Platina, a Latin author of the 15th century, speaks of other sauces, in the composition of which sugar was frequently employed, according to the proverb of those times: “Sugar never spoiled sauce.”

In the middle ages, poultry, butchers’ meat, and roast game, were never eaten dry, as they are now, any more than fried fish. There were different sauces for all those dishes, and even for the different parts of each animal. The cooks of those days strove to acquire a reputation by inventing strange and grotesque sauces, which had no other merit than that of being surprising and difficult to make, as, for example: “eggs cooked on the spit,” “butter fried or roasted.” &c.[XXII_31]

We recognize in some of our most common ragoûts, those of which our ancestors were so fond in the middle ages, such as the bœuf à la mode, à la persillade, au vinaigre et persil, le miroton de bœuf, veau percé de gros lard, fricassée de poulet, blanquette de veau rôti; but we have lost the pot-pourri, composed of beef, veal, mutton, bacon, and vegetables, and the galimafrée, a kind of fricassée of fowl, seasoned with wine, verjuice, and spices, and thickened with the famous sauce cameline.[XXII_32]

The cooks frequently placed on their masters’ tables ragoûts and other dishes borrowed from foreign nations. They had a German brouet, a Flemish chaudeau, eggs à la Florentine, and partridges à la Catalane. They knew the olla—a mixture of all sorts of vegetables cooked with different kinds of meats, which we owe to the Spaniards, as well as the ragoût of fowl, called à la Chipolata, and the keneffes—a kind of forced-meat balls made of bread and meat, to which the Germans are very partial, and the pilau—a dish of mutton, fowl, and rice, borrowed from the Turks.[XXII_33]

The art of cooking with its innumerable paraphernalia of sauces with gravy, pepper, cinnamon, garlic, scallion, brains,[XXII_34] with its gravy soups,

milk pottage, and ragoûts, had a signal triumph at the wedding of Charles VI. of France. On that occasion a skilful cook covered the great black marble table of the royal palace[XXII_35] with a hundred dishes prepared in a hundred different ways.

The good physicians did not proscribe the art of cooking; several of their number even deigned to write treatises upon it.[XXII_36]

A certain monkish servant, moved by an indiscreet zeal, wished not only to mortify himself but all the Franciscans of the monastery. Consequently, he prepared the repasts in the worst manner he could. But the community held a chapter, and he was condemned to receive fifty lashes; many of the monks wanted to enforce a more rigorous discipline by giving a hundred.[XXII_37]

In the middle ages, the cook of a house of any note always seated himself in a high arm chair to give his orders; he held a long wooden spoon in his hand, with which he tasted, without quitting his place, the various dishes that were cooking on the stoves and in the saucepans, and which served him also as a weapon with which to chastise the idle and gluttonous.[XXII_38]

THE KITCHEN.

Let as enter together one of those vast kitchens, where two thousand years ago, the marvellous suppers of some rich senator were concocted. In every direction, slaves are coming loaded with meat, game, sea-fish, vegetables, fruit, and those expensive delicacies of which the dessert of the Romans was principally composed. The slaves have been over the principal markets of the city, especially those of the Trigemina gate,

of the Metasudante,[XXII_39] of the Suburd Way,[XXII_40] and the Sacred Way.[XXII_41] Each one lays his basket at the feet of the procurator or major-domo, who examines the contents, and registers them on his tablets;[XXII_42] then he has placed in the pantry, contiguous to the dining room, those of the provisions which demand no preparation,[XXII_43] but whose graceful and symmetrical arrangement is confided to two Æolian servants designated under the name of structores.[XXII_44]

All these porters are under the immediate orders of a confidential servant—obsonator—charged with buying the provisions necessary for the household, and who is obliged to make himself acquainted with the taste of his master and also of each guest, that he may procure nothing which they dislike.[XXII_45]

The remaining comestibles are placed in an airy and spacious apartment adjoining the kitchen, and at the back of the house.[XXII_46] There, around a table loaded with numerous wooden figures, representing a variety of animals, some attentive young men are practising, under the direction of an experienced master, the difficult art of carving game and poultry;[XXII_47] whilst a melodious symphony accustoms their skilful hands to hasten or retard their graceful movements according to the time of the music.[XXII_48] In this learned rehearsal the eye and ear, alike charmed, pass alternately from the peaceful emotions of the pensive adagio to the lively cadences of the rapid allegro, and from the harmonious and calm andante to the captivating and joyous accents of a frenzied prestissimo.

