THE PIKE OF FABLE AND FANCY 9 



us that a large pike sold for double the price of a 

 house lamb in February, while a pickerel was more 

 valuable than a fat capon. All this may mean that 

 the pike of the Merrie England of that date had 

 suffered from the condition of affairs to which the 

 Reformation put an end. With so many abbeys and 

 monasteries in the country the fish had become a 

 monopoly, and thus were looked after by the good 

 people who every week had reason for singing ' to- 

 morrow will be Friday.' The monasteries were at any 

 rate grateful, as the arms of Calder Abbey, largely 

 endowed by the Lucy family, included a pike as its 

 leading idea. 



If there is a fish which we may reasonably suppose 

 to have been indigenous, we should say the pike had 

 as fair a chance as any to the distinction ; indeed, 

 among the ingenious speculations which writer after 

 writer has indulged in to explain why the fish is called 

 the pike, is one that it was derived from the Saxon 

 word 'piik,' signifying sharp-pointed. Dr. Day who, 

 until a better man takes up the study, must remain 

 our standard authority on the British freshwater fishes 

 mentions 'hacod' as being the Anglo-Saxon name, 

 and this is probably why a large pike in Cambridge- 

 shire used to be called ' haked/ It will be enough if 

 we regard the fish as an old English friend, for the 



