This vellum Roll contains 196 _formulæ_, or recipes, and belonged once to the earl of Oxford [50]. The late James West esquire bought it at the Earl's sale, when a part of his MSS were disposed of; and on the death of the gentleman last mentioned it came into the hands of my highly-esteemed friend, the present liberal and most communicative possessor. It is presumed to be one of the most ancient remains of the kind now in being, rising as high as the reign of king Richard II. [51]. However, it is far the largest and most copious collection of any we have; I speak as to those times. To establish its authenticity, and even to stamp an additional value upon it, it is the identical Roll which was presented to queen Elizabeth, in the 28th year of her reign, by lord Stafford's heir, as appears from the following address, or inscription, at the end of it, in his own hand writing: 'Antiquum hoc monumentum oblatum et missum est majestati vestræ vicesimo septimo die mensis Julij, anno regni vestri fælicissimi vicesimo viij ab humilimo vestro subdito, vestræq majestati fidelissimo E. Stafford, Hæres domus subversæ Buckinghamiens.' [52] The general observations I have to make upon it are these: many articles, it seems, were in vogue in the fourteenth century, which are now in a manner obsolete, as cranes, curlews, herons, seals [53], porpoises, &c. and, on the contrary, we feed on sundry fowls which are not named either in the Roll, or the Editor's MS. [54] as quails, rails, teal, woodcocks, snipes, &c. which can scarcely be numbered among the _small birds_ mentioned 19. 62. 154. [55]. So as to fish, many species appear at our tables which are not found in the Roll, trouts, flounders, herrings, &c. [56]. It were easy and obvious to dilate here on the variations of taste at different periods of time, and the reader would probably not dislike it; but so many other particulars demand our attention, that I shall content myself with observing in general, that whereas a very able _Italian_ critic, _Latinus Latinius_, passed a sinister and unfavourable censure on certain seemingly strange medlies, disgusting and preposterous messes, which we meet with in _Apicius_; Dr. _Lister_ very sensibly replies to his strictures on that head, 'That these messes are not immediately to be rejected, because they may be displeasing to some. _Plutarch_ testifies, that the ancients disliked _pepper_ and the sour juice of lemons, insomuch that for a long time they only used these in their wardrobes for the sake of their agreeable scent, and yet they are the most wholesome of all fruits. The natives of the _West Indies_ were no less averse to _salt_; and who would believe that _hops_ should ever have a place in our common beverage [57], and that we should ever think of qualifying the sweetness of malt, through good housewifry, by mixing with it a substance so egregiously bitter? Most of the _American_ fruits are exceedingly odoriferous,