rolls itself up in a ball to fleep. This Dormouse, according to the Author, did not drink in three years time; but whether other Dormice do fo, I cannot tell, because Bamboufelbergius's Treatife" of Fattening "Dormice" is loft. Though very coftly, they became a common difh at great entertainments. Petronius delivers us an odd Receipt for dreffing them, and ferving them up with Poppies and Honey; which must be a very foporiferous dainty, and as good as Owl-pye to fuch as want a nap after dinner. The fondness of the Romans came to be fo exceffive towards them, that, as Pliny fays, "the Cenforian Laws, and Marcus Scaurus in his Confulfhip, got them prohibited from public "entertainments." But Nero, Commodus, and Heliogabalus, would not deny the liberty, and indeed property, of their fubjects in so reasonable an enjoyment; and therefore we find them long after brought to table in the times of Ammianus Marcellinus, who tells us likewife, that "fcales were brought to table in those 66 ages, to weigh curious Fishes, Birds, and Dormice," to fee whether they were at the standard of excellence and perfection, and fometimes, I fuppofe, to vie with other pretenders to magnificence. The Annotator takes hold of this occafion, to fhew" of how great use scales "would be at the tables of our Nobility," efpecially. upon the bringing up of a dish of Wild-fowl: "For, "if twelve Larks (fays he) should weigh below twelve ounces, they would be very lean, and fcarce tole"rable; if twelve and down-weight, they would be very well; but, if thirteen, they would be fat to ན་ 66 per "perfection." We fee upon how nice and exact a ba lance the happiness of Eating depends! I could fcarce forbear fmiling, not to say worse, at fuch exactness and fuch dainties; and told my Friend, that thofe fcales would be of extraordinary use at Dunftable; and that, if the Annotator had not prescribed his Dormouse, I fhould upon the firft occafion be glad to vifit it, if I knew its vifiting-days and hours, fo as not to disturb it. My Friend faid, there remained but Two Books more, one of Sea and the other of River Fish, in the account of which he would not be long, feeing his memory began to fail him almost as much as my pati ence. ""Tis true, in a long work, soft slumbers creep, "And gently fink the Artist into fleep*;" especially when treating of Dormice. The Ninth Book is concerning Sea Fish, where, amongst other learned Annotations, is recorded that fa-, mous Voyage of Apicius, who, having spent many millions, and being retired into Campania, heard that there were Lobsters of a vast and unufual bignefs in Africa, and thereupon impatiently got on fhipboard the fame day; and, having fuffered much at fea, came at laft to the coaft. But the fame of fo great a man's coming had landed before him, and all the Fishermen failed out to meet him, and presented him with their fairest Lobsters. He afked, if they had no larger." *Art of Cookery, ver. 449. ́ They 7 : They answered," Their fea produced nothing more excellent than what they had brought." This honeft freedom of theirs, with his difappointment, fo difgufted him, that he took pet, and bade the Mafter re turn home again immediately and fo, it feems, Africa. loft the breed of one monfter more than it had before* There are many Receipts in the Book, to drefs Crampfish, that numb the hands of thofe that touch them; the Cuttle-fish, whofe blood is like ink; the Pourcontrel, or Many-feet; the Sea-urchin, or Hedge-hog; with feveral others, whofe Sauces are agreeable to their natures. But, to the comfort of us Moderns, the Ancients often ate their Oyfters alive, and fpread hard Eggs minced over their Sprats as we do now over our Salt-fish. There is one thing very curious concerning: Herrings: It feems, the Ancients were very fantastical, in making one thing pafs for another; fo, at Petronius's Supper, the Cook fent up a fat Goose, Fish, and Wildfowl of all forts to appearance, but ftill all were made out of the feveral parts of one fingle Porker. great Nicomedes, King of Bithynia, had a very delightful deception of this nature put upon him by his Cook : the King was extremely affected with fresh Herrings (as indeed who is not?); but, being far up in Afia from the fea-coaft, his whole wealth could not have purchased one; but his Cook contrived fome fort of The * Lord Lyttelton's Nineteenth" Dialogue of the "Dead" (perhaps the most humourous in that admirable collection) feems to have been entirely founded on she hints fuggefted by Dr. King. N. meat meat, which, put into a frame, so resembled a Herring, that it was extremely fatisfactory both to this Prince's eyes and gufto. My Friend told me, that, to the honour of the City of London, he had seen a thing of this nature there; that is, a Herring, or rather a Salmogundy, with the head and tail so neatly laid, that it furprized him. He fays, many of the species may be found at the Sugar Loaf in Bell Yard, as giving an excellent relish to Burton Ale, and not costing above fix-pence, an inconfiderable price for fo imperial a dainty! The Tenth Book, as my Friend tells me, is concerning Fish Sauces, which confift of variety of ingredients, amongst which is generally a kind of Frumetary. But it is not to be forgotten by any perfon who would boil Fish exactly, that they threw them alive into the water, which at present is faid to be a Dutch Receipt, but was derived from the Romans. It feems, Seneca the Philofopher (a man from whose morofe temper little good in the Art of Cookery could be expected), in his Thirả Book of Natural Queftions, correcting the luxury of the times, fays, the Romans were come to that daintiness, that they would not eat a Fish unless upon the fame day it was taken, "that it might tafte of the Sea," as they expressed it; and therefore had them brought by persons who rode poft, and made a great outcry, whereupon all other people were obliged to give them the road. It was an ufual expreffion for a Roman to Lay, "In other matters I may confide in you; but in "a thing of this weight, it is not confiftent with my "gravity R "gravity and prudence. I will trust nothing but my 66 own eyes. Bring the Fifh hither, let me fee him "breathe his laft." And, when the poor Fish was brought to table swimming and gasping, would cry out, "Nothing is more beautiful than a dying Mullet !" My Friend fays, the Annotator looks upon thefe "as "jefts made by the Stoicks, and spoken abfurdly and beyond nature;" though the Annotator at the fame time tells us, that it was a law at Athens, that the Fishermen fhould not wash their Fith, but bring them as they came out of the fea. Happy were the Athenians in good Laws, and the Romans in great Examples! But I believe our Britons need with their Friends no longer life, than till they fee London ferved with live Herrings and gasping Mackarel. It is true, we are not quite fo barbarous but that we throw our Crabs alive into fcalding water, and tie our Lobfters to the fpit to hear them fqueak when they are roafted; our Eels use the fame peristaltic motion upon the gridiron, when their skin is off and their guts are out, as they did before; and our Gudgeons, taking opportunity of jumping after they are flowered, give occafion to the admirable remark of fome perfons' folly, when, to avoid the danger of the frying-pan, they leap into the fire. My Friend faid, that the mention of Eels put him in mind of the concluding remark of the Annotator, "That they who amongst the Sybarites would fish for "Eels, or fell them, fhould be free from all taxes." I was glad to hear of the word conclude; and told him nothing could be more acceptable to me than the men 5 tion |