310 OSTREADiE. 



than those of Italian shores, or they would not have 

 brought them from so far for their luxurious feasts. 

 Juvenal records the exquisite taste of the epicure ; — 



Who 



At the first bite each oyster's birth-place knew ; 

 Whether a Lucrine or Circcean he 'd bitten, 

 Or one from Rutupinian deeps in Britain. * 



In Bishop Sprat's " History of the Royal Society," is 

 contained the first paper of importance on the oyster- 

 fisheries of England. It is selected by the bishop as 

 one of the examples which he gives of the various 

 kinds of papers read before the Royal Society at that 

 time, and respecting it he well remarks, " it may, per- 

 haps, seem a subject too mean to be particularly alleged ; 

 but to me it appears worthy to be produced. For though 

 the British oysters have been famous in the world ever 

 since this island was discovered, yet the skill how to 

 order them aright has been so little considered amongst 

 ourselves, that we see at this day, it is confined to some 

 narrow creeks of one single county." The paper is so 

 short, concise, and important in its bearing on the his- 

 tory of British oyster-fisheries, that we transcribe it 

 nearly entire. It is entitled, " The History of the Ge- 

 neration and Ordering of Green Oysters, commonly called 

 Colchester Oysters," and runs thus: — " In the month of 

 May the oysters cast their spawn (which the dredgers 

 call their spat) ; it is like to a drop of candle, and 

 about the bigness of an halfpenny. The spat cleaves 

 to stones, old oyster-shells, pieces of wood, and such 



" Circaeis nata forent, an 

 Lucrinum ad saxum, Rutupinove edita fundo 

 Ostrea, callebat primo deprendere morsu." 



Juvenal, Sat. iv. 140. 



