He was a voluminous writer, and, among others, wrote a book of receipts in cookery. Many were the good and savoury things invented by Sir Theodore; his maxims, and those of Sir John Hill, under the cloak of _Mrs_. Glasse, might have directed our stew-pans to this hour, but for the more scientific instructions of the renowned Mrs. Rundall, or of the still more scientific Dr. Kitchiner, who has verified the old adage, that the "_Kitchen is the handmaid to Physic_;" and if it be true that we are to regard a "good cook as in the nature of a good physician," then is Dr. Kitchiner the best physician that ever condescended to treat "_de re culinaria_." Sir Theodore may, in a degree, be said to have fallen a victim to _bad cookery_; for he is reported to have died of the effects of bad wine, which he drank at a tavern in the Strand. He foretold it would be fatal, and died, as it were, out of compliment to his own prediction.--_Ibid._ * * * * * THE SELECTOR, AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS. * * * * * THE COFFEE-DRINKER'S MANUAL. We would say of coffee-making in England, as Hamlet did of acting, "Oh, reform it altogether." Accordingly, the publication of a pleasant trifle, under the above name, is not ill-timed. Like all our modern farces, it is from the French, and as the translator informs us, the editor of the original is "of the _Café de Foi_, at Paris." It opens with the _History of Coffee_, from its discovery by a monk in the 17th century, to the establishment of _cafés_ in Paris, of which we have a brief notice, with additions by the translator. Next is "the French method of making coffee, with the roasting, grinding, and infusion processes"; and an interesting chapter on "coffee in the East." Under the "medicinal effects" we have the following, which is full of the _gaiete de coeur_ of French writing:-- _Influence of Coffee upon the Spirits_. If coffee had been known among the Greeks and Romans, Homer would have taken his lyre to celebrate its virtues; Horace and Juvenal would have immortalized it in their verses; Diogenes would not have concealed his ill-humour in a tub, but would have drunk of this divine liquid, and have directly found the honest man he sought for; it would have made Heraclitus merry; and with what odes would it have inspired the muse of Anacreon! In short, who can enumerate the wonderful effects of coffee! Seest thou that morose figure, that pale complexion, those deadened eyes, and faded lips? It is a lamentable fit of spleen. The whole faculty have been sent for, but their art is unavailing. She is given over. Happily one of her friends counsels her against despair, prescribes a few cups of Moka, and the dying patient, being restored to health, concludes with anathematizing the faculty, who would thus have sacrificed her life.