FAT SQUIRREL. 
fete on the occasion, as he means to invite all 
his antiquarian friends immediately on the 
Rats arrival. Do not frown at his taste: I 
am told that the food is perfectly classical, and 
no less delicate. The animal answers the de- 
scription given by Pliny and BufFon ; it sleeps 
from autumn till summer ; and steals from it's 
hiding place when the richest fruits are in per- 
fection, on which alone it feeds. The Peach 
Trees have fattened the large herd, which 
have slumbered in the adjoining woods ; and 
have this year been more plentiful than usual, 
on account of the mildness of the winter. I call 
them Rats, from their almost perfect resem- 
blance to that animal, and the peasants gave 
them the same degrading appellation ; but their 
real name is the Loir. Unlike the Romans, 
who encouraged the breed as an article of 
considerable luxury, these rustics are igno- 
rant! y industrious in destroying it. So great 
■was the demand for this food, according to 
Gibbon, that it w 7 as prohibited by the Cen- 
sors as an article of luxury, at the most luxu- 
rious and degenerate epocha of the Roman 
Republic. It appears that the animal is still 
held in estimation in Italy, and sent as presents 
to 
