“Je suis aujourd’hui en train de conter; plaise à Dieu que cela ne soit pas une calamité publique.”--BRILLAT SAVARIN. Among well-worn illustrations and similes, there are few that have been more hardly worked than the above line of Poquelin-Molière. It is a line which tells us pleasantly enough, that he who sits at the head of a table is among those “respectable” powers who find an alacrity of worship at the hands of man. I say, “at the hands;” for what is “adoration” but the act of putting the hand to the mouth (as expressed by its components _ad_ and _os_, _oris_)? and what worship is so common as that which takes this form, especially when the Amphitryon is amiable, and his altar well …
Or read it translated: 日本語 · 中文 · हिन्दी · Español · العربية · Français · বাংলা · Português · Русский · Bahasa Indonesia · اردو · Deutsch · Kiswahili · 한국어