Colchester contains a population of 34,549, and is connected by railway with most of the towns of the district. By means of its river Colne it is also a port, and has fine oyster beds, where the “Colchester Natives” are reared, which are celebrated all the world over. Its oyster feast is one of the most famous institutions of the place, though who was the Mayor who founded the feast is lost in the mists of antiquity. After the oyster-spatting season is over, that is about the middle of September, the Corporation holds a meeting on board a boat in the river, and proclaims the fishery to be open. The fishing is a source of profit to the Corporation. In the warm seasons—that was before 1870 (immense numbers of oysters were produced in 1865)—they realised as much as £18,318, the price being £4 a bushel. Since then, from the greater scarcity of oysters, and the enlarged market for them due to railway facilities, prices have been £12 and £14 for the same quantity, and it is at that price, I believe, they are now sold. The Colne fishery is about four miles and a half in extent; it contains the best fattening grounds in the kingdom, and the River Colne itself is one of the best spatting grounds in the district producing native oysters. We call them native, because so many oysters come from Holland and elsewhere, and are merely fattened in English waters. In London, when you buy a native, you are not sure that you get the genuine article. At the Colchester feast the Mayor treats you to the native in all its primitive beauty and simplicity. I own the oyster is not lovely to look at, and the sight of a hall filled with rows of tables, on which were placed plates containing a dozen for each guest, with glasses of stout or bottles of Chablis or Sauterne, lacks somewhat of the warmth of colour to which we are more or less accustomed in our civic feasts in town. It must also be remembered that these entertainments take place by night, when the gas sparkles in a hundred chandeliers. At Colchester the hour of the feast is 2 p.m., and oysters and stout, place them how you will, cannot be made to look picturesque. At one time these Colchester feasts were confined to the members of the Corporation and the officials. That custom has been changed for a better one, and many of the principal citizens and others are bidden to the feast. Strangers are also invited, and I have to thank more than one worthy Mayor for favouring me with an invitation. It is the privilege of the Mayor of Colchester for the time being to provide for all the expenses of the feast except a portion of the oysters, which are found by the Fishery Board, and the Mayor sends out all the invitations. The feast always takes place about October 22nd. Those who do not care for oysters had better stop away, as little else besides oysters and brown bread and butter is provided. Only a few ham sandwiches were added, but the oyster was, as it deserved to be, the