_Nicolas Maes_ (Dutch: 1632-1693). _See_ 153.
In the background is the family at dinner. The waiting-maid comes to
the kitchen to serve the next course--the duckling, perhaps, which
a cat is stealing--and finds the cook of Sancho Panza's philosophy:
"Blessings on him who invented sleep, ... the food that appeases
hunger, the drink that quenches thirst, ... the balance that equals the
simple with the wise." Signed and dated 1655.