In this spacious laboratory the most delicious emanations invite us. The chief of the cooks, the Archimagirus,[XXII_49] seated on a raised platform, embraces at a single glance the series of stock-pots and brick stoves,[XXII_50] very similar to those in use at the present day, at which the silent crowd of assistants,[XXII_51] ministers of his will, elaborate and watch the expensive dishes destined to form a splendid supper. As, at the moment of battle, the general, motionless on a height which commands a view of his army, hastens, orders, scolds his scattered battalions, absent and yet everywhere, animating with his own inspiration the warlike masses, and exciting them with the excitement of his own soul, he invokes victory, and victory replies, “Behold me!” The Archimagirus has also his days of triumph; and in the evening, perhaps, the king of the feast will place on his head a crown of flowers, precious recompense of his talent and success.

At some distance from the culinary autocrat, on the opposite side, an

immense iron grate,[XXII_52] carefully supplied with wood,[XXII_53] which an unhappy slave unceasingly blows with his breath into a flame,[XXII_54] throws around its lurid glare. The Lares, grotesque figures, roughly carved in stone, protect this spot. A cock is sacrificed to them in the month of December.[XXII_55]

Some learned men have supposed that the Greeks and Romans had no chimneys; it is, however, easy to prove the contrary. Philocleo, a character in the comedy of the “Wasps” of Aristophanes, hides himself in a chimney. A slave who hears him, cries out, “What a noise there is in the pipe of this chimney!” Philocleo, being discovered, exclaims, “I am the smoke, and I am trying to escape.”[XXII_56]

Appian, speaking of the proscriptions of the triumvirs, relates that several citizens fled into the pipes of the chimneys.[XXII_57]

These two examples will preclude the necessity of more ample citations.

A vast cauldron of brass from Argos,[XXII_58] or Dodona,[XXII_59] placed on a tripod above the fireplace, furnishes the hot water required for the service of the kitchen. The frying-pan, beside it, serves in the cooking of certain delicate cakes or fish.[XXII_60]

The magiric laboratory, to which the reader is invited, is very nicely decorated with a profusion of utensils similar in every respect to our own in point of shape—such as gridirons, cullenders, dripping-pans, and tart dishes. These objects are of tolerably thick bronze, plated with fine silver.[XXII_61] Charming shells of the same metal, serve to mould the pastry,[XXII_62] which is afterwards disposed with order on the shelves of a country oven,[XXII_63] or in the upper part of the authepsa,—a kind of saucepan of Corinthian brass, of considerable value, and made with such art that its contents cook instantly and almost without fire.[XXII_64] This simple and ingenious vessel possesses a double-bottom; the uppermost one holds

the light delicacies destined for the dessert, and the fire is underneath.[XXII_65]

The diploma, or double-vase, which has sometimes been confounded with the authepsa, does not in the least resemble the latter. It is thus they named the vessel called by us a “bain-marie;”[XXII_66] the ancients made great use of this mild and gentle process of cooking, which is often mentioned in the treatise of Apicius.[XXII_67]

These brass boilers, which boil on the hearth, supported by three feet, are precisely like those used by the French at the present day.[XXII_68] Boilers also of a rather different kind are sometimes used, in which the operation of ebullition takes place sooner than in the first mentioned; they are closed with a cover in the form of a dome, and a large hollow cylinder, fixed beneath, hastens and keeps up the action of the caloric.[XXII_69]

The saucepans, around which a host of cooks are busily engaged, are for the greater part made of brass or earthenware,[XXII_70] tolerably wide and deep, which they place on the stoves, and in which are concocted the delicate and scientific preparations. Some are of silver.[XXII_71] The caprices of luxury have led them to suppose that certain expensive viands acquire greater perfection when cooked in this precious metal.

