And Gesner prefers the Perch
and Pike above the Trout, or any fresh-water fish: he says the Germans
have this proverb, " More wholesome than a Perch of Rhine ": and he
says the River-Perch is so wholesome, that physicians allow him to be
eaten by wounded men, or by men in fevers, or by women in child-bed.
He spawns but once a year; and is, by physicians, held very nutritive;
yet, by many, to be hard of digestion. They abound more in the river Po,
and in England, says Rondeletius, than other parts: and have in their
brain a stone, which is, in foreign parts, sold by apothecaries, being
there noted to be very medicinable against the stone in the reins. These
be a part of the commendations which some philosophical brains have
bestowed upon the freshwater Perch: yet they commend the Sea-Perch
which is known by having but one fin on his back, of which they say we
English see but a few, to be a much better fish.
The Perch grows slowly, yet will grow, as I have been credibly
informed, to be almost two feet long; for an honest informer told me,
such a one was not long since taken by Sir Abraham Williams, a
gentleman of worth, and a brother of the angle, that yet lives, and I wish
he may: this was a deep-bodied fish, and doubtless durst have devoured
a Pike of half his own length. For I have told you, he is a bold fish; such
a one as but for extreme hunger the Pike will not devour.
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