Early English Meals and Manners

by Unknown

¶ Of wylde Beastes fleshe.

¶ I haue gone rounde about Chrystendome, and ouerthwarte Chrystendome, and a thousande or two and moore myles out of Chrystendome, Yet there is not so moche pleasure for Harte and Hynde, Bucke and Doe, and for Roo-Bucke and Doe, as is in Englande lande: and although the flesshe be dispraysed in physicke, I praye God to sende me parte of flesshe to eate, physicke notwithstanding . . all physicions (phyon suchons, orig.) sayth

that Venson . . doth ingendre colorycke humours; and of trueth it doth so: Wherefore let them take the skynne, and let me haue the flesshe. I am sure it is a Lordes dysshe, and I am sure it is good for an Englysheman, for it doth anymate hym to be as he is: whiche is stronge and hardy. But I do aduertyse euery man, for all my wordes, not to kyll and so to eate of it, excepte it be lawfully, for it is a meate for great men. And great men do not set so moche by the meate, as they doth by the pastyme of kyllynge of it.

[l. 393.] Chine, the Back-bone of any Beast or Fish. R. Holme.

[l. 397.] Stock Dove, Columba œnas, Yarrell ii. 293.

Doues haue this propertie by themselues, to bill one another and kisse before they tread. Holland’s Plinie, v. 1, p. 300.

[l. 401.] Osprey or Fishing Hawk (the Mullet Hawk of Christchurch Bay), Pandion Haliæëtus, Y. i. 30.

[l. 401], [482]. Teal, Anas crecca, Y. iii. 282.

[l. 402.] Mallard or Wild Duck, Anas boschas, Y. iii. 265.

[l. 421], [542]. Betowre. Bittern, the Common, Botaurus stellaris, Y. ii. 571. In the spring, and during the breeding season, the Bittern makes a loud booming or bellowing noise, whence, probably, the generic term Botaurus was selected for it; but when roused at other times, the bird makes a sharp, harsh cry on rising, not unlike that of a Wild Goose. Yarrell, ii. 573. The Bittern was formerly in some estimation as an article of food for the table; the flesh is said to resemble that of the Leveret in colour and taste, with some of the flavour of wild fowl. Sir Thomas Browne says that young Bitterns were considered a better dish than young Herons ... ii. 574. ‘Hearon, Byttour, Shouelar. Being yong and fat, be lightlier digested then the Crane, & y^e Bittour sooner then the Hearon.’ Sir T. Eliot, Castell of Health, fol. 31.