FISHES AND FISHING. 169 



old, as before-mentioned, no doubt knew and prac 

 tised these arts. 



On the subject of eels, rather a ludicrous anec 

 dote is related. The Right Honourable Lady , 



whose mean, penurious habits were well known, 

 which induced her to neglect no opportunity of 

 making what she considered a good bargain, in one 

 of her walks saw a man selling live eels, at a price 

 which she considered very cheap, in comparison with 

 the price she usually paid for them at her fish 

 monger's ; as she was not known, she bought some, 

 which the seller tied up, as he told the lady, securely, 

 in her pocket handkerchief, and she put them into 

 her pocket. As she returned home, she paid a 

 morning visit to a female friend, but had not been 

 long seated, before the eels, disliking their confine 

 ment, crept out of the handkerchief ;nto the lady's 

 pocket, and thence, to the dismay and confusion of 

 one lady, and the horror and astonishment of the 

 other, upon the carpet, where their evolutions soon 

 caused the lady of the house to run screaming out of 

 the room ; the servants rushed at the alarm to the 

 assistance of their mistress, the eels were secured, and 

 the visitor offered her apologies and explanation ; but 

 whether they were satisfactory or not is unknown, 

 at any rate, the lady who had been visited, and her 

 servants told the story. 



