University of Virginia Library

3356. GASTRONOMY, English.—

I fancy
it must be the quantity of animal food eaten
by the English which renders their character
insusceptible of civilization. I suspect it is
in their kitchens, and not in their churches
that their reformation must be worked, and
that missionaries of that description from
hence [Paris] would avail more than those
who should endeavor to tame them by precepts
of religion or philosophy.—
To Mrs. John Adams. Ford ed., iv, 100.
(P. 1785)