was a guest--before the
terrible year of course. While I am gossiping as to the curiosities of
the Anglais I must not forget a little collection of glass and silver in
a cabinet in the passage of the _entresol_. Every piece has a history,
and most of them have had royal owners. The great sight of the
restaurant, however, is its cellars. Electric light is used to light
them, luminous grapes hang from the arches, and an orange tree at the
end of a vista glows with transparent fruit. In these cellars, beside
the wine on the wine-list of the restaurant, are to be found some
bottles of all the great vintage years of claret, an object-lesson in
Bordeaux; and there are little stores of brandies of wondrous age, most
of which were already in the cellars when the battle of Waterloo was
fought.

From a gourmet's point of view the great interest in the restaurant will
lie, if he wishes to give a large dinner, in the Grand Seize or one of
the other private rooms; if he is going to dine alone, or is going to
take his wife out to dinner, in the triangular room on the ground floor
with its curtains of lace, its white walls, its mirrors and its little
gilt tripod in the centre of the floor. Duglere was the _chef_ who,
above all others, made history at the Anglais, and the present
proprietor, M. Burdel, was one of his pupils; and therefore the cookery
of Duglere is the cookery still of the Anglais. _Potage Germiny_ is
claimed by the Cafe Anglais as a dish invented by the house, but the
Maison d'Or across the way also laid claim to it, and told an anecdote
of its creation--how it was invented by Casimir for the Marquis de
St-George. The various fish _a la Duglere_ there can be no question
concerning, the _Barbue Duglere_ being the most celebrated; and the
_Poularde Albufera_ and the _Filet de Sole Mornay_ (which was also
claimed by the Grand Vefour) are both specialities of the house. You can
order as expensive a dinner as you will for a great feast at the
Anglais, and you can eat rich dishes if you desire it; but there is no
reason that you should not dine there very well, and as cheaply as you
can expect to get good material, good cooking, and good attendance
anywhere in the world. The "dishes of the day" are always excellent,
and I have dined off a plate of soup, a pint of Bordeaux, and some
slices of a _gigot de sept heures_--one of the greatest achievements of
cookery--for a very few francs. I always find that I can dine amply, and