902 A HISTORY OF SPINOUS FISHES. 



or tench, acquire any disagreeable flavour from the lakes in which 

 they have been bred, this can be removed, by their being kept some 

 time in finer and better water : there they soon clear away all tl.ose 

 disagreeable qualities their flesh had contracted, and become as deli- 

 cate as if they had been always fed in the most cleanly manner. But 

 this- expedient is with us rather the precaution of luxury, than the 

 effect of fear ; we have nothing to dread from the noxious qualities 

 01 our fish ; for all the animals our waters furnish are wholesome. 



Happy England ! where the sea furnishes an abundant and luxuri- 

 ous repast, and the fresh waters an innocent and harmless pastime ; 

 where the angler, in cheerful solitude, strolls by the edge of ihe 

 stream, and fears neither the coiled snake, nor the lurking crocodile ; 

 where he can retire at night, with his few trouts, to borrow the pretty 

 description of old Walton, to some friendly cottage, where the land- 

 lady is good, and the daughter innocent and beautiful ; where the 

 room is cleanly, with lavender in the sheets, and twenty ballads 

 etuck about the wall ! There he can enjoy the company of a talkative 

 brother sportsman, have his trouts dressed for supper, tell tales, sing 

 old tunes, or make a catch ! There he can talk of the wonders of 

 Nature with learned admiration, or find some harmless sport to cos- 

 em him, and pass away a little time, without offence to God, or tt 

 jury to man ! 



WHO OF THE THIRD VOMJ.HK. 