A confidential slave, charged with the care of the plate, is cleaning and polishing near a dresser a large number of bronze chafing-dishes, which are to be used at table to prevent the plates from becoming cold. It is in speaking of this useful invention that Seneca, the philosopher, says, “Daintiness gave birth to this invention, in order that no viand should be chilled, and that everything should be hot enough to please the most pampered palate. The kitchen follows the supper.”[XXII_72] Each of these elegant utensils is supported by three geese. It measures about seven inches from the extremity of one of the bird’s heads to the opposite edge of the circumference. This kind of tray is fifteen lines, or an inch and a-quarter deep, and the feet raise it about two inches above the plane. The three geese have their wings spread, and terminate by

neats’ feet. The heads, raised on the breasts, form graceful handles.[XXII_73] These chafing-dishes, arranged systematically on the sigma, produce a delightful effect.

Dishes of massive silver occupy another compartment of the vast cupboard. An opulent family could not possibly do without this luxury. Sylla had some which weighed 200 marks, and Rome would produce more than five hundred of the same weight.[XXII_74] It was in fact a perfect furore, which afterwards greatly augmented. In the time of the Emperor Claudius, one of his slaves, named Drusillanus Rotundus, possessed a silver dish weighing 1,000 marks, which was served in the midst of eight smaller ones weighing 100 marks each. These nine dishes were arranged at table on a machine which supported and placed them prominently in view.

The patinæ such was the name of these magnificent pieces of plate, served for ragoûts and fish; the catinus, an immense vase of earthenware among the poor[XXII_75] and of silver with the rich, is more especially reserved for liquid dishes, with much gravy, and what we call pottage.[XXII_76]

Those silver cups and saucers, of the same shape and size as those we employ for tea, have a destination very strange to our ideas. They are used to drink hot water. They are worked in relief, with a taste and delicacy which we cannot too much admire.[XXII_77]

The Roman spoons, rather different from our own, end on one side by a point, to pick shell fish from their shell, and at the other by the bowl of a spoon, with which eggs were eaten.[XXII_78]

Doubtless, forks were unknown to the Greeks, since Athenæus relates, “that Pithyllus”—surnamed the Dainty—“did not content himself with covering his tongue with a species of net, to appreciate the taste of the various dishes, but cleaned and rubbed it with a fish. He also enveloped his hands in a kind of glove, to eat everything burning hot;”[XXII_79] a useless precaution if he had used a fork.

This indispensable addition to a modern table was, perhaps, not common at Rome, but nevertheless, it was to be seen at the residence of some wealthy families. The slave before-mentioned holds several in his hand. These forks are remarkable for the beauty of their workmanship.

The stags’ feet which terminate the handles, and the fillets with which they are ornamented, bear witness by their execution to the rare talent of the goldsmith. They are five inches and a half in length, and have only two prongs.[XXII_80]

Other servants dispose the earthenware pails, in which the wine is to be placed to cool,[XXII_81] and prepare the drinking cups and crystal flagons.[XXII_82] One of them replenishes with vinegar, salt, and pepper, little vases designated by the name of acetabulum, “vinegar cruet.”[XXII_83] These are so many models of the most exquisite elegance, in bronze, silver, and, sometimes, gold. They are manufactured simply of earthenware, for the use of the middle classes of people.[XXII_84]

The knives, destined to serve at table, are of brilliant steel, and carefully sharpened; they bear each on the handle some whimsical ornament, and seem to have served as models for those which were so much in fashion towards the beginning of the 17th century, and which were called Chinese knives.[XXII_85]

The most precious plate is arranged before the arrival of the guests on the abacus, or sideboard, which decorates the dining room. This splendid piece of furniture, which will be noticed hereafter, was introduced into Rome 187 years B.C. It was also called the Delphic table.[XXII_86]

