take a round board or trencher, make a hole in the middle
thereof, and through the turf placed on the board or
trencher, with a string or cord as long as is fitting, tied to




Tou may take a pipe of tobacco.



The FOURTH DAY



221



a pole, let it down to the bottom of the water, for the fish
to feed upon without disturbance about two or three days j
and after that you have drawn it away, you may fall to,
and enjoy your former recreation. B. A,





"The FOURTH T>KY— continued
On the Tench

CHAPTER XI

PISCATOR

The Tench, the physician of fishes, is observed to love
ponds better than rivers, and to love pits better than either :
yet Camden observes, there is a river in Dorsetshire that
abounds with Tenches, but doubtless they retire to the
most deep and quiet places in it.

This fish hath very large fins, very small and smooth
scales, a red circle about his eyes, which are big and of a
gold colour, and from either angle of his mouth there
hangs down a little barb. In every Tench's head there
are two little stones which foreign physicians make great
use of, but he is not commended for wholesome meat,
though there be very much use made of them for outward
applications. Rondeletius says, that at his being at Rome,
he saw a great cure done by applying a Tench to the feet
of a very sick man. This, he says, was done after an

222



The FOURTH DAY 223

unusual manner, by certain Jews. And it is observed that
many of those people have many secrets yet unknown to
Christians ; secrets that have never yet been written, but
have been since the days of their Solomon, who knew the
nature of all things, even from the cedar to the shrub,
delivered by tradition, from the father to the son, and so
from generation to generation, without writing ; or, unless
it were casually, without the least communicating them to
any other nation or tribe ; for to do that they account a
profanation. And, yet, it is thought that they, or some
spirit worse than they, first told us, that lice, swallowed
alive, were a certain cure for the yellow-jaundice. This,
and many other medicines, were discovered by them, or by
revelation ; for, doubtless, we attained them not by study.

Well, this fish, besides his eating, is very useful, both
dead and alive, for the good of mankind. But I will
meddle no more with that, my honest, humble art teaches
no such boldness : there are too many foolish meddlers in
physick and divinity that think themselves fit to meddle
with hidden secrets, and so bring destruction to their
followers. But I'll not meddle with them, any farther
than to wish them wiser ; and shall tell you next, for
I hope I may be so bold, that the Tench is the physician of
fishes, for the Pike especially, and that the Pike, being
either sick or hurt, is cured by the touch of the Tench.
And it is observed that the tyrant Pike will not be a wolf
to his physician, but forbears to devour him though he be
never so hungry.

This fish, that carries a natural balsam in him to cure
both himself and others, loves yet to feed in very foul
water, and amongst weeds. And yet, I am sure, he eats
pleasantly, and, doubtless, you will think so too, if you



224



The COMPLETE ANGLER



taste him. And I shall therefore proceed to give you some
few, and but a few, directions how to catch this Tench,
of which I have given you these observations.

He will bite at a paste, made of brown bread and honey,
or at a marsh-worm, or a lob-worm ; he inclines very
much to any paste with which tar is mixt, and he will bite
also at a smaller- worm with his head nipped off, and a cod-
worm put on the hook before that worm. And I doubt
not but that he will also, in the three hot months, for
in the nine colder he stirs not much, bite at a flag-worm or
at a green gentle j but can positively say no more of the
Tench, he being a fish I have not often angled for ; but I
wish my honest scholar may, and be ever fortunate when
he fishes.




Hhe FOURTH Y^hX— continued
On the Perch



CHAPTER XII



PISCATOR AND VENATOR



PiscATOR. The Perch is a very good, and a very bold
biting fish. He is one of the fishes of prey that, like the
Pike and Trout, carries his teeth in his mouth, which is
very large : and he dare venture to kill and devour several
other kinds of fish. He has a hooked or hog back, which
is armed with sharp and stiff bristles, and all his skin armed,
or covered over with thick dry hard scales, and hath, which
few other fish have, two fins on his back. He is so bold
that he will invade one of his own kind, which the Pike
will not do so willingly; and you may, therefore, easily
believe him to be a bold biter.

The Perch is of great esteem in Italy, saith Aldro-
vandus; and especially the least are there esteemed a
dainty dish. And Gesner prefers the Perch and Pike
above the Trout, or any fresh-water fish : he says the
Germans have this proverb, 'More wholesome than a
Perch of Rhine ' : and he says the River-Perch is so
wholesome, that physicians allow him to be eaten by



226 The COMPLETE ANGLER

wounded men, or by men in fevers, or by women in
child-bed.

