232 COOKERY OF THE HAKE 



not the hare, but the rabl:)it, as tlie former would 

 scarcely l)e domesticated.' At all events, there is no 

 mention of either in the early lists of foodstuffs, and 

 the natural inference is that the prejudice against 

 them was overcome either under Norman influence, 

 or by the example of some of the many uninvited 

 guests who visited the island between the Roman 

 occupation and the coming of \\'illiam the Conqueror. 

 The Northerners of those times were essentially 

 meat-eating folk, who depended largely upon their 

 bows and spears for their food. Have we not all read 

 a propos of these hardy people, tliat when the cup- 

 board was bare, an empty trencher with a pair of spurs 

 laid upon it was presented to the master of the house 

 as a delicate hint that he must needs go forth and kill 

 something? The habit of eating game may have 

 come from even more immediate neighbours, for 

 though the southern Britons, who first came under the 

 observation of Caesar, were vegetarians, subsisting 

 on milk, coarse cakes, wild honey, fruits, and such 

 vegetables as were known to them, the inhabitants of 

 the interior and districts further north — especially the 

 Scots — had certainly discovered the edible value of 

 the fish in their rivers and wild animals in their woods. 

 Caesar mentions having heard of this. It can easily 

 be understood, then, that the spread of a similarly 



