PISHES 509 



2. Paid unto John Banks which he had disbursed at Kendall 

 last Satturday, for the carryage of two charr-pies unto London — 

 to the Lord Arlington and Joseph Williamson, Esq. — to Will 

 Banckes, carryer, weight 6 stone, 7 lbs. — the sum of £1.' It 

 will be noticed that the size of Sir Daniel's pies varied with the 

 importance of the recipient. The Earl required a very big pie, 

 exceeding four stone ; Lord Arlington had a somewhat smaller 

 pie; 'my aunt Dudley' had to content herself with pies of 

 lesser dimensions, as the charges for carriage, according to 

 weight, testify. How many Charr went to a pie ? Thirty-eight ; 

 for in 1662 we find that Adam Fleming brought 'eleven dozen 

 of charres from Connistone for four pies.' Supposing that the 

 Charr were fine fish, they might possibly average three to the 

 pound ; the whole thirty-eight might reach a collective weight 

 of thirteen pounds. But even ' my aunt Dudley ' received a 

 pie weighing thirty-six pounds, as the cost of carriage shows ; 

 therefore, twenty-three pounds of the pie must have been pastry 

 and dish, and only thirteen pounds fish ; if the weight of the 

 pastry increased, in ratio to the total bulk, faster than the Charr, 

 as no doubt it would, the consistency of the pastry of the Earl 

 of Carlisle must have required a pretty stiff potation to wash 

 it down. The actual cost of the fish was 3d. apiece, or 3 s. 

 a dozen. Curiously enough, the price paid by Sir Daniel is 

 corroborated a century later by Pennant, who remarks of Conis- 

 ton : ' The fish of this water are char and pike ; a few years ago 

 the first were sold for 3s. 6d. per dozen, but thanks to the luxury 

 of the times are now raised to eight or nine shillings.' 1 



Mr. John Fell prints, in ' Appendix IV.' to his paper, ' Home 

 Life in North Lonsdale,' a curious letter from the Duke of 

 Montagu : — 



'Mr. Atkinson, — I received yours of the 1. of this month, 

 & also the Pott of Charr which you sent me by that days 

 Carrier, which was the best I ever eat, & I would have you 

 send me some of the same sort by every Carryer, take care to 

 Pick the hen fish and those that are of the Eed Kind, and 

 let them be potted and seasoned just as that Pot was for it cant 

 be beter — as I recon it is now the best season for Charr, I 

 1 A Tour in Scotland, vol. ii. p. 34. 