He spawns but once a year ; and is, by physicians,
held very nutritiv ; yet, by many, to be hard of diges-
tion. They abound more in the river Po, and in England,
says Rondeletius, than other parts : and have in their
brain a stone, which is, in foreign parts, sold by apothe-
caries, being there noted to be very medicinable against the
stone in the reins. These be a part of the commendations
which some philosophical brains have bestowed upon the
fresh-water Perch : yet they commend the Sea-Perch, which
is known by having but one fin on his back, of which they
say we English see but a few, to be a much better fish.

The Perch grows slowly, yet will grow, as I have been
credibly informed, to be almost two feet long ; for an
honest informer told me, such a one was not long since
taken by Sir Abraham Williams, a gentleman of worth,
and a brother of the angle, that yet lives, and I wish
he may : this was a deep-bodied fish, and doubtless durst
have devoured a Pike of half his own length. For I have
told you, he is a bold fish ; such a one as but for extreme
hunger the Pike will not devour. For to affright the
Pike, and save himself, the Perch will set up his fins,
much like as a turkey-cock will sometimes set up his tail.

But, my scholar, the Perch is not only valiant to defend
himself, but he is, as I said, a bold-biting fish : yet he
will not bite at all seasons of the year ; he is very ab-
stemious in winter, yet will bite then in the midst of
the day, if it be warm : and note, that all fish bite best
about the midst of a warm day in winter. And he hath
been observed, by some, not usually to bite till the mul-
berry-tree buds 3 that is to say, till extreme frosts be



The FOURTH DAY 227

past the spring ; for, when the mulberry-tree blossoms,
many gardeners observe their forward fruit to be past the
danger of frosts ; and some have made the like observation
of the Perch's biting.

But bite the Perch will, and that very boldly. And, as
one has wittily observed, if there be twenty or forty in
a hole, they may be, at one standing, all catched one after
another ; they being, as he says, like the wicked of the
world, not afraid, though their fellows and companions
perish in their sight. And you may observe, that they are
not like the solitary Pike, but love to accompany one another,
and march together in troops.

And the baits for this bold fish are not many : I mean,
he will bite as well at some, or at any of these three, as at
any or all others whatsoever : a worm, a minnow, or a
little frog, of which you may find many in hay-time. And
of worms ; the dunghill worm called a brandling I take to
be best, being well scoured in moss or fennel j or he will
bite at a worm that lies under cow-dung, with a bluish
head. And if you rove for a Perch with a minnow, then
it is best to be alive ; you sticking your hook through his
back fin ; or a minnow with the hook in his upper lip, and
letting him swim up and down, about mid-water, or a little
lower, and you still keeping him to about that depth by a
cork, which ought not to be a very little one : and the like
way you are to fish for the Perch with a small frog, your
hook being fastened through the skin of his leg, towards the
upper part of it : and, lastly, I will give you but this
advice, that you give the Perch time enough when he bites ;
for there was scarce ever any angler that has given him too
much. And now I think best to rest myself; for I have
almost spent my spirits with talking so long.



228 The COMPLETE ANGLER

Venator. Nay, good master, one fish more, for you see
it rains still : and you know our angles are like money put
to usury ; they may thrive, though we sit still, and do
nothing but talk and enjoy one another. Come, come, the
other fish, good master.

PiscATOR. But, scholar, have you nothing to mix with
this discourse, which now grows both tedious and tiresome ?
Shall I have nothing from you, that seem to have both a
good memory and a cheerful spirit ?

Venator. Yes, master, I will speak you a copy of verses
that were made by Doctor Donne, and made to shew the
world that he could make soft and smooth verses, when he
thought smoothness worth his labour : and I love them the
better, because they allude to Rivers, and Fish and Fishing.
They be these :

Come, live with me, and be my love, ^

And we will some new pleasures prove.
Of golden sands, and crystal brooks.
With silken lines, and silver hooks.

There will the river whispVing run,
Warm'd by thy eyes more than the sun ;
And there the enamel'd fish will stay.
Begging themselves they may betray.

When thou wilt swim in that live bath.
Each fish, which every channel hath,
Most amorously to thee will swim.
Gladder to catch thee, than thou him.

