New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-01-16
'RECoLLECTIONS OF READER
BY CHARLES T. .CoNGDON.
4 CHAPTER FOR BREAKFAST.

BY CHARLES T.'CoNGDOS.
ACHAPTER FOR BREAKFAST.
MORAL INFLUENCE OF BREAKFAsT-MR. PEPYs AMI
uts. prr-MoNrAIGNR's COOK -GuLLIvER's
rn.yEts-sroRrEs OF cOoKs-JOaN ADAMS
DANIEL wEBsrER-RoYAL GLUTroNY AND
WRENCH STARVATION.
tnIe. will eat their Sunday breakfast, good or
had. and will be cross or complacent according
70 the quality of the meal. Ii they have peen
erievousiy disappointed through the stnpiany
Of the cook, OF the stnginess OF the caterer'
perhaps they are better oil physically and men.
tally than if they had eaten Russian breakfast
which q Russian princess gave az Vlenna uurine
the Congress, and which consisted OF "cutiets
Of Archangel salmon, slices of raw ham, ancho,
caviar nnk % of man at tsaa peTous
period. having the political destinies OF his
country in charge, swallowing such muudnhg
mess az that to begin the day wlth--a congiosl-
Grafton which would have proves too mucn IcI
reapers! / am sure that neither Metternich nor
wellington so pre- pared themselves for the deli
cacies Of diplomacy. have two authorities tor
1oy notion of the modifying effect OF what
somebody in a moment OF mathsmaT Eha
ists George Eliot says 10 adam
Bsden: SThe progress of civilization has mace
a breakfast or q dinner an easy anu cneerIui
substitute for mole troublesome and oisaSree-
able ceremonies. An assault upon our p9ck hns
been made in the brusque form OF pistol shOt,
Is quite q we'll bred and smiling procedure now
1t has become request tor loan thrown I'D as
an easy parenthesls between the second and
third glass of claret." And now Tor Snake
sp0"'0 ~ "He had not drned:
The veins untitled our blood is cold, and then
We pout upon the morning, are unapt
IT, or To when VI
These pipes and these conveyances OF our blood,
With wine and feeding, zoe hare saPptcr souls
Very distinguished men have not disdained
to record in their diaries nnaenaSSiy dnteno ny
and sorrows. Lord EldOn made entry that
June Is, 1924 friday, he dined with che hero
of Waterloo. Il did not" says the great law
yer, "get there till past Sail the turtle gone,
alas! Ditto all the fish! very spl.enGila; not
a cold thereby" II his Lordship heard in Chan
Gerry the next day the case OF Jarndyce vs..
Jarndyce, or any side issue thereof, he probably
souSea tnan Knows what
critic of his dinner DIR. johnson was. Once,
while travelling in the HebIides, he was In the
duleful dumps when dinner was announced,
wbereupon he roared out: 1Ay, ay, amidst all
these sorrowful scenes, I have no objection to
dinner" But dear old, uuapproachable, match
everything else he kept! Somebody said OF
Homer that be was always great when he sang
of the sea but of Pepys it may be ayerred that
eating. He is like Rabelais reduced to homely,
natural English proportions, with his appetite
graded to the possibilities OF an English
Kitchen. He lets you know when he inst drank
q cup of matheglin, and when he first drank a
cup of tea. We learn from him precisely what
was considered noble bill of fare in England
in 1859, viz: "a dish of marrow bones; leg
of mutton loin of veal; q dish of fowl; three
pulets, and dozen of larks, all in dish; a
great tart; meats tongue; a dish OF ancho-
vies: a dish of prawns and cheese" This
hardly strikes one as more inviting than the
Russian breakfast above menti0ned-lt has the
British fault of heaping loads upon loads OF
meat. Pepys as diner at home was not to be
trified with. On Sunday, he makes this re-
cord: MY wife and / alone to leg OF
mutton, the sauce of which being made sweet
was angry at it, and eat none, but only, dined
upon marrow bone which We had beside" And
90 the entries 90 on through these most enter
punctiliOusly recorded as the good ones. 1t Is
a catalogue this diary, of whatever dishes went
to the nOurishment Of the plump body OF
Samuel Pepys-venisOn pasty, legs OF mutton,
loins of veal, calves head, Drawn, chimes OF
beef, mince pies, swans, rabbits, Holsters. lam
pyeys Once he writes: Strange to say how q
good dinner and feasting IecOnciles every
body" Once he had 1cold meat because j it
~
season ION the 28h of the same month, the
first green peas. extraordinary young and
pretty" as ii ne were speaking OF me woman
As Pepys is considerably talked OF lately in
consequence Of the publication of an abridged
and popular edition OF his diary, may as well
give this extract since it seems to contain the
guintessence of his philosophy: "The truth is,
/ do indulge myself a little the more IN pleasure
knowing that this is the proper age OF my LIE TO
do is and out of my observation that most men
that do thrive in the world do forget to take
pleasure during the time that they are getting
their estate, but reserve that time cney nave got
one, and then it is too late Tor them to enjoy
it." A practical man was MIR. Pepys, practical
alike i'm his pleasures and in the serious and diff
cult business of managing the Royal Navy. The
reader who peruses his resolution may rest as
sured that he kept it. Few men OF his time en-
jOyed themselves more and ne was sucn a
good -natured and otherwise sensible man, that
we can forgive him for cherishing detestation
of the plays of Shakespeare, which he was not
ia the least ashamed to acknowledge.
have often thought that an interesting vol
une might be written about cooks, with due
honor paid to the good and appropriate male
dictions showered upon the bad ones. The inn
pOrtauce OF this man OF splits and saucepans 10 q
house, may be deduced from All anecc0te which
Horace Waipole relates, OF how Lord Der6ys
cook gave warning. He owned that he liked
the place, but said he should be killed by dress.
ing suppers at three in the morning. The Earl
asked him with perfect sang troM at how much
no valued bis life. aThat is." says Walpoles
she would have paid him for killing him."
Montague has left us an excellent account of
bis cook, an Italian. II put the fellow" says
the frankest of philosophers. aupon an &C
count OF his service; when he fell to discourse
of this palate science with such settled cOun-
tenance ana magsterial gravity, as If he had
been handling some profound body of divinity.
And all this was set out with lofty and magni-
fceut words, the very same we make use OF
when We discourse OF the government of an
empire" People have wondered what Rousseau
found 70 admire in the Therese whom he lived
so long with. as she was a silly, vulgar, mis-
ehieyOus person; but the COmte dEschery
makes all plain by telling US that she was par
ticularly good cook. yet" says Lord