（
魔天记）（
武炼巅峰）（
战妃狂帝）（
至高悬赏）（
女总裁的王牌高手）（
一叶诛天）grace before meat
by carles lamb
the customsaying gracemeals had, probably, its originthe early timesthe world, and the hunter stateman, when dinners were precarious things, anull meal was more thaommon blessing; wheelly full waindfall, and looked likpecia the shouts and triumphal songs with which, afteeasonsharp abstinence, a lucky bootydeer’sgoat’s flesh would naturallyushered home,existed, perhaps, the germthe modern grace.
itnot otherwise easybe understood, why the blessingfood the acteating should have haarticular expressionthanksgiving annexedit, distinct from that implied and silent gratitude with whichare expectedenter upon the enjoymentthe many other various gifts and good thinghat idisposedsay grace upon twenty other occasionsthe coursethe day beside form for setting out upoleasant walk, for aamoonlight ramble, foriendly meeting,a solved problem.
why havenone for books, these spiritual repastrace before miltorace before shakspearevotional exercise properbe said before reading the fairy queen? but, the received ritual having prescribed these formsthe solitary ceremonymanducation, i shall confineobservationsthe experience whicave hadthe grace, properlycalled; mendingnew scheme for extensiona nichethe grand philosophical, poetical, and perchancepart heretical, liturgy, now being piledmy friend homo humanus, for the usea certain snug congregationutopian rabelaesian christians,matter where assembled.
the form thenthe benediction before eating has its beautya poor man’s table,at the simple and unprovocative repasts ohere that the race bees exceedingl indigent man, who hardly knows whethershall haveal the next daynot, sits downhis fare witresent sensethe blessing, which canbut feebly actedthe rich, into whose minds the conceptionwantininner could never, butsome extreme theory, hav proper endfood the animal sustenancebarely contemplateoor man’s breadhis daily bread, literally his bread forcourses are perennial.
again, the plainest diet seems the fittestbe precededth whichleast stimulativeappetite, leaves the mind most free for foreig may feel thankful, heartily thankful, oveishplain mutton with turnips, and have leisurereflect upon the ordinance and institutioneating; whenshall confeserturbationmind, inconsistent with the purposesthe grace,the presencevenisonturtle.
wheave saterarus hospes)rich men’s tables, with the savoury soup and messes steamingthe nostrils, and moistening the lipsthe guests with desire anistracted choice, i have felt the introductionthat ceremonyb the ravenous asm upon you,seems impertinentinterposeligioua confusionpurposemutter out praises froouth tha heatsepicurism put out the gentle flamedevotion.
the incense which rises roundpagan, and the belly god interceptsforvery excessthe provision beyond the needs, takes away all senseproportion between the endgiverveiledhi are startledthe injusticereturning thanks for what? for having too much, whilemanto praise the gods amiss.
i have observed this awkwardness felt, scarce consciously perhaps,the good man who saysseenin clergymen and otherortshamensethepresencecircumstances which unhallowa devotional tone putfoew seconds, how rapidly the speaker will fall into his mon voice, helping himselfhis neighbour,ifget ridsome uneasy sensatiohat the good man waypocrite,was not most conscientiousthe dischargethe duty; butfelthis inmost mind the inpatibilitythe scene and the viands before him with the exercisea calm and rational gratitude.
i hear somebody exclaim would you have christians sit downtable, like hogstheir troughs, without remembering the giver?i would have them sit downchristians, remembering the giver, and less liktheir appetites must run riot, and they must pamper themselves with delicacies for which east and west are ransacked, i would have them postpoheir benedictiona fitter season, when appetitelaid; when the still small voice canheard, and the reasonthe grace returns with temperate diet and restricte and surfeiting areproper occasions for thanksgiving.
when jeshurun waxed fat,read thanew the harpy nature better, whenput into the mouthcelaeno any thing but maygratefully sensiblethe deliciousnesssome kindsfood beyond others, though thata meaner and inferior gratitude:but the proper objectthe gracesustenance, not relishes; daily bread, not delicacies; the meanslife, and not the meanspampering the carcass.
with what frameposure, i wonder, caity chaplain pronounce his benedictionsome great hall feast, whenknows that his last concluding pious word and that,all probability, the sacred name whichpreachesbut the signal formany impatient harpiesmence their foul ies, withlittle sensetrue thankfulness (whichtemperance)those virgilian fowl!itwellthe good man himself does not feel his devotionittle clouded, those foggy sensuous steams mingling with and polluting the pure altar sacrifice.
the severest satire upon full tables and surfeitsthe banquet which satan,the paradise regained, provides foemptationthe wilderness:a table richly spreadregal mode,with dishes piled, and meatsnoblest sortand savour; beastschase,fowlgame,in pastry built,from the spit,boiled,gris amber steamed; all fish from seashore,freshetpurling brook, for which was drainedpontus, and lucrine bay, and afri tempter, i warrant you, thought these cates woulddown without the remendatory preface are likebe short graces where the devil plays the host.
iafraid the poet wants his usual decorumthithinkingthe old roman luxury,oaudy daycambridge?this waemptation fitter for whole banquettoo civic and culinary, and the acpaniments altogetherofanationthat deep, abstracted, hol mighty artillerysauces, which the cook-fiend conjures up,outproportionthe simple wants and plain hungerth that disturbed himhis dreams, from his dreams might have been taugh the temperate fantasiesthe famished songod, what sortfeasts presented themselves?
