394 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. PART I. 



to be used by tbeTrouts ; lent them indeed, like usurers, 

 for our profit and their destruction. 



Ven. Oh me, look you, master! a fish ! a fish! oh, 

 alas, master, I have lost Ler ! 



Pise. Ah, marry, Sir ! that was a good fish indeed : 

 if I had had the luck to have taken up that rod, then it 

 is twenty to one he should have not broke my line by 

 running to the rod's end, as you suffered him. I would 

 have held him within the bent of my rod, unless hehad 

 been fellow to the great Trout thatjs near an ell long, 

 which was of such a length and depth, that he had his 

 picture drawn, and now is to be seen at mine host 

 Rickabie's, at the George in Ware ; and it may be, by 

 giving that very great Trout the rod, that is, by casting 

 it to liim into the water, I might have caught him at the 

 long run ; for so I use always to do when I meet with 

 an overgrown fish ; and you will learn to do so too, 

 hereafter; for I tell you, scholar ! fishing is an art or, 

 at least, it is an art to catch fish . 



Ven. But master ! I have heard that the greatTrout 

 you speak of is a Salmon. 



Pise. Trust me, scholar ! I know not what to say to 

 it. There are many country people that believe hares 

 change sexes every year: and there be very many 

 learned men think so too, for in their dissecting them, 

 they find many reasons to incline them to that belief. 

 And to make the wonder seem yet less, that hares change 

 sexes, note that Dr. Mer. Casaubon affirms, in his 

 book of credible and incredible things, that Gasper 

 Peucerus, a learned physician*, tells us of a people 

 that, once a year, turn wolves, partly in shape, and 

 jpartly in conditions. And, so, Whether this were a 

 Salmon when he came into fresh water, and his not re- 

 turning into the sea hath altered him to another colour 

 or kind, I am not able to say ; but I am certain he hath 

 all the signs of being a Trout, both for his shape, colour, 

 and spots : and yet many think he is not. 



* And mathematician i born at Lusatia, in 1525; he married the 

 daughter of Melancthon ; wrote many books on various subjects ; and 

 did 1602, aged 78. 



