From this Deviation, respecting the Multitude of People, under various Statements, of the local and peculiar Conditions, of the HUMAN RACE, and the capacious Stores, requisite to accommodate their real, or imaginary Wants, (and into which Account should we be censured for having travelled, it is entreated, that the Information to be derived from it, may plead some Apology), we return to the

Diversion of Angling, to Anecdotes connected with that Pursuit, and likewise to record those, with which Fish, and Fishing

in General, are blended.

In the Prosecution of this Object, a regular System cannot well be observed. The Detail will probably appear unconnected, yet it is hoped, it may be so Checquered, as to render it acceptable, to both the SPORTSMAN and the NATURALIST.

Fish form the Fourth Class of Animals, in the LINNEAN

System, and are divided into six Orders. Viz. The Apodes, The Jugulares, The Thoracici, The Abdominales, The Branchiostegous, and Chrondropterygeous.-The Generic Character is taken from the Shape of the Body, Covering, Structure, Figure and parts, of the Head; but principally from the Branchiostegous Membrane.-The Specific Character is taken from the Cirri, Jaws, Fins, Spines, lateral Lines, digitated Appendages, Tail and Colour.-The Age of Fishes, is said to be known, by numbering the concentric Circles, in a transverse Section of the Backbone, or the concentric Circles on the Scales.

The Characters of the Six Orders, are, (1.) Apodal, without Ventral Fins (2.) Jugular, Ventral Fins before the Pectoral: (3.) Thoracic, Ventral Fins under the Pectoral: (4.) Abdominal, Ventral

Fins behind the Pectoral: (5.) Branchiostegous, Gills destitute of bony Rays: (6.) Chrondropterygeous, Gills cartilaginous.-These two latter, LINNEUS refers to the Class Amphibia Nantes; so that in Fact, he admits of only Four Orders: under these, he enumerates One Hundred Eighty-nine Genera, and about Four Hundred Species.

The Varieties of Structure, performing the same Functions, is peculiarly evident, in the breathing Organs of Animals, which are adapted to their Modes of immediate Existence; the more capacious these are, the greater the Heat and Activity of the Animal. INSECTS* and WORMS, which breathe by Pores on their Surfaces, and tracheal Tubes, receive only a small Portion of Air, and possess Heat scarcely greater, than their surrounding Element. FISHES, which breathe by Gills, are two or three degrees warmer, than their Medium. AMPHIBIA, which breathe by Lungs, have a Standard Heat, five or six Degrees above that of their Water, and possess a voluntary Power of augmenting it, in their different Elements; and BIRDS, which breathe by Cells, curiously diffused over their Bodies, communicating even with their hollow Bones, are the hottest of all Classes of Animals, and have the greatest muscular Motion.

A celebrated Writer has remarked, that "no Species of natural Industry, is more lucrative than FISHING, because it converts the OCEAN into a MINE." No wonder then, that FISHERIES, from the

*INSECTS have in general more than Two Eyes. The Spider and Scorpion, have Eight. The greater Part of the others, have them by Thousands, commonly collected in two Orbits. A FLY has Sixteen Thousand Eyes; a Beetle, 6362; Butterflies, 34,650, the Number and Situation of these Eyes, compensate INSECTS, for their Incapacity of moving, or turning them.

T

earliest Ages, should have been carried on, either to supply Food, or furnish Articles of Commerce. We are informed by DIODORUS SICULUS, that MERIS, One of the Egyptian KINGS, gave the Revenue arising from the Lake of the same Name, to his QUEEN, in Order to purchase Perfumes, and other Elegancies for her Toilet. This Lake is said to have contained Twenty different kinds of FISH, and in such Abundance, that though a numerous Body of People were Employed in Salting them, they were scarcely adequate to the Task.

The Ancients certainly attended to Fisheries, as various Authors, both GREEK and ROMAN, testify. FISH formed a considerable Portion of their Food, particularly among the Rich, who spared no Trouble or Expence, for providing at their expensive Feasts, those, that were the most delicate, and luxurious. Their Extravagance must have astonished the most refined Epicure of Modern Date. PLINY says, that Cooks, cost more than Triumphs, FISH, more than Cooks, and that NO MEN were held in such Estimation, as THOSE, who were best skilled in ruining the ESTATES* of their MASTERS.

