This _estimable_ old gentleman, in order to have the cookery of every nation in the highest perfection, hit upon the ingenious plan of sending one of his serfs to each of the great capitals of Europe, in order that they might be initiated in all the mysteries of the _cuisine_ of the country. One was in Vienna, another in Paris, a third in London, and the fourth in Naples. The sum this cost him was enormous, not only for the journeys, but on account of the high premium demanded for their instruction. The man sent to Paris was bound for three years; he was the most intelligent of the four; his master built immense castles in the air about him; he was never tired of talking of the great progress the man was making in the culinary art, whilst the agreeable prospect of innumerable good dinners, rich soups, and magnificent _entremets_, solaced him and served to cheer him up whenever an attack of indigestion caused him a fit of the “blues.” He did not know, poor man! that the dreams of his distant serf were widely different from his own; nor perhaps had it ever entered his mind, that, in learning “_la cuisine Française_,” he might possibly learn the language, and imbibe French notions of liberty as well—but so it was. The three years were out, and the old gentleman was on the tiptoe of expectation; his delicious _rêves_ were about to become realized; he had invited a host of acquaintances to dine with him on a certain day. But, alas! the very morning on which he made so sure of welcoming with open arms his _chef de cuisine_ from abroad, there came a letter, in which the _ci-devant_ slave politely and delicately informed him that, owing to a great change in his views, both social and political, he could not decide upon devoting the rest of his days to _his service_; that he was going to be married to a charming young grisette, and had resolved upon becoming a French subject, as he was already one at heart. He concluded by returning his sincere thanks for the protection and patronage his former master had afforded him; sent the receipted bills for the expenses which had been incurred on his account, which he assured him had been honourably paid in his name, out of the money forwarded to Paris for the purpose, and finished with the most amiable wishes for his health and prosperity. The grief and dismay of the old gourmand were inconceivable, and such an effect did the mortification take on him, that he remained in bed a whole fortnight to lament in solitude his irreparable loss. As for the other three, I never heard what became of them; but it is to be hoped that they all followed the same laudable plan.