[It is probable that many attentive and earnest admirers of Elia, if they were to be told that that admirable man and writer was entitled to a place among those who may be considered the modern disciples of Apicius, would ask a little time to consider and refer, before they agreed with such a proposition. In his earlier and poorer days, Lamb, so far as we can make out, had few opportunities of indulging in the pleasures of the table and the palate. But as his means improved, and his circle of friends widened, we easily discover evidences of his appreciation of certain delicacies, which in some cases showed his taste for such matters to be as idiosyncratic as his view's about books. Almost the very latest of his essays was a contribution to the Athenæum called "Thoughts on Presents of Game," and as early as 1810 he exhibits an entertaining gusto on the subject of a pig, which had been sent up to him as a present by the Hazlitts from Winterslow. The series of notes to Keefe deals considerably with acknowledgments of oblations of game and "shining" birds; and scattered through the friendly correspondence are numerous hints that Lamb was by no means indifferent to toothsome dishes and flavorous bonnes bouches. The hitherto unprinted letter, which I give below, is addressed, as may be perceived, to "Mr. C. Chambers," of Leamington, and is a masterpiece of descriptive humour and opulent fancy. Canon Ainger has inserted in his edition of the "Letters" an expurgated text of a long letter to "Mr. John Chambers," whom he introduces as a colleague of Lamb in Leadenhall-street. That these were two different persons appears tolerably evident, for the present communication is not only endorsed as I have stated, but bears upon its face the testimony that the Christian name of the recipient commenced with the same initial as the writer's. They were possibly relations. The letter given by Canon Ainger was as undoubtedly sent to "John" Chambers, for I have taken the pains to verify that point. This is, however, a critical question, which may be reserved for another place and occasion.—W. Carew Hazlitt.]
ITH regard to a John Dory, which you desire to be particularly informed about—I honour the fish, but it is rather on account of Quin who patronized it, and whose taste (of a dead man) I had as lieve go by as any body's (Apicius and Heliogabalus excepted—this latter started nightingales' tongues and peacocks' brains as a garnish).
Else in itself, and trusting to my own poor single judgment, it hath not that moist mellow oleaginous gliding smooth descent from the tongue to the palate, thence to the stomach, &c., that your Brighton Turbot hath, which I take to be the most friendly and familiar flavor of any that swims—most genial and at home to the palate—
Nor has it on the other hand that fine falling off flakiness, that oleaginous peeling off (as it were, like a sea onion), which endears your cod's head & shoulders to some appetites, that manly firmness, combined with a sort of womanish coming-in-pieces, which the same cod's head & shoulders hath, where the whole is easily separable, pliant to a knife or a spoon, but each individual flake presents a pleasing resistance to the opposed tooth—you understand me—these delicate subjects are necessarily obscure.
But it has a third flavor of its own, perfectly distinct from Cod or Turbot, which it must be owned may to some not injudicious palates render it acceptable—but to my unpractised tooth it presented rather a crude river-fish-flavor, like your Pike or Carp, and perhaps like them should have been tamed & corrected by some laborious &
- ↑ This date is not in Lamb's hand; probably it was supplied by the recipient.
