RIVER GARDENS ; 



Erom the custom of keeping them in artificial 

 ponds, the great age to which a Carp will live has 

 been frequently noticed, and there are several cases 

 recorded of their living for a 100 and even 150 

 years. The celebrated tame Carps of the ponds of 

 Eontainebleau are, indeed, said to have been placed 

 there in the reign of Erancis I., which would give 

 them a much greater age. It is said, however, 

 that after a certain time they lose the golden hue 

 of their scales, which assume an ashy tone, by which 

 their advanced age may be known. 



Mascal claims the credit of having introduced 

 Carp into England, but they were certainly known 

 before this time, if, indeed, in our southern waters 

 they are not indigenous. In the curious book of 

 Dame Juliana Berners, prioress of Sopewell Nun- 

 nery, called the " Boke of St. Alban's," and printed 

 at Westminster in 1496, by "Wynkyn de Worde, the 

 Carp is mentioned as " a deyntous fish ;" and in the 

 privy purse expenses of Henry VIII., for the year 

 1532, various sums are entered as paid to persons 

 for bringing Carps to the king. 



The Carp loves sluggish rivers, especially when 

 the bed is formed of soft mud ; but he grows much 

 more freely in some waters than others, without 

 any apparent cause. In Scotland Carp grow very 



