CHAP. ii. THE SECOND DAY 47 



VEN. Well then, I pray, as we walk tell niejreely, how do 



not_mine host a witty man ? 



PlSC. Sir, I will tell you presently what I think of your host: 

 but first, I will tell you, I aro-^kid these otters WPI-P killed ; but 

 I arruson-y theie ale iro more otter killers; for I know that the 

 want of otter-killers, and the not keeping the fence-months for 

 the preservation of fish, will, in time, prove the destruction of 

 all rivers. And those very few that are left, that make con- 

 science of the laws of the nation, and of keeping days of 

 abstinence, will be forced to eat flesh, or suffer more incon- 

 veniences than are yet foreseen. 



VEN. Why, sir, what be those that you call the fence-months? 



PlSC. Sir, they be principally three, namely, March, April, 

 and May; for these be the usual months that salmon come out 

 of the sea to spawn in most fresh rivers. And their fry would, 

 about a certain time 1 return back to the salt water, if they were 

 not hindered by weirs and unlawful gins, which the greedy 

 fishermen set, andjo_destroy them by thousands ; as they 

 woiilcl^ being so taught by nature, change the fresh for salt 

 water. He that shall view trie wise statutes^ made in the nth 

 oT~Ed\vard I , and the like inT<ichard II., may see several 

 provisions made against the destruction of fish; and though I 

 profess no knowledge of the law, yet I am sure the regulation 

 of these defects might be easily mended. But I remember 

 that a wise friend of mine did usually say, "that which is 

 everybody's business is nobody's business." If it were other- 

 wise, there could not be so many nets and fish, that are under 

 the statute size, sold daily amongst us, and of which the con- 

 servators of the waters should be ashamed. 



But, above all, the ta^jjig&-*ftsTi in [\ i iiiuj I mm JILL, be 

 said to be against nature ; it is like the taking the dam on the 

 nest when she hatches her young: a sin so against nature that 

 Almighty God hath in the Levitical law made a law against it 

 (Deut. xii. 6, 7). 



But^the goorJj^JiaAre_j^mies pr>ougjb_Jbesides such, un- 

 natural fishermen, as namely^Jhe otters that I spake of, the 



