Tom very gravely replied, "he did
suppose the food was wholesome enough, for he had seen the skin and
feet of a special ram-cat, new flayed, hanging upon the door of a
small pantry adjoining to the kitchen."
Before this sentence was uttered, Pallet's belly seemed to move
in contact with his back-bone, his colour changed, no part but the
whites of his eyes were to be seen, he dropped his lower jaw, and,
fixing his hands in his sides, retched with such convulsive agonies,
as amazed and disconcerted the whole company: and what augmented
his disorder, was the tenacious retention of the stomach, which
absolutely refused to part with its contents, notwithstanding all
the energy of his abhorrence, which threw him into a cold sweat,
and almost into a swoon.
Pickle, alarmed at his condition, assured him it was a genuine
rabbit, and that he had tutored Pipes to say otherwise for the joke's
sake. But this confession he considered as a friendly artifice of
Pickle's compassion, and therefore it had little effect upon his
constitution. By the assistance, however, of a large bumper of
brandy, his spirits were recruited, and his recollection so far
recovered, that he was able to declare, with divers contortions of
face, that the dish had a rankness of taste, which he had imparted
partly to the nature of the French 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.
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