MXJE^NID^. 387 



termediate meal besides. Surely every stranger, though 

 no enemy to eels, must dream of them tonight, and wrig- 

 gle uneasily in bed for a week to come, after merely pass- 

 ing down the street ; while every Scotchman who shall 

 chance to find himself in the midst of such a scene, will 

 learn doubly to hate and recoil from a church which 

 sanctions such an abomination as food. 



These eels come principally from Comacchio, the low 

 country below Venice; they are almost as large as the 

 conger, but far more delicate in flavour; when first 

 taken, they are kept in brackish stews, and from thence 

 sent to all parts of Italy, sometimes, as here, alive, but 

 more commonly chopped in pieces, grilled, and preserved 

 in a pickle of salt and vinegar, shrouded in bay-leaves, 

 and served out to customers on the point of a porcu- 

 pine's qmll. 



Not only, however, is the love of eels as predominant 

 in the modern as it was in the ancient world, but the 

 means of indulging it are vastly faciHtated everywhere, 

 and, we may add, the modes of presenting them at table 

 greatly improved ; for in those days 



Fair cookery to their eyes her well-tlmmb'd page, 

 Enrich'd by prosperous art, did ne'er unroll ; 



False ' Guides' misled the cuEnary sage, 

 And froze th' artistic ardour of his soul. 



Now the meanest Parisian artiste who should foUow 

 Apicius^ receipts, would be turned out of his place in a 

 week; Ude might recommend flaying him alive with 

 the eels ; Soyer suggest grilling the bungler, or trussing 

 him in an eel-skin, like Justice Shallow. But though 

 exploded, the older methods of dressing this fish were 

 various and intricate ; ' Drown them in good wine,' say 

 the monks of the Schola Salernitana, ' then boU in water, 

 and drain quite dry ; season with strong spices, and stew 

 down tin they become a solid jelly.' A still more an- 



s 2 



