CONNECTION WITH ASTROLOGY, ETC. 143 



that hour arrive. Egad ! I'd better think of being 

 married, before I thing of being buried. I was thinking 

 of being married yesterday, when that confounded pike 

 nearly pulled me head foremost into the water, and swam 

 off with my best hooks in his gills." 



The notion about the loves of fish has been often dwelt 

 upon by writers, and been the subject of many fabulous 

 and absurd speculations. According to Gomesius, " Fishes 

 pine away for love, and become lean." (Pisces ob amorem 

 marcescunt, pallecunt, &c. De Sale.) And in many parts 

 of the east and north of Europe, even at the present day, 

 there are vague notions floating in the minds of the rural 

 population, about young maidens holding interesting 

 conversations with fish, as they frequent the streams and 

 reservoirs for water. 3 



We are told by Pliny, that a dolphin fell in love with a 

 boy called Hernia, and when he died, the fish came on 

 land, and immediately expired. 4 Another author men- 

 tions a similar thing taking place in Egypt. A dolphin 

 loved a child so intensely that it would come out of the 

 water, and run after him, and would even jump upon his 

 back, and be carried about with him. But when the child 

 became sick, and died, the dolphin died likewise. 5 



On the charming of fish, we extract the following, 

 from a work called The Wonders of Nature and Art, pub- 

 lished at Berwick-upon-Tweed, by E. Taylor, about 



3 Hist. Anim ; Leipsic, 1621. folio. 



4 Lib. 10. 5 Gellius, lib. 10. 



