The _gourmet_, on the contrary, is a product of high civilisation. He enjoys with discrimination, and is above the vulgarity of estimating the quality of dishes by their elaboration or their costliness. He values the commonest things, if they are good of their own kind; he will praise well-baked bread or pure water. He is entirely on the side of temperance. A French _gourmet_ once said to me, “I am excessively fond of oysters, but never exceed one dozen, being convinced that after the first dozen the palate has become incapable of fully appreciating the flavour.” A real _gourmet_ preserves his palate in the healthiest and most natural condition. He would not cover an oyster with pepper, nor even squeeze a lemon over it. Plain things are often preferred by a true _gourmet_ to richer things. The uninitiated drink wine and eat cakes at the same time. A _gourmet_ would not do that unless the wine were unworthy of his attention; with a wine of any quality he would eat a crust of bread. A _gourmet_ prefers the simplest meal, such as a fried mutton chop, if it is really well cooked, to an elaborate banquet where the cookery is less than excellent. In Thackeray’s imitation of Horace (_Persicos Odi_) he expresses contempt for “Frenchified fuss” in the first stanza, but in the second he exactly hits the taste of a French _gourmet_ in praising the good qualities of a simple dish-- “But a plain leg of mutton, my Lucy, I pr’ythee get ready at three: Have it smoking, and tender, and juicy, And what better meat can there be?” [Sidenote: A Parisian _Gourmet_.] I knew a Parisian who was a _gourmet_ in Thackeray’s manner, and his way of living was to order one dish of meat, one of vegetables, and a little dessert, at an excellent and expensive _restaurant à la carte_. He did not desire the more abundant feeding at the _restaurants à prix fixe_ and the _tables d’hôte_. He drank very moderately also; in a word, he lived as a gentleman ought to live, without excess, yet with perfect appreciation. [Sidenote: The _Gourmet_ keeps up Prices.] The influence of the French _gourmet_ on the price of eatables is remarkable. The dealers know that extravagant prices will be given for anything that is exceptionally good. The result is that the Parisian connoisseur in good living feeds very expensively, and his tendency is to maintain a high standard of costliness. [Sidenote: France also a Country of Plain Living.]