264 THE TROUT 



' Take your trout, wash and dry him with a clean 

 napkin ; then open him, and having taken out his 

 guts and all the blood, wipe him very clean within, 

 but wash him not, and give him three scotches with a 

 knife to the bone, on one side only. After which 

 take a clean kettle, and put in as much hard stale 

 beer but it must not be dead as will cover the fish 

 you intend to boil, then throw into the liquor a good 

 quantity of salt, the rind of a lemon, a handful of 

 sliced horse-radish root, with a handsome little faggot 

 of rosemary, thyme and winter savoury. Then set 

 your kettle upon a quick fire of wood, and let your 

 liquor boil up to the height before you put in your 

 fish ; and then if there be many, put them in, one by 

 one, that they may not so cool the liquor as to make 

 it full ; and whilst your fish is boiling, beat up the 

 butter for your sauce with a ladleful or two of the 

 liquor it is boiling in ; and being boiled enough, 

 immediately pour the liquor from the fish, and being 

 laid in a dish, pour your butter upon it, and strewing 

 it plentifully over with shaved horse-radish, and a 

 little pounded ginger, garnish the sides of your dish, 

 and the fish itself, with a sliced lemon or two, and 

 serve up.' 



We don't dare to criticise the theology of a St. 

 Paul or a St. Augustine, yet even after the nabob of 



