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. They with fresh Store in Spring should be supply'd; Can scarce perceive the change; and, big with young, Now o'er the neighb'ring Streams extend your Nets, And as a skilful Fowler, Birds employs, Which, by their well-known Voice and treach'rous noise, Their Fate, entangled in the viscous Snare; So Fish, when taken, other Fish allure; Who, seeing them, grow dauntless and secure : 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 Rods, hooks, and lines, compos'd of stout horse-hairs, If in the Stream a craggy Rock there lies, Skins, caps, and rugged coats, a covering made; 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 ; Dogs dream of Bones, and Fishermen of Fish ;) I stretch'd my arm out, lest the line should break; 6 You're wounded,-I'll be with you, friend, anon- A noble prize, a Fish of solid Gold. -Go search the shoals, not sleeping, but awake, Hunger will soon discover your mistake; Those Fools must starve who only dream of Gold." FAWKES'S THEOCRITUS, Idyl. xxi. Tubs, which to Lakes your captive Fishes bear, And if a Brook or Spring is in the way, Various of Waters, as of Soils, the kind; With these the dainty Smelt and Flounder place, * "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 Of a foul Mopsa's made Leucothoe. Her Inmates otherwise, like herself, smell, 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 EDMUND GAYTON's Art of Longevity, 1659. 66 So when rough northern blasts the Rivers freeze, To the warm sands and caverns of the Seas* ; To the cool streams and shelter of the Shore, Chuse then a place to practise your deceit, 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: } * 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, As by the Moone a man mai see." The Carp, the native of th' Italian Lar*, Fierce to destroy, with blood the Stream he stains; The Carp which in th' Italian Seas was bred, *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, |