llili /*'Vari& •''V^i^ii^fiVi- ■:■ ' »^'-&' .<,'; iff * Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/contemplativeangOOwaltrich IZAAK WALTON. The Complete Angler. THE ^ ^ ^ ^ COMPLETE ANGLER OR THE Contemplative Man's Recreation By IZAAK WALTON and CHARLES COTTON Edited by JOHN MAJOR ILLUSTRATED A. L. BURT COMPANY, ^ ^ ji ^ ^ ^ ^ PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK CONTENTS. introductory essay • • • • 9 Author's Dedication to John Offley, Esq, • • • 35 Author's Address TO HIS Readers • 37 PART I. THE FIRST DAY, Chap. L — A Conference betwixt an Angler, a Hunter, and a Falconer, each commending his Recreation • . • 41 the second day. Chap, II.— Observations of the Otter and Chub • • • » 73 the third day. Chap. III. — How to fish for, and to dress, the Chavender, or Chub Si Chap. IV.— Observations of the Nature and Breeding of the Trout, and how to fish for him. And the Milkmaid's Song 87 the third and fourth days. Chap. V. — More Directions how to fish for, and how to make for the Trout an Artificial Minnow and Flies, with some Merriment '"QQ THE fourth day. Chap. VI.— Observations of the Umber or Grayling, and Direc- tions how to figh for them . • • • • ^ • 134 6 CONTENTS. PACK Chap. VII. — Observations of the Salmon, with Directions how to fish for him 137 Chap. VIII. — Observations of the Luce or Pike, with Directions how to fish for him 144 Chap. IX. — Observations of the Carp, with Directions how to fish for him 155 Chap. X. — Observations of the Bream, and Directions to catch him . . 163 Chap. XI. — Observations of the Tench, and Advice how to angle for him 170 Chap. XII. — Observations of the Pearch, and Directions how to fish for him 173 Chap. XIII. — Observations of the Eel, and other Fish that want scales, and how to fish for them 178 Chap. XIV. — Observations of the Barbel, and Directions how to fish for him 185 Chap. XV. — Observations of the Gudgeon, the Ruffe, and the Bleak, and how to fish for them 190 Chap. XVL— Is of nothing, or that which is nothing worth • . 193 THE FIFTH DAY. Chap. XVII.— Of Roach and Dace, and how to fish for them j and of Cadis 200 Chap. XVIII.— Of the Minnow or Penk, of the Loach, and of the Bull-Head, or Miller's Thumb 2to Chap. XIX. — Of several Rivers, and some Observations of Fish . 214 Chap. XX. — Of Fish-Ponds, and how to order them . . .218 Chap. XXI. — Directions for making of a Line, and for the coloring of both Rod and Line 221 PART IL instructions how to angle for a trout or grayling in a clear stream. The First Day , . • . 237 The Second Day. ••••••••• 253 The Third Day • • • • • • • • • • 291 CONTENTS. 7 rxGB LiNNiEAN Arrangement OF THE Fish 306 Original AND Selected Notes * • • , . . .311 General Index 349 * In these notes, in addition to much biographical and historical informa- tion, will be found the VARIOUS READINGS of the Editions published in the lifetime of the Author. •(gs[iii^@iiir^iiiiMiiiliiMiii^ii^i!i INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. TF there were a single circumstance by which the fame of ■^ those '' honorable men," the effigies of whom now face the reader, could possibly be enhanced, it was that of having for their biographer one who, with the soundest judgment, pos- sessed a sweetness of disposition ever inclining to the bright side of things, a veracity not to be questioned, and a felicity of expression peculiarly his own : thus gifted, like the skilful artist, at once both flattering and faithful, he brought to the task of delineation that delicacy due to family feehng, com- bined with the justice demanded by strict impartiality : the existence and the application, therefore, of such rare qualities are equally the subject of exultation. On the other hand, that Izaak Walton should have been deemed by his contemporaries the fittest of all persons to per- form so important a task, were sufficient, by reflection alone, to insure to himself an imperishable name ; the pictorial allu- sion, therefore, at the head of this Introductory Essay will probably be deemed particularly appropriate : it contains the portraits of Dr. John Donne, Mr. George Herbert, Bishop Sanderson, Mr. Richard Hooker, and Sir Henry Wotton, whose lives, at different times, were written by Walton. The praise bestowed on the Life of Dr. Donne by Dr. King, afterwards Bishop of Winchester, in a letter to Walton himself, lO INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. is equally applicable to the rest : — " I am glad that the general demonstration of his worth was so fairly preserved and repre- sented to the world by your pen, in the history of his life ; in- deed, so well, that, beside others, the best critic of our later time, Mr. John Hales of Eaton, affirmed to me he had not seen a life written with more advantage to the subject, or repu- tation to the writer, than that of Dr. Donne." The posthumous fame of these lives so well accords with this contemporary applause, that they are to be found in almost every respectable library ; yet it were unpardonable on the occasion of this attempt * to give additional popularity to our author's inimitable work of the Complete Angler, not to re- mind the reader that he has other claims to literary reputation than those derived from this truly felicitous achievement. In both instances he became an author by mere chance. Sir Henry Wotton had undertaken to write the life of Dr. Donne, and had requested Walton to assist him in collecting materials for that purpose ; but Sir Henry dying before it was completed, Walton undertook it himself, and succeeded so fully to the satisfaction of the most learned men of his time, that it was to be attributed to their importunity, rather than to his own am- bition, that he performed the^same office for his "dear friend Sir Henry" himself, and those other eminent men whose names have just been enumerated. Sir Henry Wotton too, as it appears from the Dedication of the Complete Angler to John Offley,f Esq., had intended *' to *The attempt was so successful, as to leave me forever indebted to the whole body of the public press. Dr. Southey also spoke of this humble Essay in terms too flattering to be here adduced ; but I must crave pardon for the necessary egotism of a few other notes. Twenty-one years having now elapsed, and three editions become scarce, I have, in the endeavor yet further to increase the popularity of this work, again the co-operation of a host of talent and a world of kindness !— whjle the stanchest Waltonians have looked on, free from jealousy, and anxious only to see their beloved author made as attractive as possible to the rising generation. tThis gentleman, whose ancestors have been settled at Madeley Manor as early as the year 1237, married the heiress of the Crewes, of Crewe Hall, INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. II write a discourse of the Art and in praise of Angling, and," continues Walton, ''doubtless he had done so, if death had not prevented him ; the remembrance of which hath often made me sorry : for if he had lived to do it, then the unlearned angler had seen some better treatise of this art, a treatise that might have proved worthy his perusal, which, though some have undertaken, I caidd never yet see in English." Here again our modest author finds an excuse for the under- taking of a work, of which it seems almost too weak a praise to say, that its parallel could scarcely have been hoped for, even from the elegant mind of Sir Henry Wotton himself. Our author, who was born at Stafford in 1593, but who lived the greatest part of his time in London, published the first edition of this celebrated work in 1653, and lived to see it go through no less than five editions ; the last of which, in 1676, was accompanied by a Second Part^ written by his in- timate friend and adopted son, Charles Cotton of Beresford Hall, in the County of Stafford, Esq. This Second Part, in which Mr. Cotton, from his local opportunities, was enabled to treat more at large on Fly-fishing than Walton had proposed to do, forms an important part of the work, in more than one point of view ; but chiefly, as conveying the fullest evidence of that reverence, and almost homage, which its accomplished author entertained for the character of Walton. The Fishing-house on the banks of the Dove seems to have been built expressly to perpetuate the memory of their friend- ship ; the motto over its door was ^^ Plscator'cbus sacruyny^ with the initials of Walton and Cotton interwoven in a cipher upon the keystone of the building, and the same cipher was, by Mr. Cotton's desire, placed in the title-page of the first edition of his portion of the work, and has been continued in all those since published. This part of our history will be fully illustrated by the fol- and was the progenitor of the present Lord Crewe. The family is connected by marriages with the noble houses of Hastings, Powis, and Wilton. ti INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. lowing short epistles which passed gn the occasion ; and the opportunity is taken of giving the signatures in the genuine autographs of the authors, — that of Walton being also intro- duced, with a more enlarged specimen of his handwriting, in another place. To my most worthy Father and Friend, Mr. Izaak Walton, the Elder, Sir,— Being you were pleased, some years past, to grant me your free leave to do what I have here attempted, and observing you never retract any promise, when made in favor even of your meanest friends, I accordingly expect to see these following particular directions for the taking of a trout to wait upon your better and more general rules for all sorts of angling : and, though mine be neither so perfect, so well digested, nor indeed so handsomely couched, as they might have been, in so long a time as since your leave was granted, yet I dare affirm them to be generally true ; and they had appeared too in something a neater dress, but that I was sur- prised with the sudden news of a sudden new edition of your Complete Angler : so that, having but a little more than ten days* time to turn me in, and rub up my memory, for, in truth, I have not, in all this long time, though I have often thought on't, and almost as often resolved to go presently about it, I was forced upon the instant to scribble what I here present you ; which I have also endeavored to accommodate to your own method. And, if mine be clear enough for the honest Brothers of the Angle readily to understand, which is the only thing I aim at, then I have my end, and shall need to make no further apology : a writing of this kind not requiring, if I were master of any such thing, any eloquence to set it off or recommend it ; so that if you, in your better judgment, or kindness rather, can allow it passable, for a thing of this nature, you will then do me honor, if the Cipher, fixed and carved in the front of my little fishing-house, may be here explained : and to permit me to attend you in public, who, in private, have ever been, am, and ever resolve to be, sir. Your most affectionate son and servant. Beresford^ _ Vatk of March, 167 g. / To my most honored Friend, Charles Cotton, Esq. Sir,— You now see I have returned you your very pleasant and useful discourse of the Art of Fly-fishing, printed just as it was sent me : for I have INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. I3 so obedient to your desires, as to endure all the praises you have ventured to fix upon me in it. And when 1 have thanked you for them, as the effects of an undissembled love, then let me tell you, sir, that I will really endeavor to live up to the character you have given of me ; if there were no other reason, yet for this alone, that you, that love me so well, and always think what you speak, may not, for my sake, suffer by a mistake in your judgment. And, sir, I have ventured to fill a part of your margin, by way of para> phrase, for the reader's clearer understanding the situation, both of your Fishing-house, and the pleasantness of that you dwell in. And I have ▼entured also to give him a copy of verses that you were pleased to send me, now some years past ; in which he may see a good picture of both ; and so much of your own mind, too, as will make any reader that is blest with a generous soul to love you the better. I confess, that for doing this you may justly judge me too bold : if you do, I will say so too ; and so far commute for my offence, that, though I be more than a hundred miles from you, and in the eighty-third year of my age, yet I will forget both, and next month begin a pilgrimage to beg your pardon ; for I would die in your favor ; and till then will live, sir. Your most affectionate father and friend. With this enlarged edition also appeared, for the first time, the following beautiful verses, exhibiting as favorable a speci- men of Cotton's poetical powers as his whole works could supply. THE RETIREMENT. IRREGULAR STANZAS, t ADDRESSED TO MR. IZAAK WALTON. CAREWELL, thou busy world I and may We never meet again : Here I can eat, and sleep, and pray, And do more good in one short day. Than he, who his whole age outwears Upon the most conspicuous theatres. Where naught but vanity and vice do reigm 14 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. II. Good God ! how sweet are all things here I How beautiful the fields appear ! How cleanly do we feed and lie ! Lord ! what good hours do we keep I How quietly we sleep ! What peace ! what unanimity ! How innocent from the lewd fashion Is all our business, all our recreation 1 III. O how happy here's our leisure I O how innocent our pleasure ! O ye valleys ! O ye mountains ! O ye groves, and crystal fountains | How I love at liberty, "By turns, to come and visit ye I IV. Dear Solitude, the soul's best friend, That man acquainted with himself dost make^ And all his Maker's wonders to entend, With thee I here converse at will, And would be glad to do so still ; For it is thou alone that keep'st the soul awake; V. How calm and quiet a delight Is it alone To read, and meditate, and write j By none offended, and offending none I To walk, ride, sit, or sleep at one's own ease, And, pleasing a man's self, none other to displease I VI. O my beloved Nymph ! fair Dove I Princess of Rivers ! how I love Upon thy flowery banks to lie. And view thy silver stream, When gilded by a summer's beam, And in it all thy wanton fry INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. IS Playing at liberty ; And, with my angle upon them. The all of treachery I ever learned industriously to try. VII. Such streams, Rome's yellow Tiber cannot show. The Iberian Tagus, or Ligurian Po ; The Maese, the Danube, and the Rhine, Are puddle-water all, compared with thine ; And Loire's pure streams yet too polluted are With thine much purer to compare ; The rapid Garonne, and the winding Seine, Are both too mean, Beloved Dove, with thee To vie priority ; Nay, Thame and Isis when conjoined submit. And lay their trophies at thy silver feet, VIII. O my beloved rocks, that rise To awe the earth and brave the skies ! From some aspiring mountain's crown, How dearly do I love. Giddy with pleasure, to look down, And from the vales to view the noble heights abore I O my beloved caves ! from Dog-star's heat, And all anxieties, my safe retreat ; What safety, privacy, what true delight, In th' artificial night Your gloomy entrails make, Have I taken, do I take ! How oft, when grief has made me fly To hide me from society, Ev'n of my dearest friends, have I In your recesses' friendly shade All my sorrows open laid, And my most secret woes intrusted to your piivaqrl Lord ! would men let me alont, What an over-happy one iC INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. Should I think myself to be, Might I, in this desert place, Which most men in discourse disgrace. Live but undisturbed and free I Here, in this despised recess, Would I, maugre Winter's cold. And the Summer's worst excess. Try to live out to sixty full years old ! And all the while. Without an envious eye, On any thriving under Fortune's smile Contented live, and then — contented die, C. C. But, notwithstanding the purity of sentiment contained in these verses, we are compelled to add that the virtuous aspira- tions of the poet were rendered vain by a general want of economy in his affairs : thus forming a striking contrast to those of the practical morahst, whom we cannot help wishing he had been able to imitate in a degree more consistent with his truly creditable admiration. Nevertheless, their connection was highly honorable to them both; it is beautiful to fancy the cheerful sage relaxing to accommodate himself to the compara- tively dissipated man of fashion, who, on the other hand, seems to have held himself as it were in a course of reformation, in compliment to his indulgent friend : nothing can be finer than his carrying this temper to the length of making his acceptable- ness to Walton the test of his general worthiness. See Part II. Chap. I. : *' My father Walton will be seen twice in no man's company he does not like, and likes none but such as he beheves to be very honest men ; which is one of the best arguments, or at least one of the best testimonies I have, that I either am, or that he thinks me, one of those, seeing I have not yet found him weary of me." Yet here we cannot refrain from the remark, that Walton triumphs over his coadjutor as much in the true aims of genius as in moral worth ; having immortalized himself by a work which he produced by mere accident ! — whilst Cotton, though INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 1/ almost an author by profession, having chosen disgusting topics for many of his original compositions, now lives chiefly in connection with the name of his venerable friend : — or, to say the least, the benign influence of a virtuous association was never more strikingly illustrated, since his devoted attachment to Walton forms the best evidence we have of his naturally amiable disposition, and a more honorable, if not a more certain im- mortality, is, on his part, the issue of this ever-memorable friendship ; and yet it has been recently and justly observed, that a judicious selection of his poems would stamp him 2& first rate with the present age ; though his capacity to vie with the most licentious wits of his own times injured his performances, taken as a whole — his Muse was truly '^fond to inspire" if sometimes ** ashamed to avow" — he flew to his pen upon all occasions, and was so ready at it, that he could disclose all his troubles, and his own noble, generous, jovial, and even thankful temper in half a score lines, as in the following part of an epistle to his friend Sir Clifford CHfton. ** He's good fellow enough to do every one right, And never was first that asked what time of night ; His delight is to toss the can merrily round, And loves to be wet, but hates to be drowned ; He fain would be just, but sometimes he cannot, Which gives him the trouble that other men ha' not ; He honors his friend, but he wants means to show it. And loves to be rhyming, but is the worst poet. Yet among all these vices, to give him his due, He has virtue to be a true lover of you ; But how much he loves you, he says you may guess it, Since nor prose nor yet metre he swears can express it ! " Right pithily, also, has honest Charles anticipated as full a reply as will ever be necessary to all revilers of his favorite re- creation : — *• We care not who says. And intends it dispraise, ThM an angler to a fool is next neighbor \ l8 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. Let him prate ; what care we j We're as honest as he, And so let him take that for his labor ! " * •• There are who think these pastimes scarce humane, Yet m my mind (and not relentless I) His life is pure that wears tw fouler stains." But to return to Walton, who must have often lamented the misfortunes of his adopted son. The precise situation in life in which Walton was placed has unfortunately never reached posterity ; and, with due deference to his earliest biographers, we cannot help thinking it has been fixed in too humble a sphere. Sir John Hawkins speaks of a deed dated 1624, by which it appears that his house in Fleet Street was in the Joint occupa- tion of Izaak Walton and John Mason, Hosier; *' whence," says Sir John, <* we may conclude, that half a shop was suf- ficient for the business of Walton." Now to this deduction we by no means agree ; but in unison with the tradition in his family, that he was ** a wholesale Linen-draper or Hamburgh Merchant y'^ would much rather infer that Izaak Walton (it is to be observed that his name is mentioned first in the said deed) had let a part of his house to the said John Mason, his own business not requiring the public exposure of his goods. Be this as it might, we have the pleasure of presenting the reader with a genuine view of the house rendered so truly in- teresting as the dwelling of our author ; the curious in London topography will recognize the corner house, in the print an- nexed to this Essay, as the southwest end of Chancery Lane, Fleet Street, as it appeared till within about the last sixteen years. The third west from the corner is considered as the identical house of Walton, whilst the view at the same time contains a glance of the curious old houses up Chancery Lane, ♦As for that morbid sensibility which rails at angling on the score of cru- elty, let us rely on the defence of the invincibly reasoning Armstrong, — it was neither made on behalf of Walton nor Cotton, but in justice tp God jind for all mankind t INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. I9 in one of which he also resided about ten years after the above date. It is probably the only correct delineation extant, hav- ing been drawn on the spot by the late Mr. Smith of the Brit- ish Museum, whose superiority in topographical delineation is particularly well known. Again, we find some of our author's biographers full of wonder at the extent and high respectability of his connections, particularly among the superior clergy of his time ; — it is true that this distinction is ascribed to the most honorable sources, integrity of character, and amiableness of disposition ; we are also apprised of the undoubted fact, that he was brother-in-law to the amiable Bishop Ken, whilst his direct consanguinity with Archbishop Cranmer himself is (although erroneously) insisted on. By extraordinary ingenuity, therefore, mystery has been created out of the very circumstances calculated to afford eluci- dation ; for what is this but presenting Walton to us in the midst of his own relations and family friends ? * proving him to have been in a walk of life, whatever it exactly was, consist- ent even with their alliance, as well as countenance and protec- tion ! To reason but a little further, (see only the list of inti- mates named in his will !) he appears to have known almost everybody who was worth knowing ! — and were it not that there seems to be no record of his intimacy with the congeni- ally-minded Evelyn, we should apply to him what was said by Johnson of Congreve : — ''He lived only for himself and his friends, and amongst his friends he was able to name almost every man of his time whom wit or elegance had raised to reputation ! " That he was bred to trade may be accounted for, either * Even of John Offley, Esq. (see ante, p. 10), it is stated by Sir H. Nicolas, •' He dedicated the work to John Offley of Madeley Manor in Staffordshire, Esquire," his most honored friend, " who, there is ground for supposing, was remotely relatedio him." In another place, Sir Hams also observes : "This dedication is not the only evidence of a personal acquaintance between the families of Walton and Offley : a yokn Offley proved the will of A^nes Wml' Un of the parish of Madeley qr the ^gd of April, 1573." 20 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. from the circumstance of his father's dying when he was only two years old, or even from his own choice ; and that there existed no necessary incompatibility between the character he held and that of a gentleman^ surely he may be said to have demonstrated, of whom that which is most certainly known would do honor to any station whatever. His *' only son Isaac" we find bred to the church, seemingly as a matter of course ; and that his only daughter was married to a dignified clergyman, Dr. Hawkins of Winchester, strengthens all the foregoing arguments.* All these particulars we are enabled to collect, notwithstand- ing that history and tradition are equally parsimonious respect- ing this extraordinary man ; wherever conjecture, therefore, supplies, of necessity, the place of fact, let us in the name of goodness (which were but synonymous with saying in the name of Izaak Walton) regulate our decisions with one constant view to his immortal honor ! There is, at least, one delight- ful reflection to be drawn from the internal evidence of his own work : — he did really and substantially enjoy, in his own person, that true happiness which he would teach us all to ac- * But I have now the pleasure of recording a very interesting new fact re- lating to our author. So lately as June, 1844, a paper— by John NichoU, Esq., of Islington, F.S.A., and of the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers —was read by Sir Henry Ellis, disclosing as follows : " 1617-18, Isaac Wal- ton w;is made one of the Ironmongers' Company, by Thomas Grinsell, Citizen and Ironmonger." This may be relied on, whether he had been previously apprenticed to Henry Walton or not,—" but it does not appear when he was bound or turned over to Grinsell." This tempting " item " was seized by our keen antiquary, with the eye of a hawk and the avidity of a perch ;— and he has declared to some of his friends, that he is more pleased with the discov- ery than with any other result of his researches among the archives of his ancient fraternity. Walton was then about twenty-four years of age, before which, in those days, no one could take up his freedom. Here, then, we have the very first event oi his manhood that can be confirmed by a date :—^Xi6. I still contend that he must have been surrounded by guardian friends, in every part of his prosperous career. No further evidence is needed than that of his will to show that the family of Grinsell or Grinsells were r/r/dr- tions /—for amongst those to whom he leaves memorial rings there is thil itero. — " to my cosen Grimells widow." INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 21 quire : with that genuine, philosophical spirit which is worthy of universal imitation, he sought his beloved independence in the limitation of his wants, rather than by aiming at the ac- quirement of large possessions ; his book, as he himself tells us, is a picture of his own mind, and had that book been called *' The Divine Art of Contentment," or '' The True Christian Philosopher," its principal contents would have justified either of those titles, equally with that in which his modesty dic- tated its setting forth. Thus has this delightful work, notwithstanding its unassum- ing title, excited from the first a most commanding attention ; and may be said to have risen in public estimation, even to this very hour. The selection of a few passages from his various editors and disinterested eulogists will best prove the assertion ; a slight glance, however, at the earliest English work on Angling, seems to be first necessary, for the sake of those of our readers who may have been, hitherto, totally unacquainted with Wal- tonian lore. We allude to a tract, written by Dame Juliana Barnes, Prioress of the Nunnery of Sopewell, near St. Alban's, and entitled The Treatyse of Fysshinge with an Angle, being part of a book *' known to the curious in typographical antiq- uities by the title of the Book of St. Albafi's. Enprented at Westmestre by Wynkyn de Worde, in 1496, in small Folio ; the book consists of a treatise on Hawking, another on Hunting, which is all in verse ; a book wherein is determined the Lyg- nage of Cote Armures, the above-mentioned treatise of Fishing, and the method of Blasynge of Armes." The work is now of the most extreme rarity, yet it was doubtless well known to Walton, some of whose descriptions may be considered as paraphrastic of the following beautiful passage, setting forth those incidental pleasures of the angler which exist quite independently of his taking fish, — he having, '*Atte the leest his holsom walke, and mery at his ease, a swete ayre of the swete savoure of the meede floures that 22 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. makyth him hungry; he hereth the melodyoiis armony o! fowles; he seeth the yonge swannes, heerons, duckes, cotes, and many other foules, wyth their brodes ; whyche me semyth better than alle the noyse of houndys, the blastes of hornys, and the cryes of fouHs, that hunters, fawkeners, and foulers can make. And if the angler take fysshe, surely then is there noo man merier than he is in his spyryte." It is also probable that Walton might borrow from Barker's '* Art of Angling," first pubHshed in 1651, the idea of making his work humorous and entertaining ; but how fine is the con- trast between the chastised mirth of a gentleman, and that of the mere droll ! — for poor Mr. Barker aspires to nothing higher. As for Walton's morality, it is almost entirely his own ; we cannot help noticing one remarkable instance of his propriety and delicacy of feeling ; he is conscious that, for some very ardent minds, he may have made his descriptions too seductive, and consequently he takes especial care to furnish a hint which may serve for a corrective : it occurs near the commencement of Chapter V., where Peter says : '* I will promise you I will sing another song in praise of angling to-morrow night, for we will not part till then ; but fish to-morrow and sup together, and the next day every man leave fishing, and fall to Ids busi- ness!'' This minute piece of admonition is rendered the more del- icate from its timely utterance, being evidently meant to re- mind us that we should fix the requisite limits to our pleasures, even before their commencement. In resuming our purpose of pointing out the progressive and still growing reputation of our author, it may be fairly premised that what we now present is to be viewed as the grate- ful feeling of posterity, in opposition to that contemporary applause which might be supposed to flow from favor or affec- tion. By fax the greater part of those copies of verses, pre- fixed, according to the custom of the time, to the earlier INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 23 editions, by friends of the author, might be deemed liable to this exception ; besides that they, in general, partake too much of metaphysical conceit to continue their attendance on an author whose mind was as unsophisticated as his language was beautiful: — truly, indeed, may it be termed the '•'■ well-sprifig of English, pure and undefiled. ' ' The Reverend Moses Browne is the first writer whose re- marks are applicable to our present view of the subject ; he re- vived the ' ' Complete Angler ' ' after it had lain dormant for upwards of eighty years ; and this task, be it never forgotten, was performed at the instigation of Dr. Samuel Johnson ! Mr. Browne, in his Preface, shows a laudable anxiety that the work should be known as a literary production, and not as a mere book of fishing ; these are his words : — " Mr. Isaac Wal- ton's Complete Angler, which (with the second part by Mr. Cotton, of equal scarcity and value, I have the satisfaction of restoring in the present manner to the public) has been always had in the greatest reputation, by such as are acquainted with books, and have any discerning in works of merit and nature. Not only the lovers of this art, but all * others, who have no inclinations in the least to the diversion of angling that it treats of, have joined in giving it their mutual suffrage and commen- dation." In the year 1760 appeared the first of those editions edited by Sir John Hawkins ; from whose Life of Walton prefixed, we extract the following encomium. ** And let no man imagine, that a work on such a subject must, necessarily, be unentertaining, or trifling, or even un- * On the appearance of my first edition, in 1823, Mr. D'lsraeli (who some- where speaks of the "Doric sweetness of Izaak Walton ") observed to me, *• One often sees a pretty book which is interesting to 2l. particular class ; but you have hit on a work that pleases everybody / " And Mr. Alexander Chal- mers was pleased to say, that- 1 had given quite a new tone to the subject, and had " Waltonized the land." For my own part, I can only say, that I had long been asking myself, in the language of Abraham Cowley, " What shall I do to be forever known?" and my good genius whispered, "Give youi days and nights to emblazon the worth of Izaak Walton." 