ARISTONICUS, who as a Legislator, was said to be inferior only to SOLON, made a Law, that FISHMONGERS should have a Tablet inscribed with the Prices of their Fish, and be obliged to stand, without sitting down, till all were sold, that they might be induced to deal on easier Terms. He enacted also Imprisonment to those, who should take less than they asked, that through Fear of this

* This Preeminence, in these later Days, seems to have become the immediate Province of STEWARDS, more especially, if in the Learned Profession of the Law.

Punishment, their Demands would be more reasonable. A similar Law was in Force, at VENICE, where the Sellers of Fish, were compelled to stand in the open Market, bare headed, and bare footed, that being thus exposed to the Inclemency of the Weather, their Prices might be more moderate. Perhaps something of the Sort, might make the Market, Brisker and Cheaper, in this COUNTRY.

If ATHENEUS be correct, the ROMANS possessed an ART, which could it be revived, would console many an Epicure resident at a Distance from the Sea, this was the Preservation of Oysters*

* Mr. WESTERN's Bill, for making it Felony to commit Depredations on Oyster Beds, puts the Oyster under the immediate Guardianship of the Law. TILBURINA, in The Critic, says, that " an Oyster may be crossed in Love;" and this Bill being passed, they cannot now be attacked with Impunity. It is certain that the ROMANS, who highly valued the Oyster, made severe Regulations for their Protection. LUCULLUS and POLLIO were at an incredible Expence in their Lakes of Sea water, for fattening Oysters. The former, at his Villa near the Promontory of Misenium, on the Shore of Campania, fed and kept immense Quantities of them. The famous Epicure, APICIUS CALIUS, who lived under AUGUSTUS, in his work, De Arte Coquinaria, or, The Culinary Art, treats particularly of the Oyster. They were even conveyed to ROME, from the coast of KENT, under the CÆSARS.

To rescue OYSTERS from the Insensibility, (that, till the Assertion was made, that they might be "Crossed in Love,") was attributed to them, DR. BORLASE, on the Authority of Mr. CAREW," tells us of One, whose Shell being opened, as usual at the Time of Flood, Three MICE attempted to seize it, but the OYSTER, clasping fast its Shell, killed them all." With the singular Fact above mentioned, this may be recorded, which happened between Forty and Fifty Years since, in ASHBURTON, at the House of Mrs. ALDRIDGE, called the New Inn, and is thus related, in POLWHELE'S History of DEVONSHIRE. "In an under ground Cellar, a Dish of WEMBURY Oysters was laid for Coolness. At the Time the Tide flows, it is well known, Oysters open their Shells, to

fresh, for a considerable Time, it was a Discovery of APICIUS, who sent from Italy, to TRAJAN, while on an Expedition into PERSIA, against the PARTHIANS, some of those Shell Fish, which, on their Arrival, were found to be as GOOD, as on the DAY, when they were taken up.

The Oyster Beds along the Eastern Coast of Essex and Suffolk, belong to Individuals, and no Person is allowed to Dredge for them, but the Owners, or their Lessees. By these Means, the Breeding Beds, áre kept distinct from the Fattening Ones, because a Mud

admit the Waves, and take their Food. At this Period, Two MICE, searching for Prey, pounced at once on the Victim, and seized it with their Teeth, the Oyster, shrinking at the Wound, closed its Shell, collapsing with such Force, as to crush the Marauders to Death. The Oyster, with the Two MICE dangling from its Shell, was, for a long Time exhibited as a Curiosity, by the Landlady to her Guests.”—A similar Circumstance, of an Oyster clasping a Mouse with its Shell, has been recited in One of the Epigrams, of the Greek Anthology.

As an Instance of active Industry devoted to One Object, and to prove that Fishing and Farming, are incompatible, Mr. WAKEFIELD mentions a Fisherman of BURNHAM, in Essex. "This Man, who died about 1808, and whose Name was JAMES HAWKINS, went thither at the Age of Twenty, without a Guinea, and procured Subsistence, by. working for the Oyster-dredgers. In this situation, by Frugality, and laborious Attention, he saved Money sufficient to purchase a Fishing Boat, and employing Persons in the same Capacity, wherein he himself had served, was soon enabled to increase his Means: from a Proprietor of Boats, he became a Lessee of some Oyster-grounds; still successful, in the Course of Forty-five Years, he established a numerous Family in his own Line, and at his Decease, left them more than Sixty Thousand Pounds. A more useful or respectable Inhabitant, the COUNTY, in which he lived, could not produce, and yet, continues Mr. W. had his Mind been distracted by Agricultural Pursuits, it is impossible he could ever have amassed so much Property, or carried the BURNHARM Fishery to that State of Improvement, in which, He left it."