A fowl weighing seven pounds, stuffed with truffles, so that it has become a spheroid. A patte perigord in the form of a bastion. A cask a la Chambord richly dressed and decorated. A pike stuffed with craw-fish secundum artum. A pheasant dressed a la sainte alliance. Asparagus, large as possible, served up in osmazome. Two dozen ortolans a la provencale, as the dish is described in the Cook's Secretary. A pyramid of sweet meats, flavored with rose and vanilla. EXPRESSION. "Monsieur, or Monseigneur, your cook is a man of mind. Such dishes we eat only at your house." MEDITATION XIV. ON THE PLEASURES OF THE TABLE. MAN of all the animals who live on the earth, is beyond doubt, the one who experiences most suffering. Nature condemned him to suffering by robbing him of hair, by giving him such a peculiar formation of his feet, also by the instinct of destruction, and of war which has followed man every where. Animals have never been stricken with this curse, and with the exception of a few contests, caused by the instinct of reproduction, harm would be absolutely unknown to the lower animals of creation. Man, though he cannot appreciate pleasure except by a small number of organs, may yet be liable to intense agony. This decree of destiny was engraved by a crowd of maladies, which originated in the social system. The result is that the most intense pleasure one can imagine, cannot atone for certain pains, such as the gout, the tooth-ache, etc., acute rheumatisms, strictures, and many other diseases we might mention. This practical fear of pain has had the effect, that without even perceiving it, man has rushed into an opposite direction, and has devoted himself to the small number of pleasures nature has placed at his disposal. ORIGIN OF THE PLEASURES OF THE TABLE. Meals, as we understand the word, began at the second stage of the history of humanity. That is to say as soon as we ceased to live on fruits alone. The preparation and distribution of food made the union of the family a necessity, at least once a day. The heads of families then distributed the produce of the chase, and grown children did as much for their parents. These collections, limited at first to near relations, were ultimately extended to neighbors and friends. At a later day when the human species was more widely extended, the weary traveler used to sit at such boards and tell what he had seen in foreign lands. Thus hospitality was produced, and its rights were recognized everywhere. There was never any one so ferocious as not to respect him who had partaken of his bread and salt. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE PLEASURE OF EATING AND THE PLEASURES OF THE TABLE. Such from the nature of things, should be the elements of the pleasures of the table which, where eating is a necessity, of course takes the precedence.