1/352 of a pint of vinegar, at 2s 8d.
the gallon ... ... ... ... ... ... 0 1/16
------
Total for the Sauce, 2 5/16
farthings.
Sum total of expences for this dinner,
for the pudding and its sauce... ... ... 4 13/16 farthings.
Or something less than one penny farthing.

I have been the more particular in my account of this experiment, to show in what manner experiments of this kind ought, in my opinion, to be conducted;--and also to induce others to engage in these most useful investigations.

It will not escape the observation of the reader, that small as the expence was of providing this dinner, yet very near one-half of that sum was laid out in purchasing the ingredients for the sauce.-- But it is probable that a considerable part of that expence might be saved.--In Italy, polenta, which is nothing more than hasty-pudding made with Indian meal and water, is very frequently, and I believe commonly eaten without any sauce, and when on holidays or other extraordinary occasions they indulge themselves by adding a sauce to it, this sauce is far from expensive.--It is commonly nothing more than a very small quantity of butter spread over the flat surface of the hot polenta which is spread out thin in a large platter; with a little Parmezan or other strong cheese, reduced to a coarse powder by grating it with a grater, strewed over it.

Perhaps this Italian sauce might be more agreeable to an English palate than that commonly used in America. It would certainly be less expensive, as much less butter would be required, and as cheese in this country is plenty and cheap. But whatever may be the sauce used with Food prepared of Indian Corn, I cannot too strongly recommend the use of that grain.

While I was employed in making my experiment upon hasty-pudding, I learnt from my servant, (a Bavarian,) who assisted me, a fact which gave me great pleasure, as it served to confirm me in the opinion I have long entertained of the great merit of Indian Corn.--He assured me that polenta is much esteemed by the peasantry in Bavaria, and that it makes a very considerable article of their Food; that it comes from Italy through the Tyrol; and that it is commonly sold in Bavaria at the same price as wheat flour! Can there be stronger proofs of its merit?

The negroes in America prefer it to rice; and the Bavarian peasants to wheat.--Why then should not the inhabitants of this island like it? It will not, I hope, be pretended, that it is in this favoured soil alone that prejudices take such deep root that they are never to be eradicated, or that there is any thing peculiar in the construction of the palate of an Englishman.

The objection that may be made to Indian Corn,--that it does not thrive well in this country, --is of no weight. The same objection might, with equal reason, be made to rice, and twenty other articles of Food now in common use.

It has ever been considered, by those versed in the science of political economy, as an object of the first importance to keep down the prices of provisions, particularly in manufacturing and commercial countries;--and if there be a country on earth where this ought to be done, it is surely Great Britain:--and there is certainly no country which has the means of doing it so much in its power.

But the progress of national improvements must be very slow, however favorable other circumstances may be, where those citizens, who, by their rank and situation in society, are destined to direct the public opinion, affect to consider the national prejudices as unconquerable¹⁶.--But to return to the subject immediately under consideration.

Though hasty-pudding is, I believe, the cheapest Food that can be prepared with Indian Corn, yet several other very cheap dishes may be made of it, which in general are considered as being more palatable,