[The Essays of Montaigne by Michel de Montaigne]@TWC D-Link bookThe Essays of Montaigne CHAPTER LI 4/5
He made a learned distinction of the several sorts of appetites; of that a man has before he begins to eat, and of those after the second and third service; the means simply to satisfy the first, and then to raise and actuate the other two; the ordering of the sauces, first in general, and then proceeded to the qualities of the ingredients and their effects; the differences of salads according to their seasons, those which ought to be served up hot, and which cold; the manner of their garnishment and decoration to render them acceptable to the eye.
After which he entered upon the order of the whole service, full of weighty and important considerations: "Nec minimo sane discrimine refert, Quo gestu lepores, et quo gallina secetur;" ["Nor with less discrimination observes how we should carve a hare, and how a hen." or, ("Nor with the least discrimination relates how we should carve hares, and how cut up a hen.)" -- Juvenal, Sat., v.
123.] and all this set out with lofty and magnificent words, the very same we make use of when we discourse of the government of an empire.
Which learned lecture of my man brought this of Terence into my memory: "Hoc salsum est, hoc adustum est, hoc lautum est, parum: Illud recte: iterum sic memento: sedulo Moneo, qux possum, pro mea sapientia. Postremo, tanquam in speculum, in patinas, Demea, Inspicere jubeo, et moneo, quid facto usus sit." ["This is too salt, that's burnt, that's not washed enough; that's well; remember to do so another time.
Thus do I ever advise them to have things done properly, according to my capacity; and lastly, Demea, I command my cooks to look into every dish as if it were a mirror, and tell them what they should do." -- Terence, Adelph., iii.
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