The old philosopher of Athens who had the very cross wife used to make a rule when he went out to dinner — for it is very doubtful if he ever got any dinner at home — of never eating of more than one dish, and never taking sauce with it. He used to say, that to need sauce with one's meat implied that the cook did not know his busi- ness, and that it was better to confine one's self to one dish, and not use one's self to luxuries, so that if the day of poverty came and one could not procure them he would not feel the want of them. Many wise men beside Socrates have preferred simple fare. It is said of old King George the Third that he always dined in the middle of the day, and that often in his walks about Windsor he would step into some cottage and partake of an apple-dumpling, and enjoy it far more than anything the cooks of castle and palace prepared for him. That poor old king was happier in this respect than his son George the Fourth, who, when he was Prince-Regent, was accosted by a beggar who said he was famished with hunger. "Then I envy you," said the prince, " for hunger is a luxury I have never enjoyed." One who gorged himself constantly as he did might well say so, for he could have no real appetite or enjoyment of his surfeits. It is said that at the wedding of Charles the Sixth, of France, a skilful cook covered the great marble table of the royal palace with a hundred dishes prepared in a hundred different ways. Who would wish to have been there any more than at a banquet of Vitcllius or 400 THE hearthstone; or, LIFE AT HOME. Apicius ? Yet there is an extreme the other way. An old vege- tarian once declared that he desired nothing for his eating except the garbage of the market-place. One might as well be Nebuchadnezzar at once and go grazing among the beasts of the field. But too much animal food dulls the mind and clogs the blood and is not healthy, especially for the young. There is a medium between the diet of Friar Tuck sAid that of Edwin, the " gentle hermit of the dale," who tells his long-lost Angelina: " No flocks that range the valley free To slaughter I condemn ; Taught by that Power that pities me, I learn to pity them : But from the mountain's grassy side A guiltless feast I bring ; A scrip with herbs and fruits supplied, And water from the spring." " What is one man's meat is another man's poison," is a true proverb. People differ in their food according to their health and appetite, as well as the climate they live in. In cold climates oil and fat are used in quantities which would be revolting in other latitudes. In Russia they pour train-oil over pies to make them more palatable and nutritious. It is related that Sir John Franklin when in the northern seas was horrified at seeing an Esquimau lad consume fourteen pounds of tallow candles for his dinner, and he would have eaten more if Sir John had not appeased his appetite with a huge lump of fat pork.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

The old philosopher of Athens who had the very cross wife used to make a rule when he went out to dinner — for it is very doubtful if he ever got any dinner at home — of never eating of more than one dish, and never taking sauce with it. He used to say, that to need sauce with one's meat implied that the cook did not know his business, and that it was better to confine one's self to one dish, and not use one's self to luxuries, so that if the day of poverty came and one could not procure them he would not feel the want of them. Many wise men beside Socrates have preferred simple fare. It is said of old King George the Third that he always dined in the middle of the day, and that often in his walks about Windsor he would step into some cottage and partake of an apple-dumpling, and enjoy it far more than anything the cooks of castle and palace prepared for him. That poor old king was happier in this respect than his son George the Fourth, who, when he was Prince-Regent, was accosted by a beggar who said he was famished with hunger. "Then I envy you," said the prince, " for hunger is a luxury I have never enjoyed." One who gorged himself constantly as he did might well say so, for he could have no real appetite or enjoyment of his surfeits. It is said that at the wedding of Charles the Sixth, of France, a skilful cook covered the great marble table of the royal palace with a hundred dishes prepared in a hundred different ways. Who would wish to have been there any more than at a banquet of Vitcllius or 400 THE hearthstone; or, LIFE AT HOME. Apicius ? Yet there is an extreme the other way. An old vegetarian once declared that he desired nothing for his eating except the garbage of the market-place. One might as well be Nebuchadnezzar at once and go grazing among the beasts of the field. But too much animal food dulls the mind and clogs the blood and is not healthy, especially for the young. There is a medium between the diet of Friar Tuck and that of Edwin, the " gentle hermit of the dale," who tells his long-lost Angelina: " No flocks that range the valley free To slaughter I condemn ; Taught by that Power that pities me, I learn to pity them : But from the mountain's grassy side A guiltless feast I bring ; A scrip with herbs and fruits supplied, And water from the spring." " What is one man's meat is another man's poison," is a true proverb. People differ in their food according to their health and appetite, as well as the climate they live in. In cold climates oil and fat are used in quantities which would be revolting in other latitudes. In Russia they pour train-oil over pies to make them more palatable and nutritious. It is related that Sir John Franklin when in the northern seas was horrified at seeing an Esquimau lad consume fourteen pounds of tallow candles for his dinner, and he would have eaten more if Sir John had not appeased his appetite with a huge lump of fat pork.

The hearthstone; or, Life at home