24 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. instructive ; for the contrary will most evidently appear from a perusal of this excellent piece, which, whether we consider the elegant simplicity of the style, the ease and unaffected humor of the dialogue, the lovely scenes which it dehneates, the enchanting pastoral poetry which it contains, or the fine morality it so sweetly inculcates, has hardly its fellow in any of the modern languages. ' ' From Walton's latest* and most copious biographer, the Rev. Dr. Thomas Zouch, an equally honorable testimony is selected. *'In this volume of the Complete Angler, which will be always read with avidity, even by those who entertain no strong relish for the art which it professes to. teach, we discover a copious vein of innocent pleasantry and good-humor. The dialogue is diversified with all the characteristic beauties of colloquial composition. The songs and little poems which are occasionally inserted will abundantly gratify the reader who has a taste for the charms of pastoral poetry. And above all, those lovely lessons of religious ^and moral instruction, which are so repeatedly inculcated throughout the whole work, will ever recommend this exquisitely pleasing performance. ' ' Yet the enthusiastic admirer of Walton will be still more delighted with the wonder-working effects of his book, as set forth by that deservedly popular writer, Mr. Washington Irving ; whose applause, being that of a man of acknowledged taste and brilliant fancy, bespeaks its own peculiar value in pointing out our author's claims upon the present and succeed- ing ages. From "The Sketch Book" of this gentleman, published under the assumed name of Geoffrey Crayon, we extract the following. * Sir Harris Nicolas's elaborate and circumstantial Life of our author — so far as it was possible for the most industrious and skilful research to make it so — has appeared since the above was written. Sir Harris has here contin- ued for Walton all that has been done in the way of literary and personal illustration for Shakespeare himself t INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 2$ ** It is said that many an unlucky urchin is induced to run away from his family, and betake himself to a seafaring life, from reading the history of Robinson Crusoe j and I suspect that, in like manner, many of those worthy gentlemen, who are given to haunt the sides of pastoral streams with angle-rods in hand, may trace the origin of their passion to the seductive pages of honest Izaak Walton. I recollect studying his ' Com- plete Angler ' several years since, in company with a knot of friends in America, and moreover that we were all completely bitten with the angling mania. It was early in the year ; but as soon as the weather was auspicious, and that the spring be- gan to melt into the verge of summer, we took rod in hand and sallied into the country, as stark mad as was ever Don Quixote from reading books of chivalry. ^' One of our party had equalled the Don in the fulness of his equipments, being attired cap-a-pie for the enterprise. He wore a broad -skirted fustian coat, perplexed with half a hundred pockets ; a pair of stout shoes, and leathern gaiters ; a basket slung on one side for fish ; a patent rod ; a landing-net ; and a score of other inconveniences, only to be found in the true angler's armory. Thus harnessed for the field, he was as great a matter of stare and wonderment among the country-folk, who had never seen a regular angler, as was the steel-clad hero of La Mancha among the goatherds of Sierra Morena. '' Our first essay was along a mountain brook among the high- lands of the Hudson : a most unfortunate place for the execu- tion of those piscatory tactics which had been invented along the velvet margins of quiet English rivulets. ** For my part, I was always a bungler at all kinds of sport that required either patience or adroitness, and had not angled above half an hour before I had completely * satisfied the senti- ment,' and convinced myself of the truth of Izaak Walton's opinion, that angling is something like poetry, — a man must be born to it. I hooked myself instead of the fish ; tangled my line in every tree ; lost my bait ; broke my rod ; until I gave up 26 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. the attempt in despair, and passed the day under the trees, read ing old Izaak ; satisfied that it was his fascinating vein of hon- est simpHcity and rural feeling that had bewitched me, and not the passion for angling. . . . "But above all, I recollect the 'good, honest, wholesome, hungry * repast, which we made under a beech-tree, just by a spring of pure sweet water that stole out of the side of a hill ; and how, when it was over one of the party read old Izaak Walton's scene with the milkmaid, while I lay on the grass and built castles in a bright pile of clouds until I fell asleep. ' ' The remainder of this elegant essay Mr. Irving devotes to the character of an old Cheshire angler ; he concludes : "I could not refrain from drawing the picture of this worthy ' brother of the angle,' who has made me more than ever in love with the theory, though I fear I shall never be adroit in the practice of his art." This is precisely the treatment of our author which agrees with our own views ; it requires not so much the love of angling, as a relish for the general charms of nature, to render any per- son of true taste delighted with his pages. We have spared no effort to insure correct delineations of the FISH,* (//le whole having been painted from nature expressly for this edi- tion)^ which will add to the character of the work as connected with a popular branch of natural history, and truly may it be said (after allowing the painter, in each instance, due praise) that the '■^gravers'" also "had a strife, With nature to outdo the life ! " The important and classical addition of the specific and generic characters will speak for itself to proceed from a most competent quarter. The notes, consistently with our view of the work, "in its more important character of a British Classic," are devoted !?• The list of engravings will show that some entirely new specimens of fishes, by artists of the highest rank, are introduced in this edition. INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 2f chiefly to the ilkistration of its Hterary merits; and though we should deem it a sort of profanation to place them on the same page * with the text, we have most zealously endeavored to render them worthy of a distinct perusal. The frequent occurrence of eminent names throughout the work naturally leads us to reflect that the chief argument used by Walton in recommending his art — the " love ami practice " of it by persons of science and learning — is of the most per- manent kind. The most ardent anglers of the present day will be found in the higher walks of genius and knowledge ; a host in himself, as it regards our purpose, it were superfluous to covet authorities in addition to that of the, now, in these enlightened days, illustrious President of the Royal Society !f Again, for the honor of our author, let us not forget that the brilliant wit, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, is known to have de- clared that he never desired a better companion for post-chaise than this same Angler, or Contemplative Man's Recreation. Far indeed from singular is any man who imagines himself alone to have carried his enthusiasm for our author to exactly the proper pitch ! It seems as if there must yet exist a * * friendly contention ' ' about the mode of expressing it, — as to who shall * These notes having been much praised for their very comprehensive use- fulness, considering the limited space, it is only due to the kind and friendly contributor (declining to be named) to acknowledge the careful revision of them, with valuable additions, on the present occasion ; and also to thank him for a re-collation of the text itself, by which it has been improved throughout. The bantling is, in truth, my own, but its sponsors are innumerable ; one kind patron, a gentleman of fortune, used to say to his friends, '* You musthave this edition^ for / have a share in it ! " and a total stranger once assured me that he had bestowed no less than six ^uineoi on the binding ol the work, as a specimen of the skill of Charles Lewis. f Sir Humphrey Davy, (alas for Chantrey also !) since de- ceased. The annexed engraving is from a seal ring, which this ardent angler, a short time before his death, caused to be engraved "with a //-n fla^s or stones, and then leave it uncovered, Chap. I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. '6$ and exposed to become a prey, and be devoured by vermin, or other fishes ; but other fishes, as namely the Barbel, take such care for the preservation of their seed, that, unlike to the Cock or the Cuckoo, they mutually labor, both the spawner and the melter, to cover their spawn with sand, or watch it, or hide it in some secret place, unfrequented by vermin or by any fish but themselves. Sir, these examples may, to you and others, seem strange ; but they are testified, some by Aristotle, some by Pliny, some by Gesner, and by many others of credit, and are believed and known by divers, both of wisdom and experience, to be a truth ; and indeed are, as I said at the beginning, fit for the contemplation of a most serious and a most pious man. And, doubtless, this made the Prophet David say, Psal. cvii. 23, 24, ^'They that occupy themselves in deep waters see the wonderful works of God ' ' : indeed, such wonders and pleasures too as the land affords not. And that they be fit for the contemplation of the most pru- dent, and pious, and peaceable men, seems to be testified by the practice of so many devout and contemplative men, as the Patriarchs and Prophets of old, and of the Apostles of our Saviour in our latter times ; of which twelve, we are sure he chose four that were simple Fishermen, whom he inspired and sent to publish his blessed will to the Gentiles, and inspired them also with a power to speak all languages, and by their powerful eloquence to beget faith in the unbelieving Jews, and themselves to suffer for that Saviour whom their forefathers and they had crucified ; and, in their sufferings, to preach freedom from the incumbrances of the law, and a new way to everlast- ing life. This was the employment of these happy Fishermen, concerning which choice some have made these observations. First, that he never reproved these for their employment or calling, as he did scribes and the money-changers. And sec- ondly, he found that the hearts of such men by nature were fitted for contemplation and quietness ; men of mild, and sweet, 66 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. and peaceable spirits, as indeed most Anglers are : these men, our blessed Saviour, who is observed to love to plant grace in good natures, though indeed nothing be too hard for him, yet these men he chose to cstW from their irreprovable employment of fishing, and gave them grace to be his disciples, and to follow him and do wonders ; I say four of twelve. And it is observable, that it was our Saviour's will, that these our four Fishermen should have a priority of nomination in the catalogue of his Twelve Apostles, Matt. x. 2-4, Acta i 13, as namely, first St. Peter, St. Andrew, St. James, and St. John, and then the rest in their order. And it is yet more observable, that when our blessed Saviour went up into the mount, when he left the rest of his disciples and chose only three to bear h^m company at his Transfigura- tion, that those three were all Fishermen. And it is to be believed, that all the other Apostles, after they betook them- selves to follow Christ, betook themselves to be Fishermfm too ; for it is certain that the greater number of them were found together fishing by Jesus after his Resurrection, as it is recorded in the twenty-first chapter of St. John's Gospel, v. 3, 4. And since I have your promise to hear me with patience, I will take a liberty to look back upon an observation that hath been made by an ingenious and learned man ; who observes, that God hath been pleased to allow those whom he himself hath appointed to write his holy will in Holy Writ, yet, to ex- press his will in such metaphors as their former affections or practice had inclined them to : and he brings Solomon for an example, who before, his conversion was remarkably carnally amorous ; and after by God's appointment wrote that spiritual dialogue or holy amorous love-song, the Canticles, betwixt God and his Church ; in which he says his beloved had eyes like the fish-pools of Heshbon. And if this hold in reason, as I see none to the contrary, then it may be probably concluded, that Moses, who, I told you before, writ the Book of Job, and the Prophet Amos, who Chap. l.J THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 6f was a shepherd, were both Anglers ; for you shall in all the Old Testament find fish-hooks, I think, but twice mentioned ; namely, by meek Moses, the fi-iend of God, and by the humble Prophet Amos. Concerning which last, namely, the Prophet Amos, I shall make but this observation, — that he that shall read the humble, lowly, plain style of that prophet, and compare it with the high, glorious, eloquent style of the Prophet Isaiah, though they be both equally true, may easily believe Amos to be, not only a shepherd, but a good-natured, plain fisherman. Which I do the rather believe by comparing the affectionate, loving, lowly, humble Epistles of St. Peter, St. James, and St. John, whom we know were all Fishers, with the glorious language and high metaphors of St. Paul, who we may believe was not. And for the lawfulness of fishing, it may very well be main- tained by our Saviour's bidding St. Peter cast his hook into the water and catch a fish, for money to pay tribute to Caesar. And let me tell you, that Angling is of high esteem, and of much use in other nations. He that reads the Voyages of Fer- dinand Mendez Pinto shall find that there he declares to have found a king and several priests a-fishing. And he that reads Plutarch shall find that Angling was not contemptible in the days of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, and that they in the midst of their wonderful glory used Angling as a principal recreation. And let me tell you, that in the Script- ure Angling is always taken in the best sense ; and that, though Hunting may be sometimes so taken, yet it is but seldom to be so understood. And let me add this more, — he that views the ancient Ecclesiastical Canons shall find Hunting to be forbid- den to churchmen, as being a turbulent, toilsome, perplexing recreation ; and shall find Angling allowed to clergymen, as being a harmless recreation, a recreation that invites them to contemplation and quietness. I might here enlarge myself by telHng you what commenda- tions our learned Perkins bestows on Augkng ; and how dear a THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Pari 1 lover and great a practiser of it our learned Doctor Whitaker was, as indeed many others of great learning have been. But I will content myself with two memorable men, that lived near to our own time, whom I also take to have been ornaments to the art of Anghng. The first is Doctor Nowel, sometime Dean of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in London, where his monument stands yet Undefaced : a man that in the Reformation of Queen Elizabeth, not that of Henry VIIL , was so noted for his meek spirit, deep learning, prudence, and piety, that the then Parliament and Convocation both chose, enjoined, and trusted him to be the man to make a Catechism for public use, such a one as should stand as a rule for faith and manners to their posterity. And the good old man, though he was very learned, yet knowing that God leads us not to heaven by many nor by hard questions, like an honest Angler, made that good, plain, unperplexed Cate- chism which is printed with our good old Service-Book. I say, this good man was a dear lover and constant practiser of An- gling as any age can produce ; and his custom was to spend, be- sides his fixed hours of prayer, those hours which by command of the Church were enjoined the clergy, and voluntarily dedi- cated to devotion by many primitive Christians, — I say, beside those hours, this good man was observed to spend a tenth part of his time in Angling ; and also, for I have conversed with those which have conversed with him, to bestow a tenth part of his revenue, and usually all his fish, amongst the poor that inhabited near to those rivers in which it was caught ; saying often, '* that Charity gave hfe to Religion " : and at his return to his house would praise God he had spent that day free from worldly trouble ] both harmlessly, and in a recreation that be- came a churchman. And this good man was well content, if not desirous, that posterity should know he was an Angler, as may appear by his picture now to be seen, and carefully kept in Brazen -nose College, to which he was a liberal benefactor ; in which picture he is dr^wn leaning on a desk with his Bible be- Chap. I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 69 fore him, and on one hand of him his Hnes, hooks, and other tackhng, lying in a round ; and on his other hand are his Angle- rods of several sorts : and by them this is written, '' that he died 13 Feb. 1 60 1, being aged ninety-five years, forty-four of which he had been Dean of St. Paul's Church ; and that his age had neither impaired his hearing, nor dimmed his eyes, nor weakened his memory, nor made any of the faculties of his mind weak 01 useless." 'T is said that Anghng and temperance were great causes of these blessings, and I wish the like to all that imitate him and love the memory of so good a man. My next and last example shall be that undervaluer of money, the late Provost of Eton College, Sir Henry Wotton ; a man with whom I have often fished and conversed, a man whose foreign employments in the service of this nation, and whose experience, learning, wit, and cheerfulness made his company to be esteemed one of the delights of mankind. This man, whose very approbation of Angling were sufficient to convince any modest censurer of it, this man was also a most dear lover, and a frequent practiser, of the art of Angling ; of which he would say, *' 'T was an employment for his idle time, which was then not idly spent " : for Angling was, after tedious study, ^' a rest to his mind, a cheerer of his spirits, a diverter of sad- ness, a calmer of unquiet thoughts, a moderator of passions, a procurer of contentedness " ; and " that it begat habits of peace and patience in those that professed and practised it. ' ' Indeed, my friend, you will find Angling to be like the virtue of humil- ity, which has a calmness of spirit, and a world of other bless- ings attending upon it. Sir, this was the saying of that learned man, and I do easily believe that peace, and patience, and a calm content, did co- habit in the cheerful heart of Sir Henry Wotton, because I know that, when he was beyond seventy years of age, he made this description of a part of the present pleasure that possessed him, as he sat quietly in a summer's evening on a bank a-fishing. It is a description of the Spring, which because it glided as soft yo THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. and sweetly from his pen as that river does at this time, by which it was then made, I shall repeat it unto you. " This day Dame Nature seemed in love ; The lusty sap began to move ; Fresh juice did stir th' embracing vines. And birds had drawn their valentines. The jealous Trout, that low did lie, Rose at a well-dissembled fly : There stood my friend, with patient skill, Attending of his trembling quill. Already were the eaves possest With the swift Pilgrim's daubed nest : The groves already did rejoice In Philomel's triumphing voice : The showers were short, the weather mild, The morning fresh, the evening smiled. Joan takes her neat rubbed pail, and now She trips to milk the sand-red cow ; Where, for some sturdy foot-ball swain, Joan strokes a syllabub or twain. The fields and gardens wer« beset With tulips, crocus, violet : And now, though late, the modest rose Did more than half a blush disclose. Thus all looks gay, and full of cheer, To welcome the new-liveried year.'* These were the thoughts that then possessed the undisturbed mind of Sir Henry Wotton. Will you hear the wish of another Angler, and the commendation of his happy life, which he also sings in verse ? viz. Jo. Davors, Esq. : — " Let me live harmlessly, and near the brink Of Trent or Avon have a dwelling-place ; Where I may see my quill or cork down sink With eager bite of Perch, or Bleak, or Dace ; And on the world and my Creator think : Whilst some men strive ill-gotten goods to embrace. And others spend their time in base excess Of wine, or, worse, in war and wantonness. Chap, t) THE COMPLETE ANGLER. ft " Let them that list these pastimes still pursue, And on such pleasing fancies feed their fill, So I the fields and meadows green may view, And daily by fresh rivers walk at will, Among the daisies and the violets blue, Red hyacinth, and yellow daffodil. Purple Narcissus like the morning rays, Pale gander-grass, and azure culver keys. ** I count it higher pleasure to behold The stately compass of the lofty sky. And in the midst thereof, like burning gold, The flaming chariot of the world's great eye ; The watery clouds that in the air up-rolled With sundry kinds of painted colors fly ; And fair Aurora lifting up her head, Still blushing, rise from old Tithonus' bed ; ** The hills and mountains raised from the plains, The plains extended level with the ground, The grounds divided into sundry veins. The veins enclosed with rivers running round ; These rivers making way through Nature's chains With headlong course into the sea profound ; The raging sea, beneath the valleys low, Where lakes and rills and rivulets do flow ; •* The lofty woods, the forests wide and long, Adorned with leaves, and branches fresh and green. In whose cool bowers the birds with many a song Do welcome with their choir the Summer's Queen ; The meadows fair where Flora's gifts among Are intermixed, with verdant grass between ; The silver scaled fish that softly swim Within the sweet brook's crystal watery stream. " All these, and many more of His creation That made the heavens, the Angler oft doth see ; Taking therein no little delectation, To think how strange, how wonderful, they be ! Framing thereof an inward contemplation. To set his heart from other fancies free ; And whilst he looks on these with joyful ey^ His mind is rapt above the starry sky." 72 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I, Sir, I am glad my memory has not lost these last verses, because they are somewhat more pleasant and more suitable to May-day than my harsh discourse ; and I am glad your patience hath held out so long as to hear them and me, for both together have brought us within sight of the Thatched House ; and I must be your debtor, if you think it worth your attention, for the rest of my promised discourse, till some other opportunity and a like time of leisure. Ven. Sir, you have Angled me on with much pleasure to the Thatched House ; and I now find your words true, that " good company makes the way seem short " : for trust me. Sir, I thought we had wanted three miles of this house till you showed it to me ; but now v^e are at it, we Tl turn into it, and refresh ourselves with a cup of drink and a little rest. Pisc. Most gladly. Sir, and we Tl drink a civil cup to all the Otter-hunters that are to meet you to-morrow. Ven. That we will. Sir, and to all the lovers of Angling too, of which number I am now wiUing to be one myself; for, by the help of your good discourse and company, I have put on new thoughts both of the art of Angling, and of all that pro- fess it : and if you will but meet me to-morrow at the time and place appointed, and bestow one day with me and my friends in hunting the Otter, I will dedicate the next two days to wait upon you, and we two will for that time do nothing but angle, and talk of fish and fishing. Pisc. 'T is a match. Sir ; I Tl not fail you, God wilHng, to be at Amwell Hill to-morrow morning before sun-rising. THE SECOND DAY. Chap. \l.— Observations of the Otter and Chub, Venator. MY friend Piscator, you have kept time with my thoughts ; for the sun is just rising, and I myself just now come to this place, and the dogs have just now put down an Otter. Look down at the bottom of the hill there in that meadow, checkered with water-lilies and lady-smocks ; there you may see what work they make. Look ! look ! you may see all busy, men and dogs, dogs and men, all busy. Pisc. Sir, I am right glad to meet you, and glad to have so fair an entrance into this day's sport, and glad to see so many dogs, and more men all in pursuit of the Otter. Let 's com- pliment no longer, but join unto them. Come, honest Vena- tor, let 's be gone, let us make haste ; I long to be doing : no reasonable hedge or ditch shall hold me. Ven. Gentleman Huntsman, where found you this Otter ? Hunt. Marry, Sir, we found her a mile from this place, a-fishing : she has this morning eaten the greatest part of this Trout ; she has only left thus much of it, as you see, and was fishing for more. When we came, we found her just at it : but we were here very early, we were here an hour before sunrise, and have given her no rest since we came ; sure she will hardly escape all these dogs and men. I am to have the skin if we kill her. Ven. Why, Sir, what 's the skin worth ? Hunt. 'T is worth ten shillings to make gloves; the gloves of an Otter are the best fortification for your hands that can be thought on against wet weather. 74 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I Pisc. I pray, honest Huntsman, let me ask you a pleasant question : Do you hunt a beast or a fish ? Hunt. Sir, it is not in my power to resolve you. I leave it to be resolved by the College of Carthusians, who have made vows never to eat flesh. But I have heard the question hath been debated among many great clerks, and they seem to differ about it; yet most agree that her tail is fish : and if her body be fish too, then I may say that a fish will walk upon land, for an Otter does so sometimes five, or six, or ten miles in a night, to catch for her young ones, or to glut herself with fish, and I can tell you that pigeons will fly forty miles for a breakfast ; but. Sir, I am sure the Otter devours much fish, and kills and spoils much more than he eats : and I can tell you that this Dog-fisher, for so the Latins call him, can smell a fish in the water an hundred yards from him : Gesner says much farther, and that his stones are good against the falling-sickness ; and that there is an herb, Benione, which being hung in a linen- cloth near a fish-pond, or any haunt that he uses, makes him to avoid the place ; which proves he smells both by water and land. And I can tell you there is brave hunting this water- dog in Cornwall ; where there have been so many, that our learned Camden says there is a river called Ottersey, which was so named by reason of the abundance of Otters that bred and fed in it. And thus much for my knowledge of the Otter, which you may now see above water at vent, and the dogs close with him; I now see he will not last long: follow, therefore, my masters, follow, for Sweethps was like to have him at this last vent. Ven. Oh me ! all the horse are got over the river. What shall we do now ? shall we follow them over the water ? Hunt. No, Sir, no, be not so eager : stay a little and follow me, for both they and the dogs will be suddenly on this side again, I warrant you ; and the Otter too, it may be. Now have at him with Kilbuck, for he vents again. / Chap. 11.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 75 Ven. Marry, so he does, for look, he vents in that corner. Now, now Ringwood has him : now he 's gone again, and has bit the poor dog. Now Sweethps has her ; hold her, Sweet- lips ! Now all the dogs have her, some above and some under water ; but now, now she 's tired, and past losing : come, bring her to me, Sweetlips. Look, 't is a Bitch-Otter, and she has lately whelped : let 's go to the place where she was put down, and not far from it you will find all her young ones, I dare warrant you, and kill them all too. Hunt. Come, Gentlemen ! come all ! let 's go to the place where we put down the Otter. Look you, hereabout it was that she kennelled ; look you, here it was indeed, for here 's her young ones, no less than five: come, let's kill them all. Pisc. No, I pray. Sir, save me one, and I '11 try if I can make her tame, as I know an ingenious gentleman in Leicestershire, Mr. Nich. Seagrave, has done ; who hath not only made her tame, but to catch fish, and do many other things of much pleasure. Hunt. Take one with all my heart, but let us kill the rest. And now let 's go to an honest ale-house, where we may have a cup of good barley-wine, and sing " Old Rose," and all of us rejoice together. Ven. Come, my friend Piscator, let me invite you along with us. I '11 bear your charges this night, and you shall bear mine to-morrow ; for my intention is to accompany you a day or two in fishing. Pisc. Sir, your request is granted, and I shall be right glad, both to exchange such a courtesy, and also to enjoy your com- pany. Ven. Well, now let 's go to your sport of Angling. Pisc. Let 's be going with all my heart. God keep you all. Gentlemen, and send you meet this day with another Bitch- Otter, and kill her merrily, and all her young ones too. Ven. Now, Piscator, where will we begin to fish ? ^6 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. Pisc. We are not yet come to a likely place : I must walk a mile further yet, before I begin. Ven. Well then, I pray, as we walk, tell me freely how do you like your lodging, and mine host, and the company ? Is not mine host a witty man ? Pisc. Sir, I will tell you presently what I think of your host; but first I will tell you, I am glad these Otters were killed, and I am sorry that there are no more otter-killers : for I know that the want of otter-killers, and the not keeping the Fence-months for the preservation of fish, will in time prove the destruction of all rivers ; and those very few that are left, that make conscience of the laws of the nation, and of keeping days of abstinence, will be forced to eat flesh, or suffer more inconveniences than are yet foreseen. Ven. Why, Sir, what be those that you call the Fence-months? Pisc. Sir, they be principally three, namely, March, April, and May ; for these be the usual months that Salmon come out of the sea to spawn in most fresh rivers, and their fry would about a certain time return back to the salt water, if they were not hindered by weirs and unlawful gins, which the greedy fishermen set, and so destroy them by thousands; as they would, being so taught by Nature, change the fresh for salt water. He that shall view the wise statutes made in the 13th of Edward I., and the like in Richard II., may see several pro- visions made against the destruction of fish ; and though I profess no knowledge of the law, yet I am sure the regulation of these defects might be easily mended. But I remember that a wise friend of mine did usually say, ^'That which is everybody's business is nobody's business"; if it were other- wise, there could not be so many nets and fish that are under the statute size sold daily amongst us, and of which the conser- vators of the waters should be ashamed. But above all, the taking fish in spawning-time may be said to be against nature ; it is like the taking the dam on the nest when she hatches her young ; a sin so against nature, that Al- Chap. II.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. TJ mighty God hath in the Levitical law, Deuteron. xxii. 6, 7, made a law against it. But the poor fish have enemies enough beside such unnatural Fishermen, as namely, the Otters that I spake of, the Cormo- rant, the Bittern, the Osprey, the Sea-gull, the Heron, the Kingfisher, the Gorara, the Puet, the Swan, Goose, Ducks, and the Craber, which some call the Water-rat : against all which any honest man may make a just quarrel, but I will not, I will leave them to be quarelled with and killed by others ; for I am not of a cruel nature, — I love to kill nothing but fish. And now to your question concerning your host. To speak truly, he is not to me a good companion : for most of his con- ceits were either Scripture jests, or lascivious jests; for which I count no man witty, for the Devil will help a man that way inclined, to the first, and his own corrupt nature, which he always carries with him, to the latter : but a companion that feasts the company with wit and mirth, and leaves out the sin which is usually mixed with them, he is the man ; and indeed such a companion should have his charges borne, and to such company I hope to bring you this night ; for at Trout Hall, not far from this place, where I 'purpose to lodge to-night, there is usually an Angler that proves good company. And let me tell you, good company and good discourse are the very sinews of virtue : but for such discourse as we heard last night, it in- fects others, the very boys will learn to talk and swear as they heard mine host, and another of the company that shall be nameless ; I am sorry the other is a gentleman, for less religion will not save their souls than a beggar's : I think more will be required at the last great day. Well, you know what example is able to do ; and I know what the poet says in the like case, which is worthy to be noted by all parents and people of ci- vility : — " Many a one Owes to his country his rehgion : And in another would as strongly grow, Had but his nurse or mother taught him so," 78 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part t This is reason put into verse, and worthy the consideration of a wise man. But of this no more, for though I love civil- ity, yet I hate severe censures : I '11 to my own art, and I doubt not but at yonder tree I shall catch a Chub, and then we'll turn to an honest cleanly hostess, that I know right well, rest ourselves there, and dress it for our dinner. Ven. O Sir ! a Chub is the worst fish that swims ; I hoped for a Trout to my dinner. Pisc, Trust me, Sir, there is not a Hkely place for a Trout hereabout, and we stayed so long to take our leave of your huntsmen this morning, that the sun has got so high, and shines so clear, that I will not undertake the catching of a Trout till evening. And though a Chub be by you and many others reckoned the worst of fish, yet you shall see I '11 make it a good fish by dressing it. Ven. Why, how will you dress him? Pisc. I'll tell you by and by, when I have caught him. Look you here. Sir, do you see? — but you must stand very close, — there lie upon the top of the water in this very hole twenty Chubs. I '11 catch only one, and that shall be the big- gest of them all ; and that I will do so I '11 hold you twenty to one, and you shall see it done. Ven. Ay, marry. Sir ! now you talk like an artist ; and I '11 say you are one, when I shall see you perform what you say you can do : but I yet doubt it. Pisc. You shall not doubt it long, for you shall see me do it presently. Look, the biggest of these Chubs has had some bruise upon his tail, by a pike or some other accident, and that looks like a white spot ; that very Chub I mean to put into your hands presently ; sit you but down in the shade, and stay but a little while, and I '11 warrant you I '11 bring him to you. Ven. I '11 sit down and hope well, because you seem to be so confident. Chap. II.