A Literary Christmas Dinner (more vintage clippings)

THE CHRISTMAS DINNER.

A Literary Dinner, Dished Up By Various Authors.

[I am including only the menu--the original link is longer.]

The Bill Of Fare,

Soup.

In soups and second courses.—Bennett.
A plate of turtle, green and glutinous.—Anon.

OYSTERS.

'Twas a fat oyster—live in peace.—Pope.

FISH.

Fishes that tipple in the deep.—Lovelace.
I marvel how the fishes live in the sea.—Shakespeare.
Was never salmon yet that shone so fair.—Charles Kingsley.

TURKEY.

A morsel for a monarch.—Shakespeare.
A most delicate creature.—Shakespeare.
Have it tender, and smoking, and juicy.—Thackeray
Lobster Salad. Quaint in green, loose enrobed.—Shakespeare.

PLAIN SALAD.

Herbs, and other country messes, which the neat-handed Phillis dresses.—Milton.

Cranberry Sauce.

Whose edge is sharper than the sword.—Shakespeare.

VEGETABLES.

The unbending corn.—Milton.
I'm a careless potato.—Moore.
Commend me to mistress Squash.—Shakespeare.
Can you cat roots and drink water?—Shakespeare.
Onions, whose fragrance smells to heaven.—Anon.

RELISHES.

Butter is a lordly dish -Judges v: 7.
I have peppered two of them.—Shakespeare. Heaven's blest beam turns vinegar more sour.—Anon.
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ex and hatred therewith.—Proverbs xv: 13.

PIE.

"Without the door let sorrow lie;
And if for cold it has to die,
We'll bury it in a Christmas pie,
And evermore be merry." —Anon.
What calls back the past like the rich pumpkin pie?—Whitticr.

PUDDING.

Pudding made hot.—Goldsmith.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating.—Dutch Proverb.

BREAD.

Bread is the staff of life.—Dean Swift.

DRINKS—WATER.

The cups that cheer, but not inebriate.— William Cowper.
The purest and sweetest that nature can yield.—Samuel Woodworth.
Its draught of cool refreshment may give a shock of pleasure to the frame.— Thomas Noon Talfourd.

COFFEE.

Coffee which makes the politician wise.—Pope.
Give me water with berries in it.—Shakespeare.

DESSERT.

Beautiful as sweet.— Young.
A feast of nectared sweets.—Milton.
Wouldst thou both eat thy cake and have it?—Herbert.

FRUIT.

The golden peach.—Gray.
Chestnuts in her lap.—Shakespeare.
Give it a plum, a cherry, and a fig.—Shakespeare.
A heap of candied apples, quince and plum, and gourd.—Keats.
Glorious apples with smooth, shining cheeks.—Alexander Smith.

THE DINNER EATEN.

That my poor stomach's past reform.— Trowbridge.

All he wants now is sugar plums and rest.—Lowell.

—F. A. Lincoln. Original in Good Housekeeping, 1886