230 MORE POT-POURRI 



gained the victory. I believe our friend Lady Morley 

 has hit upon the right plan in dining modestly at two. 

 When we are absorbed in side-dishes, and perplexed 

 with variety of wines, she sits amongst us, lightly flirt- 

 ing with a potato, in full possession of her faculties and 

 at liberty to make the best use of them — a liberty, it 

 must be owned, she does not neglect. For how agree- 

 able she is ! I like Lady Morley; she is what I call good 

 company.^ 



The really difficult part of practising any form of 

 diet, especially if you have gained immensely by the 

 results, is the irritation it causes to the people who 

 surround you. I was told the other day that having 

 mentioned in a letter the fact that I had become a vege- 

 tarian was more than enough to account for my receiv- 

 ing no answer. If any sufferers feel tempted to follow 

 my example of a strict diet, I strongly recommend them 

 to do all in their power to make it as unobtrusive a 

 factor in family life as possible. It will also be found a 

 great advantage to those who go out in society to cheat; 

 by which I mean, take things on your plate as a ' blind,' 

 though you have no intention of eating them. The 

 sympathy expressed lest you should kUl yourself, and 

 the terror lest your influence should prove the death of 

 somebody else, make life a martyrdom for a very insuf- 

 ficient cause. 



I never realised till this j^ear that there is considerable 

 danger in a sudden change of diet, especially in hot 

 weather and to those who are most in need of it. One 

 is always hearing of cases where abstention from meat 

 answers for a few months, and then has to be given up 

 because the patient finds himself less weU, and attributes 

 everything to his change of diet. Dr. Haig fully ex- 

 plains the reason for this. He may, of course, be wrong 

 in his deductions; if he is right, it should lead to great 



