SOME COOKERY BOOKS.
English Cookery Books to the Year 1850. By Arnold Whitaker Oxford, M.A., M.D. (Henry Frowde. 5s. net.)—This is a catalogue of cookery books, beginning with one published in 1500, in which the full title of each book is followed by an interesting little review of its contents. Dr. Oxford pays special attention to the medical receipts and advice, which are generally given a prominent place in these old books. Here is a remedy, perhaps for appendicitis, taken from "A Closet for Ladies and Gentlemen," published in 1608. " For one that is taken within the body or any place. Take Rose cakes, aqua vitae, and rose water, heats it on a chafindish of cosies, lay it to the stomacke, they shall mend by God's grace." There is something pleasantly soothing in the description of this poultice, but in 1705 we read of a treatment of "cold snail water" made from
100 snails and a Pint of great Earth Worms, boiled in a gallon of new milk of a Red Cow," which must have made heavy demands on the fortitude of all the people con- cerned in its preparation, as well as on that of the patient.-
Kettner's Book of the Table. (Kettner's, Limited.) — This entertaining book is the result of the collaboration of Mr. G. A. Sala and Mr. Dallas with Mr. Kettner, "the noted chef." It was first published in 1877, and was well worth reprinting, not only for the excellent receipts and the wise advice on various methods of cooking, but for the amusing stories and the excur- sions into the realms of history, etymology, and natural history by means of which the authors have done much to enliven the task of ordering dinner. Besides this the host or hostess will find the book a capital subject of conversation with their guests, for who is not amused and interested by queer and unexpected ideas about food, if the dish before him is satisfactory ? The arrangement is alphabetical, and while some of the articles are long and may almost be called essays, such, for instance, as those on " Gallimawfry " and " Salad," others merely give a concise receipt. Some readers will wonder to find the headings " Ass," " Bentley," and " Betsey Prig" in a cookery book, but by the time they have reached " Cleopatra" they will be prepared for surprises.—In "The Woman's Economical Series" we have Just Use It Up, by Mary B. Browne, and Economical Cookery, by Kate Addison (Hodderand Stoughton, 2s. 6d. net each).—They are useful little books of practical receipts.—The One Maid Cookery Book, by Mistress A. E. Congreve (Herbert Jenkins, 2s. 6d. net), gives, besides many well-thought-out receipts, some excellent advice on the art of housekeeping, which, as she remarks, develops from the little girl's game into the woman's " serious occupation, enjoyable or not, according to the skill with which it is played."
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