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 79 Pisc. Look you, Sir, there is a trial of my skill ; there he is; that very Chub that I showed you with the white spot on his tail ; and I '11 be as certain to make him a good dish of meat, as I was to catch him. I '11 now lead you to an honest ale- house, where we shall find a cleanly room, lavender in the windows, and twenty ballads stuck about the wall : there my hostess, which I may tell you is both cleanly, and handsome, and civil, hath dressed many a one for me, and shall now dress it after my fashion, and I warrant it good meat. Ven. Come, Sir, with all my heart, for I begin to be hun- gry, and long to be at it, and indeed to rest myself too ; for though I have walked but four miles this morning, yet I begin to be weary ; yesterday's hunting hangs still upon me. Pisc. Well, Sir, and you shall quickly be at rest, for yonder is the house I mean to bring you to. Come, Hostess, how do you ? Will you first give us a cup of your best drink, and then dress this Chub, as you dressed my last, when I and my friend were here about eight or ten days ago ? But you must do me one courtesy, it must be done in- stantly. Hostess. I will do it, Mr. Piscator, and with all the speed I can. Pisc. Now, Sir, has not my hostess made haste? and does not the fish look lovely ? So THE COMPLETE ANGLER. JPart I Ven. Both, upon my word, Sir ; and therefore let 's say- grace, and fall to eating of it. Pisc. Well, Sir, how do you like it ? Ven. Trust me, *t is as good meat as I ever tasted : but now let me thank you for it, drink to you, and beg a courtesy of you ; but it must not be denied me. Pisc. What is it, I pray. Sir ? You are so modest, that me- thinks I may promise to grant it before it is asked. Ven. Why, Sir, it is that from henceforth you would allow me to call you Master, and that really I may be your scholar ; for you are such a companion, and have so quickly caught and so excellently cooked this fish, as makes me ambitious to be your scholar. Pisc. Give me your hand ; from this time forward I wilV be your master, and teach you as much of this art as I am able; and will, as you desire me, tell you somewhat of the nature of most of the fish that we are to angle for ; and I am sure I both can and will tell you more than any common An- gler yet knows. THE THIRD DAY. Chap. III.— How to fish for, and to dress ^ the Chavedner, of Chub. PiSCATOR. 'T'HE Chub, though he eat well thus dressed, yet as he is •^ usually dressed he does not : he is objected against, not only for being full of small forked bones, dispersed through all his body, but that he eats waterish, and that the flesh of him is not firm, but short and tasteless. The French esteem him so mean as to call him un Vilain ; nevertheless he may be so dressed as to make him very good meat : as, namely, if he be a large Chub, then dress him thus : — First scale him, and then wash him clean, and then take out his guts ; and to that end make the hole as little and near to his gills as you may conveniently, and especially make clean his throat from the grass and weeds that are usually in it, for if that be not very clean, it will make him to taste very sour. Having so done, put some sweet herbs into his belly \ and then tie him with two or three splinters to a spit, and roast him, basted often with vinegar, or rather verjuice and butter, with good store of salt mixed with it. Being thus dressed, you will find him a much better dish of meat than you, or most folk, even than Anglers themselves, do imagine; for this dries up the fluid watery humor with which all Chubs do abound. But take this rule with you, that a Chub newly taken and newly dressed is so much better than a Chub of a day's keep- ing after he is dead, that I can compare him to nothing so fitly as to cherrie§ n^wly gathered from a tree, and others that have 82 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part 1. been bruised and lain a day or two in water. But the Chub being thus used and dressed presently, and not washed after he is gutted, — for note, that, lying long in water, and washing the blood out of any fish after they be gutted, abates much of their sweetness, — you will find the Chub, being dressed in the blood and quickly, to be such meat as will recompense your labor, and disabuse your opinion. Or you may dress the Chavender or Chub thus : — When you have scaled him, and cut off his tail and fins, and washed him very clean, then chine or slit him through the middle, as a salt fish is usually cut ; then give him three or four cuts or scotches on the back with your knife, and broil him on charcoal, or wood-coal that is free from smoke ; and all the time he is a-broiling, baste him with the best sweet butter, and good store of salt mixed with it ; and to this add a little thyme, cut exceeding small, or bruised into the butter. The Cheven thus dressed hath the watery taste taken away, for which so many except against him. Thus was the Cheven dressed that you now liked so well, and commended so much. But note again, that if this Chub that you ate of had been kept till to-morrow, he had not been worth a rush. And re- member that his throat be washed very clean, — I say very clean, — ^and his body not washed after he is gutted, as indeed no fish should be. Well, Scholar, you see what pains I have taken to recover the lost credit of the poor, despised Chub. And now I will give you some rules how to catch him : and I am glad to enter you into the art of Fishing by catching a Chub, for there is no fish better to enter a young Angler, he is so easily caught ; but then it must be this particular way. / Go to the same hole in which I caught my Chub, where in most hot days you will find a dozen or twenty Chevens floating near the top of the water. Get two or three grasshoppers as you go over the meadow ; and get secretly behind the tree, and stand as free from motion as is possible. Then put a grasshopper oq Chap. III.J THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 83 your hook, and let your hook hang a quarter of a yard short of the water, to which end you must rest your rod on some bough of the tree. But it is Kkely the Chubs will sink down towards the bottom of the water at the first shadow of your rod, for a Chub is the fearfullest of fishes, and will do so if but a bird flies over him, and makes the least shadow on the water ; but they will presently rise up to the top again, and there lie soaring till some shadow affrights them again. I say, when they lie upon the top of the water, look out the best Chub, which you, setting yourself in a fit place, may very easily see, and move your rod as softly as a snail moves to that Chub you in- tend to catch : let your bait fall gently upon the water three or four inches before him, and he will infallibly take the bait. And you will be as sure to catch him ; for he is one of the leather-mouthed fishes, of which a hook does scarcely ever lose its hold ; and, therefore, give him play enough before you offer to take him out of the water. Go your way presently ; take my rod, and do as I bid you, and I will sit down and mend my tackling till you return back. Ven. Truly, my loving Master, you have offered me as fair as I could wish. I '11 go and observe your directions. Look you, Master, what I have done ! that which joys my heart, caught just such another Chub as yours was. Pisc. Marry, and I am glad of it; I am like to have a towardly scholar of you. I now see that, with advice and practice, you will make an Angler in a short time. Have but a love to it, and I '11 warrant you. Ven. But, Master, what if I could not have found a grass- hopper ? Pisc. Then I may tell you, that a black snail, with his belly slit to show his white, or a piece of soft cheese, will usually do as well. Nay, sometimes a worm, or any kind of fly, as the Ant-fly, the Flesh-fly, or Wall-fly, or the Dor or Beetle, which you may find under cow-dung, or a Bob, which you will find in the same place, and in time will be a Beetle, — ^it is a 84 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part L short white worm, like to and bigger than a gentle, — or a Cod- worm, or a Case-worm, — any of these will do very well to fish in such a manner. And after this manner you may catch a Trout in a hot even- ing ; when, as you walk by a brook, and shall see or hear him leap at flies, then if you get a grasshopper, put it on your hook, with your line about two yards long, standing behind a bush or tree where his hole is, and make your bait stir up and down on the top of the water. You may, if you stand close, be sure of a bite, but not sure to catch him, for he is not a leather-mouthed fish : and after this manner you may fish for him with almost any kind of Hve fly, but especially with a grasshopper. Ven. But before you go further, I pray, good Master, what mean you by a leather-mouthed fish ? Pisc. By a leather-mouthed fish I mean such as have their teeth in their throat, as the Chub or Cheven ; and so the Bar- bel, the Gudgeon, and Carp, and divers others have ; and the hook, being stuck into the leather, or skin, of the mouth of such fish, does very seldom or never lose its hold : but on the con- trary, a Pike, a Perch, or Trout, and so some other fish, — which have not their teeth in their throats, but in their mouths, which you shall observe to be very full of bones, and the skin very thin, and little of it ; — I say, of these fish the hook never takes so suie hold but you often lose your fish, unless he have gorged it. Ven. I thank you, good Master, for this observation ; but now what shall be done with my Chub or Cheven that I have caught. Pisc. Marry, Sir, it shall be given away to some poor body, for I '11 warrant you I '11 give you a Trout for your supper: and it is a good beginning of your art to offer your first-fruits to the poor, who will both thank God and you for it, which I see by your silence you seem to consent to. And for your willingness to part with it so charitably, I will also teach you Chap. III.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 35 more concerning Chub -fishing. You are to note that in March and April he is usually taken with worms ; in May, June, and July he will bite at any fly, or at cherries, or at beetles with their legs and wings cut off, or at any kind of snail, or at the black bee that breeds in clay- walls ; and he never refuses a grasshopper on the top of a swift stream, nor, at the bottom, the young humble-bee that breeds in long grass, and is ordi- narily found by the mower of it. In August, and in the cooler months, a yellow paste, made of the strongest cheese, and pounded in a mortar with a little butter and saffron, so much of it as being beaten small will turn it to a lemon color. And some make a paste for the winter months, — at which time the Chub is accounted best, for then it is observed that the forked bones are lost or turned into a kind of gristle, especially if he be baked, — of cheese and turpentine. He will bite also at a Minnow or Penk, as a Trout will ; of which I shall tell you more hereafter, and of divers other baits. But take this for a rule, that in hot weather he is to be fished for towards the mid- water, or near the top ; and in colder weather nearer the bot- tom. And if you fish for him on the top with a beetle or any fly, then be sure to let your line be very long, and to keep out of sight. And having told you that his spawn is excellent meat, and that the head of a large Cheven, the throat being well washed, is the best part of him, I will say no more of this fish at the present, but wish you may catch the next you fish for. But lest you may judge me too nice in urging to have the Chub dressed so presently after he is taken, I will commend to your consideration how curious former times have been in the like kind. You shall read in Seneca his '' Natural Questions," Lib. iii. cap. 17, that the ancients were so curious in the newness of their fish, that that seemed not new enough that was not put alive into the guest's hand ; and he says that to that end they did usually keep them living in glass bottles in their dining-rooms ; S6 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part t and they did glory much, in their entertaining of friends, to have that fish taken from under their table alive, that was instantly to be fed upon. And he says they took great pleasure to see their Mullets change to several colors, when they were dying. But enough of this, for I doubt I have stayed too long from giving you some observations of the Trout, and how to fish for him, which shall take up the next of my spare time. THE THIRD DAY. Chap. IV. — Observations of the Nature and Breeding of the Trout, and how tojishfor him. And the Milkmaid's Song. PiSCATOR. TTHE Trout is a fish highly valued both in this and foreign * nations. He may be justly said, as the old poet said of wine, and we English say of venison, to be a generous fish : 2. fish that is so like the buck that he also has his seasons ; for it is observed, that he comes in and goes out of season with the stag and buck. Gesner says his name is of a German offspring, and says he is a fish that feeds clean and purely, in the swiftest streams, and on the hardest gravel ; and that he may justly contend with all fresh-water fish, as the Mullet may with all sea-fish, for precedency and daintiness of taste, and that, being in right season, the most dainty palates have allowed prece- dency to him. And before I go further in my discourse, let me tell you that you are to observe, that, as there be some barren does, that are good in summer, so there be some barren Trouts that are good in winter ; but there are not many that are so, for usually they be in their perfection in the month of May, and decline with the buck. Now you are to take notice, that in several coun- tries, as in Germany and in other parts, compared to ours, fish do differ much in their bigness, and shape, and other ways, and so do Trouts. It is well known that in the Lake Leman, the Lake of Geneva, there are Trouts taken of three cubits long, as is affirmed by Gesner, a writer of good credit; and Mercator says, the Trouts that are taken in the Lake of Geneva are a great part of the merchandise of that famous city. And 88 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I you are further to know, that there be certain waters that breed Trouts remarkable both for their number and smaUness. I know a Httle brook in Kent that breeds them to a number in- credible, and you may take them twenty or forty in an hour, but none greater than about the size of a gudgeon. There are also in divers rivers, especially that relate to, or be near to the sea, as Winchester, or the Thames about Windsor, a little Trout called a Samlet or Skegger-Trout, — ^in both which places I have caught twenty or forty at a standing, — that will bite as fast and as freely as minnows ; these be by some taken to be young Salmons, but in those waters they never grow to be bigger than a herring. There is also in Kent near to Canterbury a Trout called there a Fordidge Trout, a Trout that bears the name of the town where it is usually caught, that is accounted the rarest of fish; many of them near the bigness of a Salmon, but known by their different color, and in their best season they cut very white, and none of these have been known to be caught with an angle, unless it were one that was caught by Sir George Hastings, an excellent Angler, and now with God ; and he hath told me, he thought that Trout bit not for hunger but wantonness ; and is the rather to be believed, because both he then, and many others before him, have been curious to search into their bellies, what the food was by which they lived : and have found out nothing by which they might satisfy their curiosity. Chap. IV.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 89 Concerning which you are to take notice, that it is reported by good authors, that grasshoppers, and some fish, have no moutlis, but are nourished and take breath by the porousness of their gills, man knows not how ; and this may be believed, if we consider that, when the Raven hath hatched her eggs, she takes no further care, but leaves her young ones to the care of the God of nature, who is said in the Psalms, (Psal. clxvii. 9,) *' to feed the young ravens that call upon him." And they be kept alive, and fed by a dew, or worms that breed in their nests, or some other ways that we mortals know not ; and this may be believed of the Fordidge Trout, which, as it is said of the Stork, Jerem. viii. 7, that *'he knows his season," so he knows his times, I think almost his day of coming into that river out of the sea; where he lives, and, it is like, feeds, nine months of the year, and fasts three in the river of Fordidge. And you are to note that those townsmen are very punctual in observing the time of beginning to fish for them ; and boast much that their river affords a Trout that exceeds all others. And just so does Sussex boast of several fish ; as namely, a -Shelsey Cockle, a Chi- chester Lobster, an Arundel Mullet, and an Amerly Trout. And now for some confirmation of the Fordidge Trout : you are to know that this Trout is thought to eat nothing in the fresh water; and it may be the better believed, because it is well known that swallows and bats and wagtails, which are called half-year birds, and not seen to fly in England for six months in the year, but about Michaelmas leave us for a hotter climate ; yet some of them that have been left behind their fellows have been found, many thousands at a time, in hollow trees, or clay caves, where they have been observed to live and sleep out the whole winter without meat. And so Albertus observes, that there is one kind of frog that hath her mouth naturally shut up about the end of August, and that she lives so all the winter : and though it be strange to some, yet it is known to too many among us to be doubted. And so much for these Fordidge Trouts, which never afford 90 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. (Part t an Angler sport, but either live their time of being in the fresh water by their meat formerly gotten in the sea, not unlike the swallow or frog, or by the virtue of the fresh water only ; or as the Bird of Paradise and the Chameleon are said to live, by the sun and the air. There is also in Northumberland a Trout called a Bull-Trout, of a much greater length and bigness than any in these southern parts : and there are in many rivers that relate to the sea Salmon- Trouts, as much different from others, both in shape and in their spots, as we see sheep in some countries differ one from another in their shape and bigness, and in the fineness of their wool ; and certainly, as some pastures breed larger sheep, so do some rivers, by reason of the ground over which they run, breed larger Trouts. Now the next thing that I will commend to your considera- tion is, that the Trout is of a more sudden growth than other fish : concerning which you are also to take notice, that he lives not so long as the Perch and divers other fishes do, as Sir Francis Bacon hath observed in his '* History of Life and Death." And next you are to take notice, that he is not like the Croc- odile, which, if he lives never so long, yet always thrives till his death : but 't is not so with the Trout ; for after he has come to his full growth, he declines in his body, and keeps his big- ness or thrives only in his head, till his death. And you are to know, that he will about, especially before, the time of his spawning, get almost miraculously through weirs and flood-gates against the streams : even through such high and swift places as is almost incredible. Next, that the Trout usually spawns about October or November, but in some rivers a little sooner or later : which is the more observable, because most other fish spawn in the spring or summer, when the sun hath warmed both the eaith and water, and made it fit for generation. And you are to note, that he continues many months out of season : for it may be ob- served of the Trout, that he is like the Buck or the Ox, that will not be fat in many months, though he go in the very same Chap. IV. J THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 91 pasture that horses do, which will be fat in one month ; and so you may observe, that most other fishes recover strength, and grow sooner fat and in season, than the Trout doth. And next you are to note, that till the sun gets to such a height as to warm the earth and the water, the Trout is sick, and lean, and lousy, and unwholesome : for you shall in winter find him to have a big head, and then to be lank, and thin, and lean : at which time many of them have sticking on them Sugs, or Trout-Hce, which is a kind of a worm, in shape Hke a clove or pin, with a big head, and sticks close to him and sucks his moisture ; those, I think, the Trout breeds himself, and never thrives till he free himself from them, which is when warm weather comes ; and then, as he grows stronger, he gets from the dead still water into the sharp streams and the gravel, and there rubs off these worms or lice ; and then, as he grows stronger, so he gets him into swifter and swifter streams, and there lies at the watch for any fly or minnow that comes near to him : and he especially loves the May-fly, which is bred of the Cod-worm, or Cadis ; and these make the Trout bold and lusty, and he is usually fatter and better meat at the end of that month than at any time of the year. Now you are to know, that it is observed that usually the best Trouts are either red or yellow ; though some, as the For- didge Trout, be white and yet good ; but that is not usual : and it is a note observable, that the Female Trout hath usually a less head and a deeper body than the male Trout, and is usually the better meat. And note, that a hog-back and a httle head, to either Trout, Salmon, or any other fish, is a sign that that fish is in season. But yet you are to note, that as you see some willows, or palm-trees, bud and blossom sooner than others do, so some Trouts be in rivers sooner in season : and as some hollies or oaks are longer before they cast their leaves, so are some Trouts in rivers longer before they go out of season. And you are to note, that there are several kinds of Trouts ; 92 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I but these several kinds are not considered but by very few men, for they go under the general name of Trouts : just as Pigeons do in most places; though it is certain there are tame and wild Pigeons : and of the tame, there be Helmits and Runts, and Carriers and Cropers, and indeed too many to name. Nay, the Royal Society have found and published lately, that there be thirty and three kinds of Spiders : and yet all, for aught I know, go under that one general name of Spider. And 't is so with many kinds of fish, and of Trouts especially, which differ in their bigness, and shape, and spots, and color. The great Kentish Hens may be an instance compared to other hens ; and doubtless there is a kind of small Trout, which will never thrive to be big, that breeds very many more than others do that be of a larger size : which you may rather believe, if you consider that the little Wren or Titmouse will have twenty young ones at a time, when usually the noble Hawk, or the musical Thrassel or Blackbird, exceed not four or five. And now you shall see me try my skill to catch a Trout, and at my next walking, either this evening or to-morrow morning, I will give you direction how you yourself shall fish for him. Ven. Trust me. Master, I see now it is a harder matter to catch a Trout than a Chub : for I have put on patience, and followed you these two hours, and not seen a fish stir, neither at your minnow nor your worm. Pisc. Well, Scholar, you must endure worse luck some time, or you will never make a good Angler. But what say you now ? there is a Trout now, and a good one too, if I can but hold him, and two or three turns more will tire him. Now you see he lies still, and the sleight is to land him : reach me that landing-net. So, Sir, now he is mine own, what say you now ? is not this worth all my labor and your patience ? Ven. On my word, Master, this is a gallant Trout ; what shall we do with him ? Pisc. Marry, e'en eat him to supper : we '11 go to my Host- ess, from whence we came : she told me, as I was going out of Chap. IV.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 93 door, that my brother Peter, a good Angler and a cheerful companion, had sent word he would lodge there to-night, and bring a friend with him. My Hostess has two beds, and I know you and I may have the best : we '11 rejoice with my brother Peter and his friend, tell tales, or sing ballads, or make a catch, or find some harmless sport to content us, and pass away a little time without offence to God or man. Ven. a match, good Master : let 's go to that house, for the linen looks white, and smells of lavender, and I long to lie in a pair of sheets that smell so. Let 's be going, good Master, for I am hungry again with fishing. Pisc. Nay, stay a little, good Scholar : I caught my last Trout with a worm ; now I will put on a minnow and try a quarter of an hour about yonder trees for another, and so walk towards our lodging. Look you, Scholar, thereabout we shall ^ave a bite presently, or not at all. Have with you. Sir ! o' my word, I have hold of him. Oh ! it is a great logger- headed Chub; come, hang him upon that willow-twig, and let 's be going. But turn out of the way a little, good Scholar, towards yonder high honeysuckle hedge; there we '11 sit and sing whilst this shower falls so gently upon the teeming earth, and gives yet a sweeter smell to the lovely flowers that adorn these verdant meadows. Look, under that broad beech-tree I sat down, when I was last this way a-fishing, and the birds in the adjoining grove seemed to have a friendly contention with an echo, whose dead voice seemed to live in a hollow tree, near to the brow of that primrose hill ; there I sat viewing the silver streams glide si- lently towards their centre, the tempestuous sea; yet some- times opposed by rugged roots, and pebble-stones, which broke their waves, and turned them into foam : and sometimes I beguiled time by viewing the harmless lambs, some leaping securely in the cool shade, whilst others sported themselves in the cheerful sun ; and saw others craving comfort from the swollen udders of their bleating dams. As I thus sat, these 94 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part L and other sights had so fully possessed my soul with content, that I thought, as the poet has happily expressed it, " I was for that time lifted above earth, And possessed joys not promised in my birth." As I left this place, and entered into the next field, a second pleasure entertained me ; 't was a handsome Milkmaid that had not yet attained so much age and wisdom as to load her mind with any fears of many things that will never be, as too many men too often do ; but she cast away all care, and sung like a nightingale. Her voice was good, and the ditty fitted for it ; 't was that smooth song, which was made by Kit Marlowe, now at least fifty years ago : and the Milkmaid's mother sung an answer to it, which was made by Sir Walter Raleigh in his younger days. They were old-fashioned poetry, but choicely good, I think much better than the strong lines that are now in fashion in this critical age. Look yonder ! on my word, yonder they both be a-milking again. I will give her the Chub, and per- suade them to sing those two songs to us. God speed you, good woman ! I have been a-fishing, and am going to Bleak Hall to my bed ; and having caught more fish than will sup myself and my friend, I will bestow this upon you and your daughter, for I use to sell none. MiLK-w. Marry, God requite you ! Sir, and we '11 eat it cheerfully ; and if you come this way a-fishing two months hence, a-grace of God I '11 give you a syllabub of new verjuice in a new-made hay-cock for it, and my Maudlin shall sing you one of her best ballads ; for she and I both love ali Anglers, they be such honest, civil, quiet men. In the mean time will you drink a draught of red cow's milk? you shall have it freely. Pisc. No, I thank you ; but I pray do us a courtesy that shall stand you and your daughter in nothing, and yet we will think our ourselves still something in your debt : it is but to Chap. JV.J THE COMPLETE ANGLER. g%. sing lis a song that was sung by your daughter when I last passed over this meadow, about eight or nine days since. MiLK-w. What song was it, I pray? Was it '' Come, Shep- herds, deck your herds " ? or, '' As at noon Dulcina rested " ? or ''Philida flouts me " ? or Chevy Chace? or Johnny Arm- strong ? or Troy Town ? Pisc. No, it is none of those : it is a song that your daugh- ter sung the first part, and you sung the answer to it. MiLK-w. O, I know it now ; I learned the first part in my golden age, when I was about the age of my poor daughter ; and the latter part, which indeed fits me best now, but two or three years ago, when the cares of the world began to take hold of me : but you shall, God willing, hear them both, and sung as well as we can, for we both love Anglers. Come, Maudlin, sing the first part to the gentlemen with a merrj heart, and I'll sing the second, when you have done. "THE milk-maid's SONG. •'Come, live with me, and be my love. And we will all the pleasure, prove That valleys, groves, or hills, or field, Or woods and steepy mountains yield,— "Where we will sit upon the rocks, And see the shepherds feed our flocks^ By shallow rivers, to whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals. •* And I will make thee beds of roses, And then a thousand fragrant posies ; A cap of flowers, and a kirtle Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle^ **A gown made of the finest wool, Which from our pretty lambs we pull ; Slippers lined choicely for the cold. With buckles of the purest gold ; 96 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I " A belt of straw, and ivy-buds, With coral clasps and amber studs ;— And if these pleasures may thee move, Come, live with me, and be my love. •* Thy silver dishes for thy meat, As precious as the Gods do eat. Shall on an ivory table be Prepared each day for thee and me. •' The shepherd swains shall dance and sing For thy delight each May morning : If these delights thy mind may move, Then live with me, and be my love. " Ven. Trust me, Master, it is a choice song, and sweetly sung by honest Maudlin. I now see it was not without cause that our good Queen EHzabeth did so often wish herself a Milkmaid all the month of May, because they are not troubled with fears and cares, but sing sweetly all the day, and sleep securely all the night : and, without doubt, honest, innocent, pretty Maudlin does so. I '11 bestow Sir Thomas Over bury 's Milkmaid's wish upon her, — ** that she may die in the Spring; and, being dead, may have good store of flowers stuck round about her winding-sheet." "THE milk-maid's MOTHER's ANSWER. •* If all the world and love were young, And truth in every shepherd* s tongue, These pretty pleasures might me move To live with thee, and be thy love. ** But time drives flocks from field to fold i When rivers rage, and rocks grow cold. Then Philomel becometh dumb, And age complains of cares to come. •* The flowers do fade, and wanton fields To wayward Winter reckoning yields ; A honey tongue, a heart of gall, 1$ fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall. T^HAP. IV.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 97 ** Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses, Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies, Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten ; In folly ripe, in reason rotten. " Thy belt of straw, and ivy-buds, Thy coral clasps and amber studs, All these in me no means can move To come to thee, and be thy Love. ** What should we talk of dainties then. Of better meat than 's fit for men ? These are but vain : that 's only good Which God hath blest, and sent for food. *' But could youth last, and love still breed. Had joys no date, nor age no need, — Then those delights my mind might move. To live with thee, and be thy love." Mother. Well, I have done my song. But stay, honest Anglers, for I will make Maudlin to sing you one short song more. Maudlin, sing that song that you sung last night, when young Coridon the Shepherd played so purely on his oaten pipe to you and your Cousin Retty. Maud. I will. Mother. ** I married a wife of late, The more's my unhappy fate t I married her for love, As my fancy did me move. And not for a worldly estate t •* But oh ! the green-sickness Soon changed her likeness, And all her beauty did fail. But 't is not so With those that go, Through frost and snow. As all men know, And carry the milking-pail," 93 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. IPart I. Pisc. Well sung ! Good woman, I thank you. I '11 give you another dish of fish one of these days ; and then beg another song of you. Come, Scholar, let Maudlin alone : do not you offer to spoil her voice. Look ! yonder comes mine Hostess, to call us to supper. How now ! is my brother Peter come ? Host. Yes, and a friend with him ; they are both glad to hear that you are in these parts, and long to see you, and long to be at supper, for they be very hungry. THE THIRD AND FOURTH DAYS, Chap. V. — More Directions how to Jish for, and how to ?nake/or the Trout an Artificial Minnow and Flies, with some Merri?nent. PiSCATOR. \ 1 7ELL met, Brother Peter ! I heard you and a friend ' " would lodge here to-night, and that hath made me to bring my friend to lodge here too. My friend is one that would fain be a Brother of the Angle : he hath been an Angler but this day, and I have taught him how to catch a Chub by daping with a grasshopper; and the Chub he caught was a lusty one of nineteen inches long. But pray. Brother Peter, who is your companion ? Peter. Brother Piscator, my friend is an honest Country- man, and his name is Coridon, and he is a downright witty companion, that met me here purposely to be pleasant and eat a Trout ; and I have not yet wetted my line since we met to- gether : but I hope to fit him with a Trout for his breakfast, for I '11 be early up. Pisc. Nay, brother, you shall not stay so long : for, look vou I here is a Trout will fix six reasonable bellies. Come, Hostess, dress it presently, and get us what other meat the house will afford, and give vs ^.tie of your best bar- lOO THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. ley- wine, the good liquor that our honest forefathers did use to drink of; the drink which preserved their health, and made them live so long, and to do so many good deeds. Peter. O' my word, this Trout is perfect in season. Come, I thank you, and here is a hearty draught to you, and to all the Brothers of the Angle wheresoever they be, and to my young brother's good fortune to-morrow. I will furnish him with a rod, if you will furnish him with the rest of the tack- ling ; we will set him up and make him a fisher. And I will tell him one thing for his encouragement, that his fortune hath ^ade him happy to be scholar to such a master ; a master that knows as much both of the nature and breeding of fish as any man : and can also tell him as well how to catch and cook them, from the Minnow to the Salmon, as any that I ever met withal. Pisc. Trust me, Brother Peter, I find my Scholar to be so suitable to my own humor, which is to be free, and pleasant, and civilly merry, that my resolution is to hide nothing that I know from him. Believe me. Scholar, this is my resolution ; and so here's to you a hearty draught, and to all that love us, and the honest art of Angling. Ven. Trust me, good Master, you shall not sow your seed in barren ground ; for I hope to return you an increase answer- able to your hopes : but, however, you shall find me obedient, and thankful, and serviceable to my best ability. Pisc. 