Richard Wright wrote:
> I am examining a MS recipe book from Devon (England) that probably
> dates from around 1750.
> There is a recipe for Floating Island, thus:
> I suspect that this recipe considerably predates the earliest citation
> in the Oxford English Dictionary, which is 1771 and from the USA.

'Iles Flotants' (floating islands) has been around in France for a
long time, but my Larousse doesn't give any provenance.

> While on the subject of old English cooking, the Holiday Inn in
> Russell Square, London, has on the menu for dessert "Sticky Richard."
> On ordering it, I found that it is the old English standby dessert
> called "Spotted Dick"

Could be a hybrid of Spotted Dick and Sticky Toffee Pudding, the
latter being a very popular dessert here.