Part 34

The luxury of the table was carried so far under Edward III. of England, that that prince was constrained, in the 17th year of his reign, to impose sumptuary laws on his subjects, forbidding the common people the indulgence of costly food and fine wines.[XXIX-97]

The necessity for this measure is demonstrated by the fact, of which we read in the chronicles of Stow,[XXIX-98] that, “at the marriage of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, the third son of Edward III., with Violentis, the daughter of Galeasius II., Duke of Milan, there was a rich feast, in which above _thirty_ courses were served at the table, and the fragments that remained were more than sufficient to have served a thousand people.”

The same chronicler also informs us that King Richard II. held the Christmas feasts in the great hall of Westminster in 1399, “and such numbers came, that every day there were slain twenty-six or twenty-eight oxen and three hundred sheep, besides fowls without number.”[XXIX-99]

Richard Nevil, Earl of Warwick, kept so good a table, that his guests often eat six fat oxen for their breakfast.[XXIX-100] “In number of dishes and change of meate,” says Holinshed,[XXIX-101] “the nobilitie of Englande do most exceede, sith there is no daye in maner that passeth over their heades, wherein they have not onely beefe, mutton, veale, lambe, kidde, pork, conie, capon, pigge, or so many of these as the season yieldeth, but also some portion of the redde or fallow deere, beside great varietie of fishe and wilde fowle, and thereto sundrie other delicates, wherein the sweet hand of the portingale is not wanting.”

So early as the 16th century the inhabitants of the City of London were remarkable for the astonishing profusion of their repasts, if we are to believe the poet Massinger--

“Men may talk of country Christmas, and court gluttony, Their thirty pounds for buttered eggs, their pies of carps’ tongues, Their pheasants drenched with ambergrise; the carcases Of three fat wethers bruised for gravy, to Make sauce for a single peacock:--yet their feasts Were fasts, compared with the City’s.”[XXIX-102]

The description of one dish will enable us to judge of the others--

“Three sucking pigs, served up in a dish, Took from the sow as soon as she had farrowed, A fortnight fed with dates and muskadine,[Z] That stood my master in twenty marks a piece; Besides the puddings in their bellies, made Of I know not what.”[XXIX-103]

Hang thyself, voluptuous Apicius! thou hast never dreamed of such delicate fare!

In the comedy of the “_Parson’s Wedding_,”[XXIX-104] the captain orders for his supper “chines fry’d and the salmon calver’d, a carp and black sauce, red deer in the blood, and an assembly of woodcocks and jacksnipes, so fat you would think they had their winding-sheets on; and upon these, as their pages, let me have wait your Sussex wheatear, with a feather in his cap; over all which let our countryman, general chine of beef, command. I hate your French pottage, that looks as if the cook-maid had more hand in it than the cook.”

The luxurious munificence of Norman kings is almost as remarkable as that of the emperors of degenerate Rome.

William the Conqueror had himself crowned three times in the same year, and the banquets he gave on those occasions were such that they impoverished the kingdom.[XXIX-105]

At the dinner given on the marriage of Richard, Earl of Cornwall, and brother of Henry III., with the daughter of Raymond, Earl of Provence, more than _thirty thousand_ dishes were served on the table of the bride and bridegroom.[XXIX-106]

In the year 1252, “John Mansel, the king’s counsellor, gave a stately dinner to the kings of England and Scotland and their queens; there was also present Edward, the king’s son, the Bishop of London, and many earls, barons, knights, and citizens; in short, so large was his company, that his house at Totehill could not contain them; therefore he set up tents and pavilions for their reception; _seven hundred_ messes of meat was not sufficient to serve them for the first course.”[XXIX-107]

The following details, which we borrow from Monteil’s excellent work,[XXIX-108] give us some idea of the style of living in the mansions of France during the 14th century:--

“Whenever there is a dinner of ceremony, the clerks of the church are requested to bring holy water. The repast is commenced and concluded with fruit. The bread eaten is in loaves of nine ounces only. Every bason of meat is surrounded with sage, lavender, or other aromatic herbs; and on Sunday, or any holiday, negus is given. The sideboard, or buffet, is always in the middle of the room, covered with jugs and large drinking cups of gold and silver.

