102 THE COMPLETE ANGLEK. 



And, lest you may think him singular in his opinion, I will 

 tell you, this seems to be believed by our learned Dr. Hake- 

 will, who, in his " Apology of God's Power and Providence," 

 fol. 360, quotes Pliny to report that one of the emperors had 

 particular fish-ponds, and in them several fish that appeared 

 and came when they were called by their particular names : 

 and St. James tells us, chap. iii. 7, that all things in the sea 

 have been tamed by mankind. And Pliny tells us, lib. ix. 35, 

 that Antonia, the wife of Darsus, had a lamprey, at whose 

 gills she hung jewels or ear-rings; and that others have been 

 so tender-hearted as to shed tears at the death of fishes which 

 they have kept and loved. Arid 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 ; tie 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, they've 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 



lighter media, such as the atmosphere. When the watch is held nigh to the 

 ear, the atmosphere is the conductor ; when the watch is connected with the 

 ear by the intervention of a rod of wood, or the solid parts of the head, these 

 are the conductors. Now the apparatus of hearing of the fish presents con- 

 ductors of the latter kind ; water, a denser body than air, is the conducting 

 medium ; and the solid mass of the head, and, in fact, of the entire body, com- 

 plete the conduction to the vital apparatus. Hence, in fishes, an humble con- 

 trivance is capable of effecting the same end as the higher-toned instruments 

 of terrestrial animals. As fishes thus evidently possess the organ of hearing in 

 a moderate degree of perfection, they must therefore hear with moderate acute- 

 ness, particularly such sounds as occasion a vibration of the element in which 

 they reside ; for example, an approcahing footstep ; while the sounds which 

 proceed from musical instruments, being less easily conveyed, are probably 

 unknown to them : certainly this is the case with regard to tone." We con- 

 stantly hear of fish coming to be fed at the sound of the bell. They rather 

 come to the sound of the bell-ringer's feet, that is to the vibration caused by his 

 foot-fall, and so indicating his presence. ED. 



