THE COMPLETE ANGLER 141 



the mule drew him out of the water, and by that accident 

 the owner of the mule angled out the pike. And the same 

 Gesner observes, that a maid in Poland had a pike bit her 

 by the foot, as she was washing clothes in a pond. And I 

 have heard the like of a woman in Killingworth pond, not 

 far from Coventry. But I have been assured by my 

 friend Mr. Seagrave, of whom I spake to you formerly, 

 that keeps tame otters, that he hath known a pike in 

 extreme hunger fight with one of his otters for a carp that 

 the otter had caught, and was then bringing out of the 

 water. I have told you who relate these things, and tell 

 you they are persons of credit ; and shall conclude this 

 observation, by telling you what a wise man has observed, 

 " It is a hard thing to persuade the belly, because it has 

 no ears." * 



* Bowlker, in his Art of Angling, gives the following instance of 

 the exceeding voracity of this fish : " My father catched a pike in 

 Barn-Meer (a large standing water in Cheshire), was an ell long, 

 and weighed thirty-five pounds, which he brought to the Lord 

 Kholmondely : his lordship ordered it to be turned into a canal 

 in the garden, wherein were abundance of several sorts of fish. 

 About twelve months after, his lordship draw'd the canal, and found 

 that this overgrown pike had devoured all the fish, except one large 

 carp, that weighed between nine and ten pounds, and that was bitten 

 in several places. The pike was then put into the canal again, 

 together with abundance of fish with him to feed upon, all which 

 he devoured in less than a year's time ; and was observed by the 

 gardener and workmen there, to take the ducks and other water- 

 fowl under water : whereupon they shot magpies and crows, and 

 threw them into the canal, which the pike took before their eyes : 

 of this they acquainted their lord, who thereupon ordered the 

 slaughtermen to fling in calves' bellies, chickens' guts, and such like 

 garbage to him, to prey upon ; but being soon after neglected, he 

 died as supposed for want of food." The following relation was in- 

 serted as an article of news in one of the London papers, 2nd Jan. 

 1765. Extract of a letter from Littleport, Dec. 17. " About ten 

 days ago a large pike was caught in the River Ouse, which weighed 

 upwards of twenty-eight pounds, and was sold to a gentleman in 

 the neighbourhood for a guinea. As the cook-maid was gutting 

 the fish, she found to her great astonishment, a watch with a black 

 ribbon, and two steel seals annexed, in the body of the pike ; the 

 gentleman's butler, upon opening the watch, found the maker's 

 name, Thomas Cranefield, Burnham, Norfolk. Upon a strict 

 enquiry, it appears that the said watch was sold to a gentleman's 

 servant, who was unfortunately drowned about six weeks ago, in 

 his way to Cambridge, between this place and South Ferry. The 



