tting forth of a feast, inasmuch as one is to annoy
your enemy and the other to please your friend."
Many instances of the great men of antiquity being engaged in
cooking were recited: the cook of Charlemagne was the leader of
his armies,--Patrocles, the geographer and governor of Syria under
Seleucus and Antiochus, peeled onions,--the heroic Ulysses roasted a
sirloin of beef,--the godlike Achilles washed cabbages,--Cincinnatus
boiled the turnips upon which he dined,--the great Conde fried
pancakes,--Curius Dentatus, who twice enjoyed the honors of a triumph,
was found cooking peas in an earthen pot.
Then followed a description of the luxury brought to Rome after the
conquest of Asia, with talk of the edicts of Archian, Faunian, Didian,
and others for its suppression,--the expense of a single meal being
limited by imperial mandate to _centenos asses_,--of the resistance
offered to these decrees by Durenius and others, and of bills of fare
(first introduced by Vitellius). Most of the company had heard enough
of this kind of conversation, and had turned their attention to the
professor, who seemed transported with delight, especially when
Malcolm quoted from Diocles on sweet-breads, Hicesius on potted
pigeons, and Dionysius on sugar sops.
From that day to the present time the professor has not ceased to
inquire with profound admiration for that accomplished gentleman and
ripe scholar and antiquarian, confidently expecting that he is yet to
honor some of the great universities of the Old World, or that he is
to be raised to some exalted position in the Church of England.
It would be very agreeable to the writer to be allowed to communicate
some of the hits and repartees which were tossed about the table, and
which are omitted because unnecessary to the question in hand. There
was, however, one other subject discussed which awakened a lively
interest and is appropriate to the sequence.
Mr. Malcolm started the inquiry whether it was consistent with the
highest virtue and religion for a lawyer to accept a retainer and to
act as counsel for a man accused of crime, when he knew or had
reasonable cause to believe his client guilty of the offence charged.
The lawyers, one and all, responded in the affirmative. Mr. Malcolm,
as if in doubt, contented himself with inquiries. The Right Reverend
and the Rabbin were decidedly opposed to the opinion of the bar. The
subject was well discussed, and the lawyers carried all before
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