PREFACE. The Receipts composing the Volume here submitted to the Public have been collected under peculiarly favourable circumstances by a Lady of distinction, whose productions in the lighter department of literature entitle her to a place among th ... Read more

PREFACE. The Receipts composing the Volume here submitted to the Public have been collected under peculiarly favourable circumstances by a Lady of distinction, whose productions in the lighter department of literature entitle her to a place among the most successful writers of the present day. Moving in the first circles of rank and fashion, her associations have qualified her to furnish directions adapted to the manners and taste of the most refined Luxury; whilst long and attentive observation, and the communications of an extensive acquaintance, have enabled her equally to accommodate them to the use of persons of less ample means and of simpler and more economical habits. When the task of arranging the mass of materials thus accumulated devolved upon the Editor, it became his study to give to them such a form as should be most convenient for constant reference. A glance at the "Contents," which might with equal propriety be denominated an Index, will, he flatters himself, convince the reader that this object has been accomplished. It will there be seen that the Receipts, upwards of Sixteen Hundred in number, are classed under Eleven distinct Heads, each of which is arranged in alphabetical order—a method which confers on this Volume a decided advantage over every other work of the kind, inasmuch as it affords all the facilities of a Dictionary, without being liable to the unpleasant intermixture of heterogeneous matters which cannot be avoided in that form of arrangement. The intimate connexion between the Science of Cookery and the Science of Health, the sympathies subsisting between every part of the system and the stomach, and the absolute necessity of strict attention not less to the manner of preparing the alimentary substances offered to that organ than to their quality and quantity, have been of late years so repeatedly and so forcibly urged by professional pens, that there needs no argument here to prove the utility of a safe Guide and Director in so important a department of domestic economy as that which is the subject of this Volume. In many more cases, indeed, than the uninitiated would imagine, is the healthy tone of the stomach dependent on the proper preparation of the food, the healthy tone of the body in general on that of the stomach, and the healthy tone of the mind on that of the body: consequently the first of these conditions ought to command the vigilance and solicitude of all who are desirous of securing the true enjoyment of life—the mens sana in corpore sano. The professed Cook may perhaps be disposed to form a mean estimate of these pages, because few, or no learned, or technical, terms are employed in them; but this circumstance, so far from operating to the disparagement of the work, must prove a strong recommendation to the Public in general. The chief aim, in fact, of the noble Authoress has been to furnish such plain directions, in every branch of the culinary art, as shall be really useful to English masters and English servants, and to the humble but earnest practitioner. Let those who may desire to put this collection of receipts to the test only give them a fair trial, neither trusting to conceited servants, who, despising all other methods, obstinately adhere to their own, and then lay the blame of failure upon the directions; nor committing their execution to careless ones, who neglect the means prescribed for success, either in regard to time, quantities, or cleanliness; and the result will not fail to afford satisfactory evidence of their pleasant qualities and practical utility. Less