182 DIRECTIONS HOW TO FISH 



" The perch is of great esteem in Italy," saith 

 Aldrovandus : " 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 pro- 

 verb, *' More wholesome than a perch of Rhine :" 

 and he says the river perch is so wholesome, that 

 physicians allow him to be eaten by wounded 

 men, or by men in fevers, or by women in child- 

 bed. 



He spawns but once a-year ; and is, by physi- 

 cians, held very nutritive ; yet, by many, to be 

 hard of digestion. " 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 



