At the end of ch.26, we are told that "[the General's children] had seldom seen him eat so heartily at any table but his own, and never before known him so little disconcerted by *the melted butter’s being oiled*".

Can anyone tell me what "the melted butter being oiled" meant? Did it simply mean that the butter, which was supposed to stay reasonably solid, had melted, making it greasy, or did Henry's housekeeper *mix* oil with it to make it stretch further, or something else? (I've come across modern recipes for mixing butter with canola oil and water to make it heart-healthier and more spreadable, but that's not really an *economy* measure...)