Gastronomers will feel a natural desire to know what was considered the
"best universal sauce in the world," in the boon days of Charles II., at
least what was accounted such, by the Duke of York, who was instructed
to prepare it by the Spanish ambassador. It consisted of parsley, and a
dry toast pounded in a mortar, with vinegar, salt, and pepper. The
modern English would no more relish his royal highness's taste in
condiments than in religion. A fashionable or cabinet dinner of the same
period consisted of "a dish of marrow-bones, a leg of mutton, a dish of
fowl, three pullets, and a dozen larks, all in a dish; a great tart, a
neat's tongue, a dish of anchovies, a dish of prawns, and cheese." At
the same period, a supper-dish, when the king supped with his mistress,
Lady Castlemaine, was "a chine of beef roasted."
* * * * *
OLD EPITAPH.
As I was, so are ye,
As I am, you shall be.
That I had, that I gave,
That I gave, that I have.
Thus I end all my cost,
That I left, that I lost.
* * * * *
IMPROMPTU TO ----, ON HER MARRIAGE WITH MR.
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