If thou, to be so seen, beest loath
By sun or moon, thou dark'nest both j
And if mine eyes have leave»to see,
I need not their light, having thee.



The FOURTH DAY 229

Let others freeze with angling reeds.
And cut their legs with shells and weeds,
Or treacherously poor fish beset
With strangling snares or windowy net ;

Let coarse bold hands, from slimy nest,
The bedded fish in banks outwrest ;
Let curious traitors sleave silk flies.
To 'witch poor wand'ring fishes' eyes.

For thee, thou need'st no such deceit.
For thou thyself art thine own bait ;
That fish that is not catcht thereby,
Is wiser afar, alas, than L

PiscATOR. Well remembered, honest scholar. I thank
you for these choice verses ; which I have heard formerly,
but had quite forgot, till they were recovered by your
happy memory. Well, being I have now rested myself a
little, I will make you some requital, by telling you some
observations of the Eel ; for it rains still : and because, as
you say, our angles are as money put to use, that thrives
when we play, therefore we '11 sit still, and enjoy ourselves a
little longer under this honeysuckle hedge.





The FOURTH 'DKY— continued
Of the Eely and other Fish that want Scales

CHAPTER XIII

PISCATOR

It is agreed by most men, that the Eel is a most dainty
fish : the Romans have esteemed her the Helena of their
feasts ; and some the queen of palate-pleasure. But most
men differ about their breeding : some say they breed
by generation, as other fish do ; and others, that they
breed, as some worms do, of mud ; as rats and mice, and
many other living creatures, are bred in Egypt, by the sun's
heat wh^n it shines upon the overflowing of the river
Nilus ; or out of the putrefaction of the earth, and divers
other ways. Those that deny them to breed by generation,
as other fish do, ask. If any man ever saw an Eel to have a
spawn or melt ? And they are answered. That they may
be as certain of their breeding as if they had seen spawn ;
for they say, that they are certain that Eels have all parts
fit for generation, like other fish, but so small as not to be
easily discerned, by reason of their fatness ; but that dis-
cerned they may be ; and that the He and the She Eel may



The FOURTH DAY 233

be distinguished by their fins. And Rondeletius says, he
has seen Eels cling together like dew-worms.

And others say, that Eels, growing old, breed other Eels
out of the corruption of their own age j which. Sir Francis
Bacon says, exceeds not ten years. And others say, that as
pearls are made of glutinous dewdrops, which are condensed
by the sun's heat in those countries, so Eels are bred of a
particular dew, falling in the months of May or June on the
banks of some particular ponds or rivers, apted by nature for
that end ; which in a few days are, by the sun's heat,
turned into Eels : and some of the Ancients have called the
Eels that are thus bred, the offspring of Jove. I have seen,
in the beginning of July, in a river not far from Canterbury,
some parts of it covered over with young Eels, about the
thickness of a straw ; and these Eels did lie on the top of
that water, as thick as motes are said to be in the sun : and
I have heard the like of other rivers, as namely, in Severn,
where they are called Yelvers ; and in a pond, or mere near
unto Staffordshire, where, about a set time in summer, such
small Eels abound so much, that many of the poorer sort of
people that inhabit near to it, take such Eels out of this
mere with sieves or sheets ; and make a kind of Eel-cake of
them, and eat it like as bread. And Gesner quotes Vener-
able Bede, to say, that in England there is an island called
Ely, by reason of the innumerable number of Eels that
breed in it. But that Eels may be bred as some worms,
and some kind of bees and wasps are, either of dew, or out
of the corruption of the earth, seems to be made probable by
the barnacles and young goslings bred by the sun's heat and
the rotten planks of an old ship, and hatched of trees ; both
which are related for truths by Du Bartas and Lobel, and also
by our learned Camden, and laborious Gerhard in his Herbal.



234 "The COMPLETE ANGLER

It is said by Rondeletius, that those Eels that are bred in
rivers that relate to or be nearer to the sea, never return to
the fresh waters, as the Salmon does always desire to do,
when they have once tasted the salt water ; and I do the
more easily believe this, because I am certain that powdered
beef is a most excellent bait to catch an Eel. And though
Sir Francis Bacon will allow the Eel's life to be but ten
years, yet he, in his History of Life and Death^ mentions a
Lamprey, belonging to the Roman emperor, to be made
tame, and so kept for almost threescore years; and that
such useful and pleasant observations were made of this
Lamprey, that Crassus the orator, who kept her, lamented
her death ; and we read in Doctor Hakewill, that Horten-
sius was seen to weep at the death of a Lamprey that he
had kept long, and loved exceedingly.