“The cellars, store-rooms, kneading troughs, dairies, and fruit-stores, are filled and emptied unceasingly--take who will, when he will, and as much as he will. Provisions of every kind are heaped up with a profusion that announces magnificence allied with riches.

“The great number of nobles, knights, huntsmen, falconers, pages, kitchen servants, butlers, bakers, the numerous valets, workmen, gardeners, harbingers, door-keepers, porters, and guards are not equal to the task of consuming so much. From all sides come relations, allies, neighbours, friends, pilgrims, and travellers, all of whom remain or depart at will, being feasted as if it were the morrow of a wedding, or a patronal festivity.

“The kitchen chimney-places are not less than twelve feet in width. One man would not have strength sufficient to use the tongs or the shovels. The andirons do not weigh less than a hundred pounds, the trivets forty pounds; copper saucepans of thirty pounds are common, and so are spits of eleven and twelve pounds. One roast is composed of one, two, or three calves, two, three, or four sheep, besides game, venison, and poultry. The boiling of the saucepans, the exhalations from the grease, render the atmosphere so fat, so thick, that it is only necessary to breathe in it to feed. A person would not dare enter one of those kitchens on the eve of a feast day, for fear, as it were, of breaking his fast.

“In the 16th century persons washed their hands at the commencement of a repast, and a second time when it was concluded. When the master of the house was particular on the point of civility, he had a bason sent round at this second ablution, filled with perfumed water.[XXIX-109]

“When the person seated in the chief place was a guest of distinction, politeness made it indispensable to present him with water to rinse his mouth.[XXIX-110]

“One of the most difficult points of French civility in the 16th century was to drink to a person’s health, or return the compliment in a proper manner.[XXIX-111] A guest at one end of the table held up his glass, and called out: ‘Mr. Such-a-one, to your health!’ He replied: ‘I love it from you!’[XXIX-112] During the whole of the repast, healths were bandied to and fro, in every sense. At the end they touched glasses together at a central point, which created a very singular kind of clash, and, at the same time, the arms underneath formed a sort of fasces of sleeves and cuffs.”[XXIX-113]

XXX.

VARIETY OF REPASTS.

The fertile country inhabited by the Jewish people furnished them with a very great variety of excellent provisions. Those of which they made the greatest consumption, and which we find generally mentioned in the Scriptures, are bread, flour, barley, beans, lentils, wine, raisins, figs, honey, butter, oil, sheep, oxen, fatted calves, &c.[XXX-1]

The fat of animals offered in sacrifice was reserved for the Lord;[XXX-2] but, with this exception, the Hebrews could freely make use of it. They esteemed it much, and when they wished to speak of a rich banquet, they called it “a banquet of fat animals.”[XXX-3] “He that loveth wine and oil,”[R] says Solomon, “shall not be rich.”[XXX-4]

The extreme simplicity of the greater part of the Biblical repasts ought not to induce us to suppose that the Jews were entire strangers to the inspirations of good cheer. “Solomon’s provisions for one day were thirty measures of fine flour, and three score measures of meal, ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, besides harts, and roebucks, and fallow-deer, and fatted fowl.”[XXX-5]

That primitive nation also knew different kinds of banquets, which, conformably with their _naïve_ manners, were associated with the celebration of a religious solemnity, a sad or a joyful event, a family festivity or mourning, a victory or a public calamity.[XXX-6]

The Greeks and Romans, skilful masters in the art of good living, were early on the alert to assure the collection of all things necessary for the support of life. “Take care,” said Aurelian to Flavius, “take care, above all things, that the markets of Rome be well supplied: nothing more gay or more peaceful than the people, when they are well fed.”[XXX-7] This remark is much more profound than it at first appears.

