OF CALIFORNIA 
 ANGELES
 
 Curtoga* 
 
 THE 
 
 Secrets of HngUn0: 
 
 TEACHING 
 
 THE CHOICEST TOOLS, BAITS, 
 
 AND SEASONS, 
 FOR THE TAKING OF ANY FISH 
 
 IN 
 
 POND OR RIVER, 
 
 practised an& tamtliarlg openefc 
 in tbree JSoofcs, 
 
 BY 
 
 J. D., Esquire. 
 
 EDITED BY "PISCATOR." 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL, I. 
 
 PRIVATELY PRINTED, EDINBURGH. 
 1885.
 
 ELIZABETHAN BOOKSELLEI 
 
 WAUKEGAN, ILLINOIS
 
 JAMES DEVON 
 
 Accrete of jf.
 
 Btbtiotfreca Curio0a 
 
 THE 
 
 Seerets of 
 
 TEACHING 
 
 THE CHOICEST TOOLS, BAITS, 
 
 AND SEASONS, 
 FOR THE TAKING OF ANY FISH 
 
 IN 
 
 POND OR RIVER, 
 
 practised and famitfarlp opened 
 in tbree JSoofes, 
 
 BY 
 
 J. D., Esquire, 
 EDITED BY "PISCATOR.' 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 PRtVATM.V PRINTED, EDINBURGH. 
 1885.
 
 This edition is limited to 27$ small-paper copies, 
 and "] $ large-paper copies.
 
 1 ' THERE appears to be no poetical treatise on the 
 gentle craft of earlier date than Dennys's "Secrets 
 of Angling." Some think that these verses have 
 never been surpassed by any other Angling poet. 
 Beloe, in his "Anecdotes of Literature and Scarce 
 Books," says: "Perhaps there does not exist in 
 the circle of English Literature a rarer book than 
 this." It was first printed for Roger Jackson in 
 1613, under the title, "The Secrets of Angling: 
 Teaching The Choicest Tools, Baits & Seasons, 
 for the taking of any Fish in Pond or River : 
 practised and familiarly opened in three Books. 
 By J. D. Esquire." Whatever doubts may have 
 existed about the name of the author are now 
 removed by the discovery of the entry of the book 
 in the Stationers' Register, wherein John Dennys 
 is named as the author. But who this Dennys 
 certainly was is still unsettled. There was a well- 
 known Gloucestershire family of that name, and 
 there was a member of that family by name John, 
 
 475G37 
 
 LJESAKi
 
 6 Introduction. 
 
 son of Hugh Dennys by Katherine Tyre : he died 
 and was buried at Pucklechurch, in 1609. Roger 
 Jackson, for whom the first edition of 1613 was 
 printed, says, in his dedicatory letter, that the 
 poem was sent to him to be printed after (and may 
 it not be presumed shortly?) the death of the 
 author. John Dennys, just mentioned as son of 
 Hugh Dennys, is supposed to be the same person 
 as John Dennys, the author of the " Secrets of 
 Angling," "The Fisherman's Magazine," and 
 "Notes and Queries,"* contain much that is 
 interesting about the Dennys pedigree, and the 
 editions of the " Secrets of Angling." There are 
 four editions. Copies of the first edition are 
 extremely rare, so rare indeed that Mr. Arber in 
 his preface to the reprintt of it in the first volume 
 of the "English Garner" (London, 1877), says 
 only two copies of the first edition are known to 
 exist ; the one is in the Bodleian and the other 
 
 * Only nineteen numbers of the " Fisherman's 
 Magazine," which consists of two volumes, were 
 published: the first number appeared in April, 1864, 
 the last in October, 1865. See especially Mr. West- 
 wood's letters in the numbers of "Notes and Queries," 
 30th November, 1867, 28th December, 1867, 3151 
 July, 1869 (this announces the discovery of the date 
 of the third edition, viz, 1650), and z8th August 
 1869. 
 
 f- In this " reprint " the spelling is modernised, and 
 several alterations made in the original text.
 
 Introlructton 7 
 
 was in the collection of the late Mr. Henry Huth 
 who lent his copy to Mr. Arber for the purpose of 
 his reprint. The date of the second edition is 
 conjectured to be about 1620, and in this edition 
 the work is described as being augmented with 
 many approved experiments. The editor was 
 William Lauson, whose comments appear in the 
 form of notes to this edition. The poem is 
 divided into three books, which treat very fully of 
 everything appertaining to the sport : it is in the 
 first book that "The Antiquity of Angling" is 
 noticed, while some of the verses of the third are 
 devoted to "the twelve virtues and qualities which 
 ought to be in every Angler." Izaak Walton says 
 there can be no doubt "but that Angling is an art, 
 and an art worth your learning : the question is 
 rather whether you be capable of learning it. For 
 angling is somewhat like poetry, men are to be 
 born so." [" Complete Angler," pt. i., cap. i.] 
 Dennys was both poet and angler born ; his verses 
 are admired and bespeak a natural love of the art 
 whose praises he so quaintly sings. The treatise 
 on angling contained in "The Pleasures of Princes; 
 or, Good Men's Recreations" (4to., London, 1614, 
 and other editions), is said to have been rendered 
 into prose from Dennys's "Secrets of Angling." 
 The qualications necessary for an angler, 
 according to this curious old book, are very 
 numerous. "A skilful Angler," it is said, "ought
 
 Entrofcurtum. 
 
 to bee a generall scholler, and scene in all the 
 Liberall Sciences; as a Grammarian" he ought 
 "to know how either to Write or Discourse of his 
 Art in true and fitting termes, either without 
 affectation or rudenes. He should have sweetness 
 of speech .... strength of arguments .... 
 knowledge in the Sunne, Moone, and Starres . . 
 
 . . Hee should bee a good knower of Countries. 
 
 . . . Hee should have knowledge in proportions 
 of all sorts, whether Circular, Square, or Dia- 
 metricall. . . . He must also have the perfect 
 Art of numbring. . . . Hee should not be 
 unskilfull in Musick, that whensoever either 
 melancholly, heavinesse of his thought, or the 
 perturbations of his own fancies stirreth up sad- 
 nesse in him hee may remove the same with some 
 godly Hymne or Antheme, of which David gives 
 him ample examples." Hope, brotherly love, 
 patience, and humility should all find place 
 in his heart. " Then he must be strong and 
 valient, neither to be amazed with Stormes nor 
 affrighted with Thunder;" and there are many other 
 qualities mentioned in "The whole Art of Angling" 
 as being also necessary to the fisherman."* 
 
 The notes I have added are from a variety of 
 sources. First, William Lawson's, distinguished 
 by the initials, W. L. Then descriptions of fish 
 
 * Lambert's " Angling Literature of England," pp. 
 43-50,
 
 IntroHurticn. 9 
 
 as given in Sailer's well-known Angler's guide ; 
 hints and "wrinkles" from Ephemera, Francis, 
 and most modern writers on the gentle art, and 
 lastly a few observations due to my own personal 
 experience. I have not quoted Walton ; his book 
 is, of course, a household word with every brother 
 of the angle. 
 
 "PISCATOR." 
 
 EDINBURGH, 
 Oct. 12, 1885.
 
 TO THE WORTHY, AND MY MVCH 
 
 RESPECTED FRIEND, Mr. IOHN 
 
 HARBORNE, of Tackley, in the 
 
 Countie of Oxford, 
 
 Esquire. 
 
 WORTHY Syr, this Poeme being 
 sent vnto me to be printed after 
 the death of the Author, who 
 intended to haue done it in his 
 life, but was preuented by death : 
 I could not among -my good friends, bethinke me of 
 anyone to whom I might mo; e fitly dedicate it (as 
 well for the nature of the subiect in which you 
 delight as to exptesse my lone) than to y ttr selfe, 
 I finde it not onely sat tour ing of Art and Honesty, 
 two things now strangers vnto many Authors, but 
 also both pleasant ani profitable ; atul being loath 
 to see a thing of such value lye hidden in obscuritie, 
 whilest matters of no moment pester the stales of 
 eue-y Stationer; I therefore make bolde to publish 
 it, for the benefit and delight of all, trusting that
 
 THE DEDICATION. II 
 
 / shall neither thereby disparage the Author, nor 
 dislike them. I neede not, I think, Appollogisc 
 either the vse of the subiect, or for that it is 
 reduced into the nature of a Poeme ; Jor as 'ouching 
 the last (in that it is in verse) some count it by so 
 much the more delightfully and I holde it euery 
 way as fit a subject for Poetry as Husbandry : ami 
 touching the first, if Hunting & Hawking haue 
 beene thought worthy delights and Artes to be 
 instructed in, I make no doubt but this Art of 
 Angling is muche more worthy practise and appro- 
 bation; for it is a sport euery wtiy as pleasant, 
 lesse chargeable, more profitable, and nothing so 
 much subiect to c holler or impatience as those are: 
 you shall finde it more briefly, pleasantly, & more 
 exactly performed, then any of this kinde heretofore. 
 Therefore I referre you to the perusing thereof , and 
 my selfe to your good opinion, which I tender as 
 that holde most deere ; euer remaining at 
 Your gentle Command, 
 
 R. /.
 
 IN skils that all doe seeke, but few doe 
 finde, 
 Both gaine and game; (like Sunne and 
 Moone doe shine) 
 Then th' Art of Fishing thus is of that 
 
 kinde; 
 
 The Angler taketh both with Hooke and Line. 
 And as, with Lines, both these he takes; this 
 
 takes, 
 With many a Line, well made, both Eares and 
 
 Harts, 
 
 And, by this skill, the skill-lesse skill-full makes : 
 The Corpes whereof discected so he parts, 
 Vpon an humble Subiect neuer lay 
 More proude, yet plainer Lines, the plaine to 
 
 leade, 
 
 This playner Art with pleasure to suruay, 
 To purchase it, with profit, by that Deed : 
 
 Who thinke this skill's too low than, for the 
 
 high 
 This Angler reade, and they'll be tane thereby.* 
 
 lo. DAUIES. 
 * One might be reading a bit of Browning !
 
 THE CONTENTS. 
 
 The first Booke containeth these 3 heads 
 
 
 . HE anliquitie of Angling, with the 
 Art of Pishing, and of Fish in 
 
 general!. 
 
 2. The lawfulnesse, pleasure, and 
 profit thereof, with alt, Obiections, answered, 
 against it. 
 
 '. To know the season, and times to prouide the 
 Tooles, and how to choose the best, and the 
 manner how to make them fit to take each seuerall 
 Fish. 
 
 The second Booke, containeth 
 
 
 ^IHE Anglers experience, hcnv to 
 ve his Tooles and Baytes, to 
 make profit by his game. 
 
 2. What Fish is not taken with 
 Angle, and what is: and which is best for 
 health. 
 j. In what Waters and Rivers to finde each Fish.
 
 14 THE CONTENTS. 
 
 The thirde Booke containeth 
 *' w^ "^^^HE 12 vertues and qualities 'uhich 
 ou^ht to be in euery Angler. 
 
 2. What -weather, seasons, and 
 times of the yeere is best and 
 worst, and what houres of the day is best for 
 sport. 
 
 y. To knowe each Fishes haunt, and the times to 
 take them. 
 
 Also, an obscure secret, of an approued Bait, tend- 
 ing thereunto.
 
 THE 
 
 j^ecrets of Jingling. 
 
 first Boofee. 
 
 OF Angling, and the Art thereof I sing, 
 What kinde of Tooles it doth behoue 
 to haue, 
 And with what pleasing bayt a man 
 
 may bring 
 
 The Fish to bite within the watry wane. 
 A worke of thankes to such as in a thing 
 Of harmlesse pleasure, haue regard to saue 
 Their dearest soules from sinne ; and may intend 
 Of pretious time, some part thereon to spend.
 
 l6 THE SECRETS OF ANGLIMG. 
 
 You Nymphs that in the Springs and Waters 
 
 sweet, 
 
 Your dwelling haue, of euery Hill and Dale, 
 And oft amidst the Meadowes greene doe meet, 
 To sport and play, and heare the Nightingale ; 
 And in the Riuers fresh doe wash your feet, 
 While Prognes sister* tels her wofull tale: 
 Such ayde and power vnto my verses lend, 
 As may suffice this little worke to end. 
 
 And thou sweet Boydt that with thy watry sway, 
 Dost wash the cliffes of Deington and of Weeke ; 
 And through their Rockes with crooked winding 
 
 way, 
 
 Thy mother Auon runnest soft to seeke : 
 In whose fayre streames the speckled Trout doth 
 
 play, 
 The Roche, the Dace, the Gudgin and the Bleeke, 
 
 * The swallow. According to Grecian fable, Progne 
 was sister of Philomela, and wife of Tereus. Tereus 
 having offered violence to Philomela, cut out her 
 tongue that she might not expose him, and then told 
 his wife that she was dead. The truth being dis- 
 covered, Tereus would have slain both the sisters ; but 
 Philomela was changed into a nightingale and Progne 
 into a swallow. 
 
 As Progne or as Philomela mourns. . . 
 
 That finds the nest by cruel hands despoiled, 
 
 So Bradamant laments her absent knight. 
 
 " Orlando Furioso," bk. xxiii. 
 
 T The name of a brook.
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. \J 
 
 Teach me the skill with slender Line and 
 
 Ilooke 
 To take each Fish of Riuer, Pond, and Brooke. 
 
 Cbe time for prouiDfng tbe angle Hote. 
 
 FIRST, when the Sunne beginneth to 
 decline 
 Southward his course, with his fayre 
 Chariot bright, 
 
 And passed hath of Ileauen the middle- 
 Line, 
 
 That makes of equall length both day and night : 
 And left behind his backe the dreadfull signe, 
 Of cruell Centaure,* slaine in drunken fight, 
 When Beasts do mourne, and Birds forsake 
 
 their song, 
 Ahc euery Creature thinks the night too long. 
 
 And blustring Boreas with his chilling cold, 
 Vnclothed hath the Trees of Sommers greene; 
 And Woods and Groues are naked to behold, 
 Of Leaues and Branches now dispoyled cleane: 
 
 * The Thessalonian Centaurs were half horses, half 
 men. Being invited to a marriage feast, they became 
 intoxicated and assaulted the women. The Lapithae 
 took the part of the women and drove the Centaurs 
 out of the country.
 
 18 THE SECRETS OK ANGLING. 
 
 So that their fruitfull stocks they doe vnfold, 
 And lay abroad their of-spring to be scene; 
 
 Where nature shewes her great increase of kinde 
 To such as seeke their tender shutes to finde. 
 
 Then goe into some great Arcadian wood, 
 Where store of ancient Hazels doe abound ; 
 And seeke amongst their springs and tender brood, 
 Such shutes as are the straightest, long and round: 
 And of them all (store vp what you think good) 
 But fairest choose, the smoothest and most sound j 
 So that they doe not two yeares growth exceed, 
 In shape and beautie like the Belgicke Reed. 
 
 These prune and dense of euery leafe and spray, 
 Vet leaue the tender top remaining still : * 
 Then home with thee goe beare them safe away, 
 But perish not the Riue and vtter Pilljf 
 And on some euen boarded floore them lay 
 Where they may dry and season at their fill : J 
 
 And place vpon their crooked parts some 
 waight 
 
 To presse them downe, and keepe them plaine 
 and straight. 
 
 * Bathe them a little except the top, all in a 
 furnace : they will be lighter and not top heavy; which 
 is a great fault in a rod. W. L. 
 
 t Rind and bark (peel). 
 
