half-a-barrel

Updated: May 5, 2025

Baron Graham's weakness was for oysters, eaten as a preparatory whet to the appetite before dinner; and it is recorded of him that on a certain occasion, when he had been indulging in this favorite pre-prandial exercise, he observed with pleasant humor "Oysters taken before dinner are said to sharpen the appetite; but I have just consumed half-a-barrel of fine natives and speaking honestly, I am bound to say that I don't feel quite as hungry as when I began."

John Cordy Jeaffreson - A Book About Lawyers