186 SCOMBERID.E. 



some are usually enclosed in the scan with them ; it also 

 devours the common Cuttle, a creature of vigilance and 

 celerity ; and I have seen a Cuttle of a few inches long 

 taken from the stomach of a Dory that measured only four 

 inches. It takes the hook, but gives the preference to a 

 living bait ; and a Chad,* hooked through the back, with the 

 prickly dorsal fin cut off, is sure to entice it." 



" It is now," says Colonel Montagu,-f- " about sixty years 

 since the celebrated Mr. Quin, of epicurean notoriety, first 

 discovered the real merit of the Doree ; j and we believe from 

 him originated the familiar, and we may say national, epithet 

 of John Dory, as a special mark of his esteem for this fish ; 

 a name by which it is usually known in some parts, espe- 

 cially at Bath, where Quin's celebrity as the prince of 

 epicures was well known, and where his palate finished its 

 voluptuous career." 



Notwithstanding the numerous anecdotes recorded of this 

 gentleman, as famous for his love of good living as for his 

 excellence as a comedian, and who equally shone as a bon- 

 vivant or in the character of FalstafF, we may be allowed to 

 record one more in honour of both the person who brought 

 the Doree into such high estimation and of the fish itself. 



" An ancestor of ours, a Mr. Hedges, was an intimate 

 friend of Quin's, and was induced by him to take a journey 

 from Bath to Plymouth, on purpose to eat John Dory in the 

 highest perfection, not only from procuring it fresh, but 

 with the additional advantage of having it boiled in sea-water, 

 a matter of very great importance to the palate of Quin. 



" As this journey was purposely taken to feast on fish, 

 their stay at Plymouth was not intended to exceed a week, 



* The young of the Sea Bream, Pagellus centrodontus. 



t Colonel Montagu died in August 1815. 



t Henry Fielding, the novelist, in his Journal of a voyage to Lisbon, about 

 1755, says, " Detained at starting three weeks near the Isle of Wight by con- 

 trary winds; had Dory for dinner every day, and found them excellent. 



