Our viands

although it is now unknown in this country, it still forms the principal food of the peasantry of the greater part of Europe. Often have I seen the German peasant toiling along the dusty road by the side of his horse, cutting huge slices from what resembled a great black ham tucked under his arm, and feeding therewith himself and his horse alter- nately. This black bread does not look very appetising, but if you buy a sandwich of it, with German sausage, at the railway stations, as you can do, you will find it far from despicable. The Russian peasants also eat rye bread only, and a slice is always served at the tables of the wealthy, and, when eaten hot and quite new, is very good and nutritious. But the most peculiar, and we should imagine the least palatable, of these rye breads, is that consumed in Norway under the name of Fladbrod, which is made only twice a year, in a hut constructed for the purpose. The rye-meal paste is spread as thin as possible on a large flat round gridiron, the size of a small table, turned very deftly by means of a wooden stick, and when sufficiently baked is stored for use in heaps 8 feet high ; but it is coarse and indigestible. It is hardly to be supposed that any of my readers will be tempted to return to this food of our ancestors, especially as, according to our old friend quoted above, ' Teeth baint as good as they wer ' — a fact which many of the wise attribute in no small degree to the consumption of fine wheaten bread instead of the whole-meal bread, or the barley, oaten, and rye bread formerly in common use. We have lately seen rye bread exposed for sale in a few London shops, so, probably, there is a limited sale for it, although chiefly among the Germans ; but in early times the BREAD 31 bread consumed by men in our own country must have been as unpalatable as the rye bread of Germany or the Fladbrod of Norway, for in seasons of scarcity it was some- times made of acorns steeped in water to destroy the bitter- ness; and even as late as 1546 Du Bellay, Bishop of Mans, in representing to Francis I. the misery existing in the provinces, assured him that in many localities the people had nothing to eat but bread made of acorns.* There was also a sort of bread sold known as horse bread, in which beans and peas were the chief ingredients, never- theless, even in the fourteenth century there would appear to have been different kinds of wheaten bread made and sold by bakers, the finest being the simnel bread before mentioned; the next quality was known as wastel, then came French bread called also puffe or cocket ; after that came tourte, which must have resembled our whole-meal bread, and which was in use by the common people and in monasteries. Of this there was also an inferior sort known as trete, from which some of the fine flour had been sifted ; and lastly there was black bread made of barley and rye.f Some of us are old enough to remember when every