138 WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM AND MINNOWS. 



The minnow is a very particular fish about the water 

 in which he hves ; it must be clear and rapid. He is a 

 vegetable feeder, and also eats insects and worms. The 

 minnows in the Itchen, at and about Winchester College, 

 are very handsome fish, and thrive very well in this 

 chalk w^ater. The abundance of minnows is one reason 

 why the trout arc so good We boys at Winchester 

 never fished for minnows with rod and hue, but a net 

 called a minnow net. This net may be thus described : 

 a fine-meshed net is fastened nearly flat to an iron 

 hoop about 2 feet in diameter, in the middle is fastened 

 a perforated bullet and a piece of red cloth ; three strings 

 run off from the ring and join together about 2 feet 

 away from the hoop ; a longer line is attached to this and 

 also to a pole, say 8 feet long. The net is dropped into 

 the river, the minnows are attracted by the red cloth 

 and the net is raised quickly by means of the pole. 

 Glass bottles used as traps for catching minnows have 

 been invented, and are to be bought at the fishing-tackle 

 shops. This mode of gz/asi-incipient sport is a capital 

 jdan to enter, as masters of foxhounds have it in speak- 

 ing of their young hounds, the noble sport of fishing. 

 Minnows are not at all bad eating ; they are very good 

 simply fried as whitebait, or else pickled. 



It appears that William of Wykeham, founder of 

 Winchester College, was accustomed to have minnows 

 served at his table. Thus at a dinner which the bishop 

 gave on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 1394, to the King and Queen, 

 210 guests were j^resent, the dinner costing £385 of our 

 present money. Many kinds of fish were served, and 

 no less than 7 gallons of minnows, costing eleven shil- 

 lings and eightpence. I should not be surprised if these 

 minnows acted as the whitebait of the period. 



In the report of the Imperial Society of Acclimatisa- 



