigeons 0 0 1¼
A Pair of Partridges 0 0 2½
A Cart-load of Wood (_une voie_) 0 0 8
A Sack of Charcoal 0 0 1
1lb of Candles 0 0 0½
In England, under the reign of Edward III., a royal proclamation fixed
the price of the following articles:--[XXX-45]
£ _s._ _d._
A Swan 0 0 4
A Porcelle 0 0 8
An Ewe 0 0 6
A Capon 0 0 6
A Hen 0 0 4
A Pullet 0 0 2½
A Poucyn 0 0 2
A Coney 0 0 4
A Teal 0 0 2
A River Mallard 0 0 5
A Snipe 0 0 1
A Woodcock 0 0 3
A Partridge 0 0 5
A Plover 0 0 3
A Pheasant 0 1 4
Twelve Eggs 0 0 1
Twelve Small Birds 0 0 1
The funeral repast of Sir John Redstone, Mayor of London, who died in
153l, occasioned the following expenses:--
£ _s._ _d._
Shipe Brede 0 7 5
7lbs of Sugar for the same 0 4 1
Two unces of Saffrun 0 2 0
Two unces of Clovys and Mace 0 1 8
Seven unces of Pepper 0 0 10½
Sixty Eggs 0 0 7½
Seven dysshes of Butter, at 4¼_d._
the gallone 0 3 3¾
Manchet Brede 0 1 0
400 of Peers 0 2 4
1lb of Bysketts 0 0 8
TO THE PYKE-MONGER.
Sixteen Pikes, at 1_s._ 4_d._ a piece 1 1 4
Eight roundes of Sturgeon 1 2 0
TO THE PULTER.
Six roundes of Brawne 0 11 8
Ten Swannes, at 6_s._ a piece 3 0 0
Two dozen of Quayles 0 10 0
Three dozen of Rabetts 0 6 6
Twenty-two Capons 0 12 10
Nine dozen of Pygeons, at 10_d._
per dozen 0 7 6
Four Gese 0 2 8
300 Eggs 0 3 9
TO THE BOWCHER.
A Surloyne of Beffe 0 2 4
Half a Vele (Calf) 0 2 8
Four Marybones 0 0 8
TO THE MYLKE-WYFFE.
Two Gallones and Six Dishes of Butter 0 4 2
Eight Gallones of Creme 0 4 0
Twelve Gallones of Curdde 0 1 6
TO THE BREWER.
Three Barrelles of Ale 0 11 0
A Kylderkyn of Bere 0 1 0
For Double Bere to the Tabull 0 0 4
Yest 0 0 4
TO THE VYNTENER.
Thirty two Gallones of Redde and
Clarett Wyne, at 10_d._ per gallon 1 6 8
Three Gallones of Mackeray 0 0 4
A Rundlett of Muskadine 0 6 0
1lb of Bread 0 0 0¼
THE GROCER.
£ _s._ _d._
Six unces of Pepper 0 0 9
Four unces of Clovys and Mace 0 2 4
Two unces of Saffrone 0 1 10
18lb of Pruenes 0 3 0
8lb of Corans 0 1 8
6lb of Dates 0 2 0
11lb of Byskettes 0 0 10
12lb of Sugar 0 7 0
Five unces of Cynimion 0 1 3
Four unces of Gynger 0 0 6
THE BAKER.
Four busshelles of Chete, at 1_s._
10_d._ the busshelle 0 7 4
For Hot Brede 0 4 0
For Fyne Flour 0 0 11
For Basterde Flour 0 1 10
THE CHAUNDELER.
A Peck and a-half of Salt 0 0 6
For Candelles 0 0 4
For Vennyger 0 0 4
For Vergeys 0 0 6
For Pack-threade and Mustarde 0 0 2
For Cappys (Capers) 0 0 2
For Lop of Pottes 0 0 8
For Hyer of Pottes 0 0 4
THE COOKE.
For hys labor and companye for
eighteen messes of meat 0 15 0
For Yerbys 0 0 8
A Quarter of a Hundred of Fagottes 0 1 2
For Coles 0 1 6
Paide the turners of broches and
skulyons, four of them 0 1 4
The following is a correct copy of a monster bill of fare, from a paper
found in the Tower of London:--[S]
300 Quarters of Wheat.
300 Tuns of Ale.
104 Tuns of Wine.
One Pipe of Spiced Wine.
