CHAP, xiii.] THE FOURTH DAY. l6i 



ground ; * and there bedded themselves : but yet, at last, a frost 

 killed them.i And our Camden relates, that, in Lancashire, fishes 

 were digged out of the earth with spades, where no water was 

 near to the place.f I shall say little more of the Eel, but that, 

 as it is observed he is impatient of cold, so it hath been observed, 

 that in warm weather, an Eel has been known to live five days 

 out of the water. 



And lastly, let me tell you, that some curious searchers into the 

 natures of fish observe, that there be several sorts or kinds of Eels ; 

 as the silver Eel, and green or greenish Eel, with which the river 

 of Thames abounds, and those are called Grigs ; and a blackish 

 Eel, whose head is more flat and bigger than ordinary Eels ; and 

 also an Eel whose fins are reddish, and but seldom taken in this 

 nation, and yet taken sometimes. These several kinds of Eels 

 are, say some, diversely bred ; as, namely, out of the corruption 

 of the earth ; and some by dew, and other ways, as I have said 

 to you : and yet it is affirmed by some for a certain, that the 

 silver Eel is bred by generation, but not by spawning as other fish 

 do ; but that her brood come alive from her, being then little live 

 Eels no bigger nor longer than a pin ; and I have had too many 

 testimonies of this to doubt the truth of it myself ; and if I thought 

 it needful, I might prove it, but I think it is needless. 



And this Eel, of which I have said so much to you, may be 

 caught with divers kinds of baits : as, namely, with powdered beef ; 

 with a lob or garden worm ; with a minnow ; or gut of a hen, 

 chicken, or the guts of any fish, or with almost anything, for he 

 is a greedy fish. J But the Eel may be caught, especially, with a 



Variation.] ^ but yet at last died there. — ist and id edit. 



* Dr Plot, in his History of Staffordshire, page 242, mentions certain waters, and a 

 pool, that were stocked by Eels that had from waters they liked not travelled in arido, 

 or over dry land, to these other. — H. Other instances might be cited of Eels being 

 found on land ; but the fact is so well known, that it would be superfluous. 



t Camden's relation is to this ciifect, viz. : "That at a place called Sefton, in the 

 above county, upon turning up the turf, men find a black deadish water with small 

 fishes therein." — Britannia, Lancashire, Fuller, who also reports this strange fact, 

 humorously says " that the men of this place go a-fishing with spades and mattocks : 

 adding, that fishes are thus found in the country about Heraclea, and Tins, in Pontus." 

 — Worthies, in Lancashire, J07. — H. 



X To this truth I myself can bear witness. ^ When I dwelt at Twickenham, a large 

 canal adjoined to my house, which I stocked with fish. I had from time to time broods of 

 ducks, which with their young ones took to the water. One dry summer, when the c<^nal 

 was very low, we missed many young ducks, but could not find out how they went. 

 Resolving to make advantage of the lowness of the water to clean the canal, a work 

 which had not been done for thirty years before, I drained and emptied it, and found in 

 the mud a great number of large Eels. Some of them I reserved for the ase of my 

 family : which being opened by the cook, surprised us all ; for in the stomachs of several 

 of them were found, undigested, the necks and heads of young ducks, which doubtless 

 were those of the ducks we had missed. — H. 



