32 A COMMITTEE OF TASTE. 



to it with all sail set, their fins extended, their spines 

 erect, as if they meant to devour it without hesitation ! 

 and how they pause when they do come up to it, and 

 swim gently round it, as if a worm or a minnow were an 

 article of vertu, which required the nicest taste, and the 

 consideration of a connoisseur to appreciate it properly. 

 At length one of the boldest, taking hold of the extreme 

 tip of the tail as timidly as a bashful young gentleman 

 takes hold of the tip of his partner's finger when he leads 

 her to the festive quadrille, will give it a shake. Now, if 

 you are curious, watch your float ; see how it bobs down, 

 after a fashion that would make you think the perch must 

 not only have swallowed the bait, but half digested it ; 

 whereas, in fact, they cannot make up their minds about it- 

 Is it a safe investment or is it not ? Is it real old Chelsea 

 or only a modern imitation ? And then comes an alder- 

 manic perch, of nigh two pounds, a warm liveryman of 

 the Fishmongers' Company, a regular turtle-fed lord 

 mayor elect, with his cheeks blown up, his eyes staring 

 out of his head, his fins all bristling with magisterial im- 

 portance. * Now then, what is this case ! Ha, hum I a 

 worm, eh ? yes. Found hanging about the streets with 

 no ascertainable occupation, and without any home, eh ? 

 Ha ! bad case very bad ! a mysterious and vagrom cna- 

 racter, evidently. Take him away, some of you, and lock 

 him up very suspicious indeed, very much so.' And so 

 his lordship, having taken a half turn, and a brief survey 

 of the wretched trembling culprit, who with policeman 

 hook stuck into him, Alderman Perch looking at him 

 angrily and hungrily, and limbo gaping at him from Mr. 

 Alderman's stomach, is drawn up as useless and thrown 

 on one side ; while, with a fan of his tail, the alderman 

 scuttles off to a fresh case, and all his little people scuttle 

 off after him, save, perhaps, one unhappy little devil who 

 won't take warning. Anyone who wishes to see this por- 



