The English do not eat beef-steaks for breakfast, as lying travellers have told us, nor can I find that it has ever been the custom. The breakfast-table is a cheerful sight in this country: porcelain2 of their own manufactory, which excels the Chinese in elegance3 of form and ornament4, is ranged on a Japan waiter, also of the country fabric5; for here they imitate every thing. The mistress sits at the head of the board, and opposite to her the boiling water smokes and sings in an urn6 of Etruscan shape. The coffee is contained 165in a smaller vase of the same shape, or in a larger kind of tea-pot, wherein the grain is suspended in a bag; but nothing is so detestable as an Englishman’s coffee. The washing of our after-dinner cups would make a mixture as good; the infusion7 is just strong enough to make the water brown and bitter. This is not occasioned by ?conomy, though coffee is enormously dear, for the people are extravagant8 in the expences of the table: they know no better; and if you tell them how it ought to be made, they reply, that it must be very disagreeable, and even that if they could drink it so strong, it would prevent them from sleeping. There is besides an act of parliament to prevent the English from drinking good coffee: they are not permitted to roast it themselves, and of course all the fresh and finer flavour evaporates in the warehouse9. They make amends10 however by the excellence12 of their tea, which is still very cheap, though the ministry13, in violation14 166of an explicit15 bargain, increased the tax upon it four fold, during the last war. This is made in a vessel16 of silver, or of a fine black porcelain: they do not use boiled milk with it, but cream in its fresh state, which renders it a very delightful17 beverage18. They eat their bitter bread in various ways, either in thin slices, or toasted, or in small hot loaves, always with butter, which is the best thing in the country.
The dinner hour is usually five: the labouring part of the community dine at one, the highest ranks at six, seven, or even eight. The quantity of meat which they consume is astonishing! I verily believe that what is drest for one dinner here, would supply the same number of persons in Spain for a week, even if no fast-days intervened. Every where you find both meat and vegetables in the same crude and insipid19 state. The potatoe appears at table all the year round: indeed the poor subsist20 so generally upon this 167root, that it seems surprising how they could have lived before it was introduced from America. Beer is the common drink. They take less wine than we do at dinner, and more after it; but the custom of sitting for hours over the bottle, which was so prevalent of late years, has been gradually laid aside, as much from the gradual progress of the taxes as of good sense. Tea is served between seven and eight, in the same manner as at breakfast, except that we do not assemble round the table. Supper is rather a ceremony than a meal; but the hour afterwards, over our wine and water, or spirits, is the pleasantest in the day.
The old refinements21 of epicurean cruelty are no longer heard of, yet the lower classes are cruel from mere22 insensibility, and the higher ones, for want of thought, make no effort to amend11 them. The butchers and drovers in particular are a savage23 race. The sheep which I have met on their way to the slaughter-house, have 168frequently their faces smeared24 with their own blood, and accidents from over-driven oxen are very common. Cattle are slaughtered25 with the clumsiest barbarity: the butcher hammers away at the forehead of the beast; blow after blow raises a swelling26 which renders the following blows ineffectual, and the butchery is completed by cutting the throat. Great pains have been taken by a nobleman who has travelled in Spain, to introduce our humane27 method of piercing the spine28; the effect has been little, and I have heard that the butchers have sometimes wantonly prolonged the sufferings of animals in his sight, for the pleasure of tormenting29 a humanity which they think ridiculous. Oysters30 are eaten alive here. You see women in the streets skinning eels31 while the creature writhes32 on the fork. They are thought delicacies33 here, and yet the English laugh at the French for eating frogs! Lobsters34 and crabs35 are boiled alive, and sometimes roasted! and carp, after having been scaled and gutted36, 169will sometimes leap out of the stew-pan. If humanity is in better natures an instinct, no instinct is so easily deadened, and in the mass of mankind it seems not to exist.
Roast beef has been heard of wherever the English are known. I have more than once been asked at table my opinion of the roast beef of Old England, with a sort of smile, and in a tone as if the national honour were concerned in my reply. The loin of beef is always called Sir, which is the same as Se?or.[13] Neither drunkenness nor gluttony can fairly be imputed37 as national vices38 to this people, and yet perhaps there is no other country where so much nice and curious attention is paid to eating and drinking, nor where the pleasures of the table are thought of such serious importance, and gratified at so great an expense. All parts of the world are ransacked39 170for an Englishman’s table. Turtle are brought alive from the West Indies, and their arrival is of so much consequence, that notices are immediately sent to the newspapers, particularly stating that they are in fine order, and lively. Whereever you dine since peace has been concluded, you see a Perigord pye. India supplies sauces and curry40 powder; they have hams from Portugal and Westphalia; reindeers’ tongues from Lapland; caviar from Russia; sausages from Bologna; maccaroni from Naples; oil from Florence; olives from France, Italy, or Spain, at choice; cheese from Parma and Switzerland. Fish come packed up in ice from Scotland for the London market, and the epicures41 here will not eat any mutton but what is killed in Wales. There is in this very morning’s newspaper, a notice from a shopkeeper in the Strand42, offering to contract with any person who will send him game regularly from France, Norway, or Russia.