However, the Archimagirus has drawn up a list of the repast, which contains the bill of fare of the dishes, and which, both in Greece and Rome, was always presented to the guests.[XXII_87] He descends from his platform, and goes to cast an inspiring glance on the work of each subordinate. Nothing escapes his learned investigation, from the peacocks’ eggs of the first service, to the soft cheese commonly eaten at the third.[XXII_88] Above all, he examines with minute attention the ovens, at which preside those second cooks of whose talents he is not certain, and who belong to that class of erratic artists who are to be met with every day at the forum,

where they wait till some one comes to request their services.[XXII_89] His remarks, full of sense and precision, proclaim profound study and consummate experience. “Never will this depsiticius bread,”[XXII_90] says he to one of them, “obtain the necessary lightness by baking; the flour should have been passed through a Spanish sieve of linen thread;[XXII_91] Use the Gallic sieve of horsehair for the artocreas,[N][XXII_92] and one of papyrus, or Egyptian rush,[XXII_93] for the coarser kinds of flour.” “The grasshoppers require great precaution,” he exclaims, an instant after, approaching a young Sicilian; “fry them so that they obtain only a light gold colour.”[XXII_94] Then, passing to a third stove, he shows to one of his favourite pupils how to season highly an excellent sauce of snails (this hors-d’œuvre, dear to the Romans), and by what marks to distinguish those fattened by art in particular inclosures, from those which feed in gardens and are only fit for the common people.[XXII_95] He then stops before a stewpan, where a cook is browning large worms of a whitish hue, which breed in the hollows of trees, and are considered by the Romans[XXII_96] as a most delicious dish: “The flour with which these cossi were fed was heated,” says he; “they will present to the teeth only a soft and insipid substance.”[XXII_97]

We will not accompany this great master any further: his instructions are already known to us. An enthusiastic disciple of Apicius, he practises the lessons of that illustrious professor; and we should only hear from him precepts which we have already faithfully transmitted.

When the moment of supper is arrived, we shall find the Archimagirus presiding at that gastronomic order of battle on which depends the success of the day. May Vesta and Comus be propitious to him.

In the 14th century, the refectories and kitchens of the numerous communities of Paris presented a curious scene. Immense coppers contained the pottage and boiled meat, and monster gridirons, on four wheels, covered vast braziers. All the utensils of these kitchens were of remarkable dimensions.

XXIII.

SEASONINGS.

Treat not with too much disdain these Roman recipes; for although the formidable list may excite a smile from the reader, and, perhaps, the scorn of the cook, a great and prolific idea slumbers beneath the cold ashes of the ovens of Apicius which a breath may rekindle; and, at the same time, resuscitate some of those culinary wonders of a bygone civilisation, and endow our modern age, so impatient of the future, so curious concerning the past.

Two Phœnicians—whose names are never mentioned by forgetful posterity—Selech and Misor, taught mankind the art of heightening the flavour of their food by mixing with it a certain quantity of salt. The science of seasoning has no other origin.[XXIII_1]

SALT.

The law of Moses commanded the Jews to mix salt with everything offered in sacrifice.[XXIII_2] This prescription sufficiently testifies the use of this condiment at an epoch which the uncertainty of profane writers appears to invade on all sides, and which the great Hebrew legislator alone enlightens with a ray invariably steady and pure.

The Asphaltite lake produced abundance of salt.[XXIII_3] It was sent even to Rome, and was considered by Galen as the most desiccatory and digestive of any kind.[XXIII_4]

The Greeks placed this substance in the list of things which ought to be consecrated to the gods; and it is in this sense that Homer gives it the epithet of divine. Pagan superstition, of which some traces may still be remarked in the 19th century, threatened with some great misfortune any one who spilt salt; and it was deemed a signal impiety to forget placing salt-cellars on the table, or to dare go to sleep before removing them. This strange superstition was common among the Greeks and Romans.[XXIII_5] Those nations never failed consecrating their repasts by filling salt-cellars, near to the vase in which they presented the gods with the first portion of meat and fruit.[XXIII_6]

Certain nations, among others the Numidians, were not acquainted with salt;[XXIII_7] and in the greater part of countries where it abounded, cupidity almost invariably subjected it to a heavy tax, which rendered its use less practicable.

