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a mode of preparation; perhaps Pilchards may be likewise 
employed: Pepys wrote (August 27th, 1660): ‘‘ Major Hart 
come to me, whom I did receive with wine, and Anchovies, 
which made me so dry that I was ill with them all night, and 
was fain to have the girl rise and fetch me some drink.” Dr. 
Kitchener tells that the Epicure Quin was superlatively pleased 
with the Banns of Marriage between delicate Ann Chovy, and 
good John Dory. 
A former Yarmouth historian relates that the Dutch fishermen 
highly esteem the medicinal qualities of the Herring. An old 
saying of theirs runs to the effect, “ Herrings in the land, the 
doctor at a stand.” The fat beneath the Herring’s skin, like 
that of the Sprat, is never of a good flavour, and ought to be 
extracted before the fish is eaten; this is best done by broiling 
the Herring. A century back Herring plasters were much in 
vogue. Again, a Red Herring when steeped in tar was thought 
to be a sovereign remedy for a cow which had lost the power of 
chewing the cud. 
Half a century or more ago the labourers in Cornwall dined 
at noon, for the most part on Pilchards, and potatoes cooked 
in their jackets. The fish, boiled together with the potatoes, 
were placed on plates, but the cooked potatoes were cast in a 
heap on the bare table, each member of the family taking a 
helping, and peeling their own potatoes. Shipments of the 
Pilchard (Clupea pilchardus), when salted, are sent from Cornwall 
largely to Italy, for consumption there during Lent. These fish 
appear in immense numbers on the Cornish coast about the 
middle of July. They resemble the Herring, but are thicker, 
and rounder. “ Fools are as like husbands as Pilchards are to 
Herrings.” Train oil is expressed from the Pilchard’s liver. 
“The Perch, or Peurch, is so wholesome,’ says a German 
proverb, “that physicians allow him to be eaten by wounded 
men, or by men in fevers, or by women in child-bed.” 
The Plaice (Platepa) has ruddy spots on its surface, and a small, 
wry mouth. Tom Hood pretended to be angry with his wife 
for buying this fish when broken out into red spots ; also, writing 
to a favourite child, he told her that having caught a Plaice 
spotted red he thought he had “ caught the measles.” : 
The Whiting (Merlangus), one of the Cod family, has flesh 
of a pearly whiteness. “‘ And here’s a chain of Whitings’ eyes 
for pearls.” Whiting soup had at one time a notoriety for 
