87 



1653 one bushel of oysters changed hands for 2s. 4d., and 

 from that date till 1680 prices ruled from that price to 

 3s. 6d. per bushel. 



In London two quarts of oysters were sold at 2s. per 

 quart in 160,8. 



The Kentish Gazette in its issue of 23rd January, 1823, 

 mentioned that oysters fetched four guineas a bushel at 

 Billingsgate. They were brought to London in waggons, 

 as the frost was so severe vessels could not bring the 

 oysters up by water. The wholesale price of " Royals" at 

 Whitstable, in February, 1902, was i8s. per hundred tale, 

 which was about doubled when they reached the consumer 

 in London from the retail dealers. French, and other 

 foreign oysters, are very much cheaper, even as low as 6d. 

 a dozen, retail. Some readers may remember the comic 

 song in which an economical lady is described as sitting in 

 front of a mirror to eat half-a-dozen oysters, in order that 

 she might think they were a dozen. With good oysters 

 like "Royals" at four or five shillings a dozen, economy 

 like that is not altogether surprising, though the price is not 

 really high to a sincere lover of oysters to whose palate the 

 real genuine article is a peculiarly gratifying sensation. 

 The general public are not aware of the amount of labour 

 and trouble devoted to providing them with a satisfactory 

 oyster. Each one is examined, selected and cleaned from 

 excrescences as carefully as if it were a blossom to be 

 exhibited at a flower show, and those who have watched 

 the process have gone away no longer wondering that the 

 best English oyster cannot be sold in London so cheaply 

 as some of the foreigners. 



Professor Rogers, in Vol. IV. of his interesting work, >ays : 

 " There are fifteen entries of ovsters, ijenerallv bv the 



