98 THE ANGLER'S GUIDE. 



Lea and other rivers to spawn, and were 

 taken by anglers , with snatch tackle in con- 

 siderable numbers. Time was, also, when 

 shads were so numerous in the Thames, that 

 upon certain occasions the tide would fall 

 quickly and leave them in the holes on the 

 banks by hundreds. Hence, the old English 

 adage : " If hads were shads we should have 

 fish for supper." And time was when a good 

 dish of roach could be taken by an angler on 

 floating timbers, in the winter, at " Execution 

 Dock." But all those times are gone by, 

 never perhaps to return, unless England, like 

 many other mighty nations that have flourished 

 on the earth, should be destroyed and forsaken, 

 and then the finny race might again dwell in 

 their old abodes. Father Thames now, like 

 some imprudent angler, is so noisy, and so full 

 of bustle and disturbance, that salmon will not 

 come near him. Some thirty or forty years 

 ago, roach might be taken, in fine weather, 

 round the piles of the bridges ; but now this is 

 not to be done at any time nearer than Batter- 

 sea and Fulham, where there are several places 

 in which fish may be taken. The fisheries, 

 or preserves, of the Thames are not subscrip- 

 tion, as on the Lea, but there are a number of 



