restrain such indulgencies, and how they were evaded. This seems, in him, to be very like affectation ; for living, as he did, in the best society of a most voluptuous and self-indulgent age, he must often, in the character of an accessory after the fact, have been guilty of the misdemeanour of fatting fowls.

Willoughby is a much more sensible fellow. "No better flesh in the world (in my opinion) than that of a year-old Pullet well fed, or a fat Capon; nothing inferior to, not to say better than, that of a Pheasant or Partridge. Some there are that think, and we also incline to their opinion, that the flesh of those Hens is most sweet and delicate which are fed at the barn-door, running about and exercising themselves in getting their food, by scraping with their feet. And that the flesh of those is less pleasant and wholesome, that are shut up in coops and crammed. Some are so curious that they think those limbs most wholesome which are most exercised, and therefore in Wild-Fowl they prefer the wings, in Tame, the legs."

The old Dutch mode of fatting is by no means a bad

one :

"Cardanus author est, Gallinas si pingui lacertæ, salnitro, cyminoque farinam tritici miscueris, et hoc cibo eas saginaveris, adeo pinguescere, hominesque qui eis aluntur, ita pinguefieri, ut disrumpantur. Io. Jacobus Weckerus ejusmodi sese secretum ab Hollando quodam accepisse tradit, ut Gallinæ pinguescant. In culina, inquit, facias tibi capsam, pluribus interstinctam capsulis, singulis cum suis foraminibus, per quæ capita extrudere foras possint Gallinæ, cibumque capere. His itaque capsulis, Gallinæ juvenes vel Pulli incarcerentur, singulæ singulis: cibus singulis horis offeratur, parum pro vice potu interdicto. Cibus autem sit triticum in aquâ modicè elixum. Oportet autem capsulas inferius esse pervias, ut excrementa permeare possint singulis diebus diligenter auferenda. Cæterum ultra duas hebdomadas inclusas Gallinas esse non oportet; præ nimiâ enim pinguedine interirent.

Audio etiam apud eosdem populos insigniter pinguescere, et citò, si cerevisia eis in potu apponatur pro aquâ, item si reliquis ejusdem cerevisiae pascantur, sed et ova ita plura, majoraque parere."-Aldrovandi.

*

"Cardan is the authority, that if you mingle fat lizard, (?) saltpetre, and cummin, with wheat flour, and feed Hens on this food, they will get so fat, and the people who eat them will grow so stout, as to burst. John Jacob Wecker records that he learnt the following secret of fatting Hens from a certain Hollander. 'In the kitchen,' he says, 'make to yourself a box, divided into many little boxes, each one with its own opening, through which the Hens can thrust their heads out of doors, and take their food. Therefore, in these little boxes, let youthful Hens or Pullets be incarcerated, one in each: let food be offered every hour, drink being interdicted for the time. But let the food be wheat moderately boiled. The little boxes ought to be pervious below, that the excrements may pass through, and be diligently removed every day. But the Hens ought not to be shut up beyond two weeks; lest they should die from too much fatness. I am told, also, that among some people they get gloriously fat, and quickly, if beer is offered them for drink, instead of water; also, that if they are fed on brewer's grains, they lay more, as well as larger, eggs."

A correspondent of the Agricultural Gazette thus describes the method which he successfully practised for many years in India:-"The Fowl-house, or rather feedinghouse, for only fattening Fowls were permitted to be in it, was kept as cool as possible, (in Bengal, remember,) and almost dark. Each Fowl had a separate pen; they were fed once, and only once a-day, with rice, boiled as rice ought to be for Christians; not to a mash; but so that grain from grain should separate. The quantity to each

*May not "lacerta" be a misprint or slip of the pen for "lacerato?" If so, "fat lizard" should be replaced by "torn or shred fat."

Fowl was about two ounces (before boiling). For the first three days to each was given about a tea-spoonful of 'ghoor,' a coarse sugar-about half as much again of treacle would be an equivalent. This commencing with sugar was held to be very important; it cleansed the birds and disposed them to fatten ; no water was given; neither was any chalk or gravel, both being unknown in the country. In about three weeks the Fowls were generally fat. I never, in England, have seen finer than those I have killed within that time, not even at Mr. Davis's, of Leadenhall Market. If they did not fatten in three weeks, we supposed that they did not mean to fatten, but this was of rare occurrence, and proceeded, no doubt, from some ailment beyond my power of discovering; but, fat or otherwise, they were never tough. To boil the rice in buttermilk is by far preferable to boiling it in water; let the Fowls be as young as you can, if of full growth. Many people run away with an impression that Fowls fed on rice will go blind; it is dirt and sourness that cause it. How often do we see a trough loaded with meal food, sufficient for two or three days, placed before the unhappy prisoner in the pen, who cannot escape from it, or seek other and sweeter food! When the Fowls have done feeding, the trough should be removed, cleaned, and exposed to the air until the next day's feeding time. At my factory, in India, the troughs were every afternoon thrown into a pond; there they remained until next morning, when, after an hour or two's sunning, they were returned to the coops: no blindness was known there."

