Rambles and Recollections 
 I of a Fly-Fifher 
 
 ILLUSTRATED. 
 WITH AN APPENDIX 
 
 CONTAINING AMPLE INSTRUCTIONS TO THE NOVICE, 
 
 INCLUSIVE OF FLY-MAKING, AND A LIST 
 
 OF REALLY USEFUL FLIES. 
 
 BY CLERICUS. 
 
 LONDON: 
 CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 
 
 MDCCC LIV. 
 
TO HIS FRIEND 
 
 THE REV. JOHN EAGLES, M.A. 
 
 AS A SMALL, THOUGH VERY SINCERE, TOKEN OF HIS ESTEEM, 
 THESE PAGES ARE DEDICATED 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 N launching his little book on the 
 uncertain tide of public opinion, 
 the author is fully confcious it can- 
 not but be amenable to many de- 
 fects. He humbly hopes, however, he may be 
 excufed for claiming in its behalf one merit , (if it can 
 be fo called ;) viz. that the fcenes and anecdotes it 
 contains, with the fubftance of the dialogues, are 
 not only not imaginative, but as compatible with 
 the ftricleft veracity, as the diftance of time that 
 has intervened fince they chiefly occurred, would 
 reafonably admit of. 
 
 Had he felt there was infufficient in the fimple 
 tale every fly-fimer has to tell of his paft expe- 
 rience of the " gentle art " to intereft the reader, 
 without the aid of fiction to embellifh it, he for 
 one would not have adventured a fmgle line on 
 the fubjeft. 
 
viii Preface. 
 
 In conformity with the matter-of-fadt contents 
 of the following pages, the author will fcarcely 
 perhaps be required to apologife for the term 
 " P if cat or" former writers and lovers of the fame 
 art have made ufe of, being adopted by him, inaf- 
 much as it is one with which he is moft familiar 
 in addreiling the frequent companion of his pifca- 
 torial rambles. 
 
 If the reader fhould be induced by aught that 
 meets his eye here to linger a little longer than 
 ufual, as a fly-fiftier or fketcher, in the enjoyment 
 of the fweet fcenery of his own favoured country ; 
 it will be ample compenfation to the author to 
 know, that the latter muft not only rife immea- 
 furably in his eftimation, but that time fo fpent 
 will never be regretted by him as fpent in vain. 
 
 CLERICUS. 
 
 Redland, 
 Feb. 5th, 1853. 
 
LIST OF PLATES. 
 
 Page 
 
 THIS NOBLE RIVER. Front if piece .... 33 
 
 TRYING A CAST OR TWO 31 
 
 AND GRAYLING TOO 34 
 
 WHAT A GLORIOUS TROUT 44. 
 
 SKILL verfus STRENGTH 68 
 
 THE ARTFUL DODGER 70 
 
 BANKS OF THE GRWYNE FAWR . . . . . 96 
 
 THE ANGLER'S REVERIE 132 
 
CORRIGENDA. 
 
 Page 4, for " ftream. You," read " ftream you," 
 15, for " we believe," read " I believe." 
 2 3 f or " to us >" read " to me," 
 27, yor " inftruftion, fome river," read " inftruftion. Some 
 
 river" 
 49, /or " fupper-time, I want," read " fupper-time, and I 
 
 want." 
 
 60, for " conquering reel," r^^/ " conquering wheel." 
 83, for " rambles, &c. with the fame river," read " rambles 
 
 and recolleclions, &c." 
 ill, <z/?f " puzzled brain," rnjert a comma. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " FROM morn till noon his light afliduous toil 
 The Angler plied ; and when the mid-day fun 
 Was high in heaven, under a fpreading tree 
 (Methinks I hear the hum amid its leaves !) 
 Upon a couch of wild-flowers down we fat 
 With healthful palates to our flight repaft 
 Of bifcuits, and of cheefe, and bottled milk } 
 The fward our table, and the boughs our roof." 
 
 DELTA. 
 
 LEASANT days were thofe, Pif- 
 cator, when we commenced ram- 
 bling together rod in hand through 
 the fair fields that fringe the Wye, 
 the Arrow, and the Dore.* The 
 firft, rightly indeed called a river the nobleft of 
 its kind ! the fecond, hardly deferving the name, 
 
 * The Wye needs no defcription, fo univerfally muft it 
 be known. The Arrow rifes almoft on the borders of 
 
 
4 Fly-FiJhing. 
 
 that delight his eyes, and occupy his hands, becaufe 
 the favourites of his choice bloom not for ever, 
 like the flowers he reads of above ? Ay, Pifca- 
 tor, and fhall you no longer fally forth in the early 
 days of fpring to ply your favourite art in the 
 fparkling ftream. You, more efpecially becaufe 
 you have undertaken the ferious, folemn office of 
 being a fiiher of men ? 
 
 One of the fame cloth with yourfelf, I pro- 
 teft I fee not the matter in the fame light as this ; 
 though I admit it to be a fair fubjecl: to differ 
 on. 
 
 Oh ! how I love the fweet country ! to ram- 
 ble on when the wild flowers are fo fragrant, and 
 the melody of the hedge-row warblers fo gladfome ! 
 Still, the honey that is fweeteft will pall upon the 
 tafte, and the rareft beauty ceafe to captivate for 
 ever. And if there be a famenefs in the lovelieft 
 of things and fweeteft that is wearifome, can we 
 expecl: an exception in the fober routine of every- 
 day duties ? We cannot force the ftrength of our 
 reluctant hands, or command the flow of our un- 
 willing thoughts, if they fail us in our ufual demands. 
 And if the entire throwing off, as it were, of the 
 load that preffes upon our moulders day after day 
 be indifpenfable, who, dear Pifcator, fhall begrudge 
 
Fly-Fifhing. 5 
 
 you and me our favourite mode of doing fo, pro- 
 vided we trefpafs not againft morality and reli- 
 gion ? 
 
 That a tafte like ours is no lefs trifling than 
 cruel has, I know, been alleged over and over again. 
 Trifling it may be in one fenfe ! but what of 
 amufement on this fide the grave, if too clofely 
 analyzed, is not amenable to the fame charge ? 
 
 Much has been faid of the Matter Cynic of 
 old, who fat in the funfhine all the day long, and 
 chuckled over the foibles of his fellows ; pluming 
 himfelf, no doubt, on his fuperior wifdom in doing 
 nothing ! If Diogenes has long fmce difappeared, 
 he has left difciples who largely partake of his 
 difpofition, though they have different modes of 
 fhowing it. 
 
 We hear of the Age of Gold, of Brafs, of Iron. 
 It is to be hoped the prefent may be called by no 
 harder name ftill ! fuch a (training at gnats and 
 fwallowing of camels, feems to be the order of the 
 day. To think, Pifcator, that the chofen amufe- 
 ment of our beloved father, the immortal Izaak, 
 ftiould be condemned as trifling ! the good old 
 man, from whofe lips no kindlier fentiments ever 
 flowed than when exhilarated by the balmy air, 
 and delighted with God's works around him, he 
 
6 Ffy'Fifhing. 
 
 rambled along the banks of the ftreams he loved 
 to frequent.* 
 
 And not only trifling but cruel ! So fays the 
 noble bard (by inference at leaft) in his memorable 
 couplet. Fit judge indeed of cruelty ! Perhaps 
 there is no ftronger evidence of ignorance and 
 prefumption in another, than to hear him vo- 
 lunteer a decided opinion on a fubjecl: he can 
 know nothing about. How few reflect when 
 they charge the angler with cruelty, how clofely, 
 if not abfolutely, they trench upon the femblance 
 of the like charge, in the cafe of Him who faid to 
 Peter, " Go thou to the fea and caft an hook, 
 and take up the fim that firft cometh up ? " If 
 ought that was unufual attended this mode of fifh- 
 ing, fuch as our dainty accufers do not hefitate 
 to allege, would our Lord thus dire6tly have com- 
 manded his difciple to pra&ife it? Again, the 
 
 * " We feldom take the name of God into our mouths 
 but it is either to praife Him or to pray to Him : if others 
 uie it vainly in the midft of their recreations, fo vainly as if 
 they meant to conjure, I muft tell you it is neither our fault 
 nor our cuftom ; we proteft againft it. But pray remember 
 I accufe nobody ; for as I would not make a watery dif- 
 courfe, fo I would not put too much vinegar into it ; nor 
 would I raife the reputation of my own art by the diminu- 
 tion or ruin of another's." IZAAK WALTON. 
 
Fly-FiJJiing. 7 
 
 names of the moft diftinguifhed and benevolent of 
 men* might be quoted, whofe delight it was to 
 haunt the ftreams from time to time as our cuftom 
 is men, too, unfurpafled in the varied walks of 
 literature, philofophy, and fcience men of ftrong 
 minds and undoubted honefty, whom no cafuiftry 
 would have induced to ply their favourite art an- 
 other moment, if they felt it was at the expenfe of 
 the undue fufferings of a poor dumb animal. 
 
 Be pleafed to remember I am advocating Fly- 
 fifhing only a very different thing from angling 
 for hours with a worm, which I confefs has no 
 charms for me. 
 
 If a trout be intended for "our food (and who 
 can doubt it who has ever tafted one frem, and 
 firm and pink ?) I am at a lofs to know, how its 
 fufferings are at all likely to be greater when taken 
 by a fly-fimer than in a net. A cold-blooded 
 animal, it is very certain there is lefs of nervous 
 fenfibility connected with it than in the cafe of a 
 warm-blooded one. This has been proved over 
 and over again to the entire conviction of the moft 
 ftubborn of fceptics, when he witnefled how eagerly 
 
 * Need I mention other names than thofe of Paley, Nel- 
 fon, Profeflbr Wilfon of Edinburgh, Sir Humphrey Davy, 
 Benjamin Weft, and Coleridge ? 
 
Fly-FiJhing. 
 
 the fame trout rofe and was caught with a fly he 
 had lately carried away flicking fail in his mouth.* 
 
 What worthy brother of the craft would ever 
 think of capturing a fifti without putting an imme- 
 diate end to its exiftence by a {harp blow on the 
 edge of his bafket, or the butt end of his rod? 
 Whereas the contents of a net caft higgledy pig- 
 gledy on the more who has not witneiTed with 
 regret the poor creatures gafping by degrees their 
 life away? 
 
 Oh ! if I thought I was putting one of God's 
 creatures to torture for my diverfion, I would in- 
 ftantly throw my favourite rod into the fire, with 
 all the feathers and hackles I have been accumulat- 
 ing for years, though it would, I know, torture me 
 to do fo. But fo convinced am I that I do nothing 
 of the kind, when the fmiling Spring beckons me 
 away to the pleafant ftreams ; that I am anxious 
 to recommend my favourite amufement to all 
 (more efpecially) of my own cloth, to whom the 
 country is dear with its fweet accompaniments. 
 
 Ye reverend brethren of mine (that is, if any of 
 you will condefcend to glance at thefe pages) who 
 
 * See Sir H. Davy's " Salmonia," than which there is no 
 more delightful book on this fubjech 
 
Fly-Fifhing. 
 
 figh for reft, entire reft of mind and body j I can 
 conceive no more charming panacea for your real 
 or imaginary troubles, than a few weeks' rambling, 
 fuch as I would recommend, with a fifhing-rod in 
 your hand, and a fketch-book, if you pleafe, in 
 your pocket. 5 * You know how dark the clouds 
 are that occafionally track our fteps down the 
 path of duty we have to purfue. The fcenes we 
 muft continually witnefs how fickening to the 
 heart that has any feeling for the wants and 
 woes of others ! the volume of human nature that 
 is ever before our eyes, with every conceivable 
 illuftration of its forrows and its fins how pain- 
 fully does it unfold to us every particular of its 
 difmal ftory. 
 
 * " I have made you idlers at home and abroad, but I 
 hope to fome purpofe ; and, I truft, you will confefs the 
 time beftowed upon angling has not been thrown away. 
 The moft important principle perhaps in life is to have a 
 purfuit a ufeful one, if poflible, and at all events an inno- 
 cent one. And the fcenes you have enjoyed the contem- 
 plations to which they have led, and the exercife in which 
 we have indulged, have, I am fure, been very falutary to 
 the body, and, I hope, to the mind. I have always found 
 a peculiar effeft from this kind of life ; it has appeared to 
 bring me back to early times and feelings, and to create 
 again the hopes and happinefs of youthful days." 
 
 SIR H. DAVY. 
 
io Fly-Fi/hing. 
 
 If we dared repeat half we hear, or difclofe 
 half we fee, how much of the tinfel would be 
 flopped off fociety's gilded furface. To read the 
 marriage-fervice to youthful ears, that will hear in 
 it no fyllable that feals not for the future the un- 
 alloyed happinefs the prefent hour fo plentifully 
 provides and then to be called off to repeat, with 
 fcarcely a moment's breathing-time, to ears no lefs 
 youthful, the fad, fad words, " earth to earth, afhes 
 to afties, duft to duft" the knell, it may be, to 
 a lorn mother's -heart, how cruelly the Deftroyer 
 has robbed her of her firftborn treafure j fuch 
 is no infrequent fcene we have to bear a promi- 
 nent part in. 
 
 And then the fame beaten track of our every- 
 day duties our clofe confinement to one particu- 
 lar locality the conftant application that is necef- 
 fary to ftudies connected with our profeffion ; and 
 laft, though not leaft, the difficulty of writing 
 week after week (greater now I believe than ever) 
 to keep even pace with the growing intelligence 
 of the people ; all this, I can afiure you, good 
 reader, is no trifle. 
 
 That there are funny intervals to cheer us, 
 when we have reafon to conclude our efforts in 
 our Matter's caufe have not been quite unattended 
 with fuccefs, I am free to confefs. Still, if any 
 
Fly-Fifhing. \ i 
 
 ftand in need of entire relaxation occafionally, I 
 feel fure no active member of my cloth ought to 
 be excluded from the number. 
 
 As weak as other men, phyfically as well as 
 mentally, entire change of fcene and employment 
 is no lefs indifpenfable to us. And though perhaps 
 pleafure and profit may be combined to a far 
 greater extent in a month's vifit to other mores in 
 the fludy of men and manners ; travelling, we 
 muft not forget, in its cheapeft form, is an expen- 
 five recreation too much fo, I fear, for the nar- 
 row pockets of the Clergy in general. Accuftomed 
 for fome years paft, to leave home (no unhappy 
 one by the way) for the laft week in May, and the 
 whole of June, not the leaft tranquil hours of my 
 life have been fpent amid Nature's moft fecluded 
 retreats, on the banks of fome mountain-torrent, 
 or babbling brook, or majeftic river. 
 
 Oh ! how rapidly do the winged hours fly, 
 when the eye, the hand, the foot, have full occu- 
 pation.* The miles we travel then over hill and 
 
 * What a pitiable objeft is a man at a fafhionable water- 
 ing-place, with nothing to do but to walk up and down, 
 up and down with the crowd on fome favourite lounging- 
 place, with no variation but a periodical peep at the Papers, 
 or a dim of goflip ferved up to him well feafonecl with 
 vinegar and pepper. 
 
12 
 
 Fly-Fiflring. 
 
 dale, mountain and moor ; can they be of the 
 ordinary dimenfions we have been fo long accuf- 
 tomed to ? furely, moft furely, they muft be morn 
 of their due proportions ? And the cares too that 
 have kept us fb anxious by day, and fleeplefs at 
 night, where are they now ? Borne on the wings 
 of the bracing breeze, or melted away in the 
 charming funfhine ! A total change feems to come 
 over us ; endowed with the new-born ftrength of 
 young giants ; confident we can grapple fuccefT- 
 fully with difficulties, that of late feemed impracti- 
 cable ; buoyant, as a bird on the wing ; whence the 
 marvellous revolution in our feelings, that clothes 
 everything we fee or do in fuch rofeate hues ? 
 
 Health and exercife, good reader, is the magic 
 means by which we can thus climb up far, far 
 above the murky atmofphere of our old aches and 
 pains, and leave for a while this troublefome world 
 of ours behind us. And the road to the one is em- 
 braced, I feel aflured, in great meafure, in the 
 intimate companionmip of the other. 
 
 To put you in the fame way I have fo fuccefT- 
 fully trodden myfelf, of fecuring the moft invaluable 
 of earthly bleffings, is my chief reafon for ven- 
 turing to obtrude my feeble and inexperienced pen 
 on the notice of the public. 
 
Fly-FiJking. 13 
 
 Hundreds, I know, would gladly follow my ex- 
 ample, were they not deterred by the difficulties 
 they imagine to be infeparable from the art of Fly- 
 riming. It will, then, be my endeavour in the 
 following pages, to mow, that thefe difficulties 
 have no exiftence ; and that Fly-fifhing would be 
 as eaiy to all, who defire to pra&ife it, as it is in- 
 deed afTociated with a thoufand innocent pleafures 
 to thofe who do. 
 
 Although no great mafter of the art, I know 
 quite enough of it, to clothe every hour of a 
 month's fojourn in the moft retired of fpots, with 
 fuch tranquil enjoyment, as to make me always 
 look forward to its annual recurrence with un- 
 feigned pleafure. Rarely, if ever, coming up to my 
 friend Pifcator, (who I fufpecT: has a dam of otter's 
 blood in his veins,) when the fpeckled beauties are 
 brought up for our infpe&ion at the end of the day, 
 I generally fecure quite fufficient fport in this way, 
 to keep up the intereft of a long day's walk. 
 
 An innocent, healthful, happy recreation, I have 
 invariably found it ; and if, kind reader, you will 
 have patience to accompany me through the fol- 
 lowing pages, I am not without a confident hope, 
 that I mail fucceed in inducing you to try your 
 hand at it alfo. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 " The well diflembled fly, 
 The rod fine-tapering with elaftic fpring 
 Snatch 'd from the hoary fteed the floating line, 
 And all thy (lender wat'ry ftores prepare." 
 
 THOMSON. 
 
 O W often when I firft commenced 
 fifhing with flies that looked irre- 
 fiftible, when they left the {hop- 
 keeper's hands, have I been forely 
 mortified to find them, after a 
 a wing ; or perhaps with 
 Of courfe, if 
 
 minus' 
 
 few throws, " 
 
 the hackle completely unravelled. 
 
 you buy your flies of parties you know and can 
 
 trufr, you will be in little danger of finding yourfelf 
 
 in a fimilar predicament. But it is not always 
 
 you have this opportunity, and then you mufr. take 
 
 what you can get. 
 
 Let me earneftly recommend you, if you are a 
 novice, to learn to make your own flies. You 
 
Fly-Fifliing. 15 
 
 will at firft find it an awkward bufmefs, not only 
 from its novelty > but from the diftruft you will 
 naturally feel in yourfelf, in grappling with a diffi- 
 culty fo unneceflarily magnified in books you may 
 have read on the fubjecl:. But when you have 
 accomplimed one fly, and, ftill more, killed a trout 
 with it, there is little fear of your fucceeding ever 
 after to your heart's content. 
 
 Now, many will tell you that a rough, unfightly 
 fly is as good for your purpofe, if not better, than 
 -the neateft that was ever made. I believe this to 
 be a complete fallacy. It is very true, that an 
 experienced hand, who has never tied a fly in his 
 life otherwife than in a rough manner, is a deadly 
 enemy to the finny race. But am I to be told 
 that he would not be equally deadly, if not more fo, 
 if his flies were tied in the neateft poffible man- 
 ner ? Becaufe you are directed to make fay a 
 palmer, (which, by the way, though called a fly, 
 is neither more nor lefs than a hairy caterpillar 
 that falls, we believe, curled up on the water, and 
 is thus reprefented on a hook,) are you to make a 
 point of winding the hackle fo irregularly, that the 
 fibres mould point different ways ? Is it not bet- 
 ter to try and imitate nature as clofely as poflible, 
 (alas ! how fadly do the moft fkilful of us fail in 
 
1 6 Fly-Fifhing. 
 
 this refpecl: !) by winding the hackle with fuch 
 care, as to take the fame direction ? 
 
 If I am not miftaken in my views refpecting a 
 palmer, there is no fear of my being fo in the 
 ordinary flies it is cuftomary to make. 
 
 Take a May-fly the one, perhaps, the beft 
 known, in your hands, and examine it well. Oh ! 
 how dazzling in beauty, and delicate in form does 
 it fpring from Nature's incomparable mould ! 
 How vain the attempt to imitate its gauze-like 
 wings the brilliancy of its prominent eyes the 
 matchlefs grace of its (lender body ! What then ! 
 Are you to give up the attempt in defpair becaufe 
 of this impoffibility ? Juft as reafonably may the 
 painter caft his brufh away, and thruft his can- 
 vafs into the fire, becaufe, excel as he may, he 
 falls fo wondroufly fhort of the lovely fcene that 
 fires his foul. No, you are not to give up the at- 
 tempt you are to do your beft. 
 
 Endeavour to tie your flies as neatly as you can, 
 and imitate as clofely as poffible the natural ones, 
 in colour, fhape, and proportions, though the lat- 
 ter fhould, I think, be reduced in the cafe of large 
 flies. 
 
 And here I cannot help faying a few words, 
 though with fome degree of hefitation, as they 
 
Fly-Fifhing. 17 
 
 muft be in oppofition to thofe of a certain Profef- 
 for, of no mean notoriety, on the fubjeft of his 
 " non-imitation theory." 
 
 Though many years have pafled, fince I filled 
 the lowly pofition of an Oxford Under-graduate, 
 I have not quite forgotten that, if there was one 
 name in the whole vocabulary of our vernacular 
 that infpired me with efpecial awe, it was that of 
 Profeflbr. What a giant in intellectual attain- 
 ments did I infer the proud pofleflbr of fuch a 
 name muft neceflarily be ! And though it has be- 
 come more common now, (as the firfl ftreet you 
 enter in a town of any pretenfions will give you 
 an opportunity of feeing, if you will only examine 
 the plates on the doors,) I have not quite loft 
 every veftige of my old feelings. If, then, I pre- 
 fume to differ with the learned man in queftion, it 
 will, I truft, be in a manner that will not infringe 
 upon my refpecl: for him. 
 
 Without quoting his words on Bacon's defini- 
 tion of fimulation and diffimulation, the worthy 
 Profeflbr boldly ftrikes out, by alleging that " there 
 is, in truth, little or no connection between the 
 art of angling and the fcience of entomology ; and 
 therefore the fuccefs of the angler, in by far the 
 greater proportion of cafes, does not depend on 
 c 
 
1 8 Fly-Fi/hing. 
 
 the refemblance which fubfifts between his artifi- 
 cial fly and the natural infect." And again he 
 fays, cc that in nine cafes out of ten a fifti feizes 
 upon an artificial fly as upon an infect or moving 
 creature c Jut generis J and not on account of its 
 exact and fuccefsful refemblance to any accuftomed 
 or familiar object." 
 
 Thefe aflertions are made, I believe, chiefly on 
 the ground of the utter want of refemblance of 
 artificial Salmon-flies to any " creature that lives, 
 and moves, and has its being." 
 
 Now, gentle reader, with your permiflion, I 
 will leave Salmon-flies out of the queftion, as I am 
 expreffly engaged in writing on the fubject of flies 
 I wifh to recommend you to make, and ufe to the 
 coft of the unhappy trout. 
 
 That palmers may be ufed on ordinary occa- 
 fions throughout the feafon, I do not deny ; but 
 even thefe general favourites are neglected by the 
 finny tribe, when flies of fome large clafs begin to 
 fwarm upon the water. The truth of this I have 
 experienced myfelf over and over again. 
 
 The large " dark blue" for inftance, the firft fly 
 that can be called a killer how often have I taken 
 trout after trout with an artificial one I felected 
 from my book which appeared to me the moil 
 
Fly- Piffling. 19 
 
 like it. More than this ; how often alfo have I 
 failed to " rife 19 a fmgle fifh, when the likenefs to 
 the above fell fhort, as far as the colour was con- 
 cerned. If, then, I fee a fly upon the water eagerly 
 feized, and I pick out its likenefs (in my opinion 
 at leaft) from a hundred others, and find it in- 
 ftantly fucceed ; what becomes in this cafe of the 
 Profeflbr's cc non-imitation theory ? " I am fpeak- 
 ing (be it remembered) of flies common to the 
 rivers of the fouth and weft of England, and not 
 of thofe in the north though the principle, I con- 
 tend, holds good in either cafe. 
 
