60 



CHAPTER IV. 



OBSERVATIONS OF THE NATURE AND BREEDING OF THE TROUT, AND 

 HOW TO FISH FOR HIM ; AND THE MILKMAID'S SONG. 



[511) irtt Bap.] 



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

 nations : he may be justly said, as the old poet said of wine, 

 and we English say of venison, to be a generous fish : 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 off- 

 spring, 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 precedency to him. 



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

 that you are to observe, that as there bo 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 



