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Spinach, with Gravy

Take three pounds of spinach. Pick the leaves from the stalks and wash them well in several waters, drain them, throw them into a saucepan with plenty of slightly salted boiling water, and let them boil for five minutes. Press the spinach, and throw it into cold water for half an hour to preserve the colour. Take it out of the water a little at a time, make it into small balls to press the moisture thoroughly from it, spread it on a dish, pick out any stalks or straws that may have been inadvertently left in it, and chop it small. Mix an ounce of butter with an ounce of flour smoothly in a saucepan, add a pinch of salt, and stir the mixture over the fire for three minutes. Put in the spinach, and stir it for five minutes. Pour in a quarter of a pint of stock, and when this is thoroughly blended with the vegetable, add, a little at a time, half a pint more: stir the spinach again for five minutes. Lift it from the fire, stir into it till dissolved an ounce of fresh butter, and serve very hot. Garnish the dish with triangular pieces of toasted crumb of bread half an inch thick. Spinach when thus dressed will constitute an enjoyable accompaniment to veal or boiled mutton. With roast meat it is best when served plain. Time, altogether, about an hour. Probable cost of spinach, 3d. to 6d. per pound. Sufficient for six or eight persons.