 Again, when the March-brown is well on the 
 water, you may as well throw your hat there with 
 a chance of catching fifti, as any other fly. It is 
 true you may get a fulky " rife" or two at a palmer, 
 but, in nine cafes out of ten, the March-brown 
 the fifh will have, or none at all. Now, fuppofe 
 in this cafe you were to follow the Profeflbr's ad- 
 vice, and fubftitute for the fly you confider moft 
 like the one on the water, fome fancy fly of an 
 oppofite colour, (" Sam Slick," for inftance, or 
 " Long Tom" no very elegant names the Pro- 
 feffor will admit, though he elfewhere calls angling 
 " an elegant amufement,") and you found the lat- 
 ter utterly rejected, while the former killed fifh 
 after fifh, would it not prove it to be erroneous ? 
 
2O 
 
 Fly-FiJhing. 
 
 How well do I remember a cafe in point while 
 fifhing many years ago in the Wye, which I began 
 "flgg' m g" at about ten in the morning and con- 
 tinued doing fo until twelve with very little fuccefs. 
 When lo ! all at once, the river feemed perfectly 
 alive with fifh ; though it was very mortifying, I 
 can tell you, to find that not one of them would 
 notice my flies. At length I did fucceed in land- 
 ing a trout that rofe at me, evidently with much 
 doubt, though fufficiently in earneft to enable me 
 to ftrike and fecure him before he difcovered his 
 miftake. In prefling his gullet out dropped a 
 pellet compofed entirely of "grannams."* I no 
 fooner faw this than I put on, not one only, but 
 two " grannams" with a " cochabonddu" in the 
 centre. By half-paft one o'clock (a little under 
 three-quarters of an hour) I filled my bafket, which 
 is no fmall one, to the brim, chiefly with trout and 
 grayling. Not fatisfied with this I returned home 
 (about ten minutes' walk) to unload ; and within 
 the next hour I had to retrace my fteps to do the 
 fame again. Slaughter fuch as this, within two 
 hours, I have never witnefled before or fmce ! A 
 
 * Some years have pafled fmce this happened, ftill I feel 
 pretty fure the fly was a " grannam" 
 
Fly-Fijhing. 
 
 21 
 
 memorable event in the annals of my fly-fifhing 
 career, it completely undermines the novel notion 
 the Profeflbr afliimes, viz. " of fifhing with flies 
 which differ in colour and appearance from thofe 
 which prevail upon the water/' 
 
 Once more, let any reader who has had the 
 good fortune to be plying the gentle art when the 
 May-fly was well on the water, tell me of what 
 ufe its oppofite in the artificial way, in colour, 
 fhape, and fize would have been ? Not feldom 
 within my remembrance have I gone on killing 
 trout after trout with a fly of this clafs, when others 
 without it have fifhed the fame water, often ahead 
 of me, with very indifferent fuccefs. 
 
 I am free to admit that the neateft fly that was 
 ever made falls miferably fhort of the beautiful 
 infects the fly-fimer is fo converfant with. Still, 
 if you examine a well-made fly in fuch a manner 
 as it is prefented to a fifh looking up at it, it is not 
 fo very unlike a natural one as to be amenable to 
 the Profeflbr's ridicule. I have proved this over 
 and over again by exhibiting one to ladies and 
 children, and hearing from their lips the remark 
 that " it certainly is very like a fly." 
 
 That a fervile imitation of a natural fly is necef- 
 fary, I .by no means aflert. On the contrary, 
 
22 
 
 Fly-FiJbing. 
 
 though a trout will dart from a great depth and 
 feize a gnat of the minuteft fize, I do not find, if 
 he is at all hungry, he is difinclined to refufe an 
 artificial fly, if in colour, fhape, and fize it be in 
 imitation of one on the water, though in the eyes 
 of the Profeflbr fo marvelloufly little like. I have 
 no doubt at all that there is juft fufficient refem- 
 blance in a well-made artificial fly to a natural one, 
 if properly managed, to tempt a trout to try the 
 tafte of it. Hence it follows that (lightly ftained or 
 ruffled water is all in favour of aiding the deception. 
 That any new and ftrange notion (the newer 
 and ftranger the better) will enlift plenty of difci- 
 ples in its favour, I have only to fearch the annals 
 of quackery, and that not only in matters of 
 medicine, but of everything elfe. Have you for- 
 gotten how a few years ago the vaunted efficacy 
 of brandy and fait as a remedy was to flop for 
 the future the doctor's viiits, (what a bleffing you 
 will exclaim !) and cure every ailment under the 
 fun ? That a few perfons of nervous tempera- 
 ment tried it, in full reliance on its virtues, and 
 received benefit, (not from the mixture, but from 
 the confidence they felt in it re-a&ing in a bene- 
 ficial way on their nerves, and inducing them to 
 beftir themfelves more than ufual,) I do not deny : 
 
Fly-Fiftiing. 23 
 
 any more than I am inclined to deny that the 
 believer in the Profeflbr's theory may tempt a few 
 trout to their ruin by the perfevering employment 
 of " Sam Slick/' or " Long Tom." It would be 
 a great treat to us, however, to fee him fifh fairly 
 in the fame water with his favourites fide by fide 
 with friend Pifcator in the height of the May- 
 fly feafon. If he did not at the end of the day 
 devoutly wifti the ProfefTor and his quackery (I 
 mean it in no offenfive fenfe) had never been in- 
 troduced to his acquaintance, I would almoft un- 
 dertake to fwallow them all put together at a 
 mouthful, with " Sam Slick" and " Long Tom" 
 into the bargain. 
 
 I forbear faying more on this fubject for fear of 
 exhaufting your patience, which, if a fincere can- 
 didate for pifcatorial renown, you will require in 
 no fmall proportion. I would only add by way of 
 conclufion that if any of the Profeflbr's flies, with 
 very inelegant names, prove at any time deftruc- 
 tive, my own experience allures me that it is be- 
 caufe they refemble (though it may be diftantly) 
 fome fly on the water that trout have an efpecial 
 relifh for. 
 
 For your benefit, if you are a novice, I have 
 furnifhed you with a lift of flies in the Appendix, 
 
24 Fly-FiJhing. 
 
 which I have experienced to be really ufeful, con- 
 fining it exprefily to as narrow a fcale as poffible. 
 Knowing them to be killers in their feafon I have 
 the more pleafure in recommending them to your 
 favour, perfe&ly fure that if you handle them pro- 
 perly you will find them killers too. 
 
 Armed with one of Copham's beft rods, a reel, 
 line, collar, and flies of the right fort, believe me, 
 you would look more killing than when drefled in 
 your beft ball-room attire of incomparable cut. 
 Looking a killing fellow and being one are, how- 
 ever, two different matters, as you will find to 
 your coft when you firft commence operations. 
 Flourifhing your little " Copkam" as if you had a 
 favourite whip in your hand, the firft found that 
 meets your ear in all probability will be the loud 
 crack you hear with fuch delight, when wielding 
 the latter on the driving-box. Not at all alarmed, 
 but on the contrary rather charmed with fuch 
 mufic as this, you will perfevere with true pifca- 
 torial patience, wondering, perhaps, no trout has 
 the good tafte to make your acquaintance. Till 
 at length fome mifhap that ftops your career, of 
 entanglement, or what not, will reveal the melan- 
 choly truth, viz. that for the laft half-hour or 
 more, you have been fifhing u minus" all your 
 flies. 
 
Ffy-Ftfi&g. 
 
 Now, though my principal aim is to divert fly- 
 fifhing, with all its accompaniments, of imaginary 
 difficulties, and to make it as eafy of attainment 
 to you as I have found it myfelf ; it is neverthe- 
 lefs an art, like everything elfe worth knowing, 
 not to be acquired without attention, perfeverance, 
 and care. 
 
 Think not, then, becaufe you have fmacked off 
 your flies, it is a hopelefs cafe, though a dozen or 
 two more (hare the fame fate ; but rather take 
 courage on being aflured, that your prefent de- 
 ftru&ivenefs is no bad omen of your future excel- 
 lence. In handling a rod, the wrift fhould be the 
 principal agent employed in propelling the line at- 
 tached to it. And it is by too quick a turn of the 
 wrift, before the whole of the line is expanded 
 backwards, that the deftru&ion of your flies is 
 caufed. If, then, you can hit ofF the exacl: mo- 
 ment, after a gentle fweep behind, to propel the 
 line forwards, you will have learnt the true fecret 
 of good throwing. And it has, I believe, been 
 often obferved, that the tyro who is too cautious 
 and flow ever to whifk ofF a fly, rarely, if ever, 
 becomes a (kilful brother of the craft. 
 
 The lefs heavily your flies drop on the water 
 
 ' Like the fall of the rofe-leaf 
 We'll drop the light fly" 
 
26 Fly-Fifliing. 
 
 the more will you imitate the motion of the fra- 
 gile infecls that are floating around you. Throw 
 quickly ; ranging with care every likely hole and 
 corner in the ftill deeps, as well as every eye and 
 tail of the ftreams you frequent. Throw, as if your 
 aim were at the diftant fhore ; fuddenly checking 
 your line, to make the flies fall in a light and na- 
 tural manner upon the bofom of the water. When 
 you fee a fifh rife and turn his head, which you 
 will be able to do, if you keep a (harp look out, 
 move your rod flightly up, or on one fide, in order 
 that the hook may take efFecl: in his mouth, be- 
 fore he has time to ejecl: it. This is called 
 "Jinking" a very neceflary part of your bufi- 
 nefs, I can allure you from experience. 
 
 Your flies fhould be ever on the move ; and as 
 quickly as they fall upon the water, begin hu- 
 mouring them, by flightly checking their motion 
 down the ftream; You are cautioned by fome 
 writers " never" to draw your flies againft the 
 ftream ! Friend Pifcator will, however, agree with 
 me, I know, in giving you the oppofite advice, and 
 telling you to do fo occafionally, though of courfe 
 in an eaiy and very cautious manner. A fly 
 ftruggling for life in the ruming water would na- 
 turally at times endeavour to flutter againft the 
 
Fly-Fifhing. 27 
 
 current ; and I believe this is the favourable mo- 
 ment the wary fifh awaits, to enable him to make 
 a fuccefsful onflaught. Confequently to draw 
 your flies delicately againft the ftream at inter- 
 vals is, in my humble opinion, by no means fo 
 unnatural as it is often reprefented. 
 
 I cannot conclude thefe remarks, without a 
 word or two of advice, what kind of water you 
 ought firft to try your hand upon. Let it be of 
 fuch a nature as will give you every favourable 
 opportunity, that you can need, of acquiring real, 
 practical inftrucliion, fome river well flocked with 
 fifh not trout only, but every kind that will rife 
 at a fly, wide, open, and unencumbered with 
 trees is the volume, not of paper, but of water, 
 I recommend you to learn your elementary lef- 
 fons in. 
 
 Such a volume will amufe and inftrucl: you to 
 your heart's content, that is, if the latter be of the 
 true Waltonian ftamp. 
 
 Suppofe you fix on the Wye to " throw" off" in, 
 (I believe you can felecl: no better river for your 
 purpofe at the proper feafon of the year,) you will 
 moft probably wet your barbed fteel in the blood 
 of fome bold little laftfpring, that will come (throw 
 as awkwardly as you may) if you put on a fmall 
 
28 Fly-Fifhmg. 
 
 red hackle, or palmer fparkling with gold twift. 
 Again and again will you find thefe plucky little 
 fellows tugging at you with all their might and 
 main, which is no trifle, confidering their diminu- 
 tive fize. 
 
 When you have fairly killed about a dozen laft- 
 fprings, you will, in all probability, fall in with a 
 trout. Whether or not you make him your own, 
 is another matter ; certainly not, if you nervoufly 
 ftrike too foon ; but if, with the eye of a lynx, 
 you watch him taking in your fly, and then while 
 turning away with it, you deliberately ftrike, as I 
 have elfewhere inftructed you ; you will afTuredly 
 hook him, or I know nothing of a prophet's vera- 
 city. If you find you have fucceeded in hooking 
 a fifh of any fize, bring him immediately you can 
 under command, by winding up your line, and 
 keeping your rod very little inclined from an upright 
 pofition. Of courfe, if he be above the average 
 dimenfions, and begin to dafh madly about, fight- 
 ing gallantly for his life, you muft not attempt to 
 hold him with the line you have juft fhortened ; 
 but don't give him an inch more than you can 
 help, and that with fo reluctant a hold upon it, as 
 it lies between your hand and the rod, that will 
 gradually wear out his ftrength, while ftruggling 
 
Fly-Fifbing. 29 
 
 hard to get away. When you fee he is almoft 
 exhaufted, draw him gently (keeping as much out 
 of fight as poflible) upon the more. 
 
 If riming from a high bank, you will perhaps 
 require a landing-net under fuch circumftances 
 (though I confefs I rarely ufe one myfelf). There 
 is generally fome little nook or cranny, be the 
 bank ever fo fteep, into which, if you have pa- 
 tience, you will be able to draw a tired trout. 
 Take my advice, (I fpeak feelingly, having broken 
 fundry tops from not acting up to it,) and never 
 try to lift a trout of good fize out of the water 
 with your rod. With a flight plunge or two he 
 would be fure to break his hold, or your tackle, 
 and, if motionlefs, his dead weight would fo drain 
 your rod, as to make you repent the foolifh at- 
 tempt. 
 
 With a dozen or fo of laflfprings, three or four 
 trout, a grayling, and fome few roach and chub in 
 your bafket, which the Wye will give you an op- 
 portunity of putting there what more for a novice 
 would you require ? If you are not above taking 
 good advice, making ufe of the ordinary fenfes you 
 may be blefled with, I fee no reafon why you 
 mould not return home fimilarly furnifhed from 
 the banks of the lovely Wye. 
 
30 Fly-Fifoing. 
 
 In cafe, however, you referable an acquaintance 
 of mine, who afTured me, with a very knowing look, 
 he could learn the moft difficult as well as the 
 eafieft of arts, from farming to fly-fifhing, within 
 three months ; and in felf-reliance defpife the ru- 
 diments of the leflbn I have taken fuch pains to 
 inftil upon you ; I mould not be at all furprifed if 
 you were to follow the example of a friend Pifca- 
 tor is not unacquainted with, who did, after fome 
 days' continuous labour, contrive to hook a trout 
 not much larger than a minnow ! Kindly as my 
 brother Pifcator interceded for the little captive, 
 that it might live on a few months longer in the 
 fparkling ftream ; it was all in vain. " A fifti is 
 a fifh," exclaimed the proud captor, and at once 
 depofited his prize in folitary grandeur in a moft 
 capacious bafket he had flung round his fhoulders. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 " AND where is he, the Angler by whofe fide 
 That livelong day delightedly I roam'd, 
 While life to both a funny paftime feem'd ? 
 Afk of the winds that from the Atlantic blow 
 When laft they ftirr'd the wild-flowers on his grave ! " 
 
 DELTA. 
 
 lERY good, very good indeed ! " 
 were the words that fell by no 
 means mufically, I muft confefs, 
 upon my ears, as I was trying a 
 caft or two for the firft time upon 
 the Wye that flowed within a few fields of my 
 abode. 
 
 As to the words, there was nothing in them 
 that was not fufficiently civil and encouraging ; 
 but fpoken in fo confident a tone as to betoken 
 downright rudenefs, or downright honefty, they 
 induced me at once to turn round and fcrutinize 
 the fpeaker. Tall, upright, hard-featured, with a 
 
3 2 Fly-FiJhing. 
 
 non-defcript kind of cap on his head, half-military, 
 half " Monkeylfh" a jacket of all colours that are 
 dingy, fave the original one ; and inexpreffibles 
 oh ! what would a fpinfter of refpe&able years fay 
 of the wondrous patchwork ? an enormous rod 
 in his hand, and as enormous a bafket in pro- 
 portion flung round his fhoulders very like Ro- 
 binfon Crufoe in the eyes of Friday, I imagine, did 
 the individual who fpoke appear to me. Such in 
 facl: was his trim, fuch his equipments in the fim- 
 ing way, that had I fuddenly come acrofs him on 
 fome moonlight night, I fhould have taken him at 
 once for a poacher of the defperate fchool bent on 
 mifchief. 
 
 That I was never more miftaken in my life, the 
 following colloquy will abundantly mow : 
 
 Stranger. You handle your rod, fir, as if you 
 knew fomething about fly-fiftiing. 
 
 Glericus. Why, my good man, to tell you the 
 honeft truth, I have fifhed fo little of late that I was 
 juft trying a few throws when you came up to fee 
 what fort of a hand I might make of it. 
 
 Stranger. No fear of your fuccefs, fir ; fly-fifh- 
 ing is like fwimming, once learnt never forgotten. 
 There was fome talk of a ftranger coming to the 
 court who had a tafte for it, and I thought Pd juft 
 
Fly-Fifhing. 33 
 
 draw nigh here this morning (I hope no offence) 
 to try and fall in with you, for I take you to be 
 the fame gentleman. 
 
 Glericus. I conclude then you belong to the 
 gentle brotherhood ; though your rod and bafket 
 look as if trout and laftfprings would hardly fatisfy 
 you. 
 
 Stranger. Lord love you, fir, what fhould I do 
 without my fifhing-rod ? This noble river there's 
 not an inch of it for miles that I'm not acquainted 
 with, ay, as well as my own little cot on yonder 
 fear ! The gentry about here all know me, and 
 (God blefs them !) they never deny me leave to 
 fifh. This great rod I ufe for pike, hundreds of 
 which I may fay I have taken. Deftru&ive brutes ! 
 though they pay me well enough in fport and pro- 
 fit ; and the more I catch the more will you and 
 the like of you be pleafed. 
 
 Clericus. But you fifti for trout fometimes, don't 
 you ? 
 
 Stranger. Oh ! yes, and falmon too. I have 
 killed falmon not far from this fpot between twenty 
 and thirty pounds weight. 
 
 Clericus. You have ? 
 
 Stranger. Yes, and you could do the fame if 
 you liked. 
 
 D 
 
34 Fly-FiJhing, 
 
 Ckricus. How many do you ufually kill in the 
 feafon ? 
 
 Stranger. I can't boaft much of the number. 
 It is hard work too, and mighty tiring when they 
 wont rife.* 
 
 Ckricus. So much fo indeed, and with fuch 
 little encouragement, that I mail flick to the trout 
 and laftfprings. 
 
 Stranger. Ay, and grayling too, which run 
 large, particularly in the ftreams above us. May 
 I be fo bold as to afk for a fight of your flies ? 
 
 Clericus. Oh ! by all means. I fear you wont 
 think much of them, as they were chiefly intended 
 for a narrow ftream I have of late refided near, 
 many a long mile from this. 
 
 Stranger. Pretty flies enough, fir, but they wont 
 do for the Wye. 
 
 Clericus. Why not ? if you will permit the fha- 
 dow of a poor pun to fall upon your favourite 
 river. 
 
 * The efpecial recommendation of ordinary Fly-riming 
 is the fmall amount of incumbrance that attends it in all 
 its accompaniments. Not fo, however, in the cafe of Sal- 
 mon-riming. The rod and tackle alone are burdenfome, 
 to fay nothing of the labour of handling the fame for hours 
 without a rife, as is ufually the cafe, at leaft in the fouth 
 and weft of England. 
 
AND GRAYLING TOO.' 
 
Fly-Fifhing. 35 
 
 Stranger. Not enough blues, and thofe you 
 have too dark and large by half. Thefe red flies 
 are well enough for trout early in the feafon, but 
 they wont do here ; nor are the May-flies of the 
 leaft ufe. Take my advice and make your flies 
 (if you do make them) very fine,* and flick chiefly 
 to the blues. 
 
 Clericus. Many of thefe flies have been in my 
 book for years ; but I muft fet to work the firft 
 leifure morning and fee what I can do. 
 
 Stranger. In the mean time, fir, my Miflis will 
 fupply you, and with fuch flies too, that you will 
 not trouble to make many yourfelf. 
 
 Clericus. What a lucky fellow you are to get 
 your wife to make flies for you ; more efpecially as 
 I fee with regret that you have loft your right hand* 
 
 Stranger. Thank God ! though fuch is my mif- 
 fortune, I can ftill make a fly myfelf, though of 
 courfe not fo neat as I could wifh.f I loft my 
 hand, fir, when fighting for my king and country, 
 (God blefs both,) and, accordingly, was compelled 
 
 * Small flies are almoft invariably the beft for large rivers 
 in this part of the country, and the reverfe for brooks. 
 
 f This poor man had an iron hook to fupply the place 
 of his loft hand ; it was really wonderful to fee how well he 
 could tie a fly. 
 
3<5 Fly-Fifliing. 
 
 to leave the fervice on a fmall penfion. What 
 with that the trifle I get for being clerk at the 
 little churcrTyonder the fifh I occafionally fell 
 and the flies my Miffis makes, I have quite enough 
 (more perhaps than I deferve) to live upon. Be- 
 fides, in the winter feafon I amufe myfelf with 
 making rods that are ufually liked by thofe who 
 buy them. 
 
 Clericus. Well, come along with me to the 
 houfe, and have fomething to eat and drink. I 
 fee we fhall be good friends very foon. 
 
 Such was the fubftance of the converfation that 
 panned (as far as I can remember) fome years ago 
 between this old foldier and myfelf. I very foon 
 afterwards heard his hiftory from his own lips, 
 and no uninterefting one was it, though confined 
 to the ups and downs of an humble private. 
 
 He appeared to retain a great reverence for the 
 fervice, though many a long yarn did he fpin, in 
 my frequent pifcatorial excurfions with him, of its 
 attendant evils and hardfhips. 
 
 His was a very obfervant eye ; and you mould 
 have feen how it fparkled with delight when aught 
 was alked him of an officer he thought well of. 
 
 A large mafs of men as varied in temper as in 
 the expreffion of the face furely our young officers 
 
Fly-Fi/hing. 37 
 
 fhould be taught fomething more than the com- 
 mon routine to lead them, as they always do with- 
 out flinching, in the path of duty, of danger, and 
 of death. Much wild talk we occafionally hear 
 from fome of our fapient legiflators, more efpecially 
 of broad-brim notoriety, of the dark ftain we ft ill 
 fuffer to deface our military code, in failing to con- 
 fign flogging to the fhades of other departed barba- 
 rifms. Much more good would fuch babblers do, 
 if they would occafionally fpeak a kind word or two 
 in praife of the prefent improved fyftem, that retains 
 the power of flogging, but reforts to it invariably 
 as the laft refource. Who fo likely to tell the 
 honeft truth as my new friend with the large rim- 
 ing rod an intelligent, thoughtful, fober-minded 
 veteran, fcarred with downright hard fervice, and 
 mutilated on the battle-field ? And what faid he 
 upon the fubjecT: ? Why, that if flogging were 
 entirely done away with, it would react upon the 
 army as difaftroufly as would hanging for murder, 
 if repealed, upon fociety at large. Laws of fuch 
 a defcription are neceflary evils permitted to re- 
 main on the ftatute-book for the fafety of the good 
 and the terror of the bad : none but the incorri- 
 gible are ever flogged none but the murderer 
 ever hanged. 
 
38 Fly-FiJhing. 
 
 It was a touching thing, I can tell you, to hear 
 this old foldier expatiate in his fimple way on the 
 glories of that ever-memorable day, fo fatal to the 
 foe at Corunna, when Soult and his brave French- 
 men were confident they mould drive the difcom- 
 fited Englifh into the fea. His chief feemed ftill 
 as dear to him and as frefh in his memory as when 
 he faw him in the thickeft of the fight, cheering 
 on his men to victory. Alas ! how dearly pur- 
 chafed ! It was but a few minutes before his 
 own hand was mot off, that he faw with difmay 
 the gallant Sir J. Moore fall mortally wounded, 
 not many paces from where he flood. And no 
 tear ever told a truer tale of a heart's devotion, 
 than that I have feen ftealing down the hard fea- 
 tures of this fine old fifherman when he fpoke of 
 the departed hero. 
 
 The marble and the brafs may tell 
 Their fulfome tale of flattery well ! 
 What higher tribute to the dead, 
 Than a few tears fincerely fhed ? 
 
 The word of command is not the only one our 
 officers mould be taught to utter in the private's 
 ear. A few words of kindnefs now and then ; ay, 
 and of counfel too, (mail I add alfo a good example 
 in outward morality and decorum ?) would this be 
 
Fly-FiJhing. 39 
 
 thrown away upon ears little, it may be, accuf- 
 tomed to hear anything of the kind, and fharp 
 eyes, and hearts that muft be indeed hard not to 
 feel it with emotion ? An army officered by men 
 of this ftamp and what foe (God grant thefe 
 peaceful days may never be interrupted !) would 
 ever turn it one inch from the ftraight path that 
 leads to victory ? 
 
