146 THE COMMON CARP. |< HAI-. iv. 



Tlieir peace, perhaps, our slightest footstep inarr'd, 

 Or their quick sense our sweetest music jarr'd ; 

 And whither could they dart, if seized with fear ? 

 No sheltering stone, no tangled root was near. 

 When fire or taper ceased to cheer the room, 

 They wore away the night in starless gloom ; 

 And when the sun first dawned upon the streams, 

 How faint their portion of his vital beams ! 

 Thus, and unable to complain, they fared, 

 While not one joy of ours by them was shared." 



Gold-fish ought not to be purchased except from some very 

 respectable dealer. I have known repeated cases where the 

 whole of the fish bought have died within an hour or two of 

 being taken home. These golden carp, which are reared for 

 sale, are usually spawned and. bred in warmish water, and 

 they ought in consequence to be acclimatised or " tempered " 

 by the dealer before they are parted with. Parties buying 

 ought to be particular as to this, and ascertain if the fish they 

 have bought have been tempered. 



Eeturning to the common carp, I may speak of it as 

 being a most useful pond-fish. It is a sort of vegetarian, 

 and it may be classed among the least carnivorous fishes ; 

 it feeds chiefly upon vegetables or decaying organic matter, 

 and very few of them prey upon their kind, while some, 

 it is thought, pass the winter in a torpid state. There is a 

 rhyme which tells us that 



Turkeys, carp, hops, pickerel, and beer, 

 Came into England all in one year. 



But this couplet must, I think, be wrong, as some of these 

 items were in use long before the carp was known ; indeed, it 

 is not at all certain when this fish was first introduced into 

 England, or where it was brought from, but I think it 

 extremely possible that it was originally brought here from 

 Germany. In ancient times there used to be immense ponds 



