A HA RD- WORKING DIE T. 411 



of theology, and restored to the domain of common 

 sense and political economy, for there is no prospect 

 of arguing the matter in a fair spirit among conflicting 

 divines : and of all things polemics are the most stale 

 and unprofitable. Loaves and fishes have, in all ages 

 of the Church, had charms for us of the cloth ; yet how 

 few would confine their bill of fare to mere loaves and 

 fishes ? So far Lent may be a stumbling block. In 

 Edward III., A.D. 1338, Rymer's 'Fcedera,' page 1021, 

 says that before the battle of Cressy fifty ton of 

 Yarmouth bloaters were shipped for the troops. The 

 enemy sorely grudged them their supplies, for it 

 appears by the chronicles of Enguerrand deMonstrellet, 

 the continuator of Froissart, that in 1429 they had a 

 battle which Rapin calls " La journee des harengs." 



The cultivated Athenians appreciated the value 

 of fast days. Accordingly on the eve of certain 

 festivals they fed exclusively on figs and the honey 

 of Mount Hymettus. . Plutarch tells us a solemn fast 

 preceded the celebration of Thermophoria. 



It appears that Numa fitted himself by fasting for 

 an interview with the mysterious inmate of Egeria's 

 grotto. 



Gibbon, in the ' Causes of the Decline and Fall/ 

 notices the vile propensity to overfeeding, and shows 

 that nothing but a bond fide return to simpler fare 

 could restore the mighty system of dominion. The 

 hint was acted upon. The Popes, frugal and 

 abstemious, ascended the vacant throne of the Caesars, 

 and ordered Lent to be observed throughout the 

 Eastern and Western worlds. 



The theory of fasting saved the Empire, taught 

 self-control, and gave a jnasterdom over barbarous 



