96 CRAB, SHRIMP, AND LOBSTER LORE. 



dainties reaches as high as 25,000 ; and here at early 

 morning, long before mighty London is fairly up for 

 the day, a scene of bustle and activity may be wit- 

 nessed which well re|)ays the early riser — 



' ' Double-double, toil aud trouble, 

 Fire buru and cauldron bubble." 



Steam in clouds floats above the vast loads of newly- 

 boiled crustaceans and molluscs ; carts of every size and 

 pattern block the way, from the castellated conveyances 

 of Messrs. Chaplin and Home, to the humble donkey 

 shallow : ice, in saw-dusty bales, is jostled against 

 orange-boxes ; figs and codfish greet each other like old 

 friends, whilst West India pineapples, haddocks, oysters, 

 and Spanish chestnuts ajDpear determined to make a 

 day of it and go off together. 



The popularity of the Lobster extends far beyond the 

 limits of our island, and he travels about to all parts of 

 the known world, like an imprisoned spirit soldered up 

 in an au'-tight box. It has been said that during the 

 Indian war a box of regimental stores belonging to our 

 forces fell into the hands of the enemy, who thinking 

 that a great capture of some kind of deadly and destruc- 

 tive ammunition had been made, rammed the painted 

 tin cases, with goodly charges of powder behind them, 

 into their immense guns, laid them steadily on the 

 devoted British troops, and then with a flash and a 



