The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1871-05-08
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AUTHORS, FOOD.
The VictuaIs and Drink Of Liter
nrY Men.

| bUulEi III Ilc lhSk uuuibSA VI huS NVs'sJS
Rerie0, undertakes TO tell . curious world
ION what meat does this our (author) feed
that he has grownsO great" After allud.
ing to the fact that "many eminent men
have entertained the notion that the char.
acter of individuals is, in a great degree,
influenced by their Diet" the writer says
"Some authors have gained notonety
for singularity in their diet and appetitss,
PDr. Rondeit, an ancient writer on fishes,
was so fond Of figs, that he died, in 1865,
Of surIeit OccasiOned by eating them to
excess. In u letter toa friend, DR.. Parr
cOnfesses his love Of hot boiled HOLSTERS,
with prOIusion OF shrimp sauce Pope,
who was an eplcure, would lie in bed for
days at Lord BOlingbroke's, unless he was
told that there were stewed lampreys for
dinner, when arose he instantly, and came
down 10 table. A gentleman treated DR..
johnson 10 new honey and clouted cream,
of which he ate so largely that his enter.
taiuer became alarmed. All his lifetime
DR.. johnson had vOraciOus attachment
to q leg Of mutton. AT my Aunt
Fortl's,' says he, 4 ate so much ofn boiled
leg oTmutlOn that she used 10 talk oft My
mother, who was affected by little things,
told me seriously that 1t would hardly
ever he forgotten Dryden, writing In
1920 to a lady, declining her invitation TO
q handsome supper, says, II beggars
might be choosers, q chine OF honest ba.
con would please my appetite more than
all the row.puddings, for l like them
better plain, having q very vulgar
stomach Charles Lamb was excessive
ly partial to roast pig.
"Dr. George Fordyce contended that as
one meal day was enough for Q lion 1t
ought to suffice for o man. Accordingly,
Nor moro than twenty years, the Doctor
used 10 eat only q dinner in the whole
course OF the day. This solitary meal he
took regularly ut four o'clock at Dolly's
cIiop.housc. A pound and half ofrump
steak, hall n broiled chicken, and q plate
of fish, u bottle of port, quarter of q
mint of brandy, and a tanknrd Of strong
ale satisfied the Doctors moderate wants
till four o'clock next day, and regularly
engaged one hour and half OF his time.
Dinner over, he returned 10 his home in
Essex street, Sfrand, TO deliver his six
o'clock lecture on anatomy and chemistry.
"Baron Maseres, who lived nearly TO the
nge of ninety, used TO go one dayIn every
fweek without any dinner, eating only a
round Of dry toast at tea.
"AriOstO was so attached 10 plain and
frugal mode of life, that he says Of himself
in one of his poems, that he was iltper-
son to have lived in tho world when
aCoIns were the food OF mankind His
constitution was delicate and infrm; and
notwithstanding his temperance and gen.
eral abstemiousnCss, his health was often
interrupted. Blaise Pascal, the famous
mathematician and philosopher, having
suddenly renowned his studies at the age
of twcnly.(Our, devoted himself wholly
to q life Of modification and prayer. This
was ocCasiOncd by his reading the works
of some OF those asCetiC religienists who
unnaturally make the height Of virtue 10
consist in an abstinence from the enjoy
ment ofthose blessings which the Creator
has provided, and strangely imagine that
a sclE.inIliCtion Of misery Is q most accept
able sacrifice to the Giver OF plenty.
"Thomas TryOn, the amiableauihor Of
the Way 10 Health and Long Life; John
Oswald, author Of various poGtical and
political pamphlets; and Taylor, the
translator Of POrphyry's work on 'Absti-
nencc from Animal Food 1929, refrain.
cd from eating flesh. Shelley, who had
an inelIable contempt for all the sensual.
ties of the table, and, like Newton. used
sometimes 10 inquire If he had dined,
was of opinion that abstinence from ami
NAL fOOdsubtilizes and clears the intellect.
ual faculties. To counteract tendency
to cOrpulcncY, Lord Byron at one period
dined four days in the week on fish and
vegetables, and even stlntGd himself to q
pint OF claret. Though his sensuality re-
turned now and then, and tempted him to
cat q great variety Of dishes, yet he sue.
ceeded in reducing his rotundiy, but
with il shTunk his cheek and his calf.
Liston, the comedian, was from infancy
averse to animal food and strong drink;
water was his hRbltual drink, and his food
was little beyond the mast and beech.
nuts ofhls favorlte groves ut ChArnwood.
This kind of diet, however favorable TO
the contemplative powers Of the print
tive hermits, Is but i'll adapted to the
minds and bodies Ofthe present genera.
ton. HypOchondria almost constantly
ensues; and It was so in the case Of young
Liston, who was subject 10 strange WIS.,
ions. Benjamin Franklin at one time
contemplated practising abstinence from
animal food. 'lhesitated some time, he
says, between principles and inclination,
till at last recollccting that, when cod
had been opened, some small fish were
found in It's belly, said to myself, If you
cat, ono another, Isee no reason why we
may not cat you. | accordingly dined on
the cod with no small degree Of pleasure,
and have since continued to eat like the
rest of mankind, returning only occasion.
ally to my vegetable PLAN How conve-
nient does it prove 10 be q rational ami
NAL, that knows how to find or invent a
plausible pretext for whatever it has an
inclination to do. When Sir Isaac New.
ton was writing his Principal, he lived
on scanty allowance Of bread and water
and vegetable diet. Kuhl, the naturalist,
was remarkably moderate in regard to
food. Onhis journeys he required moth.
ing more to allay hunger and thirst than
dry bread, with milk and water, provided
he could attain the object to which all his
labors were directed-the extension Of his
knowledge. ..--..,
"sheridan, who usually wrote at night
With several candles burning around him,
needed the eXcitementOr wine when en-.
gagged IN composition. II an idea be re.
luclant,' he would sometimes say, "a glass
of port ripens 1t, and 1t bursts forth; Il It
comes freely, n glass Of port is glorious
reward for it, lie is related to have
written his play Of PiZarro' over claret
and sandwiches in Drury Lane Theatre.
Otway gave himself up early 70 drinking,
caroGsing one week with Lord Plymouth,
and then starving for month IN an ale
hnnsn nm Tower Hill, Helius EObanus