MUR^NIDiE. 383 



Micio's stallj let him straightway fearlessly seize that 

 varlet by the throaty and drag him to justice ; he is the 

 thief, you may depend on it/ Wide is the difference 

 now, when the poorest man in the metropoHs may, if 

 he have a mind, have his slice of eel : in. place of a few 

 West-end cetarii supplying the aristocracy only, Lon- 

 don, from one end to the other, teems and steams with 

 eels, alive and stewed ; turn where you will, ' hot eels' 

 are everywhere smoking away, with many a fragrant 

 condiment at hand to make what is in itself palatable 

 yet more savoury ; and this too at so low a rate, that for 

 one hal^enny a man of the million — ^for whom, in our 

 good land, everything is, we trust, gradually becomiug 

 organized — may fill his stomach with sis or seven long 

 pieces, and wash them down with a cupful of the glu- 

 tinous liquor in which they have been stewed. The 

 traffic of this street luxury is so great, that twenty thou- 

 sand pounds sterling is annually cleared by it. One 

 million one hundred and sixty-six thousand eight hun- 

 dred and thirty poimds' weight, on an average, are brought 

 from Billingsgate every year by itinerant salesmen, who 

 cook and retail them on their different beats : custom- 

 ers are not entirely confined to the lowest orders ; some 

 of the inferior ' bourgeoisie' condescend to frequent the 

 stands of the most noted retailers ; and there are in- 

 stances reported by some of these hawkers, of individuals 

 coming twice a day for months, and eating to the alarm- 

 ing extent of twopence a time, or, in other words, of de- 

 vouring from thirty to forty lengths of stewed eel, and 

 decanting down their throats sis or seven teacupfuls of 

 the hot liquor. 



Though our sellers of cooked eels have no disgraceftd 

 exemption to boast, of unpaid taxes and city dues, lik e 

 their ancient brethren of the same calling at Sybaris, 

 yet are they, too, men of importance in a small way, 

 and generally make a good thing out of this savoury 



