Has in all times ornamented the tables and even the walls of ancient
epicures;--a princely dish is a boar’s head, its ferocious appearance
giving it such noble dignity when brought to table that it has not only
been recognized as one of the first and most recherché dishes of
antiquity, but has been immortalized by some of the oldest masters;
never has an antique banquet been represented without the introduction
of either a black or white servant in the act of bringing or placing a
boar’s head upon the table of a wealthy amphytrion. Sneiders, Weenix,
and Rubens, have often traced it upon their immortal canvasses, which
were eagerly bought by the greatest epicureans to embellish their
banqueting halls, and to show their children, from generation to
generation, how their great forefathers used to live.