340 PROSE HAXIEUTICS. 



Here we may ■well exclaim with Spenser, — 



Oh ! what an endlesse work has he in hand 



Who'd covmt the sea's abundant progeny, 



Whose fruitfal seed far passeth that on land, 



And also theirs that roame in th' azure sky, — 



So fertile be the floods in generation, 



So vast their numbers, and so numberless their nation. 



It may not be here out of place to give a few parti- 

 culars of the fishing craft as pursued at Newfoundland, 

 where ' aU we export for all our rich returns, is a little 

 spirits, provisions, fishing-lines, and fishing-hooks;'* so 

 that, as M. Lacepede has well observed, the matter is pne 

 worthy to engage the attention of aU enlightened persons, 

 whether they be statesmen, philosophers, or philanthro- 

 pists ; therefore he is solicitous for the patriots of his own 

 country to joiu with him in the vow, ' que la grande 

 nation, lorsqu'elle verra luire le jour fortune oii I'oUvier 

 de la paix balancera sa tete sacree, et les palmes du 

 genie, «. t. X. . . . qu'eUe n'oublie pas son zele eclaire 

 pour les' — cod-fisheries. From this author we learn 

 several interesting particulars respecting the mode of 

 conducting these, whether on land or on ship-board. He 

 begins by informing us that nets were first employed 

 till it was foimd that these were liable not only to lace- 

 ration, but to be frequently swept away by marine mon- 

 sters shut up in. the mesh-work ; when the fishermen at 

 length adopted the plan, now universally pursued, of 

 ' long-line' fishing : the depths to which these lines are 

 sunk, varies with the time of year, being from five to 

 twenty fathoms during the season of shore fishing, which 

 commences in April ; and from thirty to forty fathoms 

 when the crews follow the fish as they recede from the 

 shore, and continue to take them at these great depths 

 till December, after which winter prorogues all further 



* Burke. 



