THE OYSTER IN SEASON. 247 



in consequence of having eaten oysters in the month of 

 July. They are, during these months, very thin, and 

 without taste ; in the month of September they become 

 again fat and eatable, which may be accounted for by the 

 fact of their being self-generated. The strength of the 

 poor oysters is entirely spent in fattening themselves, in 

 order the more to tickle the palate of the epicure in the 

 proper season. (<:) 



There is not a man, however unobservant, but knows 

 that oysters are a great source of profit to some of that 

 multitude which rises every morning without knowing 

 exactly how, when, and where it shall dine. Billingsgate, 

 in the oyster season, is a sight and a caution. Boats 

 coming in loaded ; porters struggling with baskets and 

 .sacks ; early loungers looking on it is so pleasant to see 

 other people work ; buyers and cheapeners, the fish sales- 

 man in his rostrum, the wealthy purchaser who can lay out 

 his hundreds and buy his thousands all to be met with, 

 together with that noise and bustle, and, far beyond it, all 

 that incredible earnestness which always distinguishes an 

 English market, (d) 



Oysters, still sold out of the smacks at Billingsgate, 

 may also be obtained at Hungerford. The real " Miltons" 

 and the " Colchesters ' : are among the most expensive 

 kind. The costermongers buy oysters of a " good mid- 

 dling quality." At the commencement of the season the 

 bushel, more or less heaped up, costs iq./- ; the general 

 price is g/- or io/-; but they have been i6/- or i8/-. In 

 1848 very large-shelled oysters, the animals being very 

 small, were brought in from the Sussex coast, and had an 



(c) "The Oyster," &c., p. 12. 

 (d) Ibid. 



