MEALS. 453 
ae 
which food principles identically represent drugs as given hereto- 
fore in mixtures, pills, or powders, periodically every few hours, 
is our present unhesitating contention. With this view our 
endeavour is to prove the facts by an analytical comparison of 
the prescribed foods with the pharmaceutical preparations of 
the chemist ; and to supply a code of foods fully as remedial, 
which the doctor may confidently order at his daily visit, and 
which the patient will gratefully appreciate. Meantime, some- 
thing of interest is to be said here about meals in general, both 
of past times, and of the present era. Early Breakfast, for instance, 
had its beginning in 14€3, and up to a century ago was a light, 
trifling meal. Queen Elizabeth and her Court rose at six, drank 
their morning ale, with brawn, at seven, and dined at 11 a.m. 
Cromwell dined at half-past one p.m. In 1750, five o'clock p.m. 
was the fashionable dinner hour ; and towards the close of the 
eighteenth century breakfast parties began to be given at noon. 
Lord Chesterfield, in his famous letters to his (natural) son (1774), 
wrote : “ lam convinced that a light supper, a good night’s sleep, 
and a fine morning have not infrequently made a hero of the same 
man who through indigestion, a restless night and a rainy daybreak 
would have proved a coward.” ‘‘ Lord Chesterfield,” said The 
Edinburgh Review, “‘ was the wittiest man of quality of his time.” 
George the Second dubbed him “a little tea-table scoundrel.” 
He married a lady who is believed to have been a daughter of 
George the First. Boswell tells in his Life of Dr. Johnson, that 
the great doctor ‘‘ thought of Chesterfield as a lord among wits, 
but found him only a wit among lords” ; whilst concerning the 
famous letters of this Lord Chesterfield to his son, “ they teach 
the morals of a whore, and the manners of a dancing-master.” 
“Hope” (unsubstantial food), said Lord Bacon, “is a good 
breakfast, but a bad supper,” (when better nourishment is needed). 
** Breakfast ! come to breakfast f 
Little ones, and all! 
How their merry footsteps 
Patter at the call! 
Break the bread: pass freely 
Milk which cream-like flows ! 
A blessing on their appetites, 
And on their lips of rose !” 
Dinner may be pleasant : 
So may social tea: 
Yet methinks the breakfast 
Best of all the three, 
