The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-23 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The Bousehold Manager. A Practical Treatise.
By Charles Pierce, Maitre d'Hotel. G. Rout-

ledge and Co.
A practical pendant to the celebrated "works"
of—the " Great CarBrne," of Ude, of Soyer, Web-
ster, Walker, Adams, Kitchener, and Francatelli !
Those masters of the menage—those chiefs of the
cuisine—those wonder-workers in the production
of the entree, the entremet, the hors-d'oeuvre, the
piece de resistance. Glorious creatures, who knew,
or happily still know, some of them, almost in-
stinctively, how to discriminate between the tastes
not merely of the glutton and the gourmand, but
even the subtler distinction definable in those of

the gourmet, the gastronome, and the gastrolatre
Gifted beings, any one of whom might have pre
sided over the banquets of Lucullus, or have occu-
pied, by the camp-tire of Napoleon the Great, the
post of the renowned Laguipierre ! As evidence
most conclusive and satisfactory that Mr. Pierce
is in some measure qualified to walk respectfully (and
at a proper distance from them) in the footsteps of
these Lawgivers in the Art of Gastronomy, we con-
ceive the following brief extract from his Preface
will be accepted by the generality as conclusive.
" The Warrior General," says Charles Pierce,
" who looks forward to the successful termination
of his coming engagement, first with careful study
and practised thought, views with prescience each
possible exigency, and provides a means to meet it,
strategically considering the country in which his
scene of action is laid, and the appliances necessary
in all respects to his victory." " And so"—observe
the inference !—" and so with the noble Giver of a
Feast." Admirable ! Mr. Pierce has entered upon
his task with a true sense of its importance. He
undertakes nothing more in the work under notice
than—" to remove discontent and to create har-
mony in households"—only that ! And How ?
" By pointing out the precise nature of the services
required from each Domestic." Wherefore in his
treatise will be found separate sections dedicated
respectively to the Hall Porter—the gentleman in
powder who reposes in a leathern chair during most
of the twenty-four hours, airing his calves by the
hall fire and his intellect by the hall newspaper.
To the Usher of the Servant's Hall—the Gentle-
man's Gentleman's Gentleman ! To the Footman
--Jeames Yellowplush of Buckley Square for in-
stance ! To the Waiter ; to the Steward's Room
Boy ; to the Under-Butler—later on even to the
Butler, whom we should have supposed altogether
too august a personage to be schooled by Mr.
Pierce or any one else, as our Mr. Murdles and the
like might well have imagined by reason of their
own personal experiences. Various other sections
apply, moreover, to the Chasseur ; to the Valet ; to
the Cook ; to the Steward ; to the Groom ; to the
Courier ; to the Pastrycook ; to the Groom of the
Chambers ; and to the Confectioner. How fully
our author recognises the dignity of the Cook
in particular is skown by this notable memorandum
in regard to his appearance. "It is usual," he
says, "for the cook, when he has to present himself
for orders, to do so in his full kitchen costume,
with his jacket, apron, and cap, and not to remove
his cap, even in the presence of royalty." How
highly he estimates the value of punctuality on
the part of the livited, may be unders,ood from
the mere circumstance of his reviving the subjoined
very notable anecdote :

"The Prince Cambacitris, who was Arch-Chancellor
of the French Empire, and one of the first gastronomers
of the day, is related to have invited the Emperor Napo
leon to one of his celebrated dinners, but finding that
half an hour had elapsed beyond the time of invitation,
and yet no Buosaparte appeared, poor Camnacri I, in
a state of indescribable agony, sent for his chef de cuisine,
and ca'led nut in true military language—' Henri, have
the entremets —the entrees are annihilated

The scale upon which our author in•
dulges his ideas of domestic economy may
be conjectured, in some slight degree,
from the circumstances of his calculating the ex-
penses of a little Picnic at -a hundred and odd
pounds sterling ; drawing out a Bill of Faro iu
another part of his treatise for a Buffet, or Stand-
ing supper for a Ball of Six Hundred. But then
his work is designed, it should be remembered, with
a view to the application of its hints upwards and
downwards, from palatial festivities to champetre
enjoyments. How wise, how tender, how delicious
some of these hints are in their mere tendency !
Hints in regard to decanting wine—in regard to
the mixing of a salad—in regard to the dainty art
(or rather science we should call it) of carv-
ing ! Let it be observed, for example, in allu-
sion to the last-mentioned theme how lovingly
he suggests " to those who wish it, the
cook at once gives expression to his art by placing
the joint on the dish in the proper form to be
carved, giving it the first delicate touch of the
carving-knife preparatory to being planed before
the carver." Is not the book—obviously—one to
be

eagerly dipped into 13,3 any one who can lay a
hand upon it, from the drawing-room to the
kitchen, by those who, whether as employers or
employed, have part either in large or in small
establishments ? Assuredly—and as a work of this
class, we commend it alike to high and low with
all imaginable cordiality.

