Page:Dawn of the Day.pdf/237

Rh eminent savants meet the same custom which crowds the board of the banker loads their table, on the principle of "By far too much and too many things.” The result is that the dinners are prepared with a view to effectiveness rather than effect, and that stimulating drinks are required to aid in removing the heaviness in the stomach and the brain. Fic upon the debauchery and over- nervousness which must needs be the general outcome of this! Fie upon the dreams which must follow! Fie upon the artifices and books which must for the dessert of such repasts ! Despite their counter-efforts, in all their doings pepper and contradiction or the weariness of life will prevail ! (The wealthy classes in England are sorely in need of their Christianity, in order to endure their indigestions and headaches.) Finally, in order to mention, not only the nauseous, but also the facetious side of the matter, these people are by no means gluttons; our century, with its restless spirit, has greater power over their limbs than their stomach. What then is the purport of banquets? They represent—what, in the name of all that is holy? Their rank? No, money! we have no rank nowadays. We are "individuals "! But money is power, fame, dignity, precedence, influence; money, in our days, is the greater or lesser moral prejudice to a man, in proportion to the sums which he may be possessed of Nobody wishes to put it under a bushel or on the table; hence, money must have a representative which one may safely put on the table: behold, our banquets!