pocketful of rye

sionnach commented on the word pocketful of rye

A Christmas Pie Of Ye Olden Time.

James, Earl of Lonsdale, sent a Christmas pie to King George III, which contained 9 geese, 2 tame ducks, 2 turkeys, 4 fowls, 6 pigeons, 6 wild ducks, 3 teals, 2 starlings, 12 partridges, 15 woodcocks, 2 Guinea fowls, 3 snipes, 6 plovers, 3 water-hens, i wild goose, i curlew, 46 yellow-hammers, 15 sparrows. 15 chaffinches, 2 larks, 4 thrushes, 12 fieldfares. 6 blackbirds, 20 rabbits, i leg of veal, half a ham, 3 bushels flour, and 2 stones of butter. It weighed 22 stones, was carried to London fn a two horse wagon, and if it was not as dainty as the celebrated pie containing fonr-and twenty blackbirds, which, when the pie was opened, began to sing, it was, at all events, a " dish to set before the king."

Source: The Bizarre Notes and Queries 1886 Volume

WARNING: CLICKING ON THE LINK LEADS TO A GIGANTIC POTENTIAL TIMESUCK FROM WHICH YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO ESCAPE WITHOUT THE INTERVENTION OF CONCERNED LOVED ONES AND COLLEAGUES.

(because, of course, 1886 is not the only year for which a digitalized version of this publication exists)

January 28, 2009