INTRODUCTION. ix 



Many esteem the Colchester Pyfleet as the best, 

 though the native Milton is reckoned the fattest 

 and whitest. They are known to be alive and 

 vigorous when they close fast upon the knife, and 

 let go as soon as they are wounded in the body. 



The oyster fishery in Britain is esteemed of so 

 much importance that it is regulated by a Court of 

 Admiralty, and, according to law, oysters come into 

 season on August 4, and go out the beginning of May, 

 which justifies the old saying that they are to be 

 eaten whenever there is the letter R in the month. 



In the month of May the fishermen are allowed 

 to take the oysters, in order to separate the spawn 

 from the cultch, the latter of which is thrown in 

 again to preserve the bed for the future. After this 

 month it is felony to carry away the cultch, and 

 otherwise punishable to take any oyster between 

 the shells of which, when closed, a shilling will rattle. 



The French assert that the English oysters, 

 which are esteemed the best in Europe, were 

 originally procured from Cancale Bay, near St. 

 Malo, but they assign no proof of this. It is a fact, 

 however, that the oysters eaten in ancient Rome 

 were nourished in the channel which then parted 

 the Isle of Thanet from England, and which has 

 since been filled up and converted into meadows. 



There is much diversity of opinion about the 

 wholesomeness and the nutritive powers of oysters. 

 Some medical men say that they, like all shellfish, 

 afford but a small amount of nutritive substance, 

 which is the reason why a great many can be eaten 

 without spoiling the appetite for other dishes. 



In former days a dinner of any pretension 

 always began with oysters, and many of the guests 

 never stopped till they had swallowed a gross, i.e. 



