or very honest men; and I trust, you will prove both, and therefore I have trusted you with this

secret.

Let me next tell you, that Gesner tells us there are no Pikes in Spain, and that the largest are in the lake Thrasimene in Italy; and the next, if not equal to them, are the Pikes of England, and that in England, Lincolnshire boasteth to have the biggest. Just so doth Sussex boast of four sorts of fish; namely, an Arundel Mullet, a Chichester Lobster, a Shelsey Cockle, and an Amerly Trout.

But I will take up no more of your time with this relation, but proceed to give you some observations of the Carp, and how to angle for him, and to dress him, but not till he is caught.

CHAPTER IX.

Observations of the CARP, with Directions how to fish for him.

PISCATOR.

THE Carp is the Queen of Rivers: a stately, a good, and a very subtle fish, that was not at first bred, nor hath been long in England, but is now naturalized. It is said, they were brought hither by one Mr. Mascal, a gentleman that then lived at Plumsted in Sussex, a County that abounds more with this fish than any in this nation.

You may remember that I told you, Gesner says, there are no Pikes in Spain; and doubtless, there was a time, about a hundred, or a few more years ago, when there were no Carps in England, as may seem to be affirmed by Sir Richard Baker, in whose Chronicle you may find these verses.

Hops and Turkies, Carps and Beer,
Came into England all in a year.

And doubtless, as of sea-fish the Herring dies soonest out of the water, and of fresh-water-fish the Trout, so, except the Eel, the Carp endures most hardness, and lives longest out of his own proper element. And therefore, the report of the Carp's being brought out of a foreign country into this nation, is the more probable..

Carps and Loaches are observed to breed several months in one year, which Pikes and most other fish do not. And this is partly proved by tame and wild Rabbits, as also by some Ducks, which will lay eggs nine of the twelve months, and yet there be other Ducks that lay not longer than about one month. And it is the rather to be believed, because you shall scarce or never take a Male-Carp without a Melt, or a Female without a Roe or Spawn, and for the most part very much; and especially all the Summer season; and it is observed, that they breed more naturally in ponds than in running waters, if they breed there at all; and that those that live in rivers, are taken by men of the best palates to be much the better meat.

And it is observed, that in some ponds Carps will not breed, especially in cold ponds; but where they will breed, they breed innumerably: Aristotle and Pliny say, six times in a year, if there be no Pikes nor Pearch to devour their spawn, when it is cast upon grass, or flags, or weeds, where it lies ten or twelve days before it be enlivened.

The Carp, if he have water-room and good feed, will grow to a very great bigness and length: I have heard, to be much above a yard long. 'Tis said, by Jovius, who hath writ of fishes, that in the lake Lurian in Italy, Carps have thriven to be more than fifty pound weight; which is the more probable, for as the Bear is conceived and born suddenly, and being born is but short-lived, so, on the con

trary, the Elephant is said to be two years in his dam's belly, some think he is ten years in it, and being born, grows in bigness twenty years; and 'tis observed too that he lives to the age of a hundred years. And 'tis also observed, that the Crocodile is very long-lived, and more than that, that all that long life he thrives in bigness; and so I think some Carps do, especially in some places; though I never saw one above twenty-three inches, which was a great and a goodly fish; but have been assured there are of a far greater size, and in England too.

Now, as the increase of Carps is wonderful for their number ; so there is not a reason found out, I think by any, why they should breed in some ponds, and not in others of the same nature for soil and all other circumstances: and as their breeding, so are their decays also very mysterious: I have both read it, and been told by a gentleman of tried honesty, that he has known sixty or more large Carps put into several ponds near to a house, where by reason of the stakes in the ponds, and the owner's constant being near to them, it was impossible they should be stolen away from him: and that when he has after three or four years, emptied the pond, and expected an increase from them by breeding young ones, for that they might do so, he had, as the rule is, put in three melters for one spawner ;— he has, I say, after three or four years, found neither a young nor old Carp remaining. And the like I have known of one that has almost watched the

pond, and at a like distance of time at the fishing of a pond, found of seventy or eighty large Carps not above five or six: and that he had forborne longer to fish the said pond, but that he saw in a hot day in Summer, a large Carp swim near the top of the water with a frog upon his head, and that he upon that occasion caused his pond to be let dry and I say, of seventy or eighty Carps, only found five or six in the said pond, and those very sick and lean, and with every one a frog sticking so fast on the head of the said Carps, that the frog would not be got off without extreme force or killing and the gentleman that did affirm this to me, told me he saw it, and did declare his belief to be,and I also believe the same,-that he thought the other Carps that were so strangely lost, were so killed by frogs, and then devoured.

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And a person of honour now living, in Worcestershire,* assured me he had seen a neck* Mr. Fr. Ru. lace, or collar of Tadpoles, hang like a chain or necklace of beads about a Pike's neck, and to kill him; whether it were for meat or malice, must be to me a question.

But I am fallen into this discourse by accident, of which I might say more, but it has proved longer than I intended, and possibly may not to you be considerable; I shall therefore give you three or four more short observations of the Carp, and then fall upon some directions how you shall fish for him.

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