'T is enough, honest Scholar: come, let 's to supper. Come, my friend Coridon, this Trout looks lovely; it was twenty-two inches when it was taken ; and the belly of it looked, some part of it as yellow as a marigold, and part of it as white as a Illy ; and yet methinks it looks better in this good sauce. Coridon. Indeed, honest friend, it looks well, and tastes well : I thank you for it, and so doth my friend Peter, or else he is to blame. Pet. Yes, and lo ;] <2^ j we all thank you, and when we have Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. lOI supped, I will get my friend Coridon to sing you a song for re- quital. Cor. I will sing a song, if anybody will sing another ; else, to be plain with you, I will sing none : I am none of those that sing for meat, but for company; I say, *' 'T is merry in hall, when men sing all." Pisc. I '11 promise you I '11 sing a song that was lately made, at my request, by Mr. William Basse, one that hath made the choice songs of the "Hunter in his career," and of "Tom of Bedlam," and many others of note; and this that I will sing is in praise of Angling. Cor. And then mine shall be the praise of a countryman's life. What will the rest sing of? Pet. I will promise you, I will sing another song in praise of Angling to-morrow night ; for we will not part till then ; but fish to-morrow, and sup together, and the next day every man leave fishing, and fall to his business. Ven. 'T is a match ; and I will provide you a song or a catch against then, too, which shall give some addition of mirth to the company ; for we will be civil, and as merry as beggars. Pisc. 'T is a match, my masters. Let 's even say grace, and turn to the fire, drink the other cup to wet our whistles, and so sing away all sad thoughts. Come on, my masters, who begins ? I think it is best to draw cuts, and avoid contention. Pet. It is a match. Look, the shortest cut falls to Coridon. Cor. Well, then, I will begin, for I hate contention. CORIDON 'S SONG. •*0 the sweet contentment The countryman doth find I Heigh trolollie lollie loc. Heigh trolollie'lee, That quiet contemplation ?ossesseth all my mind : . ^ Then care away, . •:*^ And wend along with mc, ;^' I02 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part 1. ** For courts are full of flattery, As hath too oft been tried ; Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc. The city full of wantonness, And both are full of pride : Then care away, etc. *' But oh ! the honest countryman Speaks truly from his heart, Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc. His pride is in his tillage. His horses, and his cart : Then care away, etc. ** Our clothing is good sheep-skins, Gray russet for our wives, Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc. 'T is warmth, and not gay clothing. That doth prolong our lives : Then care away, etc. •• The ploughman, though he labor harc^ Yet on the holiday, Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc No emperor so merrily Does pass his time away : Then care away, etc •* To recompense our tillage, The heavens afford us showers ; Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc And for our sweet refreshments The earth affords us bowers : Then care away, etc. **The cuckoo and the nightingale Full merrily do sing, Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc And with, their pleasant roundelays Bid welcome to the spring : Then care away, etc ••This is not half the happiness The countryman enjoys ; . fleigh trolollie Idllie loe, etc Chap. V.l THE COMPLETE ANGLER. IO3 Though others think they have as much. Yet he that says so lies : Then come away, turn Countryman with me.** Jo. Chalkhilu Pisc. Well sung ! Coridon, this song was sung with mettle ; and it was choicely fitted to the occasion : I shall love you for it as long as I know you. I would you were a Brother of the Angle, for a companion that is cheerful, and free from swear- ing and scurrilous discourse, is worth gold. I love such mirth as does not make friends ashamed to look upon one another next morning ; nor men, that cannot well bear it, to repent the money they spend when they be warmed with drink. And take this for a rule, you may pick out such times and such com- panies, that you may make yourselves merrier for a little than a great deal of money; for ** 'T is the company and not the charge that makes the feast ' ' ; and such a companion you prove ; I thank you for it. But I will not compliment you out of the debt that I owe you, and therefore I will begin my song, and wish it may be so well Uked. THE ANGLER*S SONG. *' As inward love breeds outward talk, 1 he hound some praise, and some the hawk t Some, better pleased with private sport, Use tennis, some a mistress court : But these delights I neither wish, Nor envy, while I freely fish. ** Who hunts, doth oft in danger ride ; Who hawks, lures oft both far and wide : Who uses games shall often prove ^ A loser ; but who falls in love Is fettered in fond Cupid's snare : My angle breeds me no such care. 104 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [pA»t t •* Of recreation there is none So free as Fishing is alone ; All other pastimes do no less Than mind and body both possess t My hand alone my work can do^ So I can fish and study too, ** I care not, I, to fish in seas ; Fresh rivers best my mind do please, Whose sweet calm course I contemplate And seek in life to imitate : In civil bounds I fain would keep, • And for my past offences weep. •* And when the timorous Trout I wait To take, and he devours my bait, How poor a thing sometimes I find Will captivate a greedy mind 1 And when none bite, I praise the wis^ Whom vain allurements ne*er surprise* •* But yet, though while I fish I fast, I make good fortune my repast ; And thereunto my friend invite, In whom I more than that delight : Who is more welcome to my dish. Than to my angle was my fish. •* As well content no prize to take, As use of taken prize to make : For so our Lord was pleased when He fishers made fishers of men : Where, which is in no other game, A man may fish and praise his name. •' The first men that our Saviour dear Did choose to wait upon him here Blest fishers were, and fish the last Food was that he on earth did taste .- I therefore strive to follow those Whom he to follow him hath chose." Cor. Well sung, Brother ! you have paid your debt in good coin. We Anglers are all beholden to the good man that made Chap.V.) the complete ANGLER. loj this song. Come, Hostess, give us more ale, and let 's drink to him. And now let 's every one go to bed that we may rise early : but first let *s pay our reckoning, for I will have nothing to hinder me in the morning ; for my purpose is to prevent the sun rising. Pet. a match. Come, Coridon, you are to be my bed- fellow : I know, Brother, you and your Scholar will lie together. But where shall we meet to-morrow night ? for my friend Cori- don and I will go up the water towards Ware. Pisc. And my Scholar and I will go down towards Waltham. . Cor. Then let 's meet here, for here are fresh sheets that smell of lavender ; and I am sure we cannot expect better meat or better usage in any place. Pet. 'T is a match. Good night to everybody I Pisc. And so say L Ven. And so say L THE FOURTH DAY. Pisc. Good morrow, good Hostess ! I see my Brother Peter is still in bed : come, give my Scholar and me a morning drink, and a bit of meat to breakfast, and be sure to get a good dish of meat or two against supper, for we shall come home as hungry as hawks. Come, Scholar, let *s be going. Ven. Well now, good Master, as we walk towards the river give me direction, according to your promise, how I shall fish for a Trout. Pisc. My honest Scholar, I will take this very convenient op- portunity to do it. The Trout is usually caught with a worm or a minnow, which some call a Penk, or with a fly, viz. either a natural or an arti- ficial fly : concerning which three I will give you some observa- tions and directions. And, first, for worms: of these there be very many sorts; I06 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I some breed only in the earth, as the Earth-worm ; others of or amongst plants, as the Dug-worm ; and others breed either out of excrements, or in the bodies of Hving creatures, as in the horns of sheep or deer ; or some of dead flesh, as the maggot or gentle, and others. Now these be most of them particularly good for particular fishes : but for the Trout, the Dew-worm, which some also call the Lob-worm, and the Brandling, are the chief; and especially the first for a great Trout, and the latter for a less. There be also of Lob-worms some called Squirrel-tails, a worm that has a red head, a streak down the back, and a broad tail, which are noted to be the best, because they are the toughest and most lively, and live longest in the water : for you are to know, that a dead worm is but a dead bait, and like to catch nothing, com pared to a lively, quick, stirring worm. And for a Brandling, he is usually found in an old dunghill, or some very rotten place near to it : but most usually in cow-dung, or hog's dung, rather than horse-dung, which is somewhat too hot and dry "for that worm. But the best of them are to be found in the bark of the tanners, which they cast up in heaps after they have used it about their leather. There are also divers other kinds of w^orms, which for color and shape alter even as the ground out of which they are got ; as the Marsh-worm, the Tag-tail, the Flag-worm, the Dock- worm, the Oak-worm, the Gilt-tail, the Twachel or Lob-worm, which of all others is the most excellent bait for a Salmon, and too many to name, even as many sorts as some think there be of several herbs or shrubs, or of several kinds of birds in the air : of which I shall say no more, but tell you, that what worms soever you fish with are the better for being well scoured, that is, long kept before they be used : and in case you have not been so provident, then the way to cleanse and scour them quickly is to put them all night in water, if they be Lob-worms, and then put them into your bag with fennel ; but you must not put your Brandlings above an hour in water, and then put them into Chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 10? fennel for sudden use ; but if you have time, and purpose to keep them long, then they be best preserved in an earthen pot with good store of moss, which is to be fresh every three or four days in summer, and every week or eight days in winter ; or at least the moss taken from them, and clean washed, and wrung betwixt your hands till it be dry, and then put it to them again. And when your worms, especially the Brandling, begins to be sick and lose of his bigness, then you may recover him by put- ting a little milk or cream, about a spoonful in a day, into them by drops on the moss ; and if there be added to the cream an egg beaten and boiled in it, then it will both fatten and pre- serve them long. And note, that when the knot, which is near to the middle of the BrandUng, begins to swell, then he is sick, and, if he be not well looked to, is near dying. And for moss you are to note, that there be divers kinds of it, which I could name to you, but will only tell you that that which is likest a buck's horn is the best, except it be soft white moss, which grows on some heaths, and is hard to be found. And note, that in a very dry time, when you are put to an extremity for worms, walnut-tree leaves squeezed into water, or salt in water, to make it bitter or salt, and then that water poured on the gKOund where you shall see worms are used to rise in the night, will make them to appear above ground presently. And you may take notice, some say that camphor put into your bag with your moss and worms gives them a strong and so tempting a smell, that the fish fare the worse and you the better for it. And now I shall show you how to bait your hook with a worm, so as shall prevent you from much trouble, and the loss of many a hook too, when you fish for a Trout with a running- line ; that is to say, when you fish for him by hand at the ground. I will direct you in this as plainly as I can,, that you may not mistake. Suppose it be a big Lob- worm ; put your hook into him somewhat above the middle, and out again a little below the middle : having so done, draw your worm above the arming of 1(58 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [PAtT L your hook; but note, that at the entering of your hook il must not be at the head-end of the worm, but at the tail-end of him, that the point of your hook may come out toward the head-end, and having drawn him above the arming of your hook, then put the point of your hook again into the very head of the worm, till it come near to the place where the point of the hook first came out : and then draw back that part of the worm that was above the shank or arming of your hook, and so fish with it. And if you mean to fish with two worms, then put the second on before you turn back the hook's head of the first worm. You cannot lose above two or three worms before you attain to what I direct you ; and having attained it, you will find it very useful, and thank me for it, for you will run on the ground without tangling. Now for the Minnow or Penk; he is not easily found and caught till March, or in April, for then he appears first in the river ; Nature having taught him to shelter and hide himself in the winter in ditches that be near to the river, and there both to hide and keep himself warm in the mud or in the weeds, which rot not so soon as in a running river, in which place if he were in winter, the distempered floods that are usually in that season would suffer him to take no rest, but carry him head- long to mills and weirs, to his confusion. And of these Min- nows, first you are to know, that the biggest size is not the best ; and next, that the middle size and the whitest are the best : and then you are to know, that your Minnow must be so put on your hook, that it must turn round when 't is drawn against the stream, and that it may turn nimbly, you must put it on a big-sized hook as I shall now direct you, which is thus. Put your hook in at his mouth and out at his gill; then, ♦having drawn your hook two or three inches be- yond or through his gill, put it again into his mouth, and the point and beard out at his tail ; and then tie the hook and his tail about very neatly with a white thread, which will make it the apter to turn quick in the water : that done, pull Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. IO9 back that part of your line which was slack when you did put your hook into the Minnow the second time ; I say, pull that, part of your line back so that it shall fasten the head so that the body of the Minnow shall be almost straight on your hook ; this done, try how it will turn by drawing it across the water or against a stream ; and if it do not turn nimbly, then turn the tail a little to the right or left hand, and try again, till it turn quick ; for if not, you are in danger to catch nothing ; for know, that it is impossible that it should turn too quick. And you are yet to know, that in case you want a Minnow, then a small Loach or a Stickle-bag, or any other small fish that will turn quick, will serve as well. And you are yet to know, that you may salt them, and by that means keep them ready and fit for use three or four days, or longer ; and that of salt, bay-salt is the best. And here let me tell you, what many old Anglers know right well, that at some times, and in some waters, a Minnow is not to be got, and therefore let me tell you, I have — which I will show to you — an artificial Minnow, that will catch a Trout as well as an artificial fly ; and it was made by a handsome woman, that had a fine hand, and a live Minnow lying by her : the mould or body of the Minnow was cloth, and wrought upon or over it thus with a needle ; the back of it with very sad French green silk, and paler green silk towards the belly, shad- owed as perfectly as you can imagine, just as you see a Min- now ; the belly was wrought also with a needle, and it was a part of it white silk, and another part of it with silver thread : the tail and fins were of a quill, which was shaven thin ; the eyes were of two little black beads, and the head was so shad- owed, and all of it so curiously wrought, and so exactly dis- sembled, that it would beguile any sharp-sighted Trout, in a swift stream. And this Minnow I will now show you ; look, here it is : and if you like it, lend it you, to have two or three made by it, for they be easily carried about an Angler and be of excellent use; for note, that a large Trout will come as il6 THE C6Ml>LEtE ANGLER. C^art 1. fiercely at a Minnow, as the highest mettled hawk doth seize on a partridge, or a greyhound on a hare. I have been told, that one hundred and sixty Minnows have been found in a Trout's belly ; either the Trout had devoured so many, or the miller that gave it a friend of mine had forced them down his throat after he had taken him. Now for Flies, which is the third bait wherewith Trouts are usually taken. You are to know, that there are so many sorts of flies as there be of fruits : I will name you but some of them ; as the Dun-fly, the Stone-fly, the Red-fly, the Moor-fly, the Tawny-fly, the Shell-fly, the Cloudy or Blackish-fly, the Flag- fly, the Vine-fly : there be of flies, Caterpillars, and Canker- flies, and Bear-flies; and indeed too many either for me to name or for you to remember : and their breeding is so various and wonderful, that I might easily amaze myself and tire you in a relation of them. And yet I will exercise your promised patience by saying a little of the Caterpillar, or the Palmer-fly or worm, that by them you may guess what a work it were in a discourse but to run over those very many flies, worms, and little living creat- ures with which the sun and summer adorn and beautify the river-banks and meadows, both for the recreation and contem- plation of us Anglers : pleasures which, I think, myself enjoy more than any other man that is not of my profession. Pliny holds an opinion, that many have their birth or being from a dew, that in the spring falls upon the leaves of trees ; and that some kinds of them are from a dew left upon herbs or flowers ; and others from a dew left upon coleworts or cab- bages; all which kinds of dews being thickened and con- densed, are by the sun's generative heat most of them hatched, and in three days made living creatures : and these of several shapes and colors ; some being hard and tough, some smooth and soft ; some are horned in their head, some in their tail, some have none : some have hair, some none : some have six- teen feet, some less, and some have none : bvil, as our Topsel Chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. Ill hath, with great dihgence, observed, those which have none move upon the earth, or upon broad leaves, their motion being not unhke to the waves of the sea. Some of them he also ob- serves to be bred of the eggs of other caterpillars, and that those in their time turn to be butterflies ; and again, that their eggs turn the following year to be caterpillars. And some affirm, that every plant has his particular fly or caterpillar, which it breeds and feeds. I have seen, and may therefore affirm it* a green caterpillar, or worm, as big as a small peas- cod, which had fourteen legs ; eight on the belly, four under the neck, and two near the tail. It was found on a hedge of privet ; and was taken thence, and put into a large box, and a little branch or two of privet put to it, on which I saw it feed as sharply as a dog gnaws a bone : it lived thus five or six days, and thrived, and changed the color two or three times ; but, by some neglect in the keeper of it, it then died and did not turn to a fly : but if it had hved, it had doubtless turned to one of those flies that some call Flies-of prey, which those that walk by the rivers may, in summer, see fasten on smaller flies, and, I think, make them their food. And 't is observa- ble, that, as there be these Flies-of-prey which be very large, so there be others, very little, created, I think, only to feed them, and breed out of I know not what ; whose life, they say, Nature intended not to exceed an hour ; and yet that life is thus made shorter by other flies, or accident. 'T is endless to tell you what the curious searchers into Nature's productions have observed of these worms and flies : but yet I shall tell you what Aldrovandus, our Topsel, and others, say of the Palmer-worm or Caterpillar : that whereas others content themselves to feed on particular herbs or leaves, — for most think those very leaves that gave them life and shape give them a particular feeding and nourishment, and that ^upon them they usually abide ; — yet he observes that this is •called a Pilgrim or Palmer-worm, for his very wandering life ;aj>d varioi^ food ; not contenting himself, as others do, with 112 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part X any one certain place for his abode, nor any certain kind of herb or flower for his feeding ; but will boldly and disorderly wander up and down, and not endure to be kept to a diet, or fixed to a particular place. Nay, the very colors of Caterpillars are, as one has observed, very elegant and beautiful. I shall, for a taste of the rest, de- scribe one of them, which I will some time the next month show you feeding on a willow-tree, and you shall find him punctually to answer this very description : his lips and mouth somewhat yellow, his eyes black as jet, his forehead purple, his feet and hinder parts green, his tail two-forked and black ; the whole body stained with a kind of red spots which run along the neck and shoulder-blade, not unlike the form of Saint Andrew's cross, or the letter X, made thus crosswise, and a white Hne drawn down his back to his tail ; all which add much beauty to his whole body. And it is to me observable, that at a fixed age this Caterpillar gives over to eat, and towards winter comes to be covered over with a strange shell or crust, called an Aurelia ; and so lives a kind of dead life, without eating, all the winter. And, as others of several kinds turn to be several kinds of flies and vermin the spring following, so this caterpillar then turns to be a painted butterfly. Come, come., my Scholar, you see the river stops our morn- ing walk, and I will also here stop my discourse : only, as we sit down under this honeysuckle hedge, whilst I look a line to fit the rod that our Brother Peter hath lent you, I shall, for a little confirmation of what I have said, repeat the observation of Du Bartas ; — ** God, not contented to each kind to g^ve, And to infuse the virtue generative, By his wise power made many creatures breed Of lifeless bodies, without Venus' deed. ** So the cold humor breeds the Salamander ; Who, in effect, like to her birth's commander, With child with hundred winters, with her touch ■QtieDcbcth the fire, though giowing ne'er so much* Chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. II3 •* So in the fire, in burning furnace, springs The fly Perausta with the flaming wings i Without the fire it dies ; in it it joys ; Living in that which all things else destroys. ** So, slow Bootes underneath him sees In th* icy islands goslings hatched of trees ; Whose fruitful leaves, falling into the water, Are turned, 't is known, to living fowls soon after. '* So rotten planks of broken ships do change To barnacles. O transformation strange ! *T was first a green tree, then a broken hull, Lately a mushroom, now a flying gull." Ven. O my good Master ! this morning walk has been sperft to my great pleasure and wonder : but I pray, when shall I have your direction how to make Artificial Flies, like to those that the Trout loves best ? and also how to use them ? Pisc. My honest Scholar, it is now past five of the clock ; we will fish till nine, and then go to breakfast. Go you to yonder sycamore-tree, and hide your bottle of drink under the hollow root of it ; for about that time, and in that place, we will make a brave breakfast with a piece of powdered beef, and a radish or two that I have in my fish-bag : we shall, I warrant you, make a good, honest, wholesome, hungry breakfast ; and I will give then you direction for the making and using of your flies : and in the mean time there is your rod and line ; and my advice is, that you fish as you see me do, and let 's try which can catch the first fish. Ven. I thank you. Master, I will observe and practise your direction, as far as I am able. Pisc. Look you, Scholar ; you see I have hold of a good fish : I now see it is a Trout. I pray put that net under him, and touch not my Hne, for if you do, then we break all. Well done, Scholar, I thank you. Now for another. Trust me I have another bite. Come, Scholar, come, lay down your rod, and help me to land this, as 1 14 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part t you did the other. So now we shall be sure to have a good dish of fish to supper. Ven. I am glad of that ; but I have no fortune : sure, Master, yours is a better rod and better tackling. Pisc. Nay, then, take mine, and I will fish with yours. Look you, Scholar, I have another. Come, do as you did before. A.nd now I have a bite at another. Oh me ! he has brdke all; there's half a line and a good hook lost. Ven. Ay, and a good Trout too. Pisc. Nay, the Trout is not lost ; for pray take notice, no man can lose what he never had. Ven. Master, I can neither catch with the first nor second angle : I have no fortune. Pisc. Look you. Scholar, I have yet another. And now, having caught three brace of Trouts, I will tell you a short tale as we walk towards our breakfast. A scholar, a preacher I should say, that was to preach to procure the approbation of a parish, that he might be their lecturer, had got from his fellow- pupil the copy of a sermon that was first preached with great commendation by him that composed it : and though the bor- rower of it preached it word for word, as it was at first, yet it was utterly disliked as it was preached by the second to his con-- gregation ; which the sermon-borrower complained of to the lender of it, and was thus answered: *'l lent you indeed my fiddle, but not my fiddlestick ; for you are to know, that every one cannot make music with my words, which are fitted for my own mouth." And so, my Scholar, you are to know, that as the ill pronunciation or ill accenting of words in a sermon spoils it, so the ill carriage of your line, or not fishing even to a foot in a right place, makes you lose your labor ; and you are to know, that though you have my fiddle, that is, my very rod and tackHngs with which you see I catch fish, yet you have not my fiddlestick : that is, you yet have not skill to know how to carry your hand and line, nor how to guide it to a right place : and this must be taught you, — ^for you are to remember I told you Chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. - II5 Angling is an art, — either by practice, or a long observation, or both. But take this for a rule, when you fish for a Trout with a worm, let your line have so much, and not more lead than will fit the stream in which you fish ; that is to say, more in a great troublesome stream than in a smaller that is quieter : as near as may be, so much as will sink the bait to the bottom, and keep it still in motion, and not more. But now let 's say grace and fall to breakfast. What say you. Scholar, to the providence of an old Angler? Does not this meat taste well ? and was not this place well chosen to eat it ? for this sycamore- tree will shade us from the sun's heat. Ven. All excellent good ; and my stomach excellent good too. And now I remember, and find that true which devout Lessius says, " that poor men, and those that fast often, have much more pleasure in eating than rich men and gluttons, that always feed before their stomachs are empty of their last meat, and call for more ; for by that means they rob themselves of that pleasure that hunger brings to poor men." And I do seri- ously approve of that saying of yours, " that you had rather be a civil, well-governed, well-grounded, temperate, poor Angler, than a drunken lord ' ' : but I hope there is none such. How- ever, I am certain of this, that I have been at many very costly dinners that have not afforded me half the content that this has done, for which I thank God and you. And now, good Master, proceed to your promised direction for making and ordering my Artificial Fly. Pisc. My honest Scholar, I will do it, for it is a debt due unto you by my promise. And because you shall not think yourself more engaged to me than indeed you really are, I will freely give you such directions as were lately given to me by an ingenious Brother of the Angle, an honest man, and a most ex- cellent fly-fisher. You are to note, that there are twelve kinds of artificial-made Flies to angle with upon the top of the water. Note by the Il6 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part! way, that the fittest season of using these is a blustering, windy day, when the waters are so troubled that the natural fly can- not be seen, or rest upon them. The first is the Dun-fly, in March : the body is made of dun wool, the wings of the par- tridge's feathers. The second is another Dun-fly : the body of black wool, and the wings made of the black drake's feathers, and of the feathers under his tail. The third is the Stone-fly, in April : the body is made of black wool, made yellow under the wings, and under the tail, and so made with wings of the drake. The fourth is the Ruddy-fly, in the beginning of May : the body made of red wool wrapt about with black silk, and the feathers are the wings of the drake ; with the feathers of a red capon also, which hang dangling on his sides next to the tail. The fifth is the yellow or greenish fly, in May likewise : the body made of yellow wool, and the wings made of the red cock's hackle or tail. The sixth is the Black-fly, in May also : the body made of black wool, and lapped about with the herle of a peacock's tail ; the wings are made of the wings of a brown capon with his blue feathers in his head. The seventh is the Sad-yellow-fly in June : the body is made of black wool, with a yellow list on either side, and the wings taken oiT the wings of a buzzard, bound with black braked hemp. The eighth is the Moorish-fly : made with the body of duskish wool, and the wings made of the blackish mail of the drake. The ninth is the Tawny-fly, good until the middle of June : the body made of tawny wool, the wings made contrary one against the other, made of the whitish mail of the wild-drake. The tenth is the Wasp-fly, in July : the body made of black-wool, lapped about with yellow silk ; the wings made of the feathers of the drake, or of the buzzard. The eleventh is the Shell-fly, good in mid- July : the body made of greenish wool, lapped about with the herle of a peacock's tail, and the wings made of the wings of the buzzard. The twelfth is the dark Drake-fly, good in Au- gust : the body made with black wool, lapped about with black silk ; his wings are made with the mail of the black-drake, with Chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 11/ a black head. Thus have you a jury of flies likely to betray and condemn all the Trouts in the river. I shall next give you some other directions for fly-fishing, such as are given by Mr. Thomas Barker, a gentleman that hath spent much time in fishing ; but I shall do it with a little variation. First, let your rod be light, and very gentle : I take the best to be of two pieces. And let not your line exceed, — especially for three or four links next to the hook, — I say, not exceed three or four hairs at the most, though you may fish a little stronger above in the upper part of your line ; but if you can attain to angle with one hair, you shall have more rises and catch more fish. Now you must be sure not to cumber your- self with too long a line, as most do. And before you begin to angle, cast to have the wind on your back, and the sun, if it shines, to be before you, and to fish down the stream ; and carry the point or top of your rod downward, by which means the shadow of yourself, and rod too, will be the least offensive to the fish ; for the sight of any shade amazes the fish, and spoils your sport, of which you must take a great care. In the middle of March, till which time a man should not in honesty catch a Trout ; or in April, if the weather be dark, or a little windy or cloudy, the best fishing is with the Palmer- worm, of which I last spoke to you ; but of these there be divers kinds, or at least of divers colors : these and the May-fly are the ground of all fly-angling, which are to be thus made. First, you must arm your hook with the line in the inside of it ; then take your scissors, and cut so much of a brown mal- lard's feather as in your own reason will make the wings of it, you having withal regard to the bigness or littleness of your hook : then lay the outmost part of your feather next to your hook, then the point of your feather next the shank of your hook ; and, having so done, whip it three or four times about the hook with the same silk with which your hook was armed ; and, having made the silk fast, take the hackle of a cock or Il8 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part 1. capon's neck, or a plover's top, which is usually better : take off the one side of the feather, and then take the hackle, silk, or crewel, gold or silver thread, make these fast at the bent of the hook, that is to say, below your arming ; then you must take the hackle, the silver or gold thread, and work it up to the wings, shifting or still removing your finger as you turn the silk about the hook ; and still looking at every stop or turn, that your gold, or what materials soever you make your fly of, do lie right and neatly, and if you find they do so, then, when you have made the head, make all fast : and then work your hackle up to the head, and make that fast : and then, with a needle or pin, divide the wing into two ; and then with the arming silk whip it about cross-ways betwixt the wings ; and then with your thumb you must turn the point of the feather towards the bent of the hook ; and then work three or four times about the shank of the hook ; and then view the pro- portion, and if all be neat and to your liking, fasten. I confess, no direction can be given to make a man of a dull capacity able to make a fly well : and yet I know this, with a little practice, will help an ingenious Angler in a good degree : but to see a fly made by an artist in that kind, is the best teaching to make it. And, then', an ingenious Angler may walk by the river and mark what flies fall on the water that day, and catch one of them, if he see the Trouts leap at a fly of that kind : and then having always hooks ready-hung with him, and having a bag also always with him, with bear's hair, or the hair of a brown or sad-colored heifer, hackles of a cock or a capon, several colored silk and crewel to make the body of the fly, the feathers of a drake's head, black or brown sheep's wool, or hog's wool, or hair, thread of gold and of silver, silk of several colors, especially sad-colored, to make the fly's head ; and there be also other colored feathers both of little birds and of speckled fowl : — I say, having those with him in a bag, and trying to make a fly, though he miss at first, yet shall he at last hit it better, even to such a perfection as Chap. V.J THE COMPLETE ANGLER. II9 none can well teach him. And if he hit to make his fly right, and have the luck to hit also where there is store of Trouts, a dark day, and a right wind, he will catch such store of them as will encourage him to grow more and more in love with the art of fly-making. Ven. But, my loving Master, if any wind will not serve, then I wish I were in Lapland, to buy a good wind of one of the honest witches, that sell so many winds there, and so cheap. Pisc. Marry, Scholar, but I would not be there, nor indeed from under this tree : for look how it begins to rain, and by the clouds, if I mistake not, we shall presently have a smoking shower : and therefore sit close ; this sycamore-tree will shelter us : and I will tell you, as they shall come into my mind, more observations of Fly-fishing for a Trout. But first for the wind : you are to take notice, that of the winds the south wind is said to be best. One observes, that " when the wind is south It blows your bait into a fish's mouth." Next to that, the west wind is believed to be the best : and having told you that the east wind is the worst, I need not tell you which wind is the best in the third degree : and yet, as Solomon observes, Eccles. xi. 4, that *'he that considers the wind shall never sow " ; so he that busies his head too much about them, if the weather be not made extreme cold by an east wind, shall be a little superstitious : for as it is observed by some, that there is no good horse of a bad color, so I have observed that if it be a cloudy day, and not extreme cold, let the wind sit in what corner it will, and do its worst, I heed it not. And yet take this for a rule, that I would wiUingly fish standing on the lee-shore : and you are to take notice, that the fish Hes or swims nearer the bottom, and in deeper water, in winter than in summer ; and also nearer the bottom in a cold day, and then gets nearest the lee-side of the water. 