GEN. ESOX. THE COMMON PIKE. 95 



Hence we are not to wonder if washer- women, in 

 following their avocation in the water, are sometimes 

 assailed by this greedy fish. And if thus they do 

 not respect the lord himself of this lower world, we 

 cannot be surprised that the lower animals fare 

 worse. " I have been assured," says I. Walton, " by 

 my friend Mr. Seagrave, who keeps the otters, that 

 he has known a Pike, in extreme hunger, fight with 

 one of his otters for a carp which the otter had 

 caught, and was then bringing out of the water. 

 My authority, he adds, is a person of credit, and I 

 conclude with the wise saw, that it is a hard thing 

 to persuade the belly, because it has no ears/' u At 

 Lord Gower's canal at Trentham, as Mr. Pennant 

 was assured on good authority, a Pike seized the 

 head of a swan as she was feeding under water, and 

 gorged so much of it, as killed both. The servant 

 perceiving the swan with its head under water for 

 a longer time than usual, took the boat, and found 

 both swan and Pike dead." 



With such a foe as this fresh-water wolf, even 

 the fox may be entrapped. " A cub fox drinking 

 out of the river Arnus, in Italy, had his head seized 

 by a mighty Pike, so that neither could free himself 

 but were engrappled together. During the contest, 

 a young man runs into the water, takes them out 

 both alive, and carries them to the palace of the 

 Duke of Florence, hard by. (Apud Walton). And 

 once more, we have the tale of the poor mule, 

 " which it has been known to pull into the water by 

 its nose ! !" So savs our facetious author ; and it is 



