Antiquitates culinariæ; or curious tracts relating to the culinary affairs of the old English, with a preliminary discourse, notes, and illustrations / By the Reverend Richard Warner.
- Richard Warner
- Date:
- 1791
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Antiquitates culinariæ; or curious tracts relating to the culinary affairs of the old English, with a preliminary discourse, notes, and illustrations / By the Reverend Richard Warner. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![however of fumptuary laws, in general, to be attended with little efFed. The period when chivalry was approaching to its zenith, could not be an aufpicious one for the interdi&ion of revelry and profufion. The example of the monarch, fandioned the extravagance of the fubjed, and the reign of Edward I. the fucceflor of Henry III. prefents the dawn of that brilliant magnificence, which the un¬ fortunate Richard II. carried to meridian fplendor. If we defcend from the hall of the palace, and take a view of the baronial table, during the twelfth, thirteenth* and fourteenth centuries, we fhall behold it characterized by a grandeur and pompous ceremonial, approaching nearly to the magnificence of royalty. A fpirit of parade, and romantic gallantry, prefided over the very feafts of thefe ages; which, though it might appear awkward, and per¬ haps ridiculous, at prefent, had then thys good effeds of nurturing a martial difpo- fition among the nobility, and preserving a fenfe of decorum, generofity, and polfte- nefs, that formed a check on the licentious manners of a dark unlettered ao-e. The fair fex, thofe beft polifhers of men, were now held in the higheft efteem. That refpedful complaifance, with which the northern nations [fo oppofite to the un¬ gallant manners of claflic antiquity] ever diftinguiffled the female charader, had by degrees arifen to the mod profound veneration. The higheft ambition of the valorous knight, was, by his martial deeds, and generous exploits, to gain the approbation of his Ladie love.” Throngs of noble dames graced the Splendid fead of the affluent baron, beheld the judings and tourneys of gallant knights con¬ tending for their favour, and adjudged the prize, to the mod valiant, ^nd adroit. Hence fplendor, valor, love, and gallantry, combined to make the revels of thefe ages, not only fpeftacles of magnificence, and fcenes of hofpitable grandeur; but the happy means of increafing refinement of manners, and national civilization II. That triumph of fuperdition and enthufiafm, the fpirit of crufading, which for a century pad had feized the potentates of Europe, may be confidered as a great promoter, if not the original caufe, of that additional fplendor, gallantry and parade, which began to mark the entertainments of the ages now before us Roufed by the prophetic voice of Peter the hermit, monarchs, potentates of all kinds, civil and ecclefiadical, took up the crofs, and marched to Paledine to refcue the hallowed land, which had given birth to their Redeemer, from the pol¬ luting hands of infidels. In this region of wealth and wonders, the Britiffl nobles beheld . II rVS?n extraordinary and paradoxical circumftance in the hiftory of mankind, that the fierce and barbarous nations of the northern regions Ihould pay to thefofter fex, that deference, attention, and refpeft, which were denied them by the mod pohfhed people of antiquity. Such however was the cafe. The claffical author! of Greece and Rome, fufficiently teftify, that the ancients confidered the fair as greatly beneath them in ftrength of mind and dignity of nature: they were efteemed unworthy to mix in focial intercoir fe and convention-£d fit only to manage he inferior and menial concerns of domeftic ceconomy. On the other hand, among the We people of the North,_the female character was efteemed, and admired. In all matters of importance, or point! IS?’..!6 °P™0n °!Ja 7T T ta,k7 and f°r thf m°* Part folWd- oracular fpirit was fuppofed to refide in them. They headed embaffies, led armies to the field, and by their exhortations and example Ihmu- lated the combatants. In lliort, no office was deemed too facred or important to be held by them. The princi pies from which this different condufttowards the fair, in the northern and fouthern nations, arofe, are ably inveftigated by Mr. Mallet in his Northern Antiquities. We fhall only remark, that to the former may be traced the origin of that fpirit of affection, gallantry, and politenefs towards the female character, which pervades Lurope, and diftmguiffies it from the reft of the world; a fpirit that has done more towards civilizing and H2“g C ‘ rUggv ““w °1 Tfr thuan a11 the df7matIons of orators, the compofitions of poets, afd the fubtle reafonings of metaphyfical plulofophers, were able to effeft in the ancient world. P](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30450603_0028.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
