loz BRITISH SPORTING FISHES. 



The " partrich " was, of course, the partridge, 

 though it was much easier and more profitable to 

 keep domestic pigeons in store than wild game- 

 birds in pound. There were good reasons other 

 than those of luxury and comfort for setting such 

 store by the delicacies of fresh fish and flesh. 

 The prevalent diet has been referred to, and 

 there is no wonder that anything that could vary 

 or palliate it was eagerly cultivated. But there 

 was another reason. Those who were too poor 

 to afford salt meat subsisted upon rye-bread and 

 fish, and what with the indigestible food of the 

 rich, and the too meagre diet of the poor, 

 ague was of terrible frequency, and leprosy com- 

 mon. These must be ascribed to the unwhole- 

 some food and privations of the people, for both 

 disappeared as esculent vegetables came to be 

 cultivated, and salted provisions fell in repute. 



Macaulay reminds us of the fish-ponds in 

 which carp and tench were fattened for the table ; 

 the warrens of conies, and the large round dove- 

 cot rising in the immediate neighbourhood of the 

 abodes of the great and wealthy, of the castle, the 

 convent, and the. manor-house. To-day there 

 is hardly an old hall or religious house in 

 the country which does not show traces of 

 its fish stew, or where this is wanting, the name 

 is almost certain to belong to some part of 



