by sprocket <jas@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
Mar 20, 2008 at 08:26 AM
Paul wrote:
> And now that we are on the subject of cuisine, could someone tell me
> what it was that Oliver Goldsmith had in mind when in "The School for
> Scandal" he described the "Naabob from Calcutta coming home with
> "crackers and sweetmeet" from India?
> Did he refer to 'Samosas' by the word 'crackers'? The context is such
> that I cannot think he took 'fireworks' home.
I'm embarrassed to have to own that I don't know the play. But the
Nabobs referred to weren't Indians; they were Britons who had gone to
India, usually under the auspices of the East India Company, to find a
fortune or more usually death. "Crackers and Sweetmeats" would probably
refer to wealth, not food.
JS
