CHAPTER VIII. OBSERVATIONS OF THE LUCE OR 

 PIKE, WITH DIRECTIONS HOW TO FISH FOR 

 HIM 



PISCATOR AND VENATOR 



PISCATOR. The mighty Luce or Pike is taken to be the 

 Tyrant, as the Salmon is the King of the fresh waters. 

 'Tis not to be doubted, but that they are bred, some by 

 generation, and some not : as namely, of a weed called Pickerel- 

 weed, unless learned Gesner be much mistaken : for he says, this 

 weed and other glutinous matter, with the help of the Sun's heat 

 in some particular months, and some ponds apted for it by nature, 

 do become Pikes. But doubtless divers Pikes are bred after 

 this manner, or are brought into some ponds some such other 

 ways as are past man's finding out, of which we have daily 

 testimonies. 



Sir Francis Bacon, in his * History of Life and Death,* 

 observes the Pike to be the longest-lived of any fresh-water-fish, 

 and yet he computes it to be not usually above forty years; 

 and others think it to be not above ten years ; and yet Gesner 

 mentions a Pike taken in Swedeland in the year 1449, with a ring 

 about his neck, declaring he was put into that pond by Frederick 

 the Second, more than two hundred years before he was last 

 taken, as by the Inscription in that ring, being Greek, was inter- 

 preted by the then Bishop of Worms. But of this no more, but 

 that it is observed, that the old or very great Pikes have in them 

 more of state than goodness ; the smaller or middle-sized Pikes, 

 being by the most and choicest palates observed to be the best 

 meat ; and contrary, the Eel is observed to be the better for age 

 and bigness. 



All Pikes that live long prove chargeable to their keepers, 



because their life is maintained by the death of so many other 



fish, even those of their own kind ; which has made him by 



some writers to be called the Tyrant of the Rivers, or the Fresh- 



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