At Athens, special officers visited the markets, and only permitted each citizen to purchase and keep in his own house the quantity of provisions necessary for one year.[XXX-8]

The ediles of Rome performed nearly similar functions.[XXX-9] The prefect of the town was invested with the power of making regulations for the markets,[XXX-10] and the prefect of provisions had the inspection of the sale of bread, meat, wine, fish, and all other kinds of aliment required either for the table of the rich or poor plebeian.[XXX-11]

During a long time, in Greece and Italy, the only charm of repasts was, that they furnished an opportunity for the exercise of those duties of kind hospitality, which Apollodorus has described in the following ingenuous style: “As soon as a friend,” says he, “steps on the threshold of his host, the porter receives him with a smiling face; the dog of the house comes immediately to caress him, amicably wagging his tail; then some one runs and presents him a seat without being told.”[XXX-12] This last trait is charming.

But afterwards, they thought much more of honouring the god of good cheer than Jupiter Hospes, and joyous Comus became everywhere the fashionable divinity. One of the ancients describes him in the following manner: “He is seen at the door of an apartment communicating with the banqueting hall; his smiling face is fresh, plump, and ruddy; his head is crowned with roses, and he sleeps standing; his left hand rests on a thyrsus, but sleep makes him loose his hold; he staggers, and the torch will soon fall from his grasp.”[XXX-13]

The Greeks were fervent in their worship of this god, at an epoch when Rome still prided herself on her transcendant sobriety. Conon gave a banquet to all the Athenians after the battle of Cnidos, about four centuries before the Christian era; and his celebrated contemporary, the handsome Alcibiades, conqueror in the Olympic games, magnificently regaled the numerous spectators who had just applauded his triumph.[XXX-14]

The pagan temples themselves often rung with the sound of the music, the chaunts, and the dances which always accompanied the religious banquets. These feasts in honour of the immortals must have been rather unedifying to the truly faithful, for gaiety generally degenerated into extreme licentiousness.[XXX-15]

The conquest of Asia was fatal to the Romans. Their savage rudeness yielded to the effeminate manners of the vanquished; and henceforth, the epicureans of Italy studied but one thing--gastronomic delectation; had but one worship--that of the goddess Victua,[XXX-16] protectress of food, and sovereign of the table.

Luxury made appalling progress. Nearly a century B.C., the Romans did not blush to give 50 denarii (£1 16_s._) for a young fatted peacock; 3 denarii at least (more than 2_s._) for a thrush;[XXX-17] and, a century later, 4,000 sesterces (£36) were given for a couple of fine young pigeons.[XXX-18]

Worse followed!

Seneca describes in few words the luxury of the table among the voluptuous Romans:--“Behold,” says he, “Nomentanus and Apicius, those happy conquerors of all that is delectable on earth or in the sea. Behold them at table, stretched on their couches, and contemplating innumerable viands. Harmonious songs flatter their ears, a variety of pleasing objects occupy their eyes, and the most exquisite savours captivate their insatiable palates.”[XXX-19]

The genius of gluttony multiplied the banquets by prescribing luxurious gastronomic assemblages, sometimes in honour of the gods, and often for the gratification of simple mortals themselves.

Each year, at the ides of November, a repast was offered to Jupiter in the Capitol (_cœna Capitolina_). The statue of the god was present at the banquet, reclining on a magnificent couch, with Juno and Minerva seated on either side. These divinities were splendidly served, and, as they touched nothing, in the middle of the night the seven epulary priests joyously eat the supper of the three immortals.[XXX-20]

The cereal banquet (_cœna Cerealis_) was equally splendid, and Ceres maintained the same frugality.[XXX-21]

A sterile reminiscence of the equality which reigned among men in the golden age, placed the slaves at table by the side of their masters, during the celebration of the Saturnalia (_cœna Saturnalis_).[XXX-22] This usage was common to the Greeks and Romans.[XXX-23]

The ninth day of the August calends, and the thirteenth day of the November calends, a gastronomic solemnity--a monstrous gala--brought together the Roman pontiffs to celebrate the day of their inauguration (_cœna pontificalis_). This banquet was worthy of the proverbial delicacy of those sacred stomachs.[XXX-24]

