"In they went and hunted about, Like the roach, the barbels require an invitation to assemble together, in the shape of ground bait; for the latter, worms and clay mixed together are thrown in to the place where the angler intends fishing; for the former, bran and bread, well mixed up with sand to make it sink, are used. In the summer, I had observed, by the river side, several large holes dug in the sides of the bank. They looked like incipient foxes' earths, or gigantic rabbit holes; yet were there no foxes or rabbits about These, I have since found out, are made by the good folks who come fishing; they bring the bran and bread in a basket, and mix them up with earth at the nearest point to the place where they are about to commence operations. Once a good place for roach, always a good place, is the rule; and successive generations of anglers coming to the same fishing holes, have in places made excavations like small stone, or rather earth quarries. Often I have found out a good roach-hole by observing the excavations for earth close at hand. On one occasion, when intently watching my float, I heard a queer sound as of grinding teeth at my back; but took not much notice of it, being otherwise interested. Shortly I turned round for more ground bait; it was nearly all gone; and where? Why down the mouth of a great cow, who, I suppose, must have had a fancy for bran and brown bread. She did not evidently much relish the admixture of sand with the two former ingredients, for she often shook her head and looked much puzzled when she found the sand grating harshly on her teeth-a lesson to her never again to eat ground bait, look it ever so tempting. Not long ago, I was informed, at a fishing-tackle shop in Long Acre, that a party of fishermen had just arrived from the midland counties to fish for barbel in the Thames; and that these gentlemen had brought with them "a large tea chest" quite full of lob worms. What a sight for a Custom-house officer! A few weeks ago, during the frosty weather, when the roach were biting freely, I was compelled to buy some "gentles" (Anglice, maggots); they were very dear and scarce; so got only 120 for two shillings a very bad investment; for, two days afterwards, I found that every one of them had most provokingly turned himself into a chrysalis. Having been placed on a table near the fire, they probably imagined, from the warmth, that summer was coming, and that it was high time for them to see about becoming blue-bottle flies. In the chrysalis state, they were of course useless for fishing. When the floods are out, it is no use fishing for roach or any other fish in their usual haunts-they go away as the flood rises, on to the meadows, to pick up the worms and insects, and are not to be found at home in their holes. But, lately, we received a kind invitation to dine, and fish after dinner. This we gladly accepted, and, after a sumptuous repast, we adjourned to the river, where we found a punt waiting, and a man with an immense casting-net ready on his shoulders. In vain did we cast in the holes-nothing did we catch but a few gudgeons who were there in winter-quarters, little expecting to be disturbed in fifteen-feet water. But, out on the flooded meadows, in two-foot water, the catch of roach and bleak was very satisfactory. Cold work it was-out in a punt, on flooded meadows, till nearly midnight, but very pleasant withal. Very many bleak did we catch on this occasion. At Oxford they call these fish "Tailor-Blays;" but, by the time they have got so far down the river as Windsor, they have lost one of their names, and are called simply "Tailors." There is, however, no resemblance in any respect to a Tailor, that I can see or learn. "Blay," the great Johnson defines as a small white river fish, also called a bleak." So we just get back where we started from. Walton calls him the fresh-water sprat, and says he is ever in motion, and is therefore called by some the river swallow. He adds, "his back is of a pleasant, sad seawater green; his belly white and shining, like the mountain-snow;" and a very beautiful description this is. But it is an unfortunate thing for this fish that he is so beautiful. Ever-designing man hunts and entraps him for his scales, wherein consists his beauty; and what does he do with his scales? Why he robs the fish to adorn his own species. He makes artificial pearls with them. A Windsor fisherman tells me he recollects the time when men went out poaching bleak all over the river, at the dead of night, and many a bloody battle has there been, and many a head has been broken over a bucketful of these fresh-water sprats. 66 Mr. Yarrell gives us more particulars of this curious trade. We read, "On the inner cutaneous surface of the bleak, roach, dace, white-bait, and similar fishes, is found a silvery pigment, producing the lustre which their scales possess. The ornaments manufactured from it bore the name of patent pearls, and their use was universal in the bead trade, being employed in the manufacture of necklaces, car-drops, &c. So great, formerly, was the demand at particular times, that the price of the quart measure of fish-scales varied from one guinea to five. The Thames fishermen caught the fish, took off the side scales, and threw them immediately into the river again; and it was the custom of hawkers, regularly, before selling any of these fish, to set apart the scales for the bead-makers. The method of obtaining and using the pigment was, first, thoroughly to clean the scales by exposing them to a current of water, and then to soak them for a time; after which, the colouring matter was deposited. When thus procured, small glass tubes were dipped in the pigment and injected into hollow-glass beads of various forms and sizes. These were then spread upon sieves, and dried in a current of air. If greater weight and firmness were required, a further injection of wax was practised. Of this pigment the white-bait afford the most delicate and beautiful variety, and used to obtain the highest price. The bleak was next in esteem, and the roach and dace the least valuable. The French were the inventors of the art; and Dr. Listre informs us that one artist in Paris, during the course of the winter, used thirty hamperfuls of these bleak scales in this manufacture." To take the opposite extreme, fishes with rough skins are also deprived of their jackets. The dog-fish and the shark, worthless in other respects, are skinned by the fishermen, and the skins sold to polish various