Nothing to Eat

A satirical poem paints a sequence of comic scenes around a fashionable hostess who fusses over wine, doctors, dress, and a lavish dinner while nibbling and professing indigestion. The narrator shifts among market visits, invitations, the dining room, and after-dinner habits to expose social affectation and culinary excess. Comic detail and caricature lead to moral reflections on gluttony, the financial and moral strain of conspicuous consumption, and the role such extravagance plays in discouraging marriage. The poem blends humor and admonition to critique vanity, waste, and the gap between outward display and private satisfaction.