MU. \V. II. lilUWIiLL ON SU.ME OUSOLETE UISllE.S. 
5'Jo 
it tliynno, put vcuegvo in tlie clysslie and set it on the table without 
hete.” Though tlie crayfish was not much esteemed he was thought 
to feed well. “The crevyee,” we are told, “ eteth the oysters and 
geteth them by policyo, for when the oyster gapeth ho throweth ly tell 
stones in him and so geteth his ii.she out for it bydeth then open.” 
The herring, salted and fresh, has been in high repute from the 
time of the Conquest. In the reign of Kdward III. the sum of 
fifty marks was paid for five lasts of red herring for the royal 
household, and twelve i)Ounds for two lasts of white herring. So 
important was this fish that in 1 12U, in the French war, a battle 
was fought to intercept a convoy of .salt fish which was being taken 
to the Fngllsh camp, which was known as the Hattie of the 
Herrings. The corporation of Yarmouth Avas bound to furnish the 
king annually Avith a hundred herrings baked in four and tAventy 
pa.stics ; ami the city of Norwicli held the manor of Fast ( "arlton 
on condition of sending every year to Windsor a herring pie. In 
1029 Lord rembroke, and othei's, appointed to receive these pies at 
llichmond, found “ divers just o.\ceptions to be taken against the 
goodness of them ; instead of a long hundred of six score they found 
only live score, and those not caused to bo baked in good and strong 
])astyo IAS they ought to be that they may endure the carriage the 
better” (lUomfield, vol. iii. p. .‘175). 
In Cornwall similar pies Avere made Avith pilchards ; one kind of 
jiie, called the “ sUrrry, gazy pie,” had the heads of the pilchards 
appearing through the crust as if gazing at the stars. 
In the middle ages many English Avild plants Avere grown in 
gardens for salads or for flavouring steAvs, and others Avhich had 
medicinal virtues also found a place in cultivated enclosiu'cs, that 
they might be ready at haml in case of need or be preserved for 
future use. 
Some lists of plants Avhich Avere then considered desirable for a 
garden have been published, one by Mr. "Wright in his ‘History of 
Pomestic Manners’ (p. 300), from a manuscript in the Sloane 
^fuseum, Avhich being very interesting and often referred to I Avill 
(]Uote in full. 
In these lists occur the names of many indigenous plants, and of 
others, Avhich though not really Avild in England, haA’e so established 
themselves as to be included in the Hritish Flora. Of these plants 
