38 Duck's Flesh. 



the excellence of the duck, both parties 

 seem to have agreed, as upon some self- 

 evident, and thence incontrovertible pro- 

 position. The ancients went even beyond 

 our greatest modern epicures, in their high 

 esteem for the iiesh of the duck, not only 

 assigning thereto the most exquisite flavour 

 and delicacy, but also attributing to it im- 

 portant medicinal properties ; for Plutarch 

 asserts that Cato preserved his w^hole house- 

 hold in health, by dieting them vs^ith duck's 

 flesh as a prophylactic ; surely a most plea- 

 sant mode of taking physic ! Several of the 

 Roman medical writers, moreover, strongly 

 recommend the same regimen^ as the most 

 powerful means of exciting the prolific vir- 

 tue in the sexes. 



The opinion of a modern author respect- 

 ing colour, is perhaps most correct as it re- 

 gards the goose ; it is however pretty gene- 

 rally to be depended on ; he says — when 

 one has seen a wild goose, a description of 

 its plumage will, to a feather, exactly cor- 

 respond with that of any other. But in the 

 tame kinds, no two of any species are ex- 



