of flour. Toss in the whitebait, shake them lightly in the
cloth, and put them in a wicker sieve to take away the superfluous
flour. Throw them into a pan of boiling lard, very few at a time, and
let them fry till of a whitey-brown colour. Directly they are done, they
must he taken out, and laid before the fire for a minute or two on a
sieve reversed, covered with blotting-paper to absorb the fat. Dish them
on a hot napkin, arrange the fish very high in the centre, and sprinkle
a little salt over the whole.

_Time_.--3 minutes.

_Seasonable _from April to August.

[Illustration: WHITEBAIT.]

WHITEBAIT.--This highly-esteemed little fish appears in
innumerable multitudes in the river Thames, near Greenwich and
Blackwall, during the month of July, when it forms, served with
lemon and brown bread and butter, a tempting dish to vast
numbers of Londoners, who flock to the various taverns of these
places, in order to gratify their appetites. The fish has been
supposed be the fry of the shad, the sprat, the smelt, or the
bleak. Mr. Yarrell, however, maintains that it is a species in
itself, distinct from every other fish. When fried with flour,
it is esteemed a great delicacy. The ministers of the Crown have
had a custom, for many years, of having a "whitebait dinner"
just before the close of the session. It is invariably the
precursor of the prorogation of Parliament, and the repast is
provided by the proprietor of the "Trafalgar," Greenwich.

FISH PIE, WITH TENCH AND EELS.

349. INGREDIENTS.--2 tench, 2 eels, 2 onions, a faggot of herbs, 4
blades of mace, 3 anchovies, 1 pint of water, pepper and salt to taste,
1 teaspoonful of chopped parsley, the yolks of 6 hard-boiled eggs, puff
paste.

_Mode_.--Clean and bone the tench, skin and bone the eels, and cut them
into pieces 2 inches long, and leave the sides of the tench whole. Put
the bones into a stewpan with the onions, herbs, mace, anchovies, water,
and seasoning, and let them simmer gently for 1 hour. Strain it off, put
it to cool, and skim off all the fat. Lay the tench and eels in a
pie-dish, and between each layer put seasoning, chopped parsley, and
hard-boiled eggs; pour in part of the strained liquor, cover in with
puff paste, and bake for 1/2 hour or rather more. The oven should be
rather quick, and when done, heat the remainder of the liquor, which
pour into the pie.

_Time_.--1/2 hour to bake, or rat