The augurs treated themselves magnificently in their turn (_cœna auguralis_), when they entered on their functions. The pagan priests of Rome vied one with another in a noble emulation of exquisite refinement and ruinous viands;[XXX-25] but it is said that the ministers of Mars, who had the reputation of being arch-epicureans (_cœna saliaris_), always won the palm in this struggle of magnificence and voluptuousness.[XXX-26]

The day the Emperor took the title of Augustus, he gave a supper (_cœna imperatoria_) to the senators and magistrates. The tributes of a year were sometimes hardly sufficient to indemnify the grand master of these imperial orgies.[XXX-27]

The triumphal banquets (_cœna triumphalis_) were less elegant, no doubt, but they cost the victor who invited the people immense sums.[XXX-28] The guests crowded into the vast inclosure of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus,[XXX-29] or the temple of Hercules.[XXX-30]

They sat down to table to celebrate the anniversary of a birth-day (_cœna natalitia_),[XXX-31] the happy wedding-day (_cœna nuptialis_),[XXX-32] the arrival of a friend (_cœna adventitia_),[XXX-33] the sad day of his departure (_cœna viatica_).[XXX-34] The melancholy ceremony of interment was followed by a supper (_cœna funebris_), at which the guests were the relations and friends of the deceased.[XXX-35] They drank to his manes, and, by degrees, the wine not only stifled their laments but called forth joyous smiles. The Romans have bequeathed to certain modern nations more than the remembrance of their funeral repasts.

In the palmy days of Athens, the Greeks evinced more of the epicurean than the glutton--a fact which may be inferred from the description of the supper of Dinias.[XXX-36] The most magnificent of their repasts was, perhaps, that which Alexander the Great had served to ten thousand guests, who received, each one, a present of a golden patera.[XXX-37]

In Greece, as in Rome, the greater part of the events of life occasioned the joyous meeting of relations and friends. At the birth of a child,[XXX-38] a banquet was given in his honour; he was named on the tenth day, and the ceremony terminated with a banquet,[XXX-39] in which they offered the guests cooked Cherso cheese, cabbage boiled in oil, pigeons, thrushes, fish, and brimming cups of excellent wine.[XXX-40] The teething repast took place when the child had attained his seventh month, and the weaning supper when he began to eat.[XXX-41]

These family feasts, more or less sumptuous according to the fortune and rank of the individuals who gave them, were generally signalized by a custom which ridiculous and egotistical vanity could alone authorise and maintain. On the banquet day care was taken to throw the feathers of the poultry before the door of the house, in order to excite the fruitless greed of the poor wretches, who, as they passed,[XXX-42] prayed heartily that the infernal divinities might take the proud amphitryon, his guests, and even the meanest of his servants.

* * * * *

In France, about 1350, the setier (about twelve English bushels) of--[XXX-43]

£ _s._ _d._ Wheat was worth 0 0 7 Rye 0 0 3 Oats 0 0 2½ Beans 0 0 5 Peas 0 0 6 A Hogshead of Wine 0 4 7 A Load of Hay 0 1 10 An Ox 0 6 10 A Horse 0 11 6 A Calf 0 1 2 A Sheep 0 0 4 A Fat Pig 0 2 0 A Gosling 0 0 1 A Hen 0 0 0¾ 100 Eggs 0 0 1½ 1lb of Butter 0 0 3½ 1lb of Honey 0 0 10½ 1lb of Wax 0 1 10

Prices of a few articles in France during the 15th century:[XXX-44]

£ _s._ _d._ 1lb of Bread 0 0 0¼ 1 Pint of Wine 0 0 0¼ 1 Pint of Mustard 0 0 0¾ 1 Bushel of Salt 0 0 2½ 1lb of Pepper 0 0 2 1lb of Cinnamon 0 1 2 1lb of Bacon 0 0 0¾ A Pair of Pigeons 0 0 1¼ A Pair of Partridges 0 0 2½ A Cart-load of Wood (_une voie_) 0 0 8 A Sack of Charcoal 0 0 1 1lb of Candles 0 0 0½

