PISH SAUCES. 75 



rious. The Mediterranean pelagians (or open sea-fish) 

 have neither brilliancy of colour^ nor delicacy of flesh to 

 atone for the want of it; so that no Englishman wiU re- 

 pine to leave thunny beef to the Sicilian ichthyophagist, 

 whilst he has the genuine pasture-fed article at home 

 in place of it. Nor though, to such coarse feeders as the 

 ancient Greeks, sword-fish might be held equal to veal, 

 wiU his better instructed palate assent to such a libel 

 upon wholesome butchers' meat. Mullet must indeed 

 be admitted on all hands to be a good fish; but one 

 good thing only in a hundred does not satisfy omnivo- 

 rous man, and toujour s triglia is not better than toujours 

 perdrix, as every one who has passed a winter at Naples 

 knows to his cost. Sardines are only palatable in oil, 

 au naturel they are exceedingly poor and dry; and for 

 that other small clupean, the anchovy (the latent virtues 

 of which are only elicited by the process which meta- 

 morphoses the fish into sauce), British white-bait is far 

 more than an equivalent. But if the Mediterranean has 

 but few alumni to be proud of, the poverty of its waters 

 is certainly more conspicuous in its deficiencies than in 

 its supplies; indeed, the instinct of all first-rate fish 

 seems to be, to turn their tail upon this sea. Thus among 

 the salmonidse, salmon and smelt are a l ike unknown ; 

 of the gadian family, all the finest species, as cod, 

 haddock, whiting, ling, and coal-fish, are wanting; and 

 to quote but one other example. 



Whilst migrant herrings steer their myriad bands, 

 From seas of ice to visit warmer strands, 



as we read in the Apocrypha of Dr. Darwin, not one 

 ever entered the Bay of Naples, unless salted in a barrel 

 from England. 



E 3 



