178 -THE COMPLETE ANGLEE. 



skin : and having done this, tie him with tape or packthread 

 to a spit, and roast him leisurely, and baste him with water 

 and salt till his skin breaks, and then with butter ; and having 

 roasted him enough, let what was put into his belly and what 

 he drips, be his sauce. S. F. 



When I go to dress an eel thus, I wish he were as long and 

 big as that which was caught in Peterborough river in the 

 year 1667, which was a yard and three-quarters long. If you 

 will not believe me, then go and see at one of the coffee- 

 houses in King-street, in Westminster. 



But now let me tell you, that though the eel thus dressed 

 be not only excellent good, but more harmless than any other 

 way ; yet it is certain, that physicians account the eel dan- 

 gerous meat : I will advise you, therefore, as Solomon says of 

 honey, " Hast thou found it, eat no more than is sufficient, 

 lest thou surfeit ; for it is not good to eat much honey." And 

 let me add this, that the uncharitable Italian bids us " give 

 eels and no wine to our enemies." 



And I will beg a little more of your attention to tell you, 

 Aldrovandus, and divers physicians, commend the eel very 

 much for medicine, though not for meat. But let me tell 

 you one observation, that the eel is never out of season ; as 

 trouts, and most other fish are at set times : at least most 

 eels are not.* 



* The haunts of the eel are, weeds, under roots, stumps of trees, holes, and 

 clefts of the earth, both in the banks and at the bottom, and in the plain mud, 

 where they lie with only their heads out, watching for prey. They are also 

 found under great stones, old timber, about flood-gates, weirs, bridges, and old 

 mills. They delight in still waters, and in those that are foul and muddy ; 

 though the smaller eels are to be met with in all sorts of rivers and soils. 

 Although the manner in which eels, and indeed all fish, are generated, is suffi- 

 ciently settled, as appears by the foregoing notes; there yet remains a question 

 undecided by naturalists ; and that is, Whether the eel be an oviparous or a 

 viviparous fish ? Walton inclines to the latter opinion. The following relation 

 from Bowlker may go near to determine the question : " Being acquainted 

 with an elderly woman, who had been wife to a miller near fifty years, and 

 much employed in dressing of eels, I asked her if she had ever found any spawn 

 or eggs in those eels she opened? She said she had never observed any; but 

 that she had sometimes found living eels in them, about the bigness of a small 

 needle ; and particularly, that she once took out ten or twelve, and put them 

 upon the table, and found them to be alive; which was confirmed to me by the 

 rest of the family. The time of the year when this happened was, as they 

 informed me, about a fortnight or three weeks after Michaelmas ; which makes 

 me of opinion that they go down to the sea, or salt-water, to prepare them- 

 selves for the work of propagating and producing their young. To this I must 

 add another observation of the same nature, that was made by a gentleman of 

 fortune not far from Ludlow, and in the commission of the peace for the county 

 of Salop ; who going to visit a gentleman, his friend, was shown a very fine 

 large eel that was going to be dressed, about whose sides and belly he observed 