10 Fat Oxen.
6 Wild Bulls.
300 Pigs.
1004 Wethers.
300 Hogs.
3000 Calves.
300 Capons.
100 Peacocks.
200 Cranes.
200 Kids.
2000 Chickens.
4000 Pigeons.
4000 Rabbits.
4000 Ducks.
204 Bitterns.
400 Hernsies.
200 Pheasants.
500 Partridges.
5000 Woodcocks.
400 Plovers.
100 Curlews.
100 Quails.
1000 Eggets.
200 Rees.
4000 Bucks, Does, and Roebucks.
155 Hot Venison Pasties.
4000 Cold Venison Pasties.
1000 Dishes of Jellies.
2000 Hot Custards.
4000 Cold Custards.
400 Tarts.
300 Pikes.
300 Breams.
8 Seals, and 4 Porpoises.
At the feast, the Earl of Warwick was steward; the Earl of Bedford,
treasurer; the Lord Hastings, comptroller, with many noble officers;
servitors, 1000; cooks, 62; kitcheners and scullions, 515.
In France (14th and 15th centuries) the repasts were commonly divided
into five parts, called courses, or dishes.[XXX-47]
The first course was composed of cherries, tender fruits, citrons, and
salads.[XXX-48]
Milk-porridge, puddings, and pottages followed; it was the second
course.[XXX-49]
The third consisted of roast, with various sauces.[XXX-50]
The second roast, or fourth course,[XXX-51] presented the guests with
venison and game.
The fifth course took the name of fruit-course. At this they served
tarts made with all sorts of herbs, flowers, grains, vegetables, and
fruit.[XXX-52]
[Illustration: _Pl. 28._]
XXXI.
THE DINING-ROOM.
The _cœnaculum_ (dining-room), properly so called, was the place in
the upper part of the house where they eat.[XXXI-1] It was reached by a
staircase,[XXXI-2] and thither persons repaired during the summer,
particularly in the country. The Roman villas terminated by a platform,
on which the Romans often collected at meal-time; the air was not so
hot, and the panorama of the neighbouring country-seats was presented
without obstruction, to the gaze of the guests.[XXXI-3]
The dining-room was commonly decorated with fasces of arms and
trophies,[XXXI-4] which served as a momento of the warlike virtues of
the ancestors of the master of the house. Enchanting frescoes stood out
marvellously from the obscure shading of the wall, round which were
twined fresh garlands of flowers; and a mosaic floor--master-piece of
art and patience--harmonised with the fascinating landscape of the
ceiling, the site of which varied with every course.[XXXI-5]
The Emperor Nero, who carried this taste for the beautiful rather too
far, devised a sort of vault, in the most elegant style, and entirely
composed of movable leaves of ivory, which exhaled sweet
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XXV.
No. 1. Large vase, or _cratère_; a vessel which was placed in the
banqueting-room, and also on the empty space left on the tables. In
it was put wine and water, which was taken out with a _simpulum_, a
kind of small cup, fixed to a very long handle, bent at the
extremity as a hook, to fill the cups of the guests. When the
_cratères_ were not fixed on tripods (_engytheca_, or _angotheca_),
which supported them, they only differed from the cups by their
size. Some were of such dimensions that Herodotus speaks of two
_cratères_, one containing 300 amphoræ, and the other 600; there
vases commonly exceeded ten-fold the size of the cups, to which
they were very similar in shape and handles.
No. 2. A glass vase, with two handles, for iced water.
No. 3. Glass bottle, with its cup, placed on the table for each
guest.
perfumes, and whence flowers fell on the guests. In another of his
dining-rooms admiration was excited by a magnificent dome, the rotary
movement of which imitated, day and night, the course of the celestial
bodies.[XXXI-6] These prodigies of ancient mechanism adorned the palace
that the prodigal Cæsar called “the gilded house.”[XXXI-7] The colossal
statue of that prince rose in the middle of the hall: it was 120 feet
high![XXXI-8]
Studious people, or those who wished to appear so, covered some part of
the dining-room with books; for it was a custom introduced into Rome to
have recitations or readings during the repast.[XXXI-9] Atticus had
always a reader;[XXXI-10] and Juvenal promises the friend he invites to
supper that he shall hear some fragments from Virgil and Homer.[XXXI-11]
The Greeks yielded willingly to this intellectual pastime at the
commencement of the banquet, whilst incense and other perfumes filled
the room with a light vapour.[XXXI-12]
Opposite the entrance-door stood a buffet, sometimes of iron, but more
generally among the Greeks of sculptured wood, bronze, or silver, on
which were represented the heads of oxen or satyrs.[XXXI-13] This piece
of furniture was placed under the protection of Mercury, and a curtain
commonly veiled the front of it. It served for the display of precious
plate--vases of silver, silver-gilt, and gold, enriched with magnificent
precious stones.[XXXI-14]
The buffet of the Romans,--a sort of sideboard, of rare
workmanship,--was appropriated to the same use.[XXXI-15] Sometimes a
single foot supported a white marble table, surrounded with a border of
_vert-antique_, and plates and dishes were arranged on two elegant
shelves placed above.[XXXI-16] Again, the artist frequently conceived
the idea of giving a whimsical form to the buffet, which enhanced its
price--it was a ship laden with the vases necessary for the banquet;
four enormous amphoræ occupied the deck, on the two sides of the mast;
towards the prow was a candelabrum, and at the stern was displayed a
large-bellied cantharus, or vase, with mobile handles;[XXXI-17] the
main-topmast
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XXVI.
