Page:Crotchet Castle - Peacock (1831).djvu/34

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CROTCHET CASTLE.

Hercules, the far-shining face of the great work, according to Pindar's doctrine: ἀρχομένου ἔρυου πρόςωπον χρὴ θέμεν τηλαυγὲς[1] The breakfast is the πρόςωπον of the great work of the day. Chocolate, coffee, tea, cream, eggs, ham, tongue, cold fowl, all these are good, and bespeak good knowledge in him who sets them forth: but the touchstone is fish: anchovy is the first step, prawns and shrimps the second; and I laud him who reaches even to these: potted char and lampreys are the third, and a fine stretch of progression; but lobster is, indeed, matter for a May morning, and demands a rare combination of knowledge and virtue in him who sets it forth.

  1. Far-shining be the face
    Of a great work begun.
    Pind. Ol. vi.