_Mode_.--Cut some nice slices from a cold leg or shoulder of mutton;
season them with pepper and salt, and broil over a clear fire. Make some
tomato sauce by recipe No. 529, pour it over the mutton, and serve. This
makes an excellent dish, and must be served very hot.
_Time_.--About 5 minutes to broil the mutton.
_Seasonable_ in September and October, when tomatoes are plentiful and
seasonable.
SHEPHERDS AND THEIR FLOCKS.--The shepherd's crook is older than
either the husbandman's plough or the warrior's sword. We are
told that Abel was a keeper of sheep. Many passages in holy writ
enable us to appreciate the pastoral riches of the first eastern
nations; and we can form an idea of the number of their flocks,
when we read that Jacob gave the children of Hamor a hundred
sheep for the price of a field, and that the king of Israel
received a hundred thousand every year from the king of Moab,
his tributary, and a like number of rams covered with their
fleece. The tendency which most sheep have to ramble, renders it
necessary for them to be attended by a shepherd. To keep a flock
within bounds, is no easy task; but the watchful shepherd
manages to accomplish it without harassing the sheep. In the
Highlands of Scotland, where the herbage is scanty, the
sheep-farm requires to be very large, and to be watched over by
many shepherds. The farms of some of the great Scottish
landowners are of enormous extent. "How many sheep have you on
your estate?" asked Prince Esterhazy of the duke of Argyll. "I
have not the most remote idea," replied the duke; "but I know
the shepherds number several thousands."
BROILED MUTTON CHOPS.