170 THE COMPLETE ANQLEE. [PART i. 



a rock, or the sand, within the sea. And this being so well 

 observed and demonstrated, as it is by that learned man, has- 

 made me to believe that eels unbed themselves, and stir, at 

 the noise of thunder; and not only, as some think, by the 

 motion or stirring of the earth, which is occasioned by that 

 thunder. 



And this reason of Sir Francis Bacon, " Exper." 792, has- 

 made me crave pardon of one that I laughed at for 

 affirming, that he knew carps come to a certain place in a 

 pond, to be fed at the ringing of a bell or the beating of a 

 drum. And however, it shall be a rule for me, to make 

 as little noise as I can, when I am fishing, until Sir Erancia 

 Bacon be confuted, which I shall give any man leave to do. 



And lest you may think him singular in this opinion, I 

 will tell you, this seems to be believed by our learned Doctor 

 Hakewill, who, in his "Apology of God's Power and Pro- 

 vidence," 1 p. 360, quotes Pliny, to report that one of the 

 emperors had particular fish-ponds ; and, in them, several 

 fish that appeared and came, when they were called by their 

 particular names. 2 And St. James tells us, chap. iii. 7, that 

 all things in the sea have been tamed by mankind. And 

 Pliny tells us, Lib. ix. 35, that Antonia, the wife of Drusus, 

 had a lamprey, at whose gills she hung jewels or ear-rings ; 

 and that others have been so tender-hearted, as to shed 

 tears at the death of fishes, which they have kept and 

 loved. 3 And these observations, which will to most hearers 

 seem wonderful, seem to have a further confirmation from 

 Martial, Lib. iv. Epigr. 30, who writes thus : 



1 This book, which was first published 'in folio, 1633, and is full 01 

 excellent learning and good sense, contains an examination and censure of 

 that common error which philosophers have fallen into : ' ' that there is in 

 Nature a perpetual and universal decay." The contrary whereof is with 

 great force demonstrated. H. 



2 I have read somewhere of a trout which was kept for a long time in a 

 little spring pond, that answered to the name of " Tom." And in the Ayr 

 Observer, there was mention made of an Eel in a garden well, which came to 

 be fed out of a spoon by the children on being called by his name, Bob 

 Roy. Lucian (Syrian Goddess) says: "There is also an adjacent lake, 

 very deep, in which many sacred fishes are kept ; some of the largest have 

 names given to them, and come when they are called." ED. 



3 Mons. Bernier, in his "Mogul Empire," reports the like of the Great 

 Mogul. H. 



