302 WHAT SHALL WE EAT? 



on the other leg : vegetarianism is all the vogue among 

 those who take thought what they shall eat and what 

 they shall drink. Bridge and boiled cabbage caine in 

 together, and who shall say which has the firmer hold 

 upon persons of fashion ? Like other fads, vegetarianism 

 has left its mark on the Statute Book. In 1567 the 

 Scottish Legislature enacted that, whereas ' it is a great 

 hurte to the common weill of this realm the indifferent 

 and dayly eating of fleshe within the same,' no person 

 was to eat meat upon three days in each week. There is 

 no bill at present before Parliament dealing with this 

 matter, but who shall declare that such legislation is not 

 impending ? Only a few days ago I sat at dinner in the 

 House of Commons next a young member (enviably 

 young, as we reckon youth in that over-ripe assembly), 

 rosy and plump, with all the outward semblance of a 

 faultless digestion. Ne crede colori ! Soon it was mani- 

 fest that he was upon strict regimen : soup fish he 

 would none of them; entrees joints he dismissed 

 almost with a shudder: but he punished the pease, 

 potatoes, and pudding properly. He assured me that fish 

 and eggs were just as pernicious as a rump steak, but 

 that of herbs, cheese, bread and butter one might safely 

 partake. He warned me against tea and coffee as slow 

 not very slow poison. Strange to say, he looked upon 

 the wine when it was red, and lo ! it was port. 



Well, well ; life-long habits are not to be broken in the 

 twinkling of an eye. I slunk away, a shame faced car- 

 nivore, to the tea-room, there to risk my life with le cafe 

 qui caresse les digestions ravies. It was encouraging to 

 find there a physician of considerable note, an abstainer, 

 I believe, sipping a comfortable cup of tea. Not so 



