CHAPTER IV. OBSERVATIONS OF THE NATURE AND 

 BREEDING OF THE TROUT, AND HOW TO FISH 

 FOR HIM. AND THE MILK-MAID'S SONG 



PISCATOR, VENATOR, MILK-WOMAN, MAUDLIN, HOSTESS 



PISCATOR. The Trout is a fish highly valued both in this 

 and foreign Nations : he may be justly said, as the old 

 Poet said of Wine, and we English say of Venison, to be 

 a generous fish : a fish that is so like the Buck that he also has 

 his seasons ; for it is observed, that he comes in and goes out of 

 season with the Stag and Buck. Gesner says, his name is of 

 a German offspring, and says he is a fish that feeds clean and 

 purely, in the swiftest streams, and on the hardest gravel ; and 

 that he may justly contend with all fresh-water fish, as the 

 Mullet may with all sea-fish, for precedency and daintiness of 

 taste, and that being in right season, the most dainty palates 

 have allowed precedency to him. 



And before I go farther in my discourse, let me tell you, 

 that you are to observe, that as there be some barren Does, 

 that are good in Summer, so there be some barren Trouts that 

 are good in Winter; but there are not many that are so, for 

 usually they be in their perfection in the month of May, and 

 decline with the Buck. Now you are to take notice, that in 

 several countries, as in Germany and in other parts, compared 

 to our's, fish do differ much in their bigness, and shape, and 

 other ways, and so do Trouts ; it is well known that in the Lake 

 Leman, the Lake of Geneva, there are Trouts taken of three 

 cubits long, as is affirmed by Gesner, a writer of good credit; 

 and M creator says, the Trouts that are taken in the Lake of 

 Geneva, are a great part of the merchandize of that famous 

 City. And you are further to know, that there be certain waters, 

 that breed Trouts remarkable both for their number and small- 

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