48

DOMESTIC MANNEES OF TUE PKITSSIANS.

viands—evcn as the eyes of savages find pleasure merely inthe gaudiest colours; or as to wliether, by a long course ofsuperior breeding, the nervös of taste have beceme daintilydiscriminative between the more delicate of the sapid qualitiesof things — in the same manner as the educated retina of theartist feels its greatest charm to lie in the fine harmonies oftint, and light and shade.

The seavengers, fiusherinen, nightmen, and sweeps of Lon-don, live upon the coarsest possible food, for, to their leatherytongues, raw onions, pickled whelks, and the disgusting Com-pound called " fagots," have alone power to sting their nervesinto Sensation; and we should as soon expect to find themtickled with the subtle nicety of a French made-dish, as todiscover their rooms ornamented and perfumed with flowers.But even with these people, who rank as the lowest of ournation, we never knew one of them (and we have paid somelittle attention to the study of their idiosyncrasies) to be sonearly allied to the beast of proy as to delight in eating aconsiderable part of his animal food raw — as the barbarousPreussen do.

Man has been defined, by logicians who have puzzled theirbrains to arrive at some more essential difference than hisreason whereby to distinguish him from other sentient creatures— as " a cooking animal;" since it seems to be the custom withall persons taking rank as human beings to abstain from eatingtheir meat in a crude condition, like less culinary creatures.Such a defmition, however, hardly applies to the Prussianfamily, for it is the fashion with them to partake of rawherrings, raw ham, raw dried sahnon, raw sausages, raw driedgeese, and a variety of equally revolting articles.

In the Government- School reading-book ("für die ersteElementarklasse") oecurs the following passage:—" One eatsbread, pastry, meal-food, vegetables, egg-food, flesh, fish, roast-