Page:Henry Stephens Salt - A Plea for Vegetarianism and Other Essays.pdf/47

Rh quantity but also in the quality of what he eats. Among Vegetarians there will be no such vulgar perversions of taste as among those who affect to ﬁnd a delicacy in venison and game when it is “high,” or in cheese when it is “ripe ;" or, still worse, in the grosser inventions of the gourmand, where cruelty as well as vulgarity has done its work; in the white veal and crimped cod, and other dishes that shall be here unmentioned. Let ﬂesh-eaters relish these their delights ; but as the food of the Vegetarian will be moderate in quantity, so in quality it will be fresh and simple and pure.

But moderation is also far removed from asceticism, which is merely the reaction against gross feeding, and would never have come into existence under a simple and natural system of living. Under a Vegetarian régime there will be no asceticism, which has been the weakness—I will not say the fault—of many a high and noble nature, and cannot be in itself good or desirable. Those who weaken the body by excessive privations must weaken the mind also, and will consequently be less able to do goal in the world than those who practise a wise and unvarying moderation.