32 OBSERVATIONS 



the water by an injudicious management of 

 the plumb, will certainly drive them away. 



It is incredible the quantities of barbel 

 that are sometimes caught by this method. 

 I have been told by persons of great veracity, 

 that they have taken upwards of one hundred 

 weight in one morning; but the diversion 

 of angling is considerably diminished since 

 fisheries are let to greedy men. I should 

 be tempted to enlarge on this subject, by 

 pointing out the great resourse fish would 

 afford in times of scarcity would the Legisla- 

 ture interfere and protect the breed from 

 the illegal and rapacious methods of destroy- 

 ing them, but as the discufsion would ex. 

 ceed the limits of my undertaking, and con- 

 sidering myself unequal to the task, I shall 

 leave it to some abler pen, not without hope 

 of seeing it accomplished. 



I find the following note in Walton's 

 Complete Angler, part i, page 188, "Fish- 

 " ing for barbel is at best a dull recreation. 



