Page:010 Once a week Volume X Dec 1863 to Jun 64.pdf/92

 N

[Jan.

and

know

I

that

9, 1864.

a digression from ! point, but I consider the fact so curious as to be worth a few

my

many tylo a

The grey mallei In the crowded and squalid districts of London, where the poor, the idle, the ignorant, and the vicious of all sorts, huddle together in ad wretchedness, fish form a very favourite article of diet. Thieves, and the very lowest outcasts with even more vicious propen

br tho ullet in delicacy

die the greatest skill bed at their

connoisseurs in

!

fish-

nce.

trnard, or Tlie

cousin

none

•'

mullet,

•

ies

and most

of

this

known term "gurnet"

fish,

as the

the

"red

is very proname in all a of "garnet," motion likelihood bestowed on the fish on account of a bright red parts being of

.

.

such as Bethnal Green, Lisson Grove, the New chapel, the Seven Dials, and on the in Crawford Street, Seymour Place, and the densely crowded streets in the vicinity of It is a curious fact in conu with the sale of fish, that the nearer a town is to the sea the less do the inhabitants n care for a fish dinner. In most ices fishermen have so little fancy for the article of their trade, that I have often known them go dinnerless sooner than make a

meal

of

it.

for fish

same cause

The

of

distaste

may probably

—

—

The red gurnard

rk,

in

"Lon-

caught in the trawl-nets

is

when fishing for whiting. I have taken them on my cod-lines, with a herring The gurnard is not a bait, but not often. handsome fish his head is encased in a kind of spiked helmet of a hard nature, plate. were with very thick scales. This renders him a very formidable foe to the small fish and When fishing Crustacea, on which he feeds. for gurnards with hook and line, a shrimp or prawn should be the bait used, although The tlesh of the nards take the worm also. gurnard is wholesome and well tasted, but it

the case

v,

some women,

of

line

t

uly

money

in deep-sea water, in common with many other I have occasionally taken one on a handfish.

good from the

fish or pastry, as

ch-

asserting that he should lose by it, if he gave them as many fish as they demanded.

as the disinclination of pastrycooks' ry, viz. , a surfeit of the ii

the

kinds,

—

the seller refuse the

these

arise

all

easily procured

and that they buy tainted fish readily if it be but cheap. About a year ago I was pj one evening from the "Elephant and Castle" down the Blackfriars Road, and observed a costermonger selling gurnards to a number of The fish were disposed of very women. at the rate of about ten fair-sized cheaply ones for two pence and yet most of the poor man's Irish customers complained that they had not sufficient for their money. I myself heard

enormous and are sometimes so ed for manure. They are consequently very cheap, and are sold in vast numbers in the lower districts of London, are taken in

a ids


 * i;i

of

being plaice, herGreat quantities rings, sprats, and gurnards. of gurnards are sold in the neighbourhood of the Victoria Theatre, the chief purchasers being the street Irish, who are not at all particular as to the quality of what they buy, The regarding quantity as the great point. hawkers of fish say that the Irish can live well where the lower orders of English would starve,

but possesses and choiceness.

that

fish

buy

eagerly

"gurnet," gurnard is

!

Bought

as

after,

I i

fa

recomm<

No p« ons who of choice

would

select a dish of then: to

in

lard

or

other and

and

oil,

tin-

1



I

1 1

1

frequei I

in

Asm

oil,

i

lard

11.

B

their