These are only
a few of the great names which occur to me at this moment; but here is
enough to immortalize the memory of the old Westminsters."
ON FEASTERS AND FEASTING.
On the Attachment of the Moderns to Good Eating and
Drinking--Its Consequences and Operation upon Society--
Different Description of Dinner Parties--Royal--Noble--
Parliamentary--Clerical--Methodistical--Charitable--
Theatrical--Legal--Parochial--Literary--Commercial and
Civil Gourmands--Sketches at a Side-table, by Bernard
Blackmantle.
~86~~
"There are, while human miseries abound,
A thousand ways to waste superfluous wealth,
Without one fool or flatterer at your board,
Without one hour of sickness or disgust."
--Armstrong.
In such esteem is good eating held by the moderns, that the only way in
which Englishmen think they can celebrate any important event, or effect
any charitable purpose, is by a good dinner. From the palace to the
pot-house, the same affection for good eating and drinking pervades all
classes of mankind. The sovereign, when he would graciously condescend
to bestow on any individual some mark of his special favour, invites
him to the royal banquet, seats him _tete-a-tete_ with the most polished
prince in Europe; by this act of royal notice exalts him in the
public eye, and by the suavity and elegance of his manners rivets his
affections and secures his zeal for the remainder of his life.
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