 J Tie them together at every bout, and they will 
 keep one another straight. W. L.
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 So shall thou haue always in store the best, 
 And fittest Rods to serue thy turne aright ; 
 For not the brittle Cane, nor all the rest, 
 I like so well, though it be long and light, 
 Since that the Fish are frighted with the least 
 Aspect of any glittering thing, or white:* 
 Nor doth it by one halfe so well incline, f 
 As both the plyant rod to saue the line.J 
 
 * White or grey are likest the sky, and therefore of 
 all colors offend the least. W. L. 
 
 t Besides the fish discerns it, and is put away with 
 the stiffness of the rod; whereas on the contrary the 
 weak rod yields liberty to the fish without suspicion, 
 to run away with the bait at his pleasure. W. L. 
 
 J In bottom fishing the rod should not be less than 
 15 or 1 6 feet, and on the Lea, fishermen even use rods 
 of 22 or 23 feet. They should be light, and white 
 East India cane is the best material. In punt fishing 
 12 to 13 feet is the best size, and bamboo should be 
 the wood employed. The Nottingham Anglers use a 
 light and springy rod, more flexible than a punt rod, 
 but less so than a fly rod. In spinning for Jack, the 
 rod should be about 14 or 15 feet in length, and of 
 solid wood, greenheart for preference. For Trout- 
 fishing a single, or double-handed rod may be used. If 
 the former, it should be twelve feet long, and not more 
 than 13^ oz. in weight. It should be moderately 
 pliable. If a double-rod is preferred, choose one 14^ 
 feet long, the two lower joints being of bamboo, with 
 a greenheart top. Many Anglers prefer Hickory rods, 
 and perhaps for large fish they may be better up to the
 
 THE SECRKTS OK ANGLING. 
 
 tTo mafic tbe Xine. 
 
 GOOD I lay re then get, so that it be 
 Hot blacke ; 
 Neither of Mare nor Gelding let it 
 be; 
 
 Nor of the tyreling lade that 
 beares the packe : 
 
 But of some lusty Horse or Courser free, 
 Whose bushie tayle vpon the ground doth tracke 
 Like blazing Comete that sometimes we see : 
 From out the mid'st thereof the longest take 
 At leysure best your Linkes and Lines to 
 make. 
 
 Then twist them finely, as you thinke most 
 
 meet, 
 By skill or practise easy to be found ; 
 
 work, but they are somewhat heavier, and this tells in 
 a long day's fishing. For Salmon, the rod should be 
 from 1 6 to 17^ feet long, unless the Angler be 
 exceptionally tall and strong, when he may use one of 
 20 or 21 feet. Greenheart and Hickory are the best 
 woods, though Mr. Francis recommends Washaba, a 
 new wood. The weight should be about 2^ Ibs. for 
 a rod of sixteen feet nine inches, and about 2 Ibs. 
 13 oz. for a rod of nineteen and a half feet.
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 21 
 
 As cloth Arachne* with her slender feet ;t 
 Draw forth her little thread along the ground, 
 But not too hard or slacke, the meane is sweet, 
 Least slacke they snarle, or hard they prone 
 vnsound, 
 
 And intermix! with siluer, silk or gold,:}: 
 The tender hayres, the better so to hold. 
 
 * Arachne was so skilful a needlewoman that she 
 challenged Minerva to a trial of skill, and hanged 
 herself because the goddess beat her. Minerva then 
 changed her into a spider. 
 
 "Arachne's labours ne'er her hours divide, 
 Her noble hands nor looms nor spindles guide." 
 Hoole's "Jerusalem delivered," bk. ii. 
 
 tKnit the hair you mean to put in, one link at 
 the rod's end, and divide them as equally as you can j 
 put your three lowest ringers betwixt, and twine the 
 knot ; and your link shall be equally twist. If you 
 wet your hair, it will twine better. A nimble hand, a 
 weak and light rod that may be easily guided with 
 one hand, needs but four or five hairs at the most for 
 the greatest river fish, though a Salmon or a Luce,* 
 so you have lengih enough : and except the Luce and 
 Salmon, these will suffice. -W. L. 
 
 J Intermixing with silver orlgold is not good, because 
 first, the thread and hair are not of equal reach. 
 Secondly, the colours differing from the hairs or fly, 
 affright the fish. Thirdly, they will not bend and 
 twist with the hairs. W. L. 
 
 The full grown pike from the Latin Lucius, the wolf fish; 
 hence Justice Shallow says: The Luce is the fresh fish, the 
 .salt fish is- an old coat ("Merry Wives of Windsor, 1. i."), 
 /nt*")ing Lucy is a new name, the old one was Charlecote.
 
 22 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 Then end to end, as falleth to their lot 
 Let all your Linkes in order as they lie 
 Be knit together, with that Fishers knot 
 That will not slip or with the wet vntie : 
 And at the lowest end forget it not 
 To leaue a Bought or Compasse like an eye * 
 The Linke that holds your Hooke to hang vpon, 
 When you thinke good to take it off and on. 
 
 Which Linke must neither be so great nor strong, 
 Nor like of colour as the others were ; + 
 Scant halfe so big, so that it be as long : 
 Of grayest Hue, and of the soundest Hayre, 
 Least whiles it hangs the liquid waues among 
 The sight thereof, the warie Fish should feare. 
 And at one end a Loope or Compasse fine, 
 To fasten to the other of your line. J 
 
 *An upper end also, to put it to and fro the rod. 
 W. L. 
 
 +The same colonr, to wit, grey like the sky ; the 
 like bigness and strength, is good for all the line, and 
 every link thereof ! Weight is hurtful ; so unequal 
 strength causeth the weakest to break. W. L. 
 
 For bottom fishing upright rings should be used. 
 A fine gut foot line is better than a single horse hair, 
 but the gut should be in its natural state, not drawn. 
 Good gut is round, clear, hard, even, and almost 
 colourless. Plain reels with a light check and 40 or 
 50 yards of fine dressed silk line complete the bottom 
 fisher's equipment. In. Nottingham fishing upright
 
 J^ 
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 23 
 
 Cor&e. 
 
 ^IIEN take a good Corke, so much as 
 ^ shall suffice, 
 
 For euery Line to make his swim- 
 
 merfit;* 
 And where the midst and thickest 
 
 parts doth rise, 
 There burne a round small hole quite thorow it : 
 
 rings, a wooden reel with seventy or eighty yards 
 of Derby twist on it, and 4 or 5 feet of very fine gut 
 are used. For spinning, stout upright rings and a 
 plain winch with a moderate check, and 60 or 70 
 yards of medium sized dressed eight-plait line will be 
 required. For trout fishing, a running line of hair and 
 silk is preferable, and should be carefully tapered and 
 be about 40 yards in length and in size be suited to the 
 rod, neither too heavy nor too light. A plain check 
 winch, not too wide between the plates, is far prefer- 
 able to a multiplier. The casting line should vary 
 with the weather : in shallow and clear water it should 
 not be less than three "yards. For salmon, tapered 
 eight-plait dressed silk lines should be used and should 
 never be less than izo yards in length. The reel 
 should be a common check winch, and the casting line 
 should consist of three lengths of treble twisted gut, 
 followed by two of good double gut, and then a single 
 gut, in all about four yards in length. 
 
 * I utterly dislike your southern Corks. First, for 
 they afright the fish in the bite and sight ; and 
 because they follow not so kindly the nimble rod and 
 hand. Secondly, they breed weight to the line ; which 
 puts it in danger, hinders the nimble jerk of the rod, 
 and loads the arm. A good eye and hand may easily 
 discern the bite. W. L.
 
 24 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 And put therein a Quill of equal 1 size, 
 But take good heed the Corke you doe not slit. 
 Then round or square with Razor pare it neare, 
 Piramid-wise, or like a slender Peare. 
 
 The smaller end doth serue to sinke more light, 
 Into the water with the Plummets sway ; 
 The greater swimms aloft and stands vpright, 
 To keepe the Line and Bayt at euen stay, 
 That when the Fish begins to nib and byte, 
 The mouing of the float doth them bewray :* 
 These may you place vpon your Lines at will, 
 And stoppe them with a white and handsome 
 Quill. 
 
 Y 
 
 Iboofces, 
 
 OUR Hookes then buy the finest 
 
 and the best 
 That may be had of such as vse to 
 
 sell,* 
 
 And from the greatest to the very 
 least 
 
 * For heavy streams use Cork floats of various 
 weights, and for light streams use porcupine quills. A 
 large float should be used for live baiting. 
 
 *I use to make mine own hooks ; so that I shall 
 have them of the best Spanish and Milan Needles of 
 what size, bent and sharpness as I like and need. 
 Soften your needles in a hot fire in a chafer. The 
 instruments : First, an holdfast. Secondly, a
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 25 
 
 Of euery sort pike out and chuse them well, 
 Such as in shape and making passe the rest, 
 And doe for strength and soundnesse most excell: 
 Then in a little Boxe of dryest wood 
 From rust and canker keepe them faire and good. 
 
 That Ilooke I loue that is in compasse round* 
 Like to the print that Pegasus did make, 
 With horned hoofe vpon Thessalian ground ; 
 From whence forthwith Pernassus spring out brake, 
 That doth in pleasant Waters so abound : 
 And of the Muses oft the thirst doth slake.t 
 
 hammer to flatten the place or the beard. Thirdly, 
 a file to make the beard and sharpen the point. 
 Fourthly, a bender, namely a pin bended, and put in 
 the end of a stick an handful long. When they are 
 made, lap them in the end of a wire ; heat them again, 
 and temper them in oil or butter. W. L.- (Dame 
 Juliana Berners gives the process of hook-making in 
 the greatest detail in her " Treatyse of Fysshynge.") 
 
 *Thc best form for ready striking and sure holding 
 and strength, is a straight and somewhat long chank 
 and straight nibbed ; with a little compass : not round 
 in any wise, for it neither strikes surely nor readily ; 
 but is weak, as having to great a compass. Some use 
 to batter the upper end to hold the faster : But good 
 thread or silk, well bound, may make it fast enough. 
 It is botchery, hinders the biting, and sometimes cuts 
 the line. W. L. 
 
 j- Pegasus was the winged horse on which Bello- 
 rophon rode against the Chimaera. When the Muses
 
 26 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 Who on his fruitfull bankes doe sit and sing 
 That all the world of their swee[t] tunes doth 
 ring. 
 
 Or as Thaumantis, when she list to shroud 
 Her selfe against the parching sunny ray, 
 Vnder the mantle of some stormy cloud, 
 Where she her sundry colours doth display 
 Like lunoes Bird, of her faire garments proud, 
 That Phcebus gaue her on her marriage day : 
 Shewes forth her goodly Circle farre and wide, 
 To mortall wights that wonder at her pride. 
 
 His shank should neither be to short nor long, 
 His point not ouersharpe, nor yet too dull : * 
 The substance good that may indure from wrong ; 
 His Needle slender, yet both round and full, 
 Made of the right Iberian mettell strong, 
 That will not stretch nor breake at euery pull, 
 Wrought smooth and cleane withouten cracke 
 
 or knott 
 And bearded like the wilde Arabian goat. 
 
 contended with the daughters of Pieros, Helicon rose 
 heavenward with delight ; but Pegasus gave it a kick, 
 stopped its ascent, and brought out of the mountain 
 the soul inspiring waters of Hippocrene. 
 
 * He means the hook may be too weak at the point. 
 It cannot be too sharp if the metal be good steel. 
 W. L. 
 
 f- Hooks are of various forms. There is the 
 Limerick bend, the Carlisle or round bend, the Sneck
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. ^^ 
 
 Then let your Hooke be sure and strongly plaste 
 Vnto your lowest Linke with Silke or Hayre, 
 Which you may doe with often ouercaste, 
 So that you draw the Bouts together neare, 
 And with both ends make all the other fast, 
 That no bare place or rising knot appeare; 
 
 Then on that Linke hang Leads of euen waight 
 To raise your floate, and carry doune your baite. 
 
 Thus haue you Rod, Line, Float, and Hooke ; 
 The Rod to strike, when you shall thinke it fit, 
 The Line to lead the Fish with wary skill, 
 The Float and Quill to warne you of the bit ; 
 The Hooke to hold him by the chap or gill, 
 Hooke, Line, and Rod, all guided to your wit. 
 Yet there remains of Fishing tooles to tell, 
 Some other sorts that you must haue as well. 
 
 bend, and the Curved bend. I prefer the Limerick 
 and Sneck, the former for Salmon and Trout fly 
 fishing. When fishing for Trout with worm, I use 
 the Sneck bend. For all other fishing, I prefer the 
 Carlisle.
 
 28 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 tbcr fisbtng Socles. 
 
 A LITTLE Boord, the lightest you can 
 finde, 
 But not so thin that it will breake 
 or bend ; 
 
 Of Cypres sweet, or of some other 
 kinde, 
 
 That like a Trenchor shall it selfe extend : 
 Made smooth and plaine, your Lines thereon to 
 
 winde* 
 With Battlements at euery other end : 
 
 Like to the Bulwarke of some ancient Towne, 
 As well-wald Sylchester now razed downe.r 
 
 A Shooe to beare the crawling Wormes therein, 
 With hole aboue to hang it by your side,J 
 
 * Or wind them on two or three of your lingers 
 like an Orph-Arion's string. W. L. 
 
 ySilchester, in Berkshire, is Silicis Castrum (Flint- 
 camp), a Saxon-Latin form of the Roman Calleva or 
 Galleva. Galleva is the Roman form of the British 
 Giual-Vaivr (great wall), so called from its wall, the 
 ruins of which are still striking. According to tradition, 
 King Arthur was crowned here ; and Ninnius asserts 
 that the City was built by Constantius, Father of 
 Constantino the Great. 
 
 JWorm poke of cloth, or boxes. W. L.
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 29 
 
 A hollow Cane that must be light and thin, 
 Wherein the Bobb and Palmer shall abide, 
 Which must be stopped with an handsome pin, 
 Least out againe your baytes doe hap to slide. 
 A little Box that couered close shall lye, 
 To keepe therein the busie winged Flye. 
 
 Then must you haue a Plummet, formed round, 
 Like to the Pellet of a birding Bow:* 
 Wherewith you may the secret'st waters sound, 
 And set your floate thereafter high, or low, 
 Till you the depth thereof haue truely found : 
 And on the same a twisted thread bestow 
 At your owne will, to hang it on your hooke 
 And so to let it downe into the Brooke. 
 
 Of Lead likewise, yet must you haue a Ring, 
 Whose whole Diameter in length containes 
 Three Inches full, and fastened to a string 
 That must be long and sure, if need constraines,t 
 
 * A plumet you need not , for your line being well 
 leaded and without a float, will try your depths. 
 When the lead above your hook comes to the earth, 
 the line will leave sinking. W. L. 
 
 *That is good : but a forked rod, about two yards 
 long is better. When your hook is fastened in the 
 water, take your forked rod, and put the line in the 
 fork, and so follow down to your hook. So letting 
 your line be somewhat slack, move your line to and 
 fro, especially downwards ; and so shall your fork be 
 loosed. W. L.
 
 3O THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 Through whose round hole you shall your Angle 
 bring 
 
 And let it fall into the watry playne : 
 
 Vntill he come the weedes and stickes vnto, 
 From whence your hooke it serueth to vndo. * 
 
 Haue Tooles good store to serue your turne 
 
 withall, 
 
 Least that you happen some to lose or breake ; 
 As in great waters oft it doth befall, 
 When that the Hooke is nought or Line too 
 
 weake. 
 
 And waxed thread, or silk, so it be small 
 To set them on, that if you list to wreake 
 
 Your former losse, you may supply the place, 
 
 And not returne with sorrow and disgrace, t 
 
 Haue twist likewise, so that it be not white,! 
 Your Rod to mend, or broken top to tye; 
 For all white colours doe the Fishes fright 
 And make them from the bayte away to flye ; 
 
 *The ring recommended in the poem is still the 
 best method known of disengaging one's hook when 
 caught. 
 
