THE FIFTH DAY continued 

 Of Roach and Dace 



CHAPTER XVII 



VENATOR AND PISCATOR 



VENATOR. Good master, as we go now towards 

 London, be still so courteous as to give me more 

 instructions ; for I have several boxes in my 

 memory, in which I will keep them all very safe, 

 there shall not one of them be lost. 



PISCATOR. Well, scholar, that I will : and I will 

 hide nothing from you that I can remember, and 

 can think may help you forward towards a perfec- 

 tion in this art. And because we have so much 

 time, and I have said so little of Roach and Dace, 

 I will give you some directions concerning them. 



Some say the Roach is so called from rutilus, 

 which they say signifies red fins. He is a fish of 

 no great reputation for his dainty taste; and his 

 spawn is accounted much better than any other 

 part of him. And you may take notice, that as the 

 Carp is accounted the water- fox, for his cunning ; 

 so the Roach is accounted the water-sheep, for his 

 simplicity or foolishness. It is noted, that the 

 Roach and Dace recover strength, and grow in 

 season in a fortnight after spawning; the Barbel 

 and Chub in a month ; the Trout in four months ; 

 1 80 