 You wonder perhaps, good reader, that a pifca- 
 tor and a parfon mould thus leave the tranquil 
 tenour of his way, to touch upon fuch a fubjecl: 
 as this ! If you met the old foldier on the banks of 
 the Wye, and faw how happy he always looked, 
 you too, perhaps, would revert in thought to fub- 
 je&s fomewhat alien to their wonted train. You 
 would, at any rate, I am fure, agree with me, that 
 early days fuch as my new friend had fpent in the 
 hardeft of all hard fchools, that teaches the no- 
 thingnefs of perfonal privation, and the mere 
 cipher-like value of human life, when weighed 
 againft duty, (to fay nothing of that tranfient fun- 
 beam, military glory,) could fcarcely run their 
 deftined courfe more peacefully in any employ- 
 ment than that of angling the one of his own 
 choice. 
 
 A thorough fimerman in all its departments, 
 
40 Ffy-Ft/hing. 
 
 nothing would do but he muft give me a praH- 
 cal hint or too on trolling, which he feemed bent 
 on recommending to me ; though I thought it then, 
 and ftill think it unworthy the notice of the fly- 
 rimer. Deadly, if pra&ifed aright, I admit it to 
 be ; but decidedly attended with a greater degree of 
 cruelty, than its fuccefs can reconcile to my feel- 
 ings at leaft. The triangles that the whirling min- 
 now is encircled with Oh ! how they clafp the 
 unhappy fifh in their fatal embrace ! It is no cal- 
 lous fubftance they ufually penetrate, that in nine 
 cafes out of ten the artificial fly adheres to in the 
 fifti's mouth ; but deeply imbedded in the flirink- 
 ing flem, thefe terrible triangles never relax their 
 hold till dragged out of the mangled creature by 
 the hand of the fifherman. 
 
 ***** 
 
 Clericus. Well, you are indeed punctual as 
 clock-work ! It is juft on the flroke of fix, the 
 time we fixed on for our meeting. 
 
 Old Soldier. For the like of me, fir, not to be 
 punctual, would be a bad job, confidering the 
 fchool I have been taught in. 
 
 Clericus. The water feems a trifle too thick, 
 even for a minnow.* 
 
 * A good hand will kill trout with a minnow on the 
 
Fly-Fifhirig. 41 
 
 
 Old Soldier. All the better for you, fir, in troll- 
 ing from the bank. The trout wont fee you, 
 and you need not wade. 
 
 Clericus. Where are the minnows ? 
 
 Old Soldier. Here, fir, in this tin box ; and 
 nice bright little fellows they are. 
 
 Clericus. What makes you put them in bran ? 
 
 Old Soldier. It hardens them, which is a great 
 advantage. 
 
 Clericus. By the way, I don't much fancy your 
 trolling-tackle. I have been accuftomed to fee it 
 made with a leaden cap to draw down upon the 
 head of the minnow, which not only finks it, but 
 in fome degree protects it from weeds, &c. 
 
 Old Soldier. I have tried both kinds the one 
 with a leaden cap you fpeak of, and that I now 
 ufe, with a large leaded hook to pafs through the 
 body of the minnow, and a fmall lip-hook to keep 
 it in place. I certainly prefer my own, though 
 the other may be the favourite.* 
 
 Clericus. Do you fee where the water curls round 
 yonder bank, eddying into the more ? If there 
 
 brighteft day, and in the cleareft water ; though of courfe 
 ftained water is all in favour of the troller. 
 
 * A brafs killdevil, not too large, that fpins well, and 
 is properly armed, will almoft rival a real minnow, without 
 the conftant trouble that is infeparable from the latter. 
 
42 Fly-FiJhing. 
 
 isn't a trout at home there, I'll know the reafon 
 why. 
 
 Old Soldier. Stop, fir, let me look at your min- 
 now. It wont fpin well. 
 
 Clericus. Why not ? 
 
 Old Soldier. Becaufe you haven't curved the 
 tail enough. There, now he'll do. 
 
 Clerlcus. Oh ! how beautifully he fpins. Hul- 
 loa, did you fee that ? I juft felt the gentleman, 
 but he buftled off in double quick time. 
 
 Old Soldier. You were too quick for him. 
 When he dafhed at you, you gave a nervous-like 
 twitch with your rod, and that faved the trout's 
 life. It's no ufe trying for him again yet, though 
 he may run at you by and by when we return. 
 Now, fir, try the tail of that ftream by the large 
 ftone. Many a good trout have I killed in that 
 very fpot. 
 
 Clericus. Here you are, and a big fellow too, 
 or I am miftaken. 
 
 Old Soldier. Keep his head down the ftream if 
 you can, and hold him well in hand. There ! 
 cleverly done ! He's not much over half a pound 
 though. 
 
 Clericus. He pulled at firft like a pounder. 
 How bright and beautiful are his fpots ! No bet- 
 
Fly-FiJhing. 43 
 
 ter fifh in feafon have I killed this year ; and that 
 I fuppofe made him fo flrong beyond his fize. 
 
 Old Soldier. That's uncommon likely water ; 
 don't leave it, or you'll leave fome good fifh be- 
 hind you. 
 
 Clerlcus. They don't come well at me. Jufl 
 try your hand at them. 
 
 Well done ! you have hooked a monfter. 
 What a plunge he made ! Take care he doefn't 
 break you. 
 
 Old Soldier. No fear of that. He's not a trout 
 after all, but a chub, if I miftake not, and a big 
 one too. He hangs as dead upon the line, as if 
 there was a ftone at the end of it. Pleafe, fir, 
 give us a hand with the landing-net, while I coax 
 him in clofe to the bank. All right, there he is ! 
 
 Clericus. Why, what a gigantic brute ! To 
 fight fo little for his life too ! I proteft if the half- 
 pound trout didn't beat him hollow. 
 
 Old Soldier. It's always the way with thefe rough 
 fifh. They make one tremendous ftruggle at firft, 
 and if they don't break you then, they turn fulky, 
 and foon give in. This fifh can't be fhort of two 
 pounds and a half, if not more. 
 
 Clericus. I mould be very forry to tafte him. 
 
 Old Soldier. Oh ! as for that, I mall moft likely 
 
44 Fly-FiJhing. 
 
 fell him at the firft farm-houfe I come acrofs. 
 Farmers aint fo nice as you gentry ; and a bit of 
 fifh though a trifle foft, and flabby-like, is no 
 bad relifh. 
 
 Clericus. Surely that's not another of the brutes 
 you've juft hooked ? 
 
 Old Soldier. No, no, not he ! Did you fee 
 that ? He jumped a yard, at leaft, out of the water. 
 
 Clericus. What a glorious trout ! give way a 
 little, or he'll break you. There, now he's quieter. 
 What a {hake he gave ! Poor fellow, your race 
 is well-nigh run ! Where's the landing-net ? 
 
 Old Soldier. Gently, fir, gently ! he faw you, 
 and now he's off again.* 
 
 Clericus* Juft draw him round into this flack 
 water. There, now we have him. Not much 
 under two pounds, I mould fay ! 
 
 Old Soldier. If anything, he's a trifle over. I 
 wifh you had hooked him though. 
 
 Clericus. Oh ! you managed him fo beautifully, 
 that if I had a tafte for trolling, which I confefs 
 our fport this evening has not awakened within 
 me, a better leffbn I could not have learnt. A 
 quick eye, a tender, active hand, and an entire ab- 
 
 * Nothing feems to revive a tired trout more than the 
 fight of a man with a landing-net. 
 
WHAT A GLORIOUS TROUT." 
 
Fly-FiJhing. 45 
 
 fence of hurry and buftle, I perceive to be indif- 
 penfable, if you wifh to excel in trolling. 
 
 The three trout I have killed, and the five that 
 weigh down your bafket, would make no unhand- 
 fome difh. 
 
 Old Soldier. Shall I empty mine into your bafket 
 now, or wait till we are nearer the houfe ? 
 
 Clericus. Neither one, nor the other ; the idea 
 of my robbing you of your fifh ! 
 
 Old Soldier. Pray, fir, do take thefe three beau- 
 ties, at any rate, to the Miffis, and fhe wont have 
 the laugh againft us as me had the other day, when 
 our bafkets were fo empty. 
 
 Clericus. Well, I wont offend you by refufing, 
 efpecially as there is a lady in the cafe. 
 
 * * , * * * 
 
 Before I leave this fubjecl:, I may as well de- 
 fcribe in as few words as poffible a fcene I wit- 
 nefled a day or two afterwards, when I acciden- 
 tally {tumbled upon the old foldier hard at work 
 trolling for pike. 
 
 Clericus. Good evening to you ! What fport ? 
 
 Old Soldier. I've fcarcely begun yet, but I hope 
 before long to have a pike or two in my bafket. 
 
 Clericus. Your tackle, I fee, is as ftrong as if 
 you expected to hook a mark. 
 
4 6 Fly-Fifliing. 
 
 Old Soldier. Not a bit too ftrong for thefe de- 
 vils of pike, which I look upon not only as frefh- 
 water fharks, but know them to bite as keen, and 
 to be as fierce. You fee I am trying to tempt 
 them with one of their favourite laftfprings. 
 
 Thefe gorge hooks which are put thus back to 
 back, and leaded fufficiently high, I pull through 
 the mouth and body of the bait, by means of a long 
 needle curved at the end, and which is hooked to 
 the top of the gimp that conne&s the wire fattened 
 to the leaded hooks. The ftrongeft gut that was 
 ever made would be but a mere cobweb in a 
 pike's mouth ; and therefore I am obliged to ufe 
 gimp inftead. The bait hangs down with the two 
 barbs, as you fee, juft appearing on each fide the 
 mouth. To keep the bait fteady, I ufually tie it 
 to the gimp with white thread juft above the fork 
 of the tail ; and to prevent the line from twifting, 
 one or two fwivels are needed. 
 
 Clerlcus. I fee exaclly ; but you can't poflibly 
 handle that great rod, as you would if trolling for 
 trout ? 
 
 Old Soldier. Certainly not ; it's quite a different 
 thing. You muft hold the rod above the reel, 
 refting the butt of it on the upper part of your 
 thigh. When you have drawn out a yard at leaft 
 
Fly-Fifhing. 47 
 
 of line with your left hand thus, you muft then 
 fend the baited hook with a jerk into the water. 
 Let it fink nearly to the bottom ; then draw it, 
 not too faft, towards the furface of the water, 
 ftepping gradually back, till you bring it near the 
 ftiore. 
 
 Clencus. From feeing your tackle, and hearing 
 your explanation, I could eafily imitate it, and, I 
 think, ufe it too. 
 
 Old Soldier. Books are very well in their way, 
 but you will learn more in an hour's walk with a 
 fimerman who underftands his bufmefs, than you 
 would from a book in a twelvemonth. 
 
 Clencus. And yet what a bleffing it is to have 
 free accefs to books to read the thoughts of 
 others wifer than ourfelves ! 
 
 Old Soldier. You may well fay that, fir. I 
 know what a poor ignorant man I am ; yet what 
 mould I be, unlefs I was able to read ? 
 
 Clericus. Betides, you make yourfelf very ufe- 
 ful in your fituation as parifh clerk. 
 
 Old Soldier. I try to do my beft, fir. For the 
 like of me to be obliged to attend church every 
 Sunday, I confider a great thing. Tired fome- 
 times with a whole week's walking, I mould be 
 inclined, I fear, to mifs it fometimes. And yet I 
 
48 Fly-FiJhing. 
 
 never return from church, without feeling more 
 comfortable. 
 
 Glerlcus. I rejoice I touched upon the fubjecT 1 , 
 as you have folved the queftion in the fame light 
 I have always been inclined to view it in myfelf. 
 What fhould we all be without fome fuch obliga- 
 tion as that in your cafe to urge us to duties we 
 ought to fulfil, and yet continually feel difpofed to 
 neglect ? I have heard many fpoken of in no 
 kindly way, becaufe they infifted upon each mem- 
 ber of their houfehold regularly attending church, 
 as though it were an undue infringement upon the 
 rights of confcience. If a good parent will infift 
 upon his fon's difcharge of his private and focial 
 duties ; how much more ought he to do fo in the 
 cafe of thofe of a much higher order ! And fhall 
 a domeftic receive lefs attention of this kind at the 
 hands of his matter, than a child does from its 
 parent ? 
 
 Old Soldier. It ufed to do my heart good, I can 
 
 tell you, to fee Squire H come into church, 
 
 it put me fo much in mind of old times. I don't 
 think a fervant of his (and there was a precious lot 
 of them !) would have thought of fuch a thing as 
 ftaying away from church, any more than from 
 waiting at table, or brufhing his matter's clothes. 
 
Fly-FiJhing. 49 
 
 The one feemed as natural as the other. And 
 yet, fir, when the Squire fell from his horfe and 
 was killed, it was miferable work to go among the 
 fervants then ; and when the day came for the 
 funeral, the crying and fobbing from all of them 
 oh, fir ! it was a touching fight ! 
 
 Clericus. I am afraid I am detaining you from 
 your fport ! My converfation wont fill your bafket. 
 
 Old Soldier. You wouldn't fay that if you only 
 knew how I love to have a few words with fuch 
 as you, fir. However, I mould like to mow you 
 how to catch a pike, though I doubt if I mall per- 
 fuade you to try your hand at it. 
 
 Clericus. I obferve you throw your bait into the 
 deepeft water, and under the trees, if poflible. 
 
 Old Soldier. It's full early yet for pike to begin 
 prowling abroad for their prey ; though it muft be 
 drawing near their fupper-time, I want to fave fome 
 of them the fatigue of their evening excurfion. 
 
 Clericus. But what makes you flop fo fuddenly 
 and hold your rod motionlefs ? 
 
 Old Soldier. Keep away from the bank if you 
 pleafe. I had a run, and, I believe, the pike is at 
 me now, though he is fo quiet. 
 
 Clericus. Why don't you try and hook him then 
 at once ? 
 
50 Fly-Fifoing. 
 
 Old Soldier. Becaufe I want him to gorge the 
 bait, and then is the time to ftrike. Ah ! I was 
 too quick for him, though he began moving away. 
 Another minute or two and he would have been 
 very foon in my bafket. In ftriking too foon I 
 jerked the bait out of his mouth. 
 
 Clericus. There is a good deal I fee to be learnt 
 even in trolling for pike. 
 
 Old Soldier. Though fo voracious they are cun- 
 ning enough, and require to be humoured, if you 
 wifh to make their acquaintance. Sometimes I 
 run three or four following without catching one. 
 
 Clericus. Some of the elders of the tribe, I take 
 it, begin to have an inkling of the old faying fo 
 much in vogue out of the water, that " it's not all 
 gold that gliftens." 
 
 Old Soldier. I fhouldn't at all wonder. Some- 
 thing, at any rate, feems to make them very my 
 of me this evening. Suppofe we try our luck 
 higher up the river, as I have fiftied this water a 
 good deal of late. 
 
 Clericus. You fee the tail of that lovely ftream ! 
 I was trying it a few days ago and hooked a trout 
 that rofe at my firft dropper. In drawing him to- 
 wards me I faw the water in commotion juft be- 
 low him in two different directions ; and on a fud- 
 
Fly-Fijhing. 
 
 den the trout I had hold of feemed to have grown 
 marvelloufly in weight. Such a fplutter too as there 
 was in the water, and fuch a fight as I had it really 
 quite aftonifhed me. Till lo ! after a minute or 
 two I fucceeded in landing not the trout only 
 I had firft hooked, but another alfo and not only 
 two trout, but a roach into the bargain. The 
 three fifh together weighed rather more than a 
 pound. 
 
 Old Soldier. I have often hooked three laft- 
 fprings at a throw, but never came up to that. 
 But flop, fir, if I'm not miftaken, I've run a large 
 fifh. 
 
 Clericus. Do give him plenty of time. 
 
 Old Soldier. He's in no hurry to move, and 
 feems to take it rather coolly. 
 
 Clericus. Are you fure he has not left you ? 
 
 Old Soldier. Yes. I can juft feel him bufy at 
 the bait. Now he begins to move quietly away. 
 There, my friend, now I have you fafe enough. 
 
 Clericus. He bends that huge rod like an ofier. 
 How the reel whizzes ! Have a care or he'll 
 break you. He doesn't feem inclined to fhow him- 
 felf to the vulgar gaze ; no bounding into the air 
 with him, like a trout or falmon. 
 
 Old Soldier. He's a very heavy fifh, I'm fure ; 
 
52 Fly-FiJhing. 
 
 and is trying his ftrength againft me. See how 
 fteadily he pulls. 
 
 Clericus. Oh ! what a rufh he made then. It 
 was well you gave way a little. He feems inclined 
 to make for that deep hole by the ftubb. 
 
 Old Soldier. I muft flop him or we fhall part 
 company there. 
 
 Clericus. Well done ! I was afraid the ftrain 
 would have broken you fome where ; now you have 
 turned him, he will foon give in. 
 
 Old Soldier. Not he, I fear. The ftrength of 
 fuch a pike as this is enormous. However, the 
 worft, I truft, is over. 
 
 Clericus. You have been at work ten minutes 
 already. I fhould have thought thofe terrible hooks 
 in the poor creature's vitals would have tamed him 
 long before this. 
 
 Old Soldier. He begins now to flag a bit. You 
 fee I've fhortened the line as much as poflible. 
 The large landing net you fo laughed at will be 
 ufeful enough now. 
 
 Clericus. Tyrant as he is even to the unna- 
 tural extent of eating his own children, he is very 
 unlike thofe daftardly chub. 
 
 Old Soldier. Oh ! as for that, he'll fight to the 
 very laft in his own element -, ay, and out of 
 
Fly-Fifhing. 53 
 
 it too, as my bleeding fingers have often felt. 
 Pleafe, fir, to draw nigh while I get his head out 
 of the water. There, what do you think of that ? 
 
 Clericus. Think ? why that he's a noble fellow, 
 and deferves a better fate. I fhould not be very 
 forry if he had fucceeded in his laft ftruggle of de- 
 fpair, except that he would be fure to die a far 
 worfe death. 
 
 Old Soldier. Now, fir, pleafe to try again. 
 Hurrah ! there you have him. 
 
 Clericus. What an enormous brute ! 
 
 Old Soldier. I knew at firft he muft be a thum- 
 per. He's not far off ten pound weight. 
 
 Clericus. What a defperate looking thief he is, 
 armed with thofe needle-like teeth. 
 
 Old Soldier. Don't go too near him or he'll fnap 
 at you like a dog. There I believe I have quieted 
 him now. I always knock them a (harp blow on 
 the back of the head like that, and it generally 
 kills them. 
 
 Clericus. What havoc fuch a fellow as this muft 
 have committed ! How many thoufands of the 
 finny tribe have entered that huge mouth of his 
 never to return ! 
 
 Old Soldier. And frogs, rats, young moor-hens, 
 if not a duck or two occafionally. You've heard, 
 
54 Fly-Fifhing. 
 
 no doubt, the ftory of the poor fwan that was taken 
 out of the water he had long been the ornament of, 
 with a huge pike hanging dead from his neck ? 
 No ! Well, it feems the fwan was thrufting his 
 long neck into the water as ufual, when a pike e- 
 pying fomething that looked inviting, made a fud- 
 den rufh at the fwan's head and fwallowed it. It 
 is fuppofed that the pike was fuffocated in endea- 
 vouring in vain to get the fwan's head either up or 
 down. At any rate, when the bird was taken up, 
 there hung the dead pike, as I faid before. 
 
 Clericus. I have read of a pike of the enormous 
 weight of fifty pounds, that was taken many years 
 ago out of the late Duke of Newcaftle's lake at 
 Clumber; and that a carp no lefs than fourteen 
 pounds was found fticking in his throat ; in en- 
 deavouring to fwallow which it is fuppofed the 
 gigantic glutton met his own death. I fhould be 
 forry to bathe in water frequented by fuch a mon- 
 fter. 
 
 Old Soldier. I could tell you fome amufmg 
 anecdotes of thefe fifh, but the evening is draw- 
 ing in apace, and you'll be thinking of return- 
 ing home. 
 
 Clericus. Well, I am much obliged to you for 
 the lefTon you have given me, but I muft tell you 
 
Fly-FiJhing. 
 
 55 
 
 candidly that if the pike have no worfe enemy 
 than your humble fervant I am afraid they will 
 increafe and multiply unmolefted. Good bye for 
 the prefent. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 (i But Ihould you lure 
 
 From his dark haunt, beneath the tangled roots 
 Of pendant trees, the monarch of the brook, 
 Behoves you then to ply your fineft art j 
 Long time he following cautious, fcans the fly, 
 And oft attempts to feize it, but as oft 
 The dimpled water fpeaks his jealous fear. 
 At laft, while haply o'er the (haded fun 
 Pafles a cloud, he defperate takes the death, 
 With fullen plunge." 
 
 THOMSON. 
 
 HE fifhing I enjoyed in my two 
 years' fojourn near the Wye, was 
 continually diverfified with inci- 
 dents that anglers love to prate 
 about, and laugh over long, long 
 after they have pafled away. 
 
 How well do I remember, as if it had happened 
 only yefterday, a piece of moft amufmg clever- 
 nefs (I will not call it craftinefs), that was enacted 
 by my then boyifh friend Pifcator (for we had be- 
 come great cronies). 
 
Fly-Fifhing. 57 
 
 I had been wandering by the river for fome 
 hours, with fufficient fport to induce me to perfe- 
 vere. The evening was juft beginning to fet in ; 
 and what with the delicious weather, the balmy 
 breeze, and the quiet enjoyment of my favourite 
 amufement, I was in the beft poffible humour. 
 
 Juft at this happy conjuncture, who fhould 
 heave in fight, u looming in the diftance," as a 
 late Chancellor of the Exchequer would fay, but 
 my friend Pifcator. Oh ! it was delightful to be- 
 hold him haftening on towards me, as though fome 
 unexpected good fortune had befallen him fome 
 glad tidings been told him perhaps, that fent the 
 blood dancing through his veins in double quick 
 time fome wondrous difcoverybeen made by him, 
 that fuffufed his cheeks, forehead and all, with the 
 glow of unufual excitement. How proud was his 
 ftep ! How great his condefcenfion in fpeaking 
 of the trout I told him I had caught ; alking me, 
 by the way (as though he knew what anfwer I 
 fliould return) if I had yet fallen in with a falmon ! 
 
 The whole bearing and demeanour of the ex- 
 cited youth puzzled me not a little, and fet me 
 wondering what had happened thus to work fo 
 fudden and complete a change in him ! 
 
 At length in gazing very attentively and thought- 
 
58 Fly-FiJhing. 
 
 fully at him, I caught fight of a long, lank, {hark- 
 like creature, fufpended round his fhoulders, and 
 dangling down his back. After a momentary in- 
 fpection of the uncouth creature, I inquired, inno- 
 cently enough, where he had met with that mife- 
 rable looking " Jack ? " " Jack ! " faid my young 
 friend, " Jack, indeed ! why, don't you fee it's a 
 falmon, and a glorious one too ? " And with 
 thefe words, uttered in a tone of ineffable difdain 
 at my extreme fimplicity, off ftalked the proud 
 captor, without condefcending to exchange ano- 
 ther fyllable with me. 
 
 If Sam Weller was led fo feelingly to exclaim, 
 " Rum creeturs is women ! " not the lefs feeling- 
 ly could I help faying in his expreffive ftyle, " Rum 
 creeturs is fifhermen ! " I could not for the life 
 of me for a long time folve the knotty problem of 
 my friend's ftrangenefs. That I was right and he 
 wrong the finny creature being far more like a 
 jack than a falmon I had not the fmalleft doubt. 
 Whence then the unexpected airs and graces of 
 the indignant youth ? 
 
 I felt quite uneafy and diflatisfied, till the cat 
 fairly jumped out of the bag. It feems that my 
 young friend had been talking in his father's pre- 
 fence of the wonders he meant to achieve in the 
 
Fly-Fifhing. 59 
 
 fiftiing way ; how he had provided himfelf, at no 
 fmall facrifice of pocket-money, with a falmon-rod, 
 reel, line, &c. And as all indulgent parents feel 
 indifpofed on occafions of this kind to damp the 
 ardour of their ambitious fons, the one in queftion 
 had promifed the afpiring youth, that if he would 
 bring him a falmon caught by himfelf, with his 
 own rod, he would give him two {hillings a pound 
 for it, let it be what weight it may (fecretly fuf- 
 pe&ing, no doubt, that he might fafely offer ten 
 times the amount, as far as the probability went 
 of his being called on to pay it). 
 
 Now it appears that the keen eye of the young 
 angler had detected the creature, whofe dead car- 
 cafe I had fo grievoufly flandered, taking in fome- 
 thing on the furface of the water he concluded to 
 be a fly ; and, haftening home for his falmon-rod, 
 he commenced throwing over the fame fpot with 
 the utmoft ardour and hope. The poor ftarve- 
 ling, feeing fomething move on the water that 
 looked like infecl: food, languidly opened his lank, 
 lantern-jaws, and was hooked in the twinkling of 
 an eye. 
 