 T A most admirable piece of advice which should be 
 taken to heart by all Anglers. 
 
 J White and grey are good, answering to the colour* 
 of the sky. W. L.
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 31 
 
 A File to mend your hookes,|| both small and 
 light 
 
 A good sharpe knife, your girdle hanging by : 
 A Pouch with many part and purses thin 
 To carry all your Tooles and Trynkets in. 
 
 Vet must you haue a little Rip beside, 
 Of Willow twigs, the finest you can wish ; 
 Which shall be made so handsome and so wide 
 As may containe good store of sundry Fish; 
 And yet with ease be hanged by your side 
 To bring them home the better to your dish. 
 A little Net that on a Pole shall stand, 
 The mighty Pike or heauy Carpe to Land. 
 
 f)(0 seuerall Socles, atrt wbat garment 
 is fittest. 
 
 AND let your garments Russet be or 
 gray. 
 Of colour darke, and hardest to 
 discrye ; 
 
 That with the Raine or weather 
 wil away, 
 And least offend the fearfull Fishes eye : 
 
 * A fine needle file is the kind to use, but they are 
 to keen that a mere touch or two is all that is 
 necessary.
 
 32 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 For neither Skarlet nor rich cloth of ray, 
 Nor colours dipt in fresh Assyrian dye, 
 
 Nor tender silkes of Purple, Paule, or golde, 
 Will serue so well to keep off wet or colde.* 
 
 In this aray the Angler good shall goe. 
 Vnto the Brooke, to finde his wished game; 
 Like olde Menalcus wandering to and fro, 
 Vntill he chance to light vpon the same, 
 
 *" With regard to dress, some people are inclined to 
 ridicule the idea of there being any necessity for attend- 
 ing to it at all. I am very sure, however, that 
 excellent grounds exist for not being too conspicuous 
 in this respect. The trout is a very gentlemanly fish, 
 and does not like 'loud dressing ;' positive black and 
 white, too, or anything which glitters or is unusual, 
 should be carefully eschewed, particularly on the upper 
 and more conspicuous part of the person. A tall black 
 hat, or one of the genus called ' shiner,' I do not 
 recommend ; and though I would rather fish in the 
 Bishop of Winchester's stream than in his lordship's 
 company when in full canonicals, I should equally 
 consider Mr. Chadband in his cerements an objection- 
 able party for successful trouting on a shy or well- 
 fished stream ; while a stage coachman in a white 
 top-coat and shiny hat would be fully as unacceptable. 
 Brilliant paste buckles on the shoes I have no object- 
 ion to if anyone likes them, but on the hat, no. I 
 even dislike a highly-varnished rod. Who has not 
 seen the flash of a rod waving in the air while half a 
 mile distant ? and surely so unusual and startling a 
 phenomenon cannot but be calculated to disturb the 
 equanimity of so sharp-eyed a creature as the trout." 
 Francis, "On Angling," pp. 179-80.
 
 THE SECRETS OK ANGLING. 33 
 
 And there his art and cunning shall bestow, 
 For euery Fish his Bayte so well to frame 
 That long ere Phoebus set in Westerne fome 
 He shall return well loaden to his home. 
 
 biection. 
 
 SOME youthfull Gallant here perhaps will 
 say, 
 This is no pastime for a gentleman. 
 It were more fit at cardes and dice to 
 
 play, 
 
 To vse both fence and dauncing now and than, 
 Or walke the streetes in nice and strange Aray, 
 Or with coy phrases court his Mistris fan, 
 
 A poore delight with toylle and painfull watch, 
 With losse of time a silly Fish to catch. 
 
 What pleasure can it be to walk about, 
 The fields and meads and pinching cold ? 
 And stand all day to catch a silly Trout, 
 That is not worth a teaster to be sold, 
 And peraduenture sometimes goe without, 
 Besides the toles and troubles manifold, 
 
 And to be washt with many a showre of rayne 
 Before he can returne from thence againe? 
 
 More ease it were, and more delight I trow, 
 In some sweet house to passe the time away
 
 34 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 Amongst the best, with braue and gallant show, 
 And with faire dames to daunce, to sport and play, 
 And on the board the nimble dice to throw, 
 That brings in gaine, and helps the shot to pay, 
 And with good wine and store of dainty fare, 
 To feede at will and take but little care. 
 
 Gbe answere. 
 
 IMEANE not here mens errours to reproue, 
 Nor doe enuie their seeming happy state ; 
 But rather meruaile why they doe not loue 
 An honest sport that is without debate ; 
 Since their abused pastimes often moue 
 Their mindes to anger and to mortall hate : 
 And as in bad delights their time they spend, 
 So oft it brings them to no better end. 
 
 Indeed it is a life of lesser paine, 
 
 To sit at play from noone till it be night : 
 
 And then from night till it be noone againe. 
 
 With damned oathes, pronounced in despight, 
 
 For little cause and euery trifle vaine, 
 
 To curse, to brawle, to quarrell, and to fight, 
 
 To packe the cardes, and with some cozning 
 trick 
 
 His fellowes Purse of all his coyne to picke.
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 35 
 
 Or to beguile another of his Wife, 
 As did ^ighistus Agamemnon serue : 
 Or as that Roman Monarch* led a life 
 To spoyle and spend, while others pine and sterue, 
 And to compell their friends with foolish strife 
 To take more drinke then will their health 
 preserue, 
 
 And to conclude, for debt or iust desart, 
 ID baser tune to sing the counter-part. 
 
 O let me rather on the pleasant Brinke 
 
 Of Tyne and Trent possesse some dwelling place ; 
 
 Where I may see my Quill and Corke downe 
 
 sinke, 
 
 With eager. bit of Barbill, Bleike, or Dace: 
 And on the World and his Creator thinke, 
 While they proud Thais painted sheat imbrace. 
 And with the fume of strong Tobacco's smoke, 
 And quaffing round are ready for to choke. 
 
 Let them that list these pastimes then pursue, 
 And on their pleasing fancies feed their fill ; 
 So I the Fields and Meadowes greene may view, 
 And by the Riuers freshe may walke at will, 
 Among the Dayzes and the Violets blew : 
 Red Hyacinth, and yealow Dafiadill, 
 Purple Narcissus, like the morning rayes, 
 Pale Ganderglas, and azour Culuerkayes. 
 
 * Nero.
 
 36 THE SECRETS OK ANGLING. 
 
 I count it better pleasure to behold 
 The goodly compasse of the loftie skye, 
 And in the midst thereof like burning gold 
 The flaming chariot of the worlds great eye ; 
 The watry cloudes that in the ayre vprold 
 With sundry kindes of painted collours flie : 
 And fayre Aurora lifting vp her head, 
 And blushing rise from old Thitonus bed. 
 
 The hills and Mountains raised from the Plaines, 
 The plaines extended leuell with the ground, 
 The ground deuided into sundry vaines, 
 The vaines inclos'd with running riuers round, 
 With headlong course into the sea profounde : 
 The surging sea beneath the valleys low, 
 The valleys sweet, and lakes that louely flowe. 
 
 The lofty woods the forrests wide and long, 
 Adornd with leaues and branches fresh and greene 
 In whose coole bow'rs the birds with chaunting 
 
 song, 
 Doe welcome with their quire the Summers 
 
 Queene, 
 
 The meadowes faire where Flora's gifts among, 
 Are intermixt the verdant grasse betweene, 
 
 The siluer skaled fish that softlie swimme, 
 
 Within the brookes and christall watry brimme. 
 
 All these and many more of his creation, 
 
 That made the heauens the Anglers oft doth see,
 
 THE SECRETS OK ANGLING. 37 
 
 And takes therein no little delectation, 
 To thinke how strange and wonderfull they be, 
 Framing thereof an inward contemplation, 
 To set his thoughts from other fancies free, 
 
 And whiles he lookes on these with ioyfull eye, 
 His minde is wrapt aboue the starry skye. 
 
 Cbe Sutbor ot angling. 
 
 BVT how this Art of Angling did beginne, 
 And who the vse thereof and practise 
 found, 
 How many times and ages since have 
 
 bin, 
 
 Wherein the sunne hath dayly compast round 
 The circle that the signes twice sixe are in : 
 And yeelded yearely comfort to the ground, 
 It were too hard for me to bring about, 
 Since Quid wrote not all story out. 
 
 Yet to content the willing Readers eare, 
 I will not spare the sad report to tell, 
 When good Deucalion and his Pirrha deere, 
 Were onely left vpon the earth to dwell 
 Of all the rest that ouerwhelmed were 
 With that great floud, that in their dayes befell, 
 Wherein the compasse of the world so round 
 Both man and beast with waters deepe were 
 dround.
 
 38 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 Between themselues they wept and made great 
 
 moane, 
 
 How to repaire againe the wofull fall, 
 Of all mankinde, whereof they two alone 
 The remnant were, and wretched portion small. 
 But any meanes or hope in them was none, 
 That might restore so great a losse with all, 
 Since they were aged, and in yeares so runne, 
 That now almost their threed of life was spunne. 
 
 Vntill at last they saw where as they stood 
 An ancient Temple wasted and forlorne; 
 Whose holy fires and sundry offerings good, 
 The late outragious waues away had borne ; 
 But when at length doune fallen was the flood, 
 The waters low it proudly gan to scorne. 
 Vnto that place they thought it best to goe 
 The counsell of the Goddesse there to know. 
 
 For long before that fearfull Deluge great, 
 The vniuersall Earth had ouerfloune ; 
 A heauenly power there placed had her seate, 
 And ansueres gaue of hidden things vnknowne. 
 Thither they went her fauour to intreat, 
 Whose fame throughout that coast abroad was 
 bloune 
 
 By her aduice some way or meane to finde, 
 How to renew the race of human kinde.
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 39 
 
 Prostrate they fell vpon the sacred ground, 
 Kissing the stones, and shedding many a teare; 
 And lowly bent their aged bodies doune 
 Vnto the earth, with sad and heauy cheare : 
 Praying the Saint with soft and dolefull sound 
 That she vouchsafe their humble suite to heare 
 
 The goddesse heard, and bad them goe and 
 take, 
 
 Their mothers Ixmes, and throw behind their 
 backe. 
 
 This Oracle obscure, and dark of sence, 
 Amazed much their mindes with feare and doubt, 
 What kind meaning might be drawne from thence ; 
 And how to vnderstande and finde it out, 
 How with so great a sinne they might dispence 
 Their Parents bones to cast and throw about : 
 Thus when they had long time in study spent, 
 Out of the Church with carefull thought they 
 went. 
 
 And now beholding better euery place, 
 
 Each Hill and Dale, each Riuer, Rock, and Tree; 
 
 And muzing thereupon a little space, 
 
 They thought the Earth their mother well might 
 
 be, 
 
 And that the stones that lay before their face, 
 To be her bones did nothing disagree :
 
 40 THE SECRETS OK ANGLING. 
 
 Wherefore to proue if it were false or true, 
 The scattered stones behind their backes they 
 threw. 
 
 Forthwith the stones (a wondrous thing to heare,) 
 Began to moue as they had life conceiu'd. 
 And waxed greater then at first they were ; 
 And more and more the shape of man receiu'd 
 Till euery part most plainly did appeare, 
 That neither eye nor sence could be deceiu'd : 
 
 They heard, they spake, they went and walked 
 too, 
 
 As other liuing men are wont to doe. 
 
 Thus was the earth replenished a new, 
 With people strange, sprung vp with little paine, 
 Of whose increase the progenie that grew, 
 Did soone supply the empty world againe ; 
 But now a great care there did insue, 
 How such a mightie number to maintaine, 
 Since foode there was not any to be found, 
 For that great flood had all destroyed and 
 drownd. 
 
 Then did Deucalion first the Art inuent 
 Of Angling, and his people taught the same; 
 And to the Woods and groues with them hee went 
 Fit tooles to finde for this most needfull game;
 
 THE SECRETS OK ANGLING. 41 
 
 There from the trees the longest ryndes they rent, 
 Wherewith strong Lines they roughly twist and 
 frame, 
 
 And of each crooke of hardest Bush and Brake, 
 They made them Hookes the hungry Fish to 
 take. 
 
 And to intice them to the eager bit, 
 
 Dead frogs and flies of sundry sorts he tooke ; 
 
 And snayles and wormes such as he found m< 
 
 tit 
 
 Wherein to hide the close and deadly hookc : 
 And thus with practice and inuentive wit, 
 1 le found the meanes in euery lake and brooke 
 Such store of Fish to take with little paine, 
 As did long time this people new sustaine. 
 
 In this rude sort began this simple Art, 
 And so remain'd in that first age of old, 
 When Saturne did Amaltheas home impart 
 Vnto the world, that then was all of Gold ; 
 The Fish as yet had felt but little smart, 
 And were to bite more eager, apt and bold : 
 And plentie still supplide the place againc 
 Of woefull want, whereof we now complainc. 
 
 But when in time the feare and dread of man 
 Fell more and more on euery lining thing,
 
 42 THE SECRETS OK ANGLING. 
 
 And all the creatures of the world began 
 To stand in awe of this vsurping King, 
 Whose tyranny so farre extended than 
 That Earth and Seas it did in thraldome bring ; 
 It was a worke of greater paine and skill, 
 The wary Fish in lake or Brooke to kill. 
 
 So worse and worse two ages more did passe, 
 Yet still the Art more perfect daily grew, 
 For then the slender Rod inuented was, 
 Of finer sort than former ages knew, 
 And Hookes were made of siluer and of brasse, 
 And Lines of Hempe and Flaxe were framed 
 new, 
 
 And sundry bakes experience found out more, 
 Then elder times did know or try before. 
 
 But at the last the Iron age drew neere, 
 Of all the rest the hardest, and most scant, 
 Then Lines were made of Silke and subtile hayre, 
 And Rods of lightest Cane and Hazell plant, 
 And Hookes of hardest steel inuented were, 
 That neither skill nor workmanship did want, 
 And so this Art did in the end attaine 
 Vnto that state where now it doth remaine. 
 
 But here my weary Muse a while must rest. 
 That is not vsed to so long a way ;
 
 THE SECRETS OK ANGLING. 43 
 
 And breath, or pause a little at the least 
 At this Lands end, vntill another day, 
 And then againe, if so she thinke it best; 
 Our taken-taske afresh, wee will assay, 
 And forward goe as wee did intend 
 Till that wee come vnto our iourneys end. 
 
 THE END OF THE FIRST BOOKE.
 
 / 
 
 I 
 
 
 f
 
 Idibliotptca Curtoga, 
 
 THE 
 
 Secrets of angling; 
 
 TEACHING 
 
 THE CHOICEST TOOLS, BAITS, 
 
 AND SEASONS, 
 FOR THE TAKING OF ANY FISH 
 
 IN 
 
 POND OR RIVER, 
 
 practises ant) familiarly opened 
 in tbree oofcs, 
 
 BY 
 
 J. D., Esquire, 
 
 EDITED BY "PISCATOR." 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 PRIVATELY PRINTED, EDINBURGH. 
 1885.
 
 JAMES DEVON 
 
 of
 
 Bifaltotfreca eurtosa. 
 
 THE 
 
 Secrets of Hngling; 
 
 TEACHING 
 
 THE CHOICEST TOOLS, BAITS, 
 
 AND SEASONS, 
 FOR THE TAKING OF ANY FISH 
 
 IN 
 
 POND OR RIVER, 
 
 practised anfc familiarlg opened 
 in tbree Boofes, 
 
 BY 
 
 ]. D., Esquire, 
 
 EDITED BY "PISCATOR.' 
 VOL. II. 
 
