204 THE TROUT 



and regard to be paid to the amenities of the 

 place. 



So far from being a disfigurement to your grounds, 

 a set of trout-ponds well constructed and properly 

 attended to will be found to constitute one of the 

 ornamental features of the locality, affording at the 

 same time a subject of continued interest and pleasure 

 to yourself and to your friends. 



Part of an ancient moat which used to encircle 

 the old Hall at Weston still exists. Until recently 

 the moat, like so many ponds in this country, was 

 choked with mud, weeds, and decaying leaves, the 

 abode of a few coarse fish, and a great number of 

 eels. As to the cooking qualities of the old inhabi- 

 tants of this water, the less said the better. The 

 typical pond-carp was once defined as 'typhoid 

 reduced to a scaly creature/ 1 All this is altered 

 now. The removal of the unwholesome accumulation 

 of ages disclosed a beautiful, gravelly bed. But a 

 more startling revelation was in store, when, excavat- 

 ing for the foundations of the brickwork of a new 

 outlet, the skeleton form, as it were, of a sluice of 

 an ancient design was discovered. This curious relic 

 of a bygone age seemed to speak reproachfully of the 

 time when private ponds were, like those attached to 



1 The Practical Management of Fisheries > by Francis Francis. 



