Note 68 — THE TRUE GRANDEUR OF NATIONS. (continued 2)

The death of the culinary martyr is described by Madame de Sévigné with the accustomed coldness and brilliancy of her fashionable pen (Lettres L. and LI., Tom. I. pp. 164, 165). It was attributed, she says, to the high sense of honor he had after his own way. Tributes multiply. A French vaudeville associates his name with that of this brilliant writer, saying, "Madame de Sévigné and Vatel are the people who honored the age of Louis XIV." The Almanach des Gourmands, in the Epistle Dedicatory of its concluding volume, addresses the venerable shade of the heroic cook: "You have proved that the fanaticism of honor can exist in the kitchen as well as the camp." Berchoux commemorates the dying exclamation in La Gastronomie, Chant III.:—

"Je suis perdu d'honneur, deux rôtis ont manqué."