CHAP. XII. THE eOMPLETE ANGLER. 251 



part of the commendations which some philosophical 

 brains have bestowed upon the Fresh water-Pearch : 

 yet they commend the Sea-Pearch which is known 

 by having but one fin on his back; of which they 

 say, we English see but a few to be a much better 

 fish. 



The Pearch grows slowly : yet will grow, as I have 

 been credibly informed, to be almost two feet long: 

 for an honest informer told me, such a one was 

 not long since taken by Sir Abraham Williams, 

 a gentleman of worth, and a brother-of-the-angle, 

 that yet lives, and I wish he may, this was a deep- 

 bodied fish, and doubtless durst have devoured a 

 Pike of half his own length. For I have told you, 

 he is a bold fish ; such a one as, but for extreme hun- 

 ger, the Pike will not devour. For to affright the 

 Pike, and save himself, the Pearch will set up his 

 fins, much like, as a turkey-cock will sometimes set 

 up his tail. 



But, my scholar! the Pearch is not only valiant to 

 defend himself, but he is, as I said, a bold-biting fish : 

 Fet he will not bite at all seasons of the year ; he is 

 very abstemious, in Winter, yet will bite, then, in 

 the midst of the day if it be warm : and note, that all 

 fish bite best, about the midst of a warm day in 

 Winter. And he hath been observed, by some not, 

 usually, to bite till the mulberry-tree buds ; that is to 

 say, till extreme frost be past the Spring : for, when 

 the mulberry-tree blossoms, MANY gardeners observe 

 their forward fruit to be past the danger of frosts ; and 

 SOME have made the like observation of the Pearch's 

 biting. 



But bite the Pearch will, and that very boldly. 

 And, as one has wittily observed, If there be twenty 

 or forty in a hole, they may be, at one standing, all 

 ratched one after another ; they being, as he says, like 

 the wicked of the world, not afraid, though their fel- 

 lows and companions perish in their sight. And you 

 may observe, that they are not like the solitary Pike; 

 but love to accompany one another, and march toge- 

 ther in troops. 



