Note 495 — Chapter VI

In the sacred books of the Scandinavians, pork is represented as the principal food, even in heaven. See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 105. It was the chief food of the Irish in the twelfth century: Ledwich, Antiquities of Ireland, Dublin, 1804, p. 370; and also of the Anglo-Saxons at an earlier period: Turner's Hist. of England, vol. iii. p. 22. In France it was equally common, and Charlemagne kept in his forests immense droves of pigs. Note in Esprit des Lois, in Œuvres de Montesquieu, p. 513. In Spain those who did not like pork were tried by the Inquisition as suspected Jews: Llorente, Hist. de l'Inquisition, vol. i. pp. 269, 442, 445. Late in the sixteenth century, there was a particular disease, said to be caused by the quantity of it eaten in Hungary. Sprengel, Hist. de la Médecine, vol. iii. p. 93; and even at present, the barbarous Lettes are passionately fond of it. Kohl's Russia, pp. 386, 387. In the middle of the sixteenth century, I find that Philip II., when in England, generally dined on bacon; of which he ate so much, as frequently to make himself very ill. See Ambassades de Messieurs de Noailles en Angleterre, vol. v. pp. 240, 241, edit. 1763. The ambassador writes, that Philip was ‘grand mangeur oultre mesure,’ and used to consume large quantities ‘de lard, dont il faict le plus souvent son principal repas.’ In the Middle Ages, ‘les Thuringiens payaient leur tribut en porcs, la denrée la plus précieuse de leur pays.’ Œuvres de Michelet, vol. ii. p. 389.