?74 PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH. 



He has brushed the dew from the lawn again, 



He hath taken the depth by the rule : 

 Here is boiled bean and pea, come breakfast with me, 



Sly tenant of the pool. 

 The carp peeped forth from his reedy bed, 



The carp peeped forth in time, 

 But he liked not the smell, so he cried fare ye well, 



And he stuck his nose in the slime. 

 But the knight had read in the books of the dead, 



And the knight did not repine, 

 For they that cannot get carp, sir, 



Upon tench may very well dine. 

 St. George, &c. 



Then up spoke the Lord of Penbury's board, 



Well skilled in musical lore, 

 And he swore by himself, though cunning the elf, 



He would charm him and draw him ashore. 

 The middle of day he chose for the play, 



And he fiddled as in went the line ; 

 But the carp kept his head in the reedy bed, 



He chose not to dance nor to dine. 

 I prithee come dance me a reel, carp, 



I prithee come dance me a reel, 

 1 thank you, my lord, I've no taste for your board, 



You'd much better play to the eeL 

 St. George he was for England, 



St. Denis he was for France, 

 St. Patrick taught the Irishman 



To tune the merry harp. 

 At the bottom of this slimy pool, 



There lurks a crafty carp. 

 \Vcre he at the bottom of my line, 



I low merrily he would dance. 



Mr. Bradley, a great observer of fish, relates an instance 

 of carp tamcncss : 'At Rotterdam, in a garden belonging to 

 M. Eden, I had the pleasure,' he says, 'of seeing some carp 

 fed, which were kept in a moat of considerable extent. The 

 occasion of my seeing these creatures was chiefly to satisfy me 

 that they were capable of hearing. The gentleman having 



