The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-05-28
HUGE APPETITES.
FEATS OF EATING WHICH ARE
UNMATCHED IN HISTORY.
How Kings and Dukes Have Gorged,
and Conmoners Have Rivaled
Haughtiest Nobles-A Doc
tors Daily Meal.

the people both of the past and present
time who had huge appctites, and were
at the same time good companions and
without physical ailments.
All the Bourbon Kings of France were
gourmands. Louis XIV. would eat for a
meal four platefuls of soup, a whole
pheasant, a partridge, a plateful of salad,
mutton hashed with garlic, two good
sized slices of ham, dish of pastry, and
plenty of fruit and sweetmeats.
His unfortunate descendant, Louis
XVI, had large appetite, but no gas
Economical genius. This is said to have
caused much Of his unpopularity with the
French, who love gastronome. His
favorite meat was pork, and Parisians be-
lieve that he would have escaped from
France had he not tarried to eat pigs
| feet.
NJ. de semblacay, Bishop of Bourges,
who ate six heavy meals day and never
rose satisfied, attributed his magnificent
appetite to the fact that he said grace not
only before and aft3e each meal but at the
removal of each service.
Modern Paris has been prolific of eccen-
trio or enormous eaters. A man used to
20 every Thursday for years to the famous
restaurant kept by Philippe, no longer in
existence, and eat, one after the other,
the forty odd soups on the menu. After
that he had a meringue glacee au citron,
and went away without having drunk a
drop of wine.
Another individual went for long
time on the fifteenth of each month to the
Cafe Very and ate sixty little pots of va
nilla ice cream without spoon, in the
way that hokey-pokey is ordinarily eaten
here. He was the man who carried the
head of the murdered Princess de Lam
bale about the streets of Paris on pike
during the Revolution.
At the Cafe Hardy, now the Maison
dor, man was observed to eat the meat
of thirty-two outlets, swallowing large
pickle after each. He had high pile of
saucers at his elbow, and kept one of
them on the nape of his neck throug ghout
the repast. As each became warm he re-
placed it by a cool one. In this way, he said,
he avoided cerebral congestion, with
which he was threatened. His precaution
was to some extent successful, for he did
not die of cerebral congestion, but was
crushed to death by an omnibus.
An amateur gourmand wished to enter
into an eating match with Lemardelay,
proprietor of the Rocher de Cancale.
"Shall we settle the menu at once" he
asked of Lemardelay. ,'Of what use2'
replied the latter. awe will eat what
ever there is, according to the mornings
market. We shall commence with twelve
dozen oysters, twenty-four outlets, three
capons-" "Each2" asked the chal-
lenger. "Of course" said Lemardelay.
"And for the rest we will take whatever
there is" The rash man went away and
did not come back.
The wcll-known restaurateuf, Brebant,
had a customer who was ashamed of the
immense appetite with which nature had
gifted him. He would 60 to Brebant
and order dinner for himself and eight
friends. He told the restaurant keeper
that he went in for military punctuahty.
When his guests did not arrive at the ap-
pointed hour he ordered the walters to
serve, and ate all the nine dinners him
self, grumbling audibly all the while
about the impoliteness of bis friends. He
carried out this farce habitually.
Sarvarin says that he paid visit one
dav IN his friend. the Cure of Bregnier, 8
man of large stature. He found him at
table before noon and watched him eat
soup and bouilli, a leg of mutton a
la royale, a fine capon, large bowl of
salad and the fourth part of cheese. He
washed down this little repast with a bot
tie of wine and decanter of water.
General Bison, also a friend Of Saw
arin, drank eight bottles of wine every
morning at breakfast without seeming to
feel any effects from it.
Englishmen of the last century habit
ually ate and drank to excess. At Dol
Tvs Chop House in Queens Head Pas
sage, near Ludgate Hill, in London, the
ingenious anatomist and chemist, Doc
tor George Fordyce, dined every day for
more than twenty years. He believed
that, since many animals thrived on one
meal day, so could men. He entered
the chop house at 4 o'clock in the after
noon. A silver tankard of strong ale, a
bottle of port and measure containing
q quarter of pint OF brandy were i'm
uediately placed before him, and piece
f steak weighing pound and half
sas put on the grill. While the steak
was preparing he ate grilled chicken or
other similar morsel. Then he drank a
glass of brandy and started in to eat his
steak, during the consumption of which
he drank his ale and port. When he had
finished the steak he drank the rest of
the brandy. This meal occupied him
Just one hour and half, and then he
hurried away to his professional engage
ments. He took no other food during
the day.-NeU York Sun.