he says of the woodcock :" and with trembling hands he turned over the leaves, till he found the place. "Here it is," said he, "page 88, chapter xvi. Just be so good as to read that, Lady Emily, and say, whether it is not infamous that Monsieur Grillade has never even attempted to make it.' With an air of melancholy enthusiasm she read"Dans les pays où les Bécasses sont communes, on obtient, de leurs carcasses pilées dans un mortier, une purée sur laquelle on dresse diverses entrées, telles que de petites côtelettes de mouton, etc. Cette purée est l'une des plus délicieuses choses qui puisse être introduite dans le palais d'un gourmand, et l'on peut assurer que quiconque n'en a point mangé n'a point connu les joies du paradis terrestre. Une purée de Bécasse, bien faite, est le ne plus ultra des jouissances humaines. Il faut mourir après l'avoir goutée, car toutes les autres alors ne paroitront plus qu'insipides.' "And these becasses, these woodcocks, perfectly swarm on the Glenallan estate in the season," cried the Doctor; "and to think that such a man should have been refused! But Miss Mary will repent this the longest day she lives. I had a cook in my eye for them, too-one who is quite up to the making of this purée. 'Pon my soul! she deserves to live upon sheep's head and haggis for the rest of her life; and if I was Lady Juliana, I would try the effect of bread and water. "She certainly does not aspire to such joys as are here pourtrayed in this your book of life," said Lady Emily; for I suspect she could endure existence even upon roast mutton, with the man she loves." "That's nothing to the purpose, unless the man she loves, as you call it, loves to live upon roast mutton too. Take my word for it, unless she gives her husband good dinners, he'll not care twopence for her in a week's time. I look upon bad dinners to be the source of much of the misery we hear of in the married life. Women are much mistaken, if they think it's by dressing themselves they are to please their husbands.” "Pardon me, Doctor, we must be the best judges there, and I have the authority of all ages and sages in my favour the beauty and the charms of women have been the favourite theme, time immemorial; now, no one ever heard of a fair one being celebrated for her skill in cookery." "There I beg leave to differ from you," said the Doctor, with an air of exultation, again referring to his text-book: "here is the great Madame Pompadour, celebrated for a single dish: 'Les tendrons d'agneau au soleil et à la Pompadour, sont sortis de l'imagination de cette dame célèbre, pour entrer dans la bouche d'un Roi.’’ In short, "But it was Love that inspired her-it was Love that kindled the fire in her imagination. you must acknowledge that "Love rules the court, the camp, the grove."" "I'll acknowledge no such thing," cried the Doctor, with indignation. "Love rule the camp indeed! A very likely story! Don't I know that all our first generals carry off the best cooksthat there's no such living anywhere as in camp -that their aides-de-camp are quite ruined by it— that in time of war they live at the rate of twenty thousand a year, and when they come home they can't get a dinner they can eat! As for the court, I don't pretend to know much about it; but I suspect there's more cooks than Cupids to be seen about it. And for the groves, I shall only say I never heard of any of your fetes champetre or picnics, where all the pleasure didn't seem to consist in the eating and drinking." “Ah, Doctor! I perceive you have taken all your ideas on that subject from Werter, who certainly was a sort of sentimental gourmand, he seems to have enjoyed himself so much in drinking his coffee under the shade of the lime-trees, and going to the kitchen to make his own pea-soup; and then he breaks out into such raptures at the idea of the illustrous lovers of Penelope killing and dressing their own meat! Butchers and cooks in one! only conceive them with their great knives and blue aprons, or their spits and white nightcaps ! Poor Penelope no wonder she preferred spinning to marrying one of these creatures! Faugh! I must have an ounce of civet to sweeten my imagination.' And she flew off, leaving the Doctor to con over the Manual des Amphitryons, and sigh at the mention of joys, sweet, yet mournful, to his soul. VOL. II.-15 CHAPTER LX "The ample proposition that hope makes Fails in the promised largeness."-SHAKESPEARE, THE HERE is no saying whether the Doctor's system might not have been resorted to, had not Lady Juliana's wrath been for the present suspended by an invitation to Altamont House. True, nothing could be colder than the terms in which it was couched; but to that her Ladyship was insensible, and would have been equally indifferent, had she known that, such as it was, she owed it more to the obstinacy of her son-in-law, than the affection of her daughter. The Duke of Altamont was one of those who attach great ideas of dignity to always carrying their point; and though he might sometimes be obliged to suspend his plans, he never had been known to relinquish them. Had he settled in his own mind to tie his neckcloth in a particular way, not all the eloquence of Cicero, or the tears of O'Neil, would have induced him to alter it; and Adelaide, the haughty self-willed Adelaide, soon found that, of all yokes, the most insupportable is the yoke of an obstinate fool. In the thousand trifling occurrences of domestic life (for his Grace was interested in all the minutia of his establishment), where good sense and good humour on either side would have gracefully yielded to the other, there was a perpetual contest for dominion, which invariably ended in Adelaide's defeat. The Duke indeed never disputed, or reasoned, or even replied; but the thing was done : till at the end of six weeks, the Duchess of Altamont most heartily hated and despised the man she had so lately vowed to love and obey. On the present occasion, his Grace certainly appeared in the most amiable light, in wishing to have Lady Juliana invited to his house; but, in fact, it proceeded from his besetting sin, obstinacy. He had proposed her accompanying her daughter at the time of her marriage, and been overruled; but with all the pertinacity of a little mind, he had kept fast hold of the idea, merely because it was his own, he was now determined to have it put in execution. In a postcript to the letter, and in the same cordial style, the Duchess said something of a hope, that if her mother did come to town, Mary should accompany her; but this her Ladyship, to Mary's great relief, declared should not be, although she certainly was very much at a loss how to dispose of her. Mary timidly expressed her wish to be permitted to return to Lochmarlie, and mentioned that her uncle and aunt had repeatedly offered to come to Bath for her, if she might be allowed to accompany them home; but to this her mother also gave a decided negative, adding that she never should see Lochmarlie again, if she could help it. In short, she must remain where she was, till something could be fixed as to her future destination. "It was most excessively tiresome to be clogged with a great unmarried daughter," her Ladyship observed, as she sprung into the carriage, with a train of dogs, and drove off to dear delightful London. |