Be mindful thou the hungry Race to feed,

The Fish themselves in their own cause will plead;

And, rising to the Surface of the flood,

With gaping jaws demand their wonted Food.
Ponds for your Fish wherever you provide,

They with fresh Store in Spring should be supply'd;
In Spring the Male with Love's soft flames inspir'd,
And in defiance of the Water fir'd,

Can scarce perceive the change; and, big with young,
A num'rous breed the Female bears along!

Now o'er the neighb'ring Streams extend your Nets,
And throw your Lines, well furnish'd with deceits;
Join scarlet Colours, which, expos'd to view,
Fish thro' the water greedily pursue;

And as a skilful Fowler, Birds employs,

Which, by their well-known Voice and treach'rous noise,
Allure their Fellows and invite to share

Their Fate, entangled in the viscous Snare;

So Fish, when taken, other Fish allure;

Who, seeing them, grow dauntless and secure :
But not thro' studied Malice they betray,

But by our Art deceive the finny prey;

Man only with premeditated mind

Betrays his Brethren, and ensnares Mankind *.

* Though this Duplicity is nurtured by the factitious wants of a crowded City, it seldom intrudes upon the Hovel of Industry; yet the Pillow of weary labour is not unvisited by the baneful dreams of Gold.

"Two ancient Fishers in a straw thatch'd shed,

Leaves were their walls, and sea-weed was their bed,

Reclin'd their weary limbs: hard by were laid
Baskets, and all their implements of Trade,

Rods, hooks, and lines, compos'd of stout horse-hairs,
And Nets of various sorts, and various snares,
The Seine, the cast-net, and the wicker maze,
To waste the watery tribes a thousand ways:
A crazy Boat was drawn upon a plank ;
Matts were their pillow wove of Osier dank;

If in the Stream a craggy Rock there lies,
Thither the finny race for Shelter flies :
If Rocks deny, let Art retreat bestow,
And leafy branches in the water throw.
Now when the Fish, invited by the food,
Frequent the shade, place Nets across the Flood,
And drawing down the Stream your Boughs, convey
Into your flaxen Snares the finny prey.
The leafy Branches then replace again,
And with new Arts a fresh Supply obtain.

Skins, caps, and rugged coats, a covering made;
This was their wealth, their labour, and theit Trade,

No pot to boil, no watch dog to defend,

Yet blest they liv'd with Penury their friend.

[The one relates.]

Methought I sat upon a shelfy steep,

And watch'd the Fish that gambol'd in the deep;

Suspended by my rod, I gently shook

The bait fallacious, which a huge one took ;
(Sleeping, we image what awake we wish ;

Dogs dream of Bones, and Fishermen of Fish ;)
Bent was my rod, and from his gills the blood
With crimson stream distain'd the silver flood.

I stretch'd my arm out, lest the line should break;
The Fish so vigorous, and my hook so weak!
Anxious I gaz'd; he struggled to be gone;

6 You're wounded,-I'll be with you, friend, anon-
Still do you tease me?' for he plagu'd me sore;
At last, quite spent, I drew him safe on shore,
Then grasp'd him with my hand for surer hold,

A noble prize, a Fish of solid Gold.

-Go search the shoals, not sleeping, but awake,

Hunger will soon discover your mistake;
Catch real Fish; you need not sure be told

Those Fools must starve who only dream of Gold."

FAWKES'S THEOCRITUS, Idyl. xxi.

Tubs, which to Lakes your captive Fishes bear,
Should at the top admit the vital Air;

And if a Brook or Spring is in the way,
With cooling draughts refresh the thirsty prey.

Various of Waters, as of Soils, the kind;
Some stagnant, others running there you'll find,
The bottom fill'd with Oose and Mud, and here
Sand mixt with golden Gravel will appear*.
In Lakes where the dull waters ever sleep,
You Perches, Bleaks, and Salmon-trout, may keep,
Who on their backs as many Colours show,
As heav'nly Iris on her painted bow.

With these the dainty Smelt and Flounder place,
And Tench the fav'rites of the vulgar race,
With slipp'ry Eels who as the Swallow flies
To southern Suns, and more indulgent Skies;

* "The Fish of Lakes, and Motes, and stagnant Ponds (Remote from Sea, or where no Spring commands,

And intermingling its refreshing Waves

Is Tench unto the mote, and Tenches saves

And keeps them medical) are of all sorts

Lesse innocent, unless some River courts
The sullen Nymph, and blending waters, she

Of a foul Mopsa's made Leucothoe.

