234 EDITOR. 



player had one dish that cost nearly 5000 the tongues of singing- 

 birds. Lucullus's suppers amounted to 1600 each. Favourite dishes 

 were the fat paps of a sow the livers of scari the brains of pheni- 

 copters. Apicius sails from the coast of Italy to that of Africa to taste 

 a species of oyster one of the common dishes of Rome the (word 

 undecipherable) boar. 



' Ancient Scandinavian feasts. Intemperate in eating and drink- 

 ing. As among the Persians, to hold much liquor reputed a heroic 

 virtue. Drinking to the gods and the souls of departed heroes. Their 

 heaven that of the Turks. The old English. William of Malnies- 

 bury's account of them continuing over their cups night and day. 

 Saints' days times of festivity. In Scotland the extreme sumptuous- 

 ness of the feasts at marriages, christenings, and funerals restrained by 

 Act of Parliament in the reign of Charles II. These great feasts a 

 proof that the people were not habitually luxurious. Our own recol- 

 lection of Christmas and New Year's day. Luxury of the monks in the 

 Middle Ages. Giraldus Cambrensis' anecdote of the monks of St 

 Swithiu who prostrated themselves at the feet of Henry II., com- 

 plaining of their Bishop. His decision regarding their suit. Angels, 

 patriarchs, apostles, prophets in poetry. Luxury of the present age. 

 Its effects on small farmers, operative manufacturers. Rack-rented 

 tenants. People becoming extremely poor or oppressively rich. 



' Luxury the cause of decline in almost all nations. The Persians 

 as invaders and invaded. Alexander conquered by luxury. The 

 Greeks, both Athenians and Spartans. The Romans employ mercen- 

 aries. Our own country. Goldsmith's apostrophe.' 



Hugh Miller conducted the Witness for sixteen years, 

 and he cannot have written for the paper fewer than a 

 thousand articles. ' Having surveyed this vast field, I 

 retain the impression of a magnificent expenditure of 

 intellectual energy, an expenditure of which the world 

 will never estimate the sum. By far the larger portion 

 of what he wrote for the Witness is gone for ever. Admir- 

 able disquisitions on social and ethical questions, felici- 

 ties of humour and sportive though trenchant satire, 

 delicate illustration and racy anecdote from an inex- 

 haustible literary erudition, and crystal jets of the purest 

 poetry, such things will repay the careful student of 

 the Witness file, but can never be known to the general 

 public.' 



It was a tragic element in Miller's lot as a newspaper 



