Note 229-5 — Chapter II

Porter, Progress of the Nation, V, 5, 591 ff.; Hildesheim, Normaldiet, 52 ff. Well-known English popular song: "Oh, the roast beef of old England" etc. Even at the end of the 17th century one-half of the nation partook of fresh meat scarcely once or twice a week; most of that consumed was salted. (Macaulay, History of England, ch. 3.) But even Boisguillebert, Traité des Grains, II, 7, characterizes the English as great beer-drinkers and meat-eaters, from the highest class to the lowest, while the French consumed almost nothing but bread. Similarly J. J. Becher, Physiologie, 1678, 202, 248, on the great consumption of meat and sugar in England.