Wellington’s Cook
The hero of Waterloo needed all his men to believe in him that day, but none believed in him more than his cook.
1815
King George III 1760-1820
The hero of Waterloo needed all his men to believe in him that day, but none believed in him more than his cook.
1815
King George III 1760-1820
Charles Dickens’s ‘Household Words’ for 1851 recounted a summer visit to the site of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, where the Duke of Wellington masterminded the defeat of Emperor Napoleon. Some of the tales told by the guides were of doubtful authenticity, but Dickens liked this one about the Duke’s personal chef.
BUT still more interesting to us was the house where the Duke of Wellington took up his quarters before the battle; and that interest, we are not ashamed to say, was created not so much by the great commander, as the commander’s cook.*
During the battle, as, from hour to hour, thousands on thousands of fugitives poured along towards Brussels, or at least towards the Forest of Soigne,* crying that all was lost — the English beaten — the French victorious, and coming — the incredulous cook continued unmoved his preparations for his master’s dinner. “Fly!” cried one after another, “the French are coming, and you will be killed!”
But the imperturbable cook, strong in his faith of invariable victory, only replied “I have served master while he has fought a hundred battles, and he never yet failed to come to his dinner.” And he cooked on, spite of flying thousands of “brave Belges” and Hanoverians; and the Duke came through, though rather late!
On the battle itself, see The Battle of Waterloo, and for Dickens’s view of the battlefield guides, Serjeant Munday.
The Sonian Forest or Sonian Wood (in Dutch, Zoniënwoud, and in French, Forêt de Soignes) is a forest covering almost 11,000 acres (approx. 17 square miles) just to the southeast of Brussels in Belgium. It is about two fifths of the size of the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire (approx. 42 square miles).
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Why were people telling the cook to flee?
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
The British appeared to be losing at Waterloo. They were commanded by the Duke of Wellington. People told his cook to run for it.