56 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. PART i, 



CHAPTER IV, 



OBSERVATIONS OF THE NATURE AND BREEDING OF THE 

 TROUT, AND HOW TO FISH FOR HIM ; AND THE MILK- 

 MAID'S SONG. 



THE Trout is a fish highly valued both m this and foreign 

 nations: he rnay be justly said,_asthe old poet said of wine, 

 and WP Eng 1 !^, say of venisonTto be a generous hsh: a "fish 

 that is so like the buck that he also has his seasons ; for it is 

 observed, that he comes in and goes out of season with the 

 stag and buck , Gesner says, his name is of a German offspring, 

 and says he is a fish that feeds clean and purely, in the swiftest 

 streams, and on the hardest gravel ; and that he may justly 

 contend with all fresh-water fish, as the Mullet may with all 

 sea-fish, for precedency and daintiness of taste, and that being 

 in right season, the most dainty palates have allowed pre- 

 cedency to him. 



And before I go further in my discourse, let me tell you, 

 that you are to observe, that as there be some barren does, 

 that are good in summer, so there be some barren trouts that 

 are good in winter ; but there are not many that are so, for 

 usually they be in their perfection in the month of May, and 

 decline with the buck. Now you are to take notice, that in 

 several countries, as in Germany and in other parts, compared 

 to ours, fish differ much in their bigness and shape, and other 

 ways, and so do trouts ; it is well known that in the Lake 

 Leman, the Lake of Geneva, there are trouts taken of three 

 cubits long, as is affirmed by Gesner, a writer of good credit ; 

 and Mercator says, the trouts that are taken in the Lake of 

 Geneva, are a great part of the merchandise of that famous 

 city. And you are further to know, that there be certain waters, 

 that breed trouts remarkable both for their number and small- 

 ness. I know a little brook in Kent, that breeds them to a 

 number incredible, and you may take them twenty or forty in 

 an hour, but none greater than about the size of a gudgeon: 



