No More Learning

We have some four Years old, but it is grown
flat and dead with Age. The Strength is gone with Age.

_Au. _ Why, you're as rich as _Lucullus_.

_Ch. _ Soho, Boy, where are you a loitering? You give us no Attendance;
don't you see we have no Wine here? What if a Fire should happen now?
How should we put it out? Give every one a full Glass. _Austin_, What's
the matter that you are not merry? What makes you sit so Melancholy?
What's the Matter with you, that you an't chearful? You are either
troubled at something, or you're making Verses. You play the
_Crysippus_ now, you want a _Melissa_ to feed you.

_Au. _ What Story is this you are telling me of?

_Ch. Crysippus_ is reported to have been so intent upon his logical
Subtilties, that he would have been starved at Table, unless his Maid
_Melissa_ had put the Meat into his Mouth.

_Au. _ He did not deserve to have his Life sav'd; but if Silence is an
Offence to you, and you love a noisy Feast, you have gotten that will
make one.

_Ch. _ I remember I have. That's very well minded: We must drink more
freely, we ought to drink more largely, more Wine and less Water.

_You have hit on the Matter. _

_Au. _ You have hit the Nail on the Head. You are in the Right. You have
hit the Mark. For,

_Foecundi calices quem non fecere disertum? _

_Ch. _ That is very learnedly spoken, _Austin_, and so indeed is all that
comes from you; but since we are fallen into a Discourse concerning
Wine, since we have happen'd to make mention of Wine, I have a mind to
ask you, for what Reason the Ancients, who will have _Bacchus_ the
Inventor of Wine, call him the God of the Poets? What has that drunken
God to do with Poets, who are the Votaries of the Virgin Muses?

_Au. _ By _Bacchus_, this is a Question fit to be put over a Bottle. But
I see very well, what your Question drives at.

_Ch. _ What, prithee?

_Au. _ You very cunningly put a Question about Wine, by a _French_ Trick,
which I believe you learn'd at _Paris_, that you may save your Wine by
that Means. Ah, go your Way, I see you're a Sophister; you have made a
good Proficiency in that School.

_Ch. _ Well, I take all your Jokes; I'll return the like to you, when
Opportunity shall offer. But to the Matter in Hand.

_Au. _ I'll go on, but I'll drink first, for it is absurd to dispute
about a tippling Question with a dry Throat. Here's to you _Christian_.
Half this Cup to you.

_Ch. _ I thank you kindly. God bless it to you, much good may it do you.

_Au. _ Now I'm ready, at your Service. I'll do it as well as I can after
my Manner. That they have given a Boy's Face to _Bacchus_, has this
Mystery in it; that Wine being drank, takes away Cares and Vexations
from our Minds, and adds a Sort of a Chearfulness to them. And for this
Reason, it adds a Sort of Youthfulness even to old Men, in that it makes
them more chearful, and of a better Complexion. The same thing _Horace_
in many Places, and particularly testifies in these Verses:

_Ad mare cum veni, generosum et lene requiro,
Quod curas abigat, quod cum spe divite manet.
In venas, animumque meum, quod verba ministret.
Quod me Lucanoe juvenem commendet amicæ. _

For that they have assign'd the Poets to this Deity, I believe by it
they design'd to intimate this, that Wine both stirs up Wit and
administers Eloquence; which two Things are very fit for Poets. Whence
it comes to pass, that your Water Drinkers make poor Verses. For
_Bacchus_ is of a fiery Constitution naturally, but he is made more
temperate, being united with the Nymphs. Have you been answer'd to your
Satisfaction?

_Ch. _ I never heard any Thing more to the Purpose from a Poet. You
deserve to drink out of a Cup set with Jewels. Boy, take away this Dish,
and set on another.

_Au. _ You have got a very clownish Boy.

_Ch. _ He is the unluckiest Knave in the World.

_Au. _ Why don't you teach him better Manners?

_Ch. _ He is too old to learn. It is a hard matter to mend the Manners of
an old Sinner. An old Dog won't be easily brought to wear the Collar.
He's well enough for me. Like Master like Man.


* * * * *

_If I knew what you lik'd, I would help you. _

_Au. _ I would cut you a Slice, if I knew what would please you. I would
help you, if I knew your Palate. I would help you, if I knew what you
lik'd best. If I knew the Disposition of your Palate, I would be your
Carver. Indeed my Palate is like my Judgment.