 Imagination, you are aware, good reader, will 
 go great lengths, and I doubt not that the happy 
 angler then imagined that the faint attempts of the 
 
60 Ffy-Fjj/hingk 
 
 poor prifoner to efcape, were indeed ftruggles of 
 the moft defperate kind, that only the niceft fkill 
 and patience on his part, fucceeded in rendering 
 futile ; till at length, fairly beaten, he managed to 
 land him the firft veritable falmon he had ever 
 caught, to his inexpreflible delight ! 
 
 Perhaps fomething like the fpirit of thofe fine 
 lines of Stoddart, on the death of a falmon, flamed 
 acrofs his mind : 
 
 " A birr ! a whirr ! the falmon's up, 
 Give line, give line and meafure j 
 But now he turns ! keep down ahead, 
 And lead him as a child is led, 
 
 And land him at your leifure. 
 Hark to the mufic of the reel ! 
 
 'Tis welcome, it is glorious ; 
 It wanders through the winding wheel, 
 Returning and viftorious. 
 
 '* A birr! a whirr ! the falmon's in, 
 
 Upon the bank extended j 
 The princely fifh is gafping flow, 
 His brilliant colours come and go, 
 
 All beautifully blended. 
 Hark to the mufic of the reel, 
 
 It murmurs and it clofes } 
 Silence is on the conquering reel, 
 Its wearied line repofes. 
 
Fly-Fifhing. 61 
 
 " No birr \ no whirr ! the falmon's out, 
 
 The noble fifh the thumper : 
 Strike through his gill the ready gaff, 
 And bending homewards-, we fhall quaff, 
 
 Another glorious bumper ! 
 Hark to the mufic of the reel, 
 
 We liften with devotion j 
 There's fomething in that circling wheel 
 That wakes the heart's emotion ! " 
 
 By the way, I never inquired of the indulgent 
 parent how the falmon tafted that coft him two 
 {hillings a pound ? I fhould not, however, be at 
 all furprifed, if fancy had clothed it in his eyes with 
 all the vaunted fuperiority that the king of fifh fo 
 defervedly merits. I may perhaps venture to re- 
 mark, that the foft, flabby flefh of a very old fifh 
 (I fpeak not of years, but of feafon) fuch as that, I 
 would far rather have configned to any other fto- 
 mach than my own. A new fifh taken from thy 
 fweet, pellucid bofom, thou lovely Wye ; what of 
 the whole finny tribe can be named in the fame 
 day with it ? But an old fifh a lean, emaciated, 
 fhrivelled creature oh ! defend me from the un- 
 favoury morfel ! 
 
 The intenfe eagernefs with which the falmon 
 feeks his favourite haunts is a wonderful provifion 
 of an ever kind Providence for his comfort and 
 
62 Fly-Fifhing. 
 
 well-being. The very object, however, which at 
 one feafon of the year carries him undaunted 
 through a thoufand dangers and difficulties to 
 achieve ; now rufhing madly up the boiling tor- 
 rent now curling himfelf in true leap-frog fafhion, 
 and fpringing many, many feet through the air, to 
 the aftonifhment of the beholder, over lofty caf- 
 cades, and apparently impaflable barriers ay ! and 
 if unfuccefsful at firft, renewing his endeavours 
 again and again with fuch undiminifhed ardour ! the 
 very object, I fay, which incites him to attempt all 
 this, when attained, is foon after avoided by him 
 no lefs haftily, than it was purfued hotly juft before. 
 (Not very unlike the phantafies that men purfue 
 at certain feafons of their life, worihipped to-day, 
 and loathed perhaps to-morrow.) The prime ob- 
 ject of falmon in afc ending the Wye and other 
 large rivers that flow into the fea, is to depofit 
 their fpawn as near the fource as poflible, as the 
 fafeft receptacle and beft natural locality for the 
 development of the young fry. As foon as this 
 all-important bufmefs has been accomplifhed, the 
 falmon haftens down the ftream to recruit his im- 
 paired ftrength in the congenial waters of the fea. 
 If, then, he is detained longer than his pleafure 
 from carrying out his intentions, he begins to Ian- 
 
Fly-FiJhing. 63 
 
 guifh and ficken ; gradually exchanging his glofly 
 coat, befpangled with filver, for one of a dingy, 
 dull-looking hue. And as the captive in the dun- 
 geon pines for freedom and frefh air, fo does the 
 poor imprifoned falmon, till he becomes at laft a 
 wafted fkeleton, and dies, as it were, by inches. 
 
 We leave the reader to imagine, how totally dif- 
 fimilar muft a falmon be approaching this condi- 
 tion to one in prime feafon ! 
 
 Incredible as it may appear, I am about to re- 
 cord a faft, not altogether foreign to the fubjecT:, 
 that a friend of mine exults in, (no wonder !) and 
 will doubtlefs remember as long as he can remem- 
 ber anything on this fide the grave. 
 
 It feems that he was one day engaged in his fa- 
 vourite amufement, and picking out of the Wye 
 now a trout, now a laftfpring, and then a grayling, 
 perhaps ; when fuddenlyhe faw,to his extreme afto- 
 nifhment, not a trout, nor a grayling, but a mon- 
 fter of a falmon, as it appeared, rife and take in 
 one of his droppers, a red palmer he was timing 
 with. 
 
 Now juft imagine, good reader, (prefuming you 
 to be a fifherman,) my friend's fituation with a rod 
 about ten feet in length, and light in proportion 
 a mere reed, as it were, in his hand and at the 
 
64 Fly-Fifliing. 
 
 end of the line a leaping, rufhing, maddened crea- 
 ture fuch as this. Would you not have felt in- 
 clined to give in at once, and allow the huge fifli 
 to have his own way, fnapping your line like a cob- 
 web, and fhivering your rod to atoms ? Not fo, 
 however, was my friend difpofed. As good a fportf- 
 man as he is confefledly an honeft man, he deter- 
 mined at once to buckle himfelf up for the fight, 
 though he knew he had fuch fearful odds againft 
 him. And a hard, hard fight it was, from his gra- 
 phic account of it ! In the eyes of a difinterefted 
 perfon, ignorant of the gentle art, he would doubt- 
 lefs have appeared like one "poffeffed" Skipping 
 about in every direction, now here, now there, 
 putting himfelf into all forts of attitudes, as his 
 wrapt attention and intenfe excitement would na- 
 turally incline him as refolute and determined in 
 afpecl:, as if the fate of the world hung trembling 
 on the iflue what a fine opportunity for Landfeer 
 to have hit off, in his inimitable way, an animal of 
 a nobler order than his favourite dogs and deer ; 
 worked up to the utmoft ftretch of his phyfical and 
 mental faculties. Not only did my friend know 
 that he had the enormous ftrength of a large def- 
 perate fifh to contend with ; but confummate art 
 and cunning too, that falmon fimers find no lefs 
 trying to their tackle. 
 
Fly-Fifhing. 65 
 
 The firft effort of the falmon in queftion, di- 
 rectly he found himfelf pricked, was to bound high 
 in the air, graceful, and glittering like filver to 
 fhow, perhaps, a faint fpecimen of his agility ! 
 How tender muft have been the hold of that little 
 rod how nice the calculation, to meafure out the 
 exa6l proportion of line, and no more how ad- 
 mirable the judgment, to hold on within a hair's 
 breadth of the refiftance that might fafely be ven- 
 tured on. After the fomerfet he had exhibited, 
 up rufhed the frightened fifh, to fee what fpeed 
 would do to free him from his foe. Faft flew the 
 fiftierman too, ftill keeping his rod on the utter- 
 moft bend it would bear without breaking, and the 
 line flrained within the fmalleft fraction it would 
 admit of. * * * * 
 
 Some time had now elapfed, and ftill the fimerman 
 faw (it muft have been with aftonifhment) that all 
 was in his favour. The falmon took it into his 
 bewildered head to turn fhort round, and com- 
 mence (without abfolutely making down the ftream) 
 taking a zig-zag direction that way. Now was 
 the time to keep him, if poflible in his prefent in- 
 tention to humour him, as a fond mother would 
 humour a great, overgrown, obftinate boy, alter- 
 nately pulling and coaxing him, without exactly 
 
 F 
 
66 Fly-FiJhing. 
 
 letting out her fecret. And now was the time for 
 patience to develope its perfect work ; (not patience 
 of the ordinary kind that perfons fancy in their 
 ideal perfonification of a fiftierman fitting all the 
 day long in one fpot with his eyes intently fixed on 
 an immoveable float ;) but patience in its nobler 
 character, that matters the ardour of excitement, 
 directs the reftlefs hand, and controls the irafcible 
 temper. 
 
 When the falmon found he was ftill a prifoner 
 after his numberlefs attempts to tear himfelf from 
 the odious little barb that held him, I conclude he 
 thought within himfelf that now was the time or 
 never to recruit his ftrength, which he found 
 gradually getting lefs and lefs. It appears that at 
 the bottom of the ftream,. down which he was 
 defcending rather involuntarily than otherwife, lay 
 a wide, deep pool of (comparatively fpeaking) ftill 
 water. No fooner had he reached this, than he 
 became inftantly quiefcent as though he were 
 about to breathe his laft in his own beloved ele- 
 ment. 
 
 Had my friend been a lefs knowing hand he 
 would probably have been as well fatisfied to reft 
 awhile, as the falmon was apparently thus to give 
 in without any more ado. But no ! fplafh went 
 
Fly-Fifhing. 67 
 
 a huge ftone at his refting-place, and another, and 
 another ! till the frightened fifti again ftarted on 
 his race for life, as heavy in hand, if he was not 
 as active, as ever. Now was the time to keep 
 him down the ftream, half tired, that the water 
 might haften the work of deftru&ion ! 
 
 Confiderably more than half an hour has fled^ 
 (not parted like ordinary half hours,) and the no- 
 ble fifti is almoft his own mafter ftill leading his 
 perfecutor a pretty dance ; now hurrying him 
 fplaftiing through the mallows, now forcing him 
 into pools, perilous to look at. Alas, for the king 
 of the finny tribe ! It is almoft his laft ftruggle, 
 daring and defperate ! Ah ! he falls back with 
 his white belly uppermoft, though he ftill fweeps 
 the water with his tail, languid and liftlefs. Steal- 
 thily now does the fimerman feel how far he can 
 go in drawing him towards the more. There, he 
 has him at laft well upon the mallows ; and fee, 
 his head is juft raifed out of the water ! Quick 
 as lightning down rufhes the almoft frantic fimer- 
 man clafps his victim with both hands tight above 
 the tail, and the next moment he is his own ! 
 
 A falmon nearly nine pounds in weight, fairly 
 killed with a rod ten feet in length, a common 
 fly line and gut finer, if anything, than ordi- 
 
68 Fly-FiJhing. 
 
 nary. Talk of fimermen, indeed, armed with rods 
 like young oaks of no mean fize, and lines that 
 would do for cart ropes, in the falmon-teeming 
 waters of Norway ! Why, fuch tackle and main 
 force would do much to tame the monfters there ! 
 But who of the moft fuccefsful of you all can beat 
 fuch a feat as this, of Ml verfus ftrength ? 
 
 The reader will perceive from the account of 
 this marvellous capture, that a fifherman needs 
 fomething more than the mere ability to throw a 
 fly well the " ne plus ultra" of good riming in the 
 opinion of many. If a fly-fifher would aim at any- 
 thing like excellence in the art, he will foon find 
 that a certain tendernefs of hand is indifpenfable, 
 fo that, whether it be a minnow or a monfter that 
 rifes at him, he does not by too fudden and ftrong 
 a movement of his wrift, endanger his tackle. He 
 will find alfo that great caution is needed in with- 
 drawing his line from the water, as it often hap- 
 pens that a fifh will quietly take his fly under the 
 furface, without his being aware of it. If then, in 
 fuch a cafe he is too quick in his movements, not 
 unfrequently will he either lofe his fly, or do him- 
 felf fome other damage. 
 
 Now an old friend of mine who fometimes joins 
 me in my rambles, with a fovereign contempt for 
 
SKILL verfus STRENGTH. 
 
Fly-Fifhing. 69 
 
 all fuch hints, delights to throw the trout he hooks 
 at once out of the water, without condefcending 
 to play them an inftant. But then he is not a 
 real brother of the craft, though a fly-fifher, for he 
 invariably ufes the natural infec~h 
 
 It is, I believe, in u Oliver Twift," we have 
 the very amufmg hiftory of the "Artful Dodger," 
 that nice young gentleman, whofe pleafure and 
 pride it was to prig (vulgarly fpeaking) from the 
 pockets of the public, all forts of valuables, from 
 a fovereign to a fnuff-box. Should thefe pages 
 meet the eye of my friend, he will not be offended 
 (I know) at being reminded of his old "foubriquet." 
 A veritable "Artful Dodger" was he to the inno- 
 cent, unfufpe&ing trout ! It was a fight worth 
 feeing to watch him ftealing along the water-fide, 
 on the look out for a " rife ; " and then dropping 
 the fluttering bait within fight of the expectant 
 fifli. I almoft fancy I hear his merry laugh now, 
 (though I am fcribbling at midnight, far away 
 from my favourite haunts,) when he had fuc- 
 ceeded not only in deluding another victim, but 
 in "dragging him out of the wet," (as he termed 
 it,) immediately he was hooked. It was labour 
 thrown away to allure him that he loft more fifh 
 this way than he landed ; tearing the hook from 
 
70 Fly-'Fifhing. 
 
 their mouths by force, though it would have held 
 them faft enough, if delicately handled. 
 
 A companion who enjoyed the fport would 
 fometimes volunteer to cater for him in the fly 
 way. Very fond too of a practical joke was he, 
 even if played upon a poor trout. Inftead, there- 
 fore, of fupplying flies that were fwarming around 
 him, it was his efpecial delight to induce the 
 "Artful Dodger" to try the moft uncouth-look- 
 ing infects in the fhape of flies he could meet with 
 in the grafs and bufhes about him. That the 
 trout took no further notice of them after the 
 firft infpection, it may readily be imagined j ft ill, 
 that he did manage occafionally to tempt one to 
 his ruin by means of a very ftrange, unfightly 
 infect, is undeniable enough. 
 
 How often have I watched thefe two whimfical 
 fimermen peering between the bufhes, or from 
 behind trees, in the utmoft ftate of delight when 
 they faw how the inquifitive trout failed round 
 and round, it may be, a fmall flender-bodied blue 
 dragon-fly, or black-beetle, which the " Artful 
 Dodger " was endeavouring to put into the moft 
 inviting of attitudes before them. Though both 
 thefe infects have in their turn been ufed, I know 
 ho inftance in which he fucceeded in inducing a 
 
THE ARTFUL DODGER. 
 
Fly-Ft/hing. 71 
 
 trout to try the tafte of them ; but I am not quite 
 fo fure whether a humble bee or a precocious 
 wafp have not anfwered better. 
 
 I have as little tafte for " bobbing" as for an- 
 gling with a worm ; * but I muft admit that when 
 the "Artful Dodger" ftuck to the prevailing fly 
 
 * Notwithftanding our prefent predile<5Hons, we know 
 not what they may be a few years hence, as the following 
 lines will fufficiently (how. 
 
 " Old Will, with thee 
 
 In youth and glee 
 I've fpent fome funny hours ; 
 
 But now I fear, 
 
 The winter drear 
 Of age, upon us lowers. 
 
 Yet ft ill a difli 
 
 We catch of fifh, 
 As well as fome that brag ; 
 
 No more we ply 
 
 The treacherous fly, 
 The brandling fills the bag. 
 
 Here in this glen, 
 
 Apart from men, 
 We lift our grateful hearts ; 
 
 And feel the joy, 
 
 Without alloy, 
 That nature wild imparts. 
 
72 Fly-Fi/hing. 
 
 on the water, (particularly the May-fly,) he was 
 a deadly enemy indeed to the fifh. Infmuating his 
 rod into apparently the moft inacceffible of places, 
 and dropping the natural fly on the furface of deep 
 holes that it was in vain to attempt reaching with 
 the artificial fly, it would have been ftrange in- 
 deed if fome of the heavieft fifh did not ufually 
 
 From Providence 
 
 Our confidence, 
 This boon we anglers crave j 
 
 That we anon 
 
 May angle on, 
 Safe to a peaceful grave." 
 
 J. F. D. 
 
 Thefe touching lines of a true heart, that kind old man 
 of our cloth J. F. D., whofe duty to his neighbours is of 
 fo acceptable a kind, that it is ever fpontaneous, and has 
 no parochial limits. He never met his fellow -man by 
 mountain or river, or in the broad and bye ways of life, 
 but he either made or endeavoured to make him his friend, 
 by making him his companion. 
 
 The very beafts of the field know him by inftint, for he 
 ftops as he pafles to give even them a kind look, and fome 
 gentle word of his blefling, and neither grammar nor dic- 
 tionary are needed to tranflate them. 
 
 O the blefled fuavity of a true, humane, Chriftian heart ! 
 let me pay homage to it, by quoting thefe few fimple lines 
 the dictates of its fpirit. 
 
Fly-Fifliing. 73 
 
 fall to his lot. It was his proud boaft, that though 
 he fell far fhort of me in numbers, he could beat 
 me hollow in fize. Alas, for the old cuckoo-note 
 of the " Dodger." The laft time I was out with 
 him he had to fmg to another tune. Taking a 
 trout a little under a pound from his bafket, which 
 doubtlefs looked far larger when dripping with 
 wet and floundering on the bank he firft caught 
 fight of it, he triumphantly alked, if I had one 
 out of the forty I had caught that could come up 
 to that ? Yes, I replied, I have one half as large 
 again, that I killed in the bend of the river above, 
 at the very top of the pool that has the large tree 
 lying acrofs it. Not another word did he fay on 
 the fubjecl, knowing that he had tried the fame 
 fpot with all the art he was mafter of, though to 
 no purpofe. 
 
 Should the reader wonder at this digreflion from 
 the Wye to the Clun, he will, I truft, excufe it, 
 from a defire on my part to touch (no matter how 
 (lightly) on any pifcatorial reminifcence, that may 
 at the moment occur to me, though not abfolutely 
 in order. 
 
 To return, however, to the Wye, which of courfe 
 would afford little opportunity to the "Dodger" 
 for creeping and crawling along its banks. 
 
74 Fly-Fifhing. 
 
 Moft of thofe who are accuftomed to fifh in 
 the Wye, are as much in the water as out of 
 it. Now I have always felt a fecret repugnance to 
 wading, not only becaufe in fmall rivers and brooks 
 it does, I am convinced, often more harm than 
 good, and completely deftroys the fport (for a 
 time at leaft) of thofe behind you ; but becaufe, 
 under all circumftances, it lays up for the evening 
 of life, if you are permitted to reach it, a double 
 amount of aches and pains than would ordinarily, 
 I am fure, be the cafe. 
 
 Fly-fiftiing with me would lofe its prime charm, 
 if it were not, as I have ever found it, indebted 
 for its attraction more to the accompaniments that 
 are ufually aflbciated with it, than to its bare naked 
 character of killing fifh, as the eye of a poacher 
 would only regard it in. Without the excitement 
 of the latter, it would, of courfe, ceafe to intereft 
 me, or any one elfe, I prefume ; but this is only 
 one of the many pleafures that are infeparable from 
 the practice of the gentle art. 
 
 Rambling careleffly for hours in fine weather 
 befide "the fair ftreams," that the " Sketcber" fo 
 touchingly yet truthfully tells us 
 
 " ever ran 
 With the fame mufic, fmce the world began ; " 
 
Fly-FiJhing. 75 
 
 with every found and fight attuned fo harmoni- 
 oufly, as Orpheus-like, to take captive the fenfes, 
 and give inftant birth to fenfations within that are 
 unufually placid ; if it were indifpenfable that you 
 fhould be as much in the water as out of it, the 
 charm (to me at leaft) would be broken ; and I 
 for one fliould be unnatural enough to fly at once 
 the fociety of my brethren of the angle, feared by the 
 eternal fplaming of the water, and the cold creep- 
 ing fenfations it left behind, to fay nothing of a hun- 
 dred other difagreeables it muft neceffarily entail. 
 
 When I fee a good fifh rife beyond reach, to 
 ftep into the water to get at him, is fo natural to 
 me, as fcarcely to need mention ; but it is the 
 habit of wading I difapprove of, that very young 
 men will perfevere in, in many cafes from the like 
 fpirit of bravado, that induces little children, when 
 they firft begin walking, to pick out the dirtieft 
 puddle to try their powers in. 
 
 I remember timing one day in the Wye with 
 Pifcator, when a fudden longing came over me to 
 try fbme likely gravels on the other fide. It is 
 true, I might have crofled over eafily enough, 
 but then I knew I mould, by fo doing, be moft 
 uncomfortable for the next hour or two ; and was 
 it worth while, I afked myfelf doubtingly, for a 
 
7 6 Fly-Fifhing. 
 
 few laftfprings or trout ? My amphibious friend 
 I faw juft above me flogging away for his life in 
 the middle of the ftream. Reading in my coun- 
 tenance fomewhat, I conclude, of what was pafT- 
 ing beneath, he propofed carrying me acrofs the 
 ftream on his back, provided I would truft my 
 precious perfon to his fafe keeping. With no lefs 
 innocence than willingnefs, I at once accepted his 
 kind propofal. It was fome time before I got well 
 into the faddle, he being a tall, flender youth, and 
 I heavier by fome pounds than I am now, though 
 little under eleven ftone. I could not help fancy- 
 ing at ftarting that I detected fomething very like 
 a patting fmile play upon his countenance, and 
 that was enough to put me a little on my guard ; 
 though if I had a fufpicion of foul play, it was a 
 very faint one. 
 
 He feemed, I thought, to flounder along very 
 uneafily, as if the burthen were too much for him, 
 confidering the rapidity and depth of the ftream. 
 When he reached the middle of the river, where 
 I was obliged to hold up my legs, to prevent them 
 from dangling in the wet, he {hook himfelf vio- 
 lently, like a dog does when he firft comes out of 
 the water, intending, it feems, to make me off, 
 iprawling all fours, into the river. Not feeing the 
 

 Fly-Fifhing. 77 
 
 fuccefs he expected follow his manoeuvres, he 
 flopped (hort, and declared he would go no fur- 
 ther, fuggefting I had better difmount at once. 
 Oh ! my friend, thinks I, this is the mifchief you 
 are up to, is it? So I caught him tight by the 
 neck, juft preffing my two thumbs upon it fuffi- 
 ciently hard, to remind him that if he felt inclined 
 to drown me, I fully intended to throttle him firft. 
 There I fat, like the old man of the fea on the back 
 of Sinbad \ and had you feen us, kind reader, from 
 the bank, you would have enjoyed the fpe&acle, 
 all the more from being on " terra firma " your- 
 felf. 
 
 The ftruggle was a {harp but fhort one. Not 
 only did I force my reluctant bearer to land me 
 fafely, but before I got off his back to promife, on 
 the word of a true Waltonian, to convey me acrofs 
 again when I required it. 
 
 It feems that Pifcator had pra&ifed this fame 
 prank upon a friend of his, who was incafed in a 
 large " maclntojh" with complete fuccefs. It 
 was with no little pleafure he defcribed to me very 
 accurately, how the unhappy wight in queftion 
 had dropped from his back, with a fly jerk he had 
 contrived to give him, head foremoft into the midft 
 of the like whirling ftream we had juft left. Not 
 
7 8 Fly-FiJhing. 
 
 waiting to fee how he managed to crawl out half- 
 drowned on dry land again, he betook himfelf at 
 once to his heels without looking behind him. 
 And well was it he did fo ! for fo furious was his 
 friend, that he flew after him almoft foaming at 
 the mouth with rage. 
 
 No wonder he felt a wee bit angry ! For not 
 only was he half-choked with the Wye water, and 
 dripping wet from the crown of his head to the 
 foles of his feet, but he knew he fhould not hear 
 the laft of it for many a month to come. Pifcator 
 did not tell me whether his purfuer caught him or 
 not, for fcarcely could he articulate another word, 
 fo completely was he overcome with laughter at 
 his poor friend's expenfe. 
 
 In rejoicing at my own efcape, it ftruck me 
 that my intended wetting was in part payment 
 for the flight I had dared to put a fhort time 
 previoufly on the noble fifh I had fo unwittingly 
 likened to a Jack. Well, honeft Pifcator, I for- 
 give thee from my heart the unfriendly attempt 
 all the more readily from its complete difcomfiture. 
 Many a fafe ride have I fmce enjoyed on the fame 
 faddle through the boiling water. Whether this 
 arofe from a due regard to the inevitable confe- 
 quences that once faved me from the like fate thy 
 
Fly-Fifhing. 79 
 
 friend in the " macintojh " had to fubmit to ? or 
 becaufe old Time had ftripped us of fome years of 
 our allotted fpan j ay, and ftripped thee, dear 
 Pifcator, of the fire of thy youthful vivacity ; I 
 know not. 
 
