82 A BREAKFAST DAINTY. 



fisher-wives along the north-east coast used to pack small 

 quantities of these delicately cured fish into a basket, and 

 give them to the guard of the "Defiance" coach, which 

 ran between Aberdeen and Edinburgh, and the guard 

 brought them to town, confiding them for sale to a brother 

 who dealt in provisions \ and it is known that out of the 

 various transactions which thus arose, individually small 

 though they must have been, the two made, in the course 

 of time, a handsome profit. The fame of the smoked fish 

 spread far and wide; so that cargoes came to be despatched 

 by steam-boat ; and now the much-coveted edibles are 

 carried by railway to all parts of the country, the demand 

 being so great that, in order to meet it, almost any kind 

 of fish is substituted for the original haddie, and various 

 devices are adopted to imitate the colour and flavour. 

 Good smoked haddocks of the Moray Firth or Aberdeen 

 cure cannot be obtained' at the present time, even in 

 Edinburgh, under the price of sixpence per pound.* 



The Finnan haddock obtains its distinctive name from 

 Findon or Finnan, a small fishing-village in the parish of 

 Banchory-Devenick, about six miles to the south of 

 Aberdeen. Here the curing process was first adopted, 

 or else was executed so dexterously as to secure a special 

 celebrity for the fish sent out for sale from this port. 



At the magnificent coronation-feast of Katherine of 

 Valois, celebrated on the 24th of February 1420-21, a 

 feast which, according to Fabyan, was " all of fish, for, 

 Lent being entered upon, nothing of meat was there, 

 saving brawn served with mustard," figured stewed eels, 

 and bream of the sea, and crayfish, lampreys, roasted 



* Bertram, " Harvest of the Sea," p. 290. 



