_Snail-eating_ (Vol. iii., p. 207.).--Your correspondent C. W. B. does not
seem to be aware that "a ragout of boror (snails)" is a regular dish with
English _gypsies_. Vide Borrow's _Zincali_, part i. c. v.
He has clearly not read Mr. Borrow's remarks on the subject:
"Know then, O Gentile, whether thou be from the land of Gorgios
(England), or the Busne (Spain), that the very gypsies, who consider a
ragout of snails a delicious dish, will not touch an eel because it
bears a resemblance to a snake; and that those who will feast on a
roasted hedgehog could be induced by no money to taste a squirrel!"
Having tasted of roasted hotchiwitchu (hedgehog) myself among the "gentle
Rommanys," I can bear witness to its delicate fatness; and though a ragout
of snails was never offered for my acceptance, I do not think that those
who consider (as most "Gorgios" do) stewed eels a delicacy ought to be too
sever on "Limacotrophists!"