Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1875-06-17

= eood deeds. Idleness she could not
endme. Even vhen she was sick in
I'd she spun with her own hands fine
IN Tor c6fporals, and for the service
q {fhe altar, which she distributed
thfQngh al the churches of Assisium.."
Nol did 81. Clara by her hard life make
~ tue Of necessity. "When a large
t. me fell 70 her by the death of her
~ - alter her profession, she gase
- wHAle to the poor, without reserv-
~ one da9le fartliing for the .monas-
t&y." Indl ldx1AoQrder she founded;
80 u ~Poor CIarss, !, which exists At
- present. dey, ms not permitted TO
PoPe GregcsyaH. de-
and offered to settle . yearly revenue
on her monastery Of St. Damian's; but
she in the most pressing manner per-
suaded him by many reasons, In which
her lose Of evangelical poverty made
her eloquent, to leave her order in its
first rigorous establishment.
Heyne, while editing his If5ullMs in
Dresden in apoor comrades garret, with
the floor for his bed and two fclies for
pillow, gathered peasecod shells in the
streets and boiled them for his dinner.
When the Emperor Julian was first
elevated to the rank ofCasar, the young
philosopher was quite distressed at the
imperial menu-so elegant and sumptu-
ous was the bill Of fare: Pheasants he
positively forbade to be brought to
table, and extended the same prohihi-
tion to sow's udder (probably boiled
in milky, famous Roman delicacy.-
Whether this last. order was purely a
heroic instance Of self-denial may be
doubted.
Mahomet, though the founder of q
sensual religion, which promises a sem
sual paradise, was himself an abstemi-
6hs man. "Disdaining;" says Gibton,
''the penance and merit of hermit, he
observed, without effort or vanity, the
abstemious diet of an Arab and SOL
dier On solemn occasions, he feasted
his companions with rustic and hospi-
table plenty; but in his domestic life
many weeks would elarse without fire
being kindled on the hearth of the
prophet. The interdiction of wine was
confirmed by his example; his hunger
was appeased with q sparing allowance
of barley bread; he delighted in the
taste of milk and honey; but his ordi-
nary food consisted of dates and water"
As we write the gigantic proportions
of our task begin to dawn upon US
We have scarcely spoken of any but
princes; what shall we say of poets and
philosophers, Of lawyers and divines !?
The time would fail to tell how Black
stone composed his Commentaries over
a bottle of port wine; how Sheridan,
after some cutting remarks from Pitt
in the House, went to the refreshment
room, called for a bottle of Madeira,
knocked off the neck, poured the con-
tents into basin, tossed them off, and,
returning, made the finest speech that
had ever been heard; how Byron sus.
tanned life on biscuits and soda-waier;
how Beckford composed Tdthek at one
long sitting of some forty hours, during
which time he took no nourishment but
coffee; how Synesius, the old fifth-cen-
tury bishop, sat up, according to the
late Mr.. Kingsley, whole nights, drink
ing strong liquors and composing hymns.
In fact, the question of what we owe to
wine and to tea or coffee respectively is
of itself serious. Cowper has sung the
praises of tea, Delille those of coffee; a
thousand bards, from Anacreon to Moore,
have celebrated the joys Of the wine
cup. "Will Waterproof's Lyrical Mo-
nologue" processes to be inspired by a
bottle of port; it is certainly not the
happiest effort of the Laureate's muse,
yet such stanza as this would make
the fortune of an ordinary writer:
"Ah vet, though all the world forsake,.
Though fortune clip my wings,
will not cramp my heart, nor take
Half.views Of men and things.
Let Whig and Tory stir their blood;
There must be stormy weather;
But for some true result Of good
All parties work together.
One couplet in the poem deserves to
be immortal:
'.'hat eternal wan. of pence
Which vexes public men,
The old prcverb said, 'Tell me what
you drink, and I will tell you What you
are" Brillat Savrin varied it to Tell
me what you eat, and l will tell
you what you are" Neither is good
criterion. Temperament, nationality,
| climate produce thousand individual
, tiles. 1t is said that an Enelishman
fights best when full, Frenchman fast
ing, and Dutchman drunk; Prussian,
we might add, with a pipe of ''requi-
sitioned' tobacco in his mouth. Hero.
dotus tells US of wise custom among
the Persians when a question of State
was to be debated they got drunk and
gave their opinions under The encouf.
aging influence of the wine; next morn.
ing they considered the subject when
sober, and then compared their judg.
ments. Herodotus would probably have
ascribed the imposition of the match.
tax and the withdrawal of the tax 10
two different Cabinet councils-one
after dinner and one after breakfast
The same of the prohibition to hold a
meeting in Trafalgar square aud the
withdrawal of that prohibition.
| An extract from Boswell's Life OF
johnson" is not to be resisted in a pa
per on the "Food of Grea: Men" Some
Of the sage's remarks, indeed, are 50
sensible that we NAV hope they viii