In England, under the reign of Edward III., a royal proclamation fixed the price of the following articles:--[XXX-45]

£ _s._ _d._ A Swan 0 0 4 A Porcelle 0 0 8 An Ewe 0 0 6 A Capon 0 0 6 A Hen 0 0 4 A Pullet 0 0 2½ A Poucyn 0 0 2 A Coney 0 0 4 A Teal 0 0 2 A River Mallard 0 0 5 A Snipe 0 0 1 A Woodcock 0 0 3 A Partridge 0 0 5 A Plover 0 0 3 A Pheasant 0 1 4 Twelve Eggs 0 0 1 Twelve Small Birds 0 0 1

The funeral repast of Sir John Redstone, Mayor of London, who died in 153l, occasioned the following expenses:--

£ _s._ _d._ Shipe Brede 0 7 5 7lbs of Sugar for the same 0 4 1 Two unces of Saffrun 0 2 0 Two unces of Clovys and Mace 0 1 8 Seven unces of Pepper 0 0 10½ Sixty Eggs 0 0 7½ Seven dysshes of Butter, at 4¼_d._ the gallone 0 3 3¾ Manchet Brede 0 1 0 400 of Peers 0 2 4 1lb of Bysketts 0 0 8

TO THE PYKE-MONGER.

Sixteen Pikes, at 1_s._ 4_d._ a piece 1 1 4 Eight roundes of Sturgeon 1 2 0

TO THE PULTER.

Six roundes of Brawne 0 11 8 Ten Swannes, at 6_s._ a piece 3 0 0 Two dozen of Quayles 0 10 0 Three dozen of Rabetts 0 6 6 Twenty-two Capons 0 12 10 Nine dozen of Pygeons, at 10_d._ per dozen 0 7 6 Four Gese 0 2 8 300 Eggs 0 3 9

TO THE BOWCHER.

A Surloyne of Beffe 0 2 4 Half a Vele (Calf) 0 2 8 Four Marybones 0 0 8

TO THE MYLKE-WYFFE.

Two Gallones and Six Dishes of Butter 0 4 2 Eight Gallones of Creme 0 4 0 Twelve Gallones of Curdde 0 1 6

TO THE BREWER.

Three Barrelles of Ale 0 11 0 A Kylderkyn of Bere 0 1 0 For Double Bere to the Tabull 0 0 4 Yest 0 0 4

TO THE VYNTENER.

Thirty two Gallones of Redde and Clarett Wyne, at 10_d._ per gallon 1 6 8 Three Gallones of Mackeray 0 0 4 A Rundlett of Muskadine 0 6 0 1lb of Bread 0 0 0¼

THE GROCER.

£ _s._ _d._ Six unces of Pepper 0 0 9 Four unces of Clovys and Mace 0 2 4 Two unces of Saffrone 0 1 10 18lb of Pruenes 0 3 0 8lb of Corans 0 1 8 6lb of Dates 0 2 0 11lb of Byskettes 0 0 10 12lb of Sugar 0 7 0 Five unces of Cynimion 0 1 3 Four unces of Gynger 0 0 6

THE BAKER.

Four busshelles of Chete, at 1_s._ 10_d._ the busshelle 0 7 4 For Hot Brede 0 4 0 For Fyne Flour 0 0 11 For Basterde Flour 0 1 10

THE CHAUNDELER.

A Peck and a-half of Salt 0 0 6 For Candelles 0 0 4 For Vennyger 0 0 4 For Vergeys 0 0 6 For Pack-threade and Mustarde 0 0 2 For Cappys (Capers) 0 0 2 For Lop of Pottes 0 0 8 For Hyer of Pottes 0 0 4

THE COOKE.

For hys labor and companye for eighteen messes of meat 0 15 0 For Yerbys 0 0 8 A Quarter of a Hundred of Fagottes 0 1 2 For Coles 0 1 6 Paide the turners of broches and skulyons, four of them 0 1 4

The following is a correct copy of a monster bill of fare, from a paper found in the Tower of London:--[S]