sakes. To those who deem our remarks ill-timed, we only point to the command, "be instant in season, out of season." Should any one feel determined to pursue our plan of studying nature, we greet him as a brother, and assure him that he is in a fair way to obtain no small degree of happiness here below. Indulgent reader, farewell! Dec. 1st. RURICOLA. CULINARY ANTIQUITIES. Salt-Cellars.-A salt cellar, says Dr. Johnson, is so called from salt and cellar: in this case it ought not to mean a vessel of salt set on the table, but rather a cell underground where salt is stored. Probably the French salière is the real root of the latter half of the word, in which case the word salt is a superfluous part of the compound. We have many such tautologous combinations which give both the English and French name. Such are but-end, robin-red breast, wine-vinegar. Why has it been esteemed unlucky to overturn a salt-cellar? This superstition derives from Pagan Rome; where the salt-dish was a holy platter, in which the firstlings of the feast were offered to the Gods, and which was usually ornamented with the figure of some divinity. "Sacras facitis mensas salinorum appositu, et simulacris deorum." And again Livy: "Ut salinum patellamque deorum causâ habeant." And Horace: "Paternum splendet mensâ tenui salinum." And Statius Exiguo placuerunt farre salina." To overturn altars and images of the Gods, was naturally held ominous. 66 Dried Cherries.-Cherries might be dried on the large scale in ovens, and afforded cheaper than raisins. They form a more delicate dessert dish, and make an excellent pudding. Walnut-Oil.-In Switzerland great use is made of the oil of green walnuts, which is preferred to olive-oil for salads and delicate purposes. The walnuts are gathered while the interior shell is white, soft and pulpy; and are squeezed in adapted presses. The Devil's Dinner.-In Milton's Paradise Regained, the devil offers a tempting dinner, which is described in these words: A table richly spread, in regal mode, Probably this is a faithful description of some of those cabinet dinners, of which, while Milton was Secretary of State, he partook at the Protector's, or elsewhere. It differs from a modern dinner in the order of viands, the fish occurring last. It also differs in the singular circumstance, that the pastry was perfumed with ambergris. No doubt those tall goose-pies, built in standing crust, which last so long as to smell of the cupboard, were still in vogue; and might well require fumigation, when about to be presented before company. And what is ambergris? Is it the drug we now call spermaceti, mingled with some aromatic? Peacocks.-Varro, in his third book on agriculture, mentions that Hortensius first set a peacock on his table, augurali cæna, or, as we might say, at the generals of the clergy. At first this new dish was found fault with, as indicating a taste rather luxurious than severe; but the fashion spread so rapidly, that the eggs of peahens were bought at immense prices, in order to rear a brood. Ut ova eorum denarius veneant quinis, ipsi facile quinquagenis. Macrobius repeats this anecdote; but he withholds a remark of Galen, that the flesh of the peacock is not easy of digestion: it keeps however better than that of any other fowl. Aldrovandus, in consequence of some strange misunderstanding, asserts in print, that he ate in 1598 part of a peacock which had been cooked in 1592, and was still very good; but it smelt, he says, a little like fennel. Dioscorides recommends to gouty persons the eggs of pea-fowl. NORWICH MECHANICS' INSTITUTION. We have only room to say that the lectures and debates have been carried on, during the past month, with their usual degree of interest and instruction. Earnestly do we wish that the prosperity which this valuable institution so eminently merits, and has so long and uninterruptedly enjoyed, may continue and increase. PRINTED BY J. FLETCHER, UPPER HAYMARKET, NORWICH. |