FOURTH DAY.] THE DINNER. 105 



THE INNKEEPER. Gentlemen, dinner is ready : 



THE DINNER. 



HAL. Now take your places. "What think you 

 of our fish ? 



PHYS. I never ate better; but I want the 

 Harvey or Reading sauce. 



HAL. Pray let me entreat you to use no other 

 sauce than the water in which he was boiled. I 

 assure you this is the true Epicurean way of eating 

 fresh salmon : and for the trout, use only a little 

 vinegar and mustard, a sauce a la Tartare, without 

 the onions. 



POIET. "Well, nothing can be better ; and I do 

 not think fresh net-caught fish can be superior 

 to these. 



HAL. And these snipes are excellent. Either my 

 journey has given me an appetite, or 1 think they are 

 the best I ever tasted. 



ORN. They are good, but I have tasted better. 



HAL. Where ? 



ORN. On the continent; where the common 

 snipe, that rests during its migration from the north 

 to the south in the marshes of Italy and Carniola, 

 and the double or solitary snipe, become so fat, as 

 to resemble that bird, which was formerly fattened 