_Ch. _ You have a very nice Palate. No Body has a nicer Palate than you
have. I don't think you come behind him of whose exquisite Skill the
Satyrist says,

_Ostrea callebat primo deprendere morsu,
Et semel aspecti dicebat littus echini. _

_Au. _ And you, my _Christian_, that I may return the Compliment, seem to
have been Scholar to _Epicurus_, or brought up in the _Catian_ School.
For what's more delicate or nice than your Palate?

_Ch. _ If I understood Oratory so well as I do Cookery, I'd challenge
_Cicero_ himself.

_Au. _ Indeed if I must be without one, I had rather want Oratory than
Cookery.

_Ch. _ I am entirely of your Mind, you judge gravely, wisely, and truly.
For what is the Prattle of Orators good for, but to tickle idle Ears
with a vain Pleasure? But Cookery feeds and repairs the Palate, the
Belly, and the whole Man, let him be as big as he will. _Cicero_ says,
_Concedat laurea lingæ_; but both of them must give place to Cookery. I
never very well liked those _Stoicks_, who referring all things to their
(I can't tell what) _honestum_, thought we ought to have no regard to
our Persons and our Palates. _Aristippus_ was wiser than _Diogenes_
beyond Expression in my Opinion.

_Au. _ I despise the _Stoicks_ with all their Fasts. But I praise and
approve _Epicurus_ more than that _Cynic Diogenes_, who lived upon raw
Herbs and Water; and therefore I don't wonder that _Alexander_, that
fortunate King, had rather be _Alexander_ than _Diogenes_.

_Ch. _ Nor indeed would I myself, who am but an ordinary Man, change my
Philosophy for _Diogenes_'s; and I believe your _Catius_ would refuse
to do it too. The Philosophers of our Time are wiser, who are content to
dispute like _Stoicks_, but in living out-do even _Epicurus_ himself.
And yet for all that, I look upon Philosophy to be one of the most
excellent Things in Nature, if used moderately. I don't approve of
philosophising too much, for it is a very jejune, barren, and melancholy
Thing. When I fall into any Calamity or Sickness, then I betake myself
to Philosophy, as to a Physician; but when I am well again, I bid it
farewell.

_Au. _ I like your Method. You do philosophize very well. Your humble
Servant, Mr. Philosopher; not of the _Stoick_ School, but the Kitchen.

_Ch. _ What is the Matter with you, _Erasmus_, that you are so
melancholy? What makes you look so frowningly? What makes you so silent?
Are you angry with me because I have entertained you with such a slender
Supper?

_Er. _ Nay, I am angry with you that you have put your self to so much
Charge upon my Account. _Austin_ laid a strict Charge upon you that you
would provide nothing extraordinary upon his Account. I believe you have
a Mind we should never come to see you again; for they give such a
Supper as this that intended to make but one. What sort of Guests did
you expect? You seem to have provided not for Friends, but for Princes.
Do you think we are Gluttons? This is not to entertain one with a
Supper, but victualling one for three Days together.

_Ch. _ You will be ill-humour'd. Dispute about that Matter to-Morrow;
pray be good humour'd to-Day. We'll talk about the Charge to-Morrow; I
have no Mind to hear any Thing but what is merry at this time.

_Au. Christian_, whether had you rather have, Beef or Mutton?

_Ch. _ I like Beef best, but I think Mutton is the most wholsome. It is
the Disposition of Mankind to be most desirous of those Things that are
the most hurtful.

_Au. _ The _French_ are wonderful Admirers of Pork.

_Ch. _ The _French_ love that most that costs least.

_Au. _ I am a Jew in this one Thing, there is nothing I hate so much as
Swine's Flesh.

_Ch. _ Nor without Reason, for what is more unwholsome? In this I am not
of the _French_ Man's but of the _Jew's_ Mind.

_Er. _ But I love both Mutton and Pork, but for a different Reason; for I
eat freely of Mutton, because I love it; but Hogs Flesh I don't touch,
by Reason of Love, that I may not give Offence.

_Ch. _ You are a clever Man, _Erasmus_, and a very merry one too. Indeed
I am apt to admire from whence it comes to pass that there is such a
great Diversity in Mens Palates, for if I may make use of this Verse of
_Horace_,

Tres mihi convivæ propè dissentire videntur,
Poscentes vario multùm diversa palato.

