270 FISHES I HAVE KNOWN 



in little wooden buckets such as children use at 

 the seaside. 



Now things are different. The working classes 

 have learnt to appreciate fish ; they recognise it 

 as wholesome and nourishing, and, in fact, regard 

 it as a necessity. In fashionable circles what 

 entertainment would be complete without fish 

 disguised in various forms — Filets de Triutes a la 

 Russe, Filets de saumon a la Cardinal, Cendrillons 

 de soles a la Norvegienne, and so on ? Every one 

 consumes fish in one form or another, although 

 as a nation we are not, like the Eastern races, 

 naturally fish-eaters. 



As to fish au naturel, one could years ago 

 obtain it in perfection at the famous Billingsgate 

 " Three Tuns " — now gone the way of all ancient 

 hostelries — where twice a day dinner was served 

 in a long, low room overlooking the Thames. 

 All the fish in season was provided, followed by 

 the best joints at a ridiculously low inclusive 

 charge of one-and-sixpence a head, I think. The 

 problem of how it could be made to pay at the 

 price was solved by the large consumption of a 

 very insidious rum-punch, which it was de rigcur 

 to drink, the cost being one shilling per rummer. 



Simpson's, up Bird-in-Hand Court, Cheapside, 

 still retains a "fish ordinary," and at Pj-mm's in 



