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CHAPTER IX. 



OBSERVATIONS OF THE CARP, WITH DIRECTIONS 

 HOW TO FISH FOR HIM. 



pISCA TOR. The 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 naturalized. It is said they were 

 brought hither by one Mr. Mascal, a gentleman 

 that then lived at Plumsted 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 turkeys, carps and beer, 

 Came into England all in a year." 



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 



