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
is not even mentioned.
In the words of the old Lambeth adage--
"What is a merry man?
Let him do what he can
To entertain his guests
With wine and pleasant jests,
Yet if his wife do frown
All merryment goes down.
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