Thursday, December 04, 2014

 

Dinner

"Gently touch the warbling Lyre; Burlesqu'd by Sir W—— Y——," The Gentleman's Monthly Intelligencer (September, 1732), p. 308:
Gently stir and blow the fire,
    Lay the mutton down to roast,
Dress it quick, 'tis my desire,
    In the dripping-pan a toast;
That my hunger I remove,
Mutton is the meat I love.

On the dresser see it lies,
    Oh the charming white and red!
Finer meat ne'er met my eyes,
    On the sweetest grass it fed;
Let the jack go quickly round,
Let me have it nicely brown'd.

On the table spread the cloth,
    Let the knives be sharp and clean,
Sallad get, and pickles both,
    See that they be nice and green.
With good small beer, and sparkling wine,
O ye gods! how shall I dine!
For jack in the second stanza, see Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. jack, n.1, sense 7: "A machine for turning the spit in roasting meat; either wound up like a clock or actuated by the draught of heated air up the chimney (smoke-jack)."

A Latin version of the same (ibid.):
Tene motum perfla focum,
    Pone ovinam ut assetur,
Paret cito, jube coquum,
    Tostus è patellà detur;
Ad sedandum famem grata,
Caro haec & peramata.

Viden? super lignum jacet,
    Heu quam belli sunt colores!
Ruber, albus, quantum placet:
    Thymum pastae dulces rores,
Veru, properè, rotetur,
Delicate ut assetur.

Linteo sit mensa strata,
    Cultri mundi, & acuti,
Acetaria sint parata,
    Et cuncta, quae sint apta uti;
Poscae parum, vini satis,
Dii! prandebo cum beatis.



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