208 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. PARTI. 



Far off itself doth cast ; so does the Salmon vault : 

 And if, at first, he fail, his second summersault * 

 He instantly essays, and, from his nimble ring 

 Still jerking, never leaves until himself he fling 

 Above the opposing stream. 



This, Michael Dray ton tells you, of this leap or 

 summersault of the Salmon. 



And, next, I shall tell you, that it is observed 

 by Gesner and others, That there is no better Salmon 

 than in England, and that though some of our 

 northern counties have as fat, and as large t, as the 

 river Thames, yet none are of so excellent a taste. 



And as I have told you that Sir Francis Bacon 

 observes, the age of a Salmon exceeds not ten years j 

 so let me next tell you, That his growth is very 

 sudden : it is said, that, after he is got into the sea, 

 he becomes, from a Samlet not so big as a Gudgeon, 

 to be a Salmon, in as short a time as a gosling 

 becomes to be a goose. Much of this, has been 

 observed; by tying a ribband, or some known tape 

 or thread, in the tail of some young Salmons, which 

 have been taken in weirs as they haye swimmed to- 

 wards the salt water ; and then by taking a part 

 of them, again, with the known mark, at the same 

 place,, at their return from the sea, which is usually 

 about*six months after : (And the like experiment hath 

 been tried upon young swallows; who have, after 

 six months absence, been observed to return to the 

 same chimney, there to make their nests and habi- 

 tations for the summer following :) Which has in- 

 clined many to think, that every Salmon usually 

 returns to the same river in which it was bred ; as 



* Summersault, or summerset, from soubresault, Fr. A high leap, 

 in which the heels are thrown over the head. Johnson's Diet. To 

 throw a summerset, is a phrase common with tumblers. 



f The following interesting article of intelligence, appeared in 

 one of the London journals, 18 April 1789: " The largest salmon 

 " ever caught, was yesterday brought to London . This extraordinary 

 " fish measured upwards of four feet, from the point of the nose to 

 " the extremity of the tail; and, three feet round the thickest part 

 w of the body: its weight was seventy pounds within a few ounces. 

 " A fishmonger in the Minories cut it up at one shilling per pound, 

 '* and the whole was sold almost immediately." 



