XIV.
Against Extravagance[34]
.
[A CHINESE Author, speaking of
the extravagant splendor, with which
his Countrymen celebrate some of
their festivals; adds, "One would
be apt to say, that the money employed
on these occasions was like
the leaf of a tree taken from a
vast forest; or like a grain of
corn taken from a large granary."—There
needs no more than
a marriage to ruin the best houses.
It is because they don't read what
is said by the Poet,
In the marriages of these sort of families,
every body crieth out that the houses
are of silver.
Wait but a few years longer, both the man
and his fortune shall be overturned.
The jewels and silver shall have passed
away into another family[35]
.