OSTREA. 47 



phical question which he makes the fool ask of Lear, as 

 to the mode of constructing its shell, would be difficult 

 for the best conchologist to answer satisfactorily. It 

 has even been celebrated in pastoral verse. Sannaza- 

 rius, an eccentric Italian writer of the last century, 

 changed the scene in this kind of poetry from woods 

 and lawns to the barren beach and boundless ocean, 

 introducing sea-calves in the room of kids and lambs, 

 seamews for the lark and the linnet, and presenting his 

 mistress with oysters instead of fruits and flowers. There 

 is no lack of gossip on the subject. The recent publi- 

 cation of three books attests its popularity. One con- 

 tains the " Life of an Oyster"; another gives directions 

 " where, how, and when to find, breed, cook, and eat 

 it"; and the third explains its medicinal and nutritious 

 qualities. All these brochures are very amusing. The 

 second teaches no less than fifteen different ways of 

 dressing this delicacy ; and it would especially interest 

 those who are not true lovers of it in its natural state, 

 and therefore approve of Gay's sentiment — 



" The man had sure a palate covered o'er 

 With brass or steel, that on the rocky shore 

 First broke the oozy oyster's pearly coat, 

 And risq'd the living morsel down his throat." 



But there is death even in the pot; and the 'Comptes 

 Rendus' for March last mentions some fatal cases of 

 poisoning by green oysters imported into Rochefort from 

 Falmouth. The Editor of the ( Journal de Conchylio- 

 logie/ in commenting on this accident, remarks that 

 English copper, in a metallic state, is a product " tres- 

 estimable," but less valuable as an article of food. Old 

 Fuller, in his ' Worthies/ says that oysters are the only 

 meat which men eat alive and yet account it no cruelty. 

 Probably, in his time German ladies did not crunch 



