"THE MAN IN THE BLACK COAT." 433 



They have several times "gone the round" of the newspapers 

 but are none the worse for that : 



If an uninitiated greenhorn of a landsman chanced to be 

 on board of a Newhaven boat, and, in the ignorance and sim- 

 plicity of his heart, talked about " salmon/' the whole crew 

 at least a few years ago would start, grasp the nearest iron 

 tliowdl, and exclaim, " Cauld iron !" " cauld iron !" in order 

 to avert the calamity which such a rash use of the appellation 

 was calculated to induce ; and the said uninitiated gentleman 

 would very likely have been addressed in some such courteous 

 terms as " ye igrant brute, cud ye no ca'd it redfish ?" Woe 

 to the unfortunate wight be he Episcopalian or Presbyterian, 

 Churchman or Dissenter who being afloat talks about " the 

 minister :" there is a kind of undefined terror visible on every 

 countenance if haply this unlucky word is spoken ; and I 

 \vould advise my readers, should they hereafter have occasion, 

 when water-borne, to speak of a clergyman, to call him " the 

 man in the black coat;" the thing will be equally well 

 understood, and can give offence to none. I warn them, more- 

 over, to be guarded and circumspect should the idea of a cat 

 or a pig flit across their minds ; and should necessity demand 

 the utterance of their names, let the one be called "Theebet" and 

 the other " Sandy ; " so shall they be landed on terra firma in 

 safety, and neither their ears nor their feelings be insulted by 

 piscatory wit. In the same category must be placed every 

 four-footed beast, from the elephant moving amongst the 

 jungles of Hindostan to the mouse that burrows under the 

 cottage hearth-stone. Some quadrupeds, however, are more 

 "unlucky" than others; dogs are detestable, hogs horrible, 

 and hares hideous ! It would appear that Friday, for certain 

 operations, is the most unfortunate ; for others the most 

 auspicious day in the week. On that day no sane fisherman 

 would commence a Greenland voyage, or proceed to the herring- 

 ground, and on no other day of the week would he be married. 



2 F 



