subject: "Every time," says he, "that I see a splendid dinner, I fancy
fever, gout, and dropsy, are lying in ambush for me, with the whole race
of maladies which attack mankind: in my opinion an epicure is a fool."
What does this blustering of Addison prove? Boswell also asserts, that
Addison often complained of indigestion. And in the present times, the
first chemist of the day, Sir Humphry Davy, passes for a finished
gourmand.

Roasting, boiling, frying, broiling, do not alone constitute the arc of
cooking, otherwise the savage of the Oronoco might be _maître d'hôtel_
with Prince Esterhazy.

The science of gastronomy made great progress under Louis XV., a
brilliant epoch for the literature of gastronomy: together with the
fashions, customs, freedom of opinion, and taste for equipages and
horses brought from Great Britain--some new dishes taken from the
culinary code of this country, such as puddings and beef-steaks, were
also introduced into France. Thanks to the increasing progress and
discoveries in chemistry, and to the genius of our artists, the art of
cookery rose to the greatest height towards the end of the last century.
What a famous age was that of Mezelier, l'Asne, Jouvent, Richaud, Chaud,
and Robert.

History will never forget that great man, who aspired to all kinds
of glory, and would have been, if he had wished, as great a cook as
he was a statesman--I mean the Prince de Talleyrand, who rekindled the
sacred flame in France. The first clouds of smoke, which announced the
resurrection of the science of cookery in the capital, appeared from
the kitchen of an ancient bishop.