TROUT FISHING. 177 



unkind to the doctor, as he has been to the angler, if 

 we did not estimate as the best authority in existence. 



The foregoing subject has led to a wide digression, 

 or, to have recourse to a musical comparison, has thrown 

 us into an extraordinary modulation, which, as the great 

 Albrechts Berger observes, " may astonish" but " not 

 please." By this rule, therefore, I should not have 

 presumed to speak on what is foreign to my subject, by 

 introducing that of fishing, if I had not some example 

 of exception as authority to do so. Isaac Walton ap- 

 pears to please every one ; and this gives me a sort 

 of licence to consider that I may now even go further 

 on the subject. Before dismissing it, therefore, I may 

 as well tell a gentleman's cook how to dress a trout in 

 my shooting book, as he introduce a milkmaid's song 

 in his fishing book, particularly as eating is a more 

 general concern than singing ; and, above all, as there 

 is not more than one cook in a thousand that does not 

 spoil every trout in the dressing. 



If a trout is out of season, or in poor condition, it 

 would be needless to attempt dressing it in the ne plus 

 ultra way ; and, perhaps, the best simple recipe might 

 be to split it, and broil it, with an occasional touch of 

 cold butter. But when fresh caught, and in high season, 

 the way to dress it is thus : 



Directly you have caught the trout, crimp it, with 

 about four cuts on each side, taking care to let the 

 blade of the knife be in a sloping direction, so as to 

 make every incision rather circular and parallel to the 

 gills ; instead of having the blade of the knife perpen- 

 dicular, by which you would cut too much across the 

 fleaks, and the fish would not be near so firm. Then, 

 if you have a pump at hand, let the trout be pumped 



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