THE TURKEY. 
77 
thumberland Household Book,” the price of a peacock 
for the table in 1512 was twelvepence ; but we must 
recollect that this was a much larger sum in those days 
than it is now considered to be. 
Shakespeare has committed a curious anachronism 
in introducing the domestic Turkey in the play of 
Henry IV., the species being unknown in England until 
the later reign of Henry VIII. The passage referred to 
runs thus:— 
First Carrier . “ ’Odsbody ! the turkeys in my pannier 
are quite starved. What, ostler ! ”—Henry IV. Part I. 
Act ii. Sc. 1. 
The turkey was imported into Spain by the Spanish 
discoverers in the New World, early in the sixteenth 
century, its wild prototype being the Gallipavo Mexicana 
of Gould, and from Spain it was introduced into England 
in 1524. In 1525 a rhyme was composed, celebrating the 
introduction of this bird, as well as other good things, 
into this country :— 
“ Turkies, carps, hoppes, piccarell, and beere, 
Came into England all in one yeare.” * 
A writer in the “ Encyclopaedia Britannica ” says :— 
“ This fowl was first seen in France in the reign of 
Francis I., and in England in that of Henry VIII. By 
* Baker’s “Chronicle.” 
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