aADEAliTS AND PLEUEONECTS. 357 



him the name of 'diamond plaice.' Large specimens 

 reach occasionally ten to twelve pounds' weight ; they are 

 generally however held and sold very cheap, a dozen, 

 weighing thirty pounds, sometimes fetching but a few 

 pence. The French, who occasionally salt, call them, 

 we presume from the little coloured squares on their 

 upper surface, carrelet. 



Flounder, or Fluke. 



Though the flounder be mentioned complacently by 

 Pope in conjunction with the gudgeon, as what 'his 

 Thames affords,' and though Thames flesi seem to enjoy 

 a sort of cockney reputation of their own, yet a poorer 

 fish, except plaice (for what is more flat than a floim- 

 der ?), it would not be easy to name. The Frieslanders 

 however think otherwise, and have been at the trouble 

 of naturahzing them in fish-ponds. The flounders, too, 

 about Memel on the Baltic, are held in esteem by the 

 inhabitants of the locality j yet is Catalani's mot of an 

 inferior cantatrice, that she might be the best of her 

 kind, but that her kind was none of the best, no doubt 

 applicable to every variety of this poor pisciculus, whom 

 it is far better entertainment to fish for than to eat. The 

 best time for taking him is at dawn, when he is on the 

 prowl for a breakfast : 



He that intends a flounder to surprise, 

 Must start betimes and fish before sunrise. 



Flesi have qualities invaluable iu the angler's eye, 

 being greedy, playful, and full of pluck. ' These fish,' 

 writes Franks in his ' Northern Memoirs,' ' are bold as 

 buccaniers, of much more confidence than caution, and 

 so fond of a worm that they will go to the banquet, 

 though they die at the board : they are endowed with 

 great resolution, and struggle stoutly for the victory when 

 hooked ; they are also more than ordinarily difficult to 



