If any of this comment injured or offended Mr. Jefferson, he never gave a sign. He was born a gentleman as much as any, and was as fully acquainted with good social usage as any man of his day. His life had been spent in the best surroundings of his own country, and at the most polished courts of the Old World. To accuse him of ignorance or boorishness would have been absurd.
The fact was that his own resourceful brain had formed a definite plan. He wished to convey a certain rebuke--and with deadly accuracy he did convey that rebuke. It was at no enduring cost to his own fame.
If the pell-mell dinner was at first a thing inchoate, awkward, impossible, criticism halted when the actual service at table began. The chef at the White House had been brought to this country by Mr. Jefferson from Paris, and no better was known on this side the water.
So devoted was Mr. Jefferson known to be to the French style of cooking that no less a man than Patrick Henry, on the stump, had accused him of having "deserted the victuals of his country." His table was set and served with as much elegance as any at any foreign court. At the door of the city of Washington, even in the summer season, there was the best market of the world. As submitted by his chef de cuisine, Mr. Jefferson's menu was of no pell-mell sort. If we may credit it as handed down, it ran thus, in the old French of that day: Huîtres de Shinnecock, Saulce Tempête Olives du Luc Othon Mariné à l'Huile Vierge Amandes et Cerneaux Salés Pot au Feu du Roy "Henriot" Croustade Mogador Truite de Ruisselet, Belle Meunière Pommes en Fines Herbes Fricot de tendre Poulet en Coquemare, au Vieux Chanturgne Tourte de Ris de Veau, Financière Baron de Pré Salé aux Primeurs Sorbet des Comtes de Champagne Dinde Sauvage flambée devant les Sarments de Vigne, flanquée d'Ortolans Aspic de Foie Gras Lucullus Salade des Nymphes à la Lamballe Asperges Chauldes enduites de Sauce Lombardienne Dessert et Fruits de la Réunion Fromage de Bique Café Arabe Larmes de Juliette Whatever the wines served at the Executive Mansion may have been at later dates, those owned and used by President Jefferson were the best the world produced--vintages of rarity, selected as could have been done only by one of the nicest taste. Rumor had it that none other than Señor Yrujo, minister from Spain, recipient of many casks of the best vintages of his country that he might entertain with proper dignity, had seen fit to do a bit of merchandizing on his own account, to the end that Mr. Jefferson became the owner of certain of these rare casks.