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Carew, Richard, 1555-1620

"The Survey of Cornwall And an epistle concerning the excellencies of the English tongue"

If they be absent, a knocking, like the chopping
of their meat, serueth for a summons to call them, & confirmeth
Plynies assertion, that fishes do heare. In the hotest Summer
weather, they swimme with the ryme of the water; and in the Winter,
keepe the depth. Lymy, or thicke puddelly water, killeth them:
they grow very fast, and fatte, which also bettereth their taste,
and deliuereth them to the demaunders ready vse, at all seasons,
seasonable.
They are taken generally, by a little Sayne net: specially the Eeles
in weelies: the Flowks, by groping in the sand, at the mouth of
the pond, where (about Lent) they bury themselues to spawn; & the
Basse and Millet by angling.
The pleasure which I took at my friends pleasure herein, idlely
busied me thus to expresse the same.
I Wayt not at the Lawyers gates,
Ne shoulder clymers downe the stayres;
I vaunt not manhood by debates,
I enuy not the misers feares:
But meane in state, and calme in sprite,
My fishfull pond is my delight.


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