CHAPTER VIII.--VOL. I., p. 195.

_Pastry Fortifications._

----"I have framed a fortification Out of rye paste, which is impregnable;[17] And against that for two long hours together, Two dozen of marrow-bones shall play continually. For fish I'll make you a standing lake of white broth, And pikes come ploughing up the plums before them, Arion-like, on a dolphin, playing Lachrymæ; And brave king herring, with his oil and onion, Crown'd with a lemon peel, his way prepared With his strong guard of pilchers."

[_The Bloody Brothers, or Rollo Duke of Normandy_, by BEAUMONT and FLETCHER, vol. VII. act II. scene II. p. 151.]

[Footnote 17: At the splendid entertainments of those days the confectioners were very solicitous to present these and similar fopperies on the tables of the great. Furnace the cook says, in MASSINGER'S "_New Way to pay old Debts_,"

----"Since our master, noble Allworth, died, Though I crack my brain to find out tempting sauces, And raise _fortifications in the pastry_, Such as might serve for models in the Low Countries; Which, if they had been practised at Breda, Spinola might have thrown his cap at it, and ne'er took it."

And again, in the Prologue to "_A Wife for a Month_," which was the sole production of FLETCHER, we have the following lines on the same subject--

"Our noble friend, who writ this, bid me say, He had rather dress upon a triumph day My Lord Mayor's feast, and make him sauces too, Sauce for each several month; nay, further go, He had rather build up those invincible pies And castle custards,[18] that affright all eyes, Nay, eat 'em and their artillery-- Than dress for such a curious company One single dish."----

BEAUMONT and FLETCHER--Vol. VIII. p. 137.]

[Footnote 18: The ingenuity of ancient cooks in raising pastry fortifications has been already noticed. In the text we have not only fortresses of paste, but castles made of custards, furnished with eatable artillery, on a triumph-day, that is one of the greatest festivities at the Mansion-house. Another similar device of march-pane is mentioned in "Witts and Fancies"--1595, 4to.: "At a nobleman's banquet a ship of march-pane stuff was set upon the board, wherein was all manner of fishes of the like stuff."

At a banquet given by Cardinal Birague to Henry III. King of France, his queen, and mother, "A collation was there served upon two long tables, consisting of between eleven and twelve hundred dishes composed of confectionary and dried sweetmeats of various kinds, constructed in the form of castles, pyramids, and other elegant figures."--WRAXALL'S "_History of France_," vol. II. 449.]