begun between the pair, which quickly shows a
bitter tone, passing into a regular fight, and they rise from the table
in a fury of anger, and go off to their separate apartments to reflect
upon the pleasures of a single life.

The younger brother, on the contrary, is, on reaching his unpretentious
home, received with a gentle, loving heartiness and the fondest
caresses. He sits down to a frugal meal, but everything he eats is
excellent; and how could it be otherwise? It is Pamela herself who has
prepared it all. They eat with enjoyment, talking of their affairs,
their plans, their love for each other. A half-bottle of Madeira serves
to prolong their repast and conversation, and soon after they retire
together, to forget in sleep their present hardships, and to dream of a
better future.

All honor to the love of good living, such as it is the purpose of this
book to describe, so long as it does not come between men and their
occupations or duties! For, as all the debaucheries of a Sardanapalus
cannot bring disrespect upon womankind in general, so the excesses of a
Vitellius need not make us turn our backs upon a well-appointed banquet.
Should the love of good living pass into gluttony, voracity,
intemperance, it then loses its name and advantages, escapes from our
jurisdiction, and falls within that of the moralist to ply it with good
counsel, or of the physician who will cure it by his remedies.

ON PEOPLE FOND OF GOOD LIVING

There are individuals to whom nature has denied a refinement of organs,
or a continuity of attention, without which the most succulent dishes
pass unobserved. Physiology has already recognized the first of these
varieties, by showing us the tongue of these unhappy ones, badly
furnished with nerves for inhaling and appreciating flavors. These
excite in them but an obtuse sentiment; such persons are, with regard to
objects of taste, what the blind are with regard to light. The second
class are the absent-minded, chatterboxes, persons engrossed in business
or ambition, and others who seek to occupy themselves with two things at
once, and eat only to be filled. Such, for example, was Napoleon; he was
irregular in his meals, and ate fast and badly. But there again was to
be traced that absolute will which he carried into everything he did.
The moment appetite was felt, it was necessary that it should be
satisfied; and his establishment was so arranged that, in any place and
at any hour, chicken, c