 However, here we are, jogging on through life 
 with the fame fondnefs for a day's fly-fifhing as 
 ever. Still to ramble on as of old through the 
 green meadows, and hear with undiminimed plea- 
 fure the fame mufic in the diftant waterfall, and 
 watch with unabated intereft our old favourites 
 that fifti, like ourfelves, though with different 
 tackle the fedate-looking, folitary heron or the 
 bright halcyon, glancing for a moment in the fun- 
 beams, and then gone, like an arrow, from the 
 fight or the ever-reftlefs water-ouzel,* with that 
 peculiar pertnefs he invariably looks up at you 
 with, as if afking you what bufinefs you had to 
 obtrude yourfelf upon the privacy of his haunts ? 
 
 * How true to nature are the following lines of Pro- 
 feflbr Wilfon : 
 
 " In the ofier bank the ouzel fitting 
 
 Hath heard her fteps, and away is flitting 
 From ftone to ftone, as fhe glides along, 
 Then finks in the ftream with a broken fong." 
 
80 Fly-Fifoing. 
 
 Strange, Pifcator, that all this ftiould delight us 
 now as much as ever. 
 
 Permit me to attempt a folution of the fecret, 
 in fome degree at leaft : 
 
 The pleafures that pall upon the appetite moft 
 fearch and fee if they trefpafs not againft fome plain 
 rule of judgment, or difcretion, or morality, or 
 religion ? Purfued, perhaps, at the facrifice of 
 health and domeftic comfort ; or beyond time's 
 nice proportion that is weighed out to us, as it 
 were, in equal balances to enable all needful things 
 to be done in order; or at the infane coft of every 
 high and noble feeling of felf-refpect ; or the total 
 abandonment of that myfterious warning that fails 
 not to reach every ear, though it may not move 
 every heart ? But are there any painful draw- 
 backs like thefe attendant on the pleafure we feel 
 in haunting the ftreams in the fpring and early 
 days of fummer, to ply our gentle art ? 
 
 I will not ilop to put the argument into fuch a 
 fyllogiftic fhape as would fmack of Oxford and 
 Whateley, but merely remark, that the endurance 
 of the above pleafure may, in a great degree, be 
 reduced to its entire freedom from that dead 
 weight (fo to fpeak) that drags other pleafures 
 fooner or later to the ground, and makes them fo 
 vapid and valuelefs. 
 
Fly-Fifhing. 81 
 
 There are perfons, it is true, of fuch a ftrange 
 temperament, that they can go forth and gaze 
 upon the fair landfcape in a May-morning, with 
 no fymptom of emotion to prove that they are 
 either pleafed or pained at the fpe&acle before 
 them. Let the fun light up the whole expanfe 
 within the horizon with its glorious beams, they 
 appear to be no more gladdened than if all were 
 eclipfed in gloom, and fading into darknefs. Let 
 every tree that meets them, every hedge-row they 
 pafs by, be clothed in their neweft apparel of 
 fofteft green that is fo grateful to the eye ! the 
 change by them is no more noticed than if each 
 branch, and bough, and fpray, remained as leaflefs 
 as they were a month or two previoufly. Let the 
 flowers at their feet woo them, by the beauty of 
 their bloflbms, or the fragrance they fling forth in 
 fuch fweet profufion ; their fenfes feem faft locked 
 up in impenetrable obtufenefs. 
 
 To fuch as thefe it would be in vain to write 
 of the aiTociations that are infeparable from fly- 
 fiming. They ought not to leave the fmoky pur- 
 lieus of the city, or the little coterie of choice 
 fpirits like themfelves, who can divine nothing be- 
 yond the bare utilitarian principle itfelf worth liv- 
 ing for. 
 
 G 
 
8i Fly-FiJhing. 
 
 But to all (and their name, I believe, is legion] 
 who figh for the fight of the fweet country, when 
 it begins to gather its gay, green garniture, (all 
 the more welcome, perhaps, from the novelty of 
 the fcene,) can I warmly recommend the gentle 
 art, as ever ready to give a greater zeft to their 
 rambles, and a keener edge to their inclinations to 
 trace out the wildeft fcenery to be met with in the 
 mountain-glen, or the fofteft and fweeteft in the 
 fhady nooks that the voice of many waters firft 
 calls them to notice. 
 
 To live and die in the country, what an envia- 
 ble lot ! Still, as fly-fiming, in its bare character, 
 would foon ceafe to intereft me as it does, fo 
 would the naked charms of the country be alone 
 inefficient to lure me abroad, as often as I could 
 wifh, for the refrefhment of the eye, the bracing 
 of the nerves, ay, and the foftening of the heart 
 too. It is in the union of the two, Pifcator, that 
 the fecret lies I told you I would venture to 
 refolve ; always remembering that the pleafure of 
 fly-fifhing is not amenable to the drawbacks fo 
 many others are that pall upon the tafte. 
 
 Now, in cafe, like the old foldier who is faid to 
 be fo fond of fighting his battles over again, I 
 (hould be open to the charge of prattling too much. 
 
Ffy-FiJbing. 83 
 
 of my pifcatorial " rambles and recollections con- 
 ne&ed with the fame river," I muft take leave of 
 thee, fweet Wye, though paft pleafures connected 
 with thy waters flill crowd thick and faft upon my 
 memory. 
 
 There is no river in this part of the country I 
 fhould felecl: in preference to refide near ; ftill the 
 ftranger may vifit it for a week or more together, 
 and leave it grievoufly difappointed. Like all large 
 rivers I have fifhed in, it is very uncertain, more 
 efpecially in refpecl: to trout. Rough fim and 
 laftfprings the tyro may calculate on with cer- 
 tainty in the right feafon, in fufficient number to 
 bring his hand into play; but to know the fa- 
 vourite refort of trout, and the befl ftreams, re- 
 quires a longer acquaintance with the river. There 
 is no better water, that I know of, than that 
 which lies between Bredwardine Bridge and Whit- 
 ney-flats ; and as no brother of the angle need fear 
 any denial of fair riming, may all fuccefs attend 
 thee, whoever thou art, who may feel inclined to 
 bring to a teft the truth of thefe words ! 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 " The voice of the city, the whifper of men, 
 I hear them, and hate them, and weary again 
 For the lull of the ftreams the breath of the brae 
 Brought down in a morning of May." 
 
 STODDART. 
 
 has not heard of certain vifi- 
 tors, whofe faces we poor Englifh 
 mortals are doomed to behold, 
 with fomewhat of the fame feel- 
 ings a farmer would behold fnow 
 in fummer the tax-gatherer, for inftance, come 
 to extract the laft milling from our purfes ; or 
 tooth-drawer, with his horrid apparatus, the laft 
 grinder we have left ? But what is this compared 
 with the vifit of one who is bent on dragging you, 
 at a moment's notice, from a nice, mug, warm bed 
 a noify difagreeable fellow, (it may be,) who 
 ftands grinning at you with the moft mifchievoufly 
 
Fly-Fifhing. 85 
 
 provoking leer j enjoying the cruel breaking up of 
 a fweet, found nap, as a mercilefs fifliwoman does, 
 to judge from her fmiling unconcern, the writhings 
 of the poor eel fhe is in the very a6t of fkinning 
 alive ? 
 
 With no very diffimilar fenfations, do I well re- 
 member, were my friend's repeated vifits to my 
 dormitory regarded by me, on the memorable 
 morning we had fixed on for our long-talked-of 
 excurfion over the mountains to the Grwyne 
 Fawr.* 
 
 Knowing pretty well what we had to en- 
 counter, it was not till after many wife "pro's and 
 con's," after the manner of a certain prophet in 
 the Weft of veracious repute, refpecSting the 
 weather, that the final orders were given to the 
 redoubted Richard to put the faddle upon the back 
 of " Polly" that queen of ponies, to help us up 
 the firft mountain we knew to be fcarcely lefs 
 abrupt than the fide of a houfe, that only flies 
 
 * A fmall and very rapid mountain-ftream, impoflible to 
 be approached except by a good walker. As it runs clear 
 after the heavieft rain in a few hours, it will generally en- 
 fure a good day's fport, when other ftreams in the neigh- 
 bourhood are too thick for a fly. The beft way to it, is 
 acrofs the mountains by Llanthony Abbey. 
 
85 Fly-FiJhing. 
 
 and fpiders, and fuch-like infects can comfortably 
 keep their footing on. 
 
 And here, kind reader, in thefe days of free- 
 trade, when cheapnefs is the "fine qua non " only 
 thought of, (by a certain " clique" at leaft, we 
 wont mention names,) fhould any of our brethren 
 of the craft fwell with their fweet voices the fafhion- 
 able cry, they may like to know how it is poflible, 
 without coming within the verge of "Martin's 
 Aft" to make one pony anfwer the purpofe of two, 
 in helping them to the place of their deftination in 
 a mountainous diftnct. To the inventive faculties 
 of my friend Pifcator, is the difcovery due, that a 
 pony's tail may be as ufeful as his back in fuch an 
 emergency. Hanging by the one, and feated on 
 the other, did we afcend the fides of the aforefaid 
 mountain on the day in queftion, to the entire fa- 
 tisfa&ion of all parties, Polly included. 
 
 That I am right in afTerting thus much, is clear 
 from the verbal aflurance of the two-legged ani- 
 mals, and the fame meafured ftep and fedate bear- 
 ing of the four-legged one, which the latter would 
 not have exhibited, had the even tenour of her 
 temper been the leaft ruffled, as it was when I faw 
 her launch out from behind, to the no fmall dif- 
 may of Richard, when he attempted to deprive 
 
Fly-Fifhing. 87 
 
 her of the anticipated treat, (the greater in her 
 cafe as in ours, becaufe it was forbidden,) of crop- 
 ping the clover of the lawn fhe had fo flily taken 
 pofTefiion of. 
 
 We hear much of the inftinct of animals ! Is 
 that only inftincl that prompts my friend's fa- 
 vourite fetter to greet him with fo much gladnefs 
 on ordinary days, wagging his tail as if he would 
 (hake it off, and laughing from fheer delight with 
 his merry eyes and good-humoured face ? Is that 
 only inftincl: that keeps him fo quiet on the Sab- 
 bath-day, and tells him he muft not follow his 
 matter as ufual, becaufe he is about to enter the 
 fancluary below, (though, I am fure, if he did, he 
 would comport himfelf far more decently than 
 the two louts I faw there, reverfing the good old 
 faying, and who entered the church to laugh ; and 
 remained though not to pray !) Surely in all this 
 there is fomething more than inftincT:, as well as 
 in the conduct of the fagacious Polly ! Something 
 more than inftincl: muft keep thofe heels of hers 
 quiet, when fhe finds that not only has (he to carry 
 upwards of eleven ftone of human flefh, bones, 
 &c. upon her back, but to drag as much after 
 her fufpended by her tail. She kicks not then, 
 gentle reader, becaufe flie is a dutiful fervant, and 
 
88 Fly-Fifhing. 
 
 knows (he is repaying her matter, who provides 
 her with food and lodging. Not fo, when her 
 work is done; (he is her own miftrefs then, and 
 woe betide her mafter, or thee, good Richard, (as 
 you have experienced,) if you rafhly interfere with 
 her. 
 
 What would a Londoner of pure cockney blood 
 fay, if fuddenly tranfported, fome fine morning, 
 from the heart of the fmoky city to the top of the 
 black mountain ? How would he feel ? Like 
 one of the fpeckled beauties Pifcator is fo fkilful 
 in dragging " nolens volens " out of the water to 
 the greenfward at his feet ; glancing on every 
 fide with his reftlefs, unquiet eye, and evidently no 
 lefs annoyed than amazed, at the unlooked-for 
 change ? Or, as we agreed, we felt on the memo- 
 rable occafion in queftion ? elevated in fentiment 
 as well as fituation, with fomewhat of that mental 
 elevation that foars, for a time at leaft, above the 
 ordinary concerns of life, as well as the private 
 fancies and felfim predilections that will prevail 
 oftener than mould be, and prevent perfonal peace 
 and harmony within. 
 
 Is it the fenfe of labour furmounted, with the 
 agreeable relaxation of thews and finews, that are 
 called into fuch unufual play, (not forgetting the 
 
Ffy-FiJhing. 9 
 
 fport in profpe<5l,) that conduces to this definable 
 ftate of mind ? Or is there a fecret link we little 
 dream of, that connects the material with the im- 
 material world, and works myfterioufly upon the 
 minds of the ardent and imaginative to their e- 
 pecial benefit, chaftening with purer and better 
 thoughts their too earthly bias, and difpofmg them 
 to a nearer fenfe of the prefence of Him whofe 
 hand is no lefs bury in painting the wild-flower at 
 our feet, than in piling mountain upon mountain, 
 to raife our wonder at the one, and delight us with 
 the other ? 
 
 Be that as it may, I muft confefs I feel more 
 difpofed on the top of fuch a mountain as this, 
 even after the fport is over, and the legs weary, 
 to look with kindlier fentiments on the faults of 
 others (not excepting Pifcator's, for fimermen are 
 not faultlefs). I muft confefs I feel a keener fenfe 
 of my own littlenefs and extreme infignificance, 
 where all around befpeaks the prefence of the 
 Deity and His Majefty in fo ftriking a manner. 
 
 That monks mould pitch their tents for life in 
 fo fweet a retreat as that at Llanthony ftill occu- 
 pied by the Abbey's ruins, that detained us in mo- 
 mentary contemplation of the paft, is a redeeming 
 point in the eftimate one is difpofed to take of the 
 
90 Fly-Fifliing. 
 
 liftlefs lazy crew, who would fteal away from the 
 world and its duties, and fan&ion their moral cow- 
 ardice with the name of religion. For Nature, it 
 feems, did not fpread forth her charms all in vain 
 for them ! It could not have been by chance that 
 the founder of thofe walls fele&ed a fpot few can 
 behold without a pafling tribute to its extreme 
 beauty ! Nor can we imagine any one to be ut- 
 terly fteeped in the dregs of fuperftition, who 
 could make up his mind to turn away for ever 
 from the bufy world, reconciled to retirement in fo 
 charming a nook. 
 
 Who knows, too, if the frequent fafts of the 
 goodly men were not fed (excufe the heterodoxy, 
 if there be fuch a word) by the produce of fome 
 monkifh brother of the craft ? 
 
 For 
 
 What trout could poflibly refift 
 A little feather, and gold twift, 
 
 Wrapt on the barbed fteel 
 By Monk, who could at will devife 
 A miracle in peafant's eyes 
 
 So wonderful and real ? 
 
 The very idea of fuch a thing goes no little way 
 to difabufe monkery of fome flight portion of the 
 disfavour we are inclined to regard it in. So fays 
 Pifcator at leaft. 
 
 How gallantly we breafted the oppofite moun- 
 
Fly-Fifhing. . 91 
 
 tain, leaving Polly behind us fafe and found, tail 
 and all, and how reluctantly we pafled the fparkling 
 waters of the Hondu,* I will not ftay to defcribe. 
 Nothing interrupted our learned difcourfe on 
 fly-making, &c. till we found ourfelves in the very 
 midft of a difturbed family not of gipfies, or fuch 
 like anomalies, but Groufe. All helter-fkelter, 
 it is marvellous how fome of the wee, fluttering, 
 frightened creatures efcaped being crufhed by our 
 feet. (No worfe death, perhaps, than being riddled 
 with mot from Squire Broadland's Manton a few 
 weeks hence !) It was pleafant to fee Pifcator 
 {tumbling through the heather in full chafe of the 
 old bird that was dodging before him, now running 
 here, and now fluttering there ! Ay, and plea- 
 fanter far to hear the chuckle of the latter in the 
 ear of his baffled purfuer, whom he had fo dexter- 
 oufly decoyed from his younglings that merry 
 chuckle that feemed to fay in his way in expreflive, 
 though not very polimed phrafeology, t( Don't you 
 wifh you may get it ? " 
 
 * A very beautiful ftream, not only in the fifherman's 
 eye, but the artift's. Early in the feafon, or later after 
 rain, there is no prettier water for a fly ; though the trout 
 are fmall, owing to the incefTant poaching from May to 
 Midfummer, and perhaps beyond. 
 
9 2 Fly-Fifhlng. 
 
 Here we are, however, at the top of the laft 
 mountain ; and that little filver thread we catch 
 fight of winding along, far, far below us, is the 
 veritable Grwyne Fawr ! 
 
 The fatigue of fcrambling up a very fteep moun- 
 tain is foon forgotten in the agreeable fenfations 
 the eafy defcent on the other fide almoft inva- 
 riably awakens. I was fo carried away by the 
 latter in the cafe in queftion, and fo much exhila- 
 rated by what I faw and felt, that I almoft fancied 
 I was furnifhed with a pair of wings, like .the 
 folitary kite that was juft then failing over our 
 heads. 
 
 Alas ! for us poor mortals to think of flying in- 
 deed ! Such a fall over a rolling ftone, that was 
 hid in the heather did I experience, to bring me 
 to my fenfes, that I almoft feel inclined now to 
 rub my poor fides and knees at the bare thought 
 of it. 
 
 It took me as much by furprife, and cooled my 
 ardour as effectually, though perhaps not fo lite- 
 rally, as a fall I had to fubmit to a twelvemonth 
 before, while riming in the Clun in Shropfhire. 
 
 I was (landing on the point of a fharp angle of 
 the more that ftretched out into the river, and 
 behind me was a bank more than fix feet high. It 
 
Fly-Fifliing. 93 
 
 was near this fpot that I had fucceeded in hooking 
 a trout that had baffled me a few hours before in 
 the morning. Directly he was hooked, he made 
 for a large ftubb that lay very convenient for him 
 in the middle of the ftream. Thinking of nothing 
 at the time but the beft way of preventing him 
 from carrying out his intention, I held him with a 
 very fhort line, and kept gradually drawing back 
 when lo ! all at once, I reeled and fell backwards 
 into the water. What a glorious fight for the de- 
 lighted fim to witnefs ! It was a wonder they did 
 not rum at their enemy mark-like. 
 
 The ftartled fifh bewilder'd ran, 
 
 They darted to and fro, 
 When with a plunge the fifherman 
 
 Came tumbling down below 
 So large a bait, as fure as Fate, 
 
 Muft be a deadly foe. 
 
 With curious large round eyes they ftare, 
 
 And firft due diftance keep, 
 Then take him for fome monfter fifh, 
 
 Amazed at fuch a leap ! 
 And fome would choofe to aflc what news 
 
 He brings from the far deep ? 
 
 Then bolder by degrees they grow 
 
 Nearer and nearer fteal, 
 And make their quivering tails and fins, 
 
 His dubious fides to feel 
 
94 Fly-Fifhing. 
 
 Play round his fhanks, and mock his pranks 
 Perch, Pike, and tortuous Eel. 
 
 But when they faw him fprawl and fplafh, 
 And plunge with floundering limb ; 
 
 Odds-fifh ! they thought ftrange fifh they knew, 
 But never one like him. 
 
 If thefe be fins fuch fpilikins 
 Have never learnt to fwim. 
 
 And round and round and round they fwarm, 
 
 Glide proudly, fail and float j 
 And bob their nofes to gulp in 
 
 The buttons of his coat 
 Around, around with fplafh and bound, 
 
 As might their fcorn denote. 
 
 Ye filly fifti, muft ye defpife 
 
 Th' ungainly thing ye fee ? 
 " Fifh out of water," as may chance 
 
 A fifh fometime may be, 
 And jerked on hook, be fure would look 
 
 As ftrange a fifh as he. 
 
 That pocket now you're bobbing at, 
 
 And eke that wondrous book ! 
 Within has piftures very bright 
 
 And tempting to the look ; 
 Thofe pretty flies are glittering lies, 
 
 And every one a hook. 
 
 'Tis wifeft their own element 
 
 Both man and fifh fhould keep- 
 That on dry ground the fifherman 
 
 More cautioufly fhould creep j 
 
Fly-FiJhing. 95 
 
 That both fhould know a tempting foe, 
 And " look before they leap." 
 
 A fnare is laid for man and fifh 
 
 (The moral thus to hit) 
 That both are apt to nibble at, 
 
 Then rufliing gulp at it. 
 There's many a wight expects his bite, 
 
 There's many " a biter bit." 
 
 But rhyming catches catch no fifh 
 
 And never bafket filled, 
 For fifh don't hear, and never come, 
 
 However charmed or willed, 
 Like Ducks in pond of Miftrefs Bond, 
 
 When wanted to be killed. 
 
 In idle rhyme while thus I fport, 
 
 If my advice be true, 
 I do difprove what Dr. Watts 
 
 Says idle hands muft do 
 Tho* it may be the Trout agree 
 
 In Do6lor Watts's view ! 
 
 For leaving rhymes, from out my book 
 
 I take this little fly, 
 And neatly fit him with a hook 
 
 And " know the reafon why " 
 I lay afide this fcribbling pride 
 
 I've " other fifh to fry." 
 
 Have there been times, dear reader, whoever 
 you are, when hard prefled in the battle of life, 
 you ardently longed to efcape from the tumult and 
 
96 Fly-Fijhing. 
 
 turmoil around you to a fpot of complete quietude 
 and feclufion ? Juft fancy yourfelf for a moment, 
 under fuch circumftances, tranfported to the banks 
 of the Grwyne Fawr, on fome fine morning of one 
 of the laft days of expiring Spring ! And if fuch 
 be not, as it were, a fweet oafis for memory to re- 
 trace in after years, you are not the man I took 
 you to be. Mountains upon mountains on each 
 fide of you, with a narrow valley (treelefs, it is 
 true) to divide them, but not the lefs wrapped in fa- 
 vage beauty for all that. A few fheep with fhaggy 
 fleeces, flaring, as if their eyes would ftart out of 
 their heads, at fo unufual a fpeftacle as man, and 
 ftamping with their fore-feet, as their cuftom is, 
 when they would warn their companions of fuf- 
 pected danger. Large mattes of rock, reft from 
 the parent bed above, with here and there a wild- 
 flower entirely new to you. And laft, though not 
 leaft, a cryftal ftream, full of trout, dancing in 
 fparkling merriment at your feet. 
 
 Like children's laughter, ere old Time 
 
 Has ftripped it of its glee, 
 That would, alas ! but little chime 
 
 With life's reality 
 
 Steals on the angler's ear the found 
 Of waters at his feet, 
 
Fly-Fifhing. 9? 
 
 That gambol on with many a bound, 
 The diftant lea to meet. 
 
 Burnifhed with gold, and green, and blue, 
 
 The whirling bubbles gleam, 
 And burft not yet within his view, 
 
 Like many a paft day-dream. 
 
 Myriads of infels happy things ! 
 
 Sail foftly humming by j 
 And every note each wild bird fings 
 
 Is fraught with melody ! 
 
 Shall troubled thoughts difturb him then, 
 
 Far from the fickening ftrife 
 That fends, alas ! his fellow men 
 
 Sad down the ftream of life ? 
 
 Surely no heart, however fad, 
 
 Could ftill unfolaced be, 
 Or feel, where all around was glad, 
 
 No touch of fympathy ! 
 
 Oh ! fuch waterfalls, and deep, black-looking 
 pools beneath, as would make you convulfively 
 clutch your bafket to fpeculate if it could pofiibly 
 hold all you meant to catch ! 
 
 If you are a brother of the angle, as I take you 
 to be, you know as well as I can tell you, that of 
 all uncertain things in this moft uncertain world, 
 there is nothing more fo than the anticipated re- 
 fults of a day's fly-fifhing. I muft inform you, 
 H 
 
98 Fly-Fi/hmg. 
 
 then, that on the day in queftion for the firft two 
 hours, if I had one " rife" I may fay I had confi- 
 derably more than two hundred, and only landed 
 fome twenty trout. The ftream, which is very 
 rapid, and the wind, were dead againft me. Con- 
 fequently before my flies touched the water, they 
 curled in towards me with the whole collar ; and 
 ftrike as you may in fuch a cafe, it is not of the 
 flighteft ufe : generally fpeaking, if you do hook a 
 trout, you have to thank his voracioufnefs for it, 
 not your Ikill. The beft plan, I believe, to adopt 
 under fuch untoward circumftances, is to throw 
 underhand with as fhort a line as pofiible, and al- 
 ways at the oppofite fide of the ftream in the flack 
 water. 
 
