Promenade du Gourmand 315 Frontispiece of "Le Manuel du Gastronome ou Nouvel Almanach des Gourmands" (1830) La Table 331 Frontispiece of the Second Canto of "La Conversation" of the Abbé Délille, 1822 A Supper in the Eighteenth Century 344 From the engraving after Masquelier The Spanish Pointer 354 From the engraving by Woollett, after the painting by Stubbs, 1768 Partridge Shooting. I. La Chasse aux Perdrix 364 From the coloured print after Howitt, 1807 Partridge Shooting--September 375 From the coloured engraving by Reeve, after the painting by R. B. Davis, 1836 Truffle-hunting in the Dauphiné 383 From the Salon picture after Paul Vayson "Nouvel Manuel Complet du Cuisinier et de la Cuisinière" 397 Facsimile of frontispiece, 1822 The Wounded Snipe 409 From the engraving after A. Cooper, R.A. "Après Bon Vin" 428 From the engraving by Eisen in the Fermiers-Généreaux edition of the "Contes et Nouvelles" (1762) Le Pâtissier Français 442 Facsimile of title-page of the edition of 1655 [Illustration: LE CUISINIER After the engraving by Mariette] THE PLEASURES OF THE TABLE [Illustration] COOKERY AMONG THE ANCIENTS "L'art qui contient toutes les élégances, toutes les courtoisies, sans lesquelles toutes les autres sont inutiles et perdus; l'art hospitalier par excellence qui emploie avec un égal succès tous les produits les plus excellents de l'air, des eaux, de la terre."--FAYOT. Cookery is naturally the most ancient of the arts, as of all arts it is the most important. Whether one should live to eat, is a question concerning which the epicure and the ascetic will hold widely varying opinions; but that one must eat to live, will scarcely admit of controversy. The man who is wise in his generation will be inclined to choose a happy medium. Or perchance the French axiom that we only eat to live when we do not understand how to live to eat, may somewhat simplify the matter. As it is largely through food and drink that man derives his highest mental efficiency and physical well-being, as equally through improper diet accrue countless bodily disorders, it would appear that the proper choice and preparation of aliments and the selection of beverages should receive the profound consideration of every one.