116 



dred and seventy pounds, and is thought to be 

 the largest ever seen. Sometime ago, the clerk 

 of the parish was trolling in the above pool, 

 when his bait was seized by this furious creature, 

 which by a sudden jerk pulled him in, and 

 doubtless would have devoured him also, had 

 he not by wonderful agility and dextrous swim- 

 ming escaped the dreadful jaws of this voracious 

 animal." 



In Dr. Plot's history of Staffordshire, p. 246, 

 are sundry relations of Pike of great magnitude. 

 One in particular, caught in the Thames, an ell 

 and two inches long. 



The following circumstance containing fur- 

 ther evidence of the voracity of this fish, with 

 the addition of a pleasant relation 1 met with in 

 Fuller's Worthies, Lincolnshire, p. 144. 



" A cub fox, drinking out of the river Arno, 

 in Italy, had his head seized on by a mighty 

 Pike, so that neither could free themselves, but 

 were engrappled together. In this contest, a 

 young man runs into the water, takes them both 

 out alive, and carrieth them to the Duke of 

 Florence, whose palace was hard by. The 

 porter would not admit him without promising 

 to share his full half of what the Duke should 



