A Learned Dissertation on Dumpling (1726)

A Learned Dissertation on Dumpling (1726) is a satire by Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon KG, was an English nobleman and courtier. He was the patron of Lord Chamberlain's Men, William Shakespeare's playing company. 

Author's Introduction:

A Learned Dissertation on Dumpling and its Key (Pudding and Dumpling Burnt to Pot) are typical satiric pamphlets which grew out of the political in-fighting of the first half of the eighteenth century. The pamphlets are distinguished by the fact that the author’s level of imagination and writing makes them delightful reading even today. In Dumpling the author displays a considerable knowledge of cooks and cookery in London; by insinuating that to love dumpling is to love corruption, he effectively and amusingly achieves satiric indirection against a number of political and social targets, including Walpole.

The Key is in many ways a separate pamphlet in which Swift is the central figure under attack after his two secret visits to Walpole during 1726. Dumpling had a long life for an eighteenth-century pamphlet and was published as late as 1770. Dr. F. T. Wood has even suggested that it may have influenced Lamb’s Dissertation on Roast Pig;1 readers might wish to test this for themselves.