The inhabitants of Troad provided themselves for a long time with salt from Tragase without cost. King Lysimachus one day thought of exacting a duty for every measure carried away. But, wonderful to relate, hardly was the royal edict published, when the salt springs were found to be so nearly dried up, that they hardly furnished wherewith to season a small stew. Lysimachus comprehended the meaning of this prodigy, and abolished the tax. The salt re-appeared.[XXIII_8]

At Rome, in the time of her Kings, every one was free to sell salt, and its price became excessively high. The republican government withdrew this right from private individuals, and from that time the common people easily procured all the salt they required, and which they willingly eat with bread.[XXIII_9]

Ancus Martius was the first Roman who established salt works near Ostia towards the mouth of the Tiber.[XXIII_10] Afterwards, others were formed, not only in Rome, but in the provinces. These were of two kinds, public and private. The first belonged to the republic, and formed part of the emperor’s domain; malefactors were condemned to labour in the salt-works, and it was generally women on whom this punishment was inflicted.[XXIII_11]

Ancus Martius was also the first who placed a duty on salt. It was abolished after the expulsion of the Kings, but was afterwards again established.

Down to the 14th century salt was a commodity of trade open to every one in France. Philip the Long and Philip of Valois were the first to impose a momentary tax on it; but after the fatal battle of Poictiers, in which John was taken prisoner, Charles, his son, in order to pay the ransom of that monarch, had recourse, among other extraordinary means, to the establishment of the salt tax. The idea was found to be good, and it has never since been given up.[XXIII_12]

There are four sorts of salt which are employed to season dishes, obtained either from the evaporation of sea water, from certain lakes or salt marshes, and also from saliferous sources drawn out of the bosom of the earth in compact masses. Its particular savour is well known; it is soluble in water, and easily becomes damp. In the scientific language, this substance is called hydrochlorate of soda.

BRINE.

This was water in which bay salt had been dissolved. At Rome, it was served at table to be mixed with the meat precisely in the same manner as we serve salt in salt-cellars. The Romans plunged in this muria any fish or meat they might wish to preserve.[XXIII_13]

Strong muria dura was water so completely saturated with bay salt, that no more could be dissolved in it.[XXIII_14] Olives were washed in it.

The brine most sought after was that of Antibes, of Thurium, and of Dalmatia.[XXIII_15] It was prepared with the blood and other juices which, after death, escaped from the tunny fish,[XXIII_16] mixed with garum, which rendered it more fluid and less expensive.

At the end of the repast, enigmas were often proposed to the guests. Some delicious dish served as a reward to those who were fortunate enough to guess them; the others were compelled to pour muria into their drink, and swallow a cup-full without taking breath.[XXIII_17]

DIGESTIVE SALTS.

The Romans were enormous eaters. Apicius, who was better aware of it than any one, imagined providing against those accidents to which his countrymen did not fear to expose themselves once every day, by offering to them a preparation which our habits of sobriety would, doubtless, render useless at the present day; but which the curious will not be sorry to discover in these sketches of antique gastrophagy. Take a pound of common salt, which torrefy and pulverize; mix it with three ounces of white pepper, two ounces of ginger, an ounce of lamoni, an ounce and a half of thyme, as much of celery seed, three ounces of wild marjoram, an ounce and a-half of rocket seed, three ounces of black pepper, an ounce and a-half of holy thistle, two ounces of hyssop, two ounces of spikenard, two ounces of parsley, and two ounces of anise-seed.[XXIII_18]

Take a small quantity of these salts after a too plentiful dinner; and the stomach will immediately defy the most imminent indigestion.

GARUM.

