"If you'd be a healthy sinner, Eat with when at dinner,
And remember with a shiver
Man is governed by his liver;
rich and wine in plenty
Spoil life's dolce far niente.
He who this vital question
Suffers soon from indigestion;
The corner-stone of dissipation
Is to act with moderation."
 
 
When the sceptre of the Cæsars passed into the hands of St. Peter and his successors, it carried with it among other fixtures--to use a legal expression--the art of giving a good dinner. The have, therefore, always been famous for their attention to creature comforts, and among the various arts which they rescued from the of the classic world, the art of dining is certainly one of which they were most careful.
 
In England the fat abbots and portly of the past have been , through the agency of that royal magician, Henry VIII, into the comfortable and vicars of the present; but the change is actually only in the Thirty-nine Articles, and the science of still has its wisest savants among the clergy.
 
It is true that some , wishing to return to the of the Romish Church, have denied themselves all dainties in favour of lentils and pulse; but, unlike Daniel and his friends, they are no fairer for doing so; yet the general run of curates (provided they are well paid), rectors, vicars, deans, bishops, yea, even archbishops, are successors to the clerical of the Middle Ages so satirised by Rabelais, and are as careful of their cellars and kitchens as of their churches and parishioners.
 
Mr. Clendon, dry-as-dust grubber among ancient folios as he was, by no means neglected the substance for the shadow, and satisfied his brain, his stomach, and his palate in equal measure--the former by means of choice editions, the latter by choice viands; but, truth to tell, he to all appearances throve more on the library than on the kitchen.
 
The number of guests at dinner, according to some worthy, should never be less than the three Graces nor greater than the nine , so Vicar Clendon had taken this advice by limiting the friends assembled round his board to eight people, the sexes being in equal numbers, i.e. four of the one and four of the other.
 
The host took in Mrs. Valpy. A most admirable arrangement, as both were fond of their , and thought eating preferable to talking, especially when the cook was a good one, as happened in this case.
 
Mr. Gelthrip escorted Mrs. Belswin. Fire and water! Sweet and sour! Black and white! Two slaves chained together against their will could not have been less suited than the clergyman and the companion were to one another. Good-breeding forbade either resenting the , so they had smiles on their faces and rage in their hearts at being thus coupled so unsuitably by their Amphitryon.
 
The engaged ones, of course, went dining-room-wards together--a good of the future, in the eyes of both, hinting that they would thus wander side by side towards the good things of this life.
 
Archie was to Kaituna. ! ! ! Ah, how poor a language is English when required to express the joy of two lovers coming together for a whole evening, who have not expected Fate or Cupid or Mother Venus to be so kind.
 
Out of compliment to the month of roses, Vicar Clendon gave his guests a distinctly pink dinner, which was a novelty, both as regards viands, wines, and arrangements. In the centre of the white there was an oval, shaped of moist-looking emerald , filled with loose rose-leaves, from the midst of which sprang rich clusters of the flower in red, in white, and in yellow, set off here and there by masses of green leaves. No epergne to hide the faces of the guests from one another, but a tiny fountain shooting up a silver thread that fell again in diamond spray over the odorous blossoms below--rose-wreaths for the white of the ladies, rose with of delicate maiden-hair fern for the men, and on imitation rose-leaf menus the names of the dishes in purple ink. Viands for the most part rose-tinted by an artistic cook, and as for wines, there was claret deeply red, port in , sparkling burgundy of , and from the roof roseate light from a red-shaded lamp. The whole tint of this unique meal was the rose-red of dawn, and Parson Clendon, smiling from the head of the table, felt that he had achieved a distinct success in the way of , a thing to be proud of in this century of used-up ideas.
 
"The Romans," observed the vicar, , by way of providing a subject of conversation, "the Romans would have enjoyed a meal served up in this fashion."
 
"You are thinking of Vitellius," asserted Mr. Gelthrip, in a manner.
 
"No, sir! I am thinking of Lucullus. A , sir, not a ."
 
Mr. Gelthrip, not being learned either in French or gastronomy to appreciate the of this remark, wisely held his tongue and went on with his soup.
 
"If we were like the Romans, father, we should be crowned with garlands of roses," said Toby, in order to keep the ball of conversation rolling.
 
"Instead of which we wear the roses in our buttonholes," added Archie, ; "not so , perhaps, but more comfortable."
 
"Ah, we're not at all classic," observed the host, regretfully; "dining with Lucullus we should have reclined."
 
"How uncomfortable!" said Tommy, ; "as bad as having breakfast in bed."
 
"Which is where you generally have it," interposed Mrs. Valpy, reprovingly.
 
"Ah!" said Toby, with a world of meaning in his tone, "I am afraid you have not studied one Dr. ----"
 
"The early to bed man, you mean," cried Mrs. Belswin. "Horrible! I never could see the use of his cut-and-dried little proverbs."
 
"His poems, madam, are very ," remarked Gelthrip, in a clerical manner.
 
"Very probably; and like most things edifying, very ."
 
She said this so that Clendon père was afraid of the probable rejoinder of his curate, so made the first remark that came into his mind of nothing in particular.
 
"Our conversation is like that of Praed's vicar, very ; we began with the Romans, we end with Dr. Watts."
 
"I prefer the Romans," declared Archie, his wine.
 
"Not their dining, surely," observed Kaituna.
 
"No," whispered Archie, sub rosa, for she wore a half-opened bud in her dark hair, "because you would not have been present. The nineteenth century, with all its faults, has one great ; it allows us to dine with you."
 
Kaituna laughed in a pretty confused manner, whereupon Mrs. Belswin flashed her glorious dark eyes sympathetically on the pair, for she was now quite in favour of this, to all appearances, imprudent marriage. Reasons two. First, the young couple loved one another , which appealed to her womanly and instincts. Second, the match would be objected to by Sir Rupert, which pleased the revengeful part of her nature. With these two excellent reasons she was very satisfied, so smiled on the lovers.
 
"Burgundy, sir?"
 
"Thank you, Mrs. Belswin."
 
That lady bowed cordially to her ............