(no subject)

Today I'm overwhelmed by recipes. I have whittled 1500 pages of possible banquet recipes to 500 pages and if any late 18th/early 19th century writer rants round me about how best to treat thrush in children or why the poor need soups that are made with special economy and attention to their health, I might scream. Unfortunately, there is something a tad patronising about advice books of any period and more than a tad patronising about Napoleonic encyclopediac advice books. Shame the one I worked with most of today had good recipes. I couldn't just delete most of it and say 'not relevant'.

The advice was useful. It just palled after a while. Let me give you a couple of excerpts of the less didactory aspects. You never know when this stuff will come in handy, so memorise it. Mrs Mary Eaton is the illustrious author. She didn't write all of today's 1500 pages, but she's the only one who ventured outside the pure culinary.

"NANKEEN DYE. The article generally sold under this title, and which produces a fine buff colour so much in use, is made of equal parts
of arnetto and common potash, dissolved and boiled in water. The
yellow colour called Dutch Pink, is made from a decoction of weld or
dyer's weed ; and if blue cloths be dipped in this liquid, they will take the colour of a fine green."

and, for when you're next shopping for plovers

"PLOVERS. In purchasing plovers, choose those that feel hard at
the vent, which shows they are fat. In other respects, choose them by
the same marks as other fowl. When stale, the feet are harsh and dry.
They will keep a long time. There are three sorts of these birds, the
grey, the green, and the bastard plover, or lapwing."

My grumbles are brought on by exhaustion. I love this sort of book. It's just that people from three directions came to me a couple of days ago and said "It's a quiet time of the year. Let's add a complication to what we asked you to do last year. It's a bit more work, but think of the results." The results are that I am falling behind in the time of the year that's normally mine free and clear. I doubt I will get to write anything new until mid-February and I will only find time to do synopses and stuff if my health remains solid. So suddenly everything feels fatigued.

(no subject)

You need this too:

"POISON. Whenever a quantity of arsenic has been swallowed, by design or mistake, its effects may be counteracted by immediately drinking plenty of milk. The patient should afterwards take a dram of the liver of sulphur, in a pint of warm water, a little at a time as he can bear it ; or he may substitute some soap water, a quantity of common ink, or any other acid, if other things cannot be readily procured. To obviate the ill effects of opium, taken either in a liquid or solid form, emetics should be given as speedily as possible. These should consist of an ounce each of oxymel squills and spearmint water, and half a scruple of ipecacuanha, accompanied with frequent draughts of water gruel to assist the operation. Those poisons which may be called culinary, are generally the most destructive, because the least suspected; no vessels therefore made of copper or brass should be used in cooking. In cases where the poison of virdigris has been recently swallowed, emetics should first be given, and then the patient should drink abundance of cold water. If any one has eaten of the deadly nightshade, he should take an emetic as soon as possible, and drink a pint of vinegar or lemon juice in an equal quantity of water, a little at a time ; and as sleep would prove fatal, he should keep walking about to prevent it. For the bite of the mad dog, or other venomous animals, nothing is to be depended on for a cure but immediately cutting out the bitten part with a lancet, or burning it out with a redhot iron. To prevent the baneful effects of burning charcoal, set an open vessel of boiling water upon the pan containing the charcoal, and keep it boiling. The steam arising from the water will counteract the effects of the charcoal. Painters, glaziers, and other artificers, should be careful to avoid the poisonous effects of lead, by washing their hands and face clean before meals, and by never eating in the place where they work, nor suffering any food or drink to remain exposed to the fumes or dust of the metal. Every business of this sort should be performed as far as possible with gloves on the hands, to prevent the metal from working into the pores of the skin, which is highly injurious, and lead should never be touched when it is hot."