258 ON SURREY HILLS. 



eating and drinking. Of woodcock I remember 

 they used to say, " Birds thet wus always suckin' 

 stuff out o' pools an' dykes could not be good for 

 much. Frogs did that, an' Frenchmen fed on frogs." 

 The connection between woodcocks and frogs I 

 always failed to discover, beyond the fact that 

 both got their living in moist places. I can re- 

 member also the account that was brought home 

 of the cooking and serving up of one particular 

 pair that had been so presented ; and the very 

 wording of the note of thanks the gentleman wrote 

 in acknowledgment of " the luxuries so kindly for- 

 warded." The note was thought much of, and 

 religiously treasured, as having been "writ by the 

 squire's own hand." The manner of the bird's cook- 

 ing was also told in strict confidence by the squire's 

 cook. I recall it all as though it had happened 

 only yesterday, and the expression of thankfulness, 

 echoed by all at our tea-table, that none of them 

 had "got to eat such frenchified muck as that." 

 And then the climax was reached when one told 

 how tomatoes or, as they called them, " love-apples," 

 were freely eaten by the same gentleman, cooked 

 as vegetables, and also raw as fruit, freshly plucked 



