Charles Lamb, in pipefuls / selected and arranged by Walter Lewin.

  • Charles Lamb
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Charles Lamb, in pipefuls / selected and arranged by Walter Lewin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    28/78
    IO know, was always remarkable for flourishing. His card imports, that “orders (to wit, for brawn; from any part of England, Scotland, or Ireland, will be duly executed,’7 etc. At first, I thought of declining the present ; but Richard knew my blind side when he pitched upon brawn. ’Tis of all my hobbies the supreme in the eating way. He might have sent sops from the pan, skimmings, crumpets, chips, hog’s lard, the tender brown judiciously scalped from a fillet of veal (dexterously replaced by a salamander), the tops of asparagus, fugitive livers, runaway gizzards of fowls, the eyes of martyred pigs, tender effusions of laxative woodcocks, the red spawn of lobsters, leverets7 ears, and such pretty filchings common to cooks; but these had been ordinary presents, the everyday courtesies of dish-washers to their sweethearts. Brawn was a noble thought. It is not every common gullet-fancier that can properly esteem it. It is like a picture of one of the choice old Italian masters. Its gusto is of that hidden sort..* As Wordsworth sings of a modest poet,—“ you must love him, ere to you he will seem worthy of your love;’7 so brawn, you must taste it ere to you it will seem to have any taste at all. But ’tis nuts to the adept: those that will send out their tongue and feelers to find it out. It will be wooed, and not unsought be won. Now, ham-essence, lobsters, turtle, such popular minions, absolutely court you, lay themselves out to strike you at first smack, like one of David’s pictures (they call him Darveed) compared with the plain russet-coated wealth of a Titian or a Correggio, as I illustrated above. Such are the obvious glaring heathen virtues of a corporation dinner, compared with the reserved collegiate worth of brawn. Do me the favour to leave off the business which you may be at present upon, and go immediately to the kitchens of Trinity and Caius, and make my most respectful compliments to Mr. Richard Hopkins, and assure him that his brawn is most excellent; and that I am moreover obliged to him for his innuendo about salt water and bran, which I shall not fail to improve. I leave it to you whether you shall choose to pay him the civility of asking him to dinner while you stay in Cam¬ bridge, or in whatever other way you may best like to show your gratitude to my friend. Richard Hopkins, considered in many points of view, is a very extraordinary
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