my boy, always remember this misfortune of Lord Verulam,
Chancellor of England and author of the ‘Novum
Organum.’ But to return to that Sire d’Asterac,
in whose service we are; it is a great pity that he
is a sorcerer and given to cursed science. You
know, my boy, I pride myself on my delicacy in matters
of faith I find it hard to serve a cabalist who turns
our Holy Scriptures upside down under the pretext
to understand them better that way. However,
if he is, as his name and speech indicate, a Gascon
nobleman, we have nothing to be afraid of. A Gascon
may make a contract with the devil and you may be
sure that the devil will be done.”
The dinner bell interrupted our conversation.
But while descending the stairs, my kind tutor said:
“Tournebroche, my boy, remember, during the
whole meal, to follow all my movements, to enable
you to imitate them. Having dined at the third
table of the Bishop of Seez, I know how to do it.
It’s a difficult art. It’s harder
to dine than to speak like a gentleman.”
Dinner and Thoughts on Food
We found in the dining-room a table laid for three,
where M. d’Asterac made us take our places.
Criton, who acted as butler, served us with jellies,
and thick soup strained a dozen times. But we
could not see any joints. As well as we could,
my kind tutor and myself tried to hide our surprise.
M. d’Asterac guessed it and said:
“Gentlemen, this is only an attempt, and may
seem to you an unfortunate one. I shall not persist
in it. I’ll have some more customary dishes
served for you and I shall not disdain to partake
of them. If the dishes I offer you to-day are
badly prepared, it is less the fault of my cook than
that of chemistry, which is still in its infancy.
But they will at all events give you an idea of what
will be in the future. At present men eat without
philosophy. They do not nourish themselves like
reasonable beings. They do not think of such.
But of what are they thinking? Most of them live
in stupidity and actually those who are capable of
reflection occupy their minds with silly things like
controversies and poetry. Consider mankind, gentlemen,
at their meals since the far-away times when they
ceased their intercourse with Sylphs and Salamanders.
Abandoned by the genii of the air they grew heavy and
dull in ignorance and barbarity Without policy and
without art they lived, nude and miserable, in caverns,
on the border of torrents or in the trees of the forest.
The chase was their only industry. After having
surprised or captured by quickness a timid animal,
they devoured that prey still palpitating.
