The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-05-27
EECCoInAI ATrEIiIcS.
Table Feats of Some Famous Feeders
of Bygone Days.


of Bysone Days.
A generation holding critical views
on a mans intelligent. or unwise,
choice of parents is not likely TO in
dulge in ancestor worship. But there
are at least one or two things in which
our ancestors were truly greater than
we of the present day can ever aspire
to be. Take them. for instance. at Ia
BILE. If ancient books on table Ell
quette are TO be taken seriously, and
there is no reason why they should
not be, the ancestor was in the habit
of gnawing bones a la CHEN and of
disposing of them by the simple means
of throwing them under the table OF
over his shoulder He worked hard
with his hands in the dishes. when
succulent but slippery morsel refused
to come to him by means of knife and
fork. He used his table napkin for
unspeakable purposes and his fork in
utter forgetfulness as comb or tooth
brush. In one sense therefore, he did
not know how to eat. Meanwhile. in
another, he was truly great for the
quantities of food which he caused to
disappear at single meal We're moth
ing short of marvellous
The records preserved of the ances-
tors feats of the fork (and the fingers
ore woefully thin. but now and again
one of these very human documents
in the form of a menu is unearthed
and tells its own story. Such is the
following list of dishes served in 1881
to worthy citizen of Valencia on the
occasion of his taking unto himself
wife. Across the space of close upon
the six centuries the cranes and lam
preys, the peacocks and boar's head of
the feast made fine display. This is
the order In which the fourteenth cen.
fury wedding breakfast was served:
MENU
Roast crane, venison. lamprey.
Peacock, pheasant. guinea fowl. osprey.
snipe pike,
Baked pomegranates. burnt almonds. veg
etables, fish.
Eel pie and toast.
Galantine of sprats and cheese cakes.
Peacock. crane. pheasant.
Craynsh. boars head and savouries.
Figs. medlars and waters.
Wines.
Saint Jangon. Branne. Burgundy and
Hook.
The Italians also were famous feed
ers and seem to have distinguished
themselves in particular during the
early days of the renaissance. The
Bourbons valiantly followed suit, one
Of the most distinguished successes be-
ing scored by Louis XIV, of whom an
eyewitness wrote: Il often saw him
eat four plates of soup. a whole pleas
ant, a guinea fowl, a large dish of
salad, several slices of mutton with
garlic sauce, two large slices of ham. a
dish of cake and dessert" The threats
of his physicians finally reduced his
majesty to such meager fare as two
plates of pigeon broth and three roast
fowls. According to Arenberg, the
great king was later in life subject to
attacks of Indigestion.
The little suppers in the reign of the
next Louis, though on a slightly less
gigantic scale, are still sufficiently im-
pressive. The Marquise d'Artenay, for
instance. put before her guests after
they came frem the theater and before
they went on to dance this collation.:
Pigeon soup, with lentils and carrots.
Chicken broth.
Patties of fowl. veal. capon, pheasants,
guinea fowl.
Sweetbread and roast pouletS.
Baked starlings. wood pigeons, wild duck
and snipe-
Cakes. Sweets. Fruit.
1t seems pity no record is preserved
of what happened at the dance follow
ing this supper party.