18 THE OYSTER. 



a larger profit than any other known branch of in- 

 dustry." 



But the breeding and fattening of the London oyster 

 has long been a lucrative branch of trade, of which 

 Cockaine may well be proud. It is carried on '^ con- 

 tagious" to London, as Mrs. Malaprop would say — 

 principally in Essex and Kent. The rivers Crouch, 

 Blackwater, and Colne are the chief breeding places 

 in the former, and the channel of the Swale and the 

 Medway in the latter. These are contiguous to Milton ; 

 hence Dibdin's song, and hence also the corruption of 

 "melting hoysters;" melting they are too. The cor- 

 ruption is classical, so let it stand. 



Exclusive of oysters bred in Essex and Kent, vast 

 numbers are brought from Jersey, Poole, and other places 

 along the coast, and are fattened in beds. The export 

 of oysters from Jersey alone is very considerable, hav- 

 ing amounted on an average of the four years ending 

 with 1832-^' to 208,032 bushels a year. The Jersey 

 fishing then employed, during the season, about 1500 

 men, 1000 women and children, and 250 boats. Think 

 of this, ye oyster-eaters ! Think that ye are doing — such 

 is the wise ordination of an overruling Providence — some 

 good when you are swallowing your ante-prandial 

 oyster, and are giving employment to some portion of 

 those 3000 people who work for you at Jersey, besides 

 helping to feed the cold-fingered fishmonger, who, with 

 blue apron and skilful knife, tempts you to '^ Hanother 

 dazzen, sir?" 



* The exportation has by this time nearly doubled, but these 

 are the latest statistics we can arrive at. 



