with
a sharp knife the yard of butter into halves, quarters, or eighths,
very exactly. Within the Colleges it is highly probable that, when
prolix papers are read, and more or less complacently debated, the
humorous lines of a minor poet are realized—
" When, ladling butter from alternate tubs, Stubbs butters Freeman, Freeman butters Stubbs."
It
was Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, who, basely treacherous to a
sleeping guest, (but nevertheless strangely extolled by Deborah in Holy
Scripture, when bursting forth into the grandest hymn of self-laudatory
praise ever declaimed) " brought forth butter, ' tuban,' (narcotic, as
then made from milk turned sour) in a lordly dish." This dish was of
Damascus ware, inlaid with silver. The apology is that Sisera, by
intruding himself within the inviolable sanctuary of Jael's inner tent,
had incurred the fixed penalty of certain death. But this pretext
cannot be easily reconciled with her unconditional request to him.—"
Turn in, my lord : turn in to me : fear not! (And when he had turned in
unto her she covered him with a mantle.) "
From Butter to Cheese (whilst we are about it) is
an easy transition :—
" The farmer's daughter hath soft brown hair (Butter, and eggs, and a pound of cheese.)"
In
former days Dr. Schroder wrote : " Cheese is seldom used in Physick ;
some apply green cheese to the Liver, against heat of Feavers ; some
eat old cheese to dissolve the Nodes in Gouts." In our modern day
Thackeray declared " There is no delicacy in the world, such as
Monsieur Francatelli, or Monsieur Soyer can produce, which I believe to
be better than toasted cheese." A diet consisting mainly of good sound