It is granted by all, or most men, that Eels, for about six
months, that is to say, the six cold months of the year, stir
not up or down, neither in the rivers, nor in the pools in
which they usually are, but get into the soft earth or mud ;
and there many of them together bed themselves, and live
without feeding upon anything, as I have told you some
swallows have been observed to do in hollow trees, for those
six cold months. And this the Eel and Swallow do, as not
being able to endure winter weather : for Gesner quotes
Albertus to say, that in the year 1 1 25, that year's winter
being more cold than usually. Eels did, by nature's instinct,
get out of the water into a stack of hay in a meadow upon
dry ground ; and there bedded themselves : but yet, at last,
a frost killed them. And our Camden relates, that, in Lan-
cashire, fishes were digged out of the earth with spades,
where no water was near to the place. I shall say little
more of the Eel, but that, as it is observed he is impatient



The FOURTH DAY 235

of cold, so it hath been observed, that, in warm weather, an
Eel has been known to live five days out of the water.

And lastly, let me tell you, that some curious searchers
into the natures of fish observe, that there be several sorts
or kinds of Eels ; as the silver Eel, the green or greenish
Eel, with which the river of Thames abounds, and those
are called Grigs ; and a blackish Eel, whose head is more
flat and bigger than ordinary Eels ; and also an Eel whose
fins are reddish, and but seldom taken in this nation, and
yet taken sometimes. These several kind of Eels are, say
some, diversely bred ; as, namely, out of the corruption of
the earth ; and some by dew, and other ways, as I have
said to you : and yet it is affirmed by some for a certain,
that the silver Eel is bred by generation, but not by
spawning as other fish do ; but that her brood come alive
from her, being then little live Eels no bigger nor longer
than a pin ; and I have had too many testimonies of this,
to doubt the truth of it myself; and if I thought it needful
I might prove it, but I think it is needless.

And this Eel, of which I have said so much to you, may
be caught with divers kinds of baits : as namely, with
powdered beef; with a lob or garden worm ; with a
minnow ; or gut of a hen, chicken, or the guts of any fish,
or with almost anything, for he is a greedy fish. But the
Eel may be caught, especially, with a little, a very little
Lamprey, which some call a Pride, and may, in the hot
months, be found many of them in the river Thames, and
in many mud-heaps in other rivers ; yea, almost as usually
as one finds worms in a dunghill.

Next note, that the Eel seldom stirs in the day, but then
hides himself ; and therefore he is usually caught by night,
with one of these baits of which I have spoken ; and may



236 The COMPLETE ANGLER

be then caught by laying hooks, which you are to fasten to
the bank, or twigs of a tree ; or by throwing a string cross
the stream, with many hooks at it, and those baited with
the aforesaid baits ; and a clod, or plummet, or stone, thrown
into the river with this line, that so you may in the morning
find it near to some fixed place ; and then take it up with
a drag-hook, or otherwise. But these things are, indeed,
too common to be spoken of; and an hour's fishing with
any angler will teach you better, both for these and many
other common things in the practical part of angling, than a
week's discourse. I shall therefore conclude this direction
for taking the Eel, by telling you, that in a warm day in
summer, I have taken many a good Eel by Snigling, and
have been much pleased with that sport.

And because you, that are but a young angler, know not
what Snigling is,^^ I will now teach it to you. You re-
member I told you that Eels do not usually stir in the day-
time ; for then they hide themselves under some covert ; or
under boards or planks about flood-gates, or weirs, or mills :
or in holes on the river banks : so that you, observing your
time in a warm day, when the water is lowest, may take a
strong small hook, tied to a strong line, or to a string about
a yard long ; and then into one of these holes, or between
any boards about a mill, or under any great stone or plank,
or any place where you think an Eel may hide or shelter
herself, you may, with the help of a short stick, put in your
bait, but leisurely, and as far as you may conveniently ; and
it is scarce to be doubted, but if there be an Eel within the
sight of it, the Eel will bite instantly, and as certainly gorge
it ; and you need not doubt to have him if you pull him not
out of the hole too quickly, but pull him out by degrees ;
for he, lying folded double in his hole, will, with the help of




Snigling Eels from a bridge.



