varieties were imported. These included | tunny. R. Chia b. Asche recommended an Egyptian fish not yet identified, which small fish as calculated to prevent inteswas brought into the country in barrels, tinal disorders, and to promote health and and a fine species of mackerel from Spain. strength. Another rabbin held that a On the other hand, the cured and pickled diet of this kind was well adapted for fish for which the Jewish merchants were invalids, but regarded it as injurious to celebrated were largely exported, princi- women suckling their young, and to peopally to Greece and Rome. Besides the ple whose eyes were weak. It was also usual members of the finny tribes a good considered dangerous to eat fish within many kinds of fish foods, ingeniously twenty-four hours after blood-letting, and compounded and prepared, were sold in in the month of Nisan such food was the markets, and were very popular with believed to promote leprosy. On the the general public. There was a soft-fish other hand, it was the practice to give fish cake called tris terufa- mentioned very to women who were enceinte, not only frequently in the Talmud-which was because of its invigorating virtues, but doubtless a compound of the flesh of because a popular superstition regarded thrissa with other ingredients. Then the it as beneficial to the unborn child, and entrails and roes of certain fish were sold calculated to give it a pleasing appearseparately in order to be made up into ance. Even to such matters as the method a kind of caviare. In Nedarim we find of eating fish the rabbins gave a large mentioned several times two other prepa- attention. They advised that food of this rations called zir and murais. The for- kind should be eaten slowly and with care, mer was a sauce, in the making of which as a fish-bone sticking in the throat might, the fat, juice, and blood of fishes largely they observed, have very serious conseentered; the latter was, without doubt, quences. The Talmud has also worked identical with the Roman muria, a pleas- out in copious detail the simple division ant-tasting fish pickle which was sold of the fish kingdom into clean and unwithout the fish itself, and probably em- clean which we find in the Bible. Among ployed as a condiment. This murais the unclean or rather as further characappears to have been in much favor, for teristics of such fish- it classes those in Aboda Sara mention is made of a ship with tapering heads, imperfect vertebral entirely laden with it. Large quantities columns, and symmetrical bladders and were imported from Spain. A thin fish roes. It further states that the permitted broth called harsena was also sold; this fish are oviparous, and the prohibited was a drink, and was served up in goblets. viviparous a rough and zoologically The references to fish in the Talmud are primitive distinction which might have not confined to its commercial aspects. been more correct had the definition Copious discussions as to its domestic "viviparous " been exchanged for those use yield a full picture of its method of "that fecundate their eggs before excluconsumption, and of the superstitions and sion." With reference to fins and scales, other ideas by which the popular taste it is pointed out in Nidda that as the was in part regulated. The rabbins latter may sometimes appear before the wisely insisted on the necessity of obtain former a fish or piece of fish with scales, ing only fresh fish, and for this purpose but without fins, may, in cases of doubt, be recommended that purchasers should al- eaten, but under no circumstance may it ways see that there was a certain redness be touched if the scales are absent. The about the gills. When salted or cured it Talmud differs from the Bible in having was enjoined that the curing should be rather a full ichthyology of its own. perfect, otherwise the fish was deadly. In cases of doubt, however, a strong drink taken after the meal was prescribed as a possible antidote. Some varieties of cured fish, such as the herring and anchovy, might be eaten without super-cook. ing, but in all cases a rigorous washing was ordered. Small but full-grown fish appear to have been much in favor with the Jews, and this considered in connection with the general predilection for thrissa would seem to point to that fish having been, if not exactly the anchovy, at any rate a smaller variety than the From The Spectator. THE PRINCES. IN almost every monarchy the position of the members of the royal family is one of the difficulties of statesmen, and we should not wonder if it became one even in England. Princesses, indeed — unless they fall in love unwisely, an event which, though it has occurred both in France and Austria, witness the cases of the duke could have so deluded himself, but he had an energetic Orange following, party spirit ran very high, and he may have hoped for a Parliamentary vote. He had a much better position than Monmouth, and it seems incontestable that Monmouth thought the people of England would declare for him, and against the legitimate line. He was not wrong in thinking that a "usurpation was possible. Duchess de Berry, and of Napoleon's | and of the Stuarts, who were three times widow, the grand duchess of Parma, supplanted by cadets - Mary and Anne happens wonderfully seldom are rarely both reigning because they were Stuart troublesome. Either they marry more or princesses, and the electress Sophia being less acceptably, and go away, or they live selected by Parliament for the same reaat home as quiet daughters of the house, son- there was that still obscure affair or they vegetate apart from the current of of the old Duke of Cumberland in 1835. affairs in dignified retirement. They can- Thousands believed that he aspired to not form political parties, they very rarely the throne-aspired, we mean, by active lead society, and they have not often been intrigue and Joseph Hume, a keen so popular as to be individually formida- observer with exceptional means of inforble. In modern history, two princesses, mation, attacked him in his place in Parour own Mary Stuart, and the German liament. It is difficult to believe that the lady who became Catherine II. of Russia, have headed successful_rebellions, the Duchess de Berry was Louis Philippe's most dangerous foe, and the princess of the Asturias was for a short time supposed to govern Spain; but as a rule, the lives of royal ladies have interested courtly biographers, rather