26 THE SALMON. 



pleasant water-sides. Thus, in telling that Archimago 

 could not catch the Red-Cross Knight by any of the 

 devices that had once been successful, he expresses him- 

 self 



"The fish that once was caught new bayt will hardly byte," 



which is a piscatorial fact, not perhaps requiring much 

 profound knowledge of the art, but still not likely to 

 suggest itself to any but an angler. It is also another 

 evidence in favour of Spenser being one of the initiated, 

 that when he has occasion to mention any river, lit: 

 frequently and needlessly stops to catalogue the kind 

 of fish to be found in it, the knowledge he is so fond 

 of displaying on this point ranging over a great part of 

 Ireland, as well as England. Coming next to Shakspeare, 

 we confess at once that there is no evidence now extant 

 of his having been in the habit of taking a day's sport 

 in the Avon or anywhere else ; but whoever reads any 

 of those heavy yet unsubstantial books called Lives of 

 Shakspeare, will find that information is missing about 

 many other things besides this that yet the Bard must 

 have done. There are, however, many allusions to ang- 

 ling scattered throughout Shakspeare, several of them, 

 we admit, showing no profound knowledge of the sub- 

 ject. Thus Ursula, in Much Ado about Nothing 



" The pleasantest angling is to see the fish 



Cut with her golden oars the silver stream, 

 ^ And greedily devour the treacherous bait." 



In the present day, this, so far from being " pleasant," is 

 not possible angling, for if you see the fish, the fish sees 

 you, and that's an end of it ; but some allowance may 

 be made for the fact that this was written in an age 

 when British fish were in a comparatively primitive 



