RATS AS HUMAN FOOD. 
127 
then, lie had thought this uproar or ^^filliloo" at table was only 
an Engrish custom, and had felt but too delighted with the 
comical idea. At the same time he had exerted himself 
most anxiously to indulge the admiral in this supposed 
national propensity. 
Presently, with swollen eyes and haggard aspect, the 
trembling admiral returned to bid his generous host farewell. 
The penetrating eye of the commissioner saw that his frame 
had been undergoing a severe agitation, and, in soothing 
accents, for his stomach's sake, he bid the interpreter to 
invite him to another entertainment, when he would 
take care there should be no nasty " bow, wow, wow," but 
plenty of nice cat, cat^ cat, and some nice rat, rat, rat ! 
The promise of the last was a perfect settler ; for had they 
not instantly supported him, he would have fallen. He was, 
with all speed, conveyed to his ship, still suffering under the 
agonies of a heaving stomach ; nor was it till ai%er he had 
been seated for half an hour behind a salt buttock of beef 
that he felt anything like composure. Then, after taking 
sundry noggins of brandy, a genial glow of indescribable 
tranquillity stole through the " ports and alleys" of his sys- 
tem, and gently wrapped him in the sootliing arms of 
Morpheus. The ship's doctor sat up all night to watch him, 
and towards morning he began to show symptoms of uneasi- 
ness. This uneasiness increased, till at last he raved out curses 
and imprecations without measure upon all the rats, cats, and 
dogs in the Celestial Empire. With this he awoke; then, after 
collecting his scattered senses, and ascertaining that the wind 
was favourable, he gave orders to weigh anchor, and instantly 
set sail for the land of roast beef and plum-pudding. 
Now, whether this tale be founded on facts or whether it 
be j)urely fiction, it matters little ; but yet it is singular to 
read with what force the prevailing antipathy to the bare 
name of rat is turned to account. For when the admiral 
was informed that he had eaten half of Lady Lyn's favourite 
puppy, it only turned him sick j and when he was promised 
some nice cat, cat, cat, he merely shuddered ; but the instant 
the word rat was mentioned, his legs gave way under him ; 
thus possibly depicting the unqualified disgust and horror 
that is entertained against the mere name of the animal about 
which I am writing. 
