308 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 



substituting cream or butter for the oil, but it was 

 the flavour of olive oil and vinegar combined with 

 that of the potato which made it perfect. 



Other experimenters may have discovered this 

 way of eating a potato, but the only approach to 

 it I have found in reading is contained in an anecdote 

 of Byron, at the time when he was the hero of 

 London society. He dined with a friend who had 

 got together a company of the poet's ardent admirers 

 to meet him. But he was in a difficult mood: he 

 declined soup and fish and meats of all kinds. 

 "What then will you eat?" asked his host, getting 

 impatient. " Oh, a potato," said Byron. And 

 when a big potato was put before him, he broke it 

 up, drenched it in vinegar and ate it, and this was 

 his dinner. And dinner over, he took himself off, 

 to the deep disappointment of all those who had 

 come to gaze and listen and worship. 



" How long," said one of them to his host, " will 

 his lordship be able to keep this dietary?" 



"How long how long!" said his host. "As 

 long as people think it worth while to pay any 

 attention to what he eats." 



The story goes on to say that, quitting his 

 friend's house, the poet walked to his club in 

 Piccadilly and told the waiter to bring him an 

 underdone beef-steak. He had perhaps discovered 

 that a potato drenched in vinegar was good as an 

 appetiser, but he probably did not know how 

 much better it would have been with the addition 

 of oil. 



