S?f^ 



Til Fill 



HE PYKE is a good fysshe : but for he deuouryth so 

 many as well of his owne kynde as of other, I loue 

 liym the lesse, and for to take hym ye shall doo 

 thus," says Dame Juliana, who then relates how "ye 

 shall have hym " by baiting with a fresh herring or a 

 frofshe* — the latter may be put in assafoetida to 

 improve it ; and, lastly, you may set your bait a travelling 

 by tyeing "the corde to a gose fote, and ye shall se god 

 halynge whether the gose or the pyke shall have the better." 

 Ancient writers extol the pike, not only as a medium of 

 sport, but as a royal dish for the table ; and a big fat pike 

 with pudding in his belly, and spices, sauces, gravies, and all manner 

 of incongruous condiment was greatly in favour at high feasts and 

 festivals. One can see him, hard on five feet long, borne aloft by two 

 stout serving men up through the goodly companie, grinning ghastly 

 with a lemon in his jaws, and figuring in the bill of expenses as, " To 

 one great pyke fysshe for the dinner to the Kyngys Majestie, one shilling 

 and two pence, and ye chamberlayne did thynk it dere." 



* Frog, 



