EDIBLE SNAILS. 47 



said to characterise the human race of the present day, no 

 snail now ever attains a bulk at all comparable to those of 

 Varro. Snails, however, are still eaten in great numbers on 

 the continent of Europe, and they are preferred when taken 

 directly from their hybernating quarters. In Switzerland, 

 where there are gardens in which they are fed in many thou- 

 sands together, a considerable trade is carried on in them 

 about the season of Lent ; and at Vienna, a few years ago, 

 seven of them were charged at an inn the same as a plate of 

 veal or beef. The usual modes of preparing them for the 

 table are, either boiling, frying them in butter, or sometimes 

 stuffing them with farce-meat ; but in what manner soever they 

 are dressed, it is said, their sliminess always, in a great mea- 

 sure, remains. Those edible snails were introduced into 

 England, about the middle of the sixteenth century, by 

 Charles Howard, of the Arundel family ; and afterwards by 

 the eccentric Sir Kenelm Digby, either as being a favourite 

 foreign delicacy, or in order to cure his wife, (Venetia Anas- 

 tasia, daughter of Edward Stanley, and celebrated for her 

 beauty,) of a consumptive disease,* for they had a high repu- 

 tation for their restorative virtues. The fashion seems to 

 have taken, for the great master-cook, Robert May, has left 

 several recipes for dressing snails among the secrets of his 

 fifty years' experience ; -j- but, like other fashions, it soon 

 passed away, for the English have no relish of such " liquor- 

 ish viands. "J In proof of this, and as a pleasant conclusion 

 to a long letter, allow me to transcribe for you a story from 

 the pen of Sir Walter Scott: 



" The chemical philosophers Dr. Black and Dr. Hutton 

 were particular friends, though there was something ex- 

 tremely opposite in their external appearance and manner. 

 Dr. Black spoke with the English pronunciation, with punc- 

 tillious accuracy of expression, both in point of matter and 

 manner. The geologist was the very reverse of this : his 

 conversation was conducted in broad phrases, expressed with 



* See on this point Turton's Manual, p. 47. Some years ago they were 

 introduced into Scotland by Dr. Neill, and placed in his curious and most 

 interesting garden at Cannonmills ; hut, we believe, they have not prospered, 

 and are gradually disappearing, or have died out. 



t The above 'particulars are from the works of Pennant, Bingley, &c. ; 

 and from Southey's Omniana, ii. 81. 



t " En France, les Escargots n'ont qu'une reputation de caprice ; on en 

 mange, il est vrai, dans quelques-uns de nos departements meridionaux, et 

 c'est une des ressources des malheureux. S'il existe quelques amateurs qui 

 les recherchent, il faut dire a leur justification, et pour me servir d'une 

 expression vulgaire, que la sauce leur fait manger le poisson." Chenu Lef. 

 Element. p. 156. 



