“Did you know me better,” returned the count, smiling, “you would not give one thought of such a thing for a traveller like myself, who has successively lived on maccaroni at Naples, polenta at Milan, olla podrida at Valencia, pilau at Constantinople, karrick in India, and swallows’ nests in China. I eat everywhere, and of everything, only I eat but little; and to-day, that you reproach me with my want of appetite, is my day of appetite, for I have not eaten since yesterday morning.”
“What,” cried all the guests, “you have not eaten for four and twenty hours?”
“No,” replied the count; “I was forced to go out of my road to obtain some information near Nimes, so that I was somewhat late, and therefore I did not choose to stop.”
“And you ate in your carriage?” asked Morcerf.
“No, I slept, as I generally do when I am weary without having the courage to amuse myself, or when I am hungry without feeling inclined to eat.”
From Alexandre Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo.
What a find, haha! I’m big into 1800s English lit, and the rich people’s habits always amaze me. partying til 2AM (even the older people!) late lunch AND afternoon tea and regular dinner feasts and chugging Mercury purgatives and getting gout like crazy, like slow down!