158 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i. 



THE FOURTH DAY. 



chap. ix. Observations of the Carp, with Directions 

 how to Fish for him. 



PlSCATOR. 



JL he Carp is the Queen of Rivers : a stately, a good, 

 and a very subtle, fish, that was not at first bred, nor 

 hath been long, in England, but is now naturalised. 

 It is said, they were brought hither by one Mr. 

 Muscat, a gentleman that then lived at Phtmsted in 

 Sussex, a County that abounds more with this fish 

 than any in this nation. 



You may remember that I told you, Gesner says, 

 there are no Pikes in Spain; and doubtless, there 

 was a time, about a hundred or a few more years 

 ago, when there were no Carps in England, as may 

 seem to be affirmed by Sir Richard Baker, in whose 

 Chronicle you may find these verses. 



Hops and Turkies, Carps and Beer, 

 Came into England all in a yeur. 



And doubtless, as of sea-fish the Herring dies 

 soonest out of the water, and of fresh-water-fish 

 the Trout, so, except the Eel, the Carp endures 

 most hardness, and lives longest out of his own 

 proper element : and, therefore, the report of the 

 Carp's being brought out of a foreign country into 

 this nation, is the more probable. 



