The peacock was anciently in great demand for stately entertainments. Sometimes it was made into a pie, at one end of which the head appeared above the crust in all its plumage, with the beak richly gilt; at the other end the tail was displayed. Such pies were served up at the solemn banquets of chivalry, when knights-errant pledged themselves to undertake any perilous enterprise; whence came the ancient oath, used by Justice Shallow, "by cock and pie."

 

The peacock was also an important dish for the Christmas feast; and Massinger, in his "City Madam," gives some idea of the extravagance with which this, as well as other dishes, was prepared for the gorgeous revels of the olden times:

 

 

"Men may talk of country Christmasses,

Their thirty pound butter'd eggs, their pies of carps' tongues:

Their pheasants drench'd with ambergris; the carcases of three fat

wethers bruised for gravy, to make sauce for a single peacock!"

(Return to The Christmas Dinner)