 PRIVATELY PRINTED, KDINBURGH
 
 This edition is limited to 275 small- taper copies, 
 and 75 large-paper copies.
 
 THE 
 
 Mecrets of 
 
 seconfc JSoofte. 
 
 BEFORE, I taught what kind of Tooles 
 were fit 
 For him to have that would an Angler 
 be; 
 
 And how he should with practise and 
 with wit 
 
 Prouide himself thereof in best degree : 
 Now doth remaine to shew how to the bit 
 The Fishes may be brought, that earst were free, 
 And with what pleasing baits intis'd they are, 
 To swallow downe the hidden Hooke vnware.
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 JSaltes. 
 
 IT were not meet to send a Huntsman out 
 Into the Woods, with Net, with Gin, or 
 Hay, 
 To trace the brakes and bushes all about, 
 The Stag, the Foxe, or Badger, to betray : 
 If hauing found his game, he stand in doubt 
 Which way to pitch, or where his snares to lay, 
 And with what traine he may entise withall 
 The fearefull beast into his trap to fall. 
 
 So, though the Angler haue good store of tooles, 
 And them with skill in finest sort can frame ; 
 Yet when he comes to Riuers, Lakes, and Pooles, 
 If that he know not how to vse the same, 
 And with what baites to make the Fishes fooles, 
 He may goe home as wise as out he came, 
 And of his comming boast himselfe as well 
 As he that from his fathers Chariot fell. 
 
 Not that I take vpon me to impart 
 
 More than by others hath before beene told ; 
 
 Or that the hidden secrets of this Art 
 
 1 would unto the vulgar sort vnfolde, 
 Who peraduenture for my paines desart 
 Would count me worthy Balams horse to holde : 
 
 But onely to the willing learner show 
 So much thereof us may suffise to know.
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLINO. 7 
 
 But here, O Neptune, that with triple Mace 
 
 Dost rule the raging of the Ocean wide ; 
 
 I meddle not with thy deformed race 
 
 Of monsters huge, that in those waues abide : 
 
 With that great Whale, that by three whole dayes 
 
 space 
 
 The man of God did in his belly hide, 
 And cast him out vpon the Euxin shore, 
 As safe and sound as he had beene before. 
 
 Nor with that Orke that on Cephcean strand 
 Would haue deuour'd Andromeda the faire, 
 Whom Perseus slew with strong and valiant 
 
 hand, 
 
 Ueliuering her from danger and despaire, 
 The Hurlepool huge that higher then the land, 
 Whole streames of water spouteth in the ayre, 
 The Porpois large that playing swims on hie. 
 Portending stormes or other tempests nie. 
 
 Nor that admirer of sweet Musicke's sound, 
 That on his backe Arion bore away ; 
 And brought to shore out of the Seas profound, 
 The Hippotame that like an horse doth neigh, 
 The Mors, that from the rockes inrolled round, 
 Within his teeth himselfe doth safe conuay : 
 The Tortoise couered with his target hard, 
 The Tuberone attended with his guard.
 
 8 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 Nor with that Fish that beareth in his snout 
 A ragged sword, his foes to spoile and kill ; 
 Nor that fierce Thrasher, that doth fling about 
 His nimble flayle, and handles him at will : 
 The rauenous Sharke that with the sweepings 
 
 out 
 
 And filth of ships doth oft his belly fill. 
 The Albacore that followeth night and day 
 The flying Fish, and takes them for his prey. 
 
 The Crocodile that weepes when he doth wrong, 
 
 The Hollibut that hurts the appetite, 
 
 The Turbut broad, the Sceale, the Sturgion 
 
 strong, 
 
 The Cod and Cozze, that greedy are to bite, 
 The Haake the Haddocke, and Conger long, 
 The yeallow Ling, the Milwell faire and white, 
 
 The spreading Ray, the Thornback thin and 
 flat, 
 
 The boysterous Base, the hoggish Tunny fat. 
 
 These kindes of Fish that are so large of sise, 
 And many more that here I leave vntolde 
 Shall goe for me, and all the rest likewise 
 That are the stocke of Proteus watry folde : 
 For well I thinke my Hookes would not suffise, 
 Nor slender Lines, the least of these to holde. 
 I leaue them therefore to the surging seas, 
 In that huge depth to wander at their ease.
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 9 
 
 And speak of such as in the fresh are found, 
 The little Roach, the Menise biting last, 
 The slymie Tench, the slender Smelt and round, 
 The Vmber sweet, the graueling good of taste, 
 The wholesome Ruffe, the Barbill not so sound, 
 The Pearch and Pike that all the rest doe waste, 
 
 The Bream, the Carpe, the Chub, and Chau- 
 ender, 
 
 And many more that in fresh waters are. 
 
 Sit then Thalia on some pleasant banke, 
 
 Among so many as faire Auon hath, 
 
 And marke the Anglers how they march in ranke, 
 
 Some out of Bristoll, some from healthfull Bath, 
 
 How all the Riuers sides along they flanke, 
 
 And through the meadowes make their wonted 
 
 path : 
 
 See how their wit and cunning they apply, 
 To catch the Fish that in the waters lye. 
 
 jfor tbe <5oofc0ion. 
 
 LOE, in a little Boate where one doth 
 stand, 
 That to a Willow Bough the while is 
 tide, 
 
 And with a pole doth stirre and raise 
 the sand ; 
 Whereas the gentle streame doth softly slide,
 
 10 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 And then with slender Line and Rod in hand, 
 The eager bit not long he doth abide. 
 
 Well leaded is his Line, his Ilooke but small, 
 A good big Corke to beare the streame withall. 
 
 His baite the least red worme that may be found 
 And at the bottome it doth alwayes lye ; 
 Whereat the greedy Goodgion bites so sound 
 That Ilooke and all he swalloweth by and by : * 
 See how he strikes, and puls them vp as round 
 As if new store the play did still supply. 
 
 And when the bit doth dye or bad doth prouc. 
 
 Then to another place he doth remoue. 
 
 This Fish the fittest for a learner is 
 That in this Art delights to take some paine ; 
 For as high flying Haukes that often misse 
 The swifter soules, are eased with a traine, 
 So to a young beginner yeeldeth this, 
 Such readie sport as makes him proue againe, 
 And leades him on with hope and glad desire. 
 To greater skill and cunning to aspire, t 
 
 * The Gudgeon hath his teeth in his throat (as 
 also the Chub), and lives by much sucking. He is a 
 dainty fish, like, or nearly as good as the Sparling. 
 W. L. 
 
 t Gudgeon bite best in clear water and warm 
 weather in moderately rapid streams, where the water 
 ranges from two to four or five feet in depth.
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGI.INC. 
 
 3for tbc "Rocbe. 
 
 
 see on yonder side, where one 
 doth sit 
 With Line well twisted, and his 
 
 Hooke but small ; 
 His Corke not big, his Plummets 
 round and fit, 
 
 I lis bayte of finest paste, a little ball 
 Wherewith he doth intice vnto the bit, 
 The carelesse Roche* that soone is caught with 
 
 all: 
 
 Within a foote the same doth reach the ground, 
 And with least touch the float straight sinketh 
 downe. 
 
 in order to attract them it is necessary to rake up the 
 gravel so as to cause a thick water. The gudgeon 
 immediately flock to the spot to feed upon the small 
 insects and worms that are thus exposed. For this 
 purpose a heavy iron rake with a long handle is used. 
 The angler then fishes over the raked spot, his bait 
 just tripping over the bottom. A light cork float and 
 a No. 10 hook are advisable. The gudgeon feeds upon 
 gentles, or any small grubs, and worms ; but nothing 
 can compare in point of attraction to a small fragment 
 of red worm. The gudgeon is a most agreeable 
 acquaintance at the breakfast table. There is a crisp- 
 ness and piquancy about his discussion, when duly 
 fried and neatly served, which is highly gratifying. 
 * The Roach is one of the meanest (fish). W. L.
 
 12 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 And as a skilful Fowler that doth vse, 
 The flying Birds of any kinde to take, 
 The fittest and the best doth alwayes chuse, 
 Of many sorts a pleasing stale to make, 
 Which if he doth perceiue they doe refuse, 
 And of mislike abandon and forsake, 
 
 To win their loue againe, and get their grace 
 Forthwith doth put another in^the place. 
 
 So for the Roach more baites he hath beside, 
 As of a sheepe the thicke congealed blood, 
 Which on a board he vseth to deuide 
 In portions small to make them fit and good, 
 That better on his hooke they may abide : 
 And of the waspe the white and tender brood. 
 
 And wormes that breed on euery hearbe and 
 tree, 
 
 And sundry flies that quicke and liuely be.* 
 
 * Roach-fishing is very pretty sport, requiring the 
 exercise of much skill, patience, quickness of appre- 
 hension, and ingenuity, combined with a thorough 
 knowledge of the habits of the fish. No greater 
 mistake can be made than to fancy the roach is a 
 simple fish. When he is half-starved, and seldom 
 fished for, he is no doubt easy, to capture. When 
 about to spawn or just spent, he loses much of his 
 caution and shyness ; but when he is well fed, in high 
 condition, and sees many rods, he becomes amazingly 
 shy of the hook. I am the tenant of a portion of a 
 river in which thousands of splendid roach may be 
 seen in great shoals. It was a long time before I could
 
 I 
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 13 
 
 tbe Dace. 
 
 looke where as that Poplar 
 
 gray doth grow, 
 Hard by the same where one doth 
 
 closely stand, 
 And with the winde his Hooke 
 
 and bayt doth throw 
 Amid the streame with slender hazell wand, 
 
 get on terms with these roach. In summer and in 
 clear water it was hopeless. If you could get a tree 
 at your back, you might catch two or three, but that 
 would be a signal for the rest to disperse. In coloured 
 water, however, and more particularly in winter, I 
 found at last that after three or four days' baiting, and 
 with single hair, I could give a good account of them, 
 and I made some splendid takes, though they are still 
 very capricious. The hook, if the water be full 
 and the fish biting freely, should be a No. 9, to 
 carry two gentles. If the water be very clear, 
 and the fish shy, a No. 10 or II hook, to take 
 only one gentle, will be found preferable. The best 
 hook-baits for roach are, first, maggots, or gentles, as 
 they are more commonly called by metropolitan 
 anglers. Those blown on bullock's liver, which are 
 shiny and yellow, are the best by far. When using 
 them, the roach, not being hungry, often want a 
 little coaxing or variety. When you think this is the 
 case, instead of two gentles use one, and point your 
 hook with a chrysalis. The next most favourite 
 pabulum with roach are pearl-barley and then paste.
 
 14 THE SECRETS OK ANGLING. 
 
 Where as he sees the Dace themselues doe show, 
 His eye is quicke, and ready is his hand, 
 And when the Fish doth rise to catch the bayt, 
 He presently doth strike, and takes her stray t. 
 
 O worlds deceit ! how are we thrald by thee. 
 That dost thy gall in sweetest pleasures hide ? 
 When most we thinke in happiest state to be, 
 Then doe we soonest into danger slide, 
 Behold the Fish that euen now was free, 
 Vnto the deadly hooke how he is tide, 
 So vaine delights alure vs to the snare, 
 Wherein vnwares we fast intangled are.* 
 
 Some prefer paste ; I prefer pearl-barley. The red 
 worm is a tolerably good bait also for roach, particu- 
 larly in thick water, where the fish may have been 
 feeding on worms, and the large roach will often in 
 winter take the tail of a lob worm very ravenously. 
 Caddis bait is also a favourite bait with roach, but 
 it is a bad substitute for gentles. The diminutive 
 bloodworm, found in the muddy deposit at the bottom 
 of stagnant waters, is held to be a great attraction for 
 roach, but it requires a fine hook and great care to 
 bait it well. Francis On Angling, pp. 23-9. 
 
 * By August, on the Thames, they get on the 
 shallows, where they may be taken in large numbers, 
 by whipping with almost any small fly, or even with 
 a single gentle ; some people, to make the fly more 
 attractive, point the hook with a gentle ; others, as I 
 have recommended in roach-fishing, use a small shred 
 of kid or wash-leather. I have found the inner rind 
 of a scrap of stringy bacon answer better perhaps than
 
 THE SECRETS OK ANGLING. 15 
 
 jfor tbe Carpc. 
 
 BVT now againe see where another stands, 
 And straines his rod that double seeme.s 
 to bend, 
 Loe how he leades and guides him 
 
 with his hands, 
 
 Least that his Line should breake or Angle rend, 
 Then with a Net see how at last he lands, 
 A mighty Carpe * and has him in the end, 
 So large he is of body, scale, and bone, 
 That rod and all had like to haue beene gone. 
 
 either, being a kind of compromise between the two; 
 that is, something to taste, and not liable to be 
 whipped off. A short stiff rod (about eight feet long) 
 is the best for this work. The line should not be too 
 long, or it is not manageable, as quick striking is the 
 order of the day with this very nimble fish. The 
 flies should always be dressed upon as large hooks as 
 the angler can afford to dress them on, as the fish 
 rising often in very sharp streams are apt to break off 
 from any slight hold. They are fairly delicate fish to 
 eat when in good order, and should be broiled dry, a 
 slice of butter being then allowed to melt upon them. 
 They make one of the most valuable spinning baits 
 for jack and trout which the angler can obtain, being 
 bright and round, and reasonably tough on the hooks. 
 Francis On Singling, pp. 35-37. 
 
 * It is not natural to see the bait hanging in the 
 water barely touching the bottom, and that the carp 
 know well enough. In this position the gut ascends 
 directly from the worm to the float, and the unnatural
 
 l6 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 Marke what a line he hath, well made and strong, 
 Of Bucephall, or Bayards, strongest hayre, 
 Twisted with greene or watched silke among, 
 Like hardest twine, that holds the intangled 
 
 Deare, 
 
 Not any force of Fish will doe it wrong, 
 In Tyne, or Trent, or Thame, he needes not 
 
 feare : 
 
 The knots of euery lincke are knit so sure, 
 That many a plucke and pull they may indure. 
 
 His corke is large, made handsome, smooth, and 
 
 fine, 
 
 The leads according, close, and fit thereto, 
 A good round hooke set on with silken twine, 
 That will not slip nor easily vndoe : 
 
 attitude of the bait challenges the carp's attention to 
 this 'new thing in baits.' Mons. Carp then catches 
 sight of the shot, and, lastly, in all probability, of the 
 float above. All this is of course strange and unusual, 
 and he proceeds to investigate the bait with all due 
 care, nibbling and picking at it, like the female ghoul 
 in the Arabian Nights, who ate rice with a bodkin ; 
 he cannot make up his mind to take it, and yet he 
 cannot make up his mind to leave it, so he nibbles 
 and nibbles, and at last you think he must have got 
 the bait, and you strike. Now, it is not customary 
 for baits to dash off in that frantic fashion ; and there- 
 fore, while your bait dashes off one way, Master 
 Carp dashes off the other. Francis On Angling^ pp. 
 77-8-
 
 THE SEC RETS OF ANGLING. 17 
 
 His bait great wormes that long in mosse haue bin, 
 Which by his side he beareth in a shooe. 
 Or paste wherewith he feedes him oft before, 
 That at the bottom iyes a foote or more,* 
 
 tfor tbc Cbub an& Crout. 
 
 SEE where another hides himselfe as slye, 
 As did Acteon, or the fearefull Deere ; 
 Behinde a withy, and with watchfull eye 
 Attends the bit within the water cleere, 
 And on the top thereof doth moue his 
 flye, 
 With skilfxill hand, as if he liuing weret 
 
 Loe how the Chub, the Roche the Dace and 
 
 Trout, 
 To catch thereat doe gaze and swimme about. 
 
