Take twenty or thirty sound chestnuts, roast them over a slow fire, and when sufficiently roasted to remove the husk take them off, peel them, removing the inner skin as well as the husk, and put them aside sufficiently near the fire not to cool too readily. Cut into diamonds half a dozen thin slices of sausage meat, and fry them brown in a little fresh butter. When they are a good color, take them out, and pour three parts of the butter in which they have been fried into a small well-tinned or earthenware saucepan. Thicken it while heating with a spoonful of flour, and pour in gradually a pint of good gravy, with a glass of old brown sherry, or two of Madeira. Put in a fagot of herbs, and season to palate, a little cayenne may accompany the common pepper. As soon as it boils, lay the sausage cakes round the saucepan close to the sides, leaving the centre clear, and in this space put the chestnuts. Let them stew slowly three quarters of an hour; then dish them, arranging the sausage meat and chestnuts in the same manner as in the stewpan; pour the gravy over them, removing the fagot of herbs first, and serve.