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 Yet smelt roast meat, beheld a huge fire shine,
 And cooks in motion with their clean arms bared.  
 Yet smelt roast meat, beheld a huge fire shine,
 And cooks in motion with their clean arms bared. 
 The capon burns, the pig falls from the spit,
 The clock hath strucken twelve upon the bell;
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 The capon burns, the pig falls from the spit,
 The clock hath strucken twelve upon the bell;
  My mistress made it one upon my cheek:
   She is so hot because the meat is cold;
    The meat is cold because you come not home;
     You come not home because you have no stomach;
      You have no stomach, having broke your fast;
       But we, that know what 'tis to fast and pray,
        Are penitent for your default to-day. 
The vulgar boil, the learned roast, an egg.
The vulgar boil, the learned roast, an egg.
 She would have made Hercules have turned spit, yea, and have 
cleft his club to make the fire too.  
 She would have made Hercules have turned spit, yea, and have 
cleft his club to make the fire too. 
Would the cook were o' my mind!
Would the cook were o' my mind!
 Oh, better no doubt is a dinner of herbs,
 When season'd with love, which no rancour disturbs
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 Oh, better no doubt is a dinner of herbs,
 When season'd with love, which no rancour disturbs
  And sweeten'd by all that is sweetest in life
   Than turbot, bisque, ortolans, eaten in strife!
    But if, out of humour, and hungry, alone
     A man should sit down to dinner, each one
      Of the dishes which the cook chooses to spoil
       With a horrible mixture of garlic and oil,
        The chances are ten against one, I must own,
         He gets up as ill-tempered as when he sat down. 
Cookery is become an art, a noble science; cooks are gentlemen.
Cookery is become an art, a noble science; cooks are gentlemen.
 And nearer as they came, a genial savour
 Of certain stews, and roast-meats, and pilaus.
  Things which read more 
 And nearer as they came, a genial savour
 Of certain stews, and roast-meats, and pilaus.
  Things which in hungry mortals' eyes find favour.