"George Augustus Frederick, Duke of Saint James, completed his twenty-first year, an event which created almost as great a sensation among the aristocracy of England as the Norman Conquest."
Later his toilette is described in terms of a campaign,
concluding,[1]
"He assumes the look, the air that befit the occasion: cordial,
but dignified; sublime, but sweet. He descends like a deity from
Olympus to a banquet of illustrious mortals."
Tancred is introduced by an epic of the chefs. Prevost
is discoursing to Leander (who will take no engagements
but with crowned heads), of their profession and of Adrien,
a neophyte:[2]
"'It is something to have served under Napoleon,' added
Prevost, with the grand air of the Imperial kitchen. 'Had it
not been for Waterloo, I should have had the cross. But the
Bourbons and the cooks of the Empire never could understand
each other. * * *
"'He is too young. I took him to Hellingsley, and he lost his head on the third day. I entrusted the souffles to him, and, but for the most desperate personal exertions all would have been lost. It was an affair of the bridge of Areola. * * * Ah! mon Dieu! those are moments!'"
Later the same functionary is scandalized at the diners'
neglect of his colleague (shown in the failure to present
him with tokens of esteem) when he had surpassed himself
in a superb dinner:[3]
- [Footnote: a baronet's lady, with all the comforts and consequences of a handsome house
and large income." (Mansfield Park.)]
