her eyes shone in the grey twilight with a
radiant unearthly beauty, as they fastened
their last look of fondness on her daughter's
face. " Oh, my love! my angel! " she
murmured, "how happy we shall be together
now! " As she said the words, she twined
her arms round Rosamond's neck, and
pressed her lips rapturously on the lips of
her child.

The kiss lingered till her head sank forward
gently on Rosamond's bosom—lingered, till
the time of God's mercy came, and the weary
heart rested at last.

CHIP.

THE ROLL OF COOKERY.

A RIGHT ancient document has come down
to us, which was compiled by the Maistre
Cookes of Richard the Second, about the year
thirteen hundred and ninety, and is entitled
The Roll of Cury, the old name for Cookery.
It lets a curious light into the gastronomic
luxuries most in vogue amongst our ancestors.
We look in vain in this manuscript for any
mention of our great national dish. There
is no trace of the Roast Beef of Old England.
Old England had to grow older before it
knew how to breed, and feed, and learnt to
appreciate the mighty baron of beef. Old
England was still in her youth, and cared
only for spoon-meat. All the one hundred
and ninety- six dishes set forth in the Roll
were probably eaten with the aid of spoons
or fingers; and joints were never served
whole. We conceited moderns might take a
profitable lesson from them.

Our ancestors in those days appeared to
have lived much after the French fashion, and
fed upon soups, stews, and hashes. Butter
seems to have been seldom used; it is only
mentioned twice, but olive oil and lard were
employed instead. Saffron was an article of
large consumption for colouring and garnishing
purposes. Rice also was much used. Sugar
is seldom mentioned—in fact it must have
been somewhat of a rarity in those days; it
was probably obtained from the East Indies
by way of Damascus and Aleppo to Venice,
Genoa, or Pisa. Honey was used as a sweetener
instead. It had been so employed from
the earliest times; particularly in England,
where it was the chief constituent of mead
and metheglin. Ancient cooks had a method
of clarifying it, by putting it in a pot with
whites of eggs and water, and beating the
whole well together; they then set it on the
fire; and, when just boiling over, they took
it off and let it cool. For seasoning and
flavour they used two powders—powder fort
and powder douce. The former was prepared
from the warmer spices, pepper, ginger, &c.;
the latter being a mixture of the milder
aromatic spices. Both these powders were
probably to be purchased at the mediæval
grocers' shops, ready made up.

Let the master cooks speak for themselves,
and tell us the object of their manuscript in
their own quaint language. They shall spell,
too, as they choose:—

"This form of Cury was compiled of the
chef maister Coks of Kyng Richard the
Secunde, Kyng of Englond, after the
Conquest, the which was acconted the best and
ryallest oyand " (meant, probably, for oyander
or epicure) " of alle Christian Kyngs, and it
was compiled by assent and avysement of
maisters of phisik and of philosophie that
dwelled in hys court. First it techith a man
for to make commune potages and commune
meetis for howshold as they shall be made
craftly and holsomly. Afterward it techith
for to make curious potages of meete bothe
of flessh and of fissh, buth ysette here by
noumbre and by ordre. Sso this little table
here sewyng" (ensuing or following) " wole
teche a man with oute tarryyng to fynde
what meete that hym lust for to have." Here
follows a table of contents abounding in
obsolete and unintelligible names, of which let
these serve as examples: Tredure, monchelet,
bukkenade, connat, drepee, makke,
mawmenee,clat,appulmoy,and gyndawdry. There
are also receipts for making pochee, tostee,
tartee, and blank desire.

One of the first things that the reader will
notice in perusing this goodly rule is the
enormous scale on which the dishes are
devised. But this is not so surprising
when we consider that they were intended
for the large households of the king or
the nobles, and that individuals or small
parties had their quantum, or ordinary, served
out. The following directions for making
Pyggs in sawse sawge, or Pigs with sage
sauce, is on a very extensive scale: " Take
pyggs yskaldid (to remove the bristles, we
presume), and quarter them and seeth them
in water and salt, take them and lat them
kele (cool); take parsel (probably parsley)
sawge, and grynde it with brede and yolkes
of ayren (yolks of eggs), harde ysode (boiled),
temper it up with vyneger sumwhat thyk, and
lay the pyggs in a vessell, and the sewe
onoward (the sauce over them), and serve it
forth." What a sublime disregard of the
demon of indigestion lies in the words, " Take
pigs! " Size or number seem of no moment.
We presume the smallest of porklings are
intended. O, excellent Charles Lamb!
Immortal eulogiser of crackling, how thou
wouldst have groaned in spirit at the mere
thought of such a sacrilege! Boiled sucking-
pig!

They had, too, a vigorous and athletic
way of treating their viands in Richard the
Second's time, which has quite departed
from us. In a receipt for making geese in
hoggepot, we are told to, Take gees and
smite them in pecys. The white of hard-
boiled eggs also is to be hewed. Again,
Take hares and hewe them to gobetts. And,
Take chykens and boil them in gode brothe