"Without sauces a dinner were as bare as a house that has been levied on by the officers of the sheriff. "The etymology of the word _faisander_ sufficiently proclaims that the pheasant should be waited for as long as a pension from the government by a man of letters who has never known how to flatter any one. "It is notorious that a dinner, however generous, has never disturbed a person who has preceded or followed it by a walk of five or six leagues; and that indigestions are virtually unknown to great pedestrians. "With many people a stomach that is proof against everything is the principle of happiness, and with everybody this organ exercises a greater influence than one imagines on the acts of life. "Life is so brief that we should not glance either too far backwards or forwards in order to be happy. Let us therefore study how to fix our happiness in our glass and on our plate. "Un Amphitryon délicat no doit pas souffrir que la galanterie dégénère chez lui en scandale; et s'il invite de jeunes et jolies femmes ce doit toujours être avec leurs maris, et jamais avec leurs amants." Unfortunately, no menus of the _Jury dégustateur_ have been preserved, though one is presented of the celebrated restaurant, the Rocher de Cancale--a dinner of twenty-four covers, served November 28, 1809, at a cost of one thousand francs. Considering the elaborateness of the bill of fare, the price was assuredly extremely moderate, including, as it did, four soups, four relevés, twelve entrées, four large pieces, four roasts, and eight entremets, all served in the highest style of the art. In many of the best Parisian restaurants to-day no figures are attached to the _carte_, so that one may dine without disturbing his digestion by thinking of the expense. The awakening comes later, with the _addition_, when, if one be an epicure with a partiality for rare vintages, he will be apt to recall Béranger's "Voyage au Pays de Cocagne" and its dénouement: ". . . . . . Mais qui vient détruire (But who would dispel Ce rêve enchanteur? This dream all-divine? Amis, j'en ai honte, Friends, to my shame, C'est quelqu'un qui monte 'Tis the restaurant's claim-- Apporter le compte The bill of the entrées Du restaurateur." And score of the wine.)