England's Greatness ; Its Rise and Progress in
Government, Laws, Religion, and Social Life,
Agriculture, Commerce and Manufactures, Sci-
ence, Literature, and the Arts, from the earliest
period to the. Peace of Paris. By John Wade,
V.P. Institut d'Afrique (H;storical Section),
Paris. Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans,
and Roberts. .

A somewhat formidable title, suggestive of many
volumes of no inconsiderable bulk ; nevertheless
only appertaining to a single volume, which, by
the way, might well have been divided into two.
The subject, undoubtedly, is one admitting of
great amplification, if not requiring it. The object
of the writer, however, evidently having been to
produce a work which should be read by the intel-
ligent public—the industrial as well as the more
cultivated classes—he has wisely aimed at brevity
and conciseness. People nowadays have not
much time to follow in the wake of historical re-
search and philosophical inquiry. The precise
character of the work, however, may best be ga-
thered from the language of the writer. "It is
not," he says, "an abridgment of British history,
or a brief narrative of political progress, with
which every one is familiar, but a condensed embo-
diment in spirit and form of national development,
as characterised by its most remarkable epochs,
illestrated by individual traits and memorable
transitions, and exemplified in the contemporary
growth of art, industry, intellect, social life, and
gradations. History, biography, science, and
literature, in different degrees, have been laid
under contribution to complete the national pic-
ture." No doubt can be entertained by the reader
of the correctness of the latter statement. Per-
haps the most striking merit of the work is the
broadness and variety of research discernilde iu it.
The author is one of those who do not believe the
progress of a people is only to be traced iu the cus-
tomary ecclesiastical and political channels, and
wt think he was amply justified in following out
his convictions. The result of the most compre-
hensive research is most likely to be in accordance
' with the truth. To proceed. We find him tracing
the progress of England's greatness from the re-
motest period down to the present time, pausing at
various epochs to recount the advance made, and to
contrast it with that of other nations. As in a pa-
noramic exhibition, the Roman and Anglo-Saxon
Domination ; the Norman Conquest ; the Baronial
and French Wars of the Plantagenets ; the ob-
structions from the Papacy to Civilisation ; the
Age of the Tudors ; the Religious progress to
the period of the Reformation ; the Establishment
of the Church of England ; the accession of the
Stuarts ; Charles, and the Civil War ; the Com-
monwealth ; the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell ;
the Ascendancy of the Puritans ; the Restoration
of Charles 11., and the Accession of James 11. to
his Abdication, are made to pass before us so as to
elicit the truths they are calculated to teach. Then
we have in review the Industrial Progress of the
Kingdom to the Revolution in Agriculture, et m-
coerce, and Manufactures, with a notice of
Population, Riches, and Social Aspects of England
at that period. Next come the Reigns of William
Rise
[H., Queen Anne, George 1., and George
accompanied by a retrospective summary of the"
progress made up to the conclusion of the ,
latter
reign, and followed bythe Accession of Gorge III.;
the Revolt
of o
England's
the
jnt
iColonies
j:.•the es
and
Progress
Court of the Monarch, and the Man
Life of the People ; the state of
Science iters and Social
Litera-
ture, and the Fine Arts ; the progress, .
Industry and the Useful Arts ; the
__ of Nationha.
and his successors, up to the e
tion ; the Death of Geo. tßherench_Rev22
succeeds a review of present eigns of. Gteow..lye.;
Treatyaspects,
of Pardis,thon
exhibition,nvednats
valuable. and— ainnstrtictai
exhi-
bition closes
let us
ure, add, 'creditable
alike to the researchintelligence of the
author. Differ as the readerthe may in a more or
adnd of a very
less qualified degree from some of Mr. Wade's
conclusions, it would be somewhat ungracious to
deny him this. In one particular all are likely to
be agreed, viz., the great lesson which he educes
from his survey of the past—
to wit, England is
what she is, free, great, stable, and prosperous,
!rah a yet more brilliant future before her, becaus
of her cautious but assured step in threading the
dark and untried passages of her career. This
steadiness and caution, doubtless, are attributable.
to many causes, prominent among which is the
people—Itself formed or fostered
.y
genius of the
adventitious circumstances. Whatever credit,
however, attaohes to us as a natiou, the fact re-