T'he Natural History of Se I borne 363 



magnify and distort them vastly; not to mention that the 

 introduction of another element and its inhabitants into our 

 parlours engages the fancy in a very agreeable manner. 



Gold and silver fishes, though originally native of China 

 and Japan, yet are become so well reconciled to our climate 

 as to thrive and multiply very fast in our ponds and stews. 

 Linnaeus ranks this species of fish under the genus of Cy- 

 prinus, or carp, and calls it Cyprinus auratus. 



Some people exhibit this sort of fish in a very fanciful way ; 

 for they cause a glass globe to be blown with a large hollow 

 space within, that does not communicate with it. In this 

 cavity they put a bird occasionally; so that you may see a 

 goldfinch or a linnet hopping as it were in the midst of the 

 water, and the fishes swimming in a circle round it. The 

 simple exhibition of the fishes is agreeable and pleasant ; but 

 in so complicated a way becomes whimsical and unnatural, 

 and liable to the objection due to him, 



" Qui variare cupit rein prodigialiter unam." 



I am, &c. 



