To feed men fat as swine;

That on the leaf can dine.

Pick it very carefully, and wash it thoroughly[80] two or three times; then put it on in boiling water with a little salt; let it boil nearly twenty minutes. Put it into a cullender; hold it under the watercock, and let the water run on it for a minute. Put it into a saucepan; beat it perfectly smooth with a wooden spoon; add a bit of butter, and three tablespoonfuls of cream. Mix it well together, and make it hot before serving.

[80]

ASPARAGUS.

At early morn, I to the market haste, (Studious in everything to please thy taste); A curious fowl and ’sparagus I chose, (For I remembered you were fond of those). Gay.

Gay.

Boil asparagus in salt and water till it is tender at the stalk, which will be in twenty or thirty minutes. Great care must be taken to watch the exact time of its becoming tender. Toast some bread; dip it lightly in the liquor the asparagus was boiled in, and lay it in the middle of the dish; melt some butter; lay the asparagus upon the toast, which must project beyond the asparagus, that the company may see that there is toast.

[81]

[81]

CARROTS.

And when his juicy salads fail’d, Slic’d carrots pleased him well. Cowper.

Cowper.

Let them be well washed and brushed, not scraped. If young spring carrots, an hour is enough. When done, rub off the peels with a clean coarse cloth, and slice them in two or four, according to their size. The best way to try if they are boiled enough, is to pierce them with a fork.

LEEKS.

With carrots red, and turnips white, And leeks, Cadwallader’s delight, And all the savory crop that vie To please the palate and the eye. Grainger.

Grainger.

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