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Evelyn, John, 1620-1706

"Acetaria: A Discourse of Sallets"


In all Events,
_Panis ematur, Olus, Vini Sextarius adde_
_Queis humana sibi doleat natura negatis_.
Bread, Wine and wholsome Sallets you may buy,
What Nature adds besides is Luxury.

They could then make an honest Meal, and dine upon a _Sallet_ without
so much as a Grain, of _Exotic Spice_; And the _Potagere_ was in such
Reputation, that she who neglected her _Kitchen-Garden_ (for that was
still the Good-Woman's Province) was never reputed a tolerable Hus-wife:
_Si vespertinus subito te oppresserit hospes_, she was never surpriz'd,
had all (as we said) at hand, and could in a Trice set forth an handsome
_Sallet_: And if this was Happiness, _Convictus facilis sine arte mensa_
(as the _Poet_ reckons) it was here in Perfection. In a Word, so
universal was the _Sallet_, that the [120]Un-bloody Shambles (as _Pliny_
calls them) yielded the [121]_Roman_ State a more considerable Custom
(when there was little more than honest _Cabbage_ and _Worts_) than
almost any thing bessides brought to Market.
They spent not then so much precious time as afterwards they did,
gorging themselves with _Flesh_ and _Fish_, so as hardly able to rise,
without reeking and reeling from Table.


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