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

on my route the illustrious Horace Vernet, and in Paris, had the honour of showing him this painting in his study at the Institute, when he expressed his opinion in the following words:--“That no female artist had ever painted in such _a bold_ style, nor with such a truthfulness of colour and design.” He added, it was worthy of the pencil of Murillo). It hung directly under the conflagration. But, thanks to the gymnastic agility of our unknown fireman, calm was soon restored; the band recommenced playing, and the punch _à la Marmora_ circulated freely, for everything was abandoned for that exciting mixture, even grogs and champagne. At about two o’clock Lord Rokeby and General Craufurd left. I then introduced a comic song, in which all joined, including between two or three hundred spectators who had collected round the hut. As the hour advanced, the company diminished; but at five in the morning there were still a few guests inquiring for their horses. And thus ended the last party on Cathcart’s Hill previous to the breaking up of the Fourth Division and its return to England. The following is an account, from the _Times_, of the banquet, and of the names of some of my noble visitors:-- This evening, a number of distinguished guests honoured M. Soyer with their presence at supper at his villarette near Cathcart’s Hill. The exterior of the hut was illuminated with lamps fed with ration fat; the interior was embellished with numerous wreaths and festoons of the beautiful natural plants and flowers now so abundant over the less-trodden parts of the plateau. Some glees of Kücken, Mendelssohn, Fleming, &c., very well executed by Mr. Clarke Dalby, Major Colville, R.B., Colonel de Bathe, Scots Fusilier Guards, and others, formed an agreeable introduction to an excellent supper--a triumph of culinary art over Crimean resources, which was, however, soon subjugated in its turn by the ferocity and unconquerable steadiness of the British appetite. Lord Rokeby proposed M. Soyer’s health, and passed a high eulogium on the services he had rendered to the army by his exertions to promote