120 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. But I promised to tell you more of the Fly-fishing for a Trout, which I may have time enough to do, for you see it rains May butter. First for a May-fly : you may make his body with greenish-colored crewel, or willowish color ; dark- ening it in most places with waxed silk, or ribbed with black hair, or some of them ribbed with silver thread ; and such wings, for the color, as you see the fly to have at that season, — nay, at that. very day on the water. Or you may make the Oak-fly with an orange tawny and black ground, and the brown of a mallard's feather for the wings; and you are to know, that these two are most excellent flies, that is, the May-fly and the Oak-fly. And let me again tell you, that you keep as far from the water as you can possibly, whether you fish with a fly or worm, and fish down the stream : and when you fish with a fly, if it be possible, let no part of your line touch the water, but your fly only; and be still moving your fly upon the water, or casting it into the water, you yourself being also always moving down the stream. Mr. Barker commends several sorts of the Palmer flies ; not only those ribbed with silver and gold, but others that have their bodies all made of black, or some with red, and a red hackle. You may also make the Hawthorn-fly, which is all black, and not big, but very small, the smaller the better : or the Oak-fly, the body of which is orange-color and black crewel, with a brown wing; or a fly made with a peacock's feather is excellent in a bright day. You must be sure you want not in your magazine-bag the peacock's feather, and grounds of such wool and crewel as will make the Grasshop- per ; and note, that usually the smallest flies are the best. And note also, that the Hght fly does usually make most sport in a dark day, and the darkest and least fly in a bright or clear day : and lastly note, that you are to repair upon any occasion to your magazine-bag ; and upon any occasion vary, and make them lighter or sadder according to your fancy or the day. And now I shall tell you, that the fishing with a natural fly Chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 121 is excellent, and affords much pleasure. They may be found thus : the May-fly usually in and about that month near to the river -side, especially against rain : the Oak-fly on the but or body of an oak or ash, from the beginning of May to the end of August ; it is a brownish fly, and easy to be so found, and stands usually with his head downward, that is to say, towards the root of the tree : the small black fly, or Hawthcrn-fly, is to be had on any hawthorn-bush after the leaves be come forth : with these and a short line, as I showed to angle for a Chub, you may dape or dop ; and also with a grasshopper behind a tree, or in any deep hole ; still making it to move on the top of the water, as if it were aUve, and still keeping yourself out of sight, you shall certainly have sport if there be Trouts ; yea, in a hot day, but especially in the evening of a hot day, you will have sport. And now. Scholar, my direction for fly-fishing is ended with this shower, for it has done raining. And now look about you, and see how pleasantly that meadow looks ; nay, and the earth smells as sweetly too. Come, let me tell you what holy Mr. Herbert says of such days and flowers as these ; and then we will thank God that we enjoy them, and walk to the river, and sit down quietly, and try to catch the othei brace of Trouts. " Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright, The bridal of the earth and sky, Sweet dews shall weep thy fall to-night, — For thou must die I " Sweet rose, whose hue, angry and brave, Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye, Thy root is ever in its grave, — And thou must die I ** Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses, A box where sweets compacted lie ; My music shows you have your closes, — And all must die ! 122 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. ** Only a sweet and virtuous soul, Like seasoned timber, never gives, But when the whole world turns to coal, — Then chiefly lives ! " Ven. I thank you, good Master, for your good direction for fly-fishing, and for the sweet enjoyment of the pleasant day, which is so far spent without offence to God or man : and I thank you for the sweet close of your discourse with Mr. Her- bert's verses ; who, I have heard, loved AngUng : and I do the rather believe it, because he had a spirit suitable to An- glers, and to those primitive Christians that you love, and have so much commended. Pisc. Well, my loving Scholar, and I am pleased to know that you are so well pleased with my direction and discourse. And since you like these verses of Mr. Herbert's so well, let me tell you what a reverend and learned divine that professes to imitate him, and has indeed done so most excellently, hath writ of our Book of Common Prayer : which I know you will like the better because he is a friend of mine, and I am sure no enemy to Angling. •• What ? Prayer by the Book ? and Common ? Yes ; why not ? The spirit of grace And supplication ' Is not left free alone For time and place, But manner too : to read or speak by rote. Is all alike to him, that prays In *s heart what with his mouth he says. ** They that in private by themselves alone Do pray, may take What liberty they please, In choosing of the ways Wherein to make Their soul's most intimate affections known To Him that sees in secret, when Th' are most concealed from other men* Chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. I23 ** But he that unto others leads the way In public prayer, Should do it so, As all that hear may know They need not fear To tune their hearts unto his tongue, and say. Amen ! not doubt they were betrayed To blaspheme, when they meant to have prayed. " Devotion will add life unto the letter, And why should not That which authority Prescribes esteemed be Advantage got ? If th' prayer be good, the commoner the better, Prayer in the Church's words, as well As sense, of all prayers bears the bell." Ch. Harvie. And now, Scholar, I think it will be time to repair to our angle-rods, which we left in the water to fish for themselves ; and you shall choose which shall be yours ; and it is an even lay one of them catches. And let me tell you, this kind of fishing with a dead rod, and laying night-hooks, are like putting money to use ; for they both work for the owners when they do nothing but sleep, or eat, or rejoice ; as you know we have done this last hour, and sat as quietly and as free from cares under this sycamore, as Virgil's Tityrus and his Meliboeus did under their broad beech-tree. No life, my honest Scholar, no life so happy and so pleasant as the life of a well -governed Angler ; for when the lawyer is swallowed up with business, and the statesman is preventing or contriving plots, then we sit on cowslip banks, hear the birds sing, and possess ourselves in as much quietness as these silent silver streams, which we now see glide so quietly by us. Indeed, my good Scholar, we may say of Angling, as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries : " Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God nev«r did " : and so, 124 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part t if I might be judge. '' God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than AngHng. ' ' I '11 tell you, Scholar, when I sat last on this primrose-bank, and looked down these meadows, I thought of them as Charles the Emperor did of the city of Florence, — ** that they were too pleasant to be looked on, but only on holy-days ": as I then sat on this v^ry grass, I turned my present thoughts into verse : 't was a Wish, which I '11 repeat to you. THE angler's wish. I in these flowery meads would be ; These crystal streams should solace me ; To whose harmonious, bubbling noise I with my angle would rejoice : Sit here, and see the turtle-dove Court his chaste mate to acts of love : Or, on that bank, feel the west wind Breathe health and plenty ; please my mind To see sweet dew-drops kiss these flowers, And then washed off by April showers : Here, hear my Kenna sing * a song ; There, see a blackbird feed her youngs Or a leverock build her nest ; Here, give my weary spirits rest. And raise my low-pitched thoughts above Earth, or what poor mortals love : Thus free from lawsuits, and the noist Of princes' courts, I would rejoice : Or, with my Bryan, and a book, Loiter long days near Shawf ord Brook ; There sit by him, and eat my meat. There see the sun both rise and set : * Like Hermit poor. Chap. V.) THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 125 There bid good morning to next day, There meditate my time away : And angle on, and beg to have A quiet passage to a welcome grave When I had ended this composure, I left this place, and saw a Brother of the Angle sit under that honeysuckle hedge, one that will prove worth your acquaintance. I sat down by him, and presently we met with an accidental piece of merriment which I will relate to you ; for it rains still. On the other side of this very hedge sat a gang of Gypsies, and near to them sat a gang of beggars. The Gypsies were then to divide all the money that had been got that week, either by stealing linen or poultry, or by fortune-telling, or legerdemain, or, indeed, by any other sleights and secrets be- longing to their mysterious government. And the sum that was got that week proved to be but twenty and some odd shillings. The odd money was agreed to be distributed amongst the poor of their own corporation : and for the re- maining twenty shillings, that was to be divided unto four Gentlemen-gypsies, according to their several degrees in their commonwealth. And the first or chiefest Gypsy was by consent to have a third part of the twenty shillings, which all men know is 6s. Sd. The second was to have a fourth part of the 20^., which all men know to be ^s. The third was to have a fifth part of the 20s., which all men know to be 4s. The fourth and last Gypsy was to have a sixth part of the 8 ox., which all men know to be 3^. 4^. As, for example, 3 times 6s. 8df. is .••••, acxf. And so is 4 times 5J. , , • • • , 20s, And so is 5 times 4-y. . , • , , , 30s, And so is 6 times y. ^d, ' » « • « • 204; 126 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part t And yet he that divided the money was so very a Gypsy^ that, though he gave to every one these said sums, yet he kept one shiUing of it for himself. As, for example, s, d, 6 8 5 o 4 o 3 4 make but 19 o But now you shall know, that when the four Gypsies saw that he had got one shilling by dividing the money, though not one of them knew any reason to demand more, yet, like lords and courtiers, every Gypsy envied him that was the gainer, and wrangled with him ; and every one said the re- maining shilHng belonged to him : and so they fell to so high a contest about it, as none that knows the faithfulness of one Gypsy to another will easily believe ; only we that have lived these last twenty years are certain that money has been able to do much mischief. However, the Gypsies were too wise to go to law, and did therefore choose their choice friends Rook and Shark, and our late English Gusman, to be their arbitrators and umpires. And so they left this honeysuckle hedge ; and went to tell fortunes, and cheat, and get more money and lodging in the next village. When these were gone, we heard as high a contention amongst the beggars, whether it was easiest to rip a cloak, or to unrip a cloak ? One beggar affirmed it was all one : but that was denied, by asking her if doing and undoing were all one. Then another said, 't was easiest to unrip a cloak, for that was to let it alone : but she was answered by asking hei how she unripped it, if she let it alone ? and she confessed her- self mistaken. These and twenty such like questions were pro- posed, and answered with as much beggarly logic and earnest- ness as was ever heard to proceed from the mouth of the most Chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 12/ pertinacious schismatic ; and sometimes all the beggars, whose number was neither more nor less than the poets' nine Muses, talked all together about this ripping and unripping, and so loud that not one heard what the other said : but at last one Beggar craved audience, and told them, that old Father Clause, whom Ben Jonson in his Beggar's Bush created king of their corpo- ration, was that night to lodge at an ale-house, called Catch - her-by-the-way, not far from Waltham Cross, and in the high- road towards London ; and he therefore desired them to spend no more time about that and such like questions, but to refer all to Father Clause at night, for he was an upright judge, and in the mean time draw cuts what song should be next sung, and who should sing it. They all agreed to the motion, and the lot fell to her that was the youngest, and veriest virgin of the company, and she sung Frank Davison's song, which he made forty years ago ; and all the others of the company joined to sing the burden with her. The ditty was this, — but first the burden : — ** Bright shines the sun : play, beggars, play, Here's scraps enough to serve to-day. •* What noise of viols is so sweet As when our merry clappers ring? What mirth doth want when beggars meet ? A beggar's life is for a king. Eat, drink, and play ; sleep when we list, Go where we will, — so stocks be mist. Bright shines the sun : play, beggars, play. Here's scraps enough to serve to-day. •* The world is ours, and ours alone, For we alone have world at will ; We purchase not, all is our own, Both fields and streets we beggars fill ; Nor care to get, nor fear to keep, Did ever break a beggar's sleep. Bright shines the sun : play, beggars, play, Here's scraps enough to serve to-day. 128 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. "A hundred herds of black and white Upon our gowns securely feed ; And yet if any dare us bite, He dies therefore as sure as creed. Thus beggars lord it as they please, And only beggars live at ease. Bright shines the sun : play, beggars, play, Here's scraps enough to serve to-day." Ven. I thank you, good Master, for this piece of merriment, and this song, which was well humored by the maker, and well remembered by you. Pisc. But I pray forget not the catch which you promised to make against night ; for our countryman, honest Coridon, will expect your catch and my song, which I must be forced to patch up, for it is so long since I learned it that I have for- got a part of it. But come, now it hath done raining, let's stretch our legs a little in a gentle walk to the river, and try what interest our angles will pay us for lending them so long to be used by the Trouts : lent them indeed, like usurers, for our profit and their destruction. Ven. O me ! look you Master, a fish, a fish ! O alas. Mas- ter, I have lost her ! Pisc. Ay marry, Sir, that was a good fish indeed : if I had had the luck to have taken up that rod, then 't is twenty to one he should not have broke my line by running to the rod's end, as you suffered him. I would have held him within the bent of my rod, unless he had been fellow to the great Trout that is near an ell long, which was of such a length and depth that he had his picture drawn, and is now to be seen at mine Host Rickabie's, at the George in Ware ; and it may be, by giving that very great Trout the rod, that is, by casting it to him into the water, I might have caught him at the long run ; for so I use always to do when I meet with an overgrown fish, and you will learn to do so too hereafter: for I tell you. Scholar, fishing is an art, or, at least, it is an art to catch fi»h. Chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 1^9 Ven. But, Master, I have heard that the great Trout you speak of is a Salmon. Pisc. Trust me, Scholar, I know not what to say to it. There are many country people that believe Hares change sexes every year ; and there be very many learned men think so too, for in their dissecting them they find many reasons to incHne them to that belief. And to make the wonder seem yet less, that Hares change sexes, note that Doctor Mer. Casaubon af- firms, in his book *' Of Credible and Incredible Things," that Caspar Peucerus, a learned physician, tells us of a people that once a year turn wolves, partly in shape, and partly in con- ditions. And so, whether this were a Salmon when he came into the fresh water, and his not returning into the sea hath altered him to another color or kind, I am not able to say ; but I am certain he hath all the signs of being a Trout, both for his shape, color, and spots; and yet many think he is not. Ven. But, Master, will this Trout which I had hold of die ? for it is like he hath the hook in his belly. Pisc. I will tell you. Scholar, that unless the hook be fast in his very gorge, 't is more than probable he will live; and a little time, with the help of the water, will rust the hook, and it will in time wear away, as the gravel doth in the horse-hoof, which only leaves a false quarter. And now. Scholar, let's go to my rod. Look you. Scholar, I have a fish too, but it proves a loggerheaded Chub ; and this is not much amiss, for this will pleasure some poor body, as we go to our lodgings to meet our brother Peter and honest Coridon. Come, now bait your hook again, and lay it into the water, for it rains again ; and we will even retire to the sycamore-tree, and there I will give you more directions con- cerning fishing, for I would fain make you an artist. Ven. Yes, good Master, I pray let it be so. Pisc. Well, Scholar, now we are sat down and are at ease, I shall tell you a little more of Trout-fishing, before I speak of 13© THE COMPLETE ANGLER. (Part I the Salmon, which I purpose shall be next, and then of the Pike or Luce. You are to know, there is night as well as day fishing for a Trout, and that in the night the best Trouts come out of their holes ; and the manner of taking them is, on the top of the water with a great lob or garden-worm, or rather two, which you are to fish with in a place where the waters run somewhat quietly, for in a stream the bait will not be so well discerned. I say in a quiet or dead place near to some swift, there draw your bait over the top of the water, to and fro, and if there be a good Trout in the hole, he will take it, especially if the night be dark : for then he is bold and lies near the top of the water, watching the motion of any frog or water-rat or mouse that swims betwixt him and the sky ; these he hunts after, if he sees the water but wrinkle or move in one of these dead holes, where these great old Trouts usually lie near to their holds : for you are to note, that the great old Trout is both subtle and fearful, and lies close all day, and does not usually stir out of his hold, but lies in it as close in the day as the timorous Hare does in her form ; for the chief feeding of either is seldom in the day, but usually in the night, and then the great Trout feeds very boldly. And you must fish for him with a strong line, and not a lit- tle hook ; and let him have time to gorge your hook, for he does not usually forsake it, as he oft will in the day fishing. And if the night be not dark, then fish so with an artificial fly of a light color, and at the snap : nay, he will sometimes rise at a dead mouse, or a piece of cloth, or anything that seems to swim cross the water, or to be in motion. This is a choice way, but I have not oft used it, because it is void of the pleas- ures that such days as these, that we two now enjoy, afford an Angler. And you are to know, that in Hampshire, which I think tx- ceeds all England for swift, shallow, clear, pleasant brooks, and Store of Trouts, they use to catch Trouts in the night bj the Chap /.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. I3I light of a torch or straw, which when they have discovered, they strike with a trout-spear or other ways. This kind of way they catch very many ; but I would not believe it till I was an eyewitness of it, nor do I like it now I have seen it. Ven. But, Master, do not Trouts see us in the night ? Pisc. Yes, and hear and smell too, both then and in the day-time ; for Gesner observes, the Otter smells a fish forty fur- longs off him in the water : and that it may be true seems to be affirmed by Sir Francis Bacon, in the Eighth Century of his Natural History, who there proves that waters may be the me- dium of sounds, by demonstrating it thus: ''That if you knock two stones together very deep under the water, those that stand on a bank near to that place may hear the noise without any diminution of it by the water." He also offers the like experiment concerning the letting an anchor fall, by a very long cable or rope, on a rock or the sand within the sea. And this being so well observed and demonstrated, as it is by that learned man, has made me to believe that Eels unbed themselves, and stir at the noise of thunder, and not only, as some think, by the motion or stirring of the earth which is oc- casioned by that thunder. And this reason of Sir Francis Bacon, Exper. 792, has made me crave pardon of one that I laughed at for affirming, that he knew Carps come to a certain place in a pond, to be fed, at the ringing of a bell or the beating of a drum : and however, it shall be a rule for me to make as little noise as I can when I am fishing, until Sir Francis Bacon be confuted ; which I shall give any man leave to do. And, lest you may think him singular in this opinion, I will tell you, this seems to be believed by our learned Doctor Hake- will, who in his Apology of God's Power and Providence, fol. 360, quotes Pliny to report, that one of the Emperors had par- ticular fish-ponds, and in them several fish, that appeared and came when they were called by their particular names. And St. James tells us, Chap. iii. .7,. that all things in th^ se^ tiave 132 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. IPart L been tamed by mankind. And Pliny tells us, Lib. ix. 35, that Antonia, the wife of Driisus, had a Lamprey, at whose gills she hung jewels, or earrings : and that others have been so tender- hearted as to shed tears at the death of fishes which they have kept and loved. And these observations, which will to most hearers seem wonderful, seem to have a further confirmation from Martial, Lib. iv. Epigr. 30, who writes thus : — **Piscator, fuge, ne nocens," etc. •* Angler, wouldst thou be guiltless ? then forbear, For these are sacred fishes that swim here, Who know their sovereign, and will lick his hand, Than which none 's greater in the world's command ; Nay, more, th' have names, and when they called are, Do to their several owners' call repair." All the further use that I shall make of this shall be, to advise Anglers to be patient, and forbear swearing, lest they be heard and catch no fish. And so I shall proceed next to tell you, it is certain, that certain fields near Leominster, a town in Herefordshire, are observed to make the sheep that graze upon them more fat than the next, and also to bear finer wool ; that is to say, that that year in which they feed in such a particular pasture they shall yield finer wool than they did that year before they came to feed in it, and coarser again if they shall return to their former pasture; and again return to a finer wool, being fed in the fine-wool ground. Which I tell you, that you may the better beheve that I am certain, if I catch a Trout in one meadow, he shall be white and faint, and very like to be lousy ; and as certainly, if I catch a Trout in the next meadow, he shall be strong, and red, and lusty, and much better meat. Trust me, Scholar, I have caught many a Trout in a particular meadow, that the very shape and the enamelled color of him hath been mick a» hath joyed me to look on him ; and I have then with Chap. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 133 much pleasure concluded with Solomon, *' Everything is beau- tiful in his season," Eccles. iii. ii. I should by promise speak next of the Salmon ; but I will, by your favor, say a little of the Umber or Grayling ; which is so like a Trout for his shape and feeding, that I desire I may exercise your patience with a short discourse of him ; and then the next shall be of the Salmon. THE FOURTH DAY. Chap. VI. — Observations of the Umber or Grayling, and Du rections how to fish for them. PiSCATOR. T^HE Umber and Grayling are thought by some to differ, as * the Herring and Pilcher do. But though they may do so in other nations, I think those in England differ nothing but in their names. Aldrovandus says, they be of a Trout kind ; and Gesner says that, in his country, which is Switzerland, he is accounted the choicest of all fish. And in Italy he is, in the month of May, so highly valued, that he is sold then at a much higher rate than any other fish. The French, which call the Chub Un Villain, call the Umber of the Lake Leman Un Umble Chevalier ; and they value the Umber or Grayling so highly, that they say he feeds on gold ; and say that many have been caught out of their famous river of Loire, out of whose bellies grains of gold have been often taken. And some think that he feeds on water-thyme, and smells of it at his first taking out of the water ; and they may think so with as good reason as we do that our Smelts smell like violets at their being first caught, which I think is a truth. Aldrovan- dus says, the Salmon, the Grayling, and Trout, and all fish that live in clear and sharp streams, are made by their mother Nature of such exact shape and pleasant colors, purposely to invite us to a joy and contentedness in feasting with her. Whether this is a truth or not, it is not my purpose to dispute ; but 't is certain, all that write of the Umber declare him to be very medicinable. And Gesner says, that the fat of an Um- ber or Grayling being set, with a little honey, a day or two \Xk Chap. VI.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 135 the sun, in a little glass, is very excellent against redness or swarthiness, or anything that breeds in the eyes. Salvian takes him to be called Umber from his swift swimming, or gliding out of sight more Hke a shadow or a ghost than a fish. Much more might be said both of his smell and taste : but I shall only tell you, that St. Ambrose, the glorious Bishop of Milan, who lived when the Church kept fasting-days, calls him the Flower-fish, or Flower of Fishes, and that he was so far in love with him, that he would not let him pass without the honor of a long discourse ; but I must ; and pass on to tell you how to take this dainty fish. First, note, that he grows not to the bigness of a Trout ; for the biggest of them do not usually exceed eighteen inches. He lives in such rivers as the Trout does, and is usually taken with the same baits as the Trout is, and after the same manner, for he will bite both at the minnow or worm, or fly : though he bites not often at the minnow, and is very gamesome at the fly, and much simpler, and therefore bolder than a Trout ; for he will rise twenty times at a fly, if you miss him, and yet rise again. He has been taken with a fly made of the red feathers of a Parakita, a strange outlandish bird ; and he will rise at a fly not unlike a gnat or a small moth, or, indeed, at most flies that are not too big. He is a fish that lurks close all winter, but is very pleasant and jolly after mid-April, and in May, and in the hot months: he is of a very fine shape; his flesh is white, his teeth — those little ones that he has — are in his 136 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part t throat, yet he has so tender a mouth that he is oftener lost after an Angler has hooked him than any other fish. Though there be many of these fishes in the delicate river Dove, and in Trent, and some other smaller rivers, as that which runs by Salisbury, yet he is not so general a fish as the Trout, nor to me so good to eat or to angle for. And so I shall take my leave of him, and now come to some observations of the Salmon, and how to catch him. THE FOURTH DAY. Chap. Wl.— Observations of the Salmon, with Directions how to Jishfor him, PiSCATOR. 'T^HE Salmon is accounted the King of fresh-water fish, and ^ is ever bred in rivers relating to the sea ; yet so high, or far from it, as admits of no tincture of salt, or brackishness. He is said to breed or cast his spawn, in most rivers, in the month of August : some say that then they dig a hole or grave in a safe place in the gravel, and there place their eggs or spawn, after the melter has done his natural office, and then hide it most cunningly, and cover it over with gravel and stones ; and then leave it to their Creator's protection, who, by a gentle heat which He infuses into that cold element, makes it brood and beget life in the spawn, and to become Samlets early in the spring next following. The Salmons having spent their appointed time, and done this natural duty, in the fresh waters, they then haste to the sea before winter, both the melter and spawner : but if they be stopped by flood-gates or weirs, or lost in the fresh waters, then those so left behind by degrees grow sick, and lean, and unseasonable, and kipper ; that is to say, have bony gristles grow out of their lower chaps, not unlike a hawk's beak, which hinder their feeding ; and, in time, such fish so left behind pine away and die. 