as for scarifying, I never heard of it before. In
a word, I could by no means perswade him but that it was the barber's
office to _sacrifice_ men. Since which time I never saw any man in a
barber's hands, but that _sacrificing_ barber came to my
mind."--_Wadd's Nugae_.
* * * * *
Sir Theodore Mayerne may be considered one of the earliest reformers of
the practice of physic. He left some papers written in elegant Latin, in
the Ashmolean Collection, which contain many curious particulars relative
to the first invention of several medicines, and the state of physic at
that period. Petitot, the celebrated enameller, owed his success in
colouring to some chemical secrets communicated to him by Sir Theodore.
He was a voluminous writer, and, among others, wrote a book of receipts in
cookery. Many were the good and savoury things invented by Sir Theodore;
his maxims, and those of Sir John Hill, under the cloak of _Mrs_.
Glasse, might have directed our stew-pans to this hour, but for the more
scientific instructions of the renowned Mrs. Rundall, or of the still more
scientific Dr. Kitchiner, who has verified the old adage, that the
"_Kitchen is the handmaid to Physic_;" and if it be true that we are
to regard a "good cook as in the nature of a good physician," then is Dr.
Kitchiner the best physician that ever condescended to treat "_de re
culinaria_."
Sir Theodore may, in a degree, be said to have fallen a victim to _bad
cookery_; for he is reported to have died of the effects of bad wine,
which he drank at a tavern in the Strand. He foretold it would be fatal,
and died, as it were, out of compliment to his own prediction.--_Ibid._
* * * * *
THE SELECTOR, AND LITERARY NOTICES OF NEW WORKS.
* * * * *
THE COFFEE-DRINKER'S MANUAL.
We would say of coffee-making in England, as Hamlet did of acting, "Oh,
reform it altogether." Accordingly, the publication of a pleasant trifle,
under the above name, is not ill-timed. Like all our modern farces, it is
from the French, and as the translator informs us, the editor of the
original is "of the _Cafe de Foi_, at Paris."
It opens with the _History of Coffee_, from its discovery by a monk
in the 17th century, to the establishment of _cafes_ in Paris, of
which we have a brief notice, with additions by the translator.
Next is "the French method of making coffee, with the ro
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