12 THE SALMON IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 



kind of trout. The thy mains of ^Eliaii is identified by 

 some authorities with the umbra, or grayling. The 

 Latin name alludes to its thyme-like odour; a peculiarity 

 noticed by modern writers. " Some think he feeds on 

 water-thyme," says Izaak Walton, " and smells of it on 

 first being taken out of the water." " So sweetly scented 

 is this fish's body," writes St. Ambrose, " as to have 

 procured for one highly perfumed the compliment, that 

 he smelt daintily like a flower or a fish." 



The later Romans seem to have known, but not appre- 

 ciated, the Salmo solar. Pliny refers to it as an inhabi- 

 tant of the rivers Dordogne and Garonne ; having heard 

 of it probably from Roman tourists who had travelled 

 through Gaul, or from Gallic visitors to the Eternal City. 

 Reference to it under its present well-known title first 

 occurs in Ausonius, who also distinguishes it by different 

 names according to its growth : 



" Nee te puniceo rutilantem visceri salmo 

 Transierim." .... 



" Purpureusque salar stellatus tergora guttis." .... 



"Teque inter geminas species neutrumque et utrumque, 

 Qui necdum salmo nee jam salar ambiguusque 

 Amborum, medio Fario intercepte sub sevo." 



Coming down to more modern times, we know that 

 the salmon was highly prized by the princes, barons, and 

 monks of the Middle Ages, and that it invariably ob- 

 tained a conspicuous place in all sumptuous banquets. 

 That it was much affected by the priestly order, we infer 

 from an anecdote told by Fayot. A restaurant, or cafe, 

 which formerly stood in the Cloitre St. Jacques de 

 1'Hopital, Paris, was famous for its Wednesday and 

 Friday fish-dinners. A certain abbe, on one occasion, 

 partook there so plenteously of salmon, as to induce a fit 



