A HARD-WORKING DIET. 85 
pounds. ... The more sober Suetonius tells us that 
on one occasion three of these Mullets were sold for 
thirty thousand sesterces—at least seventy pounds for 
each fish. 
Bass, though thought excellent for the table with Bass. 
us, was regarded much more highly by the Romans in 
the time of the Empire. They set the highest value 
on those caught in a recognised district of the Tiber, 
and which those who prided themselves on their 
exquisite taste professed to be easily able to re- 
cognise ;... yet it was the fish preferred by the 
epicure that ought to have excited disgust! for the 
favourite station was indebted for its excellency to 
the great cloaca or principal drain of the city. 
Mr. Couch in his book on fishes does not often Dolphin. 
mention which are used for food; but he says, Porpoise. 
speaking of the Dolphin and Porpoise, they were 
esteemed fashionable dishes for the royal table as 
late as the time of King Charles I, although Wil- 
loughby and others are so candid as to admit that 
they were not thoroughly relished by all tastes. 
Rondeletius goes further, and says the smell itself was 
so nauseous as to destroy the appetite for all besides 
that was on the table. 
The value of Skate as an article of food is very Skate. 
differently thought of in different parts of this kingdom 
and of Europe. Risso says it is not a common fish at 
Nice, but that it is highly held in esteem ; and Lacé- 
pede also speaks of it as a delicacy. But the most 
favourable account is by Willoughby, who records a 
remarkable instance, in which, owing probably to 
excellent cookery and exquisite sauce, a single fish of 
this sort weighing 200 lbs. was found to satisfy 120 
