WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 177 



CHAPTER XVI. 



A FEW minutes before the clock struck seven, M. de la Villemarque, 

 arriving from his chateau near Quimperle, reached the private 

 residence of M. Coste ; and the party being augmented by the 

 Colonel-Commandant of the district, we sat down, eight in 

 number, to a bountiful and most appropriate supper. Never shall 

 I forget the astonishment of Shafto at the variety of form and 

 sauce in which so many different kinds of choice sea-fish were 

 served ; nor was the occasional groan that escaped from his 

 brawny chest at the prospect of losing a day's hunting, " for the 

 sake of those pagan monuments," any longer heard, so engrossed 

 was he with the interesting conversation of M. de la Villemarque 

 and our host on the quality and utility of the various fish set 

 before us. 



To describe all the dishes would, as old Homer says, require 

 a hundred tongues, and then the science of a Francatelli would 

 be needed to enter analytically into the subject. I will, however, 

 venture to touch upon two the oyster soup and the bouillabaisse. 

 This latter was pronounced by all a triumph of art ; the fish, 

 saffron, sweet red pepper, and other condiments being so in- 

 sidiously meleed together, that the most sensitive palate would 

 have failed to distinguish a predominance over the rest in any 

 one of its many ingredients. Greenwich s not more celebrated 

 for its whitebait than Marseilles for its bouillabaisse, at the hotels 



