120 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



two stones together very deep under the water, those that stand 

 on a bank near to that place may hear the noise without any 

 diminution of it by the water." He also offers the like experi- 

 ment concerning the letting an anchor fall, by a very long cable 

 or rope, on a rock, or the sand, within the sea. And this being 

 so well observed and demonstrated as it is by that learned man, 

 has made me to believe that Eels unbed themselves and stir at 

 the noise of thunder, and not only, as some think, by the motion 

 or stirring of the earth Avhich is occasioned by that thunder. 



And this reason of Sir Francis Bacon (Exper. 792) has made 

 me crave pardon of one that I laughed at for affirming that he knew 

 Carps come to a certain place in a pond to be fed at the ringing 

 of a bell or the beating of a drum. And, however, it shall be 

 a rule for me to make as little noise as I can when I am fishing 

 until Sir Francis Bacon be confuted, which I shall give any 

 man leave to do.* 



And least you may think him singular in this opinion, I will 

 tell you, this seems to be believed by our learned Dr Hakewill, 

 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, f And St 

 James tells us, chap. i. 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 farther confirmation 

 from Martial, lib. iv. Epigr. 30. who writes thus : J 



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. 



* That fish hear, is confirmed by the authority of late writers : Swam-* 

 mcrdam asserts it, and adds, " They have a wonderful labyrinth of the ear 

 for that purpose." See Swammerdam, Of Insects, edit. London, 1758, 

 p. 50. A clergyman, a friend of mine, assures me, that at the abbey of St 

 Uernard, near Antwerp, he saw Carp come at the whistling of the feeder. 

 t Monsieur Berneier, in his History of Indostan, reports the like of the 

 Great Mogul. 

 % The verses cited are as follow : 



Piseator, fuge ; ne nocens, reredas, 

 SacrU piscibus hne natantur unde ; 

 Qui norunt dominum, manumque latr.bunt 

 I llam qua nihil est, in orbe, majus : 

 Quid, quod notnon habent ; et ad magistrj 

 Yoceni quisque sui ver.it citatus. 



