[Page 139,] line 21. Ventri natus, etc. These nicknames may be roughly translated: Ventri natus, glutton-born; ventri deditus, gluttony-dedicated; vesana gula, greedy gullet; escarum gurges, sink of eatables; dapibus indulgens, feast-lover; non dans fræna gulæ, not curbing the gullet; sectans lautæ fercula mensæ, dainty-hunting.
[Page 141,] line 15. Mandeville. Bernard Mandeville (1670?-1733), whose Fable of the Bees, 1714, was one of Lamb's favourite books.
[Page 145.] Hospita on the Immoderate Indulgence of the Palate.
The Reflector, No. IV., 1811. Works, 1818. In The Reflector this letter followed immediately upon that of Edax ([see page 138]). In his Works Lamb reversed this order. In The Reflector the following footnote was appended, signed Ref.:—
To all appearance, the obnoxious visitor of Hospita can be no other than my inordinate friend Edax, whose misfortunes are detailed, ore rotundo, in the preceding article. He will of course see the complaint that is made against him; but it can hardly be any benefit either to himself or his entertainers. The man's appetite is not a bad habit but a disease; and if he had not thought proper to relate his own story, I do not know whether it would have been altogether justifiable to be so amusing upon such a subject.
[Page 147,] second paragraph. Mr. Malthus. Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834), author of the Essay on Population, 1798. He wrote On the High Price of Provisions in 1800.
[Page 148.] The Good Clerk, a Character.