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And lest you may think him singular in this opinion, I will tell
you, this
seems to be believed by our learned Doctor Hakewill, who in his
Apology of God's power and providence, quotes Pliny to report that
one
of the emperors had particular fish-ponds, and, in them, several
fish that
appeared and came when they were called by their particular names.
And St. James tells us, that all things in the sea have been tamed
by
mankind. And Pliny tells us, that Antonia, the wife of Drusus, had
a
Lamprey at whose gills she hung jewels or ear-rings; and that others
have been so tender-hearted as to shed tears at the death of fishes
which
they have kept and loved. And these observations, which will to
most
hearers seem wonderful, seem to have a further confirmation from
Martial, who writes thus:-
Piscator, fuge; ne nocens, etc.
Angler ! would'st thou be guiltless ? then forbear;
For these are sacred fishes that swim here,
Who know their sovereign, and will lick his hand,
Than which none's greater in the world's command;
Nay more they've names, and, when they called are,
Do to their several owner's call repair.
All the further use that I shall make of this shall be, to advise
anglers to
be patient, and forbear swearing, lest they be heard, and catch
no fish.
And so I shall proceed next to tell you, it is certain that certain
fields
near Leominster, a town in Herefordshire, are observed to make
the
sheep that graze upon them more fat than the next, and also to
bear
finer wool; that is to say, that that year in which they feed
in such a
particular pasture, they shall yield finer wool than they did
that year
before they came to feed in it; and coarser, again, if they shall
return to
their former pasture; and, again, return to a finer wool, being
fed in the
fine wool ground: which I tell you, that you may the better believe
that I
am certain, if I catch a Trout in one meadow, he shall be white
and
faint, and very like to be lousy; and, as certainly, it I catch
a Trout in
the next meadow, he shall be strong, and red, and lusty, and much
better meat Trust me, scholar, I have caught many a Trout in a
particular meadow, that the very shape and the enamelled colour
of him
hath been such as hath joyed me to look on him: and I have then,
with
much pleasure, concluded with Solomon, "Everything is beautiful
in his
season".
I should, by promise, speak next of the Salmon; but I will, by
your
favour, say a little of the Umber or Grayling; which is so like
a Trout
for his shape and feeding, that I desire I may exercise your patience
with a short discourse of him; and then, the next shall be of
the Salmon.
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