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of which we have ſome upon record[1], were ſo ſuperb, that they might vie either with the regal entertainments, or the pontifical ſuppers of ancient Rome (which became even proverbial[2]), and certainly could not be dreſſed and ſet out without a large number of Cooks[3]. In ſhort, the ſatiriſts of the times before, and about the time of, the Reformation, are continually inveighing againſt the high-living of the biſhops and clergy; indeed luxury was then carried to ſuch an extravagant pitch amongſt them, that archbiſhop Cranmer, A. 1541, found it neceſſary to bring the ſecular clergy under ſome reaſonable regulation in regard to the furniſhing of their tables, not excepting even his own[4].

After this hiſtorical deduction of the Ars coquinaria, which I have endeavoured to make as ſhort as poſſible, it is time to ſay ſomething of the Roll which

  1. ↑ That of George Neville, archbiſhop of York, 6 Edw. IV. and that of William Warham, archbiſhop of Canterbury, A. D. 1504. Theſe were both of them inthronization-feaſts. Leland, Collectan. VI. p. 2 and 16 of Appendix. They were wont minuere ſanguinem after theſe ſuperb entertainments, p. 32.
  2. ↑ Hor. II. Od. xiv. 28. where ſee Monſ. Dacier.
  3. ↑ Sixty-two were employed by archbiſhop Neville. And the hire of cooks at archbiſhop Warham's feaſt came to 23 l. 6 s. 8 d.
  4. ↑ Strype, Life of Cranmer, p. 451, or Lel. Coll. ut ſupra, p. 38. Sumptuary laws in regard to eating were not unknown in ancient Rome. Eraſm. Colloq. p. 81. ed. Schrev. nor here formerly, ſee Lel. Coll. VI. p. 36. for 5 Ed. II.

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