_Er. _ Although as the Comedian says, _So many Men, so many Minds_, and
every Man has his own Way; yet no Body can make me believe, there is
more Variety in Mens Dispositions, than there is in their Palates: So
that you can scarce find two that love the same Things. I have seen a
great many, that can't bear so much as the Smell of Butter and Cheese:
Some loath Flesh; one will not eat roast Meat, and another won't eat
boil'd. There are many that prefer Water before Wine. And more than
this, which you'll hardly believe; I have seen a Man who would neither
eat Bread, nor drink Wine.

_Ch. _ What did that poor Man live on?

_Er. _ There was nothing else but what he could eat; Meat, Fish, Herbs
and Fruit.

_Ch. _ Would you have me believe you?

_Er. _ Yes, if you will.

_Ch. _ I will believe you; but upon this Condition, that you shall
believe me when I tell a Lye.

_Er. _ Well, I will do it, so that you lye modestly.

_Ch. _ As if any Thing could be more impudent than your Lye.

_Er. _ What would your Confidence say, if I should shew you the Man?

_Ch. _ He must needs be a starveling Fellow, a meer Shadow.

_Er. _ You'd say he was a Champion.

_Ch. _ Nay, rather a _Polyphemus_.

_Er. _ I wonder this should seem so strange to you, when there are a
great many that eat dry'd Fish instead of Bread: And some that the Roots
of Herbs serve for the same Use that Bread does us.

_Ch. _ I believe you; lye on.

_Er. _ I remember, I saw a Man when I was in _Italy_, that grew fat with
Sleep, without the Assistance either of Meat or Drink.

_Ch. _ Fie for Shame; I can't forbear making Use of that Expression of
the Satyrist,

Tunc immensa cavi spirant mendacia folles.

Thou poeticisest. You play the Part of a Poet. I am loath to give you
the Lye.

_Er. _ I am the greatest Lyar in the World, if _Pliny_, an Author of
undoubted Credit, has not written, that a Bear in fourteen Days Time
will grow wonderfully fat with nothing but Sleep: And that he will sleep
so sound, that you can scarce wake him, by wounding him: Nay, to make
you admire the more, I will add what _Theophrastus_ writes, that during
that Time, if the Flesh of the Bear be boil'd, and kept some Time, it
will come to Life again.

_Ch. _ I am afraid that _Parmeno_ in _Terence_ will hardly be able to
comprehend these Things. I believe it readily. I would help you to some
Venison, if I were well enough accomplished.

_Er. _ Where have you any Hunting now?
How came you by Venison?

_Ch. _ _Midas_, the most generous spirited Man living, and a very good
Friend of mine, sent it me for a Present; but so, that I oftentimes buy
it for less.

_Er. _ How so?

_Ch. _ Because I am obliged to give more to his Servants, than I could
buy it for in the Market.

_Er. _ Who obliges you to that?

_Ch. _ The most violent Tyrant in the World.

_Er. _ Who is he?

_Ch. _ Custom.

_Er. _ Indeed, that Tyrant does frequently impose the most unjust Laws
upon Mankind.

_Ch. _ The same Tyrant hunted this Stag, but the Day before Yesterday.
What did you do, who used to be a very great Lover of that Sport?

_Au. _ Indeed I have left off that Sport, and now I hunt after nothing
but Learning.

_Ch. _ In my Opinion, Learning is fleeter than any Stag.

_Au. _ But I hunt chiefly with two Dogs, that is to say, with Love and
Industry: For Love affords a great Deal of Eagerness to learn, and as
the most elegant Poet says,

----_Labor improbus omnia vincit. _

_Ch. Austin_, you admonish after a friendly Manner, as you use to do;
and therefore, I won't give over, nor rest, nor tire, till I attain.

_Au. _ Venison is now in the Prime. _Pliny_ tells us a very admirable
Story concerning this Animal.

_Ch. _ What is it, I pray you?

_Au. _ That as often as they prick up their Ears, they are very quick of
Hearing; but on the contrary, when they let them down, they are deaf.

_Ch. _ That very often happens to myself; for if I happen to hear a Word
spoken of receiving Guineas, there is no Body quicker of Hearing than I;
for then with _Pamphilus_ in _Terence_, I prick up my Ears; but when
there is any Mention made of paying them away, I let them down, and am
presently hard of Hearing.

