The aubergine of mercy is not strain'd,
It ploppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the plate beneath: it is twice cooked;
It blesseth him that cooks and him that eats:
'Tis tastiest in the tastiest: it surfiets
The throned monarch better than roast beast;
His fork may show the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But aubergines are above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the stomachs of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When aubergines are seasoned thusly.


recipe fragment - attributed to Anne Hathaway. circa 1600