 His Rod, or Cane, made darke for being scene, 
 The lesse to feare the warie Fish withall ; 
 His Line well twisted is, and wrought so cleane. 
 That being strong, yet doth it shew but small, 
 
 * The baits for Carp are the same as for Gudgeon. 
 Paste can also be used. Potatoe is not to be despised, 
 but after all Cnrp are of no value except for sport, 
 tasting remarkably like a sheep's fleece in a very dirty- 
 state. This with every apology to Dame Berners, who 
 calls him a "deyntous fish." 
 
 f- Diversely. For the trout is a ravening fish, and 
 and at that time of the day comes from his hole, if he 
 come at all. W. L.
 
 IS 
 
 His Hooke not great, nor little, but betweene,* 
 That light vpon the watry brimme may fall, 
 
 * The Trout makes the Angler the most gentle- 
 manly and readiest sport of all other fishes : if you 
 angle with a made fly, and a line twice your rod's 
 length or more, of three hairs, in a plain water with- 
 out wood, in a dark windy day from mid-afternoon, 
 and have learned the cast of the fly. 
 
 Your fly must counterfeit the May Fly, which is 
 bred of the cad bait ; and is called the Water Fly. 
 You must change his colour every month ; beginning 
 with a dark white and so grow to a yellow. The 
 form cannot so well be put on a paper, as it may be 
 taught by sight. 
 
 The head is of black silk or hair ; the wings of a 
 feather of a mallard, teal, or pickled hen's wing ; the 
 body of crewel according to the month for colour, and 
 run about with a black hair : all fastened at the tail 
 with a thread that fastened the hook. You must 
 fish in or by the stream, and have a quick hand, a 
 ready eye and a nimble rod. Strike with him ! or you 
 lose him. 
 
 If the wind be rough, and trouble the crust of the 
 water : he will take it in the plain deeps : and then 
 and there commonly the greatest may rise. When 
 you have hooked him, give him leave ! keeping your 
 dine straight. Hold him from the roots, and he will 
 tire himself. This is the chief pleasure of Angling. 
 
 This fly, and two links, among wood, or close by a 
 bush, moved in the crust of the water, is tieadly in 
 an evening, if you come close [bidden]. This is called 
 "Busking for Trout." 
 
 Cad bait is a worm bred under stones in a shallow 
 river : or in some out-runner of the river, where the
 
 THE SECRETS OK ANGLING. 19 
 
 The Line in length scant halfe the Rod 
 
 exceedes, 
 And neither Corke, nor Leade thereon it 
 
 needes.* 
 
 streams run not strongly in a blnck shale. They stick 
 by heaps on the side of a great stone, it being hollow. 
 They be ripe in the beginning of May : they are pats 
 with July. They be yellow when they be ripe, ami 
 have a black head. This is a deadly bait for a Trout 
 either aloft [on the surface] or at the ground ; if your 
 tools be fine and you come close : for the Trout of nil 
 other fish, is most affrighted with sight. And indeeu 
 it should be considered that fish are afraid of any 
 extraordinary motion or sight of whatsoever colour : 
 except the Pike ; which will be open to your sight or. 
 a sunshiny day, till you halter him. 
 
 The Trout will take also the worm, menise or any 
 bait : so will the Pike, save that he will not take the 
 fl y ._W .L. 
 
 * To attempt to give any information about trout- 
 fishing within the compass of a note would be like the 
 task set by a celebrated headmaster to his form, "To 
 write an essay on Universal History." Mr. Francis, 
 in his book "On Angling," Messrs. Stewart, Pennell, 
 Younger, Stodart, and others have written volumes on 
 the subject, but I would strongly recommend a book 
 which has lately appeared by one of the finest fisher- 
 men to be met with on Clyde or Tweed, the ''Angler 
 and the loop rod" by D. Webster, Edinburgh. 1885. 
 Every possible information, and that of the most 
 reliable character will be found in its pages.
 
 20 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 ffor tbe aroute, anO Bele. 
 
 NOW see some standing where the 
 streame doth fall, 
 With headlong course behind the 
 sturdy weere, 
 
 That ouerthwart the riuer, like a 
 wall, 
 
 The water stops and strongly vp doth beare, 
 And at the Tayles, of Mills and Arches small. 
 Whereas the shoote is swift and not too cleare, 
 'Their lines in length not twice aboue an ell, 
 But with good store of lead and twisted well. 
 
 Round handsome hookes that will not breake nor 
 
 bend 
 
 The big red worme, well scowred, is their bayte, 
 Which doune vnto the bottome doth discend, 
 Whereas the Trout and Eele * doth lye in wayte, 
 
 * There be divers ways to catch the wrinkling Eel. 
 Your Line must be stronger six or seven hairs and 
 your hook accordingly : for she must upon the hook- 
 ing presently [immediately] be drawn forth with force : 
 otherwise she fastens herself with her tail about a root 
 or stone of such like ; and so you lose your labour, 
 your hook, and the fish. The worm or menise are 
 her 'Common bait. 
 
 There is a way to catch Eels by "Braggling:" 
 thus. Take a rod, small and tough of sallow, hazel 
 or such like, a yard long, as big as a beanstalk. In
 
 THE SECRETS OF AnGLING. 21 
 
 And to their feeding busily intend, 
 Which when they see they snatch and swallow 
 straight. 
 
 the small end thereof, make a nick or cleft with a 
 knife ; in which nick put your strong but little hook 
 baited with a red worm ; and made sure to a line of 
 ten or twelve good hairs, but easily that the Eels may 
 pull it out. 
 
 Go into some shallow place of the river among the 
 great stones, and braggle up and down till you find 
 holes under the stones. There put in your hook so 
 baited at your rod's end, and the Eel under the stone 
 will not fail to take it. Give her time to put it over ; 
 and then, if your strength will serve, she is your own. 
 
 There is a third usual way to catch Eels, called 
 "Bobbing." Upon a long and double strong thread, 
 two yards long or thereabouts, spit some many great 
 red worms gotten in a summer's evening with a 
 candle as the thread will hold lengthways through 
 the midst, and link them about your hand like a rope, 
 and fasten these to a long goad's end with a cord as 
 long as your rod ; and a great plummet of lead, a 
 handful above the " Bob." 
 
 In a troubled or flooded river, in a deep tun, or by 
 a stream side ; let it fall within a handbreadth of the 
 ground : and then shall you sensibly feel a multitude 
 of Eels, all in that pit, like so many dogs at a carrion ; 
 tug and pull. Now at your good time, when you 
 think that every Eel hath got a link and swallowed it 
 up like so many ducks the entrails of a pullet draw 
 up very easily, and they will follow working and 
 pulling ; till you have them near the crust : and then 
 amain hoist them to land. This is the readiest wny 
 where Eels are plentiful, to catch many.
 
 THE SECRETS OK ANGLING. 
 
 Vpon their lines is neither Corke nor Quill, 
 But when they feele them plucke then strike 
 they stil.* 
 
 #or tbe Sewant anD fflounDer. 
 
 B 
 
 EIIOLD some others ranged all along, 
 To take the Sewant yea, the Flounder 
 
 sweet, 
 
 That to the banke in deepest places 
 throng, 
 
 For the Trout, you shall find in the root of a great 
 dock a white worm with a red head. With this, 
 fish for a Trout at the ground. W. L. 
 
 * Stichering is yet another method of catching 
 eels. It is, I think, peculiar to Hampshire, as I never 
 heard of it elsewhere ; but there is a good deal of fun 
 at times in a Stichering party. The apparatus used is 
 an old sickle, worn short and chipped so as to be 
 roughly toothed. This is tied on to a light pole some 
 twelve feet long. Armed with one of these and a 
 hag the sportsman sallies forth to the water meadows, 
 where the wide deep drains for irrigating purposes are 
 situated. Peering about, at the bottom of one of 
 these, he presently espies an eel, or the head of one, 
 projecting from under a leaf or weed $ he then gently 
 and cautiously thrusts the hook under the eel's body, 
 and with a sudden toss pitches him high and dry on 
 the bank, and puts him in the bag. An unskilful 
 sticherer will sometimes chop off his neighbour's ear, 
 >r poke out his eye, which doubtless lends excitement 
 to the sport. Francis On singling, p. 90.
 
 TUP SECRETS OF ANGLING. 23 
 
 To shunne the swifter streame that runnes so 
 
 fleete, 
 
 And lye and feede the brackish waues among, 
 Whereas the waters fresh and salt doe meete : 
 
 And there the Eele and Shad sometimes i;- 
 caught 
 
 That with the tide into the brookes are brought. 
 
 But by the way it shall not be amisce, 
 To vnderstand that in the waters gray, 
 Of floating Fish, two sundry kindes there is; 
 The one that Hues by rauen and by pray, 
 And of the weaker sort, now that, now this, 
 He bites, and spoyles, and kills, and beares away, 
 And in his greedy gullet doth deuoure, 
 As Scillas gulfe, a ship within his powre. 
 
 And these haue wider mouths to catch and take 
 Their flying pray, whom swiftly they pursew, 
 And rowes of teeth like to a saw or rake, 
 Wherewith their gotten game they bite and chesv, 
 And greater speede within the waters make, 
 To set vpon the other simple crew, 
 
 And as the grayhound steales vpon the hare, 
 So doe they vse to rush on them vnware. 
 
 Vnequall Fate, that some are borne to be 
 Fearefull and milcle, and for the rest a pray, 
 And others are ordain'd to Hue more free, 
 Without controule or danger any way :
 
 24 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 So doth the Foxe the Lambe destroy we see, 
 The Lyon fierce, the Beauer, Roe, or Gray, 
 
 The Hauke, the foule, the greater wrong the 
 lesse 
 
 The lofty proud, the lowly poore oppresse. 
 
 .-iFor tbe pifce or pearcb. 
 
 NOW for to take this kinde of Fish 
 with all,* 
 It shalbe needfull to haue still in 
 store, 
 
 Some liuing baites as Bleikes and 
 Roches small, 
 
 Goodgion or Loach, not taken long before, 
 Or yealow Frogges that in the waters craule, 
 But all aliue they must be evermore : 
 
 For as for baites that dead and dull doe lye, 
 They least esteeme and set but little by. 
 
 But take good heed your line be sure and strong, 
 The knots well knit, and of the soundest hayre, 
 Twisted with some well coloured silk among, 
 And that you haue no neede your Rod to feare ; 
 For these great Fish will striue and struggle long, 
 Rod, line, and all into the streame to beare. 
 
 * A young whelp, killing, or such like, is good 
 bait for the Luce. W. L.
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLINO. 25 
 
 And that your hooke be not too small and 
 
 weake, 
 Least that it chance to stretch, or hap to 
 
 breake. 
 
 And as in Arden or the mountains hoare, 
 Of Appennine or craggy Alps among, 
 The mastifes fierce that hunt the bristled Boarc, 
 Are harnesed with Curats light and strong, 
 So for these Fish your line a foote or more, 
 Must armed be with thinnest plate along, 
 
 Or slender wyre well fastned thereunto, 
 
 That will not slip or easily vndoe. 
 
 The other kinde that are vnlike to these 
 
 Doe liue by corne, or any other seede : 
 
 Some times by crummes of bread, of paste or 
 
 cheese, 
 
 Or grassehoppers that in greene meadowes breed, 
 With brood of waspes, of hornets, doares or bees, 
 Lip berries from the bryar bush or weede, 
 
 Bloud wormes, and snayles, or crauling lentiles 
 small, 
 
 And buzzing flies that on the waters fall. 
 
 All these are good and many others more, 
 To make fit baites to take these kinde of Fish, 
 So that some faire deepe place you feede before, 
 A day or two, with paile, with bole, or dish ;
 
 26 THE SECRETS OK ANGLING. 
 
 And of these meats doe vse to throw in store, 
 Then shall you haue them byte as you would 
 
 wish. 
 
 And ready sport to take your pleasure still, 
 Of any sort that best you like to kill. 
 
 Thus seruing them as often as you may, 
 But once a weeke at least it must be done, 
 If that to bite they make too long delay, 
 As by your sport may be perceived soone : 
 Then some great Fish doth feare the rest away, 
 Whose fellowship and companie they shunne : 
 Who neither in the bait doth take delight, 
 Nor yet will suffer them that would to byte. 
 
 For this you must a remedie prouide, 
 Some Roche, or Bleike, as I haue shew'd before 
 Beneath whose vpper fin you close shall hide 
 Of all your Hooke the better halfe and more, 
 And though the point appeare or may be spide, 
 It makes no matter any whit therefore : 
 But let him fall into the watry brimme, 
 And downe vnto the bottome softly swimme. 
 
 And when you see your Corke begin to moue, 
 And round about to soare and fetch a ring, 
 Sometime to sinke, and sometime swimme aboue, 
 As doth the Ducke within the watry spring.
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 27 
 
 Vet make no haste your present hap to proue, 
 Till with your float at last away hee fling, 
 
 Then may you safely strike and hold him 
 short, 
 
 And at your will prolong or end your sport. 
 
 Hut euery Fish loues not each bayte alike, 
 Although sometime they feede vpon the same ; 
 But some doe one, and some another seeke, 
 As l>est vnto their appetite doth frame, 
 The Roche, the Bream, the Carpe, the Chub and 
 
 Bleik, 
 With paste or come, their greedy hunger tame, 
 
 The Dace, the Ruffe, the Goodgion and the 
 rest, 
 
 The smaller sort of crawling wormes loue 
 best. 
 
 The Chauender and Chub doe more delight* 
 To feede on tender Cheese or Cherries red, 
 Blacke snayles, their bellies slit to shew their 
 
 white, 
 
 Or grashoppers that skip in euery Meade, 
 The Pearch, the Tench, and Eele, doe rather 
 
 bite 
 At great red wormes, in Field or Garden bred, 
 
 * The Chavender is another name for Chub.
 
 28 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 That have beene scowr'd in mosse or Fenell 
 
 rough, 
 To rid their filth, and make them hard and 
 
 tough. 
 
 And with this bayte hath often taken bin 
 The Salmon faire of Riuer-fish the best ; 
 The Shad, that in the spring time cometh in, 
 The Suant swift, that is not set by least, 
 The Bocher sweet the pleasant Flounder thin 
 The Peele, the Tweat, the Botling, and the 
 rest, 
 
 With many more that in the deepe doth lye. 
 
 Of Auon, Vske, of Seuerne, and of Wye. 
 
 Alike they bite, alike they pull downe low 
 The sinking Corke that striues to rise againe, 
 And when they feele the sudden deadly blow, 
 Alike they shunne the danger and the paine. 
 And as an arrow from the Scithian bow, 
 All flee alike into the streame amaine, 
 
 Vntill the Angler by his wary skill 
 
 There tyres them out, and brings them vp at 
 will. 
 
 Yet further more it doth behove to know, 
 That for the most part Fish doe seeke their 
 foode
 
 THE SECRETS OK ANGLING. 29 
 
 Vpon the ground, or deepest bottome low, 
 Or at the top of water, streame, or flood ; 
 And so you must your hooke and bayte bestow, 
 For in the midst you shall doe little good, 
 For heaue things downe to the bottom fall, 
 And light doe swim, and seldome sinke at all. 
 
 All summer long aloft the Fishes swimme, 
 Delighted with faire Phoebus shining ray, 
 And lye in wayte within the waters dimme 
 For flyes and gnats that on the top doe play, 
 Then halfe-a yard beneath the vpper brimme 
 It shall be best your bayted Hooke to lay, 
 With gnat or flye of any sort or kinde, 
 That euery Moneth on Leaves or Trees you 
 finde. 
 
