38 FISH-PONDS. [CHAT. n. 



ventive of over-fishing, as fish, to be valuable for table pur- 

 poses, require to be fresh. "It's the railways that has done all 

 the mischief, sir, depend on that : and as for the fishing, sir, 

 it's going on at such a rate that there will very soon be a 

 complete famine. I've seen more fish caught in a day, sir, 

 with a score of hooks on a line than can now be got with 

 eight thousand ! " 



As to fish-ponds : at the time indicated it was quite usual 

 for noblemen and other country gentlemen to have fish-ponds ; 

 in fact, a fish-pond was as necessary an adjunct of a large 

 country house as its vegetable or fruit garden. These ponds, 

 as the foregoing sketch will show, were of the most simple 

 kind, and were often enough constructed by merely stopping a 

 little stream at some suitable place, and so forming a couple of 

 artificial lakes, in which were placed a few large stones, or two 



