i?4i-43 
BATTUE OF CARP AND EELS 
195 
hundreds of bream, roach, and inferior fry, we 
adjourned to a neighbouring mill to distribute to 
the assembled villagers the commoner part of the 
sport. The old people v/ere first served with the 
largest dace, &c., then those that had helped to 
excavate and let off the water, and finally the 
younger folks, lads and lasses, scrambled for the 
rest. You may imagine Lord E. without coat or 
waistcoat — shirt-sleeves rolled up, mud to the hips, 
pitching the fish into the thickest of the active strug- 
glers. I think everybody went off with pockets and 
hats full. This ended, we proceeded to fish the 
small river that had received the waters of the 
pond or lake. Hundreds of eels had gone down 
into it. It is overgrown with trees and brambles, 
gurgling down a winding valley with corn and hay 
fields rising on each side. U nder the bosky arch 
and into the stream waded my lord, with one or two 
fisher boys with poles. They poked out the eels 
from their hiding-places in the roots of the trees, 
while Sir P. and I waded for them in the shallower 
parts of the stream. Presently we saw the green 
and yellowmonsterscoming,glidingstealthily down: 
then our work was to entrap them in hand nets, 
before they turned back again ; the attempt often 
ended in a regular chase, the eel slipping through 
our fingers half a dozen times. Then the roars of 
laughter, with the Earl’s hearty chuckle above all : 
Well done, eel!” “There’s one gone up;” “Keep 
the pole out of the way. There’s another” — all 
