OF AN INSECT-HUNTER. 403 



for many hundred years, to have been their single study — the 

 sole object to which their gigantic powers of intellect were di- 

 rected. The opera did not exist — fox-hunting had never been 

 dreamed of — games of chance were considered unclerical — 

 what could they do ? Is it surprising that the operation of 

 eating became a science of the deepest interest ? The object, 

 then, of this close propinquity of running water was to preserve 

 fish in living freshness, until the very hour they were required 

 for the table. 



It is best here to state, that some doubt has been thrown 

 upon the historical account of the Priory having been built by 

 Merowald, over the brook Oney ; and there are those who 

 state, that the present channel of the stream was cut by order 

 of the monks, after their taking possession of this edifice, in 

 the reign of Henry I., who, it is said, abolished the nunnery, 

 in consequence of the sins of the fair sisterhood, and esta- 

 blished this building as a priory, under the government of the 

 celebrated monastery at Reading. Whoever will take the 

 trouble to examine the course of Oney, from the town to its 

 union with Lug, will think this conjecture far from impro- 

 bable. We must not, however, forget that still greater praise 

 is due to these scientific divines, supposing the conjecture cor- 

 rect ; for it then appears, that they actually accomplished the 

 laborious task of turning the course of a river, for the advance- 

 ment of their favourite science of gasterology. What an ex- 

 ample to its lukewarm professors at the present day ! 



The fact is obvious, that this exquisitely clear stream actu- 

 ally flowed under the kitchen of the Priory. On either side, 

 above and below, there was, doubtless, as in a hundred other 

 instances, a fine grating. Within the inclosure were preserved 

 hundreds of that most exquisitely flavoured fish, the grayling ; 

 a fish still abundant in the stream. It is not, perhaps, gene- 

 rally known, that this princely fish has, when cooked immedi- 

 ately on being taken from the water, a taste and smell like a 

 fresh cut cucumber : it is very seldom this treat can be ob- 

 tained. The monks were perfectly aware of this quality, and 

 of the great difficulty in availing themselves of it. They 

 therefore contrived, by thus keeping a living supply of the de- 

 licacy as near as possible to the fire that was to cook it, 

 to command the luxury whenever required. At a minute's 

 notice the stone in the kitchen-floor was removed, the 