he dreamed indeed,appetitewontdream,of meats and drinks, nature’s refreshmen what meats? him thought,by the brookcherith stood,and saw the ravens with their horny beaksfoodelijah bringing, even and morn;though ravenous, taughtabstain from what they brought:he saw the prophet also howfledinto the desert, and how theresleptundeuniper; then how awakedhe found his supperthe coals prepared,andthe angel was bid rise and eat,and ate the second time after repose,the strength whereof sufficed him forty days:sometimes, that with elijahpartook,ora guest with danielhis pulse.
nothingmiltonfinelier fancied than these temperate dreamsthe divin whichthese two visionary banquets, think you, would the introductionwhatcalled the grace have been most fitting and pertinent?theoretically ino enemygraces; but practicallwn that (before meat especially) they seeminvolve something awkward and unseasonable.
our appetites,oneanother kind, are excellent spursour reason, which might otherwise but feebly set about the great endspreserving and continuingare fit blessingsbe contemplateda distance witeing gratitude; but the momentappetite (the judicious reader will apprehend me) is, perhaps, the least fit season for tha quakers whoabout their business,every description, with more calmness than we, have more titlethe usethese benedictory prefaces.
i have always admired their silent grace, and the more becausave observed their applicationsthe meat and drink followingbe less passionate and sensual tha are neither gluttons nor wine bibbers eat,a horse bolts his chopt hay, with indifference, calmness, and cleanl neither grease nor sleitizenhis bib and tucker, i cannot imaginequakerm inot indifferentthe kindsit.
those unctuous morselsdeer’s flesh were not madebe received with dispassionaan who swallows it, affecting notknow whati his tastehighe instinctively from one who professeslike mincea physiognomical characterthe tastesthaan cannot havure mind who refuses appl not certain buti the decaymy first innocence, i confesess and less relish daily for those innocuou whole vegetable tribe have lost their gust with me.onltickasparagus, which still seemsinspire gentle thoughts.
iimpatient and querulous under culinary disappointments,to e homethe dinner hour, for instance, expecting some savoury mess, andfind one quite tastelessill melted that monestkitchen failures putsbesiduthorthe rambler usedmake inarticulate animal noises oveavourit this the music quite properbe precededthe grace?would the pious man have done betterpostpone his devotionsa season when the blessing mightcontemplated with less perturbation?
i quarrel withman’s tastes, nor would setthin face against those excellent things,their way, jollityas these exercises, however laudable, have littlethemgracegracefulness, a man shouldsure, beforeventuresto grace them, that whileis pretending his devotions otherwhere,is not secretly kissing his handsome great fish his dagon witpecial consecrationno ark but the fat tureen before him.
graces are the sweet preluding strainsthe banquetsangels and children;the roots and severer repaststhe chartreuse;the slender, but not slenderly acknowledged, refectionthe poor and humble man: butthe heapedboardsthe pampered and the luxurious they beedissonant mood, less timed and tunedthe occasion, methinks, than the noisethose better befitting ans would be, which children hear tales of,hog’s norton.
we sit too longour meals,are too curiousthe studythem,too disorderedour applicationthem,engross too greaortionthose good things (which shouldmon)our share,be able with any gracesathankful for whatgrasp exceeding our proportionto add hypocrisyinjustice.
a lurking sensethis truthwhat makes the performancethis dutycold and spiritleservicemos houses where the graceas indispensablethe napkin, who has not seen that never settled question arise,to who shall say it; while the good manthe house and the visitor clergyman,some other guest belikenext authority from yearsgravity, shallbandying about the office between thema matterpliment, eachthem not unwillingshift the awkward burthenan equivocal duty from his own shoulders?
i once drank teapany with two methodist divinesdifferent persuasions, whomwasfortuo introduceeach other for the first time tha the first cup was handed round, onethese reverend gentlemen putto the other, with all due solemnity, whetherchosesa seemsis the custom with some sectariesputa short prayer before this meal also.
his reverend brother did notfirst quite apprehend him, but uponexplanation, with little less importancemade answer, thatwas noustom knownhis church:which courteous evasion the other acquiescing for good manner’s sake,in pliance witeak brother, the supplementarytea-grace was waive what spirit might not lucian have painted two priests,his religion, playing into each other’s hands the plimentperformingomittinacrifice, the hungry god meantime, doubtfulhis incense, with expectant nostrils hovering over the two flamens, and (as between two stools) going awaythe end without his supper.
a short form upon these occasionsfeltwant reverence; a long one, iafraid, cannot escape the chargot quite approvethe epigrammatic conciseness with which that equivocal wag (butpleasant school fellow) c. v. l., when importuned forace usedinquire, first slyly leering down the table, “is thereclergyman here?” significantly adding, “thank g .”
nori think our old formschool quite pertinent, wherewere usedpreface our bald bread and cheese suppers witreamble, connecting with that humble blessinecognitionbenefits the most awful and overwhelmingthe imagination which religion haunc illis erat locus.
i rememberwere putitreconcile the phrase “good creatures,” upon which the blessing rested, with the fare set before us, wilfully understanding that expressiona low and animal sense, till some one recalleegend, which told howthe golden dayschrist’s, the young hospitallers were wonthave smoking jointsroast meat upon their nightly boards, till some pious benefactor, miserating the decencies, rather than the palates,the children, muted our flesh for garments, and gavehorresco referens trowsers insteadmutton.
m.pi.co
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