The Great Exhibition in Hyde Park gave him a further opportunity for the display of his peculiar talents. He took Gore House, late the residence of the Countess of Plessington, and turned it into a vast restaurant which he called " Soyer's Symposium, a Restaurant for all Nations," providing thou- sands of meals per day at popular prices, the menus ranging from those suited to modest purses to those which cost many guineas. It was at this time that he commissioned the young G. A. Sala to paint on the grand staircase a panorama which was entitled " The Grand Macedoine of all Nations ; being a Demisemitragicomipanodicosmopolytolyofanofunniosymposio- rama, or Suchagettingupstairstothegreatexhibition of 1851," much to the artist's annoyance, who was, even in those early days, of a somewhat irascible temperament. Soyer spent a for- tune on this project, and came out of it "with exactly £100 in the whole world," a reversal of fortune for which he was not prepared, and which was, in a measure, due to grandmotherly and high-handed interference from the authorities. Nothing daunted, however, he next turned his attention seriously to the production of books on cookery, and from the sales of these he repeated a rich harvest. News of the distress in the Hospital Camps at Scutari fired his brain to the formulation of a great project, and on February 2, 1855, London was electrified with a letter from Soyer in The Times of that date, offering to go to the Barrack Hospital, at Scutari, at his own expense, and to give his services in the work of organizing and regulating the kitchen operations there. He was the hero of the day; his offer was accepted by the Government, and in a remarkably short period of time he had caused special stoves to be constructed which, together with the necessary stores, he took with him to the field of battle. viii INTRODUCTION. His Culinary Campaign, published in 1857, is not only illuminating as to the man and his methods, while working hand in hand with Florence Nightingale, but also affords an interesting sidelight on the history of that memorable period. Volatile to a degree, he never spared himself either in the kitchen or study. His Pantropheon, or History of Food and its Preparation from the Earliest Ages of the World, is the most remarkable book of its kind in our language, representing a compilation at once stupendous and masterly. His success in the Crimea naturally turned the eyes of the authorities to the man who had worked such wonders, and the whole system of cookery for the Army and Navy was, as a consequence, completely reorganized by Soyer. It was really the outcome of a lecture which he delivered on March 18, 1858, before the United Service Institution, and was followed by an instruction from the Barracks and Hospitals Commis- sioners to revise and reform the dietary of Military Hospitals. His ideas and most of his special menus were embodied in the famous Army Regulations and Orders — II — Cookery, issued in 1860, and these, together with his Field Kitchen for the Army, have been scarcely altered since his day. He died August 5, 1858, at the early age of forty-nine, universally regretted; worn out in the service of his adopted country.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

The Great Exhibition in Hyde Park gave him a further opportunity for the display of his peculiar talents. He took Gore House, late the residence of the Countess of Bessington, and turned it into a vast restaurant which he called " Soyer's Symposium, a Restaurant for all Nations," providing thousands of meals per day at popular prices, the menus ranging from those suited to modest purses to those which cost many guineas. It was at this time that he commissioned the young G. A. Sala to paint on the grand staircase a panorama which was entitled " The Grand Macedoine of all Nations ; being a Demisemitragicomipanodicosmopolytolyofanofunniosymposiorama, or Suchagettingupstairstothegreatexhibition of 1851," much to the artist's annoyance, who was, even in those early days, of a somewhat irascible temperament. Soyer spent a fortune on this project, and came out of it "with exactly £100 in the whole world," a reversal of fortune for which he was not prepared, and which was, in a measure, due to grandmotherly and high-handed interference from the authorities. Nothing daunted, however, he next turned his attention seriously to the production of books on cookery, and from the sales of these he repeated a rich harvest. News of the distress in the Hospital Camps at Scutari fired his brain to the formulation of a great project, and on February 2, 1855, London was electrified with a letter from Soyer in The Times of that date, offering to go to the Barrack Hospital, at Scutari, at his own expense, and to give his services in the work of organizing and regulating the kitchen operations there. He was the hero of the day; his offer was accepted by the Government, and in a remarkably short period of time he had caused special stoves to be constructed which, together with the necessary stores, he took with him to the field of battle. viii INTRODUCTION. His Culinary Campaign, published in 1857, is not only illuminating as to the man and his methods, while working hand in hand with Florence Nightingale, but also affords an interesting sidelight on the history of that memorable period. Volatile to a degree, he never spared himself either in the kitchen or study. His Pantropheon, or History of Food and its Preparation from the Earliest Ages of the World, is the most remarkable book of its kind in our language, representing a compilation at once stupendous and masterly. His success in the Crimea naturally turned the eyes of the authorities to the man who had worked such wonders, and the whole system of cookery for the Army and Navy was, as a consequence, completely reorganized by Soyer. It was really the outcome of a lecture which he delivered on March 18, 1858, before the United Service Institution, and was followed by an instruction from the Barracks and Hospitals Commissioners to revise and reform the dietary of Military Hospitals. His ideas and most of his special menus were embodied in the famous Army Regulations and Orders — II — Cookery, issued in 1860, and these, together with his Field Kitchen for the Army, have been scarcely altered since his day. He died August 5, 1858, at the early age of forty-nine, universally regretted; worn out in the service of his adopted country.

Soyer's standard cookery