How many more dishes and how many more wines do we put on the table than
our ancestors afforded. Pope writes of Balaam's housekeeping:--

"A single dish the week day meal affords,
An added pudding solemnized the Lord's."

Then when he became rich:--

"Live like yourself was soon my lady's word,
And lo, two puddings smoked upon the board!"

Then his description of his own table is worth noting:--

"Content with little, I can manage here
On brocoli and mutton round the year,
'Tis true no turbots dignify my boards,
But gudgeons, flounders, what my Thames affords.

To Hounslow Heath I point, and Banstead Down;
Thence comes your mutton, and these chicks my own,
From yon old walnut tree a show'r shall fall,
And grapes, long lingering on my only wall,
And figs from standard and espalier join--
The deuce is in you if you cannot dine."

Now, however, the whole world is put under contribution to supply our
daily meals, and the palate is being constantly stimulated, and in some
degree impaired by a variety of food and wine. And I am sure that the
effect of this is to produce a distaste for wholesome food. I daresay we
have all heard of the Scotchman who had drunk too much whisky. He said,