_Au. _ Well, I commend you; you do as you should do.

_Ch. _ Would you have some of the Leg of this Hare?

_Au. _ Take it yourself.

_Ch. _ Or had you rather have some of the Back?

_Au. _ This Creature has nothing good but its Flank and hind Legs.

_Ch. _ Did you ever see a white Hare?

_Au. _ Oftentimes. _Pliny_ writes, that on the _Alps_ there are white
Hares; and that it is believed in the Winter Time they feed upon Snow:
Whether it be true or no, let _Pliny_ see to that: For if Snow makes a
Hare's Skin white, it must make his Stomach white too.

_Ch. _ I don't know but it may be true.

_Au. _ I have something for you that is stranger than that; but it may be
you have heard of it. The same Man testifies that there is the same
Nature in all of them; that is, of Males and Females, and that the
Females do as commonly breed without the Use of the Male, as with it.
And many Persons assert the same, and especially your skilful Hunters.

_Ch. _ You say right; but if you please, let us try these Rabbets, for
they are fat and tender. I would help that pretty Lady if I sat nigher
to her. _Austin_, pray take Care of that Lady that sits by you, for you
know how to please the fair Sex.

_Au. _ I know what you mean, you Joker.

_Ch. _ Do you love Goose?

_Au. _ Ay, I love 'em mightily, and I an't very nice. I don't know what's
the Matter, but this Goose don't please me; I never saw any Thing dryer
in all my Life; it is dryer than a Pumice-Stone, or _Furius_'s Mother in
Law, upon whom _Catullus_ breaks so many Jests. I believe it is made of
Wood; And in Troth I believe 'tis an old Soldier, that has worn itself
out with being upon the Guard. They say a Goose is the most wakeful
Creature living. In Truth, if I am not out in my Guess, this Goose was
one of them, who when the Watch and their Dogs were fast asleep, in old
Time defended the _Roman_ Capitol.

_Ch. _ As I hope to live I believe it was, for I believe it liv'd in that
Age.

_Au. _ And this Hen was either half starv'd, or else was in love, or was
jealous; for this Sort of Creatures are much troubled with that
Distemper. This Capon fatten'd much better; see what Cares will do. If
we were to geld our _Theodoricus_, he would grow fat much the sooner.

_Th. _ I an't a Cock.

_Au. _ I confess you are not _Gallus Cybeles_, nor a Dunghil-Cock; but it
may be you are _Gallus Gallaceus_.

_Ch. _ What Word is that?

_Au. _ I leave that Word to be unriddled by you: I am _Sphinx_, and you
shall be _Oedipus_.

_Ch. Austin_, tell me truly, have you had no Conversation with _French_
Men, have you had no Affinity with them? Had you nothing to do with
them?

_Au. _ None at all, indeed.

_Ch. _ Then you are so much the worse.

_Au. _ But perhaps I have had to do with _French_ Women.

_Ch. _ Will you have any of this Goose's Liver? This was look'd upon as a
great Delicacy by the Ancients.

_Au. _ I will refuse nothing that comes from your Hand.

_Ch. _ You must not expect _Roman_ Dainties.

_Au. _ What are they?

_Ch. _ Thistles, Cockles, Tortoises, Conger-Eels, Mushrooms, Truffles,
etc.

_Au. _ I had rather have a Turnip than any of them. You are liberal and
bountiful, _Christian_.

_Ch. _ No Body touches these Partridges nor the Pigeons, to-Morrow is a
Fast-Day appointed by the Church; prepare against that Hunger; Ballast
your Ship against the impending Storm. War is a coming, furnish your
Belly with Provision.

_Au. _ I wish you had kept that Word in, we should have risen from Supper
more merrily. You torment us before the Time.

_Ch. _ Why so?

_Au. _ Because I hate Fish worse than I do a Snake.

_Ch. _ You are not alone.

_Au. _ Who brought in this troublesome Custom?

_Ch. _ Who order'd you to take Aloes, Wormwood and Scammony in Physick?

_Au. _ But these Things are given to Folks that are sick.

_Ch. _ So these Things are given to them that are too well. It is better
sometimes to be sick, than to be too well.

_Au. _ In my Opinion the _Jews_ themselves did not labour under such a
Burden. Indeed I could easily refrain from Eels and Swines Flesh, if I
might fill my Belly with Capons and Partridges.

