CHAPTER XXVIII.

Food—Statistics as to quantity of meat consumed—Scarcity of fish and game—Supply of latter to London—Venison—A brewer’s dinner—Beer—Quantity brewed—Wine—Its price—Supply of vegetables—Sardines and Harvey’s Sauce—Scarcity of wheat—Forestalling—Rice from India—Bounties given for its shipment.

PEOPLE, then, were conservative with regard to food. For the ordinary Englishman was no appetizing plat, no refinement of cookery—anything out of the usual ruck would be promptly denounced, and fiercely spurned, as French kickshaws. Plain roast and boiled meats were universal, from the highest to the lowest; the quantity of animal food consumed throughout the country was enormous; and, what was more, it was all of home production. No frozen meat, no tinned provisions; the only known way of preserving then, was the time-honoured one of salting. In London alone, according to the very meagre statistics of the day, the number of bullocks slaughtered yearly was 110,000; of sheep and lambs 776,000; calves 210,000; hogs 210,000; sucking pigs, 60,000; besides an unknown quantity of animals of other kinds. This may be an approximate estimate of the number, based, probably, on the quantity sold at the various markets to the butchers, but can give us no idea of the weight, and consequent average consumption per head.

Fish was scarce, and dear; the war, naturally, prevented the fishermen from going far from the coast, and their numbers, moreover, were thinned by impressment. No railways to bring this very perishable commodity quickly to market, no ice to preserve it on its journey; the smack must go to port to unload her cargo, and, being entirely dependent on her sails, was at the mercy of the winds.

Inland, they never knew the taste of salt-water fish, unless some kind friend sent a cod, or turbot, packed in straw, in a basket, as a present by the mail, or stage, coach. Nor could the Londoner, then, get the abundant supply of our salmon rivers, which he now, in common with the whole of England, enjoys.

Game was very scarce, and dear. A country gentleman would not have dared to brave the public opinion of his county, by selling his game, and battues were unknown. The poachers did, undoubtedly, a good trade; and about Christmas time the mail, and stage, coaches came up, loaded with hares, &c.—a fact amusingly chronicled in the Morning Post of the 26th of December, 1807: “The first of the Norwich and Yarmouth coaches arrived at a late hour on Thursday, when, strange to relate, every one of the passengers, inside and outside, were found dead! Not less than four hundred brace of dead game being unloaded from it, for the banqueting of the living Londoners at this luxurious season.” If, however, a story told in the Times of the 20th of January, 1803, is true, it was not always safe to buy game from the coaches: “Saturday night last, an epicure from Fish Street Hill, anxiously watched for the arrival of a Kentish coach, at the King’s Head, in the Borough, in order to purchase a Hare from the coachman, for his Sunday’s dinner; an outside passenger, having learned his errand, brought him under the gateway, and sold him a very large one, as he thought, for nine shillings, which, however, upon his return home, proved to be a badger.”

Poultry was seldom seen except at the tables of the very well to do. The supply was deficient, and they had not the resources we have of railway carriage, and especially of the Continental markets; consequently prices were exorbitant. Venison was considered the dish for an epicure, and was sold—chiefly by pastry cooks—at a reasonable rate: in fact, there were coffee houses where a venison dinner could be obtained for 2s. 6d. Probably the following advertisement indicates a somewhat better style of entertainment—Morning Herald, July 18, 1804: “Venison in perfection. At the Worcester Coffee House, corner of Swallow Street, Oxford Street, Gentlemen may depend on having prime Venison. A Haunch and Neck dressed every day, ready precisely at five o’clock, at the reasonable charge for dinner of 3s. 6d. Wines and Liquors of the finest flavour; best old Port 4s. 6d. per bottle. Venison ready dressed, and pasties sent out. N.B. Fifty brace of good Bucks wanted.”

It was an age of eating and drinking—i.e., men ate and drank in larger quantities than now; but we must not take the following as a typical feast of the time; it was simply a brewer’s dinner, cooked after a brewer’s fashion—yet it was also typical, for then the cult of beefsteak and porter was at its culminating point, and people bowed down, and reverenced them exceedingly. The Morning Post, May 30, 1806: “Alderman Combe’s Annual Dinner. Yesterday, Mr. Combe gave his annual dinner at his brewery, near Long Acre. The party consisted of the Prince of Wales, Duke of Norfolk, Lord Chancellor, Earl of Lauderdale, Lord Robert Spencer, Lord Howick, Sir Gilbert Heathcote, Lord John Townshend, Mr. R. B. Sheridan, Mr. Tierney, Mr. Harvey Combe, and Mr. Alderman Combe. At half an hour past six, the company sat down to dinner. The entertainment consisted of beefsteaks and porter. It was served up in the same style as it was last year. An oaken table, of an oblong form, was set out in the long room of the brewhouse. This table was covered with a large hempen sack, and covers, consisting of wooden trenchers, were laid for each of the guests. The other paraphernalia of the table, namely, the spoons, salt-cellars, salad bowls, &c., were composed of the same material as the plates. The Steaks were cooked by the Stoker, a man so called from his being always employed to keep the fires. This Stoker dressed the Steaks upon a large plate of iron, which was placed in the Copper-hole. When done, the Cook took them out with a pair of tongs, conveyed them into a wooden dish, and, in that style, they were served up. At the expiration of half an hour, the Prince, and the company, retired to Mr. Combe’s house, in Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, where they partook of a second course, consisting of every delicacy of the season, together with a dessert of fruits, the most rare and abundant we have ever seen. The Madeira, Port, and Claret were the objects of every one’s panegyric.”

