HO IV TO PISH FOR TROUT. Ib'3 



Hakewill, who, in his apology of God's power and pro- 

 vidence, 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 Drusus, 

 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. 

 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 : 



riscator,fugej nc 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 a such 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 



