when the squire's lady had forgotten it ever existed. The life of the English housewife was neither dull nor narrow in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and, although busy, it was certainly not a life of drudgery, being far too full of interestintellectual as well as practical. Plenty of help was available in the still-room; kitchen work was done by men in large establishments, as the cutting-up of meat and game was considered too heavy for women.

In Gervase Markham's "English Hus-wife," first published in 1623, some flower recipes are given that may serve equally well to-day; the writer of this article made delicious rose-petal jam from one of them, sixteen years ago. Gervase Markham has the distinction of being the first hack-writer, but as he collected what he thought women generally required, and his work went through many editions, his title page can be accepted as fairly representative of the housekeeping duties of that period. It is worth quoting in full :—

THE ENGLISH HUSWIFE
containing

The inward and Outward Vertues which ought to be in
A Compleate Woman.

As her skill in Physicke, Surgerie, Extraction of
Oyles, Banqueting - Stuffe, Ordering of great Feasts,
Preserving of all sorts of wines, conceited
secrets, Distillations, Perfumes, Ordering of Wooll,
Hempe, Flax, Making Cloth, Dying, the Know-
ledge of Dayries, office of Malting, Oats, their
excellent uses in a Family, Brewing, Baking, and
all other things belonging to an Household.
A worke generally approved, and now much augmented,
purged and made most profitable and necessarie for
all men, and Dedicated to the Honour of the Noble
House of Exeter, and the generall good

of this Kingdome
By G.M.

Printed at London by J.B. for R. Jackson, and to be
sold at his shop near Fleete Street Conduit, 1623.

Sir Kenelm Digby's book, a collection of " Choice and Experimented Receipts on Physick and Chirurgery, as also Cordial and Distilled Waters and Spirits, Perfumes, and other curiosities," is also an example of the interest in cookery and its connection with

medicine. Sir Kenelm was one of the first Fellows of the Royal Society, and Chancelloure to the Queen Mother.

66

Perhaps, however, one of the most authoritative records we have of the existence of a distinctive English cookery is the preface written by E. Smith to her book, “ The Compleat Housewife, or accomplish'd Gentlewoman's Companion." This was first printed in 1727 for J. Pemberton, at the Golden Buck, over against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet Street; it went through eighteen editions, the last being printed in 1773. E. Smith— whether Mrs. or Miss-was a strong-minded lady and begins her preface as follows: "It being grown as unfashionable for a book now to appear in publick without a preface, as for a lady to appear at a ball without a hoop-petticoat, I shall conform to custom for fashion's sake, and not through any necessity." She then proceeds to trace the rise of cookery from the beginning of things; "Esau," she says, "is the first person mentioned that made any advances beyond plain dressing; as boiling, roasting, etc." The whole preface is worth reading and proves that love of learning and cookery are not incompatible. The following extracts apply particularly to the topic under discussion :—

What you will find in the following sheets are directions generally for dressing after the best, most natural, and wholesome manner, such provisions as are the products of our own country, and in such a manner as is most agreeable to English palates: saving that I have so far temporized as, since we have to our disgrace so fondly admired the French tongue, French modes, and also French menus, to present you now and then with such receipts of French cookery, as I think may not be disagreeable to English palates.

These receipts are all suitable to English constitutions and English palates, wholesome, toothsome, all practicable and easy to be performed. Here are those proper for a frugal and also for a sumptuous table, and if rightly observed, will prevent the spoiling of many a good dish of meat, the waste of many good materials, the vexation that frequently attends such mismanagements, and the curses not unfrequently bestowed on cooks with the usual reflection, that whereas God sends good meat, the devil sends cooks.

66

The book is divided into ten parts; there are over 100 cookery" receipts, 50 for pickles, over 50 for puddings, over 40 for pastry, cakes 40, creams and jellies above 40, 100 for preserving, 40 for wines, 70 for cordial waters and powders, over 200 for medicines. The whole the result of "thirty years' diligent application."

As one reads volume after volume of these old tomes and MS. books, a clearer idea is gathered of the social life of a period than can be read in any history. This is especially the case if they are followed up by visiting houses of the period we are studying that may still exist, and exploring their neighbourhood to elucidate a vexed point; the local library or museum sometimes contains an unexpected treasure, as for example household gadgets, the use for which has been forgotten. There is no richer fund of interest than these old records afford.

Passing over a century we come to 1827, and to Dr. Kitchiner, who wrote " The Cook's Oracle " and died on February 27 of that year. He was a Londoner and a qualified medical man, who possessed a private fortune and therefore did not practise. In the preface to the third edition of his book he says:

Among the multitude of causes which concur to impair Health, and produce Disease, the most general is the improper quality of our Food: this most frequently arises from the injudicious manner in which it is prepared-yet, strange," passing strange," this is the only one for which a remedy has not been sought; and few persons bestow half so much attention on the preservation of their own Health, as they daily devote to that of their Dogs and Horses.