 But then your Line must haue no Lead at all, 
 And but a slender Corke, or little Quill, 
 To stay the bayte that downe it doe not fall, 
 But hang a Linke within the water still, 
 Or else vpon the top thereof you shall 
 With quicker hand, and with more ready skill 
 Let fall your flye, and now and then remoue, 
 Which soone the Fish will finde and better 
 loue. 
 
 And in the streame likewise they vse to be 
 At tailes of floudgates, or at Arches wide :
 
 30 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 Or shallow flats, whereas the waters free 
 With fresher springs and swifter course dot- 
 slide : 
 
 And then of Waspe, the brood that cannot flye 
 Vpon a Tyle stone first a little dryed, 
 
 Or yealow bobs turned vp before the Plough 
 Are chiefest bayts, with Corke and Lead 
 enough. 
 
 But when the golden Chariot of the Sunne, 
 Departing from our Northern countries fare 
 Beyond the ballance, now his course hath runne, 
 And goes to warme the cold Antarticq starre, 
 And Summer's heat is almost spent and done 
 With new approach of Winters dreadfull warre : 
 
 Then doe the Fish withdraw into the deepe. 
 
 And low from sight and cold moreclose doe keepe. 
 
 Then on your Lines you may haue store of Lead, 
 And bigger Corkes of any size you will, 
 And where the Fish are vsed to be fed 
 There shall you lay vpon the bottom still, 
 And whether that your bayte be corne, or bread, 
 Or Wormes, or Paste, it doth not greatly skill, 
 For these alone are to be vsed then, 
 Vntill the spring or summer come againe. 
 
 Thus haue I shew'd how Fish of diners kinde 
 Best taken are, and how their bayts to know :
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLINO. T, I 
 
 Hut Phoebus now beyond the Westerne Incle, 
 Beginneth to descend and draweth low, 
 And well the weather serues and gentle winde 
 Doune with the tide and pleasant streame to row, 
 Vnto some place where we may rest vs in, 
 Vntill we shall another time begin.* 
 
 * Our Author really gives very little information as 
 to Pike and Perch fishing, so I have added, as an 
 Appendix, some few particulars, mostly drawn from 
 "A book on Angling" by Mr. Francis. 
 
 THE END OF THE SECOND KOOKK.
 
 TTbe Ubirfc Boofee. 
 
 NOW h\s it out in order to declare, 
 What time is best to Angle in 
 aright; 
 And when the chiefe and fittest 
 
 seasons are 
 
 Wherein the fish are most dispos'd to bite, 
 What winde doth make, and which againe doth 
 
 marre 
 
 The Anglers sport, wherein he takes delight, 
 And how he may with pleasure best aspire, 
 Ynto the wished end of his desire. 
 
 For there are times in which they will not bite, 
 ]?ut doe forbeare and from their food refraine, 
 And dayes there are wherein they more delight 
 To labour for the same and bite amaine ; 
 So, he that can those seasons finde aright 
 Shall not repent his trauell spent in vaine, 
 To walke a mile or two amidst the fields, 
 Reaping the fruit this harmlesse pleasure yeelds.
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 35 
 
 And as a ship in safe and quiet roade, 
 Vnder some hill or harbour doth abide, 
 With all her freight, her tackling and her load, 
 Attending still the winde and wished tide, 
 Which when it serues, no longer makes aboad 
 Hut forth into the watry deepe doth slide, 
 
 And through the wanes deuides her fairest way 
 Vnto the place where she intends to stay. 
 
 So must the Angler be prouided still, 
 Of diuers toolcs, and sundry baytes in store ; 
 And all things else pertaining to his skill, 
 Which he shall get and lay vp long before, 
 Then when the weather frameth to his will, 
 Hee may l>e well appointed euermore, 
 To take fit time when it is offered euer, 
 For time in one estate abideth neuer. 
 
 be qualitiC6 of an BncUer. 
 
 NOW, ere I farther goe, it shall behottc 
 To shew what gifts and qualities of 
 minde 
 Belongs to him that doth this p;-,s- 
 
 time lone ; 
 
 And what the vcrtues are of euery kinde 
 Without the which it were in vainc to proue, 
 Or to expect the pleasure he should fincle, 
 No more then he that hauing store of meatc 
 Hath lost all lust and appetite to cnte.
 
 34 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 For what auailes to Brooke or Lake to goe, 
 With handsome Rods and Hookes of diuers sort, 
 Well twisted Lines and many trinkets moe, 
 To finde the Fish within their watry fort, 
 If that the minde be not contended so, 
 But wants those gifts that should the rest support, 
 And make his pleasure to his thoughts agree, 
 With these therefore he must endued be. 
 
 The first is Faith, not wauering and vnstable, 
 But such as had that holy Patriarch old, 
 That to the highest was so acceptable 
 As his increase and of spring manifolde. 
 Exceeded far the starres innumerable, 
 So must he still a firme persuasion holde, 
 
 That where as waters, brookes, and lakes are 
 found, 
 
 There store of Fish without all doubt abound. 
 
 For nature that hath made no emptie thing, 
 But all her workes doth well and nisely frame, 
 Hath rild each Brooke, each Riuer, Lake and 
 
 Spring, 
 
 With creatures, npt to Hue amidst the same ; 
 Euen as the earth, the ayre, and seas doe bring 
 Forth Beasts, and Birds of sundry sort and name, 
 And giuen them shape ability and sence, 
 To Hue and dwell therein without offence.
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 35 
 
 The second gift and qualitie is Hope, 
 
 The Anchor-holde of euery hard desire ; 
 
 That hauing of the day so large a scope, 
 
 He shall in time to wished hap aspire, 
 
 And ere the Sunne hath left the heauenly cope 
 
 Obtaine the sport and game he doth desire, 
 
 And that the Fish though sometimes slow to 
 bite, 
 
 Will recompence delay with more delight. 
 
 The third is Loue, and liking to the game, 
 And to his friend and neighbour dwelling by ; 
 For greedy pleasure not to spoile the same, 
 Nor of his Fish some portion to deny 
 To any that are sicklie, weake, or lame, 
 But rather with his Line and angle try 
 
 In Pond or Brooke, to doe what in him lyes 
 To take such store for them as may suffice. 
 
 Then followeth Patience, that the furious flame 
 Of Choller cooles, and Passion puts to flight, 
 As doth a skilfull rider breake and tame 
 The Courser wilde, and teach him tread aright : 
 So patience doth the minde dispose and frame 
 To take mishaps in worth and count them light, 
 
 As losse of Fish, Line, Hooke, or Lead, or all. 
 
 Or other chance that often may befall. 
 
 The fift good guift is low Ilumilitie, 
 As when a Lyon coucheth for his pray.
 
 36 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 So must he stoope or kneek vpon his knee, 
 To saue his line or put the weedes away, 
 Or lye along sometime if neede there be 
 For any let or chance that happen may, 
 And not to scorne to take a little paine, 
 To seme his turne his pleasure to obtaine. 
 The sixt is painefull strength and courage good. 
 The greatest to incounter in the Brooke, 
 If that he happen in his angry mood, 
 To snatch your bayte, and beare away your 
 
 Hooke : 
 
 With wary skill to rule him in the flood, 
 Vntil more quiet, tame, and milde he looke, 
 And all aduentures constantly to beare, 
 That may betide without mistrust or feare. 
 
 Next vnto this is Liberalitie, 
 
 Feeding them oft with full and plenteous hand, 
 
 Of all the rest a needfull qualitie, 
 
 To draw them necre the place where you wil 
 stand, 
 
 Like to the ancient hospitalitie, 
 
 That sometime dwelt in Albions fertile land, 
 But now is sent away into exile, 
 Beyond the bounds of Isabellas He. 
 
 The eight is knowledge how to finde the way 
 To make them bite when they are dull and slow 
 And what doth let the same and breedes delay, 
 And euery like impediment to know,
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 37 
 
 That keepes them from their foode and wanted 
 pray, 
 
 Within the streame, or standing waters low, 
 And with experience skilfully to proue 
 All other faults to mend or to remoue. 
 
 The ninth is placabillitie of minde, 
 Contented with a reasonable dish, 
 Yea though sometimes no sport at all he finde, 
 Or that the weather proue not to his wish. 
 The tenth is thankes to that god, of each kinde, 
 To net and bayt doth send both foule and Pish, 
 And still reserue inough in secret store, 
 To please the rich, and to relieue the poore. 
 
 Th' eleauenth good guift and hardest to indure, 
 Is fasting long from all superfluous fare, 
 Vnto the which he must himselfe inure, 
 By exercise and vse of dyet spare, 
 And with the liquor of the waters pure, 
 Acquaint himselfe if he cannot forbeare, 
 And nener on his greedy belly thinke, 
 From rising Sunne vntill a low he sincke. 
 
 The twelth and last of all is memory, 
 
 Remembring well before he setteth out, 
 
 Each needfull thing that he must occupy, 
 
 And not to stand of any want in doubt, 
 
 Or leaue something behinde forgetfully : 
 
 When he hath walkt the fields and brokes about,
 
 38 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING; 
 
 It were a griefe backe to returne againe, 
 For things forgot that should his sport main- 
 taine. 
 
 Here then you see what kinde of quallities, 
 An Angler should indued be with all, 
 Besides his skill and other properties, 
 To serue his turne, as to his lot doth fall : 
 But now what season for this exercise 
 The fittest is and which doth serue but small, 
 My Muse vouchsafe some little ayd to lend, 
 To bring this also to the wished end. 
 
 Season ano time not to Bngte. 
 
 FIRST if the weather be to dry and hot, 
 And scalds with scorching heate the 
 lowly plaine 
 As if that youthfull Phaeton had got, 
 The guiding of his fathers carre 
 againe, 
 
 Or that it seem'd Apollo had forgot 
 His lightfoote steedes to rule with stedfast raine, 
 It is not good with any line or Hooke 
 To Angle then in riuer, pond, or brook e. 
 
 Or when cold Boreas with his frosty beard, 
 Lookes out from vnderneath the lesser beare 
 And makes the weary trauailer afeard 
 To see the valleys couered euery where
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 39 
 
 With Ice and Snow, that late so greena appear'd, 
 The waters stand as if of steele they weare : 
 And hoary frosts doe hange on euery bough, 
 Where freshest leaues of summer late did grow. 
 So neither if Don /Kolus lets goe 
 His blustring windes out of the hollow deepe,* 
 Where he their strife and strugling to and fro 
 With triple forke doth still in order keepe, 
 They rushing forth doe rage with tempests so, 
 As if they would the world togither sweepe 
 And ruffling so with sturdy blasts they blow, 
 That tree and house they sometimes ouerthrow. 
 Besides when shepheards and the swaines prepare 
 Vnto the brookes with all their flockes of sheepe, 
 To wash their fleeces and to make them faire, 
 In euery poole and running water deepe, 
 The sauour of the wooll doth so impaire 
 The pleasant streames,f and plunging that they 
 
 keepe, 
 
 As if that Lethe-floud ran euery where, 
 Or bitter Doris intermingled were. 
 
 * The stronger the wind blows, so you may abide it 
 and guide your tools, and the colder the summer 
 days are, the better will they bite, and the closer 
 [nearer] shall you come to them. W. L. 
 
 f I rather think the kades and other filth that fall 
 from sheep do so glut the fish, that they will not 
 take any artificial bait. The same is the reason of 
 the flood, washing down worms, flies, frog-clocks, 
 &c. W. L.
 
 40 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 Or when land flouds through long and sudden 
 
 raine, 
 
 Discending from the hills and higher ground, 
 The sand and mud the christall streames doe 
 
 staine, 
 
 And make them rise aboue their wonted bound, 
 To ouer flow the fields and neighbour plaine, 
 The fruitfull soyle, and meadowes faire are 
 drownd 
 
 The husbandman doth luse his grasse and hay, 
 
 The bankes their trees, and bridges borne away. 
 
 So when the leaues begin to fall apace, 
 And bough and braunch are naked to be scene, 
 While nature doth her former worke deface, 
 \ r nclothing bush, and trees, of summers greene, 
 Whose scattered spoiles lye thicke in euery place, 
 As sands on shore or starres the poles betweene, 
 
 And top and bottome of the riuers fill, 
 
 To Angle then I also thinke it ill.* 
 
 * Most of us are aware of the old rhyme : 
 
 When the wind blo\vs from the west, 
 It blows the hook to the fish's nest; 
 When the wind blows from the south, 
 It blows the hook to the fish's mouth, 
 When Irom the north and east it blows, 
 Seldom the angler fishing goes. 
 
 My dear friends and pupils, don't believe it : if you 
 possess a copy of this bit of ancient doggerel, let it be
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 All windes are hurtfull if too hard they blow, 
 The worst of all is that out of the East, 
 Whose nature makes the Fish to biting slow, 
 And lets the pastime most of all the rest, 
 
 anything but a rule for your conduct. You may have 
 sport in all winds and in all weathers, or you may not; 
 as long as the wind is not too heavy and is up-stream, 
 be sure that you have the best wind that can blow for 
 fiy-fishing, though it is less favourable for the float. I 
 have had some of the best days I ever had in my life 
 with a north or east wind, and some of the worst 
 with a south or west one. Some will say, choose a 
 cloudy day with a wind here or there, and some a 
 rainy day with the wind nowhere ; some say, never 
 fish in thundery weather, whereas I have caught fish 
 again and again, and known them caught, in all 
 possible sorts of weather, even with the thunder 
 cracking all round nay, directly overhead. 1 do not 
 believe there is any rule whatever that can be relied 
 upon. I have had first-rate sport in a snow-storm 
 ere now, and two years ago a friend and myself took 
 eighty-four brace of trout averaging about three- 
 quarters of a pound each, in three days, the weather 
 being pleasantly varied by north casters, sleet, and hail 
 storms. The influences which cause fish to feed, or 
 the reverse, are as much a mystery to us as they were 
 to our forefathers. Fishes' appetites are doubtless 
 somewhat like our own -they feed best when they 
 are hungry, and when they can do so with the least 
 tear. Fish feed at some time in the twenty-four 
 hours, and be sure if they are not rising it is because 
 there are no flies to tempt them. They are not 
 starving by way of amusement, rely upon it, but have 
 ' metal more attractive' down below in the shape of
 
 42 THE SECRETS OK ANGLING. 
 
 The next that comes from countries clad with 
 
 snow, 
 And Articq pole is not offensiue least, 
 
 grubs, worms, larvae, &c. No one perhaps would 
 willingly select a bright hot day, with no wind and a 
 low water, yet I have at times had excellent, nay, the 
 best of sport even, on such days. And few would 
 choose a steely bright day with a cutting easterly 
 wind, and little or no fly on the water ; but on two 
 such days running I once, in Derbyshire, killed in the 
 brightest possible water forty-six brace of capital trout 
 each day. I could have killed more on the second 
 day, but did not care to carry them, and I have often 
 had good sport on similar days ; some of the best 
 days I have had were on bitterly cold days with a 
 north-east wind, and little or no fly on ; and some of 
 the worst on warm cloudy days with a south and 
 south-west wind and plenty of fly. Upon the other 
 hand, how often will the angler go out upon a day 
 which he would have picked out from the whole 
 year, had he the choice, and do little or nothing. 
 There are some days -nice, brisk, cloudy days with 
 a steady breeze, and not too much fly, and the water 
 in good order, which the angler may pretty well count 
 upon as being good days, and be seldom deceived, 
 though he may sometimes, even then ; but as to 
 picking out a day when he can be sure that the fish 
 will not feed, it is beyond his skill. He may of 
 course chance to be right and he may chance to be 
 wrong, and the longer he is a fisherman the more he 
 will discover that he does not know how a day may 
 turn out until he turns out his creel at night. It not 
 unfrequently happens that some very slight and unex-
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 43 
 
 The southern winde is counted best of all, 
 Then, that which riseth where the sunne doth 
 fall.* 
 
 JBest times an& seasons to Bngle. 
 
