Our viands

The fact is the ancients were not only greater epicures than the moderns, but took much more trouble than we do to gratify their tastes. In many respects this was a decided gain to the community, for it led to the acclimatisation of various animals and plants; and in the case offish, not only were they transported long distances, but they were much more carefully preserved in ponds and lakes than at present. It is even said that Lucullus had a canal cut through a mountain in the neighbourhood of Naples, that fish might more easily be transported to his villa, whilst many noble Romans seem to have kept fish as pets. It is related that the daughter of Drusus adorned one of her finny pets with rings of gold ; whilst Hortensius, the orator, wept at the death of a turbot which he had fed with his own hand. Coming down to mediaeval times, we find fishponds * It is to the Romans we are indebted for the discovery of our native oyster, for antiquaries are agreed that it formed no part of the dietary of the Britons prior to the Roman occupation, so that whenever oyster shells are found in the excavation of tombs or habitations, the remains discovered are relegated to Roman or post- Roman times. FISH 143 attached to every monastery. The pilgrim adorned his hat with the scallop-shell, the reason for which practice is rather obscure : it seems probable that it was taken in the first place as a useful article, a substitute for a plate or spoon, in which doles of various kinds might be received, and that it afterwards became the badge of pilgrimage, especially to the shrine of St. James of Compostella ; and it is a curious fact that even at the present day, oyster eating commences in London on St. James' Day, when the children collect the shells to form a grotto or shrine, in which they burn a candle in honour of the saint, and solicit alms from the passers-by, the contribution being received in an oyster shell. The scallop is not so delicate in flavour as the oyster, but is more substantial, and, fried in egg and bread crumbs, is not to be despised ; neither are those plebeian delicacies — periwinkles, cockles, and whelks — sold so largely on barrows in the London streets, so many of the latter piled on shells, with vinegar and pepper ad libitum for a penny. It would seem that in the fourteenth century, whale, porpoise, and grampus were sold as fish, large prices being paid for slices of these creatures during Lent, and one of the Harleian manuscripts contains a recipe for making ' puddynge of porpoise.' CHAPTER XI UNAPPRECIATED TRIFLES