Interpreters at fault. 
375 
And I believe few capons (save wliat have more fins tben feathers) are 
bred in Yarmouth. But, to countenance this expression, I understand 
that the Italian friers (when disposed to eat flesh on Fridays) call a 
capon 'pisce e corte , a fish out of the coop.” ( Worthies , vol. ii. p. 126.) 
Mr. Mitchell gives an account of the excitement 
occasioned among the superstitious of all ranks in 1587, 
in consequence of marks observed on two herrings caught 
on the 10th of November of that year, off the coast of 
Norway, which seemed to exhibit words in Gothic 
letters :— 
“They were brought to Copenhagen, and seven days after their 
capture presented to King Frederick the Second, who was terrified 
at their appearance, and thought they predicted his own death. He 
consulted the wise men of the age, who read the letters, and said they 
were the following very innocent, and at present true, prophecy, 4 You 
will not fish herrings in future so well as other nations.’ But this 
interpretation did not satisfy the king, and he applied to the learned 
men of Rostock ; but neither the professors there, nor at several of the 
Universities of Germany who were consulted, could give a satisfactory 
interpretation of the prophetic budget carved out on the backs of the 
two ominous fishes; but a learned French mathematician, then at 
Copenhagen, published a large volume in elucidation of the supposed 
words. This work would be a curiosity if it were found, as we are not 
informed what his interpretation was. Another author published his 
opinions, to the effect that the a supposed letters announced the sub¬ 
version of all Europe.” (The Herring, p. 152.) 
There was an old Highland superstition that the 
herring quitted the coasts where blood had been shed, 
and this theory was revived after the battle of Copen¬ 
hagen, when it was said that they had deserted the 
Baltic on account of the noise of the guns. 
Early authorities on fish considered that the Sprat was 
the young of the herring or the pilchard, 
whence it was called garvie herring , or gar vie. K " 11 1 
The sprat was formerly held in greater estimation than 
it is at present. It was thought not unworthy to make 
its appearance at the Lord Mayor’s banquet, and even 