When we have read all that has been written by the ancients on this famous preparation, we become convinced, in spite of the obscurities and continual contradictions of commentators, that if garum is no longer manufactured in the present day, it is not on account of the impossibility we find in discovering the recipe of the Greeks and Latins, but solely because this rather strange brine has not the same charm for us that it had for them. Let us, however, scan the authorities.

The Greeks called the shrimp garos, the Romans garus: it may hence be supposed that garum had originally for basis the flesh of shrimps, if Pliny had not taken the trouble to inform us of the fact.[XXIII_19] It was afterwards composed of other fish, but it always retained the name which recalled its origin.[XXIII_20] In like manner the signification of certain words is now applied to things quite different from the original type: chicory, or succory, is received under the mask of coffee: a certain pottage boldly usurps the honours due exclusively to turtle soup. Nothing more easy than to multiply these examples of catachreses: there are few figures which have become so common.

Well, then, they macerated the intestines of fish in water, saturated with salt, until putrefaction began to show itself; they then added parsley and vinegar.[XXIII_21]

A thick garum was also frequently obtained, by allowing the entrails and other parts, generally thrown away, to liquefy in salt.[XXIII_22]

In the time of Pliny, mackerel[XXIII_23] was preferred, of which they employed either the gills and intestines, or only the blood, directly the fish left the water,[XXIII_24] and while yet living. They thus obtained a precious liquid, and which the care necessary for its production rendered so dear, that eight pints of it cost no less than from fifteen to twenty pounds.[XXIII_25]

This expensive garum was especially esteemed when it came from Spain: it was then called “garum of the allies”—garum sociorum—because it was received from a nation allied with the Romans;[XXIII_26] or, again, perhaps in allusion to the “band of gluttons,” of Rome, a sort of fraternity of free-livers, who made great use of it.[XXIII_27]

The blood and entrails of the tunny fish, mixed with salt in a vase, produced also a most elaborate garum. A hole was made in the vessel at the expiration of two months, and the rich seasoning flowed from it.[XXIII_28]

This brine became exquisite, and obtained an exorbitant price when made from the liver of anchovies macerated in vinegar, pepper, salt, parsley, garlic, white wine, and sweet herbs.[XXIII_29] But Apicius attained at the first step the apogee of refinement of the most sensual gluttony, by inventing garum made from the liver of red mullet.[XXIII_30] What we have already said elsewhere with regard to this fish will enable the reader to appreciate the value of this new preparation.

Amateurs who were more economical contented themselves with very little saxatile fishes,[XXIII_31] of which only the intestines were taken, or which were thrown whole into a vase with a great quantity of salt. These were exposed to the sun, and the mixture long and often stirred. When heat had caused fermentation, and the vessel contained only a kind of pulp, or paste, almost liquid, a kind of willow basket was introduced, into which the garum alone could penetrate. The thick part—the dregs which remained at the bottom of the vase—was termed alec.[XXIII_32]

The following method was also frequently adopted:—

Mackerel, or small fish, were placed in a small vase with a large quantity of salt; this was well stirred, and the mixture was then left quiet all night. The next day it was transferred into an earthen pot, which remained uncovered in the sun. At the end of two or three months, it was hermetically closed, after having added a quantity of old wine equal to one-third of the mixture.[XXIII_33]

When it was wished to obtain garum without waiting any length of time, they took brine, carefully filtered, and so saturated with salt that an egg would float on it; this was placed with the fish in a new saucepan; wild marjoram was added, and the whole boiled over a gentle fire, until the fish was entirely dissolved. Then wine, reduced to two-thirds by boiling, was added. It was left to get cold; the liquid was several times filtered, till it became quite clear, and was then finally placed in an uncovered vase.[XXIII_34]

Although fish was generally used, the flesh of several animals was sometimes employed in the formation of garum.[XXIII_35] It was, however, submitted to the same preparations as those already mentioned.

