* * * * *
_Skeletons at Egyptian Banquet._--Where did Jer. Taylor find this
interpretation of the object of placing a skeleton at the banqueting
table:--
"The Egyptians used to serve up a skeleton to their feasts, that
the vapours of wine might be restrained with that bunch of myrrh,
and the vanities of their eyes chastened by that sad object."
Certainly not in Herodotus, 2. 78.; which savours rather of the
_Sardanapalian_ spirit: "Eat, drink, and love--the rest's not worth a
fillip!" Comp. Is. xxii. 13., 1 Cor. xv. 32.