THE DEAD-MEAT MARKETS. 349 



which she might not object, she encounters a fine quarter ol 

 beef, or a fine sheep, which certainly, if taste only were con 

 sulted, she would prefer to meet in another form and place. 

 The incongruity is at first offensive to a stranger, and seems in 

 very bad taste ; but an amateur finds some compensation in the 

 beauty of the objects thus exhibited. I do not mean the ladies, 

 of whom possibly I may speak in another place, but the meats. 

 Mutton is always the prevailing meat, for this seems to be the 

 favorite dish on English tables. It is a remarkable fact, that 

 mutton is the prevalent dish at the public schools and colleges. 

 At the Blue Coat School in London, for example, it is the sole 

 meat for the eight hundred boys, four or five days out of seven. 

 The same is the case, I am told, at Eton ; and this not, as I sup 

 posed, from its comparative cheapness, but from experience, arid 

 the opinion of medical men, that it is the most wholesome diet, and 

 least likely to interfere with intellectual application and health. 



The Southdown and the Leicester sheep are generally pre 

 ferred, though the small Welsh mutton, for its exquisite flavor, is 

 most esteemed ; and the fatness of the beef, and mutton, and lamb, 

 is every where most striking. Indeed, in the English markets, 

 lean meat is hardly to be seen. If it is sold, it is certainly 

 seldom displayed. The meat-shops are eminently clean; this, 

 indeed, is the universal characteristic of the English people above 

 the lowest classes, who in London are eminently dirty. The 

 salesmen, however, with their blue woollen frocks and aprons, in 

 tidy ness of appearance would hardly bear a comparison with the 

 salesmen and women in the Philadelphia markets, with their white 

 linen frocks and aprons. Indeed, in this respect, Philadelphia, 

 as far as my observation goes, stands preeminent. Cleanliness, 

 it is often said, and with a good deal of reason, is next to godli 

 ness. I confess to this creed. I think it should be inculcated 

 as a religious duty, and for its useful moral influences. The 

 sect of Friends regard it as such ; and it is doubtless much owing 

 to their influence and example, that Philadelphia is so prover 

 bially neat. Many of the English butchers and salesmen are 

 distinguished for their intelligence, and the great extent of their 

 concerns. 



1. SLAUGHTER-HOUSES IN LONDON. I have already said that 

 a great deal of the meat which is exposed for sale in London is 

 30 



