trust I shall be fit for Sir John's dinner-party. I am beginning to cough already."
"Put a little coal on the fire, Charlotte," suggests her mother. "Why did you come down so soon, my love?"
"I did not know I was to stay, mamma."
"Could you not have given her some little help? She has no maid, you know, and with all her things to unpack"
"I will go back again by-and-by. She did not want me just now, I am sure." "Let the poor thing alone, can't you?" mutters Charlotte, under her breath.
So Pauline is left with the letter in her hand, which had waited for her on the drawing-room mantelpiece since the day before.
It is from Tom, who is staying with some friends in the north. He is going to London to begin his work there, in a few days. Meantime they are having good sport, and there is a houseful of people, and it is very jolly.
All this his sister reads musingly; but she comes to a part by-and-by on which her eyes fasten, and a keen, eager look darts into her face. This dies away, and, with dropping eyelids, there follows the sob, and cry, "If I had only been sent anywhere—anywhere else!"
There is a tap at the door, her hands unclasp, she tries to look composed, and turns away her head. "Come in." The accents are stiff and uninviting, and Charlotte is more convinced than ever that her errand will be unwelcome.
"I came to help you to unpack," replies the intruder, ungraciously. "Can I" But here she catches sight of the beautiful young face, which had lately seemed to them all so cold and proud, now flushed, and quivering in pain, and it is, "Oh, do let me stay, dear! I like to be with you, and I am so glad you came," followed by a warm, honestly affectionate kiss, that finds its way to the heart at once.
THE KITCHEN AND THE CELLAR.[1]
It is now more than forty years ago since a writer in this review discoursed, with a perfect knowledge of the subject, on the science with which a dinner should be served and the art with which it should be eaten.[2] The popularity which his remarks obtained, when separately published under the title of "The Art of Dining," proved that that generation appreciated his summary of the laws of gastronomical observation in relation to their food and wines. Would that it were in our power to say that there has been since that day real progress as well in that art as in the science of cookery in England! It would be unreasonable to expect that material prosperity should bring in its train the plain and simple refinement of taste due to other conditions than those of mere wealth.
Our present object being entirely practical, we do not propose to go into the history of cookery. Nor, indeed, is it necessary to do so; for it would be difficult, if not impossible, to improve on the general sketch, given by the author of "The Art of Dining," of the history of cookery from the earliest period up to 1789; and his account of the celebrated cooks of the Empire and the Restoration is one of the most interesting contributions to the literature of the subject.
A glance at the present state of gastronomical science will show us that the French, while still very perfect in it, are scarcely on a par with their forefathers of the period of the Restoration; nor shall we accept the Café Anglais, the Café Voisin, good as its cellar is, still less the Maison Dorée of the present day, in place of the Frères Provençaux, Philippe's, and
- ↑ 1. Le Livre de Cuisine. Par Jules Gouffé, comprenant la "Cuisine de Ménage" et la "Grande Cuisine" avec 25 planches imprimés en chromo-lithographie, et 161 vignettes sur bois. Paris, 1867.
2. L'Art de la Cuisine Française au Dix-neuvième Siècle. Traité élémentaire et pratique, suivi de dissertations Culinaires et Gastronomiques, utiles aux progrès de cet Art. Par M. Anlonin Carème. Paris, 1833.
3. Modern Domestic Cookery. By a Lady. A new edition, based on the Work of Mrs. Rundell. 245th Thousand. London, 1865.
4. Cuisine de Tous les Pays: Etudes Cosmopolites, avec 220 dessins composés pour la démonstration. Par Urbain Dubois, chef de cuisine de leurs Majestés Royales de Prusse. Paris, 1868.
5. Cosmopolitan Cookery. Popular Studies, with 310 Drawings. By Urbain Dubois. London, 1870.
6. Gastronomy as a Fine Art, or the Science of Good Living. A Translation of the "Physiologie du Goût" of Brillat-Savarin. By R. E. Anderson, M.A. London, 1877.
7. Buckmaster's Cookery: being an abridgement of some of the Lectures delivered in the Cookery School at the International Exhibition for 1873 and 1874; together with a collection of approved Recipes and Menus. London.
8. The Art of Dining; or Gastronomy and Gastronomers. New Edition. London, 1853.
9. Report on Cheap Wines. By Dr. Druitt. London, 1873.
10. The Third Annual Report of the Executive Committee of the National Training School for Cookery, for the year ending 31st March, 1876. - ↑ See Quarterly Review article on "Gastronomy and Gastronomers," in July 1835, and article on Mr. Walker's "Original," in February, 1836.
