Cheshire is not only the most literary cheese in England, but the
oldest. It was already manufactured when Caesar conquered Britain, and
tradition is that the Romans built the walled city of Chester to
control the district where the precious cheese was made. Chester on
the River Dee was a stronghold against the Roman invasion.

It came to fame with The Old Cheshire Cheese in Elizabethan times and
waxed great with Samuel Johnson presiding at the Fleet Street Inn
where White Cheshire was served "with radishes or watercress or celery
when in season," and Red Cheshire was served toasted or stewed in a
sort of Welsh Rabbit. (_See_ Chapter 5.)

The Blue variety is called Cheshire-Stilton, and Vyvyan Holland, in
_Cheddar Gorge_ suggests that "it was no doubt a cheese of this sort,
discovered and filched from the larder of the Queen of Hearts, that
accounted for the contented grin on the face of the Cheshire Cat in
Alice in Wonderland."

All very English, as recorded in Victor Meusy's couplet:

_Dans le Chester sec et rose
A longues dents, l'Anglais mord._

In the Chester dry and pink
The long teeth of the English sink.

Edam and Gouda
_Edam in Peace and War_

There also coming into the river two Dutchmen, we sent a couple of men