Explore "The Fever of Life" by Fergus Hume on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
"If you'd be a healthy sinner, Eat with judgment when at dinner, And remember with a shiver Man is governed by his liver; Viands rich and wine in plenty Spoil life's _dolce far niente_. He who shuns this vital question Suffers soon from indigestion; The corner-stone of dissipation Is to act with moderation. "
When the sceptre of the Cesars passed into the hands of St. Peter and his successors, it carried with it among other fixtures -- to use a legal expression -- the art of giving a good dinner. The clergy have, therefore, always been famous for their attention to creature comforts, and among the various arts which they rescued from the wreck of the classic world, the art of dining is certainly one of which they were most careful.