152 FISHING GOSSIP. 
CARP-GOSSIP. 
In the Whole Art of Fishing, published in 1719, we 
are informed that “the carp is a stately and very 
subtle fish, called the fresh-water fox, and queen of 
rivers.” And the renowned Randle Holme, in his 
very scarce and extraordinary work the Accademié of 
Armory, tells us that in heraldry “a carp is the 
emblem of hospitality, and denotes food and nourish- 
ment from the bearer to those in need.” This last- 
mentioned book is probably one of the most curious 
productions in our language, being a kind of panto? 
logia, or encyclopedia written and arranged in a 
heraldic form. Nothing is too high, nothing is too 
low, for our author’s comprehensive mind. Every 
real and imaginary being, corporeal or spiritual, every 
science and pseudo-science, every gradation of rank, | 
from the emperor with his ensigns of authority and 
the ceremonies of his coronation, down to the butcher 
and barber with the implements of their respective 
trades, find a place in it. In this compendious 
omnium gatherum we may find architecture and the 
seven cardinal virtues maintaining their position 
beside palmistry and the seven deadly sins; cock- 
