Now no more, who is said to have been a great gourmand, and weighed
something less than thirty stone, but not much. At the college table,
where our D.D. daily took his meal, in order that he might the better
put his hand upon the dainty morsels, being very corpulent, he caused
a piece to be scooped out, to give him a fair chance. His chair was
also so placed, that his belly was three inches from the table at
sitting down, and when he had eaten till he touched it, his custom was
to lay down his knife and fork and desist, lest, by eating too much,
any dangerous malady should ensue. A waggish Fellow of his college,
however, one day removed his chair double the distance from the table,
which the doctor not observing, began to eat as usual. After taking
more than his _quantum_, and finding that he was still an inch or two
from the _goal_, he threw down his knife and fork in despair,
exclaiming, he "was sure he was going to die;" but having explained
the reason, he was relieved of his fears on hearing the joke had been
played him.
* * * * *