Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

shock to the nerves of some of our female sensitives, by talking of such exploded things as roast-beef and ale,-particularly as no lady of any delicacy malts now-a-days-and the very sound of such a barbarous word as beef, would throw her at once into amiable hysterics! We would plead in excuse for this trespass on good manners, that the greater portion (shall we say the happier portion?) of the inhabitants of the United Kingdom partake of ros-bif and plumbboudin, as our Gallic neighbours have it, on Christmas Day, and enjoy this substantial fare with as much or more gout and real satisfaction, than if they had dined at Very's, in the Palais Royal:- but what would this avail with our sensitive or with the renowned pink of fashion, who, on being asked whether he had ever tasted vegetables, confessed, after some hesitation, that-he-be-lie-ved-he-had-once -eaten-A PEA!

As we would, however, fain please every body (an arduous task), and, above all, les belles dames, of whom that straightforward poet MR. JAMES COLLETT, of Red Lion Square, says with much naïveté, They chase our sorrows, share our joys,

From them all earthly comforts flow, Sir;
They give us little girls, and boys,

And to such gifts who would say—No, Sir'?

we present our fair readers with a Bill of Fare à la Française, which might even pass muster with the far-famed Hardi of the Boulevard Italien. The 'silvery bell' having rung, not for dinner ready,'

[ocr errors]

But for that hour, called half-hour, given to dress,

we take the opportunity of this interval to describe the apparatus and materials of a patrician feastsuch as is often given in England, under the immediate direction of a French artiste:

'See A Garland of Wild Flowers culled at the Base of Parnassus', 1825.

Great things are now to be achieved at table,

With massy plate for armour, knives and forks For weapon; but what Muse since Homer's able (His feasts are not the worst part of his works) To draw up in array a single day-bill

Of modern dinners? where much mystery lurks In soups or sauces, or a sole ragoût.

*

*

There was a goodly 'soupe à la bonne femme,'

*

A turbot for relief of those who cram,

Relieved with dindon à la Perigeux;

There also was

How shall I get this gourmand stanza through?Soupe à la Beauveau, whose relief was Dory, Relieved itself by pork, for greater glory.

Fowls à la Condé, slices eke of salmon,

With sauces 'Genevoises,' and haunch of venison; Wines too which might again have slain young Ammon.

*

*

They also set a glazed Westphalian ham on,

Whereon Apicius would bestow his benison;
And then there was Champagne with foaming whirls,
As white as Cleopatra's melted pearls.

There was I know not what à l'Allemande,'

A l'Espagnole,' 'timballe,' and 'Salpicon'—

With things I can't withstand or understand,

Though swallowed with much zest upon the whole; And 'entremets' to piddle with at hand,

Gently to lull down the subsiding soul;

While great Lucullus' Rôbe triumphal muffles

(There's Fame!)-young Partridge' fillets, decked with truffles'.
Those truffles, too, are no bad accessaries,
Followed by 'Petits puits d'Amour'—a dish
Of which perhaps the cookery rather varies,
So every one may dress it to his wish,

A dish 'à la Lucullus.'-This hero, who conquered the East, has left his more extended celebrity to the transplantation of cherries (which he first brought into Europe) and the nomenclature of some very good dishes;-and I am not sure that (barring indigestion) he has not done more service to mankind by his cookery than by his conquests. A cherry-tree may weigh against a laurel: besides, he has contrived to earn celebrity from both.—B.

According to the best of dictionaries,

Which encyclopedize both flesh and fish;
But even sans confitures,' it no less true is,
There's pretty picking in those 'petits puits'.'
The mind is lost in mighty contemplation
Of intellect expended on two courses;
And indigestion's grand multiplication

Requires arithmetic beyond my forces.

Who would suppose, from Adam's simple ration,
That cookery could have called forth such resources,
As form a science and a nomenclature

From out the commonest demands of nature?
The glasses jingled, and the palates tingled ;
The diners of celebrity dined well;
The ladies with more moderation mingled
In the feast, pecking less than I can tell ;
Also the younger men too; for a springald

Can't like ripe age in gourmandise excel,
But thinks less of good eating than the whisper
(When seated next him) of some pretty lisper.
Alas! I must leave undescribed the gibier,
The salmi, the consommè, the purée,

All which I use to make my rhymes run glibber
Than could roast beef in our rough John Bull way:

I must not introduce even a spare rib here,

'Bubble and squeak' would spoil my liquid lay; But I have dined, and must forego, alas!

