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water, those that stand on a bank near to that place may hear the noise without any diminution of it by the water. He also offers the like experiment concerning the letting an anchor fall, by a very long cable or rope, on a rock, or the sand within the sea. And this being so well observed and demonstrated as it is by that learned man, has made me to believe that eels unbed themselves and stir at the noise of thunder; and not only, as some think, by the motion or stirring of the earth, which is occasioned by that thunder.

And this reason of Sir Francis Bacon (Exper. 792) has made me crave pardon of one that I laughed at, for affirming that he knew carps come to a certain place in a pond, to be fed, at the ringing of a bell, or the beating of a drum; and however, it shall be a rule for me to make as little noise as I can when I am fishing, until Sir Francis Bacon be confuted, which I shall give any man leave to do.

And, lest you may think him singular in his opinion, I will tell you, this seems to be believed by our learned Dr. Hakewill, who (in his Apology of God's Power and Providence, fol. 360) 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 (chap. 3. 7) that all things in the sea have been tamed by mankind." And Pliny tells us (lib. 9. 35) that Antonia, the wife of Darsus, 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 (lib. 4., Epigr. 30), who writes thus :

PISCATOR, FUGE; NE NOCENS, ETC.

Angler! wouldst 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 owners' 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, if I catch a trout in the next meadow, he

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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 have 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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Observations of the Umber or Grayling, and Directions how to Fish for them.

ISC. The umber and grayling are thought by some to differ, as the herring and pilchard do. But though they may do so in other nations, I think those in England differ in nothing but their names. Aldrovandus says

they be of a trout kind; and Gesner says, that in his country (which is in Switzerland) he is accounted the choicest of all fish. And in Italy, he is in the month of May so highly valued, that he is sold at a much higher rate than any other fish. The French (which call the chub un vilain) call the umber of the lake Leman un umble chevalier; and they value the umber or grayling so highly, that they say he feeds on gold, and say that many have been caught out of their famous river Loire, and of whose bellies grains of gold have been often taken. And some

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