parlance, Canidia tractavit dapes; or, to use the vernacular phraseology of Moore, as if

"The trail of the serpent was over them all."

Hence, at the club I am looked on as a sort of rara avis; or, to speak more appropriately, as an odd fish. Some have spread a report that I have a large share in the Hungerford Market; others, that I am a Saint Simonian. A fellow of the Zoological Society has ascertained, forsooth, from certain maxillary appearances, that I am decidedly of the class of payor, with a mixture of the herbivorous. When the truth is known, as it will be on the publication of this paper, it will be seen that I am no phenomenon what

ever.

My witty cousin, Harriet R., will no longer consider me a fit subject for the exercise of her ingenuity, nor present me a copy of Gray's poems, with the page turned down at "An Elegy on a Cat drowned in a tub of Gold Fishes." She will perhaps, when asked to sing, select some other aria besides that eternal barcarolle,

"O pescator dell' onda,

Vieni pescar in quà

Colla bella tua barca!"

and if I happen to approach the loo-table, she will not think it again necessary to caution the old dowagers to take care of their fish.

Revenons à nos moutons.

When last I supped

with Father Prout, on the eve of my departure from Watergrasshill (and I can only compare my reminiscences of that classic banquet to Xenophon's account of the symposion of Plato), "Young man," said he, "you had a good aunt in the Lady Cresswell; and if you thought as we do, that the orisons of kindred and friends can benefit the dead, you should pray for her as long as you live. But you belong to a different creed-different, I mean, as to this particular point; for, as a whole, your church of England bears a close resemblance to ours of Rome. The daughter will ever inherit the leading features of the mother; and though in your eyes the fresh and unwithered fascinations of the new faith may fling into the shade the more matronly graces of the old, somewhat on the principle of Horace, O matre pulchrâ, filia pulchrior! still has our ancient worship many and potent charms.' I could proudly dwell on the historic recollections that emblazon her escutcheon, the pomp and pageantry of her gorgeous liturgy

"Pardon me, reverend friend," I interposed, lest he should diverge, as was his habit, into some longwinded argument, foreign to the topic on which I sought to be informed,-"I do not undervalue the matronly graces of your venerable church; but (pointing to the remnant of what had been a red herring) let us talk of her fish-diet and fast-days."

"Ay, you are right there, child," resumed Prout; "I perceive where my panegyric must end

'Desinit in piscem mulier formosa superne!'

You will get a famous badgering in town when you are found out to have forsworn the flesh-pots; and Lent will be a sad season for you among the Egyptians. But you need not be unprovided with plausible reasons for your abstinence, besides the sterling considerations of the rental. Notwithstanding that it has been said or sung by your Lord Byron, that

* Man is a carnivorous production,

And cannot live (as woodcocks do) on suction ;'

still that noble poet (I speak from the record of his life and habits furnished us by Moore) habitually eschewed animal food, detested gross feeders, and in his own case lived most frugally, I might even say ascetically; and this abstemiousness he practised from a refinement of choice, for he had registered no vow to heaven, or to a maiden aunt. The observance will no doubt prove a trial of fortitude; but for your part at the festive board, were you so criminal as to transgress, would not the spectre of the Lady Cresswell, like the ghost of Banquo, rise to rebuke you?

"And besides, these days of fasting are of the most remote antiquity; they are referred to as being previously in vogue at the first general council that

legislated for Christendom at Nice, in Bithynia, A.D. 325: and the subsequent assembly of bishops at Laodicea ratified the institution A.D. 364. Its discipline is fully developed in the classic pages of the accomplished Tertullian, in the second century (Tract. de jejuniis). I say no more. These are what Edmund Burke would call grave and reverend authorities,' and, in the silence of Holy Writ, may go as historic evidence of primitive Christianity; for if you press me, I can no more shew cause under the proper hand and seal of an apostle for keeping the fast on these days, than I can for keeping the Sabbath on Sunday.

"I do not choose to notice that sort of criticism, in its dotage, that would trace the custom to the wellknown avocation of the early disciples; though that they were fishermen is most true, and that even after they had been raised to the apostolic dignity, they relapsed occasionally into the innocent pursuit of their primeval calling, still haunted the shores of the accustomed lake, and loved to disturb with their nets the crystal surface of Gennesareth.

"Lent is an institution which should have been long since rescued from the cobwebs of theology, and restored to the domain of the political economist, for there is no prospect of arguing the matter in a fair spirit among conflicting divines; and, of all things, polemics are the most stale and unprofitable. Loaves and fishes have, in all ages of the church, had charms

for us of the cloth; yet how few would confine their frugal bill of fare to mere loaves and fishes! So far Lent may be considered a stumbling-block. But here I dismiss theology: nor shall I further trespass on your patience by angling for arguments in the muddy stream of church history, as it rolls its troubled waters over the middle

ages.

"Your black-letter acquirements, I doubt not, are considerable; but have you adverted to a clause in Queen Elizabeth's enactment for the improvement of the shipping interests in the year 1564? You will, I believe, find it to run thus:

1

"Anno 5o Eliz. cap. v. sect. 11: And for encrease of provision of fishe by the more usual eating thereof, bee it furthur enacted by the aucthoritie aforesaid, that from the feast of St. Mighell tharchangell, ano. Dni. fiftene hundreth threescore foure, every Wednesdaye in every weeke through the whole yere shal be hereafter observed and kepte as the Saturdays in every weeke be or ought to be; and that no person shal eat any fleshe no more than on the common Saturdays.

"12. And bee it furthur enacted by thauctoritee aforesaid, for the commoditie and benifit of this realme, as well to growe the navie as in sparing and encrease of fleshe victual, that from and after the feast of Pentecost next coming, yt shall not be lawful for any p'son to eat any fleshe upon any days now