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Shad, Stuffed and Baked

Wash, empty, and scale a shad, and fill the inside with veal or oyster forcemeat, or with a forcemeat prepared as follows. Moisten two slices of crumb of bread with hot water, press the water from it, then beat it up with a slice of butter, three or four sage-leaves chopped small, and a little pepper and salt. Sew up the body of the fish with soft cotton, and dredge it well with flour. Lay it in a dripping-pan upon a trivet, seasoning it with pepper and salt; lay little pieces of butter here and there upon it, and pour a pint of water round it to baste it with. Bake in a quick oven, and baste frequently, and if necessary add a little more water. Mix a heaped tea-spoonful of flour to a smooth paste with a little water, work into it a slice of fresh butter, and mix with it half a pint of the gravy in the pan. Put it into a saucepan stir it till it thickens, and add a table-spoonful of lemon-juice. Put the fish on a hot dish, strain the sauce over it, garnish with parsley and lemon, and send mashed potatoes to table with it. Time to bake, one hour.