Such was this wonderful seasoning, forming the chief delight of the ancients, whose praises poets have sung, and the composition of which formerly exercised the singularly mad intelligence of Maître François Rabelais. The reader will doubtless remark, that the principal elements of garum are almost invariably the same: fish, salt, and a greater or less fermentation. But perhaps some one may exclaim: “This must be detestable!” No doubt, but then no one ever thought of regaling himself with this liquid; it was never taken alone; it was but reserved as a seasoning for a host of dishes, in order to heighten their flavour.

It must also be observed, that a skilful cook always took care to modify the garum before he sent it to table, by the help of various ingredients, such as pepper, vinegar, Falernian wine,[XXIII_36] water, and oil,[XXIII_37] according to the use to which it was destined, or the degree of strength it was expedient it should possess. Hence that variety of seasonings with garum,—sweet,[XXIII_38] sharp, mixed with water, wine, vinegar, and many other substances which changed or corrected the acid flavour of the primitive condiment,[XXIII_39] though without in the least depriving it of the qualities which fermentation had communicated to it.

It results from the different citations of which this chapter is composed, that recipes for the making of garum are to be obtained more easily than people seem to think at the present time. Everyone may not be of the same opinion with regard to the kind of fish generally used by the ancients to obtain this liquid, although all difficulties would be removed by admitting—which certainly is nothing but right—that they chose at one time mackerel or tunny fish; at others, gudgeons and small sardines; sometimes even the red mullet, in spite of its rarity and price. But it is evident that garum was prepared by either dissolving and liquefying these fish in their brine, either whole, their intestines, or their liver, and that, to effect this, it was only necessary to expose to the sun the vessel containing them; or that they simply put small fish into a dish, with vinegar and parsley, placed it on a charcoal fire, and stirred it for some time, when it was wanted for immediate use.

It must have been remarked in reading this work, that Apicius very frequently employs garum; he places it in every sauce, but never makes use of this seasoning unmixed, never does he serve it by itself as a special dish. This celebrated gastronomist has bequeathed us the recipe for a digestive garum. It is as follows:—

Mix with some honey, half an ounce of pepper, three scruples of eschalots, six scruples of cardamum, one scruple of spikenard, and six scruples of mint; add vinegar to this mixture, and then pour in some garum.[XXIII_40]

The Hypotrimma, or stomachic condiment, of the same master, merits also our attention:—Mix carefully some pepper, benzoin, mint, pine-nuts, dried raisins, and dates, with fresh (not salt) cheese, vinegar, oil, honey, and wine, reduced by boiling to one half; add garum to this mixture.[XXIII_41]

The Moretaria appears to be a variety of the Hypotrimma; it is a mixture of mint, rue, coriander, fennel, the whole fresh, with benzoin, pepper, honey, and vinegar; to this, garum is added.[XXIII_42]

Whatever may be the opinion the reader may form of this garum, of which mention has so frequently been made, and which has been alternately praised and despised by the moderns, it is certain that the most fastidious persons were madly fond of it, and that in the time of Pliny, it was so much esteemed, that its price equalled that of the most precious perfumes.

“At the present day this celebrated seasoning is forgotten in Italy, but in Turkey it is still in use. The inn-keepers of Constantinople preserve in garum the cooked fish not consumed in the day.”—Bosc.

HONEY.

What is sweeter than honey?[XXIII_43] what is more pure,[XXIII_44] or more nourishing?[XXIII_45] It is the milk of the aged, it prolongs their existence,[XXIII_46] and when they descend into the tomb, it still serves to embalm them.[XXIII_47]

Pagan antiquity ascribed the honour of the discovery of this useful substance to the Athenian Aristæus, who taught mankind to feed on it. This valuable service procured him a patent of nobility. He was made a descendant of Bacchus or Apollo.[XXIII_48]

It is not necessary to say that honey was known in the east long before the rise of Athens; it is already mentioned in the first book of the holy writings.[XXIII_49]

It is said that Spain owed its knowledge of this delicious aliment to Gorgor, King of the Curetes, who was polite enough to take some on the occasion of a journey which he made into that country.[XXIII_50] The Peninsula could afterwards furnish this delicacy for the tables of Rome and Italy.

