THE PIKE FAMILY. 189 



Greek inscription, " I am the fish which was first of all put 

 into this lake by the hands of the Governor of the Universe, 

 Frederick the Second, the 5th of Oct. 1230." 



For this interesting relic, of which the figure is an exact 

 transcript, I am indebted to the research of Mr. Francis 

 Buckland, by whom it was discovered in an old black- 

 letter copy of Gesner's famous work, published in Heidel- 

 berg, A.D. 1606*. 



It is singular that this engraving should have escaped 

 the notice of the numerous commentators by whom the 

 story has been invested with its present almost historical 

 celebrity ; but, so far as 1 am aware, it has never been pro- 

 duced, nor its existence referred to, by any English writer. 

 Leham, indeed, mentions having seen a drawing of both 

 Pike and ring, in a tower on the road between Heilbronn 

 and Spires; but it does not seem to have occurred to 

 him to have it copied. He informs us, however, that, 

 as late as the year 1612, the water from which the fish 

 was taken was still named Kaiserwag, or the ' Emperor's 

 Lake/ The ring and the skeleton of the Pike are stated 

 to have been long preserved in the cathedral at Mannheim, 

 the skeleton measuring 19 feet; but, upon subsequent ex- 



* lc Icones Animalium Quadrupedum Viviparorum et Oviparorum 

 quae in Historia Animalium Conradi Gesneri, Lib. I. et II., describun- 

 tur. Heidelberga: Anno MDCVL" 



There is an old, English translation of this work : " G. Gesner's 

 History of Four-footed Beasts and Serpents, by Edward Topsel ; where- 

 unto is added the Treatise of Insects or lesser living creatures, as 

 Bees, Flies, &c., by T. Muffet; the whole revised by J. Nowland." 

 1658. 



