hoarded heaps, know not that "Better is little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure, and trouble therewith," or wasting themselves and substance in riot and intemperance, forget how far sweeter is “a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred with the same."

Let them that list these pleasures then pursue,
And on their foolish fancies feed their fill ;
So I the fields and meadows green may view,
And by the rivers fresh may walke at wille,
Among the dazies and the violets blue,
Red hyacinth and yellow daffodil,
Purple narcissus like the morning rayes,
Pale ganderglas, and azore culverkayes.

I count it better pleasure to behold
The goodly compasse of the lofty skie;
And in the midst thereof, like burning gold,
The flaming chariot of the world's great eye;
The wat❜ry clouds that in the ayre uprol'd
With sundry kinds of painted colours flie;
And faire Aurora lifting up her head,
All blushing rise from old Tithonus' bed.

The hills and mountains raised from the plains,
The plains extended levell with the ground,
The ground divided into sundry vains,
The vains enclos'd with running rivers round,
The rivers making way thro' nature's chains,
With headlong course into the sea profound;
The surging sea beneath the vallies low,

The vallies sweet, and lakes that gently flow.

Oh! bright Winander, how thy far-stretching beauty lies before me, thy head o'er-canopied by loftiest mountains (gaze in that magic mirror, behold the vaulted sky, the breathless woods, the grey gigantic battlements of heaven), thine islands floating in deep cærulean calm like things entranced,

thy beaming spendour, as lessening from sight mid sweet umbrageous shores, thou seek'st thine ocean of eternity! Why in this murky night of dark December dost thou revisit thus my soul's recesses? Why in the chambers of mine imagery art thou with all thy pomp of summer glory brought up uncalled before me? The lustre now grows dim, and fades away, but not on this green earth, on grassy bank or high uplifted mountain, can such effulgent gleams as those surround me. For why? Old man, the summer of thy youth made that portentous blaze. Father of light and life,

"Not without hope we suffer and we mourn."

93

CHAPTER III.

OF THE ANGLER'S FISHES IN PARTICULAR-THEIR
ASPECT, HABITS, AND MODES OF CAPTURE.

THIS gregarious fish is angled for with a worm or minnow. It is a bold biter during the warm months of the year, though very abstemious in the winter season. When a shoal is met with, great sport is frequently obtained. A small cork float is used, and the bait is hung at various depths, according to circumstances, a knowledge of which can

only be obtained by practice. In angling near the bottom, the bait should be frequently raised nearly to the surface, and then allowed gently to sink again. When the weather is cool and cloudy, with a ruffling breeze from the south, perch will bite during the whole day. The best hours towards the end of spring are from seven to eleven in the morning, and from two to six in the afternoon. In warm and bright summer weather, excellent times are from sunrise till six or seven in the morning, and from six in the evening till sunset.

The Perch is one of the most beautiful of the fresh water fishes of Europe, but is too familiarly known to need description. It inhabits both lakes and rivers, but shuns salt water. Pallas, however, is said to have stated in his Zoographia Russo-Asiatica (a work still unpublished), that about spawning time both Pike and Perch are found in a gulf of the Caspian Sea, about thirty verstes from the mouth of the Terek. The female deposits her eggs, united together by a viscid matter, in lengthened strings,—a peculiarity noticed by Aristotle. Spawning takes place in April and May, and the number of eggs sometimes amounts to near a million. The Perch occurs all over Europe, and in most of the northern districts of Asia. It is easily tamed, and if kept moist will live for a long time out of water. It sometimes attains to a great size, but the majority are smallish fishes. Pennant alludes to one said to have been taken in the Serpentine River, Hyde Park, which weighed nine pounds. But even one half of that weight would

be any where regarded as extraordinary, and a Perch of a pound is looked upon as a fine fish. The flesh of this species as an article of food is wholesome, though neither rich nor high flavoured. The months of April, May, and June, are those during which it is least esteemed.

The Basse, or Sea Perch (Perca labrax, Linn. Labrax lupus, Cuv. and Val.), is a fish of a chaste and pleasing aspect, though destitute of the strongly contrasted colouring of the preceding, from which it is also distinguished by an abundance of small teeth upon the tongue. It is abundant in the Mediterranean, and occurs occasionally along the British shores. We have seen it in the Edinburgh Market. It is a very voracious fish, remarkable for the size of its stomach, and was known to the ancients by the appropriate name of lupus. It takes a bait freely (onisci, broken shell-fish, etc.) when angled for during flood-tide, with strong tackle, from projecting rock or pier. The ordinary size ranges from 12 to 18 inches, although Willoughby has stated that it sometimes attains the weight of 15 pounds. Its flesh is excellent.

This fresh water fish bears a considerable resemblance to the Perch, both in form and habits. It is much esteemed for the delicacy of its flesh, but is unfortunately unknown in Scotland. Mr. Yarrell informs us that it is common to almost all

* Perca cernua, Linn.-Acerina vulgaris, Cuv. and Val.