[71a] Gilbert White mentions this habit of “snakes stinking, se defendendo. A friend (he says) kept a tame snake, in its own person as sweet as any animal; but as soon as a stranger, a cat, or a dog entered the room, it fell to hissing, and filled the room with such nauseous effluvia as rendered it hardly supportable.” Natural History, Selbourne, p. 90. Ed. 1829.
[71b] Brusher, a well-known character in the New Forest, Hampshire, says he has seen hundreds of snakes swallow their young in time of danger. “The New Forest,” by R. C. de Crespigny and Horace Hutchinson.
[74] Several kinds of fish which we now think coarse or insipid, would doubtless become, through the culinary skill of the monastic chef “savoury dishes” such as even a lordly abbot’s soul might relish. For the benefit of readers who may like to try the fish of our district under most favourable conditions, I here give two or three recipes for cooking them. Francatelli, no mean authority, says, “a pike cooked properly can hold its own against many fish from the sea.” Boiled with horseradish sauce and mustard it makes an excellent dish. Perch, with sorrel sauce and mayonnaise, is equally good. Carp, fried with butter, is excellent. Chub, taken in frosty weather, are firm, at other times rather flabby, but treated in either of the above ways they are more than palatable. Roach, cooked on a gridiron, with butter, make a nice breakfast. Tench, with port wine sauce, are a luxury. Eels, though despised in Scotland, are very good stewed.
[76a] Lincoln Records, quoted in Sir Charles Anderson’s “Pocket Guide of Lincoln,” p. 107. The spelling “wesh” agrees with the local pronunciation of the present day.
[76b] Mr. S. Cheer, of Horncastle.
[76c] Mr. W. Bryant, of Horncastle.
[78] Rev. C. D. Ash, Skipwith Vicarage. Naturalist, 1896, pp. 302 and 303.
[79a] Mr. J. Watson, in his very interesting book, “Sylvan Folk,” states (p. 232) that a single swan will destroy a gallon of trout ova in a day.
[79b] Mr. W. Bryant.
[79c] Aaron Rushton.