THE JAOK. 215 



times they were carefully kept and fed in stews. In 

 1446 jack was one of the chief dishes in the High Church 

 festival given by George Neville, Archbishop of York. 

 In the reign of Henry VIII. " it fetched as much again 

 as house lamb in February, and a very small pickerel was 

 dearer than a fat capon ; " and " pike " figured on all the 

 menus of civic banquets in London and elsewhere for 

 many generations — 



" Lo ! the rich pike, to entertain your guest, 

 Smokes on the board, and decks a royal feast." 



In Germany they were once great favourites, but not so 

 now. English taste, generally speaking, has certainly 

 changed as regards the merit of jack, few persons now- 

 adays caring much for them, and many strongly disliking 

 them. But those who do like them swear by them, and 

 rank them above almost all other fresh or salt water 

 fish. I know a solicitor, for instance, who stoutly main- 

 tains that, according to his taste, a five or six pound jack 

 is the very prince of fishes, and he never fails to secure 

 one when he can, thus disproving, as an attorney-hater 

 might suggest, the dictum of Juvenal, who says, — 



" Parcit cognatis similis fera." 



Undoubtedly jack vary, perhaps more than any fresh- 

 water fish, according to the waters from which they are 

 taken. Those from the Norfolk Broads are celebrated — 

 " Horsea pike, none like " is an old saying — and the 

 smelt-fatted pike of the Medway are considered among 

 the best produced in this country. I swear — that is as 

 far as I swear in this matter at all — by those from the 

 Thames. 



