The spirit of cookery

of Ferrara. It is illustrated with a portrait of the author, a person of grave and dignified appearance, and by two quaint engravings, representing a banquet and a kitchen, apparently in the open air. He gives receipts for a vast variety of dishes, and describes some of the dinners and suppers which he himself prepared. This publication, which depicts the feasts of the highest class of Italian society, was followed by the book of Giovanni Battista Rosetti,* and the instructive work by the privy cook (cwoco secreto) of Pope Pius V., Bartolomeo Scappi.f The latter contains many isolated observations, but no systematic appreciation of the art, and shows a renewed inclination to mannerism, which was perhaps inseparable from the experimental stages of the attempt to attain excellence and refinement. Layard gives an agreeable analysis of this work, from which we quote the following extract : ‘ Judging from his portrait which he presents to us, Scappi must have been a gentleman of dignified and senatorial appearance. His book was written, he tells us, for the instruction of Giovanni, his pupil, who was recommended to him by Cardinal Carpi, and who had been brought up from his tenderest age to the profession of a cook, of which profession Scappi desired to make the boy an honour. He commences by describing what a head-cook should be. Besides the leading general ideas he should have a full knowledge of every kind of beast, fowl, fish, and vegetable fit for human food, and of the proper season for placing them on the table. Moreover, he should have a perfect acquaintance with the tastes and preferences of his master. He proceeds to give directions as to the site, design, and arrangements for a kitchen, which should be spacious, airy, and cheerful. He then describes the various utensils and instruments required by the cook, of which he * Rosetti, Giov. Battist, ‘ Lo Scalco.’ Rerr., l.')84, 4to. t Scappi, Bartolom., cuoco secreto di Papa Pio V., ‘ Opera dell’ Arte del Cucinare’; xvi. libri. Venez. et Firenz., 1.570, 4to. gives a list of considerably above one hundred, illustrating his descriptions hy engravings. He insists that the kitchen should be at some distance from the dwelling-house, to avoid the danger of people having access to it who might tamper with the food in preparation, the dread of poison always prevailing. He then shows how to judge of various condiments, and how to keep fresh such things as oil, lard, butter, and cheese, and mentions the wines best suited for making sauces. The discussion of salary, outfit, and honourable treatment of the cook complete this part. Having instructed his pupil in the duties of a cook, he proceeds to give about 280 recipes for roasting, boiling, and otherwise preparing for the table the flesh of beasts and birds of various kinds, and for the proper sauces, and for soups, fricassees, mincemeat pies, and other dishes. Amongst the animals fit for eating are mentioned the chamois, stag, fallow-deer, wild-boar, bear, porcupine, hedgehog, hare, rabbits, guinea-pigs, and dormice ; amongst birds, nightingales, sparrows, redbreasts, hecca- ficM, and swallows, ortolans, pheasants, red and gray partridges, francolins, peacocks, pea-fowl, cranes, herons, and wild geese. For the various ways of cooking all these beasts and birds he gives formulae.