cheese after a good walk is more enjoyable than a Lord Mayor's feast.
Without wishing, like Apicius, for the neck of a stork, so that he might
enjoy his dinner longer, we must not be ungrateful for the enjoyment we
derive from eating and drinking, even though they be amongst the least
aesthetic of our pleasures. They are homely, no doubt, but they come
morning, noon, and night, and are not the less real because they have
reference to the body rather than the soul.

We speak truly of a healthy appetite, for it is a good test of our bodily
condition; and indeed in some cases of our mental state also. That

"There cometh no good thing
Apart from toil to mortals,"

is especially true with reference to appetite; to sit down to a dinner,
however simple, after a walk with a friend among the mountains or along
the shore, is no insignificant pleasure.

Cheerfulness and good humor, moreover, during meals are not only pleasant
in themselves, but conduce greatly to health.

It has been said that hunger is the best sauce, but most would prefer some
good stories at a feast even to a good appetite; and who would not like to
have it said of him, as of Biron by Rosaline--

"A merrier man
Within the limit of becoming mirth
I never spent an hour's talk withal."

In the three great "Banquets" of Plato, Xenophon, and Plutarch, the food