The Receipts composing the Volume here submitted to the Public have been
collected under peculiarly favourable circumstances by a Lady of
distinction, whose productions in the lighter department of literature
entitle her to a place among the most successful writers of the present
day. Moving in the first circles of rank and fashion, her associations
have qualified her to furnish directions adapted to the manners and
taste of the most refined Luxury; whilst long and attentive observation,
and the communications of an extensive acquaintance, have enabled her
equally to accommodate them to the use of persons of less ample means
and of simpler and more economical habits.
When the task of arranging the mass of materials thus accumulated
devolved upon the Editor, it became his study to give to them such a
form as should be most convenient for constant reference. A glance at
the "Contents," which might with equal propriety be denominated an
Index, will, he flatters himself, convince the reader that this object
has been accomplished. It will there be seen that the Receipts, upwards
of SIXTEEN HUNDRED in number, are classed under Eleven distinct Heads,
each of which is arranged in alphabetical order--a method which confers
on this Volume a decided advantage over every other work of the kind,
inasmuch as it affords all the facilities of a Dictionary, without being
liable to the unpleasant intermixture of heterogeneous matters which
cannot be avoided in that form of arrangement.
The intimate connexion between the Science of Cookery and the Science of
Health, the sympathies subsisting between every part of the system and
the stomach, and the absolute necessity of strict attention not less to
the manner of preparing the alimentary substances offered to that organ
than to their quality and quantity, have been of late years so
repeatedly and so forcibly urged by professional pens, that there needs
no argument here to prove the utility of a safe Guide and Director in so
important a department of domestic economy as that which is the subject
of this Volume. In many more cases, indeed, than the uninitiated would
imagine, is the healthy tone of the stomach dependent on the proper
preparation of the food, the healthy tone of the body in general on that
of the stomach, and the healthy tone of the mind on that of the body:
consequently the first of these conditions ought to command the
vigilance and solicitude of all who are desirous of securing the true
enjoyment of life--the _mens sana in corpore sano_.
The professed Cook may perhaps be disposed to form a mean estimate of
these pages, because few, or no learned, or technical, terms are
employed in them; but this circumstance, so far from operating to the
disparagement of the work, must prove a strong recommendation to the
Public in general. The chief aim, in fact, of the noble Authoress has
been to furnish such plain directions, in every branch of the culinary
art, as shall be really useful to English masters and English servants,
and to the humble but earnest practitioner. Let those who may desire to
put this collection of receipts to the test only give them a fair trial,
neither trusting to conceited servants, who, despising all other
methods, obstinately adhere to their own, and then lay the blame of
failure upon the directions; nor committing their execution to careless
ones, who neglect the means prescribed for success, either in regard to
time, quantities, or cleanliness; and the result will not fail to afford
satisfactory evidence of their pleasant qualities and practical
utility.