What infinite possibilities of pleasure might
lie hidden under such a name. I secured it, together with the
Story of Barlaam and Josaphat, for thirty-five centesimi, and
handed over the coins to the hungry-eyed old man in charge, who
regretted, I am sure, when he saw the eager look upon my face, that
he had not marked the books a lira at least. I should now be a
rich woman if I had spent all the money I have spent as profitably
as those seven sold. Besides being a master in the art of cookery,
the author was a moral philosopher as well; and he addresses his
reader in prefatory words which bespeak a profound knowledge of
life. He writes: 'Though the time of man here on earth is passed
in a never-ending turmoil, which must make him often curse the
moment when he opened his eyes on such a world; though life itself
must often become irksome or even intolerable, nevertheless, by
God's blessing, one supreme consolation remains for this wretched
body of ours. I allude to that moment when, the forces being spent
and the stomach craving support, the wearied mortal sits down to
face a good dinner.
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