The suburban citizen., 1900-01-27


genius has achieved its greatest feats
in literature, art, aud racial progress
sion. Food and the means of obtain
ing it form the absorbing incessant
topic and aim of daily toll and scheme
of the whole world. 1t is but false
and hypocritical pride that disdains
the consideration of such an eternal
factor. Hunger, not moral principles
and high ideals, is the motive power
OF mankind.
Man made a great advance when he
began to eat at fixed times, instead of,
as hitherto, when he was hungry or
had something to eat, The institu-
tion of meal times, as apart from the
mere demands of hunger, notified a
stability of society. 1t is curious to
note the alteration in the hours for
the principal meals. Dinner and sup
per appear to have kanscended all
other meals. The word breakfast"
as applied to the morning food is not
known before the fifteenth century.
Until comparatively recent times it
appears to have been merely and lit
orally breaking OF the fast That
dinner was emphatically the para
mount, if not only, meal of the day, is
shown by the early hour at which it
was taken. In the fourteenth century
dinner was eaten at a. m. A rhyme
of the period bade man rise at five,
dine at nine: "At five in the evening
thou mayest sup, to bed at nine, and
thou shalt live to ninety and nine"
In the Northumberland House
Book" for 1912 it is set forth that the
family rose at 6 a. M, broke feast at
seven, dined at ten, and supped at
four in the afternoon. The gates were
all shut at nine, and further ingress
OF egress refused. At Oxford, in
1870, it was usual to dine at eleven
o'clock and sup at five in the after
noon. All but the highest classes
took their meals somewhat earlier.
Louis XIV. Of France postponed din
ner to two o'clock, and this time was
retained until the Revolution, when 6
D. m. became the dinner hour. About
the same time dinner in Germany,
which had hitherto been eaten at
twelve, was carried forward into the
afternoon. In England Horace Wal
pole complained of the late practice of
dining at 6 p. M, which, he grum-
| bled, meant the evening could not be-
gin to be spent until ten. But the
progress of the dinner hour has been
continuous, and the meal, which was
once served as early as 10 a. M, is
now, in some circles, served nearly
twelve hours later. With the gradual
recession of dinner and its usurpation
of the place of supper, breakfast has
become a solid meal, and luncheon
and tea institutions. The latter is no
doubt responsible for thg postpone
ment of dinner to so late an hour.
In character, as well as in time,
meals have undergone complete trans.
formation. Dinner was always the
great meal Of the day, and as sumptu.
Gus and extravagant as possible. So
lavish did the feasts become that in
the reign of Edward III. an act was
passed prohibiting more than two
courses being served at dinner or
supper, except ou certain holidays
The curious may note that this law
has never been repealed, and re-
mains on the statute book to this day.
Carving was then a fine art, and the
manner in which a gentleman helped
himself with his dagger from the joint
or bird proffered by page gained
him mo mean respect" The absence
Of forks led to much stress being laid
upon the washing of hands before and
after meals, and to the rule that the
left hand alone should be dipped in
the common dish, the right hand be-
ing occupied with the knife. Small
forks were not introduced into use
until the seventeenth century, and
then guests provided their own.
Pepys took his spoon and fork with
him to the Lord Mayors banquet in
1868.
The dinner of the best period of
English cookery consisted of three
courses, each complete in itself, and
finished off with dish of subtle de-
vice. Here is a menu of fifteenth
century dinner, which for variety,
not to mention solidity, a modern
chef would find hard to beat; "Baked
mallard, teals roasted with sauce Of
almonds and butter boiled in milk
Roasted capon served with syrup Of
honey and pears we'll beaten.
Roasted leg of a calf, boiled herons,
sucking pig, seethed and baked, set
about in gilt and citron in his
mouth. Flesh tart with sauce Of
ounce. Second course: Roasted
hedgehog with jelly of pears. Yeni-
son well baked, with many apples.
Almond and white wine pudding.
Boar's flesh in soft pudding. Two
cranes with the gravy of young kid.
Partridge and curlew with sauce Of
good syrup. Third course: A pea,
cock, roasted with grease of pigs
chops, set out covered with its skin
and feathers, many onions under
meath him. Pears baked in syrup.