The baron, who sat secure without the vortex of this tumult, was
not at all displeased at seeing his companions involved in such a
calamity as that which he had already shared; but the doctor was
confounded with shame and vexation. After having prescribed an
application of oil to the count's leg, he expressed his sorrow for
the misadventure, which he openly ascribed to want of taste and
prudence in the painter, who did not think proper to return, and
make an apology in person; and protested that there was nothing in
the fowls which could give offence to a sensible nose, the stuffing
being a mixture of pepper, lovage, and assafoetida, and the sauce
consisting of wine and herring-pickle, which he had used instead
of the celebrated garum of the Romans; that famous pickle having
been prepared sometimes of the scombri, which were a sort of
tunny-fish, and sometimes of the silurus, or shad-fish: nay, he
observed that there was a third kind, called garum haemation, made
of the guts, gills, and blood of the thynnus.
The physician, finding it would be impracticable to re-establish
the order of the banquet, by presenting again the dishes which had
been discomposed, ordered everything to be removed, a clean cloth
to be laid, and the dessert to be brought in.
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