'T is observed that he may live thus one year from the sea ; but he then grows insipid, and tasteless, and loses both his blood and strength, and pines and dies the second year. And 't is noted, that those Httle Salmons called 138 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part! Skeggers, which abound in many rivers relating to the sea, are bred by such sick Salmons that might not go to the sea, and that though they abound, yet they never thrive to any consid- erable bigness. But if the old Salmon gets to the sea, then that gristle which shows him to be kipper wears away, or is cast off, as the eagle is said to cast his bill, and he recovers his strength, and comes next summer to the same river, if it be possible, to enjoy the former pleasures that there possessed him : for, as one has wit- tily observed, he has, like some persons of honor and riches, which have both their winter and summer houses, the fresh rivers for summer, and the salt water for winter, to spend his life in ; which is not, as Sir Francis Bacon hath observed in his "History of Life and Death," above ten years. And it is to be observed, that though the Salmon does grow big in the sea, yet he grows not fat but in fresh rivers ; and it is observed, that the farther they get from the sea, they be both the fatter and better. Next I shall tell you, that though they make very hard shift to get out of the fresh rivers into the sea, yet they will make harder shift to get out of the salt into the fresh rivers, to spawn, or possess the pleasures that they have formerly found in them : to which end, they will force themselves through flood-gates, or over weirs, or hedges, or stops in the water, even to a height beyond common belief. Gesner speaks of such places as are known to be above eight feet high above water. And our Camden mentions in his Britannia the like wonder to be in Pembrokeshire, where the river Tivy falls into the sea ; and that the fall is so downright, and so high, that the people stand and wonder at the strength and sleight by which they see the Salmon use to get out of the sea into the said river : and the manner and height of the place is so notable, that it is known far by the name of the Salmon-Leap. Concerning which take this also out of Michael Drayton, my honest old friend, as he tells it you in his '' Polyolbion." Chap. VII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 1 39 *' And when the Salmon seeks a fresher stream to find, Which hither from the sea comes yearly by his kind ; As he towards season grows, and stems the wat'ry tract Where Tivy, falling down, makes an high cataract, Forced by the rising rocks that there her course oppose. As though within her bounds they meant her to enclose,-* Here, when the laboring fish does at the foot arrive, And finds that by his strength he does but vainly strive ; His tail takes in his mouth, and, bending like a bow That 's to full compass drawn, aloft himself doth throw. Then springing at his height, as doth a little wand, That, bended end to end, and started from man's hand, Far off itself doth cast ; so does the Salmon vault : And if at first he fail, his second summersault He instantly essays ; and, from his nimble ring Still yerking, never leaves until himself he fling Above the opposing stream." This Michael Drayton tells you of this leap or summersault of the Salmon. And, next, I shall tell you, that it is observed by Gesner and others, that there is no better Salmon than in England; and that, though some of our northern counties have as fat and as large as the river Thames, yet none are of so excellent a taste. And as I have told you that Sir Francis Bacon observes, the age of a Salmon exceeds not ten years, so let me next tell you, that his growth is very sudden : it is said, that, after he is got into the sea, he becomes, from a Samlet not so big as a Gud- geon, to be a Salmon, in as short a time as a gosling becomes to be a goose. Much of this has been observed, by tying a ribbon, or some known tape or thread, in the tail of some young Salmons, which have been taken in weirs as they have swimmed towards the salt water, and then by taking a part of them again, with the known mark, at the same place, at their return from the sea, which is usually about six months after ; and the like experiment hath been tried upon young swallows, who have, after six months' absence, been observed to return 140 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. to the same chimney, there to make their nests and hab- itations for the summer following : which has incHned many to think, that every Salmon usually returns to the same river in which it was bred, as young pigeons taken out of the same dove-cote have also been observed to do. And you are yet to observe further, that the he-Salmon is usually bigger than the Spawner ; and that he is more kipper, and less able to endure a winter in the fresh water, than she is : yet she is, at that time of looking less kipper and better, as watery, and as bad meat. And yet you are to observe, that as there is no general rule without an exception, so there are some few rivers in this nation that have Trouts and Salmons in season in winter ; as *t is certain there be in the river Wye in Monmouthshire, where they be in season, as Camden observes, from September till April. But, my Scholar, the observation of this and many other things, I must in manners omit, because they will prove too large for our narrow compass of time ; and therefore I shall next fall upon my direction how to fish for this Salmon. And for that : first you shall observe, that usually he stays not long in a place, as Trouts will, but, as I said, covets still to go nearer the spring-head ; and that he does not as the Trout, and many other fish, lie near the water-side, or banks, Chap. VII] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 141 or roots of trees, but swims in the deep and broad parts of the water, and usually in the middle, and near the ground, and that there you are to fish for him ; and that he is to be caught as the Trout is, with a worm, a minnow, which some call a Penk, or with a fly. And you are to observe, that he is very seldom observed to bite at a minnow, yet sometimes he will, and not usually at a fly, but more usually at a worm, and then most usually at a Lob or garden- worm, which should be well scoured, that is to say, kept seven or eight days in moss before you fish with them : and if you double your time of eight into sixteen, twenty, or more days, it is still the better ; for the worms will still be clearer, tougher, and more lively, and continue so longer upon your hook. And they may be kept longer by keeping them cool and in fresh moss; and some advise to put camphire into it. Note also, that many use to fish for a Salmon with a ring of wire on the top of their rod, through which the line may run to as great a length as is needful when he is hooked. And to that end, some use a wheel about the middle of their rod, or near their hand, which is to be observed better by seeing one of them, than by a large demonstration of words. And now I shall tell you that which may be called a secret. I have been a-fishing with old Oliver Henley, now with God, a noted fisher both for Trout and Salmon, and have observed that he would usually take three or four worms out of his bag, and put them into a little box in his pocket, where he would usually let them continue half an hour or more before he would bait his hook with them ; I have asked him his reason, and he has replied, '^ He did but pick the best out to be in readiness against he baited his hook the next time" : but he has been observed, both by others and by myself, to catch more fish than I or any other body that has ever gone a-fishing with him could do, and especially Salmons. And I have been told lately, by one of his most intimate and secret friends, that the 1:42 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. box in which he put those worms was anointed with a drop, or two or three, of the oil of ivy-berries, made by expression or infusion ; and told, that by the worms remaining in that box an hour, or a like time, they had incorporated a kind of smell that was irresistibly attractive, enough to force any fish within the smell of them to bite. This I heard not long since from a friend, but have not tried it ; yet I grant it probable, and refer my reader to Sir Francis Bacon's ''Natural History," where he proves fishes may hear, and, doubtless, can more probably smell ; and I am certain Gesner says the Otter can smell in the water, and I know not but that fish may do so too. 'T is left for a lover of angling, or any that desires to improve that art, to try this conclusion. I shall also impart two other experiments, but not tried by myself, which I will deliver in the same words that they were given me by an excellent angler and a very friend, in writing : he told me the latter was too good to be told, but in a learned language, lest it should be made common. "Take the stinking oil drawn out of Polypody of the oak by a retort, mixed with turpentine and hive-honey, and anoint your bait therewith, and it will doubtless draw the fish to it." The other is this: ''Vulnera Hederae grandissimae inflicta sudant Balsamun oleo gelato, albicantique persimile, odoris vero longesuavissimi." *T is supremely sweet to any fish, and yet assafoetida may do the like. But in these things I have no great faith, yet grant it proba- ble ; and have had from some chemical men, namely, from Sir George Hastings and others, an afiirmation of them to be very advantageous : but no more of these, especially not in this place. I might here, before I take my leave of the Salmon, tell you, that there is more than one sort of them, as namely, a Tecon, and another called in some places a Samlet, or by some, a Chap. VII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 143 Skegger : but these and others, which I forbear to name, may be fish of another kind, and differ, as we know a Herring and a Pilcher do ; which, I think, are as different as the rivers in which they breed, and must by me be left to the disquisitions of men of more leisure, and of greater abilities than I profess myself to have. And lastly, I am to borrow so much of your promised pa- tience, as to tell you that the Trout or Salmon, being in season, have at their first taking out of the water, which continues during life, their bodies adorned, the one with such red spots, and the other with such black or blackish spots, as give them such an addition of natural beauty as, I think, was never given to any woman by the artificial paint or patches in which they so much pride themselves in this age. And so I shall leave them both, and proceed to some observations on the Pike. THE FOURTH Da\. Chap. VUL—Observations of the Luce or Pike, with Directions how tojishfor him, PiSCATOR. THE mighty Luce or Pike is taken to be the Tyrant, as the Salmon is the King, of the fresh waters. 'T is not to be doubted but that they are bred, some by generation, and some not : as namely, of a weed called Pickerel-weed, unless learned Gesner be much mistaken ; for he says, this weed and other glutinous matter, with the help of the sun's heat in some par- ticular months, . and some ponds apted for it by nature, do be- come Pikes. But doubtless divers Pikes are bred after this manner, or are brought into some ponds some such other ways as are past man's finding out, of which we have daily testimo- nies. Sir Francis Bacon, in his ** History of Life and Death," ob- serves the Pike to be the longest-lived of any fresh- water fish, and yet he computes it to be not usually above forty years ; and others think it to be not above ten years : and yet Gesner mentions a Pike taken in Swedeland in the year 1449, with a ring about his neck, declaring he was put into that pond by Frederick the Second, more than two hundred years before he was last taken, as by the inscription in that ring, being Greek, was interpreted by the then Bishop of Worms. But of this no more, but that it is observed that the old or very great Pikes have in them more of state than goodness ; the smaller or middle-sized Pikes being by the most and choicest palates Chap. VIII.J THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 14$ observed to be the best meat : and, contrary, the Eel is ob- served to be the better for age and bigness. All Pikes that live long prove chargeable to their keepers, because their life is maintained by the death of so many other fish, even those of their own kind ; which has made him by some writers to be called the Tyrant of the Rivers, or the Fresh-Water-Wolf, by reason of his bold, greedy, devouring disposition ; which is so keen, as Gesner relates, a man going to a pond, where it seems a Pike had devoured all the fish, to water his mule, had a Pike bit his mule by the Ups ; to which the Pike hung so fast, that the mule drew him out of the water, and by that accident the owner of the mule angled out the Pike. And the same Gesner observes, that a maid in Poland had a Pike bit her by the foot as she was washing clothes in a pond. And I have heard the like of a woman in KiUingworth Pond, not far from Coventry. But I have been assured by my friend Mr. Seagrave, of whom I spake to you formerly, that keeps tame Otters, that he hath known a Pike, in extreme hunger, fight with one of his Otters for a Carp that the Otter had caught, and was then bringing out of the water. I have told you who relate these things, and tell you they are persons of credit; and shall conclude this observation by telling you what a wise man has observed : '* It is a hard thing to persuade the belly, because it has no ears." But if these relations be disbelieved, it is too evident to be doubted that a Pike will devour a fish of his own kind, that shall be bigger than his belly or throat will receive, and swallow a part of him, and let the other part remain in his mouth till the swallowed part be digested, and then swallow that othei part that was in his mouth, and so put it over by degrees > which is jiot unlike the ox, and some other beasts, taking their meat, not out of their mouth immediately into their belly, but first into some place betwixt, and then chew it, or digest it by degrees after^ which is called chewing the cud. And doubt- 146 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. less Pikes will bite when they are not hungry, but, as some think, even for very anger, when a tempting bait comes near to them. And it is observed that the Pike will eat venomous things, as some kind of frogs are, and yet live without being harmed by them ; for, as some say, he has in him a natural balsam, or antidote against all poison : and he has a strange heat, that, though it appear to us to be cold, can yet digest, or put over, any fish-flesh, by degrees, without being sick. And others ob- serve, that he never eats the venomous frog till he have first killed her, and then — as ducks are observed to do to frogs in spawning-time, at which time some frogs are observed to be venomous — so thoroughly washed her, by tumbling her up and down in the water, that he may devour her without danger. And Gesner affirms that a Polonian gentleman did faithfully assure him he had seen two young geese at one time in the belly of a Pike. And doubtless a Pike, in his height of hunger, will bite at and devour a dog that swims in a pond ; and there have been examples of it, or the like ; for, as I told you, " The belly has no ears when hunger comes upon it." The Pike is also observed to be a solitary, melancholy, and a bold fish : melancholy, because he always swims or rests him- self alone, and never swims in shoals or with company, as Roach and Qace, and most other fish do : and bold, because he fears not a shadow, or to see or be seen of anybody, as the Trout and Chub and all other fish do. And it is observed by Gesner, that the jaw-bones and hearts and galls of Pikes are very medicinable for several diseases ; or to stop blood, to abate fevers, to cure agues, to oppose or ex- pel the infection of the plague, and to be many ways medicin- able and useful for the good of mankind : but he observes, that the biting of a Pike is venomous and hard to be cured. And it is observed, that the Pike is a fish that breeds but once a year, and that other fish, as namely Loaches, do breed pftener, Chap. VIII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 147 as we are certain tame pigeons do almost every month ; and yet the hawk, a bird of prey, as the Pike is of fish, breeds but once in twelve months. And you are to note, that his time of breeding, or spawning, is usually about the end of February, or somewhat later, in March, as the weather proves colder or warmer, and to note that his manner of breeding is thus : a he and a she Pike will usually go together out of a river into some ditch or creek, and that there the spawner casts her eggs, and the melter hovers over her all that time that she is casting her spawn, but touches her not. I might say more of this, but it might be thought curiosity or worse, and shall therefore forbear it, and take up so much of your attention as to tell you that the best of Pikes are noted to be in rivers ; next, those in great ponds, or meres ; and the worst, in small ponds. But before I proceed further, I am to tell you that there is a great antipathy betwixt the Pike and some frogs : and this may appear to the reader of Dubravius, a Bishop in Bohemia, who, in his book "■ Of Fish and Fish-Ponds, " relates what he says he saw with his own eyes, and could not forbear to tell the reader. Which was : — '^ As he and the Bishop Thurzo were walking by a large pond in Bohemia, they saw a Frog, when the Pike lay very sleepily and quiet by the shore-side, leap upon his head ; and the Frog having expressed malice or anger by his swollen cheeks and staring eyes, did stretch out his legs and embrace the Pike's head, and presently reached them to his eyes, tearing with them and his teeth those tender parts : the Pike, moved with anguish, moves up and down the water, and rubs himself against weeds, and whatever he thought might quit him of his enemy : but all in vain, for the Frog did continue to ride triumphantly, and to bite and torment the Pike, till his strength failed : and then the Frog sunk with the Pike to the bottom of the water : then presently the Frog appeared again at the top 148 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I and croaked, and seemed to rejoice like a conqueror, after which he presently retired to his secret hole. The Bishop, that had beheld the battle, called his fisherman to fetch his nets, and by all means to get the Pike, that they might de^ clare what had happened : and the Pike was drawn forth, and both his eyes eaten out ; at which when they began to wonder, the fisherman wished them to forbear, and assured them he was certain that Pikes were often so served." I told this, which is to be read in the sixth chapter of the first book of Dubravius, unto a friend, who replied, '' It was as improbable as to have the mouse scratch out the cat's eyes." But he did not consider that there be Fishing- Frogs, which the Dalmatians call the Water-Devil, of which I might tell you as wonderful a story : but I shall tell you, that 't is not to be doubted but that there be some Frogs so fearful of the Water- Snake, that, when they swim in a place in which they fear to meet with him, they then get a reed across into their mouths, which, if they two meet by accident, secures the Frog from the strength and malice of the snake ; and note, that the Frog usually swims the fastest of the two. And let me tell you, that as there be Water and Land Frogs, so there be Land and Water Snakes. Concerning which, take this observation, that the Land-Snake breeds and hatches her eggs, which become young snakes, in some old dunghill, or a like hot place : but the Water-Snake, which is not venomous, and, as I have been assured by a great observer of such secrets, does not hatch, but breed her young alive ; which she does not then forsake, but bides with them, and in case of danger will take them all into her mouth, and swim away from any apprehended danger, and then let them out again when she thinks all danger to be past: these be accidents that we anglers sometimes see, and often talk of. But whither am I going ? I had almost lost myself by re- membering the discourse of Dubravius. I will therefore stop Chap. VIII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 149 here, aiid tell you according to my promise how to catch this Pike. His feeding is usually of fish or frogs, and sometimes a weed of his own called Pickerel-weed. Of which I told you some think some Pikes are bred ; for they have observed, that where none have been put into ponds, yet they have there found many ; and that there has been plenty of that weed in those ponds, and that that weed both breeds and feeds them ; but whether those Pikes so bred will ever breed by generation as the others do, I shall leave to the disquisitions of men of more curiosity and leisure than I profess myself to have ; and shall proceed to tell you that you may fish for a Pike, either with a ledger or a walking bait. And you are to note, that I call that a ledger-bait which is fixed or made to rest in one certain place when you shall be absent from it ; and I call that a walking-bait <\yhich you take with you, and have ever in mo- tion. Concerning which two, I shall give you this direction ; that your Ledger-bait is best to be a living bait, though a dead one may catch, whether it be a fish or a frog ; and that you may make them live the longer, you may, or indeed you must, take this course. First, for your live-bait. Of fish, a Roach or Dace is, I think, best and most tempting, and a Perch is the longest lived on a hook, and having cut off his fin on his back, which may be done without hurting him, you must take your knife, which cannot I50 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Pa«t !, be too sharp, and betwixt the head and the fin on the back, cut or make an incision, or such a scar, as you may put the arming wire of your hook into it, with as little bruising or hurting the fish as art and diligence will enable you to do ; and so carrying your arming-wire along his back, unto or near the tail of your fish, betwixt the skin and the body of it, draw out that wire or arming of your hook at another scar near to his tail : then tie him about it with thread, but no harder than of necessity to prevent hurting the fish. And the better to avoid hurting the fish, some have a kind of probe to open the way, for the more easy entrance and passage of your wire or arming ; but as for these, time, and a little experience, will teach you better than I can by words ; therefore I will for the present say no more of this, but come next to give you some directions how to bait your hook with a Frog. Ven. But, good Master, did you not say even now, that some Frogs were venomous, and is it not dangerous to touch them? Pisc. Yes, but I will give you some rules or cautions con- cerning them : and first, you are to note, that there are two kinds of Frogs ; that is to say, if I may so express myself, a Flesh and a Fish Frog. By Flesh-frogs, I mean frogs that breed and live on the land ; and of these there be several sorts also, and of several colors, some being speckled, some greenish, some blackish or brown : the Green-frog, which is a small one, is by Topsell taken to be venomous ; and so is the Padock or Frog- padock, which usually keeps or breeds on the land, and is very large, and bony, and big, especially the she-frog of that kind ; yet these will sometimes come into the water, but it is not often : and the Land-frogs are some of them observed by him to breed by laying eggs ; and others to breed of the slime and dust of the earth, and that in winter they turn to slime again, and that the next summer that very slime returns to be a living creature ; this is the opinion of Pliny. And Cardanus undertakes to give a reason for the raining of frogs : but if it were in my power, it Chap.viili the complete angler. 151 should rain none but Water-frogs, for those, I think, are not venomous, especially the right Water-frog, which, about Feb- ruary or March, breeds in ditches by slime, and blackish eggs in that slime : about which time of breeding, the he and she frogs are observed to use divers summersaults, and to croak and make a noise, which the Land-frog or Padock-frog never does. Now of these Water-frogs, if you intend to fish with a frog for a Pike, you are to choose the yellowest that you can get, for that the Pike ever likes best. And thus use your frog, that he may continue long alive. Put your hook into his mouth, which you may easily do from the middle of April till August ; and then the frog's mouth grows up, and he continues so for at least six months without eating, but is sustained, none but He whose Name is Wonder- ful knows how : I say, put your hook, I mean the arming- wire, through his mouth, and out at his gills, and then with a fine needle and silk sew the upper part of his leg with only one stitch to the arming-wire of your hook, or tie the frog's leg above the upper joint to the armed wire : and in so doing, use him as though you loved him, that is, harm him as little as you may possibly, that he may live the longer. And now, having given you this direction for the baiting your Ledger-hook with a live fish or frog, my next must be to tell you how your hook thus baited must or may be used : and it is thus. Having fastened your hook to a line, which, if it be not fourteen yards long, should not be less than twelve, you are to fasten that line to any bough near to a hole where a Pike is, or is likely to lie, or to have a haunt ; and then wind your line on any forked stick, all your line, except half a yard of it, or rather more ; and split that forked stick with such a nick or notch at one end of it as may keep the line from any more of it ravelling from about the stick than so much of it as you intend. And choose your forked stick to be of that bigness as may keep the fish or frog from pulling the forked stick under the water till the Pike bites, and then the Pike having pulled the line 152 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I forth of the cleft or nick of that stick in which it was gently fastened, he will have line enough to go to his hold and pouch the bait. And if you would have this Ledger-bait to keep at a fixed place, undisturbed by wind or other accidents, which may drive it to the shore-side, — for you are to note, that it is like- liest to catch a Pike in the midst of the water, — then hang a small plummet of lead, a stone, or piece of tile, or a turf, in a string, and cast it into the water, with the forked stick, to hang upon the ground, to be a kind of anchor to keep the forked stick from moving out of your intended place till the Pike come. This I take to be a very good way to use so many Ledger-baits as you intend to make trial of. Or if you bait your hooks thus with live fish or frogs, and in a windy day, fasten them thus to a bough or bundle of straw, and by the help of that wind can get them to move across a pond or mere, you are like to stand still on the shore and see sport presently if there be any store of Pikes : or these live-baits may make sport, being tied about the body or wings of a goose or duck, and she chased over a pond. And the like may be done with turning three or four live-baits, thus fastened to bladders, or boughs, or bottles of hay or flags, to swim down a river, whilst you walk quietly alone on the shore, and are still in expectation of sport. The rest must be taught you by prac- tice, for time will not allow me to say more of this kind of fish- ing with live-baits. And for your dead-bait for a Pike, for that you may be taught by one day's going a-fishing with me, or any other body that fishes for him ; for the baiting your hook with a dead Gudgeon or a Roach, and moving it up and down the water, is too easy a thing to take up any time to direct you to do it : and yet, because I cut you short in that, I will commute for it by telling you that that was told me for a secret. It is this. Dissolve gum of ivy in oil of spike, and therewith anoint your dead-bait for a Pike ; and then cast it into a likely place, and when it has lain a short time at the bottom, draw it tow- •<:hap. VIII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. !S3 aids the top of the water, and so up the stream : and it is more than Hkely that you have a Pike follow with more than common eagerness. And some affirm, that any bait anointed with the marrow of the thigh-bone of an Hern is a great temptation to any fish. These have not been tried by me, but told me by a friend of note, that pretended to do me a courtesy. But if this direc- tion to catch a Pike thus do you no good, yet I am certain this direction how to roast him when he is caught is choicely good, for I have tried it ; and it is somewhat the better for not being common : but with my direction you must take this caution, that your Pike must not be a small one, that is, it must be more than half a yard, and should be bigger. First, open your Pike at the gills, and, if need be, cut also a little slit towards the belly. Out of these take his guts ; and keep his liver, which you are to shred very small with thyme, sweet marjoram, and a little winter-savory ; to these put some pickled oysters, and some anchovies, two or three ; both these last whole, for the anchovies will melt, and the oysters should not; to these you must add also a pound of sweet butter, which you are to mix with the herbs that are shred, and let them all be well salted. If the Pike be more than a yard long, then you may put into these herbs more than a pound, or if he be less, then less butter will suffice. These being thus mixed, with a blade or two of mace, must be put into the Pike's belly, and then his belly so sewed up as to keep all the butter in his belly if it be possible ; if not, then as much of it as you possibly can : but take not off the scales. Then you are to thrust the spit through his mouth, out at his tail ; and then take four, or five, or six split sticks, or very thin laths, and a convenient quantity of tape or filleting ; these laths are to be tied round about the Pike's body from his head to his tail, and the tape tied somewhat thick to prevent his breaking or falling off from the spit. Let him be roasted very leisurely, and often basted with claret- wine, and anchovies^ »nd butter, 154 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I mixed together ; and also with what moisture falls from him into the pan. When you have roasted him sufficiently, you are to hold under him, when you unwind or cut the tape that ties him, such a dish as you purpose to eat him out of; and let him fall into it with the sauce that is roasted in his belly ; and by this means the Pike will be kept unbroken and complete. Then, to the sauce which was within, and also that sauce in the pan, you are to add a fit quantity of the best butter, and to squeeze the juice of three or four oranges : lastly, you may either put into the Pike, with the oysters, two cloves of garlic, and take it whole out, when the Pike is cut off the spit ; or to give the sauce a haut-gout, let the dish into which you let the Pike fall be rubbed with it. The using or not using of this garlic is left to your discretion. M. B. This dish of meat is too good for any but anglers, or very honest men ; and I trust you will prove both, and therefore I have trusted you with this secret. Let me next tell you, that Gesner tells us there are no Pikes in Spain, and that the largest are in the Lake Thrasymene in Italy ; and the next, if not equal to them, are the Pikes of England ; and that in England, Lincolnshire boasted to have the biggest. Just so doth Sussex boast of four sorts of fish; namely, an Arundel Mullet, a Chichester Lobster, a Shelsey Cockle, and an Amerly Trout. But I will take up no more of your time with this relation, but proceed to give you some observations of the Carp, and how to angle for him, and to dress him: — but not till he is caught. THE FOURTH DAY. Chap. IX.— Observations of the Carp, with Directions how to fish for him. PiSCATOR. T^HE Carp is the Queen of Rivers : a stately, a good, and a * very subtle fish, that was not at first bred, nor hath been long, in England, but is now naturaHzed. It is said, they were brought hither by one Mr. Mascal, a gentleman that then lived at Plumsted in Sussex, a county that abounds more with this fish than any in this nation. You may remember that I told you, Gesner says there are no Pikes in Spain ; and, doubtless, there was a time, about a hundred or a few more years ago, when there were no Carps in England, as may seem to be affirmed by Sir Richard Baker, in whose Chronicle you may find these verses : — ** Hops and Turkeys, Carps and Beer, Came into England all in a year," And doubtless, as of sea-fish the Herring dies soonest out of the water, and of fresh-water fish the Trout, so, except the Eel, the Carp endures most hardness, and lives longest out of his own proper element; and therefore the report of the Carp's being brought out of a foreign country into this nation is the more probable. Carps and Loaches are observed to breed several months in one year, which Pikes and most other fish do not. And this is partly proved by tame and wild rabbits, as also by some ducks, which will lay eggs nine of the twelve months ; and yet there be other ducks that lay not longer than about one month. 156 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I And it is the rather to be believed, because you shall scarce or never take a male Carp without a melt, or a female without a roe or spawn, and for the most part very much ; and especially all the summer season : and it is observed, that they breed more naturally in ponds than in running waters, if they breed there at all ; and that those that live in rivers are taken by men of the best palates to be much the better meat. And it is observed, that in some ponds Carps will not breed, especially in cold ponds; but where they will breed, they breed innumerably : Aristotle and PHny say, six times in a year, if there be no Pikes nor Perch to devour their spawn when it is cast upon grass, or flags, or weeds, where it lies ten or twelve days before it be enlivened. The Carp, if he have water-room and good feed, will grow to a very great bigness and length ; I have heard, to be much above a yard long. 