The chaste description even of a 'Becasse,'

I

[ocr errors]

'Petits puits d'amour garnis des confitures,' a classical and well known dish for part of the flank of a second course. But wha avails this luxurious repast if our dental apparatus be not in masticating order? We speak feelingly on this subject, having long suffered from diseases of the teeth, till our good stars' directed us to MR. KOECKER, of No. 15, Conduit Street, Bond Street, a German dentist,-probably without an equal in the world as a dentist. He cures many diseases, that have always been regarded as incurable, even to the time of our celebrated Mr. Fox, who looks upon the devastation of the gums and alveolar processes in that light. Mr. Koecker's treatment of denuded nerves, and plugging or stopping, are peculiar to himself, and altogether unrivalled.-Need we say more in commendation of Mr. Koecker, than that he extracted five teeth from our editorial mouth at one sitting, without our knowing 'much about it?'

And fruits, and ice, and all that art refines
From nature for the service of the goût-
Taste or the gout,-pronounce it as inclines
Your stomach! Ere you dine, the French will do ;
But after, there are sometimes certain signs
Which prove plain English truer of the two.

BYRON.

But let us return to the 'good old times'-and seek the company of the indefatigable and entertaining MR. AUBREY: from his store of 'curiosities' we select the following notices of customs practised in 'auld lang syne'-some of which our readers, perhaps, will consider to be 'more honoured in the breach than the observance:'-n'importe-we think them sufficiently curious to be preserved in our brief view of Popular Antiquities,'-and this must be our apology.

It was anciently the custom in Yorkshire, in the Christmas holy-days, to dance in the Church, after prayers, crying or singing Yole, Yole, Yole, &c.Aubrey MS., A.D. 1686.

In the West Riding of Yorkshire, at Christmas Eve, at night, they bring in a large yule log or Christmas clog, and set it on fire, and lap their Christmas ale, and sing 'Yule, Yule, a pack of new cards and a Christmas stool.'-Aubrey MS.

In several parts of Oxfordshire it is the custom for the maids to ask the men for ivy to dress the house; and if the man denies or neglects to fetch in ivy, the maid steals away a pair of his breeches, and nails them up to the gate in the yard, or high way.-Aubrey MS.

In the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is the custom for the parishioners, after receiving the sacrament on Christmas Day, to go from church directly to the alehouse, and there drink together as a testimony of charity and friendship.-Aubrey MS.

It was formerly a custom for the butcher of Merton College, Oxford, about Christmas time, to invite the scholars to a treat at his house, when he used to

provide a bull for the steward to knock down with his own hand; whence this treat was called The Killbull.-Pointer's Oxon. Acad., p. 23.

It is still, we believe, a custom at Queen's College, Oxford, to have a boar's head (or the figure of one in wood) brought into the hall, every year on Christmas Day, ushered in with an old song, in memory of a noble exploit said to be performed by a scholar of this College, in killing a wild boar in Shotover Wood. CHRISTMAS CAROLS.

On this subject, Mr. Aubrey has the following observations: The ancient way of worshipping the gods was by hymns, as in Orpheus, Linus, Homer, &c. Hence was derived the singing of the Ghospell. The original Ghospells were writt in verses to be sung: not consisting of certain, and the same measures of feet. In the University of Oxford, the old R. Catholiq. custome is yet [1686] retained, at least in most colleges, for one of the scholars of the house, in the middle of dinner, to sing the Ghospel of the day I doe remember some divines, that when they read the chapters, did it with such a cadence, that it was rather to be termed singing, than reading. Our Carolls at Christmas are but hymnes of joy for that blessed tyde.-Aubrey_MS.

The author of The Heart and its Sovereign,' quoted in the Aubrey MS., says, 'The Asiatic custom of singing a carol to Christ mentioned in Pliny (lib. 10, ep. 97), in his Epistle to Trajan the Emperor, in the first age of the church, is retained in Wales to this day [1686] in our plygains or pulgains, as we term them.

A Christmas Carol (the words by Mr. Ryan, and the music by Mr. Tebbett) is given in our last volume. CHRISTMAS AMUSEMENTS in the TIME of KING EDWARD III and HENRY IV.

Among the various classes of persons who contributed to the amusement of our ancestors at the Christmas and other holiday-festivals, the Tergetors or

« ZurückWeiter »