350 A MEDLEY OF SPORT 



did not err in stating that the flesh of the wheatear 

 was reckoned a great deUcacy, for a dish of those birds, 

 although they are no larger than sparrows, is food fit 

 for the table of an emperor or an — alderman. 



''Few countries in the world can boast of greater 

 variety of fish " (writes Adams). " The rivers and ponds 

 abound in salmon, trout, eels, pike, carp, tench, barbie, 

 perch, gudgeons, smelts, roach, dace, plaice, flounders and 

 crawfish. In some of the lakes or meers of Cumberland 

 and Wales is found a very delicate fish called a char; it is 

 of the trout kind, and thought to be peculiar to England. 

 The seas which surround the kingdom are full of cod, 

 mackerel, mullets, base [bass], guardfish [garfish], 

 haddocks, whitings, herrings, pilchards, skaites, turbots, 

 soles, hallibots, and, what are preferred to all others by 

 the voluptuous, John Dories and red mullets." 



The voluptuous of those days were evidently not 

 bad judges of the good things of this earth, for, although 

 nowadays the John Dory is seldom seen on the 

 tables of the wealthy, or even of the middle classes, of 

 England, and may often be bought at threepence a pound, 

 it is one of the most delicious of sea -fish. Why it should 

 have so fallen in repute as an article of food is hard to 

 tell. Indeed, but a few weeks ago, one of the best known 

 of London fishmongers, informed me that twenty years 

 ago, so great was the demand for the dory that a small 

 fish often realised half-a-guinea. 



Judging from the following paragraph, the capitalists 



