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

defunct and incomparable _chef_! probably because I had not the honour of wearing the sword of the courtier. Though I had a stock of guns, swords, bayonets, &c., the idea of suicide never struck me, inasmuch as all these weapons were taken as trophies from the Russians, who were now friends and brothers, and those emblems of carnage would have been disgraced if soiled with the blood of so humble an individual as myself. On the contrary, though inclined to despair, I lost no time, but opened a bottle of champagne for a friend who had just popped in. At the second glass--_mirabile dictu!_--the thick curtain which shaded my brow vanished; the unsightly brown grass turned green, and everything appeared _couleur de rose_; and though no material amelioration had yet taken place, I felt that success was certain. _Nil desperandum!_ How many men who have ceased to live through an anticipated failure would now be living had they struggled against adverse fate, and not been led away by the dread of an imaginary evil! The soirée was indeed in jeopardy; but in revenge I had the gratification of receiving from every guest invited a polite note, worded thus: “General, Colonel, or Captain So-and-so, will be very happy to spend the evening at Monsieur Soyer’s villarette.” General Wyndham, who was at one time uncertain whether he could come or not, sent his aide-de-camp to inform me that he should be able to attend, and to know the hour. Everything, in fact, tended to render my position more unpleasant; and the proverb, “Plus on est de fous, plus on rit,” was anything but clear to my mind. It would be clear enough if a good supper and good entertainment were provided; but if the contrary, I should say, “Plus on est de fous, moins on rit.” It was three o’clock, P.M., and nine was the hour on the invitation cards. There remained but six hours for success or failure. O Vatel! my noble master in the science of _curée_, I then for the first time understood the true extent of your devotion