The FOURTH DAY 239

his tail, break all, unless you give him time to be wearied with
pulling, and so get him out by degrees, not pulling too hard.
And to commute for your patient hearing this long
direction, I shall next tell you, How to make this Eel a
most excellent dish of meat.

First, wash him in water and salt ; then pull off his skin
below his vent or navel, and not much further : having
done that, take out his guts as clean as you can, but wash
him not : then give him three or four scotches with a
knife ; and then put into his belly and those scotches,
sweet herbs, an anchovy, and a little nutmeg grated or cut
very small ; and your herbs and anchovies must also be cut
very small, and mixt with good butter and salt : having done
this, then pull his skin over him, all but his head, which you
are to cut ofF, to the end you may tie his skin about that
part where his head grew, and it must be so tied as to keep
all his moisture within his skin : and having done this, tie
him with tape or packthread to a spit, and roast him leisurely -,
and baste him with water and salt till his skin breaks, and then
with butter ; and having roasted him enough, let what was
put into his belly, and what he drips, be his sauce. S. F.

When I go to dress an Eel thus, I wish he were as long
and as big as that which was caught in Peterborough river,
in the year 1667 ; which was a yard and three quarters
long. If you will not believe me, then go and see at one
of the coffee-houses in King Street in Westminster.

But now let me tell you, that though the Eel, thus drest,
be not only excellent good, but more harmless than any
other way, yet it is certain that physicians account the
Eel dangerous meat ; I will advise you therefore, as Solo-
mon says of honey, ' Hast thou found it, eat no more than is
sufficient, lest thou surfeit, for it is not good to eat much



240 The COMPLETE ANGLER

honey.' And let me add this, that the uncharitable Italian
bids us ' give Eels and no wine to our enemies.'

And I will beg a little more of your attention, to tell
you, that Aldrovandus, and divers physicians, commend the
Eel very much for medicine, though not for meat. But let
me tell you one observation, that the Eel is never out of
season ; as Trouts, and most other fish, are at set times ; at
least, most Eels are not.

I might here speak of many other fish, whose shape and
nature are much like the Eel, and frequent both the sea
and fresh rivers ; as, namely, the Lamprel, the Lamprey, and
the Lamperne : as also of the mighty Conger, taken often in
Severn, about Gloucester : and might also tell in what high
esteem many of them are for the curiosity of their taste.
But these are not so proper to be talked of by me, because
they make us anglers no sport ; therefore I will let them alone,
as the Jews do, to whom they are forbidden by their law.

And, scholar, there is also a Flounder, a sea-fish which
will wander very far into fresh rivers, and there lose himself
and dwell : and thrive to a hand's breadth, and almost twice
so long : a fish without scales, and most excellent meat : and
a fish that affords much sport to the angler, with any small
worm, but especially a little bluish worm, gotten out of
marsh-ground, or meadows, which should be well scoured.
But this, though it be most excellent meat, yet it wants scales,
and is, as I told you, therefore an abomination to the Jews.

But, scholar, there is a fish that they in Lancashire boast
very much of, called a Char ; taken there, and I think
there only, in a mere called Winander Mere ; a mere, says
Camden, that is the largest in this nation, being ten miles
in length, and some say as smooth in the bottom as if it
were paved with polished marble. This fish never exceeds



The FOURTH DAY 241

fifteen or sixteen inches in length ; and is spotted like a
Trout ; and has scarce a bone, but on the back. But this,
though I do not know whether it make the angler sport,
yet I would have you take notice of it, because it is a rarity,
and of so high esteem with persons of great note.

Nor would I have you ignorant of a rare fish called a
GuiNiAD ; of which I shall tell you what Camden and
others speak. The river Dee, which runs by Chester,
springs in Merionethshire ; and, as it runs toward Chester,
it runs through Pemble Mere, which is a large water : and it
is observed, that though the river Dee abounds with Salmon,
and Pemble Mere with the Guiniad, yet there is never any
Salmon caught in the mere, nor a Guiniad in the river. And
now my next observation shall be of the Barbel.



o
o

o o





T^he FOURTH T>KY— continued
Of the Barbel

CHAPTER XIV

PISCATOR, VENATOR, MILK-WOMAN

PiscATOR. The Barbel is so called, says Gesner, by reason
of his barb or wattles at his mouth, which are under his
nose or chaps. He is one of those leather-mouthed fishes
that I told you of, that does very seldom break his hold