he was in great distress for want of employment; and yet, when relief was there before his eyes, he could forego it for the sake of getting at his eating and drinking three or four hours, perhaps, sooner than I should have thought it right for him to leave off work.  Such a person cannot be sent from home, except at certain times; he must be near the kitchen at three fixed hours of the day; if he be absent more than four or five hours, he is ill-treated.  In short, a youth thus pampered is worth nothing as a person to be employed in business.

27.  And, as to friends and acquaintances; they will say nothing to you; they will offer you indulgences under their roofs; but the more ready you are to accept of their offers, and, in fact, the better taste you discover, the less they will like you, and the sooner they will find means of shaking you off; for, besides the cost which you occasion them, people do not like to have critics sitting in judgment on their bottles and dishes. Water-drinkers are universally laughed at; but, it has always seemed to me, that they are amongst the most welcome of guests, and that, too, though the host be by no means of a niggardly turn.  The truth is, they give no trouble; they occasion no anxiety to please them; they are sure not to make their sittings inconveniently long; and, which is the great thing of all, their example teaches moderation to the rest of the company.  Your notorious ‘lovers of good cheer’ are, on the contrary, not to be invited without due reflection:  to entertain one of them is a serious business; and as people are not apt voluntarily to undertake such pieces of business, the well-known ‘lovers of good eating and drinking’ are left, very generally, to enjoy it by themselves and at their own expense.

28.  But, all other considerations aside, health, the most valuable of all earthly possessions, and without which all the rest are worth nothing, bids us, not only to refrain from excess in eating and drinking, but bids us to stop short of what might be indulged in without any apparent impropriety.  The words of ECCLESIASTICUS ought to be read once a week by every young person in the world, and particularly by the young people of this country at this time.  ’Eat modestly that which is set before thee, and devour not, lest thou be hated.  When thou sittest amongst many, reach not thine hand out first of all. How little is sufficient for man well taught!  A wholesome sleep cometh of a temperate belly.  Such a man riseth up in the morning, and is well at ease with himself.  Be not too hasty of meats; for excess of meats bringeth sickness, and choleric disease cometh of gluttony.  By surfeit have many perished, and he that dieteth himself prolongeth his life.  Show not thy valiantness in wine; for wine hath destroyed many.