FEE DIM G FISHES. 11 



Some waters are more nourishing than others ; 

 a thick kind, if it is not foul or muddy, is of a 

 better consistency, and the parts better disposed, 

 and qualified for nutrition than those of a more 

 thin and ranfied substance ; no element that is 

 pure, and without mixture, is well adapted for 

 nourishment, neither can fishes live by pure 

 water, respiration, or sucking in those slender 

 particles of their beloved element alone, without 

 the concurrence and assistance of some grosser 

 and terrene qualities, which are intermingled with 

 those liquid bodies. _ 



Having mentioned that fishes are exposed to 

 numerous enemies, I shall conclude this chapter 

 by giving the reader a poetical enumeration of 

 them. 



A thousand foes the finny people chace, 



Nor are they safe from their own kindred race : 



The pike, fell tyrant of the liquid plain, 



With rav'nous waste devours his fellow-train ; 



Yet, howsoe'er with raging famine pin'd, 



The tench he spares, a salutary kind. 



Hence too the perch, a like voracious brood. 



Forbears to make this gen'rous race his food ; 



Tho' on the common drove no bound he finds* 



But spreads unmeasured waste o'er all the kinds. 



Nor less the greedy trout and gutless eel, 



Incessant woes, and dire destruction deal. 



The lurking water rat in caverns preys ; 



And in the weeds the wily otter slays. 



The ghastly newt, in muddy streams annoys ; 



And in swift floods the felly snake destroys; 



Toads, for the shoaling fry, forsake the lawnj 



And croaking frogs .devour the tender spawn. 



Neither the 'habitants of land nor air, 



(So sure their doom) the fishy numbers spare! 



The swan, fair regent of the silver tide, 



Their ranks destroys, and spreads their ruin wide. 



The duck her oftspiing to the river leads, 



And on the destiii'd fry insatiate feeds j 



