And some think that he feeds on water-thyme, and smells of it at his first taking out of the water; and they may think so with as good reason as we do that our Smelts smell like violets at their being first caught, which I think is a truth. Aldrovandus says, the Salmon, the Grayling, and Trout, and all fish that live in clear and sharp streams, are made by their mother Nature of such exact shape and pleasant colours purposely to invite us to a joy and contentedness in feasting with her. Whether this is a truth or not, is not my purpose to dispute: but 'tis certain, all that write of the Umber declare him to be very medicinable. And Gesner says, that the fat of an Umber or Grayling, being set, with a little honey, a day or two in the sun, in a little glass, is very excellent against redness or swarthiness, or anything that breeds in the eyes. Salvian* takes him to be called Umber from his swift swimming, or gliding out of sight more like a shadow or a ghost than a fish. Much more might be said both of his smell and taste: but I shall only tell you that St Ambrose, the glorious Bishop of Milan, who lived when the Church kept fasting-days, calls him the flower-fish, or flower of fishes; and that he was so far in love with him, that he would not let him pass without the honour of a long discourse; but I must; and pass on to tell you how to take this dainty fish.

First note, that he grows not to the bigness of a Trout; for the biggest of them do not usually exceed eighteen inches.t He lives in such rivers as the Trout does; and is usually taken with the same baits as the Trout is, and after the same manner; for he will bite both at the minnow, or worm, or fly, though he bites not often at the minnow, and is very gamesome at the fly; and much simpler, and therefore bolder than a Trout; for he will rise twenty times at a fly, if you miss him, and yet rise again. He has been taken with a fly made of the red feathers of a paroquet, a strange outlandish bird; and he will rise at a fly not unlike a gnat, or a small moth, or, indeed, at most flies that are not too big. He is a fish that lurks close all Winter, but is very pleasant and jolly after mid-April, and in May, and in the hot months. He is of a very fine shape, his flesh is white, his teeth, those little ones that he has, are in his throat, yet he has so tender a mouth, that he is oftener lost after an angler has hooked him than any

Hippolito Salviani, an Italian physician of the sixteenth century: he wrote a treatise De Piscibus, cum eorum figuris, and died at Rome, 1572, aged 59.-H.

+ Pennant notices as a rarity, a Grayling taken near Ludlow, above half a yard long, and weighing four pounds six ounces. Another was killed near Shrewsbury which weighed full five pounds.

other fish. Though there be many of these fishes in the delicate river Dove, and in Trent, and some other smaller rivers, as that which runs by Salisbury, yet he is not so general a fish as the Trout, nor to me so good to eat or to angle for.* And so I shall take my leave of him: and now come to some observations of the Salmon, and how to catch him.

CHAP. VII. The Salmon.

PISCATOR. THE Salmon is accounted the King of fresh-water fish; and is ever bred in rivers relating to the sea, yet so high, or far from it, as admits of no tincture of salt, or brackishness. He is said to breed or cast his spawn, in most rivers, in the month of August:† some say, that then they dig a hole or grave in a safe place in the gravel, and there place their eggs or spawn, after the melter has done his natural office, and then hide it most cunningly, and cover it over with gravel and stones; and then leave it to their Creator's protection, who, by a gentle heat which he infuses into that cold element, makes it brood, and beget life in the spawn, and to become Samlets early in the spring next following.2

The Salmons having spent their appointed time, and done this natural duty in the fresh waters, they then haste to the sea before winter, both the melter and spawner: but if they be stopt by floodgates or weirs, or lost in the fresh waters, then those so left behind by degrees grow sick and lean, and unseasonable, and kipper, that is to say, have bony gristles grow out of their lower chaps, not unlike a hawk's beak, which hinders their feeding; and, in time, such fish so left behind pine away and die. 'Tis observed, that he may live thus one year from the sea; but he

VARIATION.

2 protection, by whose power the spawn becomes Samlets the next spring following. -2d edit.

