Sholeby in
Leicestershire,
Sept. 30. 1664.
ROBERT MAY.
[ A short Narrative of some Passages of the Authors Life.]
FOR the better knowledge of the worth of this Book, though it be not usual, the Author being living, it will not be amiss to acquaint the Reader with a breif account of some passages of his Life, as also the eminent Persons (renowned for their House-keeping) whom he hath served through the whole series of his Life; for as the growth of Children argue the strength of the Parents, so doth the judgment and abilities of the Artist conduce to the making and goodness of the Work: now that such great knowledge in this commendable Art was not gained but by long experience, practise, and converse with the most able men in their times, the Reader in this breif Narrative may be informed by what steps and degrees he ascended to the same.
He was born in the year of our Lord 1588. His Father being one of the ablest Cooks in his time, and his first Tutor in the knowledge and practice of Cookery; under whom having attained to some perfection in this Art, the old Lady Dormer sent him over into France, where he continued five years, being in the Family of a noble Peer, and first President of Paris; where he gained not only the French Tongue but also bettered his Knowledge in his Cookery, and returning again into England, was bound an Apprentice in London to Mr. Arthur Hollinsworth in Newgate Market, one of the ablest Work-men in London, Cook to the Grocers Hall and Star Chamber. His Apprentiship being out, the Lady Dormer sent for him to be her Cook under
Father (who then served that Honourable Lady) where were four Cooks more, such Noble Houses were then kept, the glory of that, and the shame of this present Age; then were those Golden Days wherein were practised the Triumphs and Trophies of Cookery; then was Hospitality esteemed, Neighbourhood preserved, the Poor cherished, and God honoured; then was Religion less talkt on, and more practised; then was Atheism & Schism less in fashion: then did men strive to be good, rather then to seem so. Here he continued till the Lady Dormer died, and then went again to London, and served the Lord Castlehaven, after that the Lord Lumley, that great lover and knower of Art, who wanted no knowledge in the discerning this mystery; next the Lord Montague in Sussex; and at the beginning of these wars, the Countess of Kent, then Mr. Nevel of Crissen Temple in Essex, whose Ancestors the Smiths (of whom he is descended) were the greatest maintainers of Hospitality in all those parts; nor doth the present M. Nevel degenerate from their laudable examples. Divers other Persons of like esteem and quality hath he served; as the Lord Rivers, Mr. John Ashburnam of the Bed-Chambers, Dr. Steed in Kent, Sir Thomas Stiles of Drury Lane in London, Sir Marmaduke Constable in York-shire, Sir Charles Lucas; and lastly the Right Honourable the Lady Englefield, where he now liveth.
Thus have I given you a breif account of his Life, I shall next tell you in what high esteem this noble Art was with the Ancient Romans: Plutarch reports, that Lucullus his ordinary diet was fine dainty dishes, with works of pastry, banketting dishes, and fruit curiously wrought and prepared; that, his Table might be furnished with choice of varieties, (as the noble Lord Lumley did) that he kept and nourished all manner
of Fowl all the year long. To this purpose he telleth us a story how Pompey being sick, the Physitians willed him to eat a Thrush, and it being said there was none to be had; because it was then Summer; it was answered they might have them at Lucullus’s house who kept both Thrushes and all manner of Fowl, all the year long. This Lucullus was for his Hospitality so esteemed in Rome, that there was no talk, but of his Noble House-keeping. The said Plutarch reports how Cicero and Pompey inviting themselves to sup with him, they would not let him speak with his men to provide any thing more then ordinary; but he telling them he would sup in Apollo, (a Chamber so named, and every Chamber proportioned their expences) he by this wile beguil’d them, and a supper was made ready estimated at fifty thousand pence, every Roman penny being seven pence half penny English money; a vast sum for that Age, before the Indies had overflowed Europe. But I have too far digressed from the Author of whom I might speak much more as in relation to his Person and abilities, but who will cry out the Sun shines? this already said is enough to satisfie any but the malicious, who are the greatest enemies to all honest endeavours. Homer had his Zoilus, and Virgil his Bavius; the best Wits have had their detractors, and the greatest Artists have been maligned; the best on’t is, such Works as these outlive their Authors with an honurable respect of Posterity, whilst envious Criticks never survive their own happiness, their Lives going out like the snuff of a Candle.
W. W.