The Greeks esteemed honey most highly;[XXIII_51] they employed it in pastry, and in ragoûts;[XXIII_52] their philosopher, Pythagoras, eat nothing else with his bread, and, as he lived to be ninety years old, he recommended his disciples to follow the same régime.[XXIII_53] They profited by th sage’s counsel, and found themselves all the better for it.[XXIII_54]

A benevolent goddess protected bees, hives, and the honeycomb. She was called Mellona, and a grateful piety offered her honey every new-year’s day.[XXIII_55]

Theophrastus distinguished three kinds of honey: that which the bees extract from flowers, that which comes from the air, and lastly, the honey from reeds.[XXIII_56] We clearly perceive that he means honey, manna, and sugar.

Virgil thought that a gentle dew falls on the flowers, and became immediately the prey of bees, which deposited it in their cells.[XXIII_57] Pliny has adopted the same graceful error,[XXIII_58] and even Galen himself partakes of it.[XXIII_59]

The ancients caused honey to be served at the beginning of a repast;[XXIII_60] it was used in lieu of sugar in the preparation of preserves and some kinds of beverages, which will hereafter claim our attention. They preferred that of Attica,[XXIII_61] and insisted on its being thick, clear, granulated, transparent, fresh, and aromatic, with a somewhat sharp flavour.[XXIII_62] The faculty attributed to it great virtues.[XXIII_63]

Honey served as a basis to the wonderful seasoning of Apicius, which we present to the studious investigation of modern gastronomy:—Put fifteen pounds of honey into a brass vessel, containing two pints of wine. Warm at a very gentle fire, stir, and when it rises, pour over more wine. Let the mixture rise three times, then take it from the fire, and skim it the next day. Then add four ounces of ground pepper, three scruples of gum, a drachm of spikenard, a drachm of saffron, five drachms of dried dates, after softening them in wine; pour on the whole eighteen pints of light wine.[XXIII_64]

The Oxyporon was another seasoning much in vogue two thousand years ago, and in which honey was the principal ingredient. It was composed by mixing two ounces of cummin seed, one ounce of ginger, one ounce of green rue, and six scruples of nitre, with one ounce of pepper, and twelve scruples of fine dates; nine ounces of honey were then poured over the whole.[XXIII_65]

Sometimes they contented themselves with macerating cummin seed in vinegar, which they left to dry, and then pounded it; that done, it was put into honey.[XXIII_66]

“The honey most esteemed is the white, granulated, and of an aromatic flavour. The honey from the French provinces of Narbonne, the Gatinais, or Britanny, is the most esteemed. Honey is next of kin to sugar, having the same properties. It is frequently used in domestic economy, and in medicine as a laxative. It enters into a number of remedies, either as a corrective, or an excipient.”—“Dictio. Encycl.”

SUGAR.

Theophrastus, the first among the ancients who speaks of sugar, classes it among the number of honeys.[XXIII_67] Dioscorides also calls it “honey of reeds;” he adds that these reeds grow in India, or in Arabia Felix, and that the agreeable substance they contain has some analogy with salt.[XXIII_68] Pliny also gives it the same name. It is, according to this naturalist, a kind of honey, with which certain reeds are filled, and used only in medicine.[XXIII_69]

This was also the opinion of many ancient authors;[XXIII_70] one of whom, Paul Eginetta, calls sugar—Indian salt.[XXIII_71]

The sugar cane appears to be originally a native of the East Indies. From the most remote ages the Chinese have understood the art of cultivating it. The histories of the Egyptians, Phœnicians, and Jews, make no mention of it. The Greek physicians are the first who speak of it.

It was not till the year 1471 that a Venetian discovered the method of purifying brown sugar and making loaf sugar. He gained an immense fortune by this discovery.[XXIII_72]

Sugar cane, well purified, and disburthened of all foreign matter, is white, solid, inodorous, soluble in water, of a soft and agreeable savour. Its specific gravity is 1.6065; it is used as a seasoning in a multitude of dishes, in preparing syrups, preserving of fruits, &c., &c.