'Tis said by Jovius, who hath writ of fishes, that in the Lake Lurian, in Italy, Carps have thriven to be more than fifty pounds' weight; which is the more probable, for as the bear is conceived and born suddenly, and being born is but short-lived, so, on the contrary, the ele- phant is said to be two years in his dam's belly, some think he is ten years in it, and being born grows in bigness twenty years ; and 't is observed too that he lives to the age of a hundred years. And 't is also observed, that the crocodile is very long-lived, and more than that, that all that long life he thrives in bigness : and so I think some Carps do, especially in some places; though I never saw one above twenty-three inches, which was a great and goodly fish ; but have been as- sured there are of a far greater size, and in England too. Now, as the increase of Carps is wonderful for their number, so there is not a reason found out, I think, by any, why they should breed in some ponds and not in others of the same nature for soil and all other circumstances. And as their breeding, so are their decays also very mysterious : I have both read it, and been told by a gentleman of tried honesty, that Chap. IX.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 157 he has known sixty or more large Carps put into several ponds near to a house, where by reason of the stakes in the ponds, and the owner's constant being near to them, it was impossible they should be stolen away from him : and that when he has, after three or four years, emptied the pond, and expected an increase from them by breeding young ones, — for that they might do so, he had, as the rule is, put in three melters for one spawner, — he has, I say, after three or four years, found neither a young nor old Carp remaining. And the like I have known of one that has almost watched the pond, and at a like distance of time, at the fishing of a pond, found of seventy or eighty large Carps not above five or six : and that he had forborne longer to fish the said pond, but that he saw, in a hot day in summer, a large Carp swim near the top of the water with a frog upon his head ; and that he upon that occasion caused his pond to be let dry : and I say, of seventy or eighty Carps, only found five or six in the said pond, and those very sick and lean, and with every one a frog sticking so fast on the head of the said Carps, that the frog would not be got off without extreme force or killing. And the gentleman that did affirm this to me told me he saw it ; and did declare his belief to be, and I also believe the same, that he thought the other Carps that were so strangely lost were so killed by frogs, and then devoured. And a person of honor now living in Worcestershire* as- sured me he had seen a necklace or collar of tadpoles hang like a chain or necklace of beads about a Pike's neck, and to kill him: whether it were for meat or malice must be to me a question. But I am fallen into this discourse by accident ; of which I might say more, but it has proved longer than I intended, and possibly may not to you be considerable : I shall therefore give you three or four more short observations of the Carp, and then fall upon some directions how you shall fish for him. The age of Carps is by Sir Francis Bacon, in his ** History ♦Mr. Fr. Ru. ISB THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part L of Life and Death," observed to be but ten years, yet others think they live longer. Gesner says, a Carp has been known to live in the Palatinate above a hundred years : but most con- clude, that, contrary to the Pike or Luce, all Carps are the better for age and bigness. The tongues of Carps are noted to be choice and costly meat, especially to them that buy them : but Gesner says, Carps have no tongue like other fish, but a piece of flesh-like fish in their mouth like to a tongue, and should be called a palate : but it is certain it is choicely good, and that the Carp is to be reckoned amongst those leather- mouthed fish which I told you have their teeth in their throat ; and for that reason he is very seldom lost by breaking his hold, if your hook be once stuck into his chaps. I told you that Sir Francis Bacon thinks that the Carp lives but ten years ; but Janus Dubravius has writ a book '' Of Fish and Fish-Ponds," in which he says that Carps begin to spawn at the age of three years, and continue to do so till thirty : he says also, that in the time of their breeding, which is in sum- mer when the sun hath warmed both the earth and water, and so apted them also for generation, that then three or four male Carps will follow a female ; and that then, she putting on a seeming coyness, they force her through weeds and flags, where she lets fall her eggs or spawn, which sticks fast to the weeds, and then they let fall their melt upon it, and so it be- comes in a short time to be a living fish : and, as I told you, it is thought the Carp does this several months in the year ; and most believe that most fish breed after this manner, except the Eel. And it has been observed, that when the spawner has weakened herself by doing that natural office, that two or three melters have helped her from off the weeds by bearing her up on both sides, and guarding her into the deep. And you may note, that, though this may seem a curiosity not worth observing, yet others have judged it worth their time and costs to make glass hives, and order them in such a manner as to see how bees have bred and made their honeycombs, and how they Chap. IX.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 159 have obeyed their king and governed their commonwealth. But it is thought that all Carps are not bred by generation, but that some breed other ways, as some Pikes do. The physicians make the galls and stones in the heads of Carps to be very medicinable. But 't is not to be doubted but that in Italy they make great profit of the spawn of Carps, by selling it to the Jews, who make it into red caviare, the Jews not being by their law admitted to eat of caviare made of the Sturgeon, that being a fish that wants scales, and, as may appear in Levit. xi. 10, by them reputed to be unclean. Much more might be said out of him, and out of Aristotle, which Dubravius often quotes in his Discourse of Fishes ; but it might rather perplex than satisfy you ; and therefore I shall rather choose to direct you how to catch, than spend more time in discoursing either of the nature or the breeding of this Carp, or of any more circumstances concerning him : but yet I shall remember you of what I told you before, that he is a very subtle fish, and hard to be caught. And my first direction is, that, if you will fish for a Carp, you must put on a very large measure of patience ; especially to fish for a River-Carp : I have known a very good fisher angle diligently four or six hours in a day, for three or four l6o THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I days together, for a River- Carp, and not have a bite. And you are to note that, in some ponds, it is as hard to catch a Carp as in a river ; that is to say, where they have store of feed, and the water is of a clayish color : but you are to re- member, that I have told you there is no rule without an ex- ception ; and therefore, being possessed with that hope and patience, which I wish to all fishers, especially to the Carp- Angler, I shall tell you with what bait to fish for him. But first you are to know, that it must be either early or late ; and let me tell you, that in hot weather, for he will seldom bite in cold, you cannot be too early or too late at it. And some have been so curious as to say, the loth of April is a fatal day for Carps. The Carp bites either at worms or at paste ; and of worms I think the bluish marsh or meadow worm is best ; but possibly another worm, not too big, may do as well, and so may a green gentle : and as for pastes, there are almost as many sorts as there are medicines for the toothache ; but doubtless sweet pastes are best ; I mean pastes made with honey or with sugar : which, that you may the better beguile this crafty fish, should be thrown into the pond or place in which you fish for him some hours, or longer, before you undertake your trial of skill with the angle-rod : and, doubtless, if it be thrown into the water a day or two before, at several times and in small pellets, you are the likelier when you fish for the Carp to obtain your desired sport. Or in a large pond, to draw them to any cer- tain place, that they may the better and with more hope be fished for, you are to throw into it, in some certain place, either grains, or blood mixed with cow -dung or with bran ; or any garbage, as chicken's guts, or the like ; and then some of your small sweet pellets with which you purpose to angle : and these small pellets being a few of them also thrown in as you are angling, will be the better. And your paste must be thus made : take the flesh of a rab- bit or cat cut small, and bean-flour ; and if that may not be Chap. IX.l THE COMPLETE ANGLER. . l6l easily got, get other flour, and then mix these together, and put to them either sugar, or honey, which I think better ; and then beat these together in a mortar, or sometimes work them in your hands, your hands being very clean ; and then make it into a ball, or two, or three, as you like best for your use ; but you must work or pound it so long in the mortar, as to make it so tough as to hang upon your hook without washing from it, yet not too hard: or that you may the better keep it on your hook, you may knead with your paste a little, and not much, white or yellowish wool. And if you would have this paste keep all the year for any other fish, then mix with it virgin-wax and clarified honey, and work them together with your hands Defore the fire ; then make these into balls, and they will keep all the year. And if you fish for a Carp with gentles, then put upon your hook a small piece of scarlet about this bigness Q, it being soaked in, or anointed with oil of peter, called by some oil of the rock : and if your gentles be put, two or three days before, into a box or horn anointed with honey, and so put upon your hook as to preserve them to be living, you are as like to kill this crafty fish this way as any other : but still as you are fish- ing, chew a little white or brown bread in your mouth, and cast it into the pond about the place where your float swims. Other baits there be; but these, with diligence and patient watchfulness, will do it better than any that I have ever prac- tised or heard of: and yet I shall tell you, that the crumbs of white bread and honey made into a paste is a good bait for a Carp ; and you know it is more easily made. And having said thus much of the Carp, my next discourse shall be of the Bream, which shall not prove so tedious : and therefore I de- sire the continuance of your attention. But first I will tell you how to make this Carp, that is so curious to be caught, so curious a dish of meat, as shall make him worth all your labor and patience ; and though it is not without some trouble and charges, yet it will recompense both. l62 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Pa»t L Take a Carp, alive if possible, scour him, and rub him clean with water and salt, but scale him not : then open him, and put him with his blood and his liver, which you must save wHen you open him, into a small pot or kettle; then take sweet-marjoram, thyme, and parsley, of each half a handful ; a sprig of rosemary, and another of savory ; bind them into two or three small bundles, and put them to your Carp, with four or hve whole onions, twenty pickled oysters, and three an- chovies. Then pour upon your Carp as much claret-wine as will only cover him ; and season your claret well with salt, cloves, and mace, and the rinds of oranges and lemons. That done, cover your pot and set it on a quick fire, till it be suf- ficiently boiled : then take out the Carp, and lay it with the broth into the dish, and pour upon it a quarter of a pound of the best fresh butter, melted and beaten with half a dozen spoonfuls of the broth, the yolks of two or three eggs, and some of the herbs shred : garnish your dish with lemons, and so serve it up, and much good do you ! Dr. T. THE FOURTH DAY. Chap. X. — Observations of the Bream, and Directions to catch him, PiSCATOR. TTHE Bream, being at a full growth, is a large and stately * fish. He will breed both in rivers and ponds ; but loves best to live in ponds, and where, if he likes the water and air, he will grow not only to be very large, but as fat as a hog. He is by Gesner taken to be more pleasant, or sweet, than whole- some : this fish is long in growing, but breeds exceedingly in a water that pleases him ; yea, in many ponds so fast as to over-store them, and starve the other fish. He is very broad, with a forked tail, and his scales set in ex- cellent order : he hath large eyes, and a narrow sucking mouth ; he hath two sets of teeth, and a lozenge-like bone, a bone to \ielp his grinding. The melter is observed to have two large melts, and the female two large bags of eggs or spawn. Gesner reports, that in Poland a certain and a great number of large Breams were put into a pond, which in the next fol- lowing winter were frozen up into one entire ice, and not one drop of water remaining, nor one of these fish to be found, though they were diligently searched for ; and yet the next spring, when the ice was thawed, and the weather warm, and fresh water got into the pond, he affirms they all appeared again. This Gesner affirms, and I quote my author, because it seems almost as incredible as the resurrection to an atheist. But it may win something in point of believing it, to him that considers the breeding or renovation of the silk-worm, and of many insects. And that is considerable which Sir Franci? 1 64 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. Bacon observes in his '' History of Life and Death," foL 20, that there be some herbs that die and spring every year, and some endure longer. But though some do not, yet the French esteem this fish highly, and to that end have this proverb: '* He that hath Breams in his pond is able to bid his friend welcome." And it is noted, that the best part of a Bream is his belly and head. Some say, that Breams and Roaches will mix their eggs and melt together, and so there is in many places a bastard breed of Breams, that never come to be either large or good, but very numerous. The baits good to catch this Bream are many. First, paste made of brown bread and honey, gentles, or the brood of wasps that be young, and then not un- like gentles, and should be hardened in an oven, or dried on a tile before the fire to make them tough : or there is at the root of docks or flags, or rushes in watery places, a worm not un- like a maggot, at which Tench will bite freely. Or he will bite at a grasshopper with his legs nipped off, in June and July ; or at several flies, under water, which may be found on flags that grow near to the water-side. I doubt not but that there be many other baits that are good, but I will turn them all into this most excellent one, either for a Carp or Bream, in any river or mere : it was given to me by a most honest and excellent Angler, and, hoping you will prove both, I will im- part it to you, .J ''--to- Chap. X.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. l6S 1. Let your bait be as big a red-worm as you can find, without a knot : get a pint or quart of them in an evening in garden-walks, or chalky commons, after a shower of rain ; and put them with clean moss well washed and picked, and the water squeezed out of the moss as dry as you can, into an earthern pot or pipkin set dry, and change the moss fresh every three or four days for three weeks or a month together ; then your bait will be at the best, for it will be clear and lively. 2. Having thus prepared your baits, get your tackling ready and fitted for this sport. Take three long angling-rods, and as many and more silk, or silk and hair, lines, and as many large swan or goose quill floats. Then take a piece of lead made after this manner, and fasten them to the low- ends of your Hnes. Then fasten your link-hook also to the lead, and let there be about a foot or ten inches between the lead and the hook ; but be sure the lead be heavy enough to sink the float or quill a little under the water, and not the quill to bear up the lead, for the lead must lie on the ground. Note that your link next the hook may be smaller than the rest of your line, if you dare adventure, for fear of taking the Pike or Pearch, who will assuredly visit your hooks, till they be taken out, as I will show you afterwards, before either Carp or Bream will come near to bite. Note also, that when the worm is well baited, it will crawl up and down, as far as the lead will give leave, which much enticeth the fish to bite without suspicion. 3. Having thus prepared your baits, and fitted your tackling, repair to the river, where you have seen them to swim in skuls or shoals in the summer-time in a hot afternoon, about three or four of the clock ; and watch their going forth of their deep holes and returning, which you may well discern, for they re- turn about four of the clock, most of them seeking food at the bottom, yet one or two will lie on the top of the water, rolling and tumbling themselves whilst the rest are under him at the bottom ; and so you shall perceive him to keep sentinel : then mark where he plays most, and stays longest, which commonly l66 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. is in the broadest and defepest place of the river, and there, or near thereabouts, at a clear bottom and a convenient landing- place, take one of your angles ready fitted as aforesaid, and sound the bottom, which should be about eight or ten feet deep ; two yards from the bank is best. Then consider with yourself whether that water will rise or fall by the next morning, by reason of any water-mills near, and according to your discretion take the depth of the place where you mean after to cast your ground-bait, and to fish, to half an inch ; that the lead lying on or near the ground-bait, the top of the float may only appear upright half an inch above the water. Thus you having found and fitted for the place and depth thereof, then go home and prepare your ground-bait ; which is, next to the fruit of your labors, to be regarded. The Ground-Bait. You shall take a peck, or a peck and a half, according to the greatness of the stream, and deepness of the water, where you mean to angle, of sweet gross-ground barley-malt, and boil it in a kettle ; one or two warms is enough : then strain it through a bag into a tub, the liquor whereof hath often done my horse much good ; and when the bag and malt is near cold, take it down to the water-side about eight or nine of the clock in the evening, and not before : cast in two parts of your ground-bait, squeezed hard between both your hands, it will sink pres- ently to the bottom, and be sure it may rest in the very place where you mean to angle : if the stream run hard, or move a little, cast your malt in handfuls a little the higher, upwards the stream. You may, between your hands, close the malt so fast in handfuls, that the water will hardly part it with the fall. Your ground thus baited, and tackling fit.ted, leave your bag with the rest of your tackling and ground-bait near the sporting- Chap. X.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 167 place all night ; and in the morning, about three or four of the clock, visit the water-side, but not too near, for they have a cunning watchman, and are watchful themselves too. Then gently take one of your three rods, and bait your hook, casting it over your ground-bait ; and gently and secretly draw it to you, till the lead rests about the middle of the ground- bait. Then take a second rod and cast in about a yard above, and your third a yard below the first rod, and stay the rods in the ground ; but go yourself so far from the water-side, that you perceive nothing but the top of the floats, which you must watch most diligently. Then, when you have a bite, you shall per- ceive the top of your float to sink suddenly into the water ; yet nevertheless be not too hasty to run to your rods, until you sec that the line goes clear away ; then creep to the water-side, and give as much line as possibly you can : if it be a good Carp or Bream, they will go to the farther side of the river, then strike gently, and hold your rod at a bent a little while ; but if you both pull together, you are sure to lose your game, for either your line, or hook, or hold, will break : and after you have over- come them, they will make noble sport, and are very shy to be landed. The Carp is far stronger and more mettlesome than the Bream. Much more is to be observed in this kind of fish and fishing, but it is far fitter for experience and discourse than paper. Only thus much is necessary for you to know, and to be mind- ful and careful of; that if the Pike or Pearch do breed in that river, they will be sure to bite first, and must first be taken. And for the most part they are very large ; and will repair to your ground-bait, not that they will eat of it, but will feed and sport themselves amongst the young fry that gather about and hover over the bait. The way to discern the Pike and to take him, if you mistrust your Bream-hook, — for I have taken a Pike a yard long several l68 THE C0MI>LETE ANGLER. tPAftt 1. times at my Bream-hooks, and sometimes he hath had the luck to share my Hne, — may be thus : — Take a small Bleak, or Roach, or Gudgeon, and bait it ; and set it alive among your rods two foot deep from the cork, with a little red-worm on the point of the hook ; then take a few crumbs of white bread, or some of the ground-bait, and sprinkle it gently amongst your rods. If Mr. Pike be there, then the little fish will skip out of the water at his appearance, but the live-set bait is sure to be taken. Thus continue your sport from four in the morning till eight, and if it be a gloomy, windy day, they will bite all day long. But this is too long to stand to your rods at one place, and it will spoil your evening sport that day, which is this. About four of the clock in the afternoon repair to your baited place ; and as soon as you come to the water-side, cast in one half of the rest of your ground-bait, and stand off: then, whilst the fish are gathering together, for there they will most certainly come for their supper, you may take a pipe of tobacco ; and then in with your three rods as in the morning. You will find excellent sport that evening till eight of the clock : then cast in the residue of your ground-bait, and next morning by four of the clock visit them again for four hours, which is the best sport of all ; and after that, let them rest till you and your friends have a mind to more sport. From St. James's-tide until Bartholomew-tide is the best ; when they have had all the summer's food, they are the fat- test. Observe lastly, that after three or four days' fishing together, your game will be very shy and wary, and you shall hardly get above a bite or two at a baiting ; then your only way is to de- sist from your sport about two or three days : and in the mean time, on the place you late baited, and again intend to bait, you shall take a turf of green but short grass, as big or bigger than a round trencher ; to the top of this turf, on the green Chap. X.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 169 side, you shall, with a needle and green thread, fasten one by- one as many little red-worms as will near cover all the turf. Then take a round board or trencher, make a hole in the middle thereof, and through the turf, placed on the board or trencher, with a string or cord as long as is fitting, tied to a pole, let it down to the bottom of the water for the fish to feed upon without disturbance about two or three days; and after that you have drawn it away, you may fall to, and enjoy your former recreation. B. A. •3^ .. THE FOURTH DAY. Chap. XI. — Observations of the Tench, and Advice how to angle for him. PiSCATOR. T^HE Tench, the physician of fishes, is observed to love * ponds better than rivers, and to love pits better than either; yet Camden observes there is a river in Dorsetshire that abounds with Tenches, but doubtless they retire to the most deep and quiet places in it. This fish hath very large fins, very small and smooth scales, a red circle about his eyes, which are big and of a gold color, and from either angle of his mouth there hangs down a little barb. In every Tench's head there are two little stones, which foreign physicians make great use of; but he is not commended for wholesome meat, though there be very much use made of them, for outward applications. Rondeletius says, that at his being at Rome he saw a great cure done by applying a Tench to the feet of a very sick man. This, he says, was done after an unusual manner by certain Jews. And it is observed, that many of those people have many secrets, yet unknown to Christians ; secrets that have never yet been written, but have been since the days of their Solomon, who knew the nature of all things, even from the cedar to the shrub, delivered by tra- dition from the father to the son, and so from generation to generation without writing; or, unless it were casually, with- out the least communicating them to any other nation or tribe : for to do that, they account a profanation. And yet it is thought that they, or some spirit worse than they, first told us, that lice swallowed alive were a certain cure for the yellow- Chap. XL] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 171 jaundice. This and many other medicines were discovered by them, or by revelation ; for doubtless we attained them not by study. Well, this fish, besides his eating, is very useful, both dead and alive, for the good of mankind. But I will meddle no more with that ; my honest humble art teaches no such bold- ness : there are too many foolish meddlers in physic and divinity, that think themselves fit to meddle with hidden se- crets, and so bring destruction to their followers. But I '11 not meddle with them, any farther than to wish them wiser ; and shall tell you next, for I hope I may be so bold, that the Tench is the physician of fishes ; for the Pike especially, and that the Pike, being either sick or hurt, is cured by the touch of the Tench. And it is observed, that the tyrant Pike will not be a wolf to his physician, but forbears to devour him though he be never so hungry. This fish, that carries a natural balsam in him to cure both himself and others, loves yet to feed in very foul water, and amongst weeds. And yet I am sure he eats pleasantly, and doubtless you will think so too, if you taste him. And I shall therefore proceed to give you some few, and but a few, direc- tions how to catch this Tench, of which I have given you these observations. He will bite at a paste made of brown bread and honey, or 1/2 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part L at a marsh-worm, or a lob- worm ; he incHnes very much to any paste with which tar is mixed, and he will bite also at a smaller worm, with his head nipped off, and a cod-worm put on the hook before that worm ; and I doubt not but that he will also in the three hot months, for in the nine colder he stirs not much, bite at a flag-worm, or at a green gentle, but can posi- tively say no more of the Tench, he being a fish that I have not often angled for, but I wish my honest Scholar may, and be ever fortunate when he fishes. THE FOURTH DAY. Chap. X\l.— Observations of the Pearch, and Directions how to fish for him. PiSCATOR. T^HE Pearch is a very good and a very bold-biting fish. He * is one of the fishes of prey that, Hke the Pike and Trout, carries his teeth in his mouth, which is very large; and he dare venture to kill and devour several other kinds of fish. He has a hooked, or hog-back, which is armed with sharp and stiff bristles, and all his skin armed or covered over with thick, dry, hard scales ; and hath, which few other fish have, two fins on his back. He is so bold that he will invade one of his own kind, which the Pike will not do so willingly ; and you may therefore easily believe him to be a bold biter. The Pearch is of great esteem in Italy, saith Aldrovandus ; and especially the least are there esteemed a dainty dish. And Gesner prefers the Pearch and Pike above the Trout, or any fresh-water fish : he says the Germans have this proverb, ** More wholesome than a Pearch of Rhine " : and he says the River-Pearch is so wholesome, that physicians allow him to be eaten by wounded men, or by men in fevers, or by women in child-bed. He spawns but once a year, and is by physicians held very nutritive ; yet, by many, to be hard of digestion. They abound more in the river Po and in England, says Rondeletius, than other parts, and have in their brain a stone, which is, in foreign parts, sold by apothecaries, being there noted to be very medicinable against the stone in the reins. These be a 174 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. part of the commendations which some philosophical brains have bestowed upon the fresh-water Pearch : yet they commend the Sea-Pearch, which is known by having but one fin on his back, of which, they say, we English see but a few, to be a much better fish. The Pearch grows slowly, yet will grow, as I have been ciedibly informed, to be almost two foot long ; for an honest informer told me, such a one was not long since taken by Sir Abraham Wilhams, a gentleman of worth, and a Brother of the Angle, that, yet hves, and I wish he may. This was a deep- bodied fish, and doubtless durst have devoured a Pike of half his own length ; for I have told you he is a bold fish, such a one as, but for extreme hunger, the Pike will not devour : for to affright the Pike, and save himself, the Pearch will set up his fins, much like as a turkey-cock will sometimes set up his tail. But, my Scholar, the Pearch is not only valiant to defend himself, but he is, as I said, a bold-biting fish, yet he will not bite at all seasons of the year ; he is very abstemious in win- ter, yet will bite then in the midst of the day, if it be warm : and note, that all fish bite best about the mid-st of a warm day in winter, and he hath been observed by some not usually to bite till the mulberry-tree buds; that is to say, till extreme frosts be past the spring : for when the mulberry-tree blossoms, many gardeners observe their forward fruit to be past the dan- ger of frosts ; and some have made the like observation of the Pearch's biting. But bite the Pearch will, and that very boldly ; and as one has wittily observed, if there be twenty or forty in a hole, they may be, at one standing, all catched one after another ; they being, as he says, like the wicked of the world, not afraid, though their fellows and companions perish in their sight. And you may observe, that they are not like the soli- tary Pike ; but love to accompany one another, and march to- gether in troops. Chap. XII.J THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 175 And the baits for this bold fish are not many : I mean, he will bite as well at some or at any of these three, as at any or all others whatsoever, — a worm, a minnow, or a little frog, of which you may find many in hay- time : and of worms the dunghill-worm, called a Brandling, I take to be best, being well scoured in moss or fennel ; or he will bite at a worm that lies under cow-dung, with a bluish head. And if you rove for a Pearch with a minnow, then it is best to be alive, you sticking your hook through his back fin ; or a minnow with a hook in his upper lip, and letting him swim up and down, about mid-water or a little lo\/er, and you still keeping him to about that depth by a cork, which ought not to be a very little one : and the like way you are to fish for the Pearch, with a small frog, your hook being fastened through the skin of his leg, towards the upper part of it : and lastly, I will give you but this advice, that you give the Pearch time enough when he bites, for there was scarce ever any An- gler that has given him too much. And now I think best to rest myself, for I have almost spent my spirits with talking so long. Ven. Nay, good Master, one fish more, for you see it rains still, and you know our Angles are like money put to usury ; they may thrive, though we sit still and do nothing but talk and enjoy one another. Come, come, the other fish, good Master. 