Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1875-06-08

| his inordinate fondness for pastry.
Philip ordered an aut0-dG-Ts after 8
meal of gOOseberry tart, which had dis
agreed with him, is subject for an his.
torical picture.
Frederick the Great is another illus.
tration of the rule. Though he could
dine on a cup of chocolate in war time,
he loved good eating and drinking, and
undoubtedly FASTENED his death by refus.
! ing to conform in any way TO proper
! rules of diet. "The king" wrote Mira
| beau, who was in Berlin at the time,
''ests every day of ten or twelve
dishes at dinner, each very highly sea-
soned besides at breakfast and supper,
| bread and butter covered with salted
tongue and pepper. We are at the last
scene No wonder. A short time
before a gentleman dined at Fred
| efick, when an eel pie was brought
to the table he declared it was
so hot ''that it looked as though
ii had been baked in hell. The king
was immoderately fond of these eel
pies, peppered TO excess. But, about
s:x weeks before his death, we have the
record Of a breakfast such as sick man
has rarely eaten. Our authority is again
Mirabeau. son the 4th of July, when
the doctor" (the celebrated Zimmerman
from Hanover) ftsaw the king in the
afternoon all had again changed for the
worse. He had applied himself to pub
lie business from half-past three in the
morning till seven. He then ate for his
breakfast plate of sweetmeats COM
posed of sugar, white of eggs and sour
cream; then Strawberries, cherries, and
nn1A - LroIursnEv8n
dropsy, He died on the 18th of August,
1856. Every school-boy viii remember
the parallel of the English king who
died Of eating too many Iamprey;s,
King John, too, is said TO have died of
surfeit of peaches and new ale. The
verdict of modern epicures will prob
ably be ''Served him right"
William Ill, the savior of our liber-
ties, both ate and drank more than was
good for him. He loved TO sit many
hours at the table; indeed, dinner was
his chief recreation. Nothing must in
terfere with his enjoyment the Prin-
cess Anne might look wistfully at that
dish of young peas. but she looked in
vain, for the king ate them all, and
never even offered her a spoonful. She
revenged herself by calling the deliverer
''Caliban. -..-. --.-
Among other sovereigns we find the
great Napoleon a yoraciOus eater. Some
one has attributed the loss of the battle
of Leipsic TO the effects of shoulder
of mutton stuffed with onions. with
which the Emperor literally gorged him.
self, so as TO become incapable of clear
minded action He ate very fast. The
State banquets at the Tuileries lasted
about thiFty-five minutes On the other
hand, he was no lover of wine. In that
melancholy voyage 10 st. Helena be Of
Tended the English officers by rising
from the table before drinking had fair
ly begun. ''Fhe general, one of these
prigs bad the brutality 10 say, in his
hearing. 'shas evidently not studied
manners in the school of Lord Chester
field. Their idea of politeDess-ce
tainly not Lord Chesterield's-was 10
drink on till you dropped under the
table.
the Great visited England in the yesr
1893, the immense quantities of meat
which he devoured, the pints of brandy
which he swallowed, and which, il was
said, he had carefully distilled with his
own hands, were during some weeks
Dppulhi ttltlCs VI LAt1kEAS6tlAtUs- AIEEhE
as was Peter, he might have found his
peer in the Roman Emperor Maximin
"a. ID. 235-23S who could eat in one
day forty pounds of meat and drink six
gallons of wine-unless the historians
lie. - .... ..... r..
There can be no doubt, however, that
the Roman emperors numbered among
them many a notable gluttOn. Elaga-
balus loved to sup on the tongues of
peacocks and nightingales he fed his
lions on pheasants and parrots His
majesty would also give a Zest to the
pleasures of the table by assembling
companies of guests who were all fat or
all lean, or all tall or all short. or all
bald or gouty. Capital fun, too, for the
emperor. The truth of the story that
Nero enriched his soups by dissoIving
diamonds in them may be safely left for
chemists to decide.
OF the first, the true Caesar, of him
who has been called the greatest charac-
ter in history, it may be sufficient TO
quote the famous saying of Cato, that
of all those who had helped to
overthrow the republic, Caesar
was the only sober man II is not the
less true that he loved the pleasure of
the table, and was an affable and genial
host. AS guest he probably gave the
finest example of high breeding that has
ever been known. The story is familiar
IS told by Suetonius. The dictator was
lining out. Some rancid oil was served
with the salad. Every one else made a
wry face. Cesar appeared not to per
ceive the mistake, and asked for another
supply.
As we write, the gigantic proportions
Of our task begin to draw on US. We
hove scarcely spoken of any but prin-
ces what shall we say of poets and
philosophers, of lawyers and diyines {?
The time would fail TO tell how Black
stone composed his Commentaries over
q bottle of port-wine how Sheridan af-
ter some cutting remarks from Pitt in
the House, went TO the refreshment
room, called for bottle of Madeira,
knocked off the neck, poured the con-
.ents into basin, tossed them off, and,
made the finest speech that
lad ever been heard how Byron sus-
aimed life on biscuits and sOda-water;
low Beckford composed "Yaihek" at
)ne long sitting of forty hours, during
which time he took no nourishment but
,offee; how Synesius, the old, fifth-cen-
ury bishop, sat up, according to the
ate Mr.. Kingsley, whole nights. drink
ng strong liquors and composing hymns.
n fact, the question of what we owe to
vine and to tea or coffee respectively is
# itself serious. COwper has sung the
raises of tea Delille those of coffee a
thousands bards, from Anacreon to
foore, have celebrated the joys of the
vine cup.