h
covey, and partly to the composition of their sauces; then he inveighed
against the infamous practices of French publicans, attributing
such imposition to their oppressive government, which kept them so
necessitous, that they were tempted to exercise all manner of knavery
upon their unwary guests.

Jolter, who could not find in his heart to let slip any opportunity of
speaking in favour of the French, told him, that he was a very great
stranger to their police; else he would know, that if, upon information
to the magistrate, it should appear that any traveller, native or
foreigner, had been imposed upon or ill-treated by a publican, the
offender would be immediately obliged to shut up his house; and, if his
behaviour had been notorious, he himself would be sent to the galleys,
without the least hesitation: "and as for the dish which has been made
the occasion of your present disorder," said he, "I will take upon me
to affirm it was prepared of a genuine rabbit, which was skinned in my
presence; and, in confirmation of what I assert, though such fricassees
are not the favourites of my taste, I will eat a part of this without
scruple."

So saying, he swallowed several mouthfuls of the questioned coney, and
Pallet seemed to eye it again with inclination; nay, he even resumed his
knife and fork; and being just on the point of applying them, was seized
with another qualm of apprehension, that broke out in an exclamation of,
"After all, Mr. Jolter, if it should be a real ram-cat? Lord have mercy
upon me! here is one of the claws." With these words he presented the
tip of a toe, of which Pipes had snipped off five or six from a duck
that was roasted, and purposely scattered them in the fricassee: and
the governor could not behold this testimonial without symptoms of
uneasiness and remorse; so that he and the painter sat silenced and
abashed, and made faces at each other, while the physician, who hated
them both, exulted over their affliction, bidding them be of good cheer,
and proceed with their meal; for he was ready to demonstrate, that
the flesh of a cat was as nourishing and delicious as veal or mutton,
provided they could prove that the said cat was not of the boar kind,
and had fed chiefly on vegetable diet, or even confined its carnivorous
appetite to rats and mice, which he affirmed to be dainties of exquisite
taste and flavour. He said, it was a vulgar mistake to think that
all flesh-devouring creatures were unfit