Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 06
General
Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 06
Literature -- Collections
This observation, though new in France, has not escaped the notice of
Richardson, the English moralist. He has worked out the idea in his
novel 'Pamela,' by painting the different manner in which two married
couples finish their day. The first husband is a lord, an eldest son,
and therefore heir to all the family property; the second is his younger
brother, the husband of Pamela, who has been disinherited on account of
his marriage, and lives on half-pay in a state but little removed from
abject poverty.
The lord and lady enter their dining-room by different doors, and salute
each other coldly, though they have not met the whole day before.
Sitting down at a table which is magnificently covered, surrounded by
lackeys in brilliant liveries, they help themselves in silence, and eat
without pleasure. As soon, however, as the servants have withdrawn, a
sort of conversation is 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
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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