Iron and Brosen Cauldrons.

19

Chap. 3.]

remarkable for his frugality as his patriotism. Düring the time that heswayed the destinies of his country, the ambassadors of the Samnites vi-sited him at his cottage, and found him boiling vegetables in an earthenpot or pipkin ; thev attempted to bribe him with large presents; but hecharacteristically replied, “ I prefer my earthen pots to all your vesselsof gold and of silver.” To this Juvenal alludes, when contrasting thefrugality of former times with the luxury of his contemporaries :

When with the herbs a he gathered, Cmuus stoodAnd seethed his pottage o’er the fiaming wood ;

That simple mess, an old Dictator’s treat,

The highway laborer now would scorn to eat. Sat. xi, 105.

The common cast iron bellied. kettle or cauldron, furnishes anotherproof of the forms of culinary vessels having undergone little or nochange, while passing through so many ages : its shape is precisely thesame as that of the situla or pot, sculptured on the obelisk of Heliopolis ,(See its figure in No. 4, and Dr. Shaw’s Travels, 402, 413.) Otherswith ears and feet, are delineated in the Theban sculptures. In the tombof Rameses the Third, is a graphic representation of an Egyptian kitchen,showing the processes of slaying the animals—eutting the joints—pre-paring ingredients for seasoning— boiling the meat—stirring the fire—making and baking bread, &c. &c. The cauldrons of various sizes aresimilar in shape to ours. Wilkinson’s An. Egyp. ii, 351, 383, 385. Thereis reason to believe that boilers of this form were common to all the na-tions of the ancient world ; that the ‘ pottage ’ by which Jacob defraudedEsau of his birthright; and the ‘ savoury meat,’ which Rebecca cookedfor Isaac, were prepared in them. To one of these, Job referred; “ outof his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or cauldron.” xli, 20.And Elisha also, when he said to his servant. “ Set on the great pot,. andseethe pottage for the sons of the prophets.” 2 Kings, iv, 38. It is oftenmentioned by Homer , in whose writings it forms a conspicuous object:

And soon the flames encompassing around its ample belly.

lliad, xviii, 427. Cowper

Such were the boilers of Argos, (respecting which arose the saying, “ acook from Elis—a cavldrron from Argos— tapestry from Corinth, &c.) andof the Spartans, in which they prepared their famous ‘ black broth.’ Afigure of a Roman cauldron, in which the priests boiled their portion ofthe sacrifice, is given by Misson, in the first volume of his Travels, plate 4.It has a bail, three studs or feet, and is of a spherical shape resemblingours, but ornamented with figures round its sides.

The same shaped boilers were common among the Gauls , who probablyderived the knowledge of making them from the Phenicians. The artof tinning culinary vessels, which they are said to have invented, (Pliny ,Nat. Hist, xxxiv, 17,) was inost likely obtained from the same source. bThe Celtiberi are said to have been expert workers of iron. Their“ most ancient iron pot,” had ears and feet, and was shaped like those ofthe Egyptians. (See its figure in ‘ Scottish Gael, ’ p. 316. The cast ironcauldrons of the Chinese are also examples. These are made very thin;and what is singulär, their mechanics have the art of soldering them whencracked, with portions of the same metal, by means of a blow-pipe andsmall furnaee. c They are the principal article of furniture in the dwell-

1 Plutarch , says they were turnips.

b Pliny , b. xii, 1, says, the Gauls were first induced to invade Rome , by one of theircountrymen, a smith, who had long worked in that city. He carried home, figs, raisins,oil and wine, which “ set the teeth of his countrymen watering.” Hoüand's Trans.c “ Düring mir short stay this morning in the village of Fan-koun, I had an oppor