40 THE OYSTEK. 



reserroirs made at Baia, where he gathered thousands' 

 of these moUusks. Not far from these oyster-beds rose 

 a palace in which the wealthy Eoman used to assemble 

 his choicest friends and feast with them the whole day 

 and night. Oysters occupied the place of honour on the 

 table of Sergius Grata ; at every feast thousands of them 

 were consumed. Satiated, but not yet satisfied, these 

 gourmets were in the habit of adjourning into ani 

 adjoining room, where they relieved the stomach of its 

 load by artificial means, and then returned to indulge 

 again their appetite with a fresh supply of oysters. 



Strange as it may appear to us in the nineteentt 

 century, this custom was universal amongst the wealthy 

 ot Imperial Eome, C^sar himself often indulging in it: 

 when the repast was to his taste ; and ladies, the cream 

 of the cream of that luxurious period, carried aboui 

 with them peacocks' feathers and other dainty throa 

 ticklers for the purpose, when they anticipated a mor- 

 luxurious feed than usual. 



Who amongst us cares to eat white-bait in th 

 crowded city ? When the mood seizes us, do not w 

 take boat and proceed up or down the river, as th' 

 whim dictates? The old Eoman had no wHte-bait 

 and the oyster to him was therefore doubly welcome 

 To him the journey to his marine villa, by water o 

 land, as with us, added but a zest to the anticipate, 

 treat. In the Bay of Naples is a smaller bay close t 

 its most north-western point, bounded on the west b; 

 the pretty town of Baia and its hot wells, and on th 

 north-east by the no less charming town of Pozzuoli 

 These little bays on the Italian coasts are dignified b; 



