n of London that they prefer it to any part
of the hind-quarter."--(Vol. ii. p. 98.)

Nor is he less skilful in the humble food and cooking of the
farm-labourer; indeed, he seems never satisfied until he fairly
exhausts all the useful matter contained in every subject upon which
he touches. He not only breeds, and feeds, and kills, and cooks, but
he does the latter with such relish, that we have several times
fancied that we could actually see him eating his own mutton, beef,
and pork. And, whether he luxuriates over a roast of the back-ribs
of mutton, "so sweet and so varied," or complains that "the
hotel-keepers have a trick of seasoning brown-soup, or rather
beef-tea, with a few joints of tail, and passing it off for genuine
ox-tail soup,"--(vol. ii. p. 169,) or describes the "_famous fat
brose_, for which Scotland has long been celebrated," as formed by
skimming off the fat when boiling the hough, pouring it upon oatmeal,
and seasoning with pepper and salt; or indulges in the humbler
brose of the ploughman in his bothy, he evidently enjoys every thing
set before him so much, that we are sure he must lay on the fat
kindly. We should not wonder if he is himself already _nicked_; and
we cannot more warmly testify our good wishes, than by expressing a
hope, that, when he is fully _ripe_, the grim surgeon will operate
upon him _without pain_, and kill him _gently_.

One of Mr. Stephens's humbler dishes is the following:--

"The only time Scotch farm-servants indulge in butcher-meat is when
a sheep _falls_, as it is termed; that is, when it is killed before
being affected with an unwholesome disease, and the mutton is sold
at a reduced price. Shred down the suet small, removing any flesh or
cellular membrane adhering to it; then mix amongst it intimately 1/2
oz. of salt and a tea-spoonful of pepper to every pound of suet; put
the mixture into an earthen jar, and tie up tightly with bladder.
One table spoonful of seasoned suet will, at any time, make good
barley-broth or potato-soup for two persons. The lean of the mutton
may be shred down small, and seasoned in a similar manner, and used
when required; or it may be corned with salt, and used as a joint."
--Vol. ii. p. 105.

How much of the natural habits and manners of a country, and of the
circumstances and inner life of the various classes of its
inhabitants, is to be learned from a study of their cookery!

Reader, what a mystery hangs over the _handling_ of a f