Meaning & Analysis
A proverbial observation that different professions enjoy the best version of specific meals: the huntsman has the most substantial breakfast (to fuel early labor), while the lawyer enjoys the finest midday dinner (often communal and lavish).
Insights
Rhythms of Labor
The proverb highlights how professional demands dictate lifestyle and biological rhythms. One's career determines not just what one earns, but when and how one finds satisfaction and sustenance during the day.
Stereotypes of Privilege
It serves as a catalogue of worldly indulgences, associating specific classes with their characteristic luxuries. It implies that to live the 'perfect' gastronomic day, one would need to switch professions every few hours.
The Full Quatrain
The citations (Hollyband, Kendall, Leigh) reveal that this is part of a longer four-part epigram: 'The Huntsman's breakfast, the Lawyer's dinner, the Merchant's supper, and the Monk's drinking.' This completes a satiric cycle of society: the Hunter eats for energy, the Lawyer for status, the Merchant for luxury (after a late trading day), and the Monk for hidden vice (alcohol).
The Inns of Court
The 'Lawyer's dinner' refers to the specific culture of the Inns of Court in London. In the 16th and 17th centuries, lawyers lived and dined collegially in great halls. These midday dinners were notorious for their formality, abundance, and role in networking, making them the premier social event of the legal day.
Early Modern Meal Times
Understanding the proverb requires knowing that 'dinner' was the main meal eaten around 11:00 AM or noon. The huntsman, rising before dawn, required a heavy breakfast when most others ate nothing. The lawyer, whose courts sat in the morning, made the midday break his primary feast. The merchant, busy during the day, feasted at 'supper' (evening). The proverb maps the chronological geography of the city.
Gastronomic Hierarchy
The saying reflects a 'Golden Mean' of consumption distributed across society. No single person has it all; the ideal culinary experience is fragmented across the estates, suggesting that each role has its unique compensation.
Rhetorical Devices
Ellipsis
The verb 'is the best' or 'is optimal' is omitted ('The Huntsman's breakfast [is best]...'), creating a swift, catalog-like rhythm.
Parallelism
The structure aligns professions with meals in a balanced list, reinforcing the idea of a structured, orderly society where everything has its proper place and time.
Synecdoche
The specific meal stands in for the entire lifestyle and socioeconomic status of the profession (e.g., the 'dinner' represents the lawyer's wealth and social connection).
Transcription
Quotations
Did you never heare speak of hunters breakfast, lawiers dinner, marchants supper and drinkyng of Moonkes?
An hunter's breakfast chiefest is, A lawyer's dinner best, Monks' drinkings, Marchants' suppers fine surmount and pass the rest.
Souper de marchand, A large, or great supper.
The Huntsmans breakfast, the Lawyers dinner, The Merchants supper, and the Monkes drinking.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.