FAMOUS CHEFS AND EPICURES 859
of the late Duke of Cambridge. Thence he found his way to
the Duke of Sutherland's kitchen, the Marquis of Waterford's,
and then to Mr. Lloyd's, of Aston Hall, Oswestry. After spend-
ing some four or five years in this latter engagement, he left it
to enter the establishment of the Marquis of Ailsa, at Isleworth,
a gourmet of the very first water. But Soyer left there in 1836,
having previously contracted an acquaintance with a Miss Emma
Jones, a clever pupil, and step-daughter of one M. Simonau, a
Flemish artist in Fitzroy Square. The story goes that Soyer
wanted a painting of himself to send to an old sweetheart in
France, but possibly changed his mind about the destination of
the portrait after making the friendship and awakening a
reciprocal affection in the heart of this amiable lady. In April,
1837, the marriage ceremony was solemnised, in the presence of
Louis Eustache Ude and a select few friends, at St. George's,
Hanover Square, between Alexis Benoit Soyer and Elizabeth
Emma Jones.
Madame Soyer, nee Jones, deserves some special notice, for
she was a very clever woman in many ways. Not only could she
paint cleverly, but her skill as a musician was considered of a
very superior character, although it is a noteworthy fact that her
pictures, which were her strongest point, were declined at the
Koyal Academy, in spite of Soyer's very enterprising letter to
the president, requesting his particular consideration. Soyer
was given to versify at times, and he made the president's reply
to him, and the hanging committee's refusal of his wife's
painting, the subject of some bitter metrical lampoons. Madame
Soyer's end was of a very tragical character, and happened whilst
her husband was on a trip to Brussels, in the suite of the Duke
of Saxe Coburg.
The first of Soyer's literary efforts was entitled *' The Gastro-
nomic Kegenerator," which had a splendid sale of over 2,000
copies in twelve months, at a guinea apiece. His next effort
was as the writer of a ballet, " La Fille de I'Orage." M. Soyer
could be as rcclierclie in his imaginary as in his I'eal dishes,
and there was, probably, no compound with which he used to
astonish and delight the palates of the members of the Reform
Club more elaborately and artistically worked up than his
" Creme de la Grande Bretagne."
It was in 1837, just before his marriage, that Soyer accepted
the post of head cook to the Reform Club, and, as his historians
state, " It was no joke for a young aspirant and a foreigner to
face some fifteen hundred members of the aristocracy, whose
refined appetites were on the qxii vire to taste, with severe
criticism, the productions of the youthful artist. But Soj-er
was in no wise daunted by such an array, but undertook with
a light heart to face their severely critical tastes in the
preparation of a public breakfast, given by the members of the
club to 2,000 guests. It was about this time — that is, just
860 PRACTICAL GASTRONOMY
Page 401
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FAMOUS CHEFS AND EPICURES 859
of the late Duke of Cambridge. Thence he found his way to
the Duke of Sutherland's kitchen, the Marquis of Waterford's,
and then to Mr. Lloyd's, of Aston Hall, Oswestry. After spend-
ing some four or five years in this latter engagement, he left it
to enter the establishment of the Marquis of Ailsa, at Isleworth,
a gourmet of the very first water. But Soyer left there in 1836,
having previously contracted an acquaintance with a Miss Emma
Jones, a clever pupil, and step-daughter of one M. Simonau, a
Flemish artist in Fitzroy Square. The story goes that Soyer
wanted a painting of himself to send to an old sweetheart in
France, but possibly changed his mind about the destination of
the portrait after making the friendship and awakening a
reciprocal affection in the heart of this amiable lady. In April,
1837, the marriage ceremony was solemnised, in the presence of
Louis Eustache Ude and a select few friends, at St. George's,
Hanover Square, between Alexis Benoit Soyer and Elizabeth
Emma Jones.
Madame Soyer, nee Jones, deserves some special notice, for
she was a very clever woman in many ways. Not only could she
paint cleverly, but her skill as a musician was considered of a
very superior character, although it is a noteworthy fact that her
pictures, which were her strongest point, were declined at the
Koyal Academy, in spite of Soyer's very enterprising letter to
the president, requesting his particular consideration. Soyer
was given to versify at times, and he made the president's reply
to him, and the hanging committee's refusal of his wife's
painting, the subject of some bitter metrical lampoons. Madame
Soyer's end was of a very tragical character, and happened whilst
her husband was on a trip to Brussels, in the suite of the Duke
of Saxe Coburg.
The first of Soyer's literary efforts was entitled *' The Gastro-
nomic Kegenerator," which had a splendid sale of over 2,000
copies in twelve months, at a guinea apiece. His next effort
was as the writer of a ballet, " La Fille de I'Orage." M. Soyer
could be as rcclierclie in his imaginary as in his I'eal dishes,
and there was, probably, no compound with which he used to
astonish and delight the palates of the members of the Reform
Club more elaborately and artistically worked up than his
" Creme de la Grande Bretagne."
It was in 1837, just before his marriage, that Soyer accepted
the post of head cook to the Reform Club, and, as his historians
state, " It was no joke for a young aspirant and a foreigner to
face some fifteen hundred members of the aristocracy, whose
refined appetites were on the qxii vire to taste, with severe
criticism, the productions of the youthful artist. But Soj-er
was in no wise daunted by such an array, but undertook with
a light heart to face their severely critical tastes in the
preparation of a public breakfast, given by the members of the
club to 2,000 guests. It was about this time — that is, just
860 PRACTICAL GASTRONOMY