ground; * and there bedded themselves: but yet, at last, a frost killed them.1 And our Camden relates, that, in Lancashire, fishes were digged out of the earth with spades, where no water was near to the place.† I shall say little more of the Eel, but that, as it is observed he is impatient of cold, so it hath been observed, that in warm weather, an Eel has been known to live five days out of the water. And lastly, let me tell you, that some curious searchers into the natures of fish observe, that there be several sorts or kinds of Eels; as the silver Eel, and green or greenish Eel, with which the river of Thames abounds, and those are called Grigs; and a blackish Eel, whose head is more flat and bigger than ordinary Eels; and also an Eel whose fins are reddish, and but seldom taken in this nation, and yet taken sometimes. These several kinds of Eels are, say some, diversely bred; as, namely, out of the corruption of the earth; and some by dew, and other ways, as I have said to you and yet it is affirmed by some for a certain, that the silver Eel is bred by generation, but not by spawning as other fish do; but that her brood come alive from her, being then little live Eels no bigger nor longer than a pin; and I have had too many testimonies of this to doubt the truth of it myself; and if I thought it needful, I might prove it, but I think it is needless. And this Eel, of which I have said so much to you, may be caught with divers kinds of baits: as, namely, with powdered beef; with a lob or garden worm; with a minnow; or gut of a hen, chicken, or the guts of any fish, or with almost anything, for he is a greedy fish. But the Eel may be caught, especially, with a VARIATION.] 1 but yet at last died there.-1st and 2d edit. * Dr Plot, in his History of Staffordshire, page 242, mentions certain waters, and a pool, that were stocked by Eels that had from waters they liked not travelled in arido, or over dry land, to these other.-H. Other instances might be cited of Eels being found on land: but the fact is so well known, that it would be superfluous. † Camden's relation is to this cffect, viz.: "That at a place called Sefton, in the above county, upon turning up the turf, men find a black deadish water with small fishes therein."-Britannia, Lancashire. Fuller, who also reports this strange fact, humorously says "that the men of this place go a-fishing with spades and mattocks: adding, that fishes are thus found in the country about Heraclea, and Tius, in Pontus." -Worthies, in Lancashire, 107.-H. To this truth I myself can bear witness. When I dwelt at Twickenham, a large canal adjoined to my house, which I stocked with fish. I had from time to time broods of ducks, which with their young ones took to the water. One dry summer, when the canal was very low, we missed many young ducks, but could not find out how they went. Resolving to make advantage of the lowness of the water to clean the canal, a work which had not been done for thirty years before, I drained and emptied it, and found in the mud a great number of large Eels. Some of them I reserved for the use of my family; which being opened by the cook, surprised us all ; for in the stomachs of several of them were found, undigested, the necks and heads of young ducks, which doubtless were those of the ducks we had missed.-H. L little, a very little Lamprey, which some call a Pride, and may, in the hot months, be found many of them in the river Thames, and in many mud-heaps in other rivers; yea, almost as usually as one finds worms in a dunghill. Next note, that the Eel seldom stirs in the day, but then hides himself; and therefore he is usually caught by night, with one of these baits of which I have spoken; and may be then caught by laying hooks, which you are to fasten to the bank, or twigs of a tree; or by throwing a string cross the stream, with many hooks at it, and those baited with the aforesaid baits; and a cloth, or plummet, or stone, thrown into the river with this line, that so you may in the morning find it near to some fixed place; and then take it up with a drag-hook, or otherwise. But these things are, indeed, too common to be spoken of; and an hour's fishing with any angler will teach you better, both for these and many other common things in the practical part of angling, than a week's discourse. I shall therefore conclude this direction for taking the Eel, by telling you, that in a warm day in summer, I have taken many a good Eel by Snigling, and have been much pleased with that sport. And because you, that are but a young angler, know not what Snigling is, I will now teach it to you. You remember I told you that Eels do not usually stir in the daytime; for then they hide themselves under some covert, or under boards or planks about floodgates, or weirs, or mills; or in holes on the river-banks; so that you, observing your time in a warm day, when the water is lowest, may take a strong small hook, tied to a strong line, or to a string about a yard long; and then into one of these holes, or between any boards about a mill, or under any great stone or plank, or any place where you think an Eel may hide or shelter herself, you may, with the help of a short stick, put in your bait, but leisurely, and as far as you may conveniently; and it is scarce to be doubted, but if there be an Eel within the sight of it, the Eel will bite instantly, and as certainly gorge it; and you need not doubt to have him if you pull him not out of the hole too quickly, but pull him out by degrees; for he, lying folded double in his hole, will, with the help of his tail, break all, unless you give him time to be wearied with pulling, and so get him out by degrees, not pulling too hard.* * There is also another mode of Eel-fishing, termed Bobbing, which is most commonly practised in rivers where the tide runs. The fisherman having procured a number of red or lob worms well scoured, strings them separately (by running them through from head to tail with a needle) on worsted. When a sufficient number are strung, he |