Beer was the national beverage, and it was brewed from good malt and hops; not out of sugar, and chemical bedevilments, as at present: and the quantity drunk in London, alone, seems to be enormous. Vide the Annual Register for 1810:

“The Quantity of strong beer brewed by the first twelve houses in the London Porter Brewery, from the 5th of July, 1809, to the 5th of July, 1810.

BARRELS.
Barclay, Perkins and Co.235,053
Meux, Read and Co.211,009
Truman, Hanbury and Co.144,990
Felix, Calvert and Co.133,491
Whitbread and Co.110,939
Henry Meux and Co.93,660
Combe and Co.85,150
Brown and Parry84,475
Goodwin, Skinner and Co.74,223
Elliott and Co.57,251
Taylor44,510
Clowes and Co.41,594

Wines, of course, were drunk by the higher classes, but French wines were comparatively dear, owing to the closing of the trade with France; still there was a very fair quantity captured in the prizes taken at sea, and there was a great deal more smuggled.

Frontignac in 1800 might be bought for 19s. 6d. per doz., and Muscatel at 24s. In 1804, the following are the prices from a respectable wine merchant’s list.

Superior Old Port38s.per dozen.
PrimeOld Sherry42s.”
”Madeira63s.”
Bucellas40s.”
Mountain, Lisbon, and Calcavella38s.”
Superior Claret70s.”
Cognac Brandy20s.per gallon.
Old Jamaica Rum15s.”
Holland’s Geneva10s.”

In 1806, Vin de Grave was 66s. per dozen.

For the supply of vegetables, and fruit, large tracts of land were utilized for the supply of London alone. It was reckoned that this city swallowed the produce of 10,000 acres of vegetables, and about 4,000 acres of fruit trees. The market gardens have been gradually disappearing, but they used to be situated principally at Camberwell, Deptford, Fulham, Battersea, Mortlake, Barnes, and Chiswick. This produce found its way to Covent Garden, where the market days were the same as now—Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

During the latter part of the first decade of the century, provisions were not so dear:

Beefaveraged from6d. to 9½d.per lb.
Mutton”6d. to 10d.”
Pork”6d. to 1s.”
Lamb atfirst coming in10d. to 1s. 2d.”
”Mid Season6½d. to 8d.”
Sugar was about5d. to 5½d.”
Salt”20s. per bushel.
Store Candles about1s. 3d. per lb.

Whilst on the subject of food, I cannot help chronicling the first notices I have ever met with, of two articles familiar to us—Sardines, and Harvey’s Sauce. The first occurs in an advertisement in the Morning Post, August 10, 1801: “Sardinias, a Fish cured in a peculiar manner, are highly esteemed as a Sandwich, and deemed of superior flavour to the Anchovy. Sold,” &c. The second is in the Morning Herald, February 9, 1804: “Harvey’s Sauce for Fish, &c. Black Dog, Bedford. Mr. Harvey respectfully informs the Nobility and Gentry, he has appointed Mrs. Elizabeth Lazenby to prepare and sell the above sauce, at her Oil Warehouse, No. 6, Edward’s Street, Portman Square, and that she, alone, is in possession of the original receipt—signed Peter Harvey.”

If, however, the times were somewhat gross feeding, yet, early in the century, they also knew the pinch, if not of absolute hunger, yet of that which comes nigh akin to it—scarcity. As we have seen in the History of the decade, bread stuffs were, through bad harvests, very dear; and the strictest attention to economy in their use, even when mixed with inferior substitutes, practised. The unreasoning public laid the whole of the rise in price on the shoulders of the middle-men, or factors; and they were branded with the then opprobrious, but now obsolete, term of “Forestallers and Regraters.” Take one plaintive wail, which appeared in the Morning Post of March 7, 1800: “We are told that one cause of the high price of Corn is, the consequence of the practice of selling by sample, instead of the Corn being fairly brought to market. The middle-man buys the Corn, but desires the farmer to keep it for him, until he wants it; or, in other words, until he finds the price suits his expectations.” This rage against “forestalling” was, of course, very senseless; but it had the advantage of being applied indiscriminately, and to every description of food. Two women at Bristol were imprisoned for “forestalling” a cart load of mackerel; whilst the trial of Waddington for “forestalling” hops is almost a cause célèbre. Now, hops could hardly be construed into food; and, after having carefully read his trial, I can but come to the conclusion that he was a very hardly-used man, and was imprisoned for nothing at all.[43] I merely mention his case as a proof of the senseless irritation which the price of food caused upon the unreasoning public.

Food had to be looked for anywhere. The Continent was no field for speculation; a bad harvest had been universal; and, besides, we were at war. Then, for the first time, was India drawn upon for our food supply, and the East India Company—that greatest marvel of all trade—offered every facility towards the export of rice. Their instructions were as follow: “That every ship, which takes on board three quarters of her registered tonnage in rice, shall have liberty to fill up with such goods as have been usually imported by country ships. That ships embarking in this adventure shall be allowed to carry out exports from this country. That they shall be excused the payment of the Company’s duty of 3 per cent., on the rice so imported. That, after the ship shall have been approved by the Company’s surveyors, the risk of the rice which she brings, shall be on account of Government, which will save the owners the expense of insurance. That, in case the price of rice shall, on the ships’ arrival, be under from 32s. to 29s. the hundredweight, the difference between what it may sell for, and the above rates shall be made good to the owners, on the following conditions—That the ship which departs from her port of lading, within one month from the promulgation of these orders, shall be guaranteed 32s. the hundredweight; if in two months, 31s.; if in three months, 30s.; and if in four months, 29s. But, that dependence may be safely placed on the rice being of superior quality, that is, equal, at least, to the best cargo of rice, it shall be purchased by an agent appointed by Government. Coppered ships to be preferred, and, although Convoy[44] will, if possible, be obtained for them, they must not be detained for Convoy.”