A FEW WORDS ON FEN-LAND. 209 



The price of Geese is stated in the ' Northumberland Household 

 Book':—" Item, it is thoughte goode to by Geysse so that they be good, and 

 for iijd. or iiijt/. at the moste, seynge that iij or iiij Meas may be served 

 thereof." 



The price in Boston market at Christmas 1877 was \s. per lb. 



Something might here be said of the "pate de foie gras;" but the 

 idea of eating these diseased livers* is so unpleasant that I refrain. 

 Daniel goes into it (vol. iii. p. 250) ; and it has nothing to do with 

 the fens. 



means of hot sand, after the quill has been soaked in water for several hours. A second method is 

 by placing the quUls in an oven or pot. In the third and most approved method the quill is put 

 into a hollow fire, and then subjected to pressure on a hot steel plate. 



The pens manufactured are usually hand-cut, with a simple penknife. Men and women are 

 employed solely in this one branch of the manufacture. A good workman can cut 1200 pens in a 

 day. 



Small Goose-quills are largely used for making camel-hair brushes and floats for fishing. 



* The celebrated "pate de Pithiviers " is hardly less disagreeable, though the original house 

 for this fabrigue is said to date from a.d. 1500 j and we must shut our eyes to a knowledge of what 

 portion of the Lark is used. 



Of the same kind is the famous bird's-nest soup of China, concerning which Charles Montague, 

 Earl of Halifax, the eminent statesman of King William III., was commented upon. Macaulay 

 remarks thus [' History of England,' vol. iv. chap, xx.) : — " He was said to revel in Tokay firom the 

 Imperial cellar, and in soups made out of bird's-nests from the Indian Ocean, costing three guineas 

 a-piece." And again (in vol. v. p. 159) : — " Only six bird's-nests from the Nicobar islands were to 

 be had in London ; and all the six were smoking, in soup, on the board." 



Probably the said Earl of Halifax had no idea of the ingredients of which these nests are 

 composed — viz. viscous saliva. They are cheaper now. 



These remarks do not, however, apply to the famous "pate de merles de Corse" (of. Ibis, 

 3rd ser. vol. vi. p. 381), made of Blackbirds [Turdus merula and T. musicus) "of three qualities : — 

 1st, those that feed on the berries of the myrtle ; 2nd, those that subsist on the fruit of the juniper ; 

 3rd, those that feed on the olive." It is stated that their value is in the above order. The following 

 appeared respecting them in ' The Times,' Wednesday, November 28, 1877 : — 



" Ingratitude. — The British Consul at Ajaccio notes among the annual exports from Corsica 



2h 2 



