CHAP. XIII. THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 173 



bluish worm, gotten out of marsh-ground or meadows, 

 which should be well scoured. 1 But this, though it be 

 most excellent meat, yet it wants scales, and is, as I told 

 you, therefore an abomination to the Jews. 



But, scholar, there is a fish that they in Lancashire 

 boast very much of, called a CHAR; taken there, (and I 

 think there only,) in a mere called Winander Mere ; a 

 mere, says Camden, that is the largest in this nation, 

 being ten miles in length, and (some say) as smooth in 

 the bottom as if it were paved with polished marble. 

 This fish never exceeds fifteen or sixteen inches in length ; 

 and is spotted like a Trout : and has scarce a bone, but 

 on the back. But this, though I do not know whether it 

 make the angler sport, yet I would have you take notice 

 of it, because it is a rarity, and of so high esteem with 

 persons of great note. 



Nor would I have you ignorant of a rare fish called a 

 GUINIAD; of which I shall tell you what Camden and 

 others speak. The river Dee, (which runs by Chester,) 

 springs in Merionethshire ; and, as it runs toward Ches- 

 ter, it runs through Pemble-Mere, which is a large water : 

 and it is observed, that though the river Dee abounds 

 with Salmon, and Pemble-Mere with the Guiniad, yet 

 there is never any Salmon caught in the mere, nor a 

 Guiniad in the river. And now my next observation 

 shall be of the Barbel. 



(1) The taking Flounders with a rod and line is a thing so accidental, that it 

 is hardly worth the mention. The same may be said of Smelts, which, in the 

 Thames, and other great rivers, are caught with a bit of any small fish, but 

 chiefly of their own species. In the month of August, about the year 1720, 

 such vast quantities of smelts came up the Thames, that women, and even chil- 

 dren, became anglers for them; and, as I have been told by persons who well 

 remember it, in one day, between London-bridge and Greenwich, not fewer 

 than two thousand persons were thus employed. 



