Fly up, thou bold cork, to the ceiling above,
And tell to our ears in the sounds that they love,
How pleasant it is to have money,
Heigh ho;
How pleasant it is to have money!

Your Chablis is acid, away with the hock;
Give me the pure juice of the purple Medoc;
St. Peray is exquisite; but, if you please,
Some Burgundy just before tasting the cheese.
So pleasant it is to have money,
Heigh ho;
So pleasant it is to have money!

Fish and soup and omelette and all that--but the deuce--
There were to be woodcocks and not Charlotte Russe,
And so suppose now, while the things go away,
By way of a grace, we all stand up and say--
How pleasant it is to have money,
Heigh ho;
How pleasant it is to have money!

This, of course, is meant to be satirical; but no doubt many persons
regard the question of "good living" as much more important than "high
thinking." "My dear fellow," said Thackeray, when a dish was served at
the Rocher de Cancalle, "don't let us speak a word till we have finished
this dish."

"'Mercy!' cries Helluo. 'Mercy on my soul!
Is there no hope? Alas!--then bring the jowl.'"

A great peer, who had expended a large fortune, summoned his heir to his
death-bed, and told him that he had a secret of great importance to
impart to him, which might be some compensation for the injury he had
done him. The secret was that crab sauce was better than lobster sauce.

"Persicos odi," "I hate all your Frenchified fuss."

"But a nice leg of mutton, my Lucy,
I prithee get ready by three;
Have it smoking, and tender, and juicy,
And, what better meat can there be?
And when it has served for the master,
'Twill amply suffice for the maid;
Meanwhile I will smoke my canaster,
And tipple my ale in the shade."

Can anything be more awful than a public dinner--the waste, the
extravagance, the outrageous superfluity of everything, the enormous
waste of time, the solemn gorging, as if the whole end and aim of life
were turtle and venison. I do not know whether to dignify such
proceedings by the name of luxury. But what shall I say of gentlemen's
clubs. They are the very hotbed of luxury. By merely asking for it you
obtain almost anything you require in the way of luxury. I am aware that
many men at clubs live more carefully and frugally, but I am aware also
that a great many acquire