42 THE OYSTER. 



but he adds, that he could renounce them without any 

 difficulty ; which, by the way, he might as well have 

 told to the Marines, if they were in existence in his day, 

 for all the credence this remark of his has gained from 

 posterity. 



Wq prefer Horace, who in every passage honestly 

 makes known his love for oysters, and eats them him- 

 self with as much gusto as he extols them to others. 

 Carefully, too, does he note down from whom he pro- 

 cui^d them, and the name of the famous gourmet 

 who at the first bite was able to tell whether an oyster 

 came from Circe or the Lucrine Sea, or from any part 

 of ^atolia. The ancients, our teachers in all arts, but 

 especially in aesthetics, did not bolt the oyster, but 

 masticated it. "With true Epicurean tact, they always 

 extracted the fall enjoyment out of the good things set 

 before them. IS'ot so we ; most of us now bolt them ; but 

 this is a mistake, for the oyster has a much finer flavour, 

 and is far more nouiishing, when well masticated. 



" Those who wish to enjoy this delicious restorative 

 in its utmost perfection," says Dr. Kitchener, ''must 

 eat it the moment it is opened, with its own gravy in 

 the under shell ; if not eaten absolutely alive, its flavour 

 and spirit are lost. The true lover of an oyster will 

 have some regard for the feelings of his little favourite, 

 and contrive to detach the fish fi'om the shell so 

 dexterously that the oyster is hardly conscious he has 

 been ejected from his lodging till he feels the teeth oi the 

 piscivorous gourmet tickling him to death." 



The Romans needed not even the use of their teeth to 

 tell fr"om whence the oyster came ; a mere look sufficed 