 Such a lively fet I never before had the pleafure 
 to fall in with as thefe fame trout of the Grwyne 
 Fawr ; the firft caft in a likely pool, and you are 
 fure to have half-a-dozen candidates for the tempt- 
 ing morfel before their eyes. And yet fo nimble 
 are they and quick- figh ted, that they detect the 
 cheat within a hair's breadth of their ruin, give 
 one little tug at the hackle, (moft probably,) and 
 you fee them no more. 
 
 Sometimes, it is true, when they turn away thus 
 in difguft, flapping the falfe thing ycleped a fly with 
 
Fly-Fiflnng. 99 
 
 their tails, their joy is turned into forrowbya little 
 quiclcnefs on your part with your hand and eye. 
 Hooked by the tail or in the (kin of the belly, 
 a trout not exceeding half a pound in weight will 
 thus delude you into the idea that you have hold 
 of a monfter at leaft. Ruming up the centre of 
 the ftream, if one be near, he rights fo gallantly 
 for his life, that you cannot help feeling a certain 
 kind of twinge within, when you difcover all the 
 fplutter to have been caufed by fo fmall and plucky 
 a creature. 
 
 Why the trout fhould be fo unufually plentiful 
 in the Grwyne Fawr is owing, I believe, in no 
 fmall degree to the nature of its rocky uneven bed. 
 No net could poflibly fweep it. You, who are 
 accuftomed to fpend hundreds in trying to preferve, 
 (too often in vain,) ftudy Dame Nature's example 
 in this refpecl:. A few deep holes cut in the 
 bed of your water, and fome ftones, fufficiently 
 large not to be warned afide by the torrents of 
 winter, judicioufly fcattered about, would preferve 
 your fifli far more fecurely than the expenfive 
 employment of half-a-dozen keepers. 
 
 What a (harp look out muft a trout keep from 
 behind one of the large ftones, he fo loves early in 
 the feafon to make his lair of ! The flies, living 
 
100 
 
 Fly-FiJhing. 
 
 and dead, fail by at leaft a hundred knots an hour, 
 and yet, no fooner does the right one come, than 
 up dames the tyrant from below, and takes in the 
 favourite morfel as eafily as if he were in fome ftill, 
 unruffled deep. 
 
 One good fifh only I managed to hook in the 
 neighbourhood of one of thefe large ftones in the 
 Grwyne Fawr. I faw his white belly for an in- 
 ftant, when he took a fancy to my fecond fly ; 
 and the next moment up fprings the gentleman 
 with the fpeckled robe into the air, as if he meant 
 to fly as well as fwim. Oh ! thinks I, if I can 
 but land you fafe and found, how I mail chuckle 
 over my more fkilful brother below. Now he 
 makes his head, as if he would make off the odious 
 barb a real fneckbend, my friend, it wont do : 
 now he defcends to the bottom, and pulls with all 
 his might and main ! Well in hand though I have 
 you, you are a noble fellow, and will beat me yet ! 
 By all that's unfortunate, and fo he has ! That vile 
 gut gave way in the laft death-ftruggle ; and all I 
 have to do, I conclude, is to take my good brother's 
 advice, and not lofe my temper, though I have 
 loft my fifh. 
 
 Here I am, however, at our meeting-place ex- 
 actly at four, with two or three under fifty trout 
 
Fly-FiJhing. 101 
 
 in my bafket. " No bad fport," you will perhaps 
 exclaim ! And I agree with you, fuppofing I had 
 fifhed any other water. But this lovely Grwyne, 
 a day or two after heavy rain, was there ever fuch 
 a flream for fifh ? 
 
 Hulloa ! Pifcator, is that you ? And you call 
 this punctuality ! You richly deferve to be pitched 
 into not with the fift of violence, (that would not 
 be clerical,) but with the tongue of wrathfulnefs. 
 So glorious a day, however, have I enjoyed, that 
 I have not the heart to fcold. 
 
 Oh ! you murderer! You have indeed a bafket 
 full; and fome of them good fifh. One hundred 
 and twelve trout between us. 
 
 By the way, you remember the three flies I 
 made yefterday, the little May-fly,* down-hill, 
 and buzz, with dark red hackle and yellowifh 
 body, fmall, but very rough ? To the laft, quite 
 contrary to your opinion, thirty trout at leaft have 
 fallen victims. The water I found a little tinged, 
 as I expected, and a combination of red and yel- 
 low proved irrefiftible. 
 
 Farewell, fweet Grwyne, for another twelve- 
 
 * No greater miftake can be made than to ufe large 
 May-flies ; unlefs the water be very high and thick. 
 
102 Fly-Fiftiing. 
 
 month ! and mould nothing unforefeen occur, I 
 will vifit thee again. 
 
 ****** 
 Permit me to afk you, good reader, if you were 
 ever in a mift ? I mean not fuch an one as every 
 poor wretch, I believe, who is bewildered out of 
 the little modicum of brains he may happen to 
 poflefs, is occafionally involved in an Englifh- 
 man, for inftance, ftepping on more at Calais for the 
 firft time, and furrounded by a hoft of chattering 
 Frenchmen, without knowing one word of their 
 language or a nervous young woman, who has 
 feen better days, on trial in an infant fchool-room, 
 endeavouring, though in vain, to flop the laugh- 
 ing, fcreaming, crying medley, from a hundred 
 little mouths, me finds herfelf ferenaded with for 
 the firft time ; or an indulgent parent, trying 
 to decipher yefterday's debate on a queftion of 
 confidence in her Majefty's minifters, with his 
 pets around him, frilking in all manner of queer 
 ways, and uttering all forts of ftrange founds, with 
 mamma looking quietly on ? No, no, not fuch 
 a mift as this, how delectable foever it may be ! 
 But a real mountain-mift that, gathering with 
 ominous blacknefs in the diftance, approached 
 you nearer and nearer every ftep you took, till 
 you found yourfelf fairly involved in it ! 
 
Fly-Fifhing. 103 
 
 It was juft fuch a mift that overtook us, not a 
 little, I muft confefs, to our difmay, when we had 
 nearly climbed two-thirds over the firft mountain 
 we had to crofs on our return. We knew our- 
 felves to be many miles from home, with not a 
 fraction of our fare left. What were we to do in 
 fuch an emergency ? " Go ahead," I fancy I hear 
 fome courageous voice exclaiming, cc go ahead, 
 to be fure." Yes, and tumble head-foremoft over 
 a frightful precipice that would indeed be going 
 ahead with a vengeance ! 
 
 After fome hefitation, we determined to pro- 
 ceed as nearly as poffible in the direction we had 
 already taken ; ftill afcending the mountain, though 
 in a flanting way, concluding that when we had 
 perfevered fome time, we fhould either catch a 
 faint glimpfe of the brow of the mountain, which 
 we kept in mind as a kind of guide ; or elfe, from 
 the nature of the ground, be able to guefs at its 
 pofition with fufficient accuracy for our purpofe. 
 Continuing our courfe for fome time with this in- 
 tention, our doubts began to ooze out bit by bit, 
 in a running-fire fort of converfation like this. 
 
 Clericus. I fay, Pifcator, this is pleafant. 
 
 Pifcator. Not very pleafant will you find it, my 
 dear fellow, if you have to wander about this 
 
104 Fly-Fifliing. 
 
 mountain all night ; or to lie down and fleep, like 
 Jacob of old, with the bare ftones for your pillow. 
 
 Clericus. You don't think we are going right, 
 then ? 
 
 Pifcator. Half an hour ago I thought fo, but I 
 am not quite fo fure now. 
 
 Clericus. A pretty fort of a fellow you are to 
 fet up for a guide. You know the nature of this 
 wild country fo well, that you ought to be able to 
 fmell out your way like a dog. 
 
 Pifcator. I tell you what we ought to go 
 ftraight up the mountain now, as I fufpecl: we are 
 not far from the brow that dips a little, as we re- 
 marked this morning. 
 
 Clericus. You are wrong, depend upon it j we 
 muft ftill keep bearing to the right. If we go 
 ftraight up as you propofe, we mail have to fcale 
 one precipice, and then moft likely break our 
 necks on the other fide. 
 
 Pifcator. Well, have your own way. I don't 
 at all like the appearance of it. I never remember 
 being caught in fo intenfe a mift before. 
 
 Clericus. The farther we proceed, the more do 
 I begin to doubt which of us is in the right. Sup- 
 pofe we fplit the difference, (as the vulgar faying 
 is,) and now take the direction you advifed fome 
 time ago ? 
 
Fly-FiJhing. 105 
 
 Pifcator. Better late than never; though we 
 ought to have done it before. 
 
 Some fuch converfation as this patted, when our 
 fituation was really becoming rather a critical one. 
 After wandering about for fome time, we began 
 to be a little difheartened, though we had con- 
 trived to pafs in fafety over the top of the firfl 
 mountain, and to defcend the other fide. All the 
 pleafant little incidents of the day were now for- 
 gotten ; and we felt a ftrong inclination to empty 
 our bafkets of their contents, fo heavily did they 
 begin to prefs upon our moulders. 
 
 It is very fingular how entire a revulflon of 
 feeling will a flight change of circumftances im- 
 mediately call forth ! Exulting an hour or two 
 before in our fuccefs at the Grwyne Fawr, per- 
 haps, had our load been as much again when we 
 flatted on our return, we mould have fubmitted 
 to it, as a matter of courfe. But now, how de- 
 voutly did we wifh the fifh anywhere than in our 
 bafkets, though we had not the heart to throw 
 them away. 
 
 Oh ! what wondrous power does the mind po- 
 fefs over thefe dull bodies of ours ! It is not learn- 
 ing, it is not clevernefs, it is not courage, it is not 
 induftry, that will alwjays fucceed in overcoming 
 difficulties. Elafticity of mind, I believe to be the 
 
io6 Fly-Fifliing. 
 
 true fecret of fuccefs in the majority of cafes 
 elafticity of mind that can make up for deficiencies, 
 by afTuming they do not exift ; and where all is 
 dark and gloomy, ftill cafting in a fweet ray of lin- 
 gering funlight. 
 
 To make our walk more cheerful, I prefume, 
 my companion commenced relating ftories ; how 
 fome had wandered all night on the mountains, 
 and recovered not from their fatigue and fright for 
 days and days to come ; and how others, ftill worfe, 
 had been loft to their friends for ever on this fide 
 the grave ; having, it is fuppofed, mifled their foot- 
 ing, and been dafhed to atoms down fome frightful 
 precipice ! Very interefting talk, no doubt, under 
 any other than our prefent circumftances ! All the 
 while, be it remembered, we were fhut out from the 
 glorious profpecl:, as well as almoft from the frefh, 
 pure oxygen, by the choking, blinding mift, which 
 had become fo intenfe that, to all appearances, we 
 could grafp it in our hands. 
 
 At length to our inexpreffible delight we difco- 
 vered a well-beaten track, and that not by fheep 
 only, but by fome of our own fpecies alfo. After 
 ftumbling along for fome time down this track, 
 we arrived at the bottom of the mountain ; and 
 ftrange to fay, the mift feemed to be then ftealing 
 
Fly-Fiftiing. 107 
 
 gradually off its fides, afluming here and there 
 wild fantaftical fhapes, fuch as an imaginative be- 
 holder might well convert into monfters with many 
 heads, and mail-clad warriors at hand, St. George- 
 like, to charge with their vizors down, and their 
 fpears at reft ! Or fairer and fofter fcenes the 
 fleecy mift might be made to reprefent, with no 
 great ftretch of mental fantafy either ; the land- 
 fcape, for inftance, with its many fweet accom- 
 paniments of light and made ; or the wide-fpread 
 lake, flightly burnimed with gold, as it juft caught 
 the finking fun-beam ; or trees cluftered thick 
 together, and garnimed with their fummer foliage ! 
 Such, and a thoufand other airy ihapes, might the 
 evanefcent mift be made to picture, as it rolled 
 away, volume after volume, before our eyes. 
 
 Not at all forry were we to find ourfelves, after 
 all our troubles, at the bottom of the mountain fafe 
 and found ; though where the lane we reached 
 would lead us, we were in utter ignorance. 
 
 Moft fortunately the fmoke from a cottage- 
 chimney caught our eyes, and the merry laughter 
 of little children told us that we were not far off* 
 the abode of one who could no doubt direcl: us 
 where to go. What was our annoyance on being 
 allured that we had ft rayed from two to three miles 
 
io8 Fly-FiJhing. 
 
 beyond the right road, and were fully that diftance 
 then from Llanthony, I will leave the reader to 
 conceive ! 
 
 When we caught fight of the ruins again, ftand- 
 ing out with their dim, diftant outline, there' was 
 a gloom about them that harmonifed not a little 
 with the departing twilight, as well as our own 
 fpirits, deprefTed, I muft confefs, far more than 
 wearinefs of body would account for. 
 
 What was pafling in " Polly's" head I do not 
 pretend to fay ; but the fagacious creature certainly 
 looked more knowing than ufual, when fhe was 
 brought out of the good farmer's mug {table ; 
 implying, perhaps, that had we followed her ex- 
 ample, and remained to enjoy the kind hofpitality 
 that was offered us, it would have, been wifer than 
 wandering over unknown mountains, and lofmg 
 ourfelves in mift and mire ! For once, " Polly," 
 I muft take leave to difpute the foundnefs of thy 
 views, if fuch were their bearing. Inactivity and 
 floth may fuit fome quadrupeds like thyfelf, (the 
 long-eared ones more efpecially ;) but man, man 
 muft have incefTant movement, though it be quite 
 contrary at times to his inclinations, or he would 
 be miferable. 
 
 What cared we for the mountain-mift ; what 
 
Fly-Fi/hing. 109 
 
 for the walk from feven in the morning till ten 
 at night ; when the welcome of as kind a hoftefs 
 as ever put up without a murmur with fifher- 
 men's caprices, met us on the threfhold ? To 
 fit down hungry as hunters and defpatch for a 
 time all in the eating way that came within our 
 reach, was a practical proof that fatigue had inter- 
 fered not with our appetites. 
 
 Pifcator. I am rejoiced to hear the found of 
 your voice again, my good friend. I calculate (as 
 brother Jonathan would fay) you have had quite 
 enough of the Grwyne Fawr ? 
 
 Clericus. Not a bit of it. At one time, certainly, 
 when we were both at a u nonplus " I felt not 
 quite fo comfortable as I do now ; but as for the 
 mountain-mift, I would not have efcaped it on any 
 confideration, at leaft, now it is paft. 
 
 Pifcator. Suppofe we have a peep at the fifh ? 
 
 Clericus. By all means. 
 
 Pifcator. No bad dim in point of number, at 
 any rate. 
 
 Clericus. They are fmall, certainly, but fuch 
 pullers for their fize I never before met with ; and 
 what a peculiar colour ! They looked on firft 
 coming out of the water more like living lumps 
 of Californian gold, than anything elfe. 
 
i io Fly-FiJhmg. 
 
 Pifcator. A different fpecies, perhaps, from the 
 ordinary trout we are accuftomed to fee. 
 
 Clericus. I believe the foil through which the 
 water flows has a great influence on the colour, as 
 well as growth of trout. I remember three years 
 ago fiftiing not far from the French prifon in a 
 fparkling little brook on Dartmoor, when the firft 
 trout I hooked I miftook for a fifh I had never 
 feen before, until I took it in my hands and faw it 
 was a trout, though almoft black. If you could 
 tranfplant fome of the black fellows from the fame 
 French prifon waters to the Grwyne Fawr, they 
 would foon exchange their prifon-drefs, I believe, 
 for the like golden garments ; for why fhould 
 not trout follow the fafhion of the day as well as 
 you ? 
 
 Pifcator. I believe you are right. For one 
 thing is pretty certain ; and that is, that the black 
 peat of Dartmoor communicates its unfightly colour 
 to the trout j and fome property of the foil muft 
 tinge the trout of the Grwyne Fawr with bright 
 yellow. 
 
 Clericus. If you wifh to fay more on this fubjecT:, 
 had you not better defer it to a lefs unfeafonable 
 hour ? It is more than half-paft twelve, and later 
 than this no Pifcator ought to keep out of his bed, 
 
Ffy-Fifhing. 
 
 1 1 
 
 particularly after fuch a walk. One word more 
 while I light this candle ; you may fay what you 
 pleafe about not going again to the Grwyne Fawr, 
 but a day more replete with incident, and incident 
 too that keeps the mind on the full frretch of ex- 
 citement, I have never before enjoyed. A walk 
 by a lazy river, though it be in the height of the 
 May-fly feafon, and the trout flopping about on 
 every fide of you can it be compared to fuch a 
 day's adventure as we have had ? However, 
 
 I wifh thee heartily good night ! 
 And may you ftart not in affright, 
 With tottering ftep, and puzzled brain 
 Caught in the mountain mift again ! 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " Away to the brook, 
 
 All your tackle out-look, 
 Here's a day that is worth a year's wifhing. 
 
 See that all things be right, 
 
 For 'twould be a fpite 
 To want tools when a man goes a-fifhing." 
 
 COTTON. 
 
 deficits. 
 
 H ERE we are at laft, Pifcator, em- 
 barked in this " SbaMus" of 
 yours, which of all vehicles I have 
 ever ventured in, rattles over the 
 ruts and ridges in the fineft pofii- 
 ble ftyle. Whatever benefit it may confer on the 
 digeftive organs is, I can feelingly confefs, at the 
 coft of confiderable bumping and thumping of the 
 outward man. 
 
 I fcarcely ever enter a machine of this kind 
 without chuckling over an adventure that befell me 
 many years ago at Oxford. I had engaged to ftart 
 
Fly-FiJhing. 113 
 
 at nine o'clock from the bottom of the High Street 
 in a dog-cart fnipe {hooting with a friend, who 
 could have rivalled the fat boy in Pickwick (had 
 that diftinguifhed young gentleman been in ex- 
 iftence) in flefhly proportions at leaft, though his 
 oppofite in everything elfe. Active, energetic, 
 and irritable in the extreme ; woe betide any one 
 who came in his way when he was exafperated. 
 A blow from his fift, I verily believe, would have 
 felled an ox. 
 
 To flow ourfelves and our paraphernalia away 
 to our fatisfa&ion, to fay nothing of the four dogs 
 we had to cram in behind, took us no little time. 
 Alas ! for the reverfes of us poor mortals ! We 
 had fcarcely got off, and commenced rattling beau- 
 tifully along over the ftones when lo ! all at once, 
 my companion gave me a tremendous poke in the 
 fide with his elbow, afking me if I heard that noife ? 
 " What noife ? " I moft innocently replied. But 
 before he had time to anfwer, fmafh went the axle- 
 tree in two, and out fhot we head foremoft on 
 each fide of the broken-down vehicle into the mid- 
 dle of the ftreet. 
 
 Had my very life depended on my putting on 
 a ferious face, I muft have gone out of the world 
 in a merry mood then. Incafed in a thick great- 
 i 
 
1 14 Fly-Fiflring* 
 
 coat, I fuflained no damage, not even a bruife. 
 Very different, however, was it with my unfor- 
 tunate partner in misfortune. Shaken by the fall, 
 and covered with mud, to look round and fee me 
 abfolutely fplitting my fides with laughter ; Oh ! 
 if the crowd had not gathered round, and the 
 cry of Proctor been raifed, he would, I fear, have 
 rufhed at me to inflict the fummary chaftifement 
 of pounding me to powder with his enormous 
 fifts. As it was, he contented himfelf with fhout- 
 ing after me, at the top of his voice, as I ran down 
 the ftreet to my rooms, " You abominable block- 
 head, you are always laughing ! " 
 
 "Always laughing ! " And why not, Pifcator, 
 feize each funny interval that offers, to throw off 
 the burthens that will occafionally bear upon all 
 our moulders, do what we will to prevent it ? Be- 
 fides, an aptitude to fee things in fo ftrange a light 
 as to divert the thoughts for a time into a totally 
 different train (all the better for being a mirthful 
 one) is, I am convinced, as bracing to the mind, 
 as change of air is to the health. 
 
 Pifcator. I quite agree with you, and to prove 
 my fmcerity, fuppofe I pitch you out the firft fa- 
 vourable opportunity that offers, in order to laugh 
 at you ! 
 
Ffy~Ft/hing. us 
 
 Clerlcus. You forget we are no longer under- 
 graduates, and that fuch pranks would hardly add 
 to the refpeft I confefs I do not like to fee forfeited 
 towards any of our cloth. 
 
 Pifcator. You talk as if I really meant to put 
 my propofal into practice ; and yet you ought to 
 know me better than to fuppofe it poflible I could 
 hurt a fingle hair of fuch a true Waltonian head 
 as that on your fhoulders. 
 
 Clerlcus. By the way, Pifcator, how kindly thofe 
 two quaint-looking old women at the turnpike 
 feemed to look at you ! What have you done to 
 get into their good graces no very eafy talk, I 
 imagine ? 
 
 Pifcator. Nothing more than you would do 
 yourfelf; I leave them a few trout occafionally 
 when I return from the Cap.* 
 
 Clerlcus. I was thinking the other day when 
 we emptied the contents of our bafkets into two 
 of your largeft dimes, what on earth you could do 
 with fo many fifh ! 
 
 Pifcator. We parfons, in fpite of the fat Livings 
 
 * Between Hereford and Abergavenny there is an Inn 
 called the Cap, fituated almoft on the banks of the Mon- 
 now, and kept by very civil people. 
 
n 6 Fly-FiJhing. 
 
 fome of our fapient legiflators are fo fond of pro- 
 viding us with, at leaft in their fpeeches, are, I fuf- 
 pe6t, a needy race. And though this does not 
 grieve me, as far as I am concerned, it does moft 
 deeply fometimes, when I am compelled to witnefs 
 pinching poverty, without being able to relieve 
 it. My poor parifliioners feem to know by inftincl: 
 when I go out with my rod ; for I am quite fure 
 the next morning to have plenty of candidates for 
 any favours in the fifti way. Of all the pleafures 
 you have faid and fung, I believe, of fly-fifhing, 
 not one in my opinion comes up to that of being 
 able " to feed the hungry." 
 
 Clericus. And yet how many there are who 
 condemn a Clergyman, ay, even for occafionally 
 plying the gentle art. 
 
 Pifcator. Yes, and how many there are who 
 think it fmful to laugb^ in fpite of your fage doc- 
 trine about its bracing up the nerves, &c. 
 
 Glericus. I have never yet in my experience 
 met with a Puritan of this ftamp,who was not as 
 proud as Lucifer. Weak and wayward as we all 
 are, more or lefs, for a man to inveft himfelf in a 
 certain fyftem (as it were) of his own devifmg, 
 like a chryfalis in a cocoon, and extend to no one 
 beyond its confines aught more of courtefy and 
 
Fly-Fifliing. 117 
 
 kindnefs than a fhrug of the moulders, or a tofs 
 of the head, I pity him from my very foul ! 
 
 That Bedlamite of old, Praife-God-Barebones, 
 and prince of Puritans, the fanatical Oliver, 
 what more inftru&ive lefTons could two indi- 
 viduals have handed down for our warning of the 
 folly and mifchief of fuch pride as this, when car- 
 ried to its utmoft extent. 
 
 Talk of a bull in a china-mop, indeed ! Poor 
 infenfate brute ! he is only following the bias of 
 his natural inftincT: of felf-prefervation. But for a 
 man like Cromwell, of undoubted talent, and 
 dauntlefs courage, to tear down for his pleafure 
 and paftime the beautiful in art, and exquifite in 
 tafte, and noble in conception ! alas, for fuch 
 bigotry as his !* 
 
 Pifcator. My dear fellow, do let the dead reft 
 in peace. What connection there is between a 
 poor Pifcator and a prince of Puritans, as you call 
 the defunct Oliver, I am at a lofs to underftand. 
 
 Clericus. Only this, that the habit many per- 
 
 * " The civil fury of the time 
 
 Made fport of facrilegious crime ; 
 For dark fanaticifm rent 
 
 Altar and fcreen and ornament." 
 
 SIR W. SCOTT. 
 
n8 Fly-Fifhlng. 
 
 fons indulge of judging others, efpecially in mat- 
 ters of religion, is the obvious refult of the worft 
 fpecies of pride that, beginning with the churlifh 
 condemnation of an innocent recreation like ours, 
 is fatisfied not till it ends in committing fome far 
 more material mifchief. 
 
 Pijcator. Here we are, fafe and found, at the 
 bridge I told you of; and as I intend driving on to 
 the Cap, and riming up, we will meet again about 
 the middle of the day. Such ftreams as you will 
 come to will, I know, delight you beyond mea- 
 
 fure. Fare thee well, for the prefent. 
 =* # * # 
 
 The reader, I fear, will not think very favour- 
 ably of two friends thus feparating as ufual when 
 they approach the water-fide ! But if the ftream 
 be fufficien try wide for two rods, it rarely happens 
 that both fides are equally favourable for the two 
 anglers. 
 
