It is not the quantity of the meat but the cheerfulness of the guests, which makes the feast.

Lord Clarendon.

589

Feast to-day with many makes fast to-morrow.

Plautus.

590

FEASTING AND FASTING.

Accustom early in your youth
To lay embargo on your mouth;
And let no rarities invite
To pall and glut your appetite;
But check it always, and give o'er
With a desire of eating more;
For where one dies by inanition,
A thousand perish by repletion:
To miss a meal sometimes is good,—
It ventilates and cools the blood.

Raynard.

591