THE COOKERY OF THE SALMON 199 



The salmon was an inestimable boon to the 

 Church when pious monks with nothing particular to 

 do had to reconcile religion with gourmandise. When 

 their lines had fallen to them in the pleasantest 

 places on Tay or Tweed, Severn or Thames, there 

 was small hardship in supping au maigre when 

 the salmon came swimming to their doors. The 

 cloistered orders of the Midlands might mortify the 

 flesh on the pike from their moats and the carp from 

 their ponds, as the fathers of the Fenland fattened 

 on their eels. But in all the riverain or seaward 

 convents, the rights of net and coble were highly 

 appreciated and rigidly maintained. We believe the 

 Venerable Bede gave as little thought to his dinner 

 as most people, yet perhaps he would never have 

 accomplished his stupendous historical works had 

 he not been nourished on the Tynemouth salmon. 

 For the salmon is remarkable in this respect, that 

 though full flavoured almost to excessive richness, 

 the veritable devotee does not easily tire of it. 

 With eels, for example, it is a different thing : we 

 have sometimes been inclined to pity the priests of 

 the Fens, nor have we ever envied the townsfolk of 

 Biggleswade. We would say, ' Eels in moderation, but 

 salmon a discretion] and discretion with us runs into 

 indiscretion. If any gourmand in fiction ever knew 



