38 



FISH-PONDvS. 



[CHAP. n. 



ventive of over-fishing, as fish, to be valuable for table pur- 

 poses, require to be fresh. "It's the railways that has done all 

 the mischief, sir, depend on that ; and as for the fishing, sir, 

 it's going on at such a rate that there will very soon be a 

 complete famine. I've seen more fish caught in a day, sir, 

 with a score of hooks on a line than can now be got with 

 eight thousand ! " 



As to fish-ponds : at the time indicated it was quite usual 

 for noblemen and other country gentlemen to have fish-ponds ; 

 in fact, a fish-pond was as necessary an adjunct of a large 

 country house as its vegetable or fruit garden. These ponds, 

 as the foregoing sketch will show, were of the- most simple 

 kind, and were often enough constructed by merely stopping a 

 little stream at some suitable place, and so forming a couple of 

 artificial lakes, in which were placed a few large stones, or two 