 It is from no abfolute love of folitude that my 
 friend and myfelf thus feparate, but, generally 
 fpeaking, from neceflity. Companionmip by the 
 river's fide with one of congenial taftes, is not the 
 leaft pleafure that attends the practice of the gentle 
 art. Still, in a fine fpring or fummer morning for 
 a fenfe of lonelinefs to fteal over one who thus 
 
Fly-FiJhmg. 119 
 
 haunts the flreams how impoffible ! Of the 
 infinite variety of founds that fall upon the ear, 
 there is fcarcely one that is not very welcome. 
 The language of the bufy animal world, if not 
 quite fo intelligible as that of our own fpecies, is 
 almoft invariably pitched in a key that is mufical 
 to the ear. Befides, there is no cry of pain, no 
 wailing of diftrefs, no murmur of ingratitude ! 
 On the contrary, from the hum of the infect 
 ephemera, whofe little fpan is confined to the 
 continuance of a fmgle day's funfhine, to the wild 
 whittle of the blackbird, and laughter of the large 
 wood-pecker, in his gorgeous garb of green, with- 
 out the aid of the linguift to interpret their exact 
 language, we can learn enough of it to under- 
 ftand that it is the eloquent, though humble expref- 
 fion of happinefs. And what heart can remain 
 for a moment unmoved by fuch melody, without 
 cordially fympathifmg in concord with it ? 
 
 On the day in queftion I found myfelf by the 
 fide of the Monnow, one of the moft inviting- 
 looking rivers (the Teme, near Leintwardine, ex- 
 cepted) that it has ever been my good fortune to 
 throw a fly on. 
 
 The very firft ftream I came to quite veri- 
 fied my late companion's words, and delighted 
 
Fly-Fi/hing. 
 
 me indeed. There was firft the wild rufhing of 
 the water over a natural declivity in the bed of 
 the river, rendered ftill more rapid by the tem- 
 porary check it received from a few fragments of 
 rock that kept their place there in fpite of the 
 winter's torrents ; then the rolling of the ftream 
 over the pebbly bottom, that roughened the fur- 
 face, though with lefs of the wild fury that fumed 
 and fretted above; and then the gradual fubfi- 
 dence of the whole into a wide expanfe of unruf- 
 fled, though ftill fwift-running water. 
 
 Of the eye, the centre, and the tail of a ftream 
 like this, I ufually find the fifh in May congrega- 
 ting in the laft. Still, it is not feldom that you 
 fall in with a trout (almoft invariably a good one) 
 in the very eye of the boiling water. 
 
 Though a new river to a fly-fifher is like no- 
 velty in almoft everything elfe, very captivating 
 to the imagination, the firft throw on the one in 
 queftion difturbed me not a little in the dream of 
 the mighty doings I was about to achieve. I had 
 juft wetted my line in the flack water, and com- 
 menced with, as I fancied, a very fkilful lodgment 
 of my flies in an eddy caufed by one of the large 
 ftones that appeared above the furface. For an 
 inftant I caught fight of the white belly of a 
 
Fly-FiJIiing. 
 
 121 
 
 trout, as he turned to have a dafh at my fecond 
 fly, when, to my extreme difcomfiture, I faw the 
 collar fweeping down fome yards below, with the 
 trout (for what I knew) ferrying it on its courfe ! 
 The flies I had taken fuch pains to fabricate the 
 evening before the gut ftained fo beautifully, and 
 fined off fo admirably, each link lefs than the other 
 how provoking to fee it all whirling away, and 
 to know that a good half hour muft be confumed 
 in preparing the like again ! 
 
 Never go out without duplicates from the fly- 
 top to the collar, as far as your tackle is concerned. 
 The flighteft twift in the dry gut will be enough 
 to make it unfafe, particularly if you hook a fim 
 before it is thoroughly well foaked. And as it is 
 no trouble to carry two or three extra collars fur- 
 nifhed with the flies in feafon, if you fhould fall 
 into the like predicament with myfelf, you muft 
 expect to receive no commiferation from me. 
 
 I have fcarcely ever heard a fifherman, when 
 fpeaking of a loft fifti, defcribe it otherwife than a 
 marvel in fize at leaft ! This arifes, I conclude, 
 partly from the pleafing habit imagination has of 
 clothing the ftiadow of a defirable object in ftill 
 brighter hues than actually embellim the fubftance ! 
 And partly from a fond feeling we love to fall back 
 
122 
 
 Fly-Fifoing. 
 
 upon, that, though the fifh is gone there can be 
 no miftake about that I he was fo fine a fellow (fo 
 to fpeak) that he fought far beyond a fifh's ufual 
 efforts ! thus ennobling the victorious fifh, as a 
 fop to the wounded pride of the difcomfited fifher- 
 man. 
 
 Without this comfortable feeling to confole me, 
 I had a ftrong fufpicion that the trout that did me 
 fo much damage was a diminutive little fellow 
 after all. At any rate, diminutive or not, he taught 
 me a leflbn that I mail be in no hurry to forget. 
 
 When I rofe from my pebbly feat, and com- 
 menced "flogging" the water again, I muft con- 
 fefs I was grievoufly difappointed at the refult for 
 the next two hours. Better water there could 
 not be, or a more favourable day, (efpecially at in- 
 tervals when the fun hid his face a bit behind a 
 cloud,) and yet I could not get the fifh to move. 
 Only four trout, juft large enough not to throw in 
 again, lay at the bottom of my balket three of 
 which I killed with the Marlow-buzz, or cocha- 
 bonddu, though it was full early for his appearance 
 on the water and one with a yellow-dun, toned 
 down a bit with a little more blue about the body 
 than ufual. 
 
 I caught fight of the Alder fluttering about in 
 
Fly-Fifhing. 123 
 
 a very tempting manner before the {harp eyes of 
 the fpeckled gentry beneath. And very well it 
 was for me that I took the hint ; for five of the 
 feven trout that fell to my lot during the next hour, 
 were victims to the fedu&ions of an artificial fly 
 of this kind which I had put on three of which 
 muft have weighed about two pounds. 
 
 The pleafure I was beginning to experience 
 from the improved appearance of the infide of my 
 bafket, was by no means increafed by an accident 
 that happened to me, worfe if anything than the 
 firft. 
 
 Juft below where I was ftanding, I faw the 
 water curling in that quiet, circular manner, that 
 told me pretty truly that there was a good trout 
 at hand, waiting, perhaps, for one of my flies. I 
 threw juft above him in a wave of the water he 
 had left in fucking in fome infecl: for his dinner (or 
 luncheon, more correctly fpeaking, at fuch a time 
 of the day). Up he came to do the fame, appa- 
 rently, to my fecond dropper ; when in my great 
 anxiety at the fight of fo fine a fim, I ftruck a mo- 
 ment too foon, before the fly in fa& was in his 
 mouth. 
 
 Difappointed, but not daunted at this, I walked 
 quietly away from the water-fide to follow my finny 
 
124 Fly-FiJhing. 
 
 friend's example ; though the fubftitution of bread 
 and cheefe for infect food, was more to my tafte, 
 warned down with a little cold whifkey-punch, 
 (real Rofcrea,) a beverage no brother of the angle 
 mould be without on fimilar expeditions, if not too 
 potent. 
 
 After the refrefhment of the inner man, I was 
 foon on the move again to try another turn with 
 my friend below. Three times did I throw over 
 him, and was jufl on the eve of walking away 
 when I found he had taken my ftretcher (the Al- 
 der above-mentioned) underwater, and had hooked 
 himfelf. What a rum he made up the ftream 
 paft me, to reach, I imagined, fbme well-known 
 lair of his ! Now or never was the time to flop 
 him, or good bye to him, and fome of my tackle 
 too in all probability ! To wind up the line im- 
 mediately I felt the flighteft flackening of his on- 
 ward courfe, was my only chance ; and well was 
 Copham's wood tried, when the baffled trout found 
 he muft retrace his courfe, and the tough little rod 
 bent almoft double ! AfTured that the worft was 
 paft, I very foon after had the fatis faction of feeing 
 the tired trout almoft motionlefs at the foot of the 
 bank I was ftanding on. As far as I could judge 
 the fifti was more than a pound, and as yellow as 
 
Fly-Fifhing. 
 
 12 
 
 gold. As he lay fo quiet and I had no landing-net, 
 I tried to lift him, trufting to the ftrength of the 
 rod. When lo ! one ftruggle was enough, and 
 fnap went the top juft above the ferule, and down 
 dropped the trout into the water, and, {till worfe, 
 fo far was he recovered by the change of circum- 
 ftances, that he dafhed off and broke his hold. 
 
 A pretty predicament to be in on the banks of 
 fuch a river as the Monnow in the middle of the 
 day. A broken top, and no fpare one at hand ! 
 If you have one drop only one of the pure Wal- 
 tonian blood in your veins, the bare recital of fuch 
 a trial will awaken your fympathy ! 
 
 Such a chapter of accidents was this day's fifh- 
 ing evidently to be ! It took me no little time to 
 get the ferule clear again, to the extreme danger 
 offome of my teeth ; and then cobble the broken 
 top in fuch a way as to enable me to continue 
 ufmg my rod. 
 
 It is madnefs to attempt lifting a trout a fraction 
 above half a pound out of the water in this way. 
 Nor was this the firft difafter of the kind I had 
 met with, entirely from my repugnance to carry 
 a landing-net. 
 
 After much valuable time thus needleffly fquan- 
 dered, I began moving on down the ftream, de- 
 
126 Fly-Fifliing. 
 
 lighted with the fcenery, which ftruck me as un- 
 ufually foft and lovely, from the contrail, perhaps, 
 to that I had encountered a few days before in the 
 mountain-diftricT:, when the moft comical fpec- 
 tacle I had feen for many a long day arrefled my 
 attention. 
 
 In the centre of the next (Iream, as far as I 
 could fee indiflinc"lly, flood a tall, thin object, that 
 might at a diflance have been very well miftaken 
 for a huge heron in fhape, at lead, if not in colour ! 
 What could it be ? Not a fiftierman, furely ! for 
 who of my worthy brethren is ever feen by the 
 waterfide, clothed in black from the crown of his 
 head to the foles of his feet ? And yet, fure enough, 
 the fable object, on my haflening on, turned out 
 to be an afpirant, if not more, to the honour of 
 confraternity with us. 
 
 Sweltering in the heat, for the fun was broiling 
 hot, and mining in full force on his back, he feemed 
 to be working very hard with his rod, though, as 
 I fufpected, to no very profitable purpofe. 
 
 Clericus. The fifh don't rife very well to-day. 
 
 Sable Gentleman. Confound them ! here have 
 I been fifhing all the way from the Cap, with my 
 friend in the flream below, and not one trout have 
 I got hold of for my pains ; nor has he either, I 
 
Fly-Fifliing. 127 
 
 believe ! My firm opinion is, in fpite of what the 
 keeper has juft allured me, there are no fifh in the 
 river. 
 
 Clericus. Oh ! I can re&ify that point to your 
 entire fatisfac~tion, if you will ftep on more and 
 look into my bafket. 
 
 Sable Gentleman. You don't mean to tell me 
 you have caught thofe fifh with a fly this morn- 
 ing? 
 
 Clericus. Ay, and fome more too, I truft, ere 
 this, had I not been delayed by two unlucky acci- 
 dents I met with ! 
 
 Sable Gentleman. Well, that is moft extraordi- 
 nary ! Here have I been fifhing fmce nine this 
 morning without ceffation, and I verily believe, 
 not a fmgle trout has even looked at my flies, to 
 fay nothing of fwallowing them. 
 
 Clericus. Will you permit me to look at your 
 flies ? Not unlikely ones either ; though the blue 
 is a trifle too dark. I don't know that I can fur- 
 nifh you with better, but you are welcome to try 
 any you prefer in my book. If I may be fo bold 
 when I faw you in the middle of the ftream, I 
 felt fure your fport could not have been much. 
 You fhould keep away as much as poflible from 
 the water, which is rather low, and as clear as 
 
128 Fly-FiJhing. 
 
 cryftal ; whereas not only do the fifh fee you where 
 you ftand, but your fhadow fcares them away in 
 double quick time. 
 
 Sable Gentleman. I never thought of that, but 
 I believe you are right. 
 
 Clericus. Your friend too below I fee is in the 
 water, and more than that, has a green coat and 
 white troufers on, no more likely colours to catch 
 the ftiarp eyes of the trout. If the fky be over- 
 caft, you can take liberties with the fifh, but now 
 it is a totally different thing. Let me recommend 
 you under prefent circumftances to fifh "fine and 
 far off" and always avoid, if poffible, having the 
 fun at your back, or your whole fhadow muft fall 
 upon the water. 
 
 In fpite of my advice I felt pretty fure when I 
 left the fable and green gentlemen, that the colour 
 of the latter's coat was no bad index of their know- 
 ledge of the gentle art. To think of approaching 
 within ken of a trout in fuch a dazzling and con- 
 fpicuous garb ! 
 
 In nine cafes out of ten when a light bafket tells 
 too true a tale of a day's fly-fifhing, I believe it is 
 owing to a want of caution in keeping as much as 
 poffible out of fight. There is no colour fo little 
 
Fly-Fifhing. 129 
 
 confpicuous as gray ; or fo much fo as black, or 
 green, or white. 
 
 After my new acquaintances had been fplafhing 
 up the water, fearing the trout at their uncouth 
 appearance, I fat down to ruminate for a few 
 minutes under a large beech tree, before trying 
 my luck in the magnificent fucceffion of flreams 
 I faw playing before me. 
 
 Of the myriads of infects humming and buz- 
 zing, flitting and floating around, I miffed the 
 May-fly, in his glofly coat of green, from the 
 happy affemblage. 
 
 Perhaps I was a little too harm in my fufpi- 
 cions of the two lucklefs fimermen, I ftill caught 
 fight of labouring on as hard as ever, in reference 
 to their want of fkill ! For there is no more dif- 
 ficult a time, I believe, to know what fly to felecl:, 
 with the bed chance of fuccefs, than the few days 
 that precede the May-fly feafon. The fifh are 
 ufually accufed then of being fulky, and all "flog- 
 ging" feems thrown away in the endeavour to 
 bring them into better humour. 
 
 What their real feelings may be, fulky or other- 
 wife, I pretend not to unfold ; but I rather ima- 
 gine the reafon they refufe to rife lefs freely than 
 ufual, is from their being engaged much more to 
 their fatisfaction at the bottom of the water. 
 K 
 
130 Fly-Fifhing. 
 
 In all rivers and brooks where the ftone-fly is 
 to be found in abundance, as well as the May-fly, 
 there is a board fpread moft bountifully with the 
 choiceft dainties, confifting of the cadis and cod- 
 bait, which reprefent thefe infects, and expofe 
 themfelves to the quick eyes of the trout in their 
 preparations to put on their laft and beft attire. 
 
 Such a mighty ftirring of infect life is there be- 
 low, and fuch a profufion of fat things, that the 
 fifh become like aldermen after a turtle-feaft, in- 
 difpofed to touch anything befides, unlefs of the 
 moft recherche kind. Now is the time for the 
 fly-rimer to difplay all his (kill, if he would furnifh 
 his bafket with a few of the finny tribe. 
 
 At fuch a feafon how often have I been griev- 
 oufly difappointed, when all feemed in my favour 
 the weather and the water unexceptionable to 
 find how little notice the trout would condefcend 
 to take of my beft flies. Now is the time for all 
 the patience you are mafter of, and perfeverance. 
 To thefe virtues muft I attribute more than once 
 a bad beginning followed by a better end. 
 
 If the water will allow, the flies I ufed on the 
 prefent occafion have often before flood my friends 
 the Alder, Cochabonddu, and Yellow Dun 
 fometimes varied by the Red-fpinner. There is 
 no more difficult fly to imitate than the latter, nor 
 
Fly-FiJhing. 131 
 
 a better one, efpecially in the evening after a clofe, 
 fultry day. 
 
 When the two fifhermen above were quite out 
 of fight, fuch a delicious repofe feemed to fettle 
 down on the whole fcene, undifturbed fave by the 
 rippling of the water ; the foft and fcarcely per- 
 ceptible hum of the infect world; and the familiar 
 note of the robin, who feeks the fociety of man 
 more than any other of his wild companions ; that 
 I was irrefiftibly led to give way to a dreamy ftate 
 of reverie that took entire pofleffion of my fenfes 
 for a time. 
 
 It was fweet, though fad, to wander back, far 
 back, in thought to days, that the more they re- 
 cede in the diftance, the more invariably do they 
 gather a ftronger hold upon us with the filken ties 
 that, woven firft perhaps by the hand of childhood, 
 have remained ever fince unravelled, till we find 
 them in after life flill clinging to our hearts with 
 a gordian knot, that the hand of death can only 
 tear afunder ! 
 
 It feemed but yefterday that, let loofe on a May- 
 morning with a hoft of fchool-fellows on the banks 
 of the Corve,* I took my firft leflbn in fly-fifhing 
 
 * The Corve is a fmall river, or brook, that falls into 
 the Teme, in the neighbourhood of Ludlow. 
 
132 Ffy-Fz/hmg. 
 
 the only one, I believe, of the whole party who 
 perfevered after the firft hour's fifhing, with no 
 fifh to reward us for our pains. 
 
 " Embathed in beauty, pafs'd before my fight 
 Like bloffoms that with funlight (hut and ope, 
 The half-loft dreams of many a holiday, 
 In boyhood fpent on that blue river-fide 
 With thofe whofe names, even now, as alien founds 
 Ring in the ear, though then our cordial arms 
 Enwreathed each other's necks, while on we roam'd 
 Singing, or filent, prankfome, ne'er at reft, 
 As life were but a jocund pilgrimage, 
 Whofe pleafant wanderings found a goal in heaven." 
 
 DELTA. 
 
 " A pretty fort of a fellow you are to propofe 
 meeting half-way down the ftream at luncheon- 
 time ! " were words that ftartled me not a little, 
 as I lay fpell-bound under the old beech-tree. 
 Juft below flood Pifcator revelling in the lovely 
 ftream I had fixed my affections on, I knew not 
 how long fmce, for the day was dancing on towards 
 a clofe, before I thought it much more than half 
 over. 
 
 It was confolatory to hear my matter-of-facl: 
 friend coincide with me in one thing, and that 
 was, that the trout were unufually my ; though 
 between us we had contrived to make a pretty fair 
 
Fly-Fijhing. 133 
 
 fhow of their finny excellencies upon the green 
 fward. Every {bream, he afTured me, he had 
 worked well in coming up ; accordingly I was 
 quite ready to accede to his propofal to walk on 
 towards the road, and meet the carriage. 
 
 Pifcator. You have not told me yet what you 
 think of the Monnow. 
 
 Clericus. Think of it ! Why, that a fweeter 
 ftream there cannot be. 
 
 Pifcator. I have been with one of the keepers 
 all the morning, and he fays, he never remembers 
 fo many fifh in the river as now, though very few 
 have been caught the laft few days. 
 
 Clericus. That, I fuppofe, has difperfed the fifh- 
 ermen. Only two have I fallen in with the whole 
 of the day, and fuch comical fellows ! they were 
 enough of themfelves to frighten the fifh into fits. 
 
 Pifcator. A fcore of rods have I feen here before 
 now, hard at work on the fame day. 
 
 Clericus. There I think your club is in error. 
 I fhould ftrongly recommend you to reduce your 
 fixty members by degrees to half the number, and 
 increafe your fubfcriptions in proportion. Or, if 
 not, make a rule that no ftranger (hall fifh alone, 
 that is, unaccompanied by the member who pro- 
 vided him with a ticket. 
 
134 Fly-Fifhing. 
 
 Pifcator. When you become a member next 
 year, you can propofe any new rules you pleafe. 
 But you have told me nothing yet of your adven- 
 tures. 
 
 Clericus. You may in truth call them adven- 
 tures ! Some of the rough and fome of the fmooth 
 things of this life as ufual but what with the en- 
 chanting fcenery, and the delicious weather, the 
 day has feemed morn of its due proportions it 
 really has gone like a fhadow. 
 
 " Life is a dream, whofe feeming truth 
 Is moralifed in age and youth. 
 When all the comforts man can mare 
 As wandering as his fancies are j 
 Till in a mift of dark decay 
 The dreamer vanim quite away." 
 
 BISHOP KING. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 u To frame the little animal, provide 
 
 All the gay hues that wait on female pride j 
 
 Let nature guide thee j fometimes golden-wire 
 
 The Ihining bellies of the fly require j 
 
 The peacock's plumes thy tackle muft not fail, 
 
 Nor the dear purchafe of the fable's tail ; 
 
 Each gaudy bird fome tender tribute brings, 
 
 And lends the growing infeft proper wings : 
 
 Silks of all colours muft their aid impart, 
 
 And every fur promote the fifher's art." 
 
 GAY. 
 
 NSTRUCTION, gentle reader, can 
 fcarcely approach you in any form, ex- 
 cept to a certain extent through a dry 
 ordeal, however paradoxical fuch an ex- 
 preffion may appear in fpeaking of fly-fifhing. 
 
 If you are a complete novice, I muft recommend to 
 your notice certain indifpenfable requilites, however 
 clofely I may feem to tread upon the heels of a certain 
 lady, a thorough miftrefs of the culinary art, who, you 
 are aware, cautions you very kindly to be fure and catch 
 your hare before you think of cooking it. To tell you 
 that a rod, a reel, a line, if you would be a fly-fifher, are 
 
Ffy-Fifhing. 
 
 appendages you cannot difpenfe with, will not, however, 
 content me in your cafe, without a hint or two as to 
 their nature and ufe. 
 
 You have feen, haply with fome furprife, how reluc- 
 tant an acquaintance of the fine old Englifh gentleman 
 ftamp (lefs common, alas ! than formerly) has been, to 
 caft oft" that part of his clothing yclept a hat, though 
 fcarcely a veftige remained of what it once was, when 
 it came fo fleek and fhapely into his poffeffion ! Some- 
 thing of peculiar value mutt have belonged to it thus to 
 endear it fo much in the days of its decrepitude. Habit, 
 I would fuggeft, might, in no flight degree, have been 
 at the bottom of the fecret habit that fo foon changes 
 the very cut and fhape of deformity itfelf into beauty's 
 niceft proportions habit, that firft familiarifes and then 
 endears things that we originally thought nothing of 
 habit, without whofe fociety we Ihould be indeed a 
 ftrange fet, more fo in facl: than at prefent eternally 
 refllefs, eternally bent on change, and eternally unhappy, 
 I believe, in confequence. Thus it muft have been habit 
 (I can attribute it to nothing elfe) that fixed fo forcibly 
 in my affections the rod I fell in with fome years ago, 
 and which I confidered, I believe, without a rival for a 
 long time, until I was perfuaded (though with many 
 mifgivings) to order a new one. At leaft fourteen feet 
 long, and heavy in proportion, I can well remember 
 now the charm is broken how I ufed to blunder on 
 when fifhing fome little bufhy brook with it. It never 
 occurred to me that the many mifhaps I met with con- 
 tinually were owing, in nine cafes out of ten, to this 
 
Appendix. 139 
 
 moft unwieldy inftrument. The fly jokes that were 
 poked at me by my young friend, Pifcator, who, when 
 I firft knew him, was at that age when a rod of a dif- 
 ferent kind was, I doubt not, introduced to his acquaint- 
 ance oftener than he liked, could not, I thought, really 
 be at the expenfe of my favourite. " When ignorance 
 is blifs, 'tis folly to be wife," you will perhaps exclaim ; 
 ftill I mention all this to caution you, if you value your 
 future comfort, to beware, at ftarting, of a long heavy 
 rod ; for if you are pretty fure to be the fame flave as 
 others to the tyrant above-mentioned, there is no reafon 
 that I know of why habit mould not endear to you the 
 beft rod you can procure as well as the worfl. 
 
 The rod I now ufe was made by Copham, of Taun- 
 ton, and as many who have handled it have exprefled a 
 wifh to have its fellow, I have flronger grounds than 
 habit can furnifh for recommending the maker. Though 
 fome inches under eleven feet, it will throw as long a 
 line as you are likely to need ; and from its being fo 
 light and manageable, you can ufe it to your entire fatif- 
 faclion, when a longer and heavier one would but lead to 
 your annoyance. An additional pound on the back of a 
 racer, who knows what thoufands upon thoufands it 
 has loft to the pockets of its unfortunate owner ! And 
 though many a long and weary day it has been mine to 
 travel with the big rod, I never feel, now I have dif- 
 carded it, as I ufed to feel on the following day almoft 
 entirely reft of ftrength in my right wrift and moulder 
 better, perhaps, you will fay, than to be reft of the need- 
 ful, as in the cafe above alluded to. 
 
Ffy-FiJhmg. 
 
