Forme of Cury, The

Without beginning _ab ovo_ on a subject so light (a matter of
importance, however, to many a modern Catius or Amasinius), by
investigating the origin of the Art of Cookery, and the nature of it
as practised by the Antediluvians [1]; without dilating on the
several particulars concerning it afterwards amongst the Patriarchs,
as found in the Bible [2], I shall turn myself immediately, and
without further preamble, to a few cursory observations respecting
the Greeks, Romans, Britons, and those other nations, Saxons, Danes,
and Normans, with whom the people of this nation are more closely
connected.
The Greeks probably derived something of their skill from the East,
(from the Lydians principally, whose cooks are much celebrated, [3])
and something from Egypt. A few hints concerning Cookery may be
collected from Homer, Aristophanes, Aristotle, &c. but afterwards
they possessed many authors on the subject, as may be seen in
Athenæus [4]. And as Diætetics were esteemed a branch of the study of
medicine, as also they were afterwards [5], so many of those authors
were Physicians; and _the Cook_ was undoubtedly a character of high
reputation at Athens [6].
As to the Romans; they would of course borrow much of their culinary
arts from the Greeks, though the Cook with them, we are told, was one
of the lowest of their slaves [7]. In the latter times, however, they
had many authors on the subject as well as the Greeks, and the
practitioners were men of some Science [8], but, unhappily for us,
their compositions are all lost except that which goes under the name
of Apicius; concerning which work and its author, the prevailing
opinion now seems to be, that it was written about the time of
_Heliogabalus_ [9], by one _Cælius_, (whether _Aurelianus_ is not so
certain) and that _Apicius_ is only the title of it [10]. However,
the compilation, though not in any great repute, has been several
times published by learned men.
The Aborigines of Britain, to come nearer home, could have no great
expertness in Cookery, as they had no oil, and we hear nothing of
their butter, they used only sheep and oxen, eating neither hares,
though so greatly esteemed at Rome, nor hens, nor geese, from a
notion of superstition. Nor did they eat fish. There was little corn
in the interior part of the island, but they lived on milk and flesh
[11]; though it is expressly asserted by Strabo that they had no
cheese [12]. The later Britons, however, well knew how to make the
best use of the cow, since, as appears from the laws of _Hoel Dda_,
A.D. 943, this animal was a creature so essential, so common and
useful in Wales, as to be the standard in rating fines, &c. [13].
Hengist, leader of the Saxons, made grand entertainments for king
Vortigern [14], but no particulars have come down to us; and
certainly little exquisite can be expected from a people then so
extremely barbarous as not to be able either to read or write.
'Barbari homines a septentrione, (they are the words of Dr. Lister)
caseo et ferina subcruda victitantes, omnia condimenta adjectiva
respuerunt' [15].
Some have fancied, that as the Danes imported the custom of hard and
deep drinking, so they likewise introduced the practice of
gormandizing, and that this word itself is derived from _Gormund_,
the name of that Danish king whom Ælfred the Great persuaded to be
christened, and called Æthelstane [16], Now 'tis certain that
Hardicnut stands on record as an egregious glutton [17], but he is
not particularly famous for being a _curious Viander_; 'tis true
again, that the Danes in general indulged excessively in feasts and
entertainments [18], but we have no reason to imagine any elegance
of Cookery to have flourished amongst them. And though Guthrum, the
Danish prince, is in some authors named _Gormundus_ [19]; yet this is
not the right etymology of our English word _Gormandize_, since it is
rather the French _Gourmand_, or the British _Gormod_ [20]. So that
we have little to say as to the Danes.