CHAPTER IX. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE CARP; WITH DIRECTIONS HOW 

 TO FISH FOR HIM. 



PlSC. The Carp is the queen of rivers ; a stately, a good, 

 and a very subtle fish; that was not at first bred, nor hath 

 been long in England, but is now naturalized. It is said 

 they were brought hither by one Mr. Mascal, a gentleman 

 that then lived at Plumstead in Sussex, a county that 

 abounds more with fish than any in this nation. 



You may remember that I told you Gesner says there 

 are no pikes in Spain ; and doubtless there was a time, 

 about a hundred or a few more years ago, when there were 

 no carps in England, as may seem to be affirmed by Sir 

 Richard Baker, in whose " Chronicle " you may find these 



verses : 



Hops and turkeys, carps and beer, a 

 Came into England all in a year. 



And doubtless, as of sea-fish the herring dies soonest out 



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