Her Inmates otherwise, like herself, smell,
Taste of the harbour (that is) scent not well;

Slow to digest: alive, they liv'd to close,

And dead they can't their native dulness lose.

Give me a Salmon, who with winged fins

'Gainst Tide and Stream firks o'er the fishing-gins

Of locks and hives, and circling in a gyre
His vaulting corps, he leaps the baffled wyre.
Let Fish have room enough and their full play,
No liquor want, not on a Fish-street day."

EDMUND GAYTON's Art of Longevity, 1659.

66

So when rough northern blasts the Rivers freeze,
The tender Eel, of Cold impatient, flees

To the warm sands and caverns of the Seas* ;
And thence returns in Summer as before,

To the cool streams and shelter of the Shore,

Chuse then a place to practise your deceit,
Where Rocks reduce the River to a strait,
So that the Stream may flow, when thus confin'd,
With force to turn a Mill and corn to grind:
Then near the Flood-gates in a narrow space,
Hard of access, with Reeds enclose a place;
The bending Osiers will with ease allow
The Stream retiring thro' the chinks to flow;
But, in the wicker prison will detain
The slipp'ry Eel descending to the main;

By whom a time for flying will be chose,

When the swol'n stream o'er all its borders flows.

But, as a Leader, who attempts to go

By Night in secret, to elude the Foe,

Will find the Foe prepar'd to stop his flight,

And equally befriended by the Night:
So with the Fisherman, with timely care
In muddy streams the nimble Eel ensnare,
And Nets to stop the Fugitive prepare.

}

* The Tackle must be adapted to the Season, but the Angler may remain indifferent as to the Wind; so (as one Instructor gravely adds) that he can cast his bait into the River." The planetary Influence upon Fish is alluded to by GOWER, in the Confessione Amantis, 1554.

"Benethe all other stont the Moone,

The whiche hath with the Sea to doone,

Of floodes highe, and ebbes lowe,

Vpon his Chaunge it shall be knowe,

And euery Fishe, whiche hath a Shelle,

Mote in his gouernance dwelle,
To wexe and wane in his degree,

As by the Moone a man mai see."

The Carp, the native of th' Italian Lar*,
And Whiting standing waters will prefer ;
And Blease, and Umbles, like an ancient Trout,
Tho' weak in fight, yet threatning with their snout;
For tho' sharp teeth in triple ranks are shown,
Whole nations fly before the Pike alone;

Fierce to destroy, with blood the Stream he stains;
For courage, and not strength, the conquest gains.

The Carp which in th' Italian Seas was bred,
With shining scraps of yellow Gold is fed;

*VENICE is described in PURCHAS's Pilgrimes, as

a riche toun of spicery:

And of alle other marchandise also,

And right well vitelet therto;

And namely of fresche water Fische,

Pike, Eile, Tench, Carpe, I wis.

Vol. II. p. 1236, Ed. 1625.

↑ "The Pike is the Pirate of the Lake, that roves and preyes upon the little fishermen of that Sea, who is so covetous and cruell, that he gives no quarter to any; when hee takes his prize hee goes not to the shore to make his market, but greedily devoures it himselfe ; yea, is such a Cormorant, that he will not stay the dressing of it. He is called the Wolfe of the water, but is indeed a monster of Nature; for the Wolfe spares his kinde, but hee will devoure his own Nephewes ere they come to full growth. He is very gallant in Apparell, and seemes to affect to go rather in silver than in gold, wherein he spares for no cost; for his Habit is all layd with silver plate downe to the foot in scollop wise. Hee is a right Man of Warre, and is so slender built, and draws so little Water, as hee will land at pleasure, and take his prey where he list; no Shallop shall follow where hee will lead. The Pikes themselves are the taller Ships, the Pickerels of a middle sort, and the Jacks the Pinnaces amongst them, which are all armed according to their burden. The master or pilot sits at the prore, yet hath he the rudder so at command, that hee can winde and turne the Vessell which way he will in the twinkling of an eye. He sets but up little Sayles, because he would not bee discovered who he is, yea, many times no Sail at all, but he trusts to the Finnes, his Oares. The youthfuller sort of Pikes, whom through familiarity they call Jacks, are notable Laddes indeed, and to their strength and bigness will fish as their Fathers will. In a word, a Man would easily bee mistaken in him in beholding him so handsome and gentle a Creature, and never imagin him to be half so ravenous as he is; but Fronti nulla Fides." A strange metamorphosis of Man, transformed into a Wilderness. 1634,