We may observe that a temperature which feels cool in Bengal, would be thought warm here; and that, in this country of rapid digestion, a single meal a day is insufficient to fatten Fowls. It is a great point to keep them without food the first twenty-four hours they are shut up, allowing them to have drink only. If food be offered to them as soon as they are deprived of liberty, they will sulk and refuse it, and, perhaps, be several days before they feed heartily; but, if they be starved till they

feel a craving appetite, hunger will overcome their sullenness, and they will afterwards greedily devour their allowance.

The oldest and toughest Fowls may be made into a savoury and nutritious dish by the following method, which is given as a tried and warranted recipe, because such birds are so often pronounced uneatable, thrown away, and wasted.

When the Fowl is plucked and drawn, joint it as for a pie. Stew it five hours in a close sauce-pan, with salt, mace, onions, or any other flavouring ingredients that may be approved: a clove of garlic may be added where it is not utterly disliked. When tender, turn it out into a deep dish so that the meat may be entirely covered with the liquor. Let it stand thus in its own jelly for a day or two (this is the grand secret); it may then be served in the shape of a curry, a hash, or a pie, and will be found little inferior to pheasant under similar circumstances.

The cookery of the middle ages abounded in practical jokes. Here is a very witty one with a Chicken. "Si vis, ut pullus saltet in disco: Accipe, inquit Albertus Magnus, argentum vivum, et pulverem calaminthæ, et mitte in ampullam vitream sigillatam, et illam pone intra pullum calidum: cum enim argentum vivum incalescit, movet se, et faciet ipsum saltare.” "If you wish a Chicken to jump in the dish, take," says Albertus Magnus, "quicksilver, and powder of calaminth, and pour them into a glass bottle, seal it, and put it inside the hot Chicken: for as the quicksilver gets warm, it moves itself, and will make the Chicken jump." The brilliancy of this trick is only to be rivalled by the epigrammatic point of the question, "Did you ever see a bun dance on a table?"

A specimen or two may be given of the savoury messes in which our great-grandfathers delighted.

"The other delicious Broths, which none but the Rich can afford, are, the Bisk* of Pigeons; the Pottage of

* Derived from biscuits, twice cooked.

Health; Partridge Broth with Coleworts, &c. &c., and the Pottage of Fowls with green Pease. We put the Fowls to boil with Broth, and skim them well; then pass the green Pease through a Frying-pan, with Butter, or melted Bacon; and afterwards have them stew'd a-part, with Lettices; And when the Fowls are done, we mix the Broth and Pease together, and send it to the Table.

"Chickens are roasted either larded, or barded, i. e., covered before and behind, with a thin Slice of Bacon, and wrapped in Vine-leaves, in their Season.

"Fowls are pickled with Vinegar, Salt, Pepper, and Lemon-peel, and are left in their Pickle till they be wanted; when wanted, they are taken out, put to drain, and after they have been fried in Butter, they are put to stew for a few Minutes, in some of the Pickle, and then carried to Table."-Dennis de Catlogon.

Fowls for cooking that are required to be sent to a distance, or to be kept any time before being served, are plucked, drawn, and dressed immediately that they are killed. The feathers strip off much more easily and cleanly while the bird is yet warm. On special occasions, such as Michaelmas, for Geese, and Christmas, for all sorts of Poultry, when large numbers have to be slaughtered and prepared in a short time, the process is expedited by scalding the bird in boiling water, when the feathers drop off almost all at once. But Fowls thus treated are generally thought inferior in flavour, and are certainly more likely to acquire a taint in close warm weather, than such as are plucked and trussed dry. The Norfolk poulterers, especially those in the neighbourhoods of Norwich and Great Yarmouth, may, in this art, challenge the whole world for skill and neatness. All bruises or rupturing of the skin should be avoided. A coarse half-worn cloth, that is pervious to the air, like a wire safe, and perfectly dry and clean, forms the best wrapper. The colour of yellow-skinned Turkeys, which, however, are equally well flavoured, is improved for appearance at market by wrapping them twelve or twenty