80 THE OYSTEE. 



good, but great care must be taken, in opening the shell 

 and detaching the oyster, not to break the double shell, 

 which they mostly possess, for this contains sulphuretted 

 hydrogen, which gives a bad smell and flavour to the 

 oyster, and poisons the stomach of the consumer. 



7. American Oysters, though, to my taste, by no 

 means so delicate as others I have mentioned, are never- 

 theless superior for cooking. Por my own part, although 

 I have stated that pepper, vinegar, lemon juice, and 

 other stimulating ingredients, are commonly made use 

 of when eating the oyster, I ofl'er, in all courtesy, the 

 decided opinion, that the taste must be vitiated that can 

 swallow such in preference to the delicate, fresh, luscious, 

 charming little morsel, saturated merely, or perhaps the 

 word ought to be merely bedewed, like the rose on a 

 summer morning, by its own liquid life's blood. Ame- 

 ricans, themselves, generally prefer their large oysters 

 even to our British Natives. 



8. French Oysters. — The French oysters are chiefly 

 taken from beds in the Bays of Cancale and St. Brieux, 

 from Marennes, from Havre and Dieppe, from Dunkirk, 

 and from the Bay of Biscay. The three first are very 

 fine, but the distance to Paris is too great ; they are there- 

 fore dear in that capital. Those from Dunkirk are 

 similar to those of Ostend, but not quite so fine ; and 

 those from the Bay of Biscay are quite green, and highly 

 esteemed in the south of Prance, especially at Bordeaux. 



9. Dutch Oysters are both good and dear. The four 

 sorts I recommend are Seelanders, Vliessingers, Middle- 

 burgers, and Yieringers. The latter are almost the 

 finest and best, but uncommonly dear, and are mostly 

 consumed in Holland. 



