THE CHUB. 37 



at Kichmond. There are large dace in some of the 

 southern rivers; and I shall never forget my dismay, 

 many years since at Downton, on the Avon, when a keeper 

 promised to get me a pailfuL of dace for jack bait for 

 spinning, when he brought me a lot with scarcely a fish 

 under half a pound ; one would have needed to substitute 

 a punt pole for a rod to be able to cast and work them 

 properly. They are very good for the table if fried nicely and 

 crisply, with a squeeze of lemon and cayenne over them, 

 or marinaded. To do this they should be cleaned, then 

 trimmed, and placed in layers in an open baking dish ; boil 

 some vinegar, with salt, mace, and pepper in it, and a few 

 bay leaves, and pour it over the fish ; then bake for a 

 short time, and in two days you will be able to eat 

 them, bones and all, without difficulty, and they are 

 piquant. 



THE CHUB (Gyprinus cephalus). 



The logger-headed chub, called by the French un villain, 

 because he is not good for the table, though when up the 

 river and short of provisions one may do a deal worse than 

 eat a fresh-killed chub. The chub, I think, first opened 

 to me the magic realms of piscatory literature at a very 

 early age. Who does not recollect that chub with the white 

 spot on his tail in Walton, and with which he purchased 

 the milkmaid's song ? Little thought the modest kindly 

 old man how future ages would reverence that little brown 

 book of his, and that what he then sold for Is. 6d. 

 might in course of time come to be sold for from 101. to 

 20/. sterling. But to return to chub : the chub is a 

 handsome-shaped, gallant-looking fish ; and a basket such 

 as I saw lately, of eight weighing from 21b. to 41b. each, 

 all caught with the fly, forms a very satisfactory after- 



