Produced by Tobin Richard, Charles Franks, Greg Lindahl, Cindy Renfrow and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. Corrections and additions by Greg Lindahl. THE FORME OF CURY, A ROLL OF ANCIENT ENGLISH COOKERY. Compiled, about A.D. 1390, by the Master-Cooks of King RICHARD II, Presented afterwards to Queen ELIZABETH, by EDWARD Lord STAFFORD, And now in the Possession of GUSTAVUS BRANDER, Esq. Illustrated with NOTES, And a copious INDEX, or GLOSSARY. A MANUSCRIPT of the EDITOR, of the same Age and Subject, with other congruous Matters, are subjoined. "--ingeniosa gula est." MARTIAL. TO GUSTAVUS BRANDER, Esq. F.R.S. F.S.A. and Cur. Brit. Mus. SIR, I return your very curious Roll of Cookery, and I trust with some Interest, not full I confess nor legal, but the utmost which your Debtor, from the scantiness of his ability, can at present afford. Indeed, considering your respectable situation in life, and that diffusive sphere of knowledge and science in which you are acting, it must be exceedingly difficult for any one, how well furnished soever, completely to answer your just, or even most moderate demands. I intreat the favour of you, however, to accept for once this short payment in lieu of better, or at least as a public testimony of that profound regard wherewith I am, SIR, Your affectionate friend, and most obliged servant, St. George's day, 1780. S. PEGGE. PREFACE TO THE CURIOUS ANTIQUARIAN READER. Without beginning _ab ovo_ on a subject so light (a matter of importance, however, to many a modern Catius or Amasinius), by investigating the origin of the Art of Cookery, and the nature of it as practised by the Antediluvians [1]; without dilating on the several particulars concerning it afterwards amongst the Patriarchs, as found in the Bible [2], I shall turn myself immediately, and without further preamble, to a few cursory observations respecting the Greeks, Romans, Britons, and those other nations, Saxons, Danes, and Normans, with whom the people of this nation are more closely connected. The Greeks probably derived something of their skill from the East, (from the Lydians principally, whose cooks are much celebrated, [3]) and something from Egypt. A few hints concerning Cookery may be collected from Homer, Aristophanes, Aristotle, &c. but afterwards they possessed many authors on the subject, as may be seen in Athenæus [4]. And as Diætetics were esteemed a branch of the study of medicine, as also they were afterwards [5], so many of those authors were Physicians; and _the Cook_ was undoubtedly a character of high reputation at Athens [6].