The Forme of Cury | Page 3

retinue and the students, the Magister Coquorum was the Legate's brother, and was there killed [40]. The reason given in the author, why a person so nearly allied to the Great Man was assigned to the office, is this, 'Ne procuraretur aliquid venenorum, quod nimis [i.e. valde] timebat legatus;' and it is certain that poisoning was but too much in vogue in these times, both amongst the Italians and the good people of this island [41]; so that this was a post of signal trust and confidence. And indeed afterwards, a person was employed to _taste_, or _take the assaie_, as it was called [42], both of the messes and the water in the ewer [43], at great tables; but it may be doubted whether a particular person was appointed to this service, or it was a branch of the _Sewer's_ and cup-bearer's duty, for I observe, the Sewer is sometimes called _Pr?gustator_ [44], and the cup-bearer tastes the water elsewhere [45]. The religious houses, and their presidents, the abbots and priors, had their days of _Gala_, as likewise their halls for strangers, whom, when persons of rank, they often entertained with splendour and magnificence. And as for the secular clergy, archbishops and bishops, their feasts, of which we have some upon record [46], were so superb, that they might vie either with the regal entertainments, or the pontifical suppers of ancient Rome (which became even proverbial [47]), and certainly could not be dressed and set out without a large number of Cooks [48]. In short, the satirists of the times before, and about the time of, the Reformation, are continually inveighing against the high-living of the bishops and clergy; indeed luxury was then carried to such an extravagant pitch amongst them, that archbishop Cranmer, A. 1541, found it necessary to bring the secular clergy under some reasonable regulation in regard to the furnishing of their tables, not excepting even his own [49].
After this historical deduction of the _Ars coquinaria_, which I have endeavoured to make as short as possible, it is time to say something of the Roll which is here given to the public, and the methods which the Editor has pursued in bringing it to light.
This vellum Roll contains 196 _formul?_, or recipes, and belonged once to the earl of Oxford [50]. The late James West esquire bought it at the Earl's sale, when a part of his MSS were disposed of; and on the death of the gentleman last mentioned it came into the hands of my highly-esteemed friend, the present liberal and most communicative possessor. It is presumed to be one of the most ancient remains of the kind now in being, rising as high as the reign of king
Richard II. [51]. However, it is far the largest and most copious collection of any we have; I speak as to those times. To establish its authenticity, and even to stamp an additional value upon it, it is the identical Roll which was presented to queen Elizabeth, in the 28th year of her reign, by lord Stafford's heir, as appears from the following address, or inscription, at the end of it, in his own hand writing:
'Antiquum hoc monumentum oblatum et missum est majestati vestr? vicesimo septimo die mensis Julij, anno regni vestri f?licissimi vicesimo viij ab humilimo vestro subdito, vestr?q majestati fidelissimo E. Stafford, H?res domus subvers? Buckinghamiens.' [52]
The general observations I have to make upon it are these: many articles, it seems, were in vogue in the fourteenth century, which are now in a manner obsolete, as cranes, curlews, herons, seals [53], porpoises, &c. and, on the contrary, we feed on sundry fowls which are not named either in the Roll, or the Editor's MS. [54] as quails, rails, teal, woodcocks, snipes, &c. which can scarcely be numbered among the small birds mentioned 19. 62. 154. [55]. So as to fish, many species appear at our tables which are not found in the Roll, trouts, flounders, herrings, &c. [56]. It were easy and obvious to dilate here on the variations of taste at different periods of time, and the reader would probably not dislike it; but so many other particulars demand our attention, that I shall content myself with observing in general, that whereas a very able Italian critic, _Latinus Latinius_, passed a sinister and unfavourable censure on certain seemingly strange medlies, disgusting and preposterous messes, which we meet with in _Apicius_; Dr. Lister very sensibly replies to his strictures on that head, 'That these messes are not immediately to be rejected, because they may be displeasing to some. Plutarch testifies, that the ancients disliked pepper and the sour juice of lemons, insomuch that for a long time they only used these in their wardrobes for the sake of their agreeable scent, and yet they