 BVT if the weather, steadfast be and 
 cleare,t 
 Or ouercast with clouds, so it be dry, 
 And that no signe nor token there 
 
 appeare, 
 
 Of threatning storme through all the empty skie, 
 But that the ayre is calme and voide of feare, 
 Of rufling windes or raging tempests hie, 
 
 Or that with milde and gentle gale they blow, 
 Then is it good vnto the brooke to goe, 
 
 pected change will take place, some new fly will 
 begin to hatch out, or some other insect will put in an 
 appearance, which sets all the fish feeding suddenly, 
 and will thus afford him an hour or two's capital 
 sport, turning a bad day into a good one. My advice 
 to the young angler is : always carry your macintosh, 
 be patient and persevering, and leave the weather to 
 take care of itself. -Francis On Angling, pp. 163-5. 
 
 * I find no difference of winds ; except too cold or 
 too hot : which is not the wind,|but the season. W. L. 
 
 t Clear cannot be good, by reason of the offensive 
 sight. W. L.
 
 44 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 And when the flouds are fall'n and past away, 
 And carried haue the dregges into the deepe, 
 And that the waters waxe more thin and gray, 
 And leaue their bankes aboue them high and 
 
 steepe, 
 
 The milder streame of colour like to whay, 
 Within his bounds his wonted course doth keepe, 
 And that the wind is south or else by-West, 
 To Angle then is time and seasons best. 
 
 When faire Aurora rising early shewes* 
 Her blushing face beyond the Easterne hils, 
 And dyes the heauenly vault with purple hewes, 
 That far abroad the world with brightness fils, 
 The Meadowes greene are hoare with siluer 
 
 dewes, 
 That on the earth the sable night distills, 
 
 And chanting birds with merry notes bewray, 
 The neere approaching of the cheare full day. 
 
 Then let him goe to Riuer, Brooke, or Lake, 
 That loues the sport, where store of Fish abound, 
 And through the pleasant fields his iourney make, 
 Amid'st sweet Pastures, Meadowes fresh and 
 sound, 
 
 * The morning can no way be good because the fish 
 have been at relief all the night, as all other wild 
 creatures : and in the day they rest or sport. In the 
 evening is the fittest. Then hunger begins to 
 bite. W. L.
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 45 
 
 Where he may best his choice of pastime take, 
 
 While swift I lyperion runnes his circle round ; 
 
 And as the place shall to his liking proue, 
 
 There still remaine or further else remoue. 
 
 ZTo know cacb ffsbes baunt. 
 
 NOW that the Angler may the better 
 know, 
 'Where he may finde each Fish he 
 doth require, 
 
 Since some delight in waters still 
 and slow, 
 
 And some doe lone the mud and slimy mire ; 
 Some others where the streame doth swifter flow, 
 Some stony ground, and grauell some desire, 
 Here shall he learne how euery sort doe seeke, 
 To haunt the Layre that doth his nature like. 
 
 Carpe, Ecle, and Tench, doe loue a muddle 
 
 ground, 
 
 Eeles vnder stones or hollow rootes doe lye ; 
 The Tench among thicke weedes is soonest found, 
 The fearefull Carpe into the deepe doth flic, 
 Bream, Chub and Pike, where clay and sand 
 
 abound, 
 Pike loues great pooles, and places full of frie : 
 
 The Chub delights in streame or shadie tree, 
 
 And tender Preame in broadest lake to be.
 
 46 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 The Salmon swift the Riuers sweet doth like, 
 Where largest streames into the Sea are led : 
 The spotted Trout the smaller Brookes doth 
 
 seeke, 
 
 And in the deepest hole there hides his head :* 
 The prickled Pearch in euery hollow creeke, 
 Hard by the banke, and sandy shoare is fed. 
 
 Pearch, Trout, and Salmon loue cleere waters 
 all, 
 
 Greene weedy rockes, and stony grauell small. 
 
 So doth the Billhead, Goodgion, and the Loache, 
 Who most in shallow Brookes delight to be, 
 The Ruffe, the Dace, the Barbill and the Roach, 
 Grauell and sand doe loue in lesse degree, 
 But to the deepe and shade doe more approach 
 And ouerhead some couert loue to see, 
 
 Of spreading Poplar, Oake, or Willow greene, 
 Where vnderneath they lurke for beeing scene. 
 
 The mighty Luce great waters haunts ahvay, 
 And in the stillest place thereof doth lye, 
 Saue when he raungeth foorth to seeke his pray, 
 And swift among the feereful fish doth flye, 
 The dainty ITumber loues the marley clay, 
 And clearest streames of champion countrie hye, 
 And in the chiefest pooles thereof doth rest, 
 Where he is soonest found and taken best. 
 
 * The trout lies in the deep ; but feeds in the stream, 
 under a bush, bray, foam, &c. W. L.
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 47 
 
 The Chauender amidst the waters fayre, 
 In swiftest streamcs doth most himselfe bestow, 
 The Shad and Twent doe rather like the laire, 
 Of brackish waues, where it doth ebbe and flow, 
 And thither also doth the flocke repaire, 
 And flat vpon the bottom lyeth low, 
 
 The Peele, the Mullet, and the Suant good 
 Doe like the same, and therein seeke their food. 
 
 Hut here experience doth my skill exceed, 
 Since diners Countries diuers Riuers haue ; 
 And diuers Riuers change of waters breed, 
 And change of waters sundry Fish doth craue, 
 And sundry Fish in diuers places feede, 
 As best doth like them in the liquid waue, 
 So that by vse and practise may be knowne, 
 More then by art or skill can well be showne. 
 
 So then it shall be needlesse to declare, 
 What sundry kindes there lie in secret store, 
 And where they doe resort, and what they are, 
 That may be still discovered more and more : 
 Let him that list no paine nor trauell spare, 
 To seeke them out, as I have done before, 
 And then it shall not discontent his minde, 
 New choice of place, and change of game to 
 find.
 
 48 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 best boures of tbe oap to Hngle. 
 
 FROM first appearing of the rising sunne, 
 Till nine of clocke low vncler water best 
 The fish will bite, and then from nine 
 to noone, 
 From noone to four they doe refraine 
 
 and rest, 
 
 From foure againe till Phcebus swift hath runne 
 His daily course and setteth in the \Yest : 
 But at the flic they vse to bite, 
 All summer long from nine till it be night. 
 
 Now least the Angler leaue his Tooles behinde, 
 For lacke of heed or haste of his desire, 
 And so inforced with vnwilling minde 
 Must leaue his game and backe againe retire, 
 Such things to fetch as there he cannot finde 
 To serue his turne when neede shall most require, 
 Here shall he haue to helpe his memory, 
 A lesson short of euery wants supply. 
 
 Light Rod to strike, long line to reach with all, 
 Strong hooke to hold the fish he haps to hit, 
 Spare Lines and Hookes, what euer chance doe 
 
 fall, 
 
 Baites quicke and dead to bring them to the bit. 
 Fine Lead and Quils, with Corks both great and 
 
 small, 
 Knife, File and thred, and little Basket fit,
 
 THE SECRETS OF ANGLING. 49 
 
 Plummets to sound the depth of clay and sand, 
 With Pole and net to bring them safe to land. 
 
 And now we are arriued at the last, 
 
 In wished harbour where we meane to rest ; * 
 
 Under the heading of "Certain Observations 
 forgotten," William Lauson adds : 
 Chevan and Chub are one. 
 
 fShotrell, i year s j 
 
 TheJ P kerel 2 y ear tare one. 
 I Pike, 3 year j 
 
 ^Luce, 4 year ) 
 
 The Summer May, June and July are fittest for 
 Angling. 
 
 Fish are the fattest in July. 
 
 Fish commonly spawn at Michael's tide [29th 
 September]. After spawning j they be kipper, and 
 out of season. 
 
 They thrust up little brooks to spawn. The Trout 
 and Salmon will have lying on their backs. 
 
 All the summer time, great fish go downwards to 
 deeps. 
 
 Bar netting and night hooking ; where you love 
 Angling. 
 
 When you are angling at the ground : your !iru- 
 must be no longer than your rod. 
 
 He that is more greedy of fish than sport : let him 
 have three or four angles fitted and baited : and laid 
 in several pools. You shall sometimes have them all 
 sped at once. 
 
 If you go forth in or immediately after a shower, 
 and take the water in the first rising j and fish in the 
 stream at the ground with a red worm : you may
 
 50 SECRETS OK ANGLING. 
 
 And make an end of this our journey past : 
 Here then in quiet roade I thinke it best 
 We strike our sailes and stedfast Anchor cast, 
 For now the Sunne low setteth in the West, 
 And yee Boat Swaines a merry Carroll sing, 
 To him that safely did vs hither bring. 
 
 load yourself, if there be store. Thus may any botcher 
 kill fish. 
 
 For want of a pannier : spit your fish by the gills 
 on a small wicker or such like. 
 
 I use a pouch of parchment, with many several 
 places to put my hooks and lines in. 
 
 I use a rod of two parts, to join in the midst when 
 I come to the river : with two pins and a little hemp 
 waxed. Thus the pins join it, and the hemp fastens 
 it firmly. 
 
 A whale bone made round, no bigger than a wheat 
 straw at the top ; yields well, and strikes well. 
 
 Let your rod be without knots. They are danger- 
 ous for breaking, and bouts are troublesome. 
 
 Keep your rod neither too dry nor too moist ; lest 
 they grow brittle or rotten. 
 
 When you angle in [a time of] drought, wet your 
 rod. It will not break so soon. 
 
 You shall hardly get a rod of one piece, but either 
 crooked or top heavy or unequally grown. 
 
 Enterprise no man's ground without leave. Break 
 no man's hedge to his loss. 
 
 Pray to GOD with your heart to bless your lawful 
 exercise.* 
 
 *Dame Juliana Berncrs gives the same excellent advice.
 
 Wauldst t/i4u catch Fish! 
 Then here's thy wish; 
 Take this receipt, 
 7b annoynt thy Baite. 
 
 ^^TT'^HOU that desir'st to fish with Line 
 
 and Hooke, 
 
 Be k in poole, ia Riuer, or in Brooke, 
 J^_ To blisse thy baite, and make the 
 
 Fish to bite: 
 Loe, here's a meanes,* if thou can'st hit it right. 
 
 * I have heard much of an ointment that will 
 presently cause any fish to bite ; but I could never 
 attain the knowledge thereof. The nearest in mine 
 opinion except this Probation is the oil of an Osprey, 
 which is called j4<juila Marina, the Sea Eagle. She is 
 of body near the bigness of a goose ; one of her feet is 
 webbed to swim withal, the other hath talons to catch 
 fish. It seems the fish come up to her : for she 
 cannot dive. Some likelihood there is also in a paste 
 made of Cocculus India, j4nafirtida, Honey, and 
 Wheat-flour. But I never tried them. Therefore I 
 cannot prescribe. 
 
 That which kills the oak, I conjecture to be Ivy, 
 till I change my mind. This excellent receipt: 
 divers anglers can tell you where you may buy it. 
 W. L.
 
 32 SECRETS OF ANGLING. 
 
 Take Gum of life, fine beate and laid in soake 
 In Oyle, well drawne from that which kils the 
 
 Oake, 
 Fish where thou wilt, thou shall haue sp<irt thy 
 
 fill, 
 
 When twenty faile, thou shalt be sure to kill. 
 PROBATUM. 
 
 Its perfect and good, 
 If ivell tmdet stood ; 
 Else not to be tolde 
 For s ilner or golde.
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 PERCH FISHING. 
 
 THE perch is usually described as a bold biting fish, 
 and so he may be where he is not much fished for, or 
 where perch are over-plentiful and small, or when, 
 like other fish, they have a hungry day ; but if by the 
 above character it be meant that good perch are deficient 
 in wariness, then I contradict it. Where they are at 
 all fished and my remarks apply to rivers and lakes 
 where they are well and regularly fished for there 
 are few fish more capricious or careful in biting than 
 large perch ; small ones may often be taken in any 
 quantity, but not so when they gain experience. I 
 have known places haunted by numbers of good perch 
 perch of from a pound and a half to three pounds in 
 weight and yet, season after season, there are seldom 
 more than one or two of them caught, and these nearly 
 always at the starvation part of the year, i.e. after the 
 heavy winter floods, when the small fish are all driven 
 up the brooks, and the perch are driven into the few 
 still eddies that exist. Here, while the river is tearing 
 down outside in a spate, from one to two hundred^
 
 54 APPENDICES. 
 
 and sometimes more, perch will often be congregated 
 in a space of some ten or twenty square yards, perhaps. 
 After these ftsh have battled with the frosts of winter, 
 on short rations for weeks, what chance has a 
 minnow among such a host, or what chance even a 
 hundred minnows ? No wonder, then, that you pull 
 them up two or three at a time, one for each minnow ; 
 the only wonder is that they do not, in their eagerness, 
 swallow the plummet of your paternoster in its 
 descent, by mistake. In truth and faith, January and 
 February are deadly months for poor Perchy. Cabined, 
 cribbed, confined in a black hole of an eddy, they are 
 pulled out not in braces, dozens, or even scores, but 
 often to the tune of hundreds. I have seen and 
 helped to catch ten dozen and over out of one hole, 
 and have heard of twice ten dozen being taken. But 
 catch Master Perch on a fine summer's day, in this 
 way, if you can. Often have I, through the crystal 
 clear water, watched the proceedings of a dozen perch 
 at the worm or a minnow on my hook, some twelve 
 or thirteen feet below. How they come up to it with 
 all sail set, their fins extended, their spines erect, as if 
 they meant to devour it without hesitation ! and how 
 they pause when they do come up to it, and swim 
 gently round it, as if a worm or a minnow were an 
 article of vertu, which required the nicest taste, and 
 the consideration of a connoisseur to appreciate it 
 properly. At length one of the boldest, taking hold 
 of the extreme tip of the tail as timidly as a bashful 
 young gentleman takes hold of the tip of his partner's 
 finger when he leads her to tbe festive quadrille, will 
 give it a shake. Now, if you are curious, watch your 
 float ; see how it bobs down, after a fashion that 
 would make you think the perch must not only have 
 swallowed the bait, but half digested it ; whereas, in 
 fact, they cannot make up their minds about it. Is
 
 APPENDICES. 55 
 
 it a safe investment or is it not ? Is it real old 
 Chelsea or only a modern imitation ? And then 
 comes an aldermanic perch, of nigh two pounds, a 
 warm liveryman of the Fishmonger's Company, a 
 regular turtle-fed lord mayor elect, with his cheeks 
 blown up, his eyes staring out of his head, his fins all 
 bristling with magisterial importance. ' Now then, 
 what is this case ! Ha, hum ! a worm, eh ? ye*. 
 Found hanging about the streets with no ascertainabic 
 occupation, and without any home, eh ? Ha ! bai 
 case very bad ! a mysterious and vagrom character, 
 evidently. Take him away, some of you, and lock 
 him up very suspicious indeed, very much so.' And 
 so his lordship, having taken a half turn, and a brief 
 survey of the wretched trembling culprit, who with 
 policeman hook stuck into him, Alderman Perch 
 looking at him angrily and hungrily, and limbo gaping 
 at him from Mr. Alderman's stomach, is drawn up as 
 useless and thrown on one side ; while, with a fan of 
 his tail, the alderman scuttles off to a fresh case, ant 1 , 
 all his little people scuttle off after him, save, perhaps, 
 one unhappy little devil who won't take warning. 
 Anyone who wishes to see this portrayed, should look 
 at poor Arthur Smith's lithograph of Rolfe's picture, 
 called 'The Committee of Taste.' It is a grand bit o: 
 expression, and the combination of greediness, inquif- 
 itiveness, pomposity, and funk, in the picture, is 
 perfectly delicious. But to my angling. 
 