_Ch. _ In a great many Circumstances it is not the Thing, but the Mind
that distinguishes us from _Jews_; they held their Hands from certain
Meats, as from unclean Things, that would pollute the Mind; but we,
understanding that _to the Pure, all Things are pure_, yet take away
Food from the wanton Flesh, as we do Hay from a pamper'd Horse, that it
may be more ready to hearken to the Spirit. We sometimes chastise the
immoderate Use of pleasant Things, by the Pain of Abstinence.

_Au. _ I hear you; but by the same Argument, Circumcision of the Flesh
may be defended; for that moderates the Itch of Coition, and brings
Pain. If all hated Fish as bad as I do, I would scarce put a Parricide
to so much Torture.

_Ch. _ Some Palates are better pleas'd with Fish than Flesh.

_Au. _ Then they like those Things that please their Gluttony, but don't
make for their Health.

_Ch. _ I have heard of some of the _Æsops_ and _Apitius_'s, that have
look'd upon Fish as the greatest Delicacy.

_Au. _ How then do Dainties agree with Punishment?

_Ch. _ Every Body han't Lampreys, Scares, and Sturgeons.

_Au. _ Then it is only the poor Folks that are tormented, with whom it is
bad enough, if they were permitted to eat Flesh; and it often happens,
that when they may eat Flesh for the Church, they can't for their Purse.

_Ch. _ Indeed, a very hard Injunction!

_Au. _ And if the Prohibition of Flesh be turned to delicious Living to
the Rich; and if the Poor can't eat Flesh many Times, when otherwise
they might, nor can't eat Fish, because they are commonly the dearer; to
whom does the Injunction do good?

_Ch. _ To all; for poor Folks may eat Cockles or Frogs, or may gnaw upon
Onions or Leeks. The middle Sort of People will make some Abatement in
their usual Provision; and though the Rich do make it an Occasion of
living deliciously, they ought to impute that to their Gluttony, and not
blame the Constitution of the Church.

_Au. _ You have said very well; but for all that, to require Abstinence
from Flesh of poor Folks, who feed their Families by the Sweat of their
Brows, and live a great Way from Rivers and Lakes, is the same Thing as
to command a Famine, or rather a _Bulimia_. And if we believe _Homer_,
it is the miserablest Death in the World to be starv'd to Death.

_Ch. _ So it seem'd to blind _Homer_; but with _Christians_, he is not
miserable that dies well.

_Au. _ Let that be so; yet it is a very hard Thing to require any Body to
die.

_Ch. _ The Popes don't prohibit the eating of Flesh with that Design, to
kill Men, but that they may be moderately afflicted if they have
transgress'd; or that taking away their pleasant Food, their Bodies may
be less fierce against the Spirit.

_Au. _ The moderate Use of Flesh would effect that.

_Ch. _ But in so great a Variety of Bodies certain Bounds of Flesh can't
be prescrib'd, a Kind of Food may.

_Au. _ There are Fishes that yield much Aliment, and there are Sorts of
Flesh that yield but little.

_Ch. _ But in general Flesh is most nourishing.

_Au. _ Pray tell me, if you were to go a Journey any whither, would you
chuse a lively Horse that was a little wanton, or a diseased Horse, who
would often stumble and throw his Rider?

_Ch. _ What do you mean by that?

_Au. _ Because Fish-eating, by its corrupt Humours, renders the Body
liable to a great many Diseases, that it can't subserve the Spirit as it
should do.

_Ch. _ To what Diseases?

_Au. _ Gouts, Fevers, Leprosies, the King's-Evil.

_Ch. _ How do you know?

_Au. _ I believe Physicians. I had rather do so than try the Experiment.

_Ch. _ Perhaps that happens to a few.

_Au. _ Indeed I believe to a great many; besides, in as much as the Mind
acts by the material Organs of the Body, which are affected with good or
bad Humours, the Instruments being vitiated, it can't exert its Power as
it would.

_Ch. _ I know Doctors do very much find Fault with the eating of Fish;
but our Ancestors thought otherwise, and it is our Duty to obey them.

_Au. _ It was a Piece of Religion formerly not to break the Sabbath; but
for all that, it was more eligible to save a Man on the Sabbath-Day.

_Ch. _ Every one consults his own Health.

_Au.