The record-union., 1891-07-11
REMARKABLE EATERS.
A Caliph'S Big Meal-Loufs XIV. as
GIutton-How Englishmen Dine.

- SdllpnS y DIX N1Gil-lOu1S Alf. as q
GIutton-How Englishmen Dine.
Charles Lamb, kind-hearted as he was,
hated man who could eat of dainties
and affect not to know what he was swal-
lowing. II suspect his taste in higher
matter,n said Ella. ''Some people, said
DR.. johnson one night at supper, which
he was enjoying with uncommon salts
faction, "have foolish way of not mind
ing, OF pretending not to mind what they
eat" and he added that man who
had no regard for his stomach will
else. Declarations of indifference to
the choice of ones food, except in cases of
what Liebig might call interior oXygena-
bility OF constitution, are generally the
merest affectation-aS much so as Byron's
when he dined at Rogers on potato and
little vinegar, and was discovered inn
mediately afterward stuffng himselfwith
luxurious meal at a restaurant. What
a contrast to the poets affectation was
HaZlitt's frankneSS, who did not hesitate
to write to the woman of his "heart of
hearts," that he never loved her so well as
when he thought of ''sitting down with
her to dinner on q boiled Scrag-end of
mutton and hot potatoes"
Apropos to this subject, why is it that
Americans, who evidently have a keen
appreciation of the pleasures of the table,
generally rush through their meals in
such hot haste? The celerity with which
| they bolt their food, though less offensive
to the epicure than it was fifty years ago,
still appalls foreigner, and indicates
lack of discrimination among the dishes
set before them. They appear to regard
all edibles, salmon and canvasback duck
alike, with Goldfish and baked beans as
means only of quieting barking
stomach-le1aientem StontachltNt Lotra7t-
tena-and none Of them as substances
gifted with rich essences, subtle fla
vors, that require to be brought out
and analyZed. Not SO with our cousin,
John Bull. Whatever the quantity of
edibles and potables he gorges at his
meals, he never dispatches one of them,
db oUo dd nealG, in a hurry. He sits
down to his roast beef or 'Southdownn
as warrior would sit down before for
tress, and proceeds calmly and carefully
to discuss each slice, as if he were fully
sensible of its delicious qualities, and
profoundly thankful to the gracious
Providence that thus ministers to his
deepest sensual cravings.
There are few things by which character
is more Enthusiastically betrayed than by
mans choice of food and the manner in
which he devours it. In his preference
for coarse or delicate edibles, or lack of
preference for any-in the deliberate
slowness or yoracious quickness with
which he consumes them-traitS of char
acter otherwise hidden are revealed.
The dinners of people are an ihfallible
index of the national life. 1t has been
justly said that there is whole geologi-
cal cycle of progressive civilization be-
tween the clammy dough out of which
statuette might be nodded and the brittle
films that melt upon the tongue
like flakes of lukewarm snow In
England one of the tests by which the
various parties in the State Church are
unerringly distinguished is the test con-
vivial. For example. it is said that some
years ago a clergyman in that country
went to a hotel to order dinner for
number of clerical friends. MAY ask,
the party is High Church or Low
church," Now, what on earth,n cried
the clergyman, "do my friends opinions
matter to your" "a great deal. sir.n re-