_Necessarily, in treating of what Thomas Walker has termed "one of the most important of our temporal concerns," many gastronomic expressions and names of dishes, and not a few observations relating to the table, which would lose their piquancy or precise colouring on translation, have been retained in the language in which they originally appear. "Les quenelles de levraut saucées d'une espagnolle au fumet," "les amourettes de bœuf marinées frites," "l'épaule de veau en musette champêtre," "un coq vièrge en petit deuil," for example, while natural and comprehensible in French, would sound somewhat bizarre as "Forcemeat balls of leverets sauced with a racy Spanish woman," "the love-affairs of soused beef fried," "a shoulder of veal in rural bagpipes," and "a virgin rooster in half-mourning." And surely, in reviewing the aide-de-camp of the cook, it becomes obligatory to employ a French term upon occasion, and equally seemly to address him now and then in the classic tongue of the kitchen._ _The principal meal has chiefly been considered, as through this to the greatest extent depend the health and frame of mind that determine the actions of man from day to day. It will, accordingly, be an entrée compounded of numerous flavourings, or a braise with its "bouquet garni" that has simmered gently over the smothered charcoal, rather than a familiar pièce de résistance which the reader is invited to partake of and discuss at his leisure._ [Illustration: TABLE OF CONTENTS] CHAPTER PAGE INTRODUCTORY ix I COOKERY AMONG THE ANCIENTS 3 II WITH LUCULLUS AND APICIUS 24 III THE RENAISSANCE OF COOKERY 49 IV OLD ENGLISH DISHES 80 V L'ALMANACH DES GOURMANDS 112 VI A GERMAN SPEISEKARTE 145 VII THE SCHOOL OF SAVARIN 175 VIII FROM CARÊME TO DUMAS 199 IX THE COOK'S CONFRÈRE 229 X AMERICAN _vs._ ENGLISH COOKERY 248 XI AT TABLE WITH THE CLERGY 280 XII SUNDRY GUIDES TO GOOD CHEER 315 XIII OF SAUCES 344 XIV THE SPOILS OF THE COVER 354 XV TWO ESCULENTS PAR EXCELLENCE 383 XVI SALLETS AND SALADS 409 XVII SWEETS TO THE SWEET 428 BIBLIOGRAPHY 447 INDEX 469 [Illustration: ILLUSTRATIONS] "A Sa Toute-Puissance!" _Frontispiece_ From the painting by Gabriel Metzu, 1664 PAGE