 There are various ways of catching perch. The 
 first, and most common, is with the live minnow, or, 
 if minnow cannot be had, any other small fish, or fry 
 of gudgeon, dace, or roach, will do ; but these should 
 only be used when the angler has no other alternative, 
 as, although the perch is infinitely the more desirable 
 and valuable fish, fry should not be wasted. There 
 are four ways of using a minnow, all of which will
 
 56 APPENDICES. 
 
 take perch : viz. with a float and either one or two 
 hooks, or a paternoster with two or three, with a 
 loose line and roving minnow, or by spinning. 
 
 With the float, the lowest hook (if two are used) 
 should be two or three inches off the bottom, and the 
 next one should hang between mid-water and the 
 bottom. The best way of baiting the minnow is to 
 piss the hook tenderly and carefully through the 
 gristle of the upper lip ; some choose the back fin. 
 but a minnow so hooked neither lives so long nor 
 moves so freely as when hooked by the lip. When a 
 perch takes the float down, do not strike directly, as 
 the tackle used for this fishing being usually fine, it is 
 as well to make sure of him ; for, in spite of anything 
 that some sceptical anglers may say to the contrary, 
 the scratching and losing of one or two perch does 
 most indubitably very often I won't say always, 
 because there may be exceptions, but does very often 
 drive the shoal away. I have noticed it scores of 
 tunes, and have heard many good and experienced 
 anglers verify the fact. Therefore rather give him a 
 little time, and even let him leave the bait, or cut it 
 off, in preference to being too hasty and scratching 
 him. 
 
 The paternoster is simply a gut line, a yard or four 
 feet long, with hooks about a foot apart, and weighted 
 at the end with a bullet or pear-shaped plummet. 
 Some anglers use three hooks and some two, a 
 necessity which is more often regulated by the depth 
 of the water to be fished. But the lowest hook, 
 unless the bottom is unusually foul, should be almost 
 on the ground, as it is the habit of the minnows to 
 strike up toward the surface in their efforts to escape, 
 just as it is the habit of all fish when pursued by an 
 enemy ; fear causes them to seek the surface, and 
 even to jump out of the water. Therefore if the
 
 APPENDICES. 57 
 
 minnow be not kept down, it will be much above the 
 head of such perch as are lying at the bottom j and, 
 if the water be at all coloured (as is best for perch- 
 fishing), this will not only be a fault, but a great one ; 
 whereas if the hook be kept close down to the lead, it 
 will catch two or three fish against either of the other 
 hook's one. The second hook should be fixed nine 
 inches above, and must hang clear of the tie of the 
 lower hook. This is the best form of paternoster 
 made. 
 
 The localities in which to look for perch vary with 
 the season. Early in the summer the angler will find 
 them in the streams, as in gudgeon-swims, into which 
 they come when the ground is raked or disturbed, 
 and here they often take the angler's gudgeon worm 
 ravenously ; indeed, perch occasionally take a worm 
 almost as well, and in some cases even better, than 
 they do the minnow. They are often taken on the 
 ledger, and these are frequently the best fish too. 
 Some time since I was fishing with a friend on the 
 Thames ; we were dace-fishing, with the float line j 
 he had a paternoster out on his side of the boat for 
 perch ; I had a ledger on my side for barbel ; I had 
 at least a dozen bites, and caught tw.j or three nice 
 perch, while he never got a touch, with a choice 
 minnow and a small gudgeon not four or five yards 
 off, and the perch were feeding all round us. As the 
 summer advances, the perch seek the deeper and 
 stronger streams, the quiet eddies and deep holes near 
 piles, lock-gates, piers of bridges, corners of weirs, and 
 by heavy weed banks. At this time they are well fed 
 and cautious, and will try the angler's skill to make a 
 good dish of them. As the season advances, and the 
 winter floods sweep down, they all draw into the great 
 eddies, or still corners, particularly after a sharp frost, 
 and here they will be found in great numbers; and
 
 58 AI'l'ENDICES. 
 
 when the water is a little coloured, they may be taken 
 in from three to seven or eight feet of water, or 
 deeper, in any quantity, as they are then hungry, 
 though in good condition. As March comes on, they 
 get heavy in spawn, when they should not be disturbed. 
 By the middle of April they get amongst the weeds, 
 rushes, or fibrous roots of trees, in still back-waters, 
 and here they deposit their spawn in long ropy glutin- 
 ous masses. It is astonishing what a vast number of 
 eggs the female perch will v id ; they are very small, 
 and about the size and of tht appearance of little seed 
 pearls. Perch spawn about the end of April, and get 
 into fair season again by the end of June. 
 
 Perch may often be caught with a spinning minnow, 
 but it is not a very common method of angling for 
 them, though the best fish are usually so caught ; and 
 I have known good execution done in lakes by spinning, 
 either with a minnow (real or artificial) or a 
 spoon. Indeed, I almost think, from my experience, 
 that I am justified in saying that they take a spoon 
 better than almost any other spinning bait j but I have 
 found them prefer the triangular spinner made of 
 spoon metal (commonly called the 'otter') to the 
 regular spoon, the only reason I can give for it being 
 that it spins better and more evenly than the spoon, 
 which wobbles a good deal ; and though this is liked 
 by pike, and not always objected to by trout (particu- 
 larly lake trout), it would seem that it is not a strong 
 recommendation to perch. 
 
 A handful or two of gentles or broken worms will 
 be found useful as ground-bait, when float-fishing with 
 worms. But whatever you do, do not take your 
 wife's or sister's gold-fish globe out with a muslin 
 cover on it, and a stock of lively minnows inside, 
 under the supposition that the perch will rub their 
 noses against the glass, like cats at a dairy window, 
 according to the old superstition.
 
 APPENDICES. 59 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 PIKE FISHING. 
 
 The most sportsmanlike way of fishing for pike it 
 certainly by spinning, which is thus practised. The 
 angler takes a small fish (gudgeon, dace, or bleak are 
 preferable if thase cannot be obtained, he may use 
 any other small fish which he can get); he then hooks 
 the fish on to his line by a certain arrangement of 
 hooks called a flight or set, so that by communicat- 
 ing a crook to the body or tail it may, when drawn 
 through the water, revolve rapidly on the screw 
 principle. In order to permit the bait so to revolve 
 without twisting the line, a tackle called a trace is 
 used. This is about four or five feet long, and consists 
 of a few strands of stout salmon gut, or of gut twisted, 
 or even of gimp, linked together with a couple of 
 swivels at intervals, about eighteen inches apart, a 
 third swivel being sometimes used, to connect this 
 part of the tackle with the running or reel line ; a 
 good large loop being left at the other end of the trace 
 to loop the flight of hooks on, or for the purpose of 
 changing them at pleasure. The trace should not be 
 less than from a yard to four feet long, and not more 
 than five, or it will be found awkward in casting. 
 Between the swivels the lead or sinker is to be 
 fastened. In ponds, where the weeds come very near 
 the surface, a sinker may be dispensed with, and the 
 bait be allowed to run almost along the surface of the 
 water. In this instance the simpler the arrangement, 
 of hooks, and the fewer there are of them, the better. 
 
 According to the depth or swiftness of the water or 
 stream to be fished, so should the weight of the lead 
 be ; and this is a point to which considerable attention 
 should be paid, as it is sometimes necessary to fish
 
 60 APPENDICES. 
 
 shallow. Of the two, I prefer to fish deep, as the less 
 distance a pike has to come after the bait the better, 
 for pike will not always come to the top of the water 
 after the bait, even if they see it ; and when they do 
 come, they will see the deception so much more easily 
 that, if they are not tolerably hungry, they will often 
 refuse the bait. This is especially the case with good 
 fish. Many a time have I, when fishing rather high, 
 seen a good ten or a dozen-pounder come up with a 
 dash at the bait and after following it for a yard or 
 two, turn tail and leave it, when, probably, had I been 
 fishing deep, he would just have put his nose out of 
 the weed and snapped my bait. But there is a great 
 advantage in fishing high when the fish are hungry. 
 You cover so much more ground that is to say, the 
 fish can see the bait so much farther off. Of course, 
 if the fish are well on the feed, and are ranging for 
 food, it will matter little whether the angler fishes 
 high or low, as within any reasonable distance his bait 
 will be seen laterally, and probably run at. Whether 
 it; be taken or no, however, of course depends on the 
 opinion the fish forms of it on nearer inspection. One 
 point the angler should bear in mind, viz. that he 
 cannot (provided the bait turns round fairly, so as to 
 display itself well and hide the hooks) spin too slowly: 
 and if he owr-weights his line, in order to keep it 
 clear of the weeds at the bottom, he will be obliged to 
 spin so quickly, or to draw the bait along so rapidly, 
 that he will not give the pike a fair chance of biting. 
 Too swift spinning is a great fault and it is, indeed, 
 too common a fault in these fast days. The angler 
 likes to be always throwing. ' Swish ! 'out goes 
 thirty or fourty yards of line. 'There's a throw 
 Smith j my boy ! ' He likes to see his bait spin like 
 a humming top. ' Look at that, Smith, my boy ! 
 can you make a bait spin like that?' Possibly Smith
 
 APPENDICES. 6l 
 
 cannot make a bait spin in that wonderful way, and 
 cannot throw above twenty or thirty yards of line ; 
 but somehow Smith, with a short line, runs more fish 
 than our fast friend. It has been the popular myth 
 that a bait travelling at railway pace, and spinning 
 like one long line of silver, is the correct thing, because 
 it imitates a fish in an agony of terror. This argu- 
 ment is sheer nonsense, as fish do not conduct them- 
 selves like dancing dervishes or ballet-masters, and 
 perform pirouettes when in a fright. They run away 
 and turn perhaps, from side to side, as the swimmer 
 does, to gain increased power by concentrating every 
 effort now to one point and then, as a relief, to the 
 other. The long, slow wobble of a badly-spinning 
 bait is much more like the rial thing, no doubt, but 
 it is necessary to make the bait turn somewhat 
 rapidly in order that the pike may not have too much 
 uninterrupted inspection of the eight or ten hooks that 
 encumber one side of the lure, and in order to present 
 the silver side, constantly changing and flashing in the 
 light, to attract the attention of the fish, which a 
 badly-spinning bait will not do 5 and it is to be borne 
 in mind, that unless the bait spins very well indeed 
 when drawn rapidly through the water, it will, when 
 drawn only moderately slowly (as is preferable), hardly 
 spin at all j therefore it is desirable that the bait should 
 spin well. 
 
 The best kind of line for spinning, unless the angler 
 be fishing with Nottingham tackle, or casting from 
 the reel, is slack plaited silk dressed. In choosing the 
 line, see that it be neither too fine nor too bulky. If 
 it be too fine it will be constantly kinking in throwing, 
 and it will not stand the requisite amount of wear am! 
 tear attendant on jack-fishing. If it be too bulky it 
 does not go so freely through the rings, and much 
 shortens the cast, besides being too visible to the fish.
 
 62 APPENDICES. 
 
 If very heavy baits be required and large fish be 
 expected, a stouter line must of course be used. Select 
 a line that is neither too dry nor too sticky as regards 
 the dressing. If it be too dry the dressing on the line 
 cracks in places, and the line becomes more like a 
 land-measuring chain than a fishing-line ; and if it be 
 soft and sticky it is a perpetual nuisance in casting, 
 causing endless kinking, and the dressing very soon 
 wears off. It should be fifty or sixty yards long not 
 that so much will be often required in fishing, but 
 when used well at one end it can be turned end for 
 end with advantage, and answers all the purposes of a 
 new line. 
 
 The rod used in spinning for jack should be from 
 twelve to fourteen or fifteen feet in length, with 
 sufficient of spring in it to cast a bait well and yet 
 with good substance to stand the strain and plunges of 
 heavy fish should weeds intervene. Some anglers 
 prefer the rod made of cane ; but if it be made of 
 cane, the only kind that should be used for it is 
 bamboo, the other canes having hardly sufficient sub- 
 stance in them. Other persons prefer it made of 
 solid wood, and of all woods greenheart is the best, 
 with a good splinter of the same for the top. That 
 is the rod I prefer. But, whichever may be adopted, 
 the rod should be ringed with good-sized stout upright 
 rings, to allow the line to run through them with 
 perfect freedom.
 
 APPENDICES. 63 
 
 APPENDIX III 
 
 A SELECT LIST or BOOKS DELATING TO ANGLING. 
 
 A. 
 Ancient Classics which allude to Angling. 
 
 1. The " Halieutica" of Oppian. 
 
 2. The " Mosella," an Idyll of Ausonius. 
 
 3. " De Animalium Natura," of ^Elian. 
 
 4. Poetae Latin! Minores. (Several verses in Vol. I. 
 
 Paris Edition 1824.) 
 
 5. Theocritus. (Idyll 21.) 
 
 6. The " Geoponika," Book 20, generally attributed 
 
 to Constantino VII. 
 
 7. St. Ambrose, in his " Hexaemeron," Book V. 
 
 B. 
 
 Bibliographies of Angling Literature. 
 
 1. A Catalogue of Books on Angling, by Sir Henry 
 
 Ellis, in Vol. II. of "The British Biographer,'"' 
 1812. 
 
 2. Pickering's " Bibliotheca Piscatoria," 1835. 
 
 3. A List of Books on Fishing, added by Dr. 
 
 Bethune to his Edition of "The Complete 
 Angler," 1847. 
 
 4. A Bibliographical Catalogue of Books on Angling, 
 
 by Russel Smith, 1856. 
 
 5. The New Bibliotheca Piscatoria, by Thomas 
 
 West wood, 1 86 1. 
 
 6. Bibliotheca Icthyologica et Piscatoria, by D. 
 
 M. Bosgoed, Harlem, 1874. 
 
 7. Angling Literature in England, by Osmund 
 
 Lambert, 1881.
 
 64 APPENDICES. 
 
 C. 
 
 English Books on Angling. 
 
 1. "A Treatyse of Fysshynge with an Angle," by 
 Juliana Berners, 1496. 
 
 2. "The Secrets of Angling," by J(ohn) D(ennys), 
 
 1613. 
 
 3. "Barker's Delight," by Thomas Barker, 1651. 
 
 4. "The Compleat Angler," by Isaac Walton, 1653. 
 
 5. "The Contemplative and Practical Angler," 
 
 appended to Franck's " Northern Memoirs," 
 1694. 
 
 6. " Salmonia," by Sir Humphrey Davy, 1828. 
 
 7. "Maxims and Hints for an Angler," by Richard 
 
 Penn, 1833. 
 
 8. " A Handbook of Angling," by Ephemera, 1833. 
 
 9. " Fly- Fisher's Entomology," by Ronalds, 1847. 
 
 10. Stewart's "Practical Angler." 1861. 
 
 11. Francis "On Angling," 1876. 
 
 12. "Fishing," by Cholmondelcy-Pennell, 1885. 
 
 13. " The Angler and the Loop Rod," by D. Webster, 
 
 1885.* 
 
 * The list of books here given is only intended as a hint to 
 the angler WHAT to READ: if he wishes to form a COMPLETE 
 Angling Library, I refer him to the contents of Mr. Lambert 's 
 book, mentioned above, and the other Bibliographies of Angling 
 Literature. 
 
 ff t n i &. 
 
 Printed by E. & G, Golds mid, Edinburgh.

 
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