renowned and celebrated in the Roll [71], for the splendor and
elegance of his table, they must have been persons of no
inconsiderable rank: the king's first and second cooks are now
esquires by their office, and there is all the reason in the world to
believe they were of equal dignity heretofore [72]. To say a word of
king _Richard_: he is said in the proeme to have been 'acounted the
best and ryallest vyaund [curioso in eating] of all esten kynges.'
This, however, must rest upon the testimony of our cooks, since it
does not appear otherwise by the suffrage of history, that he was
particularly remarkable for his niceness and delicacy in eating, like
Heliogabalus, whose favourite dishes are said to have been the
tongues of peacocks and nightingales, and the brains of parrots and
pheasants [73]; or like Sept. Geta, who, according to Jul.
Capitolinus [74], was so curious, so whimsical, as to order the
dishes at his dinners to consist of things which all began with the
same letters. Sardanapalus again as we have it in Athenaus [75], gave
a _pramium_ to any one that invented and served him with some novel
cate; and Sergius Orata built a house at the entrance of the Lucrine
lake, purposely for the pleasure and convenience of eating the
oysters perfectly fresh. Richard II is certainly not represented in
story as resembling any such epicures, or capriccioso's, as these
[76]. It may, however, be fairly presumed, that good living was not
wanting among the luxuries of that effeminate and dissipated reign.

[Addenda: after _ninth Iliad_, add, 'And Dr. _Shaw_ writes, p. 301,
that even now in the East, the greatest prince is not ashamed to
fetch a lamb from his herd and kill it, whilst the princess is
impatient till she hath prepared her fire and her kettle to dress
it.']