After having emptied and singed a duck, season it inside with pepper and salt, and truss it. Roast it before a clear fire for twenty minutes, and let it acquire a nice brown color. Put it into a stew pan with sufficient well-seasoned beef gravy to cover it, slice and fry two onions, and add these with sage leaves and lemon thyme, both of which should be finely minced, to the stock. Simmer gently until the duck is tender; strain, skim and thicken the gravy with a little butter and flour, boil it up, pour over the duck, and serve. One and a half pints of young peas when in season, added to the gravy, improves the ragout immensely.