was that made at Vanvres, which in the
month of May the people ate every morning mixed with garlic.

The consumption of butter was greatest in Flanders. "I am surprised," says
Bruyerin Champier, speaking of that country, "that they have not yet tried
to turn it into drink; in France it is mockingly called _beurriere;_ and
when any one has to travel in that country, he is advised to take a knife
with him if he wishes to taste the good rolls of butter."

[Illustration: Fig. 98.--A Dealer in Eggs.--Fac-simile of a Woodcut, after
Cesare Vecellio, Sixteenth Century.]

It is not necessary to state that milk and cheese followed the fortunes of
butter in the Catholic world, the same as eggs followed those of poultry.
But butter having been declared lawful by the Church, a claim was put in
for eggs (Fig. 98), and Pope Julius III. granted this dispensation to all
Christendom, although certain private churches did not at once choose to
profit by this favour. The Greeks had always been more rigid on these
points of discipline than the people of the West. It is to the prohibition
of eggs in Lent that the origin of "Easter eggs" must be traced. These
were hardened by boiling them in a madder bath, and were brought to
receive the blessing of the priest on Good Friday, and were then eaten on
the following Sunday as a sign of rejoicing.

Ancient Gaul was celebrated for some of its home-made cheeses. Pliny
praises those of Nismes, and of Mount Lozere, in Gevaudau; Martial
mentions those of Toulouse, &c. A simple anecdote, handed down by the monk
of St. Gall, who wrote in the ninth century, proves to us that the
traditions with regard to cheeses were not lost in the time of
Charlemagne: "The Emperor, in one of his travels, alighted suddenly, and
without being expected, at the house of a bishop. It was on a Friday. The
prelate had no fish, and did not dare to set meat before the prince. He
therefore offered him what he had got, some boiled corn and green cheese.
Charles ate of the cheese; but taking the green part to be bad, he took
care to remove it with his knife. The Bishop, seeing this, took the
liberty of telling his guest that this was the best part. The Emperor,
tasting it, found that the bishop was right; and consequently ordered him
to send him annually two cases of similar cheese to Aix-la-Chapelle. The
Bishop answered, that he could easily send cheeses, but he could not be
sure of sending them in proper condition, because it