Love of Monstrosities. 
331 
mentioned by poets. The list of fish mentioned in 
Shakspeare’s plays is a short one ; the references to fresh¬ 
water fish are scanty, and those to salt-water inhabitants 
are more suggestive of a fishmonger’s counter than of their 
natural element. Even Mr. Russel, in his enthusiastic 
defence of the “gentle craft,” while he claims to find 
angling fondly mentioned by almost every English poet, 
has to admit that Shakspeare had apparently little 
acquaintance with the sport. The oft-quoted speech of 
Ursula tells us that— 
“ The pleasantest angling is to see the fish 
Cut with her golden oars the silver stream, 
And greedily devour the treacherous bait. 
( Much Ado , iii. 1, 26.) 
This is, Mr. Russel, in his recent work, The Salmon 
(p. 26), declares, so far from being “ pleasant, not possible, 
angling, for if you see the fish, the fish sees you, and that’s 
an end of it; ” but some allowance may be made for the 
fact that this was written in an age when British fish were 
in a comparatively primitive state of mind. 
Shakspeare refers more than once to the avidity with 
which English people crowd to see any rarity. Trinculo 
exclaims, at the sight of Caliban :— 
“ A strange fish! were I in England now, as once I was, and had 
but this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but would give a piece 
of silver: there would this monster make a man; any strange beast 
there makes a man.” (Tempest, ii. 2, 28.) 
This passion for novelty was abundantly supplied by the 
curiosity-mongers of the period. Peacham, in his Com¬ 
plete Gentleman , records the wondrous sights of London 
in his time, each to be seen for a penny. Amongst others 
we have— 
“ That home of Windsor, of an unicorne very likely, 
The cave of Merlin, the skirts of old Tom a Lincolne; 
* * * * ■ 35 - 
Saint James his ginney hens, his cassawarway moreover. 