articles, and also to bind round the handles of swords. In the actual skin are set numerous small plates, each distinct from its fellow, of a very hard and durable nature; forming, in fact, a sort of natural file. The polisher buys this natural file to finish off his fine work; the sword-maker puts it on the sword-handles to afford a firmer grasp to the soldier; and, lastly, the man who makes lucifer match-boxes buys it to put round his boxes, so as to afford a rough surface-always handy to the housemaid when she wants to strike a light; thereby saving the expense of sand-paper, and preserving the walls of the house from the lucifer-match marks so characteristic of a careless householder. The cook, too, takes advantage of the rough skins of the sole; she buys them from the fishmonger, and puts a bit in the coffee when boiling up. She will tell you the rough scales entangle the falling "grouts," and so make the coffee clear; but my own idea is that the albumen boiled out of the skin accounts for the clearness of the coffee. I once gained a prize, when a fag at Winchester school, for making coffee, and therefore have a right to an opinion on coffee. The fishes with hard skins have, however, one advantage over the soft-skinned fishes, to a greater or less degree. They are not so much troubled with parasitic animals adhering on them. To sickly fish do these parasites principally adhere, just as the bill-stickers in London select a tumble-down house, or else premises in Chancery, to stick their paper parasites, in the shape of advertisements, upon. Not long ago, when trolling for jack at a pond called Ash Mills, near Slough, I observed that the dead roach with which I was fishing became, after two or three casts in the water, covered with little worms, long and narrow-and having, I should judge, excessive sharp teeth, so tight did they stick to the slippery scales of the roach that they would allow me to pull them asunder rather than let go their hold, so I left them alone. They soon, however, disappeared from off the fish as I went on trolling with it; finding out, probably, that they had hit upon a dead fish, and that they could suck no blood out of it, suck they never so hard. A few days afterwards, when preparing a large jack's head for stuffing, I found several of these same little worms sticking fast to the roof and sides of the jack's mouth; but they were quite dead. I may here mention that I fully believe the story of the insects inside the Egyptian crocodile's mouth; nor do I think it improbable that the small bird, as related by Herodotus, picks them off. An analogous case nearer home is the starling on the sheep's back, hunting for the little tormentors of the sheep, who quietly go on grazing during the operation. Upon the head of a decapitated cod, in a London shop, I not long ago found some very curious worms with star-like mouthsthese were sticking to the gills. They were presented to me, and I took them to the College of Surgeons, where they were pronounced to be interesting and not very common specimens. The gold fish in the round pond at Hampton Court are also much troubled with a parasitic fungus which grows upon them; but I never had an opportunity of examining one out of the water. Those who are fond of a day's fishing, I would certainly advise to go and try Windsor; whether for gudgeon in the summer, or jack in the autumn. At Surby Hall, two miles from Windsor, they will find boats, every accommodation for eating and drinking, and a remarkably civil landlord; but the boat ought to be engaged the day before, At Monkey Island, also further up the river, about five miles from Windsor, good fish of all sorts are to be caught, and the water there is more or less preserved by the landlord of the inn on the island, for the benefit of his customers. Of the town of Windsor itself, the less that is said the better. Instead of "Siste Viator," I should say, get away from it as fast as you can. The Castle, the Park, and other domains belonging to Her Most Gracious Majesty, are, as everybody knows, perfection itself; though Windsor is, as was most aptly remarked by one who well knew it, when looking at the Castle and town from a distance, Everything that is good, surrounded by everything that is bad.” F. B. 357 A STRAY LEAF FROM A LOG OF FORTY YEARS AGO. AFTER ten years' somewhat close confinement as a prisoner of war in France, I felt no desire to remain on shore longer than was sufficient to renew my acquaintance with old friends, altered out of memory, and to introduce myself to such new relatives as had made their entrée in the world during my captivity. I accordingly applied for active employment, and in due time was appointed to His Majesty's sloop, Sparrow, Captain F. C. Lock, engaged in the honourable service of bringing over the great personages about to visit England. The squadron, which got under way about noon, May 29th, 1814, was composed of the Impregnable, Chatham, Bedford, Apollo, and Jason; Nymphen and Sweabourg, Russian frigates; Royal Sovereign and Royal Charlotte, yachts; Sparrow, Rinaldo, and Cordelia, frigates; and Olympia, cutter. We stood for Boulogne, and came to an anchor about nine miles from the shore, on account of the want of wind, and a contrary tide. In the morning of the 30th, we got under way and came to an anchor close in to Boulogne, the weather being very fine. The Duke of Clarence went on shore; and on his leaving the Impregnable, she fired a salute, which was returned both then and on his return. The next day he landed again, and was accompanied off to the ship by the French Admiral, who was also saluted on his leaving the ship. The next day, a division of the squadron was ordered to fire a salute, which commenced on the Duke's leaving his ship for shore. His Royal Highness was attended by all the captains of the fleet, in their respective boats, chiefly light gigs and barges. These formed three divisions, led on by the Prince's barge; and a right pleasant sight it was. The salute was returned from the shore, where crowds of people had assembled, all in the greatest state of enthusiasm. "Vive le Duc de Clarence," and "Vive Louis dixhuit," were shouted most energetically. The Duke, on landing, proceeded to the residence of the Préfet of Boulogne, where he and all his captains were most sumptuously entertained. In the middle of the repast, about twenty or thirty of the prettiest young ladies that could be found entered the apart ment, decorated with roses and lilies (emblems of the two countries), |