 I know I am trefpafling on debateable ground when 
 I ftrongly recommend rather a ftiff rod, as well as a light 
 and ihort one. 
 
 The ftreams you will frequent wind fo ferpentlike 
 along, that the wind, which is favourable in one fpot, 
 you will occafionally find quite the reverie in another ; 
 and if you attempt in fuch an emergency to throw with 
 too flexible a rod, it will be as idle in the refult as vexa- 
 tious to your feelings. I have feldom found the wind 
 fo high, (and I have been out in all weathers) that I 
 could not manage to get my flies on the water with the 
 help of a rod not too pliant. Befides this advantage, 
 I can at all times throw a longer line with it, and ftrike 
 my fifh with greater certainty. A light, Ihort, and mo- 
 derately ftifF rod, I can fafely recommend from expe- 
 rience. 
 
 You will need but little inftru&ion on the fubjeft of 
 your reel and line. The former fhould be as light as 
 poffible ; not a multiplier, but furnifhed with a " click" 
 which prevents the undue flackening of the line, and 
 its occalional entanglement; the latter under, never over, 
 thirty yards, I prefer, made entirely of hair. It is light, 
 cheap, quite ilrong enough, and dries much fooner than 
 when mixed with filk, which is commonly done, and, I 
 am aware, by fome preferred. 
 
 The price of one of Copham's beft rods, inclufive of 
 line and reel, of the above defcription, will not exceed 
 thirty-five millings no ruinous amount, you will agree 
 with me, to inveft for your amufement. 
 
 You cannot be too particular in the choice of the two 
 
Appendix. 141 
 
 next necefTaries I muft bring under your notice, viz. gut 
 and hooks. If your gut be inferior, it will caufe you 
 the greateft poffible inconvenience. Oh ! how often the 
 paltry fluff has failed me, when on the eve of landing 
 fome mighty monfter of the deep ! I can conceive no- 
 thing more trying to the temper, than fuch a mifhap. 
 Indeed, I have regretted more than once fome hafty ex- 
 preffion of red-hot anger efcaping my lips, when I found 
 how completely all my fkill had been thus thrown away. 
 You need fcarcely be told that there are rogues in fifh- 
 ing-gear, as well as in grain. Make a point then of 
 never buying gut or anything elfe at a doubtful mop. 
 Don't be extravagant, but avoid cheapnefs (if that be 
 the chief recommendation), as you would a gaily-painted 
 but rotten boat in a ftormy fea. Let the gut you pur- 
 chafe be always round, and of a foft filky texture ; and 
 never think of tying a knot in it without firft foaking it 
 well in water. If gut of the beft quality be of the utmoft 
 importance, not the lefs fo is the kind of hook you felecl. 
 For many years I thought Limerick hooks unrivalled ; 
 but of late I have completely changed my opinion. I 
 flill think as before, that no hook fets off a fly fo well 
 to the eye, of man at leaft, if not of a trout, though I 
 profefs not to be in the fecrets of the latter. The long- 
 tapering fhank what an opportunity it furnifhes, O fly- 
 making reader, of delicately moulding the head and fining 
 off the body of the March brawn, large Red-fpinner, and 
 May-fly ! without mentioning feveral others of kindred 
 fize and fhape. In fpite of all this, I have difcarded the 
 Limerick in favour of the fneck-bent hook, chiefly becaufe 
 
H 2 Fly-Fifhlng. 
 
 I lofe fewer fifti with the latter, be the caufe what it may. 
 The greateft difadvantage of the fneck-bent hook, viz. 
 fhortnefs of {hank, I am rejoiced to find at length cor- 
 recled. The laft fample I bought in London, ftrange to 
 fay, I have in many cafes been compelled to fhorten. 
 
 By all means then, ufe, if you can procure them, 
 fneck-bent hooks. I almoft forgot to tell you that you 
 will require a collar of not lefs than three yards of gut,* 
 each knot tied double, and drawn quite tight when the 
 gut has been well foaked. The gut mould graduate from 
 a moderate thicknefs to that of the fineft from the top 
 to the bottom. The end fly, called a ftretcher, and the 
 fecond (if you ufe three flies, which you had better not 
 at firft) about two feet and a half from the other. 
 
 And now I have brought you thus far through the 
 dry ordeal threatened above, I would willingly pafs on 
 to fubjefts more agreeable to me to prate of, and inter- 
 efting, I truft, to you to hear.f But, a fly-maker, as well 
 as fly-fifher myfelf, I fhall not reft fatisfied till I have 
 put you in the readieft way of becoming the fame. 
 
 * Your gut fhould be ftained, to efcape the eyes of the fifh as 
 much as poflible. If you wifh it to be of a light-blue colour, all 
 you have to do is to put it into an infufion made by boiling afmall 
 quantity of logwood, and a very little copperas, in a pint of rain- 
 water. When the dye is ready, and ftill hot, put your gut into it 
 for about a quarter of a minute, and it will come out the right colour. 
 
 If fuch a dye be not at hand, you had better foak your gut in 
 very ftrong green tea, which will impart a colour to it better than 
 the original. Or, the coatings of onions will make a ufeful dye. 
 Let the gut remain in it when cold, till it aflame the fhade you 
 require. 
 
 f This was written originally juft after the Introductory Chapter. 
 
Appendix. 143 
 
 The only complaint I have to bring againft fome of 
 the authorities on the fubjecl:, is the difficult afpec~l under 
 which the art of fly-making is drawn. 
 
 Materials that would take the whole of a long life to 
 collect, furs and feathers that only a favoured few could 
 procure, colours fo nicely fhaded and delicately inter- 
 laced, that none but the lynx-eyes of the verieft con- 
 noifeur could deteft. Is not all this enough to frighten 
 the youthful afpirant ? 
 
 I rarely ufe any other flies than thofe I fabricate my- 
 felf ; and as I almoft invariably take anything that comes 
 to hand, if it approach the right colour, particularly in 
 the cafe of dubbing, (the material for the body,) much of 
 the fancied difficulty difappears. 
 
 The materials you really require are eafily obtained, 
 fuch as the hackles of domeflic fowls, (feathers that 
 grow on the neck,) blue and red of various ftiades, (the 
 moft ufeful,) black, white, &c. Wings of ftarlings, (in- 
 difpenfable,) fnipes, pheafants, partridges, &c. peacocks' 
 and oftriches' herl, that is, the ftrands of the tail fea- 
 thers ; fur of the hare, rabbit, mole, fquirrel, water- 
 rat, &c. and, if you can fall in with a piece of Turkey 
 carpet, put it in your pocket ; filks of infinite variety, 
 the fineft and ftrongeft you can procure, gold and filver 
 twift, or thread, fhoemaker's wax, fciilbrs very fliarp at 
 the points, and pliers, will, I believe, nearly complete 
 the lift of neceflaries. The firft friend you catch in the 
 aft of tying a fly, watch as a cat does a moufe, though 
 not, of courfe, with the like murderous intent; aflc him 
 every queftion that will help you in your objecl ; and, 
 
144 Fly-FiJhing. 
 
 if he refemble his brethren in genera], he will not be 
 flow to furnifh you, even to repetition, with all the in- 
 formation you require. 
 
 In the abfence, however, of fuch an opportunity, I 
 will endeavour to affift you on paper, though I fear I 
 fhall not appear to you fo lucid as I could wifh. 
 
 I will commence, then, if you pleafe, by defcribing 
 how a buzz fly is to be made, that is, a fly without 
 wings (which, by the way, feems rather extraordinary). 
 
 Take a hook of the proper fize at the bend between 
 the forefinger and thumb of your left hand, with the 
 barb downwards, and the fhank extended horizontally ; 
 then make a turn or two in the centre with a piece of 
 well waxed filk ; bite the end of a fine link of gut juft 
 to prevent it from flipping, and commence tying the 
 fame from the middle of the hook (always, be it remem- 
 bered, on the under part). When you have reached the 
 top of the fhank, take two turns back again, to form the 
 head of the fly. 
 
 And now is the time to put in the hackle. Before 
 doing fo, however, you muft tear off about a third of 
 the feather, or more, as you fee fit, at the lower part next 
 the quill, then lay it on the back of the fhank (having 
 firft with your forefinger and thumb forced back the 
 contrary way as much of the feather as you require), 
 wind the filk a few turns over the flripped part, and 
 fatten off by a mere fimple loop, with the end of the 
 filk pafled through it, and drawn tight. 
 
 Having forced back the hackle, which you left with 
 the underpart uppermoft at right angles with the fhank, 
 
Appendix. 145 
 
 feize the end of it with your pliers, and commence 
 winding it flowly, and picking out the fibres with a 
 needle if you fee them entangled. When all this has 
 been done, force back the reverfe way the ends of the 
 fibres you have wound round the hook, and which 
 point naturally towards the barb. This will give you 
 an opportunity to form the body, unincumbered by the 
 feather. The waxed filk you left you muft now con- 
 tinue winding down as neatly as poffible to the length 
 neceflary for the body of the fly. If fur be ufed, twift 
 a little of it (always in proportion to the body you wifh 
 to imitate) on the filk, the latter being of the fame 
 colour as the body, and continue winding it up to the 
 hackle, then fatten off as before, with two loops, for 
 fecurity. If a palmer be the order of the day, the body 
 muft be made firft, over which you can either wind 
 the hackle, commencing as above at the head down to 
 the bend of the hook, and then fatten off with the filk 
 you leave on purpofe, or you can tie in the hackle at 
 the bend, work upwards, and then faften off, and make 
 the head. I ufually adopt the firft plan. If gold or 
 filver twift be needed, nothing can be eafier than to 
 wind, not too clofe, round the body as much as you 
 want ; if for a buzz, after the hackle is wound on, and 
 if for a palmer, before. With no lefs difficulty can 
 you faften with the filk, when you firft wind it on the 
 hook, two or three fibres of a hackle, as you may re- 
 quire, or of anything you fancy better, to imitate a tail. 
 In tying a winged fly, I am aware I deviate from 
 L 
 
U 6 Fly-Fifhing. 
 
 the ufual cuftom, but I have found my plan anfwer fo 
 well, that I ihall not apologife for recommending it. 
 
 Follow the above directions for making a buzz-fly, 
 with the exception of winding lefs of the hackle, which 
 is to reprefent legs, on the hook, and leaving fufficient 
 room for the head at the top of the fhank, bare of filk. 
 When this is done, take two or three turns with well- 
 waxed filk round the bare fhank and gut, and having 
 ftripped off from the appropriate feather juft enough of 
 the fibre to form two wings, lay it, without difturbing 
 its natural adherence, on the back of the hook, fatten 
 with two loops, and nip off the roots. In a little time 
 you will be able fo to lay one half of the feather over 
 the other at the roots, as to give a more natural and 
 divided appearance to the wings. You will alfo fee that 
 by drawing the filk more or lefs tight, you can imitate 
 wings that lie flat, or Hand up from the body. The 
 wings fo tied on are quite independent of the reft of 
 the fly ; you can put on new ones at pleafure, or alter 
 them to your fancy, without at all interfering with the 
 hackle. 
 
 Varying from thofe given by others, as fome of the 
 above inftrudions undoubtedly do, you can follow them 
 or not at your pleafure. I believe my method to be 
 one very eafily acquired, which is no fmall recom- 
 mendation. Another advantage infeparable from it, is, 
 ufe your fly thus made as long as you pleafe, you will 
 find the dubbing, hackle, and wings never give way. 
 Bitten to pieces by the candidates for the tempting 
 
Appendix. 147 
 
 morfel, it may be, ftill, as long as there is a veftige of 
 the old material remaining it will cling to the hook. 
 
 In proceeding to give a lift of flies which, from ex- 
 perience I have found to kill the beft, I do not prefume 
 to afTert that there are not others equally good, or that 
 all I here recommend will kill fifh in every river and 
 ftream in England. To fay that I prefer them myfelf 
 is, I conceive, the beft reafon I could advance for ad- 
 viling others to make a trial of them too. 
 
 I might have fwelled the lift to double the lize, but 
 I have refrained from doing fo from the conviction that 
 when feveral flies of a different clafs are on the water, 
 to felefl the beft, and have nothing to do with the 
 remainder, is the wifeft plan to adopt. 
 
 Although I have given the flze of the hooks, which 
 is afcertained by the number, commencing, in the cafe 
 of the fneck-bent, with the largeft, No. I, and ter- 
 minating with the fmalleft, No. 1 2, it does not follow 
 that it fliould be ftridlly adhered to. On the contrary, 
 it muft be determined in great meafure by the height 
 and colour of the water. 
 
148 Ffy-FiJhing. 
 
 Lift of Flies from March to September. 
 
 MARCH. 
 
 1. February Red. Still on the water. Hook, No. 9. 
 Wings to lie flat, of a dark drake's feather. Body of a 
 red fheeplkin mat, or the dark red part of squirrel's fur ; 
 legs, a red hackle. 
 
 2. Large Dark Blue. Hook, No. 9. Wings up- 
 right, of a {lading's wing feather, not too light ; body, 
 of mole's and moufe's fur, {lightly tinged with yellow ; 
 legs, a dark blue hackle ; tail, two ftrands of a dark 
 blue hackle. 
 
 3. Cockwing Blue. Hook, No. 10. Wings up- 
 right, of a {lading's wing feather ; body, of fquirrel's 
 blue fur mixed with yellow, either flofs filk or mohair, 
 and tied with yellow {ilk ; legs, a lightifli blue hen's 
 hackle ; tail, two flrands of a blue cock's hackle. 
 
 4. March Brown. Hook, No. 8. Wings upright, 
 of a woodcock's or pheafant's wing feather, or mottled 
 feather from a partridge's tail ; body, of brown fable 
 fur, ribbed with yellow {ilk, or the fur of a hare's ear ; 
 legs, feather from a partridge's back ; tail, two ftrands 
 of a hen-pheafant's or partridge's tail. 
 
 5. Small Red Spinner. Hook, No. 10. Wings up- 
 right, of a {lading's wing feather ; body, reddifti brown 
 filk, ribbed with the finefl gold thread ; legs, a red hen's 
 hackle ; tail, two flrands from a red cock's hackle. 
 
 6. Red Palmer. Hook, No. 8 or 9. Body, peacock's 
 
Appendix. H9 
 
 herl, ribbed with gold twift, or not, according to fancy 1 ; 
 legs, a red hackle. Though not a fly, this caterpillar 
 will kill well early in the feafon, more efpecially when 
 the water is ftained. 
 
 APRIL. 
 
 7. Moft of the previous flies. 
 
 8. Sand Fly. Hook, No. 9. Wings to lie flat, and 
 very full, of a landrail's wing feather ; body, of the fand- 
 coloured fur of a hare's neck ; legs, a ginger hackle. 
 
 9. Great Red Spinner. Hook, No. 9. Wings up- 
 right, of a ftarling's wing feather ; body, of reddifh 
 brown filk ribbed with gold thread, or of peacock's 
 herl ftripped, and ribbed with fine yellow filk ; legs, a 
 red hackle ; tail, two ftrands of a red cock's hackle. 
 
 10. Stone Fly. Hook, No. 6, very long in the (hank. 
 Wings to lie quite flat and longer than the body, of 
 two fmall grizzled cock's hackles, or of a dark mottled 
 pheafant's wing feather, or woodcock's, well fliaded ; 
 body, of brown fable fur, well mixed with yellow, to- 
 wards the tail efpecially; legs, a grizzled cock's hackle; 
 tail, two ftrands from a partridge's tail feather ; horns, 
 if ufed, two fliort rabbit whifkers. 
 
 11. Gravel Bed, or Spider. Hook, No. 10. Wings 
 to lie flat, of a woodcock's wing feather ; body, of lead- 
 coloured filk; legs, a black hackle, long in the fibre, 
 and wound twice round the body. A killer in warm 
 days. 
 
 1 2. Grannam, or Green tail. Hook, No. 9. Wings 
 to lie flat and full, of a partridge's or hen-pheafant's 
 
i5 Fly-FiJhing. 
 
 wing feather ; body, dark fur from a hare's ear tied with 
 brown filk, with a little green filk at the tail, to imitate 
 the bunch of eggs there ; legs, pale ginger hen's hackle. 
 Made buzz with a hackle from a partridge's neck on 
 the fame body. 
 
 13. Yellow Dun. Hook, No. 10. Wings upright, 
 of a light flarling's wing feather, or fnipe's ; body, yel- 
 low filk, well waxed, to tone it down, or very light- 
 blue fur ribbed with yellow filk ; legs, very fine light- 
 blue hackle; tail, two ftrands from a light- blue cock's 
 hackle. Made buzz with a light-blue hackle on the 
 fame body. 
 
 MAY. 
 
 14. Many of the preceding flies. 
 
 1 5 . Iron Blue. Hook, No. 1 1 . Wings upright, of a 
 tomtit's tail or wing feather, or hen blackbird's ; body, 
 mole's fur mixed with a little yellow flofs filk, or a paler 
 fur ribbed with purple filk ; legs, fmall yellowim dun 
 hackle ; tail, forked, two ftrands of a yellow dun hackle. 
 A difficult fly to imitate, but very murderous in a cold 
 ftormy day. 
 
 1 6. Black Gnat. Hook, No. 1 1 . Wings to lie flat, 
 fhort and very full, of a ftarling's wing feather; body, 
 black oft rich herl, fhort and thick; legs, fine black hackle. 
 Buzz, a light dun hackle on the fame body. 
 
 17. Downhill. Hook, No. 9. Wings to lie flat, of 
 a woodcock's wing feather; body, orange filk tied with 
 afh-coloured filk, the latter fhowing moft towards the tail 
 and under the wings ; legs, a furnace hackle. A good 
 fly in windy weather. 
 
Appendix. 151 
 
 1 8. Fern Fly, Sailor and Soldier. Hook, No. 9. 
 Wings to lie flat, for the failor, of a heron's wing feather; 
 for the foldier, of a red hen's feather, or the darkeft part 
 of a flarling's wing; body, orange filk; legs, a red hackle. 
 Buzz, a furnace hackle on the fame body. 
 
 19. Alder. Hook, No. 9. Wings to lie flat, of a 
 woodcock's wing feather, or mottled feather of a cock 
 pheafant ; body, peacock's herl, or copper-coloured filk, 
 fome prefer mulberry ; legs, a blue hackle, almofl black. 
 Buzz, black or blue hackle on peacock herl body. 
 
 20. Black Palmer. Hook, No. 8 or 9; body, black 
 oftrich's herl ribbed with filver twill; legs, black, or blood- 
 red hackle ; not a fly, but a caterpillar. 
 
 JUNE. 
 
 21. Green Drake. Hook, No. 6 or 7. Wings up- 
 right and full, of a drake's feather llained yellow ;* body, 
 yellow lilk, waxed a little, to give it a mottled appear- 
 ance ; legs, a gray partridge hackle flained a yellowifh 
 colour ; tail, three long llrands of a black hackle, or any- 
 thing you can get. Buzz, a drake's feather llained yellow 
 on the fame body. 
 
 22. Gray Dr^.-r-Hook, No. 6 or 7. Wings up- 
 
 * To ftain feathers yellow, boil fome fcrapings of the bark of 
 the barberry-tree, or root, and a fmall quantity of alum, in a pint 
 of rain-water, with as many drake's feathers as you require, for 
 about an hour, and you will find the latter of the right colour. 
 Or, boil the above in an infufion of alum, fuftic, and a little cop- 
 peras, and they will acquire the proper tint. 
 
Fly-Fifhing. 
 
 right and full, of a drake's gray feather ; body, French- 
 white filk, or white oftrich herl, ribbed with dark brown 
 filk; legs, a grizzled cock's hackle ; tail, three long flrands 
 of a black cock's hackle. 
 
 23. Mar low Buzz, or Cocbabonddu. Hook, No. 
 9 or 10. Body, peacock's herl, or that and oftrich herl 
 mixed, ribbed with gold twift ; legs, red hackle with a 
 black butt wound round the body, but not all the way 
 down, like a palmer. 
 
 24. White Moth. Hook, No. 7. Wings to lie flat 
 and very full, of any white feather ; body, white oftrich 
 herl ; legs, white hackle. Ufeful at the end of the month 
 and beginning of July, in the dufk of the evening. 
 
 JULY. 
 
 25. Sky Blue. Hook, No. 10. Wings upright, of a 
 light feather of a ftarling's wing, ftained pale yellow ; 
 body, pale blue fur, mixed with yellow mohair ; legs, 
 pale dun hackle ; tail, two ftrands of a pale blue hackle. 
 Ufeful towards the evening, when the water is fine, ef- 
 pecially in the Wye. 
 
 26. Wren Tail. Hook, No. 1 1. Body, light brown 
 fable, ribbed with very fine gold thread ; legs and wings, 
 made buzz of a wren's tail feather. Good in the middle 
 of a hot fummer's day. 
 
 27. July Dun. Hook, No. 10. Wings upright, of 
 the dark part of a ftarling's wing feather ; body, mole's 
 fur mixed with yellow mohair, and fpun on yellow filk; 
 legs, dark-blue hackle ; tail, three ftrands of a dark-blue 
 hackle. 
 
Appendix. 153 
 
 28. Partridge Hackle. Hook, No. 9. Body, light- 
 brown fable, ribbed with gold thread ; legs and wings, 
 partridge's back feather. 
 
 AUGUST. 
 
 29. Red Ant. Hook, No. 10. Wings to lie flat, of 
 a ftarling's wing feather; body, peacock's herl, ftripped 
 juft below the wings to near the tail ; legs, a red hackle. 
 This fly fometimes appears in the middle of the previous 
 month. 
 
 30. Auguft Dun. Hook, No. i o. Wings upright, 
 of a brown hen's wing feather ; body, brown filk, 
 ribbed with yellow ; legs, grizzled hackle, brownilh, if 
 it can be obtained, or red hackle ftained brown ; * tail, 
 two flrands of a grizzled hackle. 
 
 31. Orange Fly. Hook, No. 10. Wings upright, 
 of the dark part of a ftarling's wing feather ; body, orange 
 flofs filk tied with dark filk; legs, a furnace hackle. A 
 killer. 
 
 32. Cinnamon Fly. Hook, No. 9. Wings to lie flat 
 and full, of the darkeft part of a landrail's wing feather ; 
 body, fawn-coloured filk; legs, ginger hackle. 
 
 SEPTEMBER. 
 
 3 3 . Whirling Blue. Hook, No. I o. Wings upright, 
 of a ftarling's wing feather ; body, fquirrel's red, brown 
 
 * If you boil fome red hackles in a pint of water with a piece 
 of copperas as large as a marble, fufficiently long, they will come 
 out a good brown colour. 
 
154 Fly-FiJhmg. 
 
 fur, mixed with yellow mohair, and fpun on yellow filk ; 
 legs, a red hackle ; tail, two ftrands of a red hackle. 
 
 34. Willow Fly. Hook, No. 10. Wings to lie flat, 
 of a pale brown hen's wing feather, and later in the fea- 
 fon, of a ftarling's feather ; body, mole's fur ribbed with 
 yellow filk, or fine gold thread ; legs, a dark grizzled 
 hackle. Equally good, if not better, without wings, and 
 made buzz. 
 
 35. Pale Blue. Hook, No. n. Wings of a fea- 
 fwallow's feather ; body, the fineft pale blue fur mixed 
 with yellow mohair, and tied with pale yellow lilk ; legs, 
 the paleft blue hackle that can be got. 
 
 In defcribing the materials to be ufed for the flies 
 above enumerated, (more efpecially as regards their 
 bodies,) I have done it more as a guide to the proper 
 colour, than with the view of laying down a rule that 
 cannot be deviated from. Imitation being the obje6l 
 in view, it is very poflible that the beginner may, by 
 his own ingenuity, difcover fomething altogether dif- 
 ferent in its nature from what has hitherto been ufed, 
 that would far better promote the defired end. At any 
 rate, he need not diftrefs himfelf, if any of the materials 
 above-mentioned fhould fail him at the moment he 
 moil requires them, as aim oft any fubftitute that ap- 
 proaches the right colour will anfwer in their room. 
 I fhould remark, that when I have directed the bodies 
 of flies to be made of Jilk, I mean, in moft cafes, not 
 f,ofs-Jilk s which is generally ufed, but filk unravelled, 
 as I have always found it to fit fo much better. One 
 exception to this I adopt in the cafe of the body of the 
 

 Appendix. 155 
 
 green-drake, which I make with yellow filk in its original 
 Hate, flightly waxed, as I confider it to look more 
 natural. 
 
 When it is poffible, the mixture of a little mohair 
 with the different furs you ufe, you will find ufeful in 
 preventing them from becoming too much faturated 
 with moifture. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 C. Whittingham, Tooks Court, Chancery Lane. 
 
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