176 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I Pisc. But, Scholar, have you nothing to mix with this dis- course, which now grows both tedious and tiresome? Shall I have nothing from you, that seem to have both a good memory and a cheerful spirit ? Ven. Yes, Master, I will speak you a copy of verses that were made by Doctor Donne, and made to show the world that he could make soft and smooth verses, v/hen he thought smoothness worth his labor ; and I love them the better, be- cause they allude to rivers, and fish, and fishing. They be these : — ** Come, live with me, and be my love, And we will some new pleasures prove Of golden sands, and crystal brooks, "With silken lines and silver hooks. ^ •'There will the river whispering run, Warmed by the eyes more than the sun ; And there the enamelled fish will stay, Be^ng themselves they may betray. ** When thou wilt swim in that live bath, Each fish, which every channel hath, Most amorously to thee will swim. Gladder to catch thee than thou him. ** If thou to be so seen be'st loath, By sun or moon, thou dark'nest both ; And if mine eyes have leave to see, I need not their light, having thee. ** Let others freeze with angling-reeds, And cut their legs with shells and weeds ; Or treacherously poor fish beset With strangling snares, or windowy net : •* Let coarse, bold hands from slimy nest The bedded fish in banks outwrest ; Let curious traitors sleave silk flies, Xo 'witch poor wandering fishes' eyc§; Chap. XII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 177 "For thee, thou need'st no such deceit, For thou thyself art thine own bait : That fish that is not catched thereby Is wiser far, alas ! than I." Pisc. Well remembered, honest Scholar ! I thank you for these choice verses, which I have heard formerly, but had quite forgot till they were recovered by your happy memory. Well, being I have now rested myself a little, I will make you some requital, by telling you some observations of the Eel, for it rains still ; and because, as you say, our angles are as money put to use, that thrives when we play, therefore we '11 sit still and enjoy ourselves a little longer under this honeysuckle hedge. ♦ THE FOURTH DAY. Chap. XIII. — Observations of the Eel, and other Fish thai want scales y and how to fish for them. PiSCATOR. IT is agreed by most men, that the Eel is a most dainty fish : the Romans have esteemed her the Helena of their feasts, and some the queen of palate-pleasure. But most men differ about their breeding : some say they breed by generation as other fish do ; and others, that they breed, as some worms do, of mud ; as rats and mice, and many other living creatures, are bred in Egypt by the sun's heat when it shines upon the overflowing of the river Nilus ; or out of the putrefaction of the earth, and divers other ways. Those that deny them to breed by generation as other fish do, ask, If any man ever saw an Eel to have a spawn or melt ? And they are answered, that they may be as certain of their breeding as if they had seen them spawn : for they say, that they are certain that Eels have all parts fit for generation, like other fish, but so small as not to be easily discerned, by reason of their fatness, but that discerned they may be, and that the he and the she Eel may be distinguished by their fins. And Rondeletius says, he has seen Eels cling together like dew-worms. And others say, that Eels, growing old, breed other Eels out of the corruption of their own age, which. Sir Francis Bacon says, exceeds not ten years. And others say, that as pearls are made of glutinous dewdrops, which are condensed by the sun's heat in those countries, so Ee'ls are bred of a particular dew, falling in the months of May or June on the banks of some particular ponds or rivers, apted by nature for that end ; which in a few days are by the sun's heat turned into Eels ; and some Chap. XIII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 179 of the ancients have called the Eels that are thus bred the offspring of Jove. I have seen in the beginning of July, in a river not far from Canterbury, some parts of it covered over with young Eels, about the thickness of a straw ; and these Eels did lie on the top of that water, as thick as motes are said to be in the sun : and I have heard the hke of other rivers, as namely in' Severn, where they are called Yelversj and in a pond or mere near unto Staffordshire, where, about a set time in summer, such small Eels abound so much, that many of the poorer sort of people, that inhabit near to it, take such Eels out of this mere with sieves or sheets, and make a kind of Eel-cake of them, and eat it like as bread. And Gesner quotes Vener- able Bede to say, that in England there is an island called Ely, by reason of the innumerable number of Eels that breed in it. But that Eels may be bred as some worms, and some kind of bees and wasps are, either of dew, or out of the corruption of the earth, seems to be made probable by the barnacles and young goslings bred by the sun's heat and the rotten planks of an old ship, and hatched of trees ; both which are related for truths by Du Bartas and Lobel, and also by our learned Cam- den, and laborious Gerard in his Herbal. It is said by Rondeletius, that those Eels that are bred in rivers that relate to or be nearer to the sea, never return to the fresh waters, as the Salmon does always desire to do, when they have once tasted the salt-water ; and I do the more easily be- lieve this, because I am certain that powdered beef is a most excellent bait to catch an Eel. And though Sir Francis Bacon will allow the Eel's life to be but ten years, yet he, in his *' History of Life and Death," mentions a Lamprey belonging to the Roman Emperor to be made tame, and so kept for almost threescore years : and that such useful and pleasant ob- servations were made of this Lamprey, that Crassus the orator, who kept her, lamented her death. And we read in Doctor Hakewill, that Hortensius was seen to weep at the death of a Lamprey that he had kept long, and loved exceedingly. l80 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part L It is granted by all, or most men, that Eels, for about six months, that is to say, the six cold months of the year, stir not up and down, neither in the rivers, nor in the pools in which they usually are, but get into the soft earth or mud ; and there many of them together bed themselves, and live without feed- ing upon anything, as I have told you some swallows have been observed to do in hollow trees for those cold six months : and this the Eel and swallow do, as not being able to endure winter weather ; for Gesner quotes Albertus to say, that in the year 1 125, that year's winter being more cold than usually. Eels did by nature's instinct get out of the water into a stack of hay in a meadow upon dry ground, and there bedded themselves ; but yet at last a frost killed them. And our Camden relates, that in Lancashire fishes were digged out of the earth with spades, where no water was near to the place. I shall say little more of the Eel, but that, as it is observed he is impatient of cold, so it hath been observed that, in warm weather, an Eel has been known to hve five days out of the water. And lastly, let me tell you that some curious searchers into the natures of fish observe that there be several sorts or kinds of Eels : as the Silver Eel, and Green or greenish Eel, with which the river of Thames abounds, and those are called Grigs ; and a blackish Eel, whose head is more flat and bigger than ordinary Eels ; and also an Eel whose fins are reddish, and but seldom taken in this nation, and yet taken sometimes. These several kinds of Eels are, say some, diversely bred ; as namely, out of the corruption of the earth, and some by dew, and other ways, as I have said to you: and yet it is affirmed by some for a certain, that the Silver Eel is bred by genera- tion ; but not by spawning as other fish do, but that her brood come alive from her, being then httle live Eels no big- ger nor longer than a pin : an-l I have had too many testimo- nies of this to doubt the truth of it myself; and if I thought it needful I might prove it, but I think it is needless. And this Eel, of which I have said so much to you, may be Chap. XIII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. l8l caught with divers kinds of baits : as namely, with powdered beef; with a lob or garden worm ; with a minnow ; or gut of a hen, chicken, or the guts of any fish ; or with almost any- thing, for he is a greedy fish. But the Eel may be caught, especially, with a little, a very Httle Lamprey, which some call a Pride, and may in the hot months be found many of them in the river Thames, and in many mud-heaps in other rivers; yea, almost as usually as one finds worms in a dunghill. Next note, that the Eel seldom stirs in the day, but then hides himself; and therefore he is usually caught by night, with one of these bai^ of which I have spoken, and may be then caught by laying hooks, which you are to fasten to the bank, or twigs of a tree ; or by throwing a string cross the stream with many hooks at it, and those baited with the afore- said baits ; and a clod, or plummet, or stone, thrown into the river with this line, that so you may in the morning find it near to some fixed place, and then take it up with a drag-hook or otherwise. But these things are, indeed, too common to be spoken of, and an hour's fishing with any Angler will teach you better both for these and many other common things in the practical part of Angling, than a week's discourse. I shall therefore conclude this direction for taking the Eel, by telling you that, in a warm day in summer, I have taken many a good Eel by snigling, and have been much pleased with that sport. And because you that are but a young Angler know not what snigling is, I will now teach it to you. You remember I told you that Eels do not usually stir in the daytime, for then they hide themselves under some covert, or under boards or planks about flood-gates, or weirs, or mills, or in holes in the riv- er-banks : so that you, observing your time in a warm day, when the water is lowest, may take a strong, small hook, tied to a strong line, or to a string about a yard long ; and then into one of these holes, or between any boards about a mill, or under any great stone or plank, or any place where you think an Eel may hide or shelter herself, you may, and with the help 1 82 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. of a short stick, put in your bait, but leisurely, and as far as you may conveniently : and it is scarce to be doubted but that, if there be an Eel within the sight of it, the Eel will bite in- stantly, and as certainly gorge it : and you need not doubt to have him, if you pull him not out of the hole too quickly, but pull him out by degrees ; for he, lying folded double in his hole, will, with the help of his tail, break all, unless you give him time to. be wearied with pulling, and so get him out by degrees, not puUing too hard. And to commute for your patient hearing this long direction, I shall next tell you how to make this Eel .V-^--:>.-^--.. a most excellent dish of meat. First, wash him in water and salt ; then pull off his skin be- low his vent or navel, and not much further : having done vthat, take out his guts as clean as you can, but wash him not : then give him three or four scotches with a knife ; and then put into his belly and those scotches sweet herbs, an anchovy, and a little nutmeg grated or cut very small ; and your herbs and anchovies must also be cut very small, and mixed with good butter and salt : having done this, then pull his skin over him all but his head, which you are to cut off, to the end you may tie his skin about that part where his head grew, and it must be so tied as to keep all his moisture within his skin ; and Chap. Xin!] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 1 83 having done this, tie him with tape or packthread to a spit, and roast him leisurely, and baste him with water and salt till his skin breaks, and then with butter : and having roasted him enough, let what was put into his belly, and what he drips, be his sauce. S. F. When I go to dress an Eel thus, I wish he were as long and big as that which was caught in Peterborough River in the year 1667, which was a yard and three quarters long. If you will not believe me, then go and see at one of the coffee- houses in King Street in Westminster. But now let me tell you, that though the Eel thus dressed be not only excellent good, but more harmless than any other way, yet it is certain that physicians account the Eel dangerous meat ; I will advise you therefore, as Solomon says of honey, Prov. XXV. 16, " Hast thou found it, eat no more than is suffi- cient, lest thou surfeit, for it is not good to eat much honey." And let me add this, that the uncharitable Italian bids us *'give Eels, and no wine, to our enemies." And I will beg a Httle more of your attention to tell you, that Aldrovandus and divers physicians commend the Eel very much for medicine, though not for meat. But let me tell you one observation ; that the Eel is never out of season, as Trouts and most fish are at set times ; at least most Eels are not. I might here speak of many other fish whose shape and nature are much like the Eel, and frequent both the sea and fresh rivers ; as namely, the Lamprel, the Lamprey, and the Lamperne ; as also of the mighty Conger, taken often in Severn about Gloucester : and might also tell in what high esteem many of them are for the curiosity of their taste. But these are not so proper to be talked of by me, because they make us Anglers no sport ; therefore I will let them alone, as the Jewi do, to whom they are forbidden by their law. And, Scholar, there is also a Flounder, a sea-fish, which will wander very far into fresh rivers, and thcve lose himself^ 1 84 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part !. and dwell, and thrive to a hand's breadth, and almost twice so long, — a fish without scales, and most excellent meat, — and a fish that affords much sport to the Angler, with any small worm, but especially a Httle bluish worm, gotten out of marsh- ground or meadows, which should be well scoured. But this, though it be most excellent meat, yet it wants scales, and is, as I told you, therefore an abomination to the Jews. But, Scholar, there is a fish that they in Lancashire boast very much of, called a Char, taken there, and I think there only, in a mere called Winander-Mere ; a mere, says Camden, that is the largest in this nation, being ten miles in length, and, some say, as smooth in the bottom as if it were paved with polished marble. This fish never exceeds fifteen or sixteen inches in length, and 't is spotted like a Trout, and has scarce a bone but on the back. But this, though I do not know whether it make the Angler sport, yet I would have you take notice of it, because it is a rarity, and of so high esteem with persons of great note. Nor would I have you ignorant of a rare fish called a Gui- NiAD, of which I shall tell you what Camden and others speak. The river Dee, which runs by Chester, springs in Merioneth- shire ; and, as it runs toward Chester, it runs through Pemble- Mere, which is a large water : and it is observed that, though the river Dee abounds with Salmon, and Pemble-Mere with the Guiniad, yet there is never any Salmon caught in the mere, nor a Guiniad in the river. And now my next observation shall be of the Barbel. THE FOURTH DAY. Chap. XIV. — Observations of the Barbel, and Directions how to fish for him. PiSCATOR. T^HE Barbel is so called, says Gesner, by reason of his barb * or wattels at his mouth, which are under his nose or chaps. He is one of those leather-mouthed fishes that I told you of, that does very seldom break his hold if he be once hooked : but he is so strong, that he will often break both rod and line, if he proves to be a big one. But the Barbel, though he be of a fine shape, and looks big, yet he is not accounted the best fish to eat, neither for his wholesomeness nor his taste : but the male is reputed much better than the female, whose spawn is very hurtful, as I will presently declare to you. They flock together like sheep, and are at the worst in April, about which time they spawn, but quickly grow to be in season. He is abfe to live in the strongest swifts of the water, and in summer they love the shallowest and sharpest streams ; and love to lurk under weeds, and to feed on gravel against a rising ground, and will root and dig in the sands with his nose like a hog, and there nests himself: yet sometimes he retires to deep and swift bridges, or flood-gates, or weirs, where he will nest himself amongst piles, or in hollow places, and take such hold of moss or weeds, that, be the water never so swift, it is not able to force him from the place that he contends for. This is his constant custom in summer, when he and most living creat- ures sport themselves in the sun ; but at the approach of winter, then he forsakes the swift streams and shallow waters, and by degrees retires to those parts of the river that are quiet and 1 86 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. tPART I. deeper : in which places, and I think about that time, he spawns •, and, as I have formerly told you, with the help of the melter, hides his spawn or eggs in holes, which they both dig in the gravel : and then they mutually labor to cover it with the same sand, to prevent it from being devoured by other fish. There be such store of this fish in the river Danube, that Rondeletius says they may in some places of it, and in some months in the year, be taken by those that dwell near to the river, with their hands, eight or ten load at a time. He says, they begin to be good in May, and that they cease to be so in August, but it is found to be otherwise in this nation : but thus far we agree with him, that the spawn of a Barbel, if it be not poison, as he says, yet that it is dangerous meat, and especially in the month of May ; which is so certain, that Gesner and Gasius declare it had an ill effect upon them, even to the en- dangering of their lives. This fish is of a fine cast and handsome shape, with small scales, which are placed after a most exact and curious manner, and, as I told you, may be rather said not to be ill, than to be good meat. The Chub and he have, I think, both lost part of their credit by ill cookery, they being reputed the worst or coarsest of fresh-water fish. But the Barbel affords an Angler choice sport, being a lusty and a cunning fish ; 80 lusty and cunning as to endanger the breaking of the Angler's Chap. XIV.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 1 87 line, by running his head forcibly towards any covert, or hole, or bank ; and then striking at the line, to break it off with his tail, as is observed by Plutarch, in his book ** De Industria Animalium " ; and also so cunning to nibble and suck off your worm close to the hook, and yet avoid the letting the hook come into his mouth. The Barbel is also curious for his baits, that is to say, that fhey be clean and sweet ; that is to say, to have your worms well scoured, and not kept in sour and musty moss, for he is a curious feeder : but at a well-scoured Lob-worm he will bite as boldly as at any bait, and specially if, the night or two before you fish for him, you shall bait the places where you intend to fish for him with big worms cut into pieces : and note, that none did ever over-bait the place, nor fish too early or too late for a Barbel. And the Barbel will bite also at gentles, which not being too much scoured, but green, are a choice bait for him ; and so is cheese, which is not to be too hard, but kept a day or two in a wet linen cloth to make it tough : with this you may also bait the water a day or two before you fish for the Barbel, and be much the likelier to catch store : and if the cheese were laid in clarified honey a short time before, as namely, an hour or two, you were still the likelier to catch fish. Some have directed to cut the cheese into thin pieces, and toast it, and then tie it on the hook with fine silk : and some advise to fish for the Barbel with sheep's tallow and soft cheese beaten or worked into a paste, and that it is choicely good in August, and I believe it : but doubtless the Lob-worm well scoured, and the gentle not too much scoured, and cheese ordered as I have directed, are baits enough, and I think will serve in any month ; though I shall commend any Angler that tries conclusions, and is industrious to improve the art. And now, my honest Scholar, the long shower and my tedious discourse are both ended to- gether : and I shall give you but this observation, that when you fish for a Barbel your rod and line be both long, and of good strength ; for, as I told you, you will find him a heavy and a 1 88 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. dogged fish to be dealt withal, yet he seldom or never breaks his hold if he be once strucken. And if you would know more of fishing for the Umber or Barbel, get into favor with Doctor Sheldon, whose skill is above others ; and of that the poor that dwell about him have a comfortable experience. And now let 's go and see what interest the Trouts will pay us for letting our Angle-rods lie so long, and so quietly, in the water, for their use. Come, Scholar, which will you take up? Ven. Which you think fit, Master. Pisc. Why, you shall take up that; for I am certain, by viewing the line, it has a fish at it. Look you. Scholar ! Well done ! Come now, take up the other too ; well ! Now you may tell my brother Peter at night, that you have caught a leash of Trouts this day. And now let 's move toward our lodging, and drink a draught of red-cow's milk as we go, and give pretty Maudlin and her honest mother a brace of Trouts for their supper. Ven. Master, I like your motion very well ; and I think it is now about milking-time, and yonder they be at it. Pisc. God speed you, good woman ! I thank you both for our songs last night : I and my companion have had such fort- une a-fishing this day, that we resolve to give you and Maud- lin a brace of Trouts for supper, and we will now taste a draught of your red-cow's milk. MiLKW. Marry, and that you shall with all my heart, and I will be still your debtor when you come this way : if you will but speak the word I will make you a good syllabub, of new verjuice, and then you may sit down in a hay-cock and eat it ; and Maudlin shall sit by and sing you the good old song of the *' Hunting in Chevy Chace," or some other good ballad, for she hath store of them. Maudlin, my honest Maudlin, hath a notable memory, and she thinks nothing too good for you, be- cause you be such honest men. Ven. We thank you, and intend once in a month to caU Chap. XIV.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. I89 upon you again, and give you a little warning, and so good night. Good night, Maudlin. And now, good Master, let 's lose no time; but tell me somewhat more of fishing, and, if you please, first something of fishing for a Gudgeon. Pisc. I will, honest Scholar. THE FOURTH DAY. Chap ^^ ,— Observations of the Gudgeon, the Ruffe, and the Bleak, and how to fish for them. PiSCATOR. T^HE Gudgeon is reputed a fish of excellent taste, and to be ^ very wholesome : he is of a fine shape, of a silver color, and beautified with black spots both on his body and tail. He breeds two or three times in the year, and always in summer. He is commended for a fish of excellent nourishment : the Ger- mans call him Groundling, by reason of his feeding on the ground ; and he there feasts himself in sharp streams, and on the gravel. He and the Barbel both feed so, and do not hunt for flies at any time, as most other fishes do : he is an excellent fish to enter a young Angler, being easy to be taken with a small red-worm, on or very near to the ground. He is one of those leather-mouthed fish that has his teeth in his throat, and will hardly be lost from off the hook if he be once strucken. They be usually scattered up and down every river in the shallows, in the heat of summer ; but in autumn, when the weeds begin to grow sour or rot, and the weather colder, then they gather Chap. XV.l THE COMPLETE ANGLER. Ipl together, and get into the deeper parts of the water ; and are to be fished for there, with your hook always touching the ground, if you fish for him with a float, or with a cork. But many will fish for the Gudgeon by hand, with a running-line upon the ground, without a cork, as a Trout is fished for, and it is am excellent way, if you have a gentle rod and as gentle a hand. There is also another fish called a Pope, and by some a Ruffe j a fish that is not known to be in some rivers : he is much like the Pearch for his shape, ind taken to be better than the Pearch, but will not grow to be bigger than a Gud- geon : he is an excellent fish, no fish that swims is of a pleas- anter taste, and he is also excellent to enter a young Angler, for he is a greedy biter, and they will usually lie, abundance of them together, in one reserved place, where the water is deep, and runs quietly ; and an easy Angler, if he has found where they lie, may catch forty or fifty, or sometimes twice so many, at a standing. You must fish for him with a small red worm, and if you bait the ground with earth, it is excellent. There is also a Bleak, or Fresh-water Sprat, a fish that is ever in motion, and therefore called by some the River-Swal- low ; for just as you shall observe the Swallow to be, most evenings in summer, ever in motion, making short and quick turns when he flies to catch flies in the aii , by which he lives, 30 does the Bleak at the top of the water. Ausonius would 192 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part L have him called Bleak, from his whitish color ; his back is of a pleasant sad or sea-water-green, his belly white and shining as the mountain snow. And, doubtless, though he have the fortune, which virtue has in poor people, to be neglected, yet the Bleak ought to be much valued, though we want AUamot- salt, and the skill that the Italians have to turn them into An- chovies. This fish may be caught with a Pater-noster line ; that is, six or eight very small hooks tied along the line, one half a foot above the other : I have seen five caught thus at one time, and the bait has been gentles, than which none is better. Or this fish may be caught with a fine small artificial fly, which is to be of a very sad brown color, and very small, and the hook answerable. There is no better sport than whipping for Bleaks in a boat, or on a bank in the swift water in a sum- mer's evening, with a hazel top about five or six foot long, and a line twice the length of the rod. I have heard Sir Henry Wotton say, that there be many that in Italy will catch swal- lows so, or especially martins, this bird-angler standing on the top of a steeple to do it, and with a line twice so long as I have spoken of: and let me tell you, Scholar, that both Mar- tins and Bleaks be most excellent meat. And let me tell you, that I have known a Hern that did constantly frequent one place caught with a hook baited with a big minnow or a small gudgeon. The line and hook must be strong, and tied to some loose staff, so big as she cannot fly ?iway with it, — a line not exceeding two yards. THE FOURTH DAY. Chap. XVI. — Is of nothing, or that which is nothing worth. PiSCATOR. MY purpose was to give you some directions concerning Roach and Dace, and some other inferior fish, which make the Angler excellent sport, for you know there is more pleasure in hunting the hare than in eating her : but I will for- bear at this time to say any more, because you see yonder come our Brother Peter and honest Coridon. But I will prom- ise you, that, as you and I fish and walk to-morrow towards London, if I have now forgotten anything that I can then re- member, I will not keep it from you. Well met, Gentlemen ; this is lucky that we meet so just to- gether at this very door. Come, Hostess, where are you ? Is supper ready? Come, first give us drink, and be as quick as you can, for I believe we are all very hungry. Well, Brotker Peter and Coridon, to you both ! come, drink, and then tell me what luck of fish : we two have caught but ten Trouts, of which my Scholar caught three; look, here 's eight, and a brace we gave away : we have had a most pleasant day for fish- ing and talking, and are returned home both weary and hun- gry ; and now meat and rest will be pleasant. Pet. And Coridon and I have had not an unpleasant day, and yet I have caught but five Trouts ; for indeed we went to a good honest ale-house, and there we played at shovel-board half the day ; all the time that it rained we were there, and as merry as they that fished. And I am glad we are now with a dry house over our heads; for, hark ! how it rains and blows. Come, Hostess, give us more ale, and our supper with what 194 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. haste you may : and when we have supped let us have your song, Piscator, and the catch that your Scholar promised us, cm: else Coridon will be dogged. Pisc. Nay, I will not be worse than my word ; you shall not want my song, and I hope I shall be perfect in it. Ven. And I hope the like for my catch, which I have ready too : and therefore let 's go merrily to supper, and then have a gentle touch at singing and drinking ; but the last with mod- eration. Cor. Come, now for your song, for we have fed heartily. Come, Hostess, lay a few more sticks on the fire, and now sing when you will. Pisc. Well then here *s to you, Coridon ; and now for my song. •* O, the gallant fisher's life, It is the best of any j 'T is full of pleasure, void of strife, And 't is beloved by many : Other joys Are but toys, Only this Lawful is ; For our skill Breeds no ill, But content and pleasure. ** In a morning up we rise, Ere Aurora 's peeping : Drink a cup to wash our eyet, Leave the sluggard sleeping : Then we go To and fro, With our knacks At our backs, To such streams As the Thames, If we have the leisure. •* When we please to walk abrowjl For our recreation, Chap. XVI. J THE COMPLETE ANGLER. I9V In the fields is our abode, J'^ull of delectation : Where in a brook With a hook, Or a lake. Fish we take ; There we sit, For a bit, Till we fish entangle. ** We have gentles in a horn. We have paste and worms toe. ; We can watch both night and monu Suffer rain and storms too. None do here Use to swear, Oaths do fray Fish away ; We sit still, And watch our quill ; Fishers must not wrangle. ** If the sun's excessive heat Make our bodies swelter. To an osier-hedge we get For a friendly shelter ; Where in a dike Pearch or Pike, Roach or Dace, We do chase. Bleak or Gudgeon Without grudging ; We are still contented. ** Or we sometimes pass an hott? Under a green willow ; That defends us from a shower, Making earth our pillow ; Where we may Think and pray, Before death Stops our breath j 196 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. Other joys ' Are but toys, And to be lamented." Jo. Chalkhill. Ven. Well sung, Master ! This day's fortune and pleasure, and this night's company and song, do all make me more and more in love with AngUng. Gentlemen, my Master left me alone for an hour this day ; and I verily believe he retired him- self from talking with me, that he might be so perfect in this song ; was it not. Master ? Pisc. Yes, indeed, for it is many years since I learned it ; and having forgotten a part of it, I was forced to patch it up by the help of mine own invention, who am not excellent at poetry, as my part of the song may testify : but of that I will say no more, lest you should think I mean by discommending it to beg your commendations of it. And therefore, without replications, let 's hear your catch. Scholar ; which I hope will be a good one, for you are both musical and have a good fancy to boot. Ven. Marry, and that you shall ; and as freely as I would have my honest Master tell me some more secrets of fish and fishing as we walk and fish towards London to-morrow. But, Master, first let me tell you that, that very hour which you were absent from me, I sat down under a willow-tree by the water-side, and considered what you had told me of the owner of that pleasant meadow in which you then left me : that he had a plentiful estate, and not a heart to think so ; that he had at this time many lawsuits depending, and that they both damped his mirth, and took up so much of his time and thoughts, that he himself had not leisure to take the sweet con- tent that I, who pretended no title to them, took in his fields : for I could there sit quietly ; and, looking on the water, see some fishes sport themselves in the silver streams, others leap- ing at flies of several shapes and colors ; looking on the hills, I could behold them spotted with woods and groves; looking dowQ the meadows, could see here a boy gathering lilies and Chap. XVI.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 197 lady-smocks, and there a girl cropping culverkeyes and cow- slips, all to make garlands suitable to this present month of May. These, and many other field -flowers, so perfumed the air, that I thought that very meadow like that field in Sicily, of which Diodorus speaks, where the perfumes arising from the place make all dogs that hunt in it to fall off, and to lose their hottest scent. I say, as I thus sat, joying in my own happy condition, and pitying this poor rich man that owned this and many other pleasant groves and meadows about me, I did thankfully remember what my Saviour said, that the meek pos- sess the earth ; or, rather, they enjoy what the other possess and enjoy not : for Anglers, and meek, quiet-spirited men, are free from those high, those restless thoughts, which corrode the sweets of life ; and they, and they only, can say, as the poet has happily expressed it : — '• Hail ! blest estate of lowliness ! Happy enjoyments of such minds, As, rich in self-contentedness, Can, like the reeds in roughest winds, By yielding make that blow but small At which proud oaks and cedars fall." There came also into my mind at that time certain verses in praise of a mean estate and an humble mind ; they were writ- ten by Phineas Fletcher, an excellent Divine, and an excellent Angler, and the author of excellent Piscatory Eclogues, in which you shall see the picture of this good man's mind ; and I wish mine to be like it. " No empty hopes, no courtly fears, him fright. No begging wants his middle-fortune bite, But sweet content exiles both misery and spite. His certain life, that never can deceive him, Is full of thousand sweets, and rich content ; The smooth-leaved beeches in the field receive him With coolest shade, till noontide's heat be spent: His life is neither tossed in boisterous seas, Or the vexatious world, or lost in slothful ease : Pleased and full bkst he Uves, when he his God qslu pi 198 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part L •' His bed, more safe than soft, yields quiet sleeps, "While by his side his faithful spouse hath place ; His little son into his bosom creeps, The lively picture of his father's face. His humble house or poor state ne'er torment him ; Less he could like, if less his God had lent him ; And when he dies, green turfs do for a tomb content him." Gentlemen, these were a part of the thoughts that then pos- sessed me. And I there made a conversion of a piece of an old catch, and added more to it, fitting them to be sung by us Anglers. Come, Master, you can sing well; you must sing a part of it as it is in this paper. Pet. I marry, Sir, this is music indeed ! This has cheered my heart, and made me to remember six verses in praise of Music, which I will speak to you instantly. " Music ! miraculous rhetoric ! that speak'st sense Without a tongue, excelling eloquence ; With what ease might thy errors be excused, Wert thou as truly loved as thou 'rt abused ! But thou dull souls neglect, and some reprove thee, I cannot hate thee, 'cause the Angels love thee." Ven. And the repetition of these last verses of music have called to my memory what Mr. Edmund Waller, a lover of the angle, says of Love and Music. " Whilst I listen to thy voice, Chloris, I feel my heart decay ; That powerful voice Calls my fleeting soul away : O, suppress that magic sound, Which destroys without a wound I " Peