(Vol. iii., p. 221.)
Snail-eating is by no means uncommon. When I was a youth I took a dozen
snails every morning to a lady who was of a delicate constitution, and to
whom they were recommended as wholesome food. They were boiled, and mixed
up with milk. They were the common snail, usually found about old garden
walls. A friend of mine, in walking round his garden, was in the habit of
picking the snails off his fruit-trees and eating them raw. He was somewhat
fastidious, for I have seen him take a snail, put it to his tongue, and
reject it as not of a good flavour, and select another more agreeable to
his taste. We are strange creatures of habit, especially in our feeding. I
am fond of oysters, muscles, and cockles; but I do not think anything could
induce me to taste a snail, a periwinkle, or a limpet.