His spits for turning a fat
goose or capon were unrivaled even in Paris, whither his fame had gone
through a speech of the Duc de Rohan, who said, shortly after the
siege, that if ever he gained the good graces of Louis, he would come
back for that monk.
What a list he placed before the gourmand! There were hams boiled in
sherry or madeira with pistachios, eels, reared in soft water and fed
on chickens' entrails and served with anchovy paste and garlic, fried
stuffed pigs' ears, eggs with cocks' combs, dormice in honey, pigeons
with mushrooms, crabs boiled in sherry, crawfish and salmon and
lobster, caviar pickled in the brine of spring-salt, pheasants stuffed
with chestnuts and lambs' hearts, grainless cheeses, raisins soaked in
honey and brandy, potted hare, chicken sausages, mutton fed on the
marshes, boars boned and served whole and stuffed with oysters,--a list
which would have opened the eyes of such an indifferent eater as
Lucullus!
There was a private hall for the ladies and the nobly born; but the
common assembly-room was invariably chosen by all those who were not
accompanied by ladies. The huge fireplace, with high-backed benches
jutting out from each side of it, the quaint, heavy bowlegged tables
and chairs, the liberality of lights, the continuous coming and going
of the brilliantly uniformed officers stationed at Fort Louis, the
silks and satins of the nobles, the soberer woolens of the burghers and
seamen, all combined to give the room a peculiar charm and color.
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