THE OYSTER IN SEASON. 243 



it being generally supposed that they are unwholesome as 

 food at other times. This opinion was held by oyster- 

 eaters in the middle ages, according to the old Latin line : 

 " Mensibus erratis vos ostrea manducatis." 



In " Poor Robin's Almanack," 1719, under September, 

 he says : 



" This month hath gotten an r in 't, 

 By which Astrologers do hint 

 That the fish icleped oysters 

 Are in their operative moistures, 

 Which tho' counted ungodly meat, 

 Because without grace they are eat, 

 And also uncharitable 

 'Cause naught but shells come from table, 

 \Vhereby the Poor small comfort gain, 

 Yet this for Truth I will maintain, 

 That with a glass of good Canary, 

 (Oh ! which to drink too much be chary ;) 

 Being wash'd down, I say, with sack, 

 No commendations they need lack !" 



As a general rule, oysters are not in perfection between 

 the months of May and August, though the impatience of 

 the public has claimed the last-named month as an oyster 

 month, and the 5th of August begins the season. " I am 

 aware," says the author of " The Oyster," &c., " that in our 

 good city of London, in the hottest and earliest days of 

 August, oysters are gulped down by the thousand : it is, 

 nevertheless, an error a revolting, unhealthy, unclean 

 error which ought to be denied, both at home and 

 abroad, by the strong hand of the law. I, for my part, 

 utterly and entirely ignore fish or fowl of the game species, 

 as fit for human food, during the seasons of breeding ; and 

 although an oyster may be eatable in August, if the month 

 be hot it is rarely fresh ; and what is more disgusting or 



