280 OUT OF DOORS. 



our isles were deemed to be the extremest boundary of 

 the habitable world, and the fit home for pestilence and 

 disease, that had been driven by the power of the gods 

 from the City of the Seven Hills, Britain was yet of some 

 importance to the civilised world. She produced the 

 oyster. ' Natives ' are no modern delicacy. LucuUus 

 always had them on his table. They were set before 

 emperors, and devoured by certain imperial gluttons in 

 vast quantities that even surpassed the feats of their 

 modern imitator, whose name was, at the beginning of 

 the present century, as familiar in all men's mouths as 

 the oyster was in his own. If, too, we may judge by the 

 confessions of Christopher North, oysters were consumed 

 in the ' Noctes Ambrosianse ' with as much fervour as in 

 the ancient times, inasmuch as each member of the 

 famous trio seemed to consider himself hardly used if 

 he only had two hundred oysters by way of getting an 

 appetite for the supper that was to follow. 



There is certainly something about a barrel of 

 oysters that wears a most fascinating aspect. For my 

 own part, I can hardly conceive a more luxurious enter- 

 tainment than to have a whole long winter's evening to 

 myself, with the unwonted feeling of nothing to do, 

 slippers, a bright fire, which will not smoke on any 

 provocation, unlimited Cobb's ale, a fresh barrel of na- 

 tives, and a vision of egg-flip to follow. 



As to such heresies as pepper and vinegar, let them 

 be banished from the table whilst oysters are upon it. 

 These charming molluscs should always be taken un- 



