PIKE. 435 



the First, who condescended to regulate the prices of the 

 different sorts of fish then brought to market, that his sub- 

 jects might not be left to the mercy of the venders, fixed 

 the value of Pike higher than that of fresh Salmon, and 

 more than ten times greater than that of the best Turbot 

 or Cod. In proof of the estimation in which Pike were 

 held in the reign of Edward the Third, I may again refer 

 to the lines of Chaucer, already quoted at page 336. Pikes 

 are mentioned in an Act of the Sixth year of the reign 

 of Richard the Second, 1382, which relates to the fore- 

 stalling of fish. Pike were dressed in the year 1466, at 

 the great feast given by George Nevil, Archbishop of York. 

 Pike are mentioned in the famous " Bokc of St. Albans," 

 in the treatise on the art of fishing with an angle ; the first 

 edition of which is said to have been printed at St. Albans 

 in 1481, and again at Westminster, by W. de Worde, in 

 1496.* Pike were so rare in the reign of Henry the Eighth, 

 that a large one sold for double the price of a house-lamb in 

 February, and a Pickerel, or small Pike, for more than a fat 

 capon. 



The Pike is strong, fierce, and active ; swims rapidly, 

 and occasionally darts along with the rapidity of lightning. 

 The spawn is deposited among weeds in March or early 

 in April ; and at this season the spawning fish will be 

 found in narrow creeks or ditches that are connected with 

 the larger waters they at other times inhabit. 



The Rev. Revett Sheppard has noticed " an annual 

 migration of Pikes which takes place in spring in the 

 Cam, " into which river," he says, " they come in great 

 shoals, doubtless from the fens in the neighbourhood of Ely, 

 where they are bred."" 



Bloch says the young reach the length of eight to ten 



* At the sale of the library of the late Duke of Roxburgh, an imperfect copy 

 of this edition produced 147i. 



2 F 2 



