CHAP. xv. THE FOURTH DAY. 143 



VEN. We thank you ; and intend once in a month to call upon 

 you again, and give you a little warning ; and so, good-night ; 

 good-night, Maudlin. And now, good master, let's lose no time ; 

 but tell me somewhat more of fishing ; and, if you please, first, 

 something of fishing for a gudgeon. 



PiSC. I will, honest scholar. 



CHAPTER XV. 



OBSERVATIONS OF THE GUDGEON, THE RUFFE, AND THE 

 BLEAK J AND HOW TO FISH FOR THEM. 



PiSC. The Gudgeon is reputed a fish of excellent taste, and 

 to be very wholesome : he is of a fine shape, of a silver colour, and 

 beautified with black spots both on his body and tail. He breeds 

 two or three times in the year, and always in summer. He is 

 commended for a fish of excellent nourishment: the Germans 

 call him Groundling, by reason of his feeding on the ground ; 

 and he there feasts himself in sharp streams, and on the gravel. 

 He and the barbel both feed so, and do not hunt for flies at any 

 time, as most other fishes do : he is a most excellent fish to enter 

 a young angler, being easy to be taken with a small red-worm, 

 on or near to the ground. He is one of those leather-mouthed 

 fish that has his teeth in his throat, and will hardly be lost off 

 from the hook if he be once strucken. 



They be usually scattered up and down every river in the 

 shallows, in the heat of summer ; but in autumn, when the weeds 

 begin to grow sour and rot, and the weather colder, they gather 

 together, and get into the deep parts of the water, and are to be 

 fished for there, with your hook always touching the ground, if 

 you fish for him with a float, or with a cork ; but many will fish 

 for the Gudgeon by hand, with a running line upon the ground, 

 without a cork, as a trout is fished for ; and it is an excellent way, 

 if you have a gentle rod and as gentle a hand. 



There is also another fish called a POPE, and by some a 