Convinced that it is surely more advantageous to mankind to prevent diseases than to cure them, Dr. Kitchiner considered "the Art of Cooking, not merely as a mechanical operation, fit only for working cooks, but as the Analeptic part of the Art of Physic, an occupation neither unbecoming nor unworthy Philosophers of the highest class." He set to work to prepare a cookery book which might be for a doctor a companion volume to the British Pharmacopoeia; and at the same time give such exact and simple directions that the most ignorant novice in the business of the kitchen might be able to follow and soon become a good cook. When the idea occurred to him he was already a doctor, but he could not cook; he learnt to cook; and at the same time studied every book on the subject he could beg, borrow or buy-250 in all.

He did not presume to offer any observations" of his own until he had done this. Then he wrote out the rudiments of cookery, giving many particulars and precautions which he says may appear trivial, but which he discovered from his own experience to be essential. Every receipt printed was tested in his VOL. 246. NO. 502.

own kitchen and not included until the dish made from it had been eaten and approved by the most illustrious epicures of London. He was assisted in his studies and experiments by Mr. Henry Osborne, cook to Sir Jasper Banks, President of the Royal Society, who offered his services for this purpose. At the same time, Dr. Kitchiner was careful to learn all he could from the famous French cuisine which, at that period, was flourishing under the united energies and enthusiasms of Grimrod de Reynière, Brillat Savarin, Carême and Beauvilliers. The first edition of his book was published in 1817, the eighth in 1827, in which year the author, or editor as he preferred to call himself, died.

Another interesting cookery book of the early nineteenth century is "The Cook and Housewife's Manual," by Margaret Dods. A contemporary magazine in reviewing the book says: "If the humorous introduction is not written by Sir Walter Scott, the author of it possesses a singular talent of mimicking his best manner, and has presented us with an imitation of the great novelist as remarkable for its fidelity, and cleverness as any thing in the Rejected Addresses." The recipes were, as a matter of fact, collected by Mrs. Johnstone (afterwards editor of Tait's Magazine) at the time when her husband was editing the Inverness Courier. When the book was published they were living in Edinburgh, and there is little doubt that Scott wrote the introduction and notes. Mrs. Johnstone was a prominent member of the Edinburgh literary world of that day, a friend of De Quincy and Joanna Baillie.

In a note in" St. Ronan's Well," Scott refers to Margaret Dods as "the authoress of a work on cookery," and adds, " Mrs. Dods has preserved the receipts of certain excellent dishes which we would be loath should fall into oblivion in our day; and in bearing this testimony we protest we are in no way biassed by the receipt of two bottles of excellent sauce for cold meat, which were sent in by the said Mrs. Dods, as a mark of her respect and regard, for which we return her our unfeigned thanks, having found them capital." In her cookery book, Margaret Dods gives a recipe for "Mrs. Fletcher's Parliament Cakes," and adds the note: "This worthy lady was the universal favourite of the schoolboys of Edinburgh, the contemporaries of Sir W. Scott. We regret not being able to recover her receipt for White Quality Cakes ";

3

nformation which looks, on the face of it, very much as if it came from Sir Walter himself.

We can, at any rate, have no better guide than Meg Dods as far as distinctive Scottish cookery is concerned. She gives minute directions which to the ignorant may appear trifling and unnecessary, but which the experienced cook knows well make all the difference between success and failure. The truth is that native English and Scottish food is so good that the art of our distinctive national cookery lies in preserving and bringing out its natural flavour; this is done by perfect simplicity of preparation, but in plain roasting, boiling, baking, grilling or frying it is not easy to repair a mistake once made. The food must be cooked" to a turn," and that " turn " is soon passed; this is why boiled eggs and boiled potatoes, which seem such easy things to achieve, are often failures. With made-dishes it is possible to camouflage an error; and it is easy to understand that casserole cooking is better suited to an age of hectic hurry, and real English and Scottish cookery to days of spacious leisure. Even French chefs are complaining that they have not time in these days to cook properly because people will not wait; and the modern French girl is not so skilled in the art as were her mother and grandmother.

To quote Margaret Sim, who was housekeeper at Rossdhu, the seat of Sir John Colquhoun of Colquhoun and Luss: "It is the watchful eye, the precise fingers, the concentrated attention which make the cook. A recipe hastily skimmed through and only half followed is best let alone." Again, " Savoury seasoning and garnishing, if the groundwork be of solid excellence, may, to some palates, add an attraction; but if the basis be poor, they can never supply one." Those who want tested recipes for genuine Scottish cookery will find them in her book; those who want further English recipes beyond those given by Dr. Kitchiner will find a few in Mrs. Loudon's delightful book, "The Lady's Country Companion."

In all the works mentioned it is evident that academic studies are closely allied to cookery; that medicine, chemistry, botany, bacteriology, physics, economics, mathematics, philosophy, psychology are all corollary studies; and it is obvious that learning and culture are not incompatible with the successful practice of