uman being has touched it, lays his hand upon the fullness of that line
of beauty, the curved and satisfying swell that extends from the head to
the graceful little swallow tail that flutters and pleads so eloquently
for its wonted employment. 'Heavens! is it possible,' it says to itself--I
mean that beautiful female shad on which the hand is just laid--'can it be
that this warm hand is that of man; that the tradition of our forefathers
is indeed true; and that this fish-devouring monster is going to destroy
me after a mystick fashion of his own, so different from that of the
porpoise and the sturgeon, whom I have escaped so well! Is it for a fate
like this, that, avoiding the Delaware river and the profound Hudson, I
have returned to these scenes of my nativity and earliest youth! Is it for
an end so cruel as this, that I have taken such care of myself upon the
southern shores of this unworthy continent, feeding with a tasteful choice
and epicurean delicacy amid the marine vegetation that adorns its milder
latitudes, and plumping and beautifying myself into this admired shape,
and all to gratify at last the cormorant appetite of this unfishlike
animal, and decorate, with my remains and memory, a mere steam-boat
breakfast! O Dickens! _the_ Dickens! sworn enemy of the enemies of my
race! thou Hannibal of my expiring hopes--' Alas! her apostrophe is cut
short at the moment by the ruthless knife that strips her of her coat of
many colours, and in one fell stroke prepares her delicious belle-ship for
the broil!

It forms no part within the scope of our intention in the present Essay,
to dwell upon the various modes of cookery of this annual and precious
accession to the riches of our waters; but it is not to be supposed that
the arrival of the SHAD in this beautiful river of Connecticut can be a
slight advent to the inhabitants upon its borders, particularly in
villages and towns too densely populated to admit the idea, that their
occupants derive a livelihood, either from agriculture, fishing, or the
commerce that can be maintained by the yearly launch of a square-rigged
vessel or two, depending mainly on the profits of a freighting voyage: now
that the trade with the West-Indies, (formerly a rich source of the wealth
of this state,) has dwindled into insignificance and loss. On the
contrary, the first appearance of the shad imparts an hilarious sensation
of abundance all along the shores. The retired sea-captain, the small