They are
produced in an artificial soil, and taste of nothing but the
dunghills, from whence they spring. My cabbage, cauliflower, and
'sparagus in the country, are as much superior in flavour to
those that are sold in Covent-garden, as my heath-mutton is to
that of St James's-market; which in fact, is neither lamb nor
mutton, but something betwixt the two, gorged in the rank fens of
Lincoln and Essex, pale, coarse, and frowzy -- As for the pork, it
is an abominable carnivorous animal, fed with horse-flesh and
distillers' grains; and the poultry is all rotten, in consequence
of a fever, occasioned by the infamous practice of sewing up the
gut, that they may be the sooner fattened in coops, in
consequence of this cruel retention.
Of the fish, I need say nothing in this hot weather, but that it
comes sixty, seventy, fourscore, and a hundred miles by land-carriage;
a circumstance sufficient without any comment, to turn
a Dutchman's stomach, even if his nose was not saluted in every
alley with the sweet flavour of fresh mackarel, selling by retail.
This is not the season for oysters; nevertheless, it may not be
amiss to mention, that the right Colchester are kept in slime-pits,
occasionally overflowed by the sea; and that the green
colour, so much admired by the voluptuaries of this metropolis,
is occasioned by the vitriolic scum, which rises on the surface
of the stagnant and stinking water -- Our rabbits are bred and fed
in the poulterer's cellar, where they have neither air nor
exercise, consequently they must be firm in flesh, and delicious
in flavour; and there is no game to be had for love or money.
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