SOUP A LA CRECY.

126. INGREDIENTS.--4 carrots, 2 sliced onions, 1 cut lettuce, and
chervil; 2 oz. butter, 1 pint of lentils, the crumbs of 2 French rolls,
half a teacupful of rice, 2 quarts of medium stock No. 105.

_Mode_.--Put the vegetables with the butter in the stewpan, and let them
simmer 5 minutes; then add the lentils and 1 pint of the stock, and stew
gently for half an hour. Now fill it up with the remainder of the stock,
let it boil another hour, and put in the crumb of the rolls. When well
soaked, rub all through a tammy. Have ready the rice boiled; pour the
soup over this, and serve.

_Time_.--1-3/4 hour. _Average cost_,1s. 2d. per quart.

_Seasonable_ all the year.

_Sufficient_ for 8 persons.

[Illustration: THE LENTIL.]

THE LENTIL.--This belongs to the legumious or _pulse_ kind of
vegetables, which rank next to the corn plants in their
nutritive properties. The lentil is a variety of the bean tribe,
but in England is not used as human food, although considered
the best of all kinds for pigeons. On the Continent it is
cultivated for soups, as well as for other preparations for the
table; and among the presents which David received from Shobi,
as recounted in the Scriptures, were beans, lentils, and parched
pulse. Among the Egyptians it was extensively used, and among