*Notwithstanding Walton's assertion, experienced anglers affirm that although the Grayling may, yet he very rarely does, take the minnow. He will take gentles very eagerly. When you fish for him with a fly, you can hardly use one too small. The Grayling is found in great plenty in many rivers in the north, particularly the Humber. And in the Wye, which runs through Herefordshire and Monmouthshire into the Severn, have been taken, with an artificial fly, very large ones; as also great numbers of a small, but excellent fish, of the Trout kind, called a Last-spring. They are not easily to be got at without a boat, or wading; for which reason those of that country use a thing they call a Corracle, or truckle: in some places it is called a coble, from the Latin corbula, a little basket; it is a basket, shaped like the half of a walnut-shell, but shallower in proportion, and covered on the outside with a horse's hide; it has a bench in the middle, and will just hold one person, and is so light, that the countrymen will hang it on their heads like a hood, and so travel, with a small paddle which serves for a stick, till they come to a river; and then they launch it, and step in. There is great difficulty in getting into one of these truckles, for the instant you touch it with your foot it flies from you; and when you are in, the least inclination of the body oversets it.-H. Their usual time of spawning is about the beginning of September, but it is said those in the Severn spawn in May.-H.

then grows insipid and tasteless, and loses both his blood and strength, and pines and dies the second year. And 'tis noted, that those little Salmons called Skeggers, which abound in many rivers relating to the sea, are bred by such sick Salmons that might not go to the sea, and that though they abound, yet they never thrive to any considerable bigness.3

But if the old Salmon gets to the sea, then that gristle which shows him to be kipper, wears away, or is cast off, as the eagle is said to cast his bill, and he recovers his strength, and comes next summer to the same river, if it be possible, to enjoy the former pleasures that there possest him; *for, as one has wittily observed, he has, like some persons of honour and riches which have both their winter and summer houses, the fresh rivers for summer, and the salt water for winter, to spend his life in ; which is not, as Sir Francis Bacon hath observed in his "History of Life and Death," above ten years. And it is to be observed, that though the Salmon does grow big in the sea, yet he grows not fat but in fresh rivers; and it is observed, that the farther they get from the sea, they be both the fatter and better.

Next, I shall tell you, that though they make very hard shift to get out of the fresh rivers into the sea, yet they will make harder shift to get out of the salt into the fresh rivers, to spawn, or possess the pleasures that they have formerly found in them: to which end, they will force themselves through floodgates, or over weirs, or hedges, or stops in the water, even to a height beyond common belief. Gesner speaks of such places as are

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3 The observations on Salmon-fishing, as printed in the first edition, vary considerably from those subsequently published. They commence thus: "The Salmon is ever bred in the fresh rivers, and in most rivers about the month of August, and never grows big but in the sea; and there to an incredible bigness in a very short time; to which place they covet to swim, by the instinct of nature about a set time: but if they be stopped by mills, floodgates, or weirs, or be by accident lost in the fresh water, when the others go, which is usually by flocks or shoals, then they thrive not.

"And the old Salmon, both the Melter and Spawner, strive also to get into the sea before winter: but being stopped that course, or lost, grow sick in fresh waters, and by degrees unseasonable and kipper, that is, to have a bony gristle to grow, not unlike a hawk's beak, on one of his chaps, which hinders him from feeding, and then he pines and dies.

"But if he goes to sea, then that gristle," &c., as in text.

The migration of the Salmon and divers other sorts of fishes is analogous to that of Birds and Mr Ray confirms Walton's assertion, by saying, that "Salmon will yearly ascend up a river four or five hundred miles, only to cast their spawn, and secure it in banks of sand till the young be hatched and excluded; and then return to sea again." -Wisdom of God manifested in the Works of the Creation, p. 130. It may not be improper here to take notice, that in this, and several other parts of the book, the facts related by the author do most remarkably coincide with latter discoveries of the most diligent and sagacious naturalists. -H.

known to be above eight feet high above water. And Our Camden mentions, in his "Britannia," the like wonder to be in Pembrokeshire, where the river Tivy falls into the sea; and that the fall is so downright, and so high, that the people stand and wonder at the strength and sleight by which they see the Salmon use to get out of the sea into the said river; and the manner and height of the place is so notable, that it is known, far, by the name of the Salmon-leap. Concerning which, take this also out of Michael Drayton, my honest old friend; as he tells it you, in his " Polyolbion :

» 4

And when the Salmon seeks a fresher stream to find
(Which hither from the sea comes, yearly, by his kind),
As he towards season grows; and stems the wat'ry tract
Where Tivy, falling down, makes an high cataract,
Forc'd by the rising rocks that there her course oppose,
As tho' within her bounds they meant her to inclose;
Here, when the labouring fish does at the foot arrive,
And finds that by his strength he does but vainly strive;
His tail takes in his mouth, and, bending like a bow
That's to full compass drawn, aloft himself doth throw,
Then springing at his height, as doth a little wand
That bended end to end, and started from man's hand,
Far off itself doth cast; so does the Salmon vault :
And if, at first, he fail, his second summersault
He instantly essays, and, from his nimble ring
Still yerking, never leaves until himself he fling
Above the opposing stream.

