no A BOOK OF THE RUNNING BROOK: 



by the poor creatures who lived in what we are 

 pleased to call the " Dark Ages." But there 

 are just a few things in which it must be owned 

 these poor creatures can yet teach us a good 

 deal, and one of those things is a fish-pond. In 

 the times when, on the one hand, sea-fish were, 

 practically speaking, unattainable, and on the 

 other, fish of some kind were an absolute ne- 

 cessity for the fast-days every one observed, it 

 behoved many people to study the question of 

 the supply of fresh-water fish. 



The establishment of fish-stews and ponds 

 was the natural result of the existing order of 

 things. No abbey or nunnery was without its 

 stews in which the fish were kept and fattened 

 for the table ; and most of the great country- 

 houses were equally well supplied. In many 

 places where these ancient ponds and stews still 

 exist they might be brought into working order 

 again with very little trouble ; and it is almost 

 superfluous to speak of the hundreds of narrow 

 valleys and glens, now barren and unused, 

 which would make ideal sites for fish-ponds. 

 No one who has ever been to Rome can forget 