13. D. Manuel has mistaken the word, which is Surloin, quasi Super-Loin,—the upper part of it.—Tr.
The choice of inferior liquors is great; 171but all are bad substitutes for the pure juice of the grape. You have tasted their beer in its best state, and cider you have drank in Biscay. They have a beverage made from the buds of the fir-tree and treacle43; necessity taught the American settlers to brew44 this detestable mixture, which is introduced here as a luxury. Factitious waters are now also become fashionable; soda-water particularly, the fixed45 air of which hisses46 as it goes down your throat as cutting as a razor, and draws tears as it comes up through the nose as pungent47 as a pinch of snuff. The common water is abominable48; it is either from a vapid49 canal in which all the rabble50 of the outskirts51 wash themselves in summer, or from the Thames, which receives all the filth52 of the city. It is truly disgraceful that such a city should be without an aqueduct. At great tables the wine stands in ice, and you keep your glass inverted53 in water. In nothing are they so curious as in their wines, though rather in the quality than the variety. They 172even send it abroad to be ripened54 by the motion of the ship, and by warmer climates; you see superior, London, picked, particular, East India Madeira advertised, every epithet55 of which must be paid for.
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1
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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porcelain
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| n.瓷；adj.瓷的，瓷制的 | |
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3
elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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5
fabric
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| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
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urn
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| n.（有座脚的）瓮；坟墓；骨灰瓮 | |
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infusion
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| n.灌输 | |
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8
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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9
warehouse
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| n.仓库；vt.存入仓库 | |
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10
amends
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| n. 赔偿 | |
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amend
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| vt.修改，修订，改进；n.[pl.]赔罪，赔偿 | |
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12
excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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14
violation
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| n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯 | |
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15
explicit
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| adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的 | |
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16
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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18
beverage
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| n.(水，酒等之外的)饮料 | |
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19
insipid
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| adj.无味的，枯燥乏味的，单调的 | |
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20
subsist
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| vi.生存，存在，供养 | |
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refinements
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| n.（生活）风雅；精炼( refinement的名词复数 )；改良品；细微的改良；优雅或高贵的动作 | |
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22
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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23
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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24
smeared
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| 弄脏； 玷污； 涂抹； 擦上 | |
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slaughtered
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| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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spine
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| n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊 | |
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tormenting
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| 使痛苦的，使苦恼的 | |
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30
oysters
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| 牡蛎( oyster的名词复数 ) | |
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31
eels
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| abbr. 电子发射器定位系统（=electronic emitter location system） | |
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32
writhes
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的第三人称单数 ) | |
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33
delicacies
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| n.棘手( delicacy的名词复数 )；精致；精美的食物；周到 | |
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34
lobsters
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| 龙虾( lobster的名词复数 )； 龙虾肉 | |
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35
crabs
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| n.蟹( crab的名词复数 )；阴虱寄生病；蟹肉v.捕蟹( crab的第三人称单数 ) | |
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36
gutted
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| adj.容易消化的v.毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的过去式和过去分词 )；取出…的内脏 | |
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imputed
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| v.把（错误等）归咎于( impute的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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38
vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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39
ransacked
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| v.彻底搜查( ransack的过去式和过去分词 )；抢劫，掠夺 | |
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40
curry
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| n.咖哩粉，咖哩饭菜；v.用咖哩粉调味，用马栉梳，制革 | |
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41
epicures
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| n.讲究饮食的人( epicure的名词复数 ) | |
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42
strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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43
treacle
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| n.糖蜜 | |
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44
brew
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| v.酿造，调制 | |
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45
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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46
hisses
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| 嘶嘶声( hiss的名词复数 ) | |
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47
pungent
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| adj.（气味、味道）刺激性的，辛辣的；尖锐的 | |
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48
abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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49
vapid
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| adj.无味的；无生气的 | |
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50
rabble
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| n.乌合之众，暴民；下等人 | |
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51
outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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52
filth
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| n.肮脏，污物，污秽；淫猥 | |
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53
inverted
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| adj.反向的，倒转的v.使倒置，使反转( invert的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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54
ripened
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| v.成熟，使熟( ripen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55
epithet
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| n.（用于褒贬人物等的）表述形容词，修饰语 | |
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