150 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. PART 1. 



next discourse shall be of the Bream, which shall not 

 prove so tedious ; and therefore I desire ihe 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 pars- 

 ley, of each half a handful ; a sprig of rosemary, and ano- 

 ther of savoury ; 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 suffici- 



reaches. near some scour, and under root* of tiees, hollow banks, and, till they 

 are near rotting, amongst ot near great beds of weed*, flags, &c. 



Pood Carp caonot, with propriety, be said to have any haunts : ouly it is 

 to be noted, that they love fat rich soil, and never thrive in a cold hungiy 



They breed three or four times a year : but their first spawning-time is the 

 beginning of May. 



Baits for the Oarp are, all sorts of earth and dunghill-worms; flag-worms; 

 grasshoppers, though not at top; ox-brains; the pith of an ox's back-bone; 

 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 book; and ue a goose-quill float. Never attempt to angle for the 

 Carp in a boat ; for they will not come near it. 



It is said there are many Caip in the Thames, westward of London; and 

 that, about February they retire to the creeks in that river ; in some of which, 

 any above two feet long have been taken with an angle. Angler 'i Sure Guide, 



p. 179- 



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

 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 steeped in 

 ilk ; taking care to refresh the animal now and then by throwing fresh water 

 over the net in which it is suspended. 