No. 1. A glass vase, with two handles.
No. 2. A glass vase, with three handles.
No. 3. Etruscan vase, with three handles, terra cotta.
No. 4. A large silver vase, to hold wine and water; when placed on
the table, the liquor was taken out with simpulum, to fill the
drinking cups.
No. 5. A large-bellied cantharus--“_Herculaneum_.”
[Illustration: _Pl. 20._]
[Illustration]
[Illustration: _Pl. 21._]
was replaced by a large urn, and two cups of Bacchus were gracefully
balanced at either extremity of the yard,[XXXI-18] along which were
suspended craters, or vases, used in drinking wine.[XXXI-19]
The buffet of the Greeks and Romans survived the ruins of those two
celebrated nations; we find it again in the middle ages, and even in
more modern times. Then also, rich people loved to display their plate
on a very apparent piece of furniture, which, being dressed, took the
name of “dresser.” Monstrelet, describing the magnificence of the Duke
of Burgundy during his sojourn in Paris, relates: “that in the room of
his mansion in which he eat was a square dresser (_dressoir_) with
shelves, which dresser was covered and loaded with very rich gold and
silver plate.”[XXXI-20]
Sovereigns who affected great munificence had buffets of metal; there
were three--one for silver, one for silver-gilt, and one for gold. At
the banquet which the King of France, Charles V., gave to the Emperor
Charles IV., his uncle, each of the three buffets was of the same metal
as the plate it supported.[XXXI-21]
After the birth of a child, ladies, when they received visits, had a
dresser placed in their room. Those of countesses and great ladies had
three shelves; those of the wives of the younger sons of baronets had
two; women well-connected but not titled could have no shelf. Those who
enjoyed the honours of the court placed by the side of the buffet a
little table, covered with a white cloth, destined for the hippocrass
and spiced wine they offered their visitors,[XXXI-22] and which they
drank in hanaps, or a kind of chalice of earthenware, gold, or silver.
Those of crystal were much esteemed. Charles the Bald gave to the Abbey
of St. Denis a hanap, said to have belonged to Solomon. “It was of pure
gold, fine emeralds, fine garnets, and the work so marvellous that in
all the kingdoms of the world never was there anything so
perfect.”[XXXI-23]
The great lords also indulged in metal dressers,[XXXI-24] to which the
16th century gave the name of “buffets.” Under Henry II. of France the
court called them _crédence_, from an Italian word bearing the same
meaning,[XXXI-25] and which they have retained.
The Hebrews probably knew nothing of chimneys. When King Jehoiakim
burned the book which Jeremiah had written, “he sat in the winter-house
in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before
him.”[XXXI-26]
When, among the Greeks or Romans, they wanted to warm the dining-room,
they also had recourse to braziers or bronze furnaces of the dimension
of a middling-sized table, resting on lion’s claws. Foliage in copper,
bronze, and silver, was artistically incrusted round the edge. The
bottom was a very thick iron grating. Above and beneath, brick-work
prevented the coal from touching the upper part, or escaping through the
interstices.[XXXI-27]
They also made use of two kinds of stoves to warm the dining-room--the
one was concealed under ground in the massive wall, and little pipes
extended from its orifice to the apartment; the other, portative and
light, disappeared whenever it was judged expedient.[XXXI-28]
Among the pagans, the dining-room was lighted by torches made of a
resinous wood,[XXXI-29] or tallow candles.[XXXI-30] The rich had lamps,
candelabra,[XXXI-31] or magnificent lustres suspended from the
ceiling.[XXXI-32] They even knew the luxury of wax candles.[XXXI-33]
In the middle ages, the sovereigns and the great lords had, in the
middle of their dining-rooms, fountains playing, which poured fourth
wine, hippocrass, and other liquors. Some gave rose-water and divers
odoriferous liquids to perfume the banqueting-hall.
Rubruquis found in Tartary a Parisian goldsmith, Guillaume Boucher, who
had settled under the sway of the Khan, and had made him one of those
fountains.
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. XXVI A.