an was taken, and condemned to walk through the town
with her quarter of lamb on the spit over her shoulder, and the ham hung
round her neck." This species of severity increased during the times of
religious dissensions. Erasmus says, "He who has eaten pork instead of
fish is taken to the torture like a parricide." An edict of Henry II,
1549, forbade the sale of meat in Lent to persons who should not be
furnished with a doctor's certificate. Charles IX forbade the sale of meat
to the Huguenots; and it was ordered that the privilege of selling meat
during the time of abstinence should belong exclusively to the hospitals.
Orders were given to those who retailed meat to take the address of every
purchaser, although he had presented a medical certificate, so that the
necessity for his eating meat might be verified. Subsequently, the medical
certificate required to be endorsed by the priest, specifying what
quantity of meat was required. Even in these cases the use of butchers'
meat alone was granted, pork, poultry, and game being strictly forbidden.

Poultry.--A monk of the Abbey of Cluny once went on a visit to his
relations. On arriving he asked for food; but as it was a fast day he was
told there was nothing in the house but fish. Perceiving some chickens in
the yard, he took a stick and killed one, and brought it to his relations,
saying, "This is the fish which I shall eat to-day." "Eh, but, my son,"
they said, "have you dispensation from fasting on a Friday?" "No," he
answered; "but poultry is not flesh; fish and fowls were created at the
same time; they have a common origin, as the hymn which I sing in the
service teaches me."

This simple legend belongs to the tenth century; and notwithstanding that
the opinion of this Benedictine monk may appear strange nowadays, yet it
must be acknowledged that he was only conforming himself to the opinions
laid down by certain theologians. In 817, the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle
decided that such delicate nourishment could scarcely be called
mortification as understood by the teaching of the Church. In consequence
of this an order was issued forbidding the monks to eat poultry, except
during four days at Easter and four at Christmas. But this prohibition in
no way changed the established custom of certain parts of Christendom, and
the faithful persisted in believing that poultry and fish were identical
in the eyes of the Church, and accordingly continued to eat them
indiscriminate