132 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



been tamed by mankind. And Pliny tells us, Lib. ix. 35, that 

 Antonia, the wife of Drusus, had a Lamprey, at whose gills she 

 hung jewels, or earrings : and that others have been so tender- 

 hearted as to shed tears at the death of fishes which they have 

 kept and loved. And these observations, which will to most 

 hearers seem wonderful, seem to have a further confirmation 

 from Martial, Lib. iv. Epigr. 30, who writes thus : 



"Piscator, fuge, ne nocens," etc. 



" Angler, wouldst thou be guiltless ? then forbear, 

 For these are sacred fishes that swim here, 

 Who know their sovereign, and will lick his hand, 

 Than which none 's greater in the world's command ; 

 Nay, more, th' have names, and when they called are, 

 Do to their several owners' call repair." 



All the further use that I shall make of this shall be, to advise 

 Anglers to be patient, and forbear swearing, lest they be heard 

 and catch no fish. 



And so I shall proceed next to tell you, it is certain, that 

 certain fields near Leominster, a town in Herefordshire, are 

 observed to make the sheep that graze upon them more fat than 

 the next, and also to bear finer wool ; that is to say, that that 

 year in which they feed in such a particular pasture they shall 

 yield finer wool than they did that year before they came to 

 feed in it, and coarser again if they shall return to their former 

 pasture; and again return to a finer wool, being fed in the 

 fine-wool ground. Which I tell you, that you may the better 

 believe that I am certain, if I catch a Trout in one meadow, 

 he shall be white and faint, and very like to be lousy ; and as 

 certainly, if I catch a Trout in the next meadow, he shall be 

 strong, and red, and lusty, and much better meat. Trust me, 

 Scholar, I have caught many a Trout in a particular meadow, 

 that the very shape and the enamelled color of him hath been 

 uclj as hatli joyed me to look on him ; and I have then with 



