“But even that meeting with Smith, wherein I reached the topmost height of golden hours, was set off, so to speak, by another happening of this wonder-week. At the next table to me in the dining-room I had already remarked once or twice a little, middle-aged, weary looking man who often began his breakfast with a glass of boiling water and followed it up with a baked apple drowned in rich cream. Brains, too, or sweetbreads he would eat for dinner and rice, not potatoes: when I looked surprise, he told me he had been up all night and had a weak digestion, Mayhew, he said, was his name and explained that if I ever wanted a game of faro or euchre or indeed anything else, he’d oblige me. I smiled; I could ride and shoot, I replied; but I was no good at cards.”
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
_Second Course._ Fore-quarter of Lamb. Braised Capon. Boiled Tongue, Vase of Ham. garnished. Flowers. Roast Fowls. Rump of Beef à la Jardinière. _Third Course._ Guinea-Fowls, larded, removed by Cabinet Pudding. Apricot Wine Jelly. Rhubarb Tartlets. Tart. Custards. Vase of Jelly in Flowers. glasses. Italian Cream. Damson Tart. Ducklings, Cheesecakes. removed by Nesselrode Pudding. DESSERT AND ICES.
Sources: The passage is from Frank Harris, My Life and Loves, Vol. 1, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Beeton, The Book of Household Management of 1861, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — plum cloth, pear stamp.