and he has replied, He did but pick the beft out to be in a readiness against he baited his book the next time: But he has been observed both by others, and my self,to catch more fish then I or any other body, that has ever gone a fishing with him,could do, efpecially Salmons; and I have been told lately by one of his moft intimate and secret friends, that the box in which he put those worms was anointed with a drop, or two, or three of the Oil of Ivy-berries,made by expreffion or infufion, and that by the wormes remaining in that box an hour, or a like time, they had incorporated a kind of fmel that was irresistibly attractive,enough to force any fish, within the fmel of them, to bite. This I heard not long fince from a friend, but have not tryed it; yet I grant it probable, and refer my Reader to Sir Francis Bacons Natural History, where he proves fishes may hear; and I am certain Gefner fayes may fayes, the Otter can smell in the wa- expe Take the flinking oil drawn out of Poly pody of the Oak, by a retort mixt with Turpentine, and Hivehoney,and annoint your bait therewith, and it will doubtlesse draw the fish to it. But in these things I have no great faith, yet grant it probable, and have had from fome chimical men (namely, from Sir George HaStings and others) an affirmation of them to be very advantageous: but no more of these, especially not in this place. Imight here, before I take my H leave of the Salmon, tell you, that there is more then one fort of them, as namely, a Tecon, and another called in fome places a Samlet, or by fome,a Skegger: but thefe (and others which I forbear to name) may be fish of another kind, and differ, as we know a Herring and a Pilcher do; but must by me be left to the difquifitions of men of more leifure and of greater abilities, then I profefs my self to have. And lastly, I am to borrow fo much of your promised patience, as to tell you, that the Trout or Salmon, being in season, have at their first taking out of the water (which continues during life) their bodies adorned, the one with fuch red fpots, and the other with black or blackish spots, which gives them fuch an addition of natural beautie, as I (that yet am no enemy to it) think was never given to any woman by the Artificial Paint or Patch Patches in which they fo much pride themselves in this age. And fo I fhall leave them and proceed fome Obfervations of the to Pike. In his Hi Pifc. CHAP. VII. I Tis not to be doubted but that the Luce, or Pikrell, or Pike breeds by Spawning; and yet Gefner fayes, that fome of them breed, where none ever was, out of a weed called Pikrell-weed, and other glutinous matter, which with the help of the Suns heat proves in fome particular ponds (apted by nature for it) to become Pikes. Sir Francis Bacon obferves the Pike ftory of to be the longest lived of Life and any fresh Death. water fish, and yet that his life is not not usually above fortie years; and yet Gefner mentions a Pike taken in Swedeland in the year 1449, with a Ring about his neck, declaring he was put into the Pond by Frederick the second, more then two hundred years before he was last taken, as the Infcription of that Ring, being Greek, was interpreted by the then Bishop of Worms. But of this no more, but that it is obferved that the old or very great Pikes have in them more of state then goodness; the fmaller or middle fiz'd Pikes being by the most and choiceft palates obferved to be the beft meat; but contrary, the Eele is obferved to be the better for age and bigness. All Pikes that live long prove chargeable to their keepers, because their life is maintained by the death of fo many other fish, even thofe of his owne kind, which has made him by fome Writers to bee called the Tyrant of the Rivers, or the Fresh water |