THE DINNER.
Hal.—Now take your places. What think you of our fish?
Phys.—I never ate better; but I want the Harvey or Reading sauce.
Hal.—Pray let me intreat you to use no other sauce than the water in which he was boiled. I assure you this is the true Epicurean way of eating fresh salmon: and for the trout, use only a little vinegar and mustard,—a sauce à la Tartare, without the onions.
Poiet.—Well, nothing can be better; and I do not think fresh net-caught fish can be superior to these.
Hal.—And these snipes are excellent. Either my journey has given me an appetite, or I think they are the best I ever tasted.
Orn.—They are good, but I have tasted better.
Hal.—Where?
Orn.—On the continent; where the common snipe, that rests during its migration from the north to the south in the marshes of Italy and Carniola, and the double or solitary snipe, become so fat, as to resemble that bird, which was formerly fattened in Lincolnshire, the ruff; and they have, I think, a better flavour from being fed on their natural food.
Hal.—At what time have you eaten them?