209. IN REFERENCE TO THE LONGEVITY OF FISHES, it is affirmed to surpass that of all other created beings; and it is supposed they are, to a great extent, exempted from the diseases to which the flesh of other animals is heir. In place of suffering from the rigidity of age, which is the cause of the natural decay of those that "live and move and have their being" on the land, their bodies continue to grow with each succeeding supply of food, and the conduits of life to perform their functions unimpaired. The age of fishes has not been properly ascertained, although it is believed that the most minute of the species has a longer lease of life than man. The mode in which they die has been noted by the Rev. Mr. White, the eminent naturalist of Selbourne. As soon as the fish sickens, the head sinks lower and lower, till the animal, as it were, stands upon it. After this, as it becomes weaker, it loses its poise, till the tail turns over, when it comes to the surface, and floats with its belly upwards. The reason for its floating in this manner is on account of the body being no longer balanced by the fins of the belly, and the broad muscular back preponderating, by its own gravity, over the belly, from this latter being a cavity, and consequently lighter.
210. FISHES ARE EITHER SOLITARY OR GREGARIOUS, and some of them migrate to great distances, and into certain rivers, to deposit their spawn. Of sea-fishes, the cod, herring, mackerel, and many others, assemble in immense shoals, and migrate through different tracts of the ocean; but, whether considered in their solitary or gregarious capacity, they are alike wonderful to all who look through Nature up to Nature's God, and consider, with due humility, yet exalted admiration, the sublime variety, beauty, power, and grandeur of His productions, as manifested in the Creation.
FISH AS AN ARTICLE OF HUMAN FOOD.
211. AS THE NUTRITIVE PROPERTIES OF FISH are deemed inferior to those of what is called butchers' meat, it would appear, from all we can learn, that, in all ages, it has held only a secondary place in the estimation of those who have considered the science of gastronomy as a large element in the happiness of mankind. Among the Jews of old it was very little used, although it seems not to have been entirely interdicted, as Moses prohibited only the use of such as had neither scales nor fins. The Egyptians, however, made fish an article of diet, notwithstanding that it was rejected by their priests. Egypt, however, is not a country favourable to the production of fish, although we read of the people, when hungry, eating it raw; of epicures among them having dried it in the sun; and of its being salted and preserved, to serve as a repast on days of great solemnity.
The modern Egyptians are, in general, extremely temperate in regard to food. Even the richest among them take little pride, and, perhaps, experience as little delight, in the luxuries of the table. Their dishes mostly consist of pilaus, soups, and stews, prepared principally of onions, cucumbers, and other cold vegetables, mixed with a little meat cut into small pieces. On special occasions, however, a whole sheep is placed on the festive board; but during several of the hottest months of the year, the richest restrict themselves entirely to a vegetable diet. The poor are contented with a little oil or sour milk, in which they may dip their bread.
212. PASSING FROM AFRICA TO EUROPE, we come amongst a people who have, almost from time immemorial, occupied a high place in the estimation of every civilized country; yet the Greeks, in their earlier ages, made very little use of fish as an article of diet. In the eyes of the heroes of Homer it had little favour; for Menelaus complained that "hunger pressed their digestive organs," and they had been obliged to live upon fish. Subsequently, however, fish became one of the principal articles of diet amongst the Hellenes; and both Aristophanes and Athenaeus allude to it, and even satirize their countrymen for their excessive partiality to the turbot and mullet.
So infatuated were many of the Greek gastronomes with the love of fish, that some of them would have preferred death from indigestion to the relinquishment of the precious dainties with which a few of the species supplied them. Philoxenes of Cythera was one of these. On being informed by his physician that he was going to die of indigestion, on account of the quantity he was consuming of a delicious fish, "Be it so," he calmly observed; "but before I die, let me finish the remainder."
213. THE GEOGRAPHICAL SITUATION OF GREECE was highly favourable for the development of a taste for the piscatory tribes; and the skill of the Greek cooks was so great, that they could impart every variety of relish to the dish they were called upon to prepare. Athenaeus has transmitted to posterity some very important precepts upon their ingenuity in seasoning with salt, oil, and aromatics.
At the present day the food of the Greeks, through the combined influence of poverty and the long fasts which their religion imposes upon them, is, to a large extent, composed of fish, accompanied with vegetables and fruit. Caviare, prepared from the roes of sturgeons, is the national ragout, which, like all other fish dishes, they season with aromatic herbs. Snails dressed in garlic are also a favourite dish.
214. AS THE ROMANS, in a great measure, took their taste in the fine arts from the Greeks, so did they, in some measure, their piscine appetites. The eel-pout and the lotas's liver were the favourite fish dishes of the Roman epicures; whilst the red mullet was esteemed as one of the most delicate fishes that could be brought to the table.
With all the elegance, taste, and refinement of Roman luxury, it was sometimes promoted or accompanied by acts of great barbarity. In proof of this, the mention of the red mullet suggests the mode in which it was sometimes treated for the, to us, horrible entertainment of the fashionable in Roman circles. It may be premised, that as England has, Rome, in her palmy days, had, her fops, who had, no doubt, through the medium of their cooks, discovered that when the scales of the red mullet were removed, the flesh presented a fine pink-colour. Having discovered this, it was further observed that at the death of the animal, this colour passed through a succession of beautiful shades, and, in order that these might be witnessed and enjoyed in their fullest perfection, the poor mullet was served alive in a glass vessel.
215. THE LOVE OF FISH among the ancient Romans rose to a real mania. Apicius offered a prize to any one who could invent a new brine compounded of the liver of red mullets; and Lucullus had a canal cut through a mountain, in the neighbourhood of Naples, that fish might be the more easily transported to the gardens of his villa. Hortensius, the orator, wept over the death of a turbot which he had fed with his own hands; and the daughter of Druses adorned one that she had, with rings of gold. These were, surely, instances of misplaced affection; but there is no accounting for tastes. It was but the other day that we read in the "Times" of a wealthy living English hermit, who delights in the companionship of rats!
The modern Romans are merged in the general name of Italians, who, with the exception of macaroni, have no specially characteristic article of food.
216. FROM ROME TO GAUL is, considering the means of modern locomotion, no great way; but the ancient sumptuary laws of that kingdom give us little information regarding the ichthyophagous propensities of its inhabitants. Louis XII. engaged six fishmongers to furnish his board with fresh-water animals, and Francis I. had twenty-two, whilst Henry the Great extended his requirements a little further, and had twenty-four. In the time of Louis XIV. the cooks had attained to such a degree of perfection in their art, that they could convert the form and flesh of the trout, pike, or carp, into the very shape and flavour of the most delicious game.
The French long enjoyed a European reputation for their skill and refinement in the preparing of food. In place of plain joints, French cookery delights in the marvels of what are called made dishes, ragouts, stews, and fricassees, in which no trace of the original materials of which they are compounded is to be found.
217. FROM GAUL WE CROSS TO BRITAIN, where it has been asserted, by, at