o English school of
cookery can be said ever to have existed in England. We have, and
have always had, ample material for making excellent dishes; but if
we desire to turn it to proper account, we have to summon men from a
distance to our aid, or to accept the probable alternative--failure.
The adage, "God sends meat, and the devil sends cooks," must surely
be of native parentage, for of no country is it so true as of our own.
Perhaps, had it not been for the influx among us of French and
Italian experts, commencing with our Anglo-Gallic relations under
the Plantagenets, and the palmy days of the monastic orders, culinary
science would not have arrived at the height of development which it
has attained in the face of great obstacles. Perchance we should
not have progressed much beyond the pancake and oatmeal period. But
foreign _chefs_ limit their efforts to those who can afford to pay
them for their services. The middle classes do not fall within the
pale of their beneficence. The poor know them not. So it happens that
even as I write, the greater part of the community not only cannot
afford professional assistance in the preparation of their meals,
which goes without saying, but from ignorance expend on their larder
twice as much as a Parisian or an Italian in the same rank of life,
with a very indifferent result. There are handbooks of instruction,
it is true, both for the middle and for the lower classes. These books
are at everybody's command. But they are either left unread, or if
read, they are not understood. I have before me the eleventh edition
of Esther Copley's "Cottage Comforts," 1834; it embraces all the
points which demand attention from such as desire to render a humble
home comfortable and happy. The leaves have never been opened. I will
not say, _ex hoc disce omnes_; but it really appears to be the
case, that these works are not studied by those for whom they are
written--not studied, at all events, to advantage.

Dr. Kitchener augmented this department of our literary stores in
1821 with his "Cook's Oracle," which was very successful, and passed
through a series of editions.

In the preface to that of 1831, the editor describes the book as
greatly enlarged and improved, and claims the "rapid and steady sale
which has invariably attended each following edition" as a proof
of the excellence of the work. I merely mention this, because in
Kitchener's own preface to the seventh issue, l2mo, 1823, he says