When Dr. Merle d’Aubigne, the noted Swiss Reformation historian was staying with the
Scottish divine and preacher Thomas Chalmers, he was served a kippered herring for
breakfast. He asked his host the meaning of the word “kippered” and was told “kept” or “preserved.”
This item of information had a sequel at the morning prayer, when the guest, leading the household in their devotions, prayed that Dr. Chalmers might be “kept, preserved, and kippered.”
Faber Book of Anecdotes, Clifton Fadiman, Editor; copyright Little Brown & Co., London, 1985.
