Soyer's Culinary Campaign: Being Historical Reminiscences of the Late War.: With The Plain Art of Cookery for Military and Civil Institutions

who had the superintendence of the Sisters. This establishment had neither kitchen nor cooking utensils. However, by the aid of the engineer who accompanied us, everything was soon settled. Yet, after all, I ordered nothing that was not indispensable; and I must remark that, with all the power with which I was invested by the War Department, coupled with the willing assistance of Captain Gordon, I found it a difficult matter to get a plank, or even a nail, fixed in any of the hospitals. At the same time, I may add, with pride and gratitude, that throughout the Crimean campaign I was most highly favoured by every department; for if anything I required was procurable, I had it. Lady Stratford and visitors having expressed their satisfaction at the success of our visit, I was on the point of retiring with Signor Roco Vido, when Lady Stratford asked what day the kitchen at Scutari would be opened. “On Monday next,” was my reply. “I presume we shall be honoured with your ladyship’s presence, and that of your suite.”--“I shall not fail to attend, Monsieur Soyer,” were her ladyship’s words. The Sisters having thanked me, we retired. We returned in a beautiful Oriental moonlight by the same road--the panorama of the morning being now tinted by the reflection of the soft rays of the moon. Just as I had set everybody to work in the various hospitals, and my Scutari kitchen was nearly finished, an entirely new plan suggested itself to my mind. It was as follows:--Instead of commencing with a hundred patients at a time, as I had at first intended, I changed my mind, and preferred making a grand opening, resolving to invite all the heads of the medical department in the various hospitals, as well as some of the most eminent among the French and Turkish medical staff. This, I was aware, was a bold experiment; for had I failed--and many unforeseen events might have caused such a result--my reputation would have suffered. I was, therefore, well aware that I was risking the labour of twenty years against