THE COMPLETE ANGLES. 153 



practised or heard of; and yet I shall tell you, that the 

 crumb of white bread and honey, made into a paste, is a good 

 bait for a carp ; and you know it is more easily made. And 

 having said thus much of a carp,* my next discourse shall be 

 of the bream ; which shall not prove so tedious, and therefore 

 I desire the continuance of your attention. 



But, first, I will tell you how to make this carp, that is so 

 curious to be caught, so curious a dish of meat, as shall make 

 him worth all your labour and patience ; and though it is not 

 without some trouble and charges, yet it will recompense both. 



Take a carp, alive if possible, scour him, and rub him clean 

 with water and salt, but scale him not ; then open him, and 

 put him, with his blood and his liver, which you must save 

 when you open him, into a small pot or kettle ; then take 

 sweet marjoram, thyme, and parsley, of each half a handful, a 

 sprig of rosemary, and another of savory, bind them into two 

 or three small bundles, and put them to your carp, with four 

 or five whole onions, twenty pickled oysters, and three 

 anchovies. Then pour upon your carp as much claret wine 

 as will only cover him, and season your claret well with salt, 

 cloves, and mace, and the rinds of oranges and lemons : that 

 done, cover your pot, and set it on a quick fire, till it be suffi- 

 ciently boiled ; then take out the carp, and lay it with the 

 broth into the dish, and pour upon it a quarter of a pound of 

 the best fresh butter, melted and beaten with half a dozen 

 spoonfuls of the broth, the yolks of two or three eggs, and 

 some of the herbs shred ; garnish your disli with lemons, and 

 so serve it up, and much good do you. DR. T. 



* The haunts of river carp are, in the winter months, the broadest and most 

 quiet parts of the river; but in summer they lie in deep holes, nooks, and 

 reaches, near some scour, and under roots of trees, hollow banks, and, till they 

 are near rotting, amongst or near great beds of weeds, flags, etc. Pond carp 

 cannot, with propriety, be said to have any haunts ; only it is to be noted, that 

 they love a fat, rich soil, and never thrive in a cold, hungry water. They breed 

 three or four times a year ; but their first spawning-time is the beginning of 

 May. Baits for the carp are all sorts of earth and dunghill worms, flag worms, 

 grasshoppers (though not at top,) ox brains, the pith of an ox's backbone, green 

 peas, and red or black cherries with the stones taken out. Fish with strong 

 tackle, very near the bottom, and with a fine grass or gut next the hook, and 

 use a goose-quill float. Never attempt to angle for a carp in a boat, for they 

 will not come near it. It is said there are many carp in the Thames, westward 

 of London, and that about February they retire to the creeks in that river ; in 

 some of which, many above two feet long have been taken with an angle. 

 Carp live the longest out of the water of any fish. It is a common practice in 

 Holland to keep them alive for three weeks or a month, by hanging them in a 

 cool place, with wet moss, in a net, and feeding them with bread and 

 milk. H. 



