A HARD-WORKING DIET. 415 



pounds. . . . The more sober Suetonius tells us that 

 on one occasion three of these Mullets were sold for 

 thirty thousand sesterces at least seventy pounds for 

 each fish. 



Bass, though thought excellent for the table with Bass, 

 us, was regarded much more highly by the Romans in 

 the time of the Empire. They set the highest value 

 on those caught in a recognised district of the Tiber, 

 and which those who prided themselves on their 

 exquisite taste professed to be easily able to re- 

 cognise ; . . . yet it was the fish preferred by the 

 epicure that ought to have excited disgust ! for the 

 favourite station was indebted for its excellency to 

 the great cloaca or principal drain of the city. 



Mr. Couch in his book on fishes does not often Dolphin, 

 mention which are used for food ; but he says, Porpoise, 

 speaking of the Dolphin and Porpoise, they were 

 esteemed fashionable dishes for the royal table as 

 late as the time of King Charles I., although Wil- 

 loughby and others are so candid as to admit that 

 they were not thoroughly relished by all tastes. 

 Rondeletius goes further, and says the smell itself was 

 so nauseous as to destroy the appetite for all besides 

 that was on the table. 



The value of Skate as an article of food is very Skate, 

 differently thought of in different parts of this kingdom 

 and of Europe. Risso says it is not a common fish at 

 Nice, but that it is highly held in esteem ; and Lace- 

 pede also speaks of it as a delicacy. But the most 

 favourable account is by Willoughby, who records a 

 remarkable instance, in which, owing probably to 

 excellent cookery and exquisite sauce, a single fish of 

 this sort weighing 200 Ibs. was found to satisfy 120 



