WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 179 ' 



about the bowels of the earth than he knows or cares about his 

 own." This was quite enough for the Welsh jury, whose faith in 

 Buckland was shaken from that moment, though subsequent 

 events have proved his geological foresight was quite correct in 

 this matter. The parallel between that fine old Oxford pro- 

 fessor and M. de la Villemarque struck me forcibly at this 

 moment, both being devoted to science, but giving no thought 

 to the body beyond its needful claim. 



So much for the bouillabaisse ; and now for a few words on 

 the oyster-soup. Had Horace been present he would have made 

 Catius describe its composition to the last pinch of salt required 

 for its flavour ; another Satire would have been the happy result, 

 and we should have known the bay aye, the very bed that 

 furnished the delicious bivalve. But, lacking his good company, 

 the reader must e'en be satisfied with M. Coste's history of his 

 oyster-soup, in answer, as it were, to the unqualified praise 

 bestowed on it by all present. 



" I never knew what oyster-soup was," said he, " till I tasted 

 it in Jersey. My ichthyological duties led me, some time since, 

 to visit that island, seeking information respecting a shell-fish 

 called the ormer, said to be peculiar to those coasts. My 

 quarters were at Jeune's Union Hotel, in the Place Royale, 

 which, for comfort and good fare, justly bore at that time the 

 highest character in the island. With a rare stock of old Bur- 

 gundy in the cellar so old that no hand but that of the 

 experienced host could decant it without breaking the crust 

 and an accomplished artist in the kitchen, who understood 

 English and French cookery equally well, no wonder M. Jeune's 

 hotel was the most popular in Jersey. But the dish of all others, 

 which attracted most attention, was the oyster-soup, the receipt 

 for which was a dead secret, nor would money tempt the chef to 

 reveal it. However, what the dollar could not do, the Burgundy 

 did. Pierre loved a bottle of it as much as his master; and 



