New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-01-16

Conversanio. One day, being in q holy rap
| ture he fell seueeless into Vessei Oh Oeanr.
] and was seen in that situation by the Duke on
Adria, visitor, who upon oeing askea * ' ny
will eat nothing bnt some OF the Deans Wn ,1
| have been seasoned Wit yotr tears" Ihis
shows in that nobleman either great appeGtlte
or remarkable piety. Apropos OF r Deans, So ,,.
| that It was Roman punishment when t1e COOK
| had sent up the beans hard and tough, to throw
| them at his head. CuriOusly enough, beethoven
| used to throw the eggs at his cook IN the same
Worse bsfel the cook Of Wencelas, who was
king of the Romans about the year 14OO. HIS
Majesty, finding fowl not roasted TO DIS nina;
Immediately ordered the servant to be ,spltVed
and roasted alive at his own fire, and the poor
fellow was actually going round dong good
when O holy man (St. John OF Nep0mucen, l
Think came in and was so disgusted at the
spectacle that he threw himself at the rect OF
the King and oesonght him Ito to . be Rf ere
Tented. Not in the least. The more the SAINT
demonstrated the more outrageous the monarch
grew. The result was that the cook was, as we
may say. done to death, ana the SAINT iockeu up
in Jail Which shows the reader what Chris
tan duty it is to keep Our tempers, no matter
wDat enormous failures disfgure the breakfast
table, and make us melancholy or even NAL
ienantly mans laughtelOus. Apropos OF COOKS,
word of cook books. DR.. johnson once
astonished q party at dinner by saying:
could write better book of cookery than has yet
been written it should be book upon phli0-
sophical principles. You shall see what book
Hercules with the distatf indeed" said Miss
Seward. NO." roared Johnson; "women can
spin very well, but they cannot make good
book of cookery" Murray, the great London
bookseller, made E700 to $500 per annum out
of Mrs. Rundell's Cookery Book" and $4,000
was atterward given for the copyright. "Gad"
SAID LuttrelI the wit, when he heard the story,
"ouc wonders that there should be any bad
dinners going"
no consequence he will be surprised to find how
few books there are which have nothing OF eat
ing OF drinking in them. In history, in bio
graphy, in poetry, there is q perpetual smell OF
food and clatter OF dishes ! was reading only
dreadful dinners of Caligula, the post-prandial
amusements of which we're executions and tor
turings Think of q nature so perverted that
its pOssessor could satisfy an appetite only by
hardly know anything drOller than letter
which NJ. SOyer wrote to The Illustrated
London Ners from Athens, in which that illus
trious chef said: AT the present time l am
cooking with my new camp stove, on fallen
capital of the stupendous ruins, petit dGeuner
d Ia fouchette, with Greek and Sicllan wines for
my distinguished fellow travellers" Clarendon
saws that when the bill against blshoprics was
pending in the House of Commons those I" rho
prosecuted il remained with impatience in tho
House, and the Others, WHO abhored 1t. crew
weary of 40 tiresOIne an attendance, Ieft the
House at dinner time, and afterward followed
their pleasures. so that Lord Falkland was wont
to say that they who hated the bishops hated
them worse than the devil, and those who loved
them did not love them so well as their din
ner.'" Our own history during the revolu.
tiOnary war tells OF suffering TOR tho sake OF
civil liberty, just as Puritan history tells OF
starvation for the sake of religious liberty
Mrs. Adams, the wife of John Adams, speaks
feelingly of the scarcity of bread; She Says
that she can only supply her own family spar
YOU" Corn" she adds, asels at 81, hard
money, bushel, equal to eighty at the rate OF
exchange One Is pleased to learn that they
Jared more sumptuOusy in that old mansion
afterward when better times came. When
FearOn was travelling i'll the United states about
the beginning OF the present century, and after
Nh. Adams's retirement to rural Quincy, he was
invited to dine with the ex-Presidcnt. The ac-
curate FearOn has given ms the exact bul OF
fare, anu it is worth quoting: First course q
pudding made of Indian corn, mOlasses, and
butter; second, veal, bacon, neck OF mutton,
potatoes, cabbages, carrots, and Indian beans;
Madeira wine, OF which each drank two
elasses.' Dinner was served Il one o'clock
Atterward every body went to afternoon sell
vice. For tea there were pound cake, sweet
bread and butter, and bread made OF Indian
corn and rye. The topics OF conversation were
various: England, America, religion, politics,
literature. science, DR.. Priestly, Miss Edge
worth, Mrs. SiddCns, Mr.. Kean, France, Shake
speare, Moore, Lord Byron, C0I,bett, tho
American Revolution, and the traitor General
Arnold Very various indeed How ono
NAV be sure that the venerable ola man had his
share, as he rayed out the wisdom gath
cred through long life, pronounced his
opinions and displayed his prejudices, and was
in the same hour cOurtly and testy, polite and
in passion! In the years long after, when
Daniel Webster was the great man, he roo gave
dinners and went to them. There is q story OF
the Expounder or the Constitution, after din
ner at the fremont House in Boston, calling
for one of the principal functionaries OF the
establishment, and exclaimlng in his pOnderous
way: 1Olmsted! we have had dinner which
was recherche; now let us have some WINE which
is RECHERCHE" The orators appetites peep out
IN his correspondence here and there. We have
space left for little, but here is characteristic
note to Peter Harvey written in 1S49: nm
derstand that of the supplies got together Tor
canvas back duck, and MIR. Tucker proposes
to send it to my table to-day. wish you would
come at three o'clock and try its quality.p We
may be sure that MIR. Harvey went to that dinner
promptly and enjoyed the duck (and Mr.. Web
ster) thoroughly. Then this, aprop0s OF cele-
brated treaty which l find in letter to MIR.
March: "By your favor | had some OF the
'Ceylon in 1912, and somehow Lord AshburtOn
got few bottles too. 1t certainly had not ut
that time any anti-pacf'c tendency, and hope
that now, as then, 1t may be drunk in peace and
quietness."
With these anecdotes our Sunday morning
breakfast chat must come to an end. 1t has
been little discursive, like the dinner talk at
John Adams's which has been mentioned, but
hope that it has not been dull. For, of all sins
not absolutely mortal, stupidity at the breakfast
table is the least pardOnable The meal which
strikes the keynote of the day and gives its
outgoings character and it's incOmngs color,
should surely be genial and enjoyable. And
now if anybody suppOses that | am about to
end with that quotation from Shakespeare
about good digestion waiting on appetite, he is
much mistaken. Failing to remember ANYTHING