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
<ng
the
I
In apprenticeship. fish, unless at a time s,
ns, •Is
ji
are
on the
a difficulty in .1,1
may be
possesses a watery sweetness, which somewhat detracts from its merit. Gurnards are much
ircumstance,
Maybe, w >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