than serious historians. Princes, however, are often troubles. It is, we suppose, impossible to base a system upon pedigree without conferring some kind of importance upon all who can claim that pedigree as their own; and in all States the rivalries, ambitions, popularities, or unpopularities of princes have fretted or perplexed statesmen. Either the princes have been employed by the sovereign, which is the more usual policy, and then their disasters have reflected disgrace upon the dynasty in a special manner, and have cost it popularity with the army; or they have been shunted out of politics, and then they have been discontented subjects, formidable from their rank. Some families, such as the Hapsburgs, have been nearly exempt from this danger, which is scarcely noticed in Vehse's pages; but it has been a great one for the Bourbons, it was felt by English Tudors, Stuarts, and the house of Brunswick, and it has not been entirely absent from the history of the Romanoffs. Even in very recent years the Russian grand dukes have headed parties in a dangerous way, and the son of Alexander I., the grand duke Constantine, never reconciled himself perfectly to his brother's elevation. The late emperor was repeatedly called upon to "regulate" family difficulties, and in the gossip of Russia, at all events, they press heavily on the present czar. Even in England, where all such cabals are supposed to be hopelessly out of date and forgotten, history has been compelled, and that very recently, to take note of them. Not to speak of the Tudors, whose reigns were one long war against possible rivals resting their claims on pedigree, The rise of a cadet branch in this country with a distinct political or social position justifying a pretence to the crown seems quite impossible now, and, we presume, it really is so. A soldier prince might save the country from an invasion, and so establish a claim; but, apart from the improbability of the event, the English people would be shocked by his asking for that particular reward. They would give him anything else, in money, or honors, or even office; but, from a change of feeling which has been little observed, but which, we think, has certainly occurred, they would think him as unreasonable in aspiring to the throne as they would have thought the Duke of Wellington. Napoleon believed the Iron Duke would never remain a subject, and could not imagine that if ten days after Waterloo he had ordered a regiment to march on the House of Commons, his officers would have laughed in his face, and the people would have considered him a lunatic. No prince in a country like this could show himself a Bismarck or a statesman of the first order in other ways; and if he did, though he might conceivably be beyond dismissal, he could never get the vote of Parliament, without which he would be powerless as an aspirant to the throne. Even in extreme circumstances, with the Empire visibly falling, the claim to that one prize would destroy the public confidence and the popular affection. The single contingency in which such a trouble could occur would be the existence of a Jacobin prince of the blood in whom the body of the people | be a severe embarrassment to any but a confided, at a moment when they were first-class premier. If the sovereign fademanding something, say the nationaliza- vored the claimant, the premier would tion of the land, which the sovereign and have to resist the claim by nearly imposthe middle classes were resolute not to sible explanations to Parliament; and if grant. That contingency is not probable, the sovereign disapproved, he might find as little probable as another which was party feeling extend itself to hostility to once threatened, and by possibility might the wearer of the crown. Observers say, occur, the election of a cadet prince by the and sometimes write, that the difficulty people of Ireland to be their favorite and will be met by the abolition of George their king. A Guelph Parnell would be III.'s Royal Marriage Law, and that the an ugly phenomenon, but it is out of the princes will carry off the heiresses, and range of practical politics, and even of so become county gentlemen; but in that political dreams. Nevertheless, though case they will be subjects, and a prince we do not expect to see an English house not restrained by the etiquettes of his of Orleans, English statesmen may yet be caste might be a dangerous politician. Is troubled by the princes. Every sovereign there any law or binding custom which may not be as wise as Queen Victoria, or prevents a prince, not being either peer as coolly constitutional, and we can easily or pensioner, from standing for the House imagine an unpopular premier seriously of Commons, to which, if he were able, a embarrassed by a claim like that which, big democratic borough say, for examon Monday, Mr. Gladstone, with a frown ple, Stoke might be quite willing to for Baron H. de Worms and a smile for send him? The suggestion will strike the Duke of Albany, so quietly pushed most of our readers as a little bizarre, aside. That will not be the last claim of but the "royalties" are growing numerthe kind. It will be much more difficult ous, and, but for accident, there might one day, unless the House of Commons have been in twenty-five years half-a-dozen possesses more backbone than at pres- Campbells alive, each one eligible to Parent, to resist the claim of the Duke of liament, and each one a direct and acConnaught, "who has seen service," to knowledged representative of every family the command-in-chief; and by-and-by, the ever seated on the British throne. Time princes of the English house may possi- arranges all things, the matter is not bly be many, and their position worse. pressing, and the drift of opinion is reEven now, a prince of ability is most un-publican; but some day the question what pleasantly placed, he is forbidden by etiquette to take a political part, the function of social leadership is to many minds most ennuyant, and the great offices are practically closed to him. Mr. Gladstone wisely refused to say why he had not appointed the Duke of Albany, hinting that if he could be questioned in favor of one prince, he might be questioned out of hostility to another, but we doubt not that if he had spoken, the nomination of princes would have been proved to be A VISIT TO THE NORE. impossible. Thirty years hence we may see a dozen personages in society all THERE are