Bottles, jars, and crocks of unglazed earthenware are amongst the earliest results of human ingenuity, aud were brought to Cornwall by the Phoenicians with the art of pottery, which they introduced. The smaller articles of pottery were made glazed, but the large jars for the keeping of wine remained unglazed for a long time. Glass bottles for domestic use did not occur before the fourteenth century, aud then in France. Skins for the carriage of water and the keeping of wine are ancient institutions, but little is known about their invention or history. The introduction of glass vessels for holding and drinking liquids out of is mainly the result of Venetian enterprise, and to this day Venetian glass maintains a beauty which even its Bohemian rival has not been able to eclipse. Dining-houses were in great towns at all ages. One at Eome was made notorious by the poet Horace, who there contracted an indigestion by eating ‘ sheep’s head ’ ; this dish he ever after shunned, like a burnt child the fire. In Paris the common people took their meals at cabarets, localities which Bautree somewhat exaggeratedly defined as places ‘on Ton vend de la folie a la bouteille.’ There were traiteurs who sold entire cooked joints or dishes to citizens who did not care to have their own kitchens, but fetched their meals across the street. But there were no actual restaurants, such as we kuow them now, before the year 1750. Ill that year the first establishment bearing such a title was founded at Paris by a cook of the name of Boulanger. Over his shop and dining-room was the in- scription in Latin, ‘ Venite omnes, qui stomacho laboratis, et ego restaurabo vos ’ (‘ Come to me, all you who are hungry, and I will restore you to comfort.’ The French Revolution spread liberty, intelligence, land, money, and well-being amongst the previously oppressed classes, no FRENCH DINING-HOUSES AND DINNERS 635 doubt at the expense of classes who were oppressed in return, and social life took a new form, so that, according to Dumas, one could at the end of the eighteenth century dine at a good restaurateur’s at Paris for 12 francs as well as M. de Talleyrand at his palace, and better than at M. de Cambaceres’s table. Before the Revolution of 1789, dinners in good French houses were well selected, not exaggerated as to quantity of material or number of dishes, and in keeping with the means. This relative simplicity (compared to the wasteful extravagance of .the restored Bourbon, Louis XVIII.) characterized the households of Louis XV. and XVI. The following was a bill-of-fare for a dinner in a good French house in 1740 : First service : Soup ; bouilli (boiled fresh beef) ; an entree of veal cooked in its juice ; a hors d’oeuvre. Second service : A turkey ; a dish of vegetables ; a salad ; sometimes a cream. Third service : Cheese, fruit, and a pot of confitures (preserves). Plates were changed only three times — after the soup (the bouilli was eaten from the soup plates), before the second service, and before the dessert. Cafe was rarely given, but on great days ratafia of cherries, etc.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Bottles, jars, and crocks of unglazed earthenware are amongst the earliest results of human ingenuity, and were brought to Cornwall by the Phoenicians with the art of pottery, which they introduced. The smaller articles of pottery were made glazed, but the large jars for the keeping of wine remained unglazed for a long time. Glass bottles for domestic use did not occur before the fourteenth century, and then in France. Skins for the carriage of water and the keeping of wine are ancient institutions, but little is known about their invention or history. The introduction of glass vessels for holding and drinking liquids out of is mainly the result of Venetian enterprise, and to this day Venetian glass maintains a beauty which even its Bohemian rival has not been able to eclipse. Dining-houses were in great towns at all ages. One at Rome was made notorious by the poet Horace, who there contracted an indigestion by eating ‘ sheep’s head ’ ; this dish he ever after shunned, like a burnt child the fire. In Paris the common people took their meals at cabarets, localities which Bautier somewhat exaggeratedly defined as places ‘on Ton vend de la folie a la bouteille.’ There were traiteurs who sold entire cooked joints or dishes to citizens who did not care to have their own kitchens, but fetched their meals across the street. But there were no actual restaurants, such as we know them now, before the year 1750. In that year the first establishment bearing such a title was founded at Paris by a cook of the name of Boulanger. Over his shop and dining-room was the inscription in Latin, ‘ Venite omnes, qui stomacho laboratis, et ego restaurabo vos ’ (‘ Come to me, all you who are hungry, and I will restore you to comfort.’ The French Revolution spread liberty, intelligence, land, money, and well-being amongst the previously oppressed classes, no FRENCH DINING-HOUSES AND DINNERS 635 doubt at the expense of classes who were oppressed in return, and social life took a new form, so that, according to Dumas, one could at the end of the eighteenth century dine at a good restaurateur’s at Paris for 12 francs as well as M. de Talleyrand at his palace, and better than at M. de Cambaceres’s table. Before the Revolution of 1789, dinners in good French houses were well selected, not exaggerated as to quantity of material or number of dishes, and in keeping with the means. This relative simplicity (compared to the wasteful extravagance of .the restored Bourbon, Louis XVIII.) characterized the households of Louis XV. and XVI. The following was a bill-of-fare for a dinner in a good French house in 1740 : First service : Soup ; bouilli (boiled fresh beef) ; an entree of veal cooked in its juice ; a hors d’oeuvre. Second service : A turkey ; a dish of vegetables ; a salad ; sometimes a cream. Third service : Cheese, fruit, and a pot of confitures (preserves). Plates were changed only three times — after the soup (the bouilli was eaten from the soup plates), before the second service, and before the dessert. Cafe was rarely given, but on great days ratafia of cherries, etc.

The spirit of cookery