LAND OF CONTRASTS

so sure hold but you often lose your fish, unless he have ged it. Venator. I thank
yout, good Wiaster, for this observation. But nom what
shall be done sitly my chub or cheven that Ihave cau, rt Piscator. Marry, Sir, it
alll be given away to some poor body; for rif
warrant ou. vil give you a Trout for your supper: and it is a good begin ing of
pour art to offer your first fruits to the poor, who will
both thank you and God for it, inbicl) I see by your silence yout seen to consent
to. And for your willingness to part with it so charitably,
tinill also teach more concern ing chub ishing. You are to note, that in Marel and
April he is usually taken with worts; in May, June,
and july, he will bite at any fly, or at cherries, or at beetles with their Legs
and wings cut off, or at any hind of snail, or at the black bee
that breeds in clay walls. And he never refuses a grasshopper, on the top of a sift
stream, nor, at the bottorn, the young huunble bee
that breeds in long grass, and is ordinarily found by the mower of it. In Angust,
and in the cooler months, a yell low vaste, made 4 the
strongest cheese, and pounded in a mortar, witha little butter and saff I, 90
minely of it ay, being beaten small, mel turn it toa lemon
colour. And some ake a paste fe the winter months, at whicl tine the chub is
aecounted best, for then it is observed, that the forked
bones are lost, or turned into a kind of gristle, especiall fy if he be tuked, of
cheese and turpentine. He will bite also at a iiinniow, or peel,
as a Trout will: of wwbiely t shall tell pou tore hereafter, and of divers other
baits. But take this for a rule, that, in hot weather, he is to be
fished for towards the iid water, or near the toys and in colder weather, nearer
the bottoms and if you fish for hin on the top, with a
beetle, or any fly, then be sure to let your fine be very long, and to heey out of
sight. And having told you, that his span is excellent
mieat, and that the head of alar Cheven, the throat being well washed, is the best
part of bin, Till say Ho more o this fish at the
present, but sist) you iiay cately the next you fish for. But, lest you nay judge
me too nice in urging to have the chub dvessed so
presently after he is taken, Twill conmiend to your consideration how curious
former times have been in the like kind. You shall read in
Seneca, his Natural Questions, that the ancients were so curious in the nemness i
their fish, that that semed not new enionigh) that was
not put alive into the guest's hand; and he says, that to that end they dd usually
keep them fving in glass bottles in thei din ing rooms,
and they dd glory minely in their entertaining of friends, to have that fish taken
from under their table alive that was instantly to be fed
Mpon; and he says, they took great pleasure to see their Mullets change to several
colon Vs inher they were dying . But enronig) of this; for
Tdoubt T have staid too long from giving you some Observations of the Trout, and
how to fish for bin, whiel) ‘bl [ take up the next of
Hig spare time. the third day continued On the Nature and Breeding of the Trout,
and how to fish for hin Piscator, Venator, Milk
woman, Mandl in, Hostess Piscator. The Trout isa fish highly valued, both in this
and foreign nations. He wiay be justly said, as the old
poct said of wine, and we English sayy of ventison, to bea generous fish: a fish
that is so like the buck, that he also has his SCASOIIS; for it is
observed, that he comes in and goes out of season with the stag and buck. Gesner
says, his name is of a German offspring and says he is
a fish that feeds clean and pu rely, in the siviftest streams, and on the hardest
gravel; and that he may justly contend with all fresh
water fish, as the Mullet may with all sea fish, for precedenicy and daintiness of
taste; and that being in right season, the most dainty
palates hace allowed yrecedenicy to bin. And before Igo fa rther in ry discourse,
fet ine tell you, that mou are to observe, that as there
be sone: barren does thet are good in sHer, $0 there be sone: barren Trouts that
are good in winter; but there are not many that ave
30; for usually they be in their perfection in the month of May, and deeline with
the buck. Non you are to take notice, that in several
countries, as in Germany, and in other parts, compared to ours, fish do differ
minel) in their bigness, and sha pe, and other 1 and so do
Tronts. It is well known that in the Lake Lenian, the Lake of Geneva, there are
Trouts taken of three cubits long; as is at cd) by
Gesner, a writer of good credit: and Mercator says, the Trouts that ave taken in
the Lake of Geneva are a great part of he
merehandize of that famous city. And pou are further to kutovn, that there be
certain waters that breed Trouts remarkable, both for their
number and smallness. I know a fittle brook in Kent, that breeds them to a nusmber
incredible, and you may take them twenty or forty
in ant hour, but none greater than about the size of a Gudgeon. there ave also, in
divers rivers, especially that relate to, or be near to
the sea, as Winchester, or the Thames about Windsor, a fittle Trout called a
sanilet, or skegger Trout, in both ibicl places thave
can ht twenty or forty at a standing, that will bite as fast and as freely as
Minnow: these be by some taken to be moun salinons; but
in those waters they never grow to oo bigger than a Herring. There is also in
Kerit, near to canterbu ry, a Trout called there a Fordidge
Trout, a Trout that bears the name of the town where it is usually caught, that is
accounted the rarest of fishy many of them near the
bigness ofa salinon, but known by their different colon vy, and in their best
season they cut very white: and none of these have been
known to be canighyt with an angle, unless it were one that was caught by Sir
George Hastings, an excellent angler, anid non with God:
anid he hath told mie, he thought that Trout bit not for hunger but wantonness; and
it is the rather to be beliewed, because botly he, then,
and many others before bin, have been curious to searel into their belli ies, what
the food was by whiel) they [ ied; and have found out
nothing by whiel) they might satishy their curiosity. Concerning whiely you are to
take notice, that it is reported by good authors, that
grasshoppers and some a have no months, but are nourished and take breath by the
porousiess of their gil [s, man knows not hon: and
this may be believed, if we consider that when the raven hath hateled ber eggs, she
takes no fu rther care, but leaves her young ones to

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