Languages & literature > Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane > Volume 4

3* THE ADVENTURES
came to prcfent their homage to their new matter;
that Don Caefar and Don Alphonfo de I.eyva had
chofen them for my fervice ; one in quality of cook,
another as cook’s alMant, a third as Ictillion, a
fourth as porter, and the reft a> lacqueys, 'Mth or¬
ders to receive no money from me; thefe two no¬
blemen intending to defray all the expence of my
houfe-keeping : Matter Joachin the cook, who was
the principal, and fpokeftnan of thefe dometticks,
gave me to underttand, that he. had laid in a large
ftock of the beft wines in Spain ; and- told me, that
as to eating, he hoped a young fellow, like.him, who
had been cook fix years to the Archbifhop of Va¬
lencia, mutt know how to compofe ragouts that
would tickle my palate. “ I will (added he) fall
" prefently to work, and produce a fample of my
“ fkill. Take a walk, Signior, while dinner is get-
“ ting ready; vifit your cattle, and fee if it be in aa
“ habitable condition,”
1 leave the reader to judge whether or not I ne-
gledted this vifit; and Scipio, ftill more curious than
4, dragged me from room to room. We furveyed the
whole houfe from top to bottom ; the leaft corner, (as
we imagined.) did not efcape our interefted curiofity:
and I had every where occafion to admire the boun¬
ty of Don Cxfar and his fon. Among other things;
I was ttruck with the appearance of two apartments;
which were as well furniihed as they poflibly could
be without magnificence; one of them -was hung
with Arras tapeftry, and had in it a bed and chairs
«f velvet, ftill very handfome, though made while
the Moors poflefi'ed the kingdom of Valencia. The
furniture of the other was in the fame tafte, confift-
ing of hangings made of old yellow Genoa damaife?