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4 Concerning which, take this also out of honest Michael Draiton. -2d edit. The whole of the preceding paragraph is in the first edition much condensed. It runs thus: "And it is to be observed, that, to the end they may get far from the sea, either to spawn or to possess the pleasure that they then and there find, they will force themselves over the tops of weirs or hedges, or stops in the water, by taking their tails into their mouths and leaping over those places, even to a height beyond common belief; and sometimes by forcing themselves against the stream through sluices and floodgates beyond common credit."

A celebrated poet, who was born in Warwickshire, 1563. Among his works, which are very numerous, is the Polyolbion, a chorographical description of the rivers, mountains, forests, castles, &c., in this island. Though this poem has great merit, it is rendered much more valuable by the learned notes of Mr Selden. Drayton died in 1631, and lies buried among the poets in Westminster Abbey, Bishop Warburton, in the Preface to his Shakespeare, speaking of this poem, says it was written by one Drayton, a mode of expression very common with great men, when they mean to consign the memory of others to oblivion and contempt. Bishop Burnet, speaking of the negotiations previous to the peace of Utrecht, says in like manner, that “one Prior was employed to finish the treaty." But both those prelates, in this their witty perversion of an innocent monosyllable, were but imitators of the Swedish ambassador, who complained to Whitlocke, that a treaty had been sent to be translated by one Mr Milton, a blind man. Whitlocke's Mem. 633.-H. An equally remarkable example of aristocratic superciliousness occurs in the case of Doctor Johnson. Earl Gower being asked to assist in obtaining the degree of Master of Arts for Johnson, from the University of Dublin, wrote to a friend of Dean Swift on the subject. After noticing that Johnson was the "author of London, a Satire, and some other Poetical pieces, and was much respected," his lordship alludes to him as "this poor man :" he says, "they highly extol the man's learning and probity;" and adds that he is assured that his correspondent's willingness to relieve merit in distress, will incline him to serve "the poor man.' Boswell's Life of Johnson. The noble Earl

This Michael Drayton tells you, of this leap or summersault of the Salmon.

And, next, I shall tell you, that it is observed by Gesner and others, that there is no better Salmon than in England; and that though some of our northern counties have as fat, and as large,* as the river Thames, yet none are of so excellent a taste."

And as I have told you that Sir Francis Bacon observes, the age of a Salmon exceeds not ten years; so let me next tell you, that his growth is very sudden, it is said, that after he is got into the sea, he becomes, from a Samlet not so big as a Gudgeon, to be a Salmon, in as short a time as a gosling becomes to be a goose. Much of this has been observed, by tying a riband, or some known tape or thread, in the tail of some young Salmons which have been taken in weirs as they have swimmed towards the salt water; and then by taking a part of them again, with the known mark, at the same place, at their return from the sea, which is usually about six months after; and the like experiment hath been tried upon young swallows, who have, after six months' absence, been observed to return to the same chimney, there to make their nests and habitations for the summer following; which has inclined many to think, that every Salmon usually returns to the same river in which it was bred, as young pigeons taken out of the same dovecote have also been observed to do.

And you are yet to observe further, that the He-Salmon is usually bigger than the Spawner; and that he is more kipper, and less able to endure a winter in the fresh water than the She is yet she is, at that time of looking less kipper and better, as watery, and as bad meat.

And yet you are to observe, that as there is no general rule without an exception, so there are some few rivers in this nation that have Trouts and Salmon in season in winter, as 'tis certain

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5 And 'tis observed by Gesner, that there is none bigger than in England, nor none better than in Thames.-1st edit.

and "the poor man "have both been long consigned to their kindred dust; but the contrast, with respect to their memories, is more striking than the difference in their situations when living-complete oblivion is already the lot of the one; whilst the fame of the other is identified with the English language, and will endure when insignificant nobles are "forgotten as fools, or remembered as worse."

* The following appeared in one of the London Journals, 18 April 1789: "The largest salmon ever caught was yesterday brought to London. This extraordinary fish measured upwards of four feet, from the point of the nose to the extremity of the tail; and three feet round the thickest part of the body: its weight was seventy pounds within a few ounces. A fishmonger in the Minories cut it up at one shilling per pound, and the whole was sold almost immediately."-H.