Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/67

 CHAPTER IV

Writers on Domestic Economy, etc.—There are few of those who have turned their attention to domestic economy and architecture, who have written on these important subjects with better effect than Sir Benjamin Thompson, an American chemist and physicist, better known as "Count Rumford," a title of nobility bestowed upon him by the King of Bavaria. He did not, however, go very deeply or fully into the design and construction of that part of the dwelling-house which is chiefly devoted to cookery purposes, when he declared that "the construction of a kitchen must always depend so much on local circumstances that general rules can hardly be given respecting it," and again that "the principles on which this construction ought in all cases to be made are simple and easy to be understood." These principles resolved themselves, in his estimation, into adequate room and convenience for the cook.

Definition of the term Kitchen.—The Anglo-Saxon cicen, the Danish Krökken, the German Küche, and the French Cuisine are all related to the Latin word coquere—to cook. The word kitchen probably dates from the end of the twelfth century, when the English language began to take concrete form. Chaucer, who died in 1400, makes use of the word in the "Canterbury Tales," the best example of the English language of that day. Shakespeare (1564–1616) speaks of the kitchen as a cook-room, clearly indicating its use in the sixteenth century; while Spenser (1552–1599) says the hostess

Here is undoubtedly meant a room in which the meal was to be served.

Requisites of a Good Kitchen.—That Count Rumford is perfectly right Rh