few places more interestwithin the succession, all claiming to take ing or instructive than the "Nore Lightprecedence of the Dukes of Norfolk, all ship." Some one - I fancy the author of noticed by the people as few statesmen "My Watch Below"-has written that are, and all in circumstances which of all the crew of the vessel bear the expression others most provoke ambition. Parlia- of melancholy on their countenances — the ment will be most reluctant to vote them effect of long and anxious confinement. incomes every such vote now calls out Certainly, two of the men rescued from the a democratic demonstration - and will jaws of death a few weeks previous to our certainly not vote them adequate incomes, visit impressed one with the quietness and without such votes their position will and, perhaps, gravity of their manner and be indescribably provoking. Some of speech, and their faces may have been a them may be able men, as the Coburgs reflex of their minds to some extent; but have often been, and a solidly able prince, they one and all met us with a hearty and poor to pauperism, but so favored by so- cheerful "Good morning!" as we clamciety as to have a party at his back, would | bered up the sides, and to us it seemed that to do with so separate a caste will be among the preoccupations of a premier who, even before that time, will be puzzled whether to find appanages indefinitely, or to face the risk that a prince may open a theatre, turn Jacobin politician, or marry a dancer at the opera. From The Field. for men who carry their lives in their hands | our sending them a box of books, and we have just despatched four large bound volumes of the Graphic, including the war of 1878, and a miscellaneous collection of smaller works. L. added some creature comforts in the shape of tinned milk, cocoa, and fresh butter, and I verily believe we shall be canonized by the men at the Nore. If this should meet the eyes of any yachting men or landsmen, for the matter of that, to whom, even amidst the busy life of London, it is a pleasure and a relaxation to retire awhile alone and ease or refresh the mind with whatever literature administers most wholesomely to their minds, let them picture to themselves the solitude from which there is no escape, the dull monotony which cannot be relieved, experienced by the men at the Nore; and, while remembering the thousand and one distractions within reach of the landsman and the rich, let them be mindful how welcome is the smallest parcel, be it what it may, that adds a new idea or awakes an old recollection, calling forth blessings on the heads of the donors from the grateful hearts of the lightship's crew. There is something grand in the self-sacrifice which duty like this entails. Amid the hurricane and the rushing tide, the snapping of a cable would signify that death was near in a thousand forms. It is the same through all the walks of life. The British character is instinct with humanity. Nihil humani a me alienum puto, this is the motto of the race. The battlefield, the fire brigades, the hospitals (in a higher sense), all supply examples of the great heart, the noble manhood, the ennobling sympathies which bind together the British people, and find expression, when no other occasion is forthcoming, in the God-like offices of martyrdom. It did us good, our visit to the Nore. It is not far from the metropolis. It is a nice little sail, due S. E., from Southend Pier. It will afford much food for reflection. It can absorb much sympathy, and endless boxes of books, etc. It reminds you of old cupboards and their contents to no one less useful than yourself. It reminds you of home comforts, and how to appreciate them. It calls up thoughts of patriotism, obedience, and courage; and it gives you the key-note of this country's greatness - duty. But the recognition of true manliness is a first principle with the English people. It is the old, old tale for eight months out of the twelve, and rarely taste alcoholic beverages, they were bright and cheerful, and disposed to make the best of everything. Of course, we saw the lamp, and how it revolves by clockwork, and the oil-room, and the powder magazine, and gun-cotton for blowing up wrecks, and the hammocks, and tasted the biscuits, and inspected the meat, and bought some of their handiwork in the shape of a tea-caddy and money-box, and, of course, too, we drank their healths and they drank ours. But, as I remarked immediately after we had joined the "Jeannette" again, the impression left on the mind is not immediately reducible to words. There is a longing to return, and shake those weather-beaten men again by the hand in the name of humanity and our common gratitude. We are not very seriously disposed, this friend and myself, but I think it was not until the engineer called our attention to the fact that the inspirator was choked, and the water rapidly disappearing in the glass, that we awoke from our reverie induced somehow or other by what we had seen and heard about the lightship. We asked each other why should not these men be decorated like the heroes of Tel-el-Kebir? They risk their lives in their country's service every day. Sometimes death comes in the ordinary routine of work. Here is a case: a few weeks ago the gaslight, which is kept burning on the sand about half a mile off, went out. The men's duty is to at once relight it. Four of them launched a boat for the purpose. They effected their object, and a tug-boat, passing at the time, offered to tow them back to the ship. Suddenly their rudder gave way, and their boat, sheering under the steamer's side, was capsized. One man disappeared, and his body has not yet been recovered. There are placards about Sheerness offering £2 reward for it. The others were rescued, two of them in an apparently lifeless condition, and we had the pleasure of congratulating them upon their restoration to health. The life these men lead is calculated to astonish the Londoner, particularly if he be a luxurious West ender. Ten pounds of salt beef per man a week and biscuits constitute the menu for two months at a stretch. Whis key had been a stranger to them for close on two months. The most curious circumstance, however, is the absence of any animal life on board. There was not even a white mouse or a canary. Light literature, too, was conspicuous by its absence. The men jumped at the idea of In our rough Island story, The path of duty is the way to glory. |