EELS.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In last week's Spectator I find the great number of eels sent by their tenants to various abbots given as an illustra- tion of the " great importance of eels in the diet of our ancestors " ; but, setting aside the inclusion of abbots and the other clergy found in abbeys amongst our " ancestors," it seems to me the circumstance only shows the provident way the Church provided for its own Lenten and fasting fare. A fish diet was never popular with the masses in these Islands, was never considered food sufficiently substantial for a work- ing man. But I can make nothing of what follows : "A fresh- water eel is now an uncommon sight." Fresh-water eels are to be found in thousands in all our fish markets, especially in London, the capture of these fish being a great and prosperous industry in most parts of the kingdom, especially in Ireland. But marshes do not "yield eels," never did, though these strange fish often find their way into them. But the marsh eel is not the fresh-water eel of commerce at all, for the eel, Sir, as well as the salmon, has, you must know, its mysteries.— [The statement that " a fresh-water eel is now an uncommon sight" was too sweeping. It may not be as common as it was ; but any one can see eels at fishmongers', or can watch them coming up rivers in spring.—En. Spectator.]
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