ater. It is notorious
that Henry IV. was a great oyster-eater. Sully relates that when he was
created a duke "the king came, without being expected, to take his seat at
the reception banquet, but as there was much delay in going to dinner, he
began by eating some _huitres de chasse_, which he found very fresh."

By _huitres de chasse_ were meant those oysters which were brought by the
_chasse-marees_, carriers who brought the fresh fish from the coast to
Paris at great speed.

Beverages.--Beer is not only one of the oldest fermenting beverages used
by man, but it is also the one which was most in vogue in the Middle Ages.
If we refer to the tales of the Greek historians, we find that the
Gauls--who, like the Egyptians, attributed the discovery of this
refreshing drink to their god Osiris--had two sorts of beer: one called
_zythus_, made with honey and intended for the rich; the other called
_corma_, in which there was no honey, and which was made for the poor. But
Pliny asserts that beer in Gallie was called _cerevisia_, and the grain
employed for making it _brasce_. This testimony seems true, as from
_brasce_ or _brasse_ comes the name _brasseur_ (brewer), and from
_cerevisia, cervoise_, the generic name by which beer was known for
centuries, and which only lately fell into disuse.

[Illustration: Fig. 104.--The Great Drinkers of the North.--Fac-simile of
a Woodcut of the "Histoires des Pays Septentrionaux," by Olaus Magnus,
16mo., Antwerp, 1560.]

After a great famine, Domitian ordered all the vines in Gaul to be
uprooted so as to make room for corn. This rigorous measure must have
caused beer to become even more general, and, although two centuries later
Probus allowed vines to be replanted, the use of beverages made from grain
became an established custom; but in time, whilst the people still only
drank _cervoise_, those who were able to afford it bought wine and drank
it alternately with beer.

However, as by degrees the vineyards increased in all places having a
suitable soil and climate, the use of beer was almost entirely given up,
so that in central Gaul wine became so common and cheap that all could
drink it. In the northern provinces, where the vine would not grow, beer
naturally continued to be the national beverage (Fig. 104).

In the time of Charlemagne, for instance, we find the Emperor wisely
ordered that persons knowing how to brew should be attached to each of his
farms. Everywhere the monastic