aromatic, rich in flavour; it is the classic and
honoured consommé, the tradition of which is
unhappily daily lading away in Parisian
households, and which has become a myth
even in the best public places of entertainment.

Bouillon of Beef.—Good, but comparatively
inferior, less decided in flavour, less perfumed,
less saturated with savouriness.

The jury unanimously decided that horse,
even old horse, makes a soup of superior
quality; that it is impossible to distinguish
its flavour from that of the richest consommé
of beef, and that persons who had not been
previously informed would be unable to distinguish
the difference. There was the same
colour, the same limpidity.

Boiled Horse.—The meat is of a darker
brown than beef; it is also dryer, and offers
greater resistance to the teeth; in other
respects, no particular taste; it has the
flavour of boiled beef, but not of the
very first description; I have eaten better
beef, but I have also eaten very much
worse. To sum up, it is very eatable; poor
people, who buy the most inferior old cow,
would find a sensible difference for the
better, were they admitted to partake of this
boiled horse. Moreover, it must not be
forgotten that we have to do with an aged
animal, and that probably a young one would
have given a superior boiled joint.

Boiled Beef.—A magnificent cut from a
first-rate bullock. Evidently it is better than
the other, more juicy and tender.

The jury's verdict was, that the boiled
meat of this old horse was good, free from
any particular smell or taint; that it resembled
second and third-class beef so closely as to be
mistaken for them, and that it might be
made to constitute a wholesome and pleasant
article of food. An interlude, consisting of
an excellent fricandeau à la chicoree, and a
delicate fowl with white sauce, enabled the
experimenters to await patiently the roast
joint of horse; the fillet of the animal, which
had been slightly mariné and richly larded.

An explosion of satisfaction! Nothing can
be finer, more delicate, or tender. Fillet of
roe-deer—of whose aroma it reminds you—
is not superior. A member of the jury begs
to carry home a slice. Many repeat the
experiment. Gourmands are not aware of the
excellence of this joint—I recommend it to
their attention. It is perfect in every respect.
Ye little susceptibilities of my stomach, how
very ridiculous you were! Unanimously and
enthusiastically, the jury proclaimed that the
fillet of the old horse ought to take rank
with the most recherchés and luxurious meats.
M. H. Bouley was conquered and converted,
and boldly avowed the fact.

August truth compels me to state that
some excellent roast partridges, which
followed the horse, were not absolutely disdained
by the jury, any more than the delicate
entremets which succeeded them, or than the
insinuating temptations and fruits of the
dessert ; which proves evidently that horseflesh
does not slick by the way during its
passage through the intricate and narrow
defiles of the digestive channel—and that is
an element of some importance in the
question. For my part, remembering a true and
clever aphorism uttered by a man who is
well informed in the hygiène of the stomach—
our fellow-labourer, M. L. Véron—I waited
four-and-twenty hours before writing these
lines, in order to be able to declare that I am
inditing them without the slightest digestive
remorse.

WOMEN AT ALDERSHOT.

FOR rather more than a month past,
circumstances have made me a resident in the
immediate neighbourhood of the camp at
Aldershot, and the same circumstances have
allowed me to be a daily witness, not alone
of its outward aspect, but of its internal
economy.

The feature which appears to me at once
the most startling and the most interesting,
is the condition of the female population: I
mean of such women as have been allowed
by the rules of the service to accompany
their husbands to this training school of
war.

In all regiments composing the British
army, a certain per-centage of women is
allowed; that is, a certain number of men
may marry, with the permission of their
commanding officers, and the women so
married are allowed certain privileges—such
as remuneration as washerwomen for their
husbands' comrades, permitted occupation of
barracks, and so on; while the wives of such
men as marry without leave, as the term is,
are beyond the pale of all indulgence, and
must be supported as they best can on the
thirteen-pence a-day, which includes the
whole of their husbands' pay. This pay,
moreover, by reason of unavoidable expenses,
being very commonly reduced to a groat per
diem.

When the time for foreign service arrives,
the existence of women who are married to
soldiers without leave is, by commanding officers,
altogether ignored, and a very small portion
of the recognised women, or those married
with leave, are allowed to accompany their
respective regiments. What the condition
of these women will be, depends a good deal
on the station to which the regiments may
be ordered, and to the individual characters
of the officers commanding. In times of
peace, in the Mediterranean stations their
position is better than in England; but in
time of war, as of late in the Crimea, the
misery of these unhappy creatures defies ail
description.

At Aldershot two women in each company
have been allowed to follow their husbands;
but, as the sergeants' wives had the advantage