SPANISH, EMBDEN, AND EGYPTIAN GEESE. 123 



must needs be exsected. Nor am I, however ar- 

 dently attached to the writings of antiquity, suffi- 

 ciently classical, or a gourmand of sufficient taste and 

 calibre, to rival those of ancient Rome, in the size of 

 their goose LIVERS. I have thence never fed my 

 geese, during sixteen days, with a paste of Turkey 

 figs, stamped and beaten up with cream, in order to 

 bring their livers upon the table, each the weight of 

 three or four pounds ! I modestly leave such prac- 

 tices to princes, ministers, and men in high place. It 

 may be added, that, equal quantities of the meal of 

 OATS, RYE, and PEASE, mixed with skimmed milk, form 

 an excellent feeding article for geese and ducks. 



The SPANISH geese used to be preferred, but I have 

 had no experience in them. Our flocks, whilst we 

 resided in Middlesex, in the year 1788, were esteemed 

 the finest in the vicinity ; the breed of them had been 

 procured for us, from the neighbourhood of Bungay, 

 in Suffolk, by Goff, the dealer, already spoken of. 

 Formerly, the Embden geese were in the highest 

 esteem. They are all white, male and female, and of a 

 superior, indeed, very uncommon size. Whether or 

 not, as might be expected, there be a countervailing 

 objection in a corresponding whiteness, and thence 

 defect of savoury flavour in the flesh, I am unable to 

 say, having yet had no experience in the Embden 

 variety of geese. The Egyptian or African goose is 

 described as a very beautiful bird, more known for- 

 merly in this country than at present. Two of them 

 were lately shot in Scotland. Whether their merit 

 consists in mere ornament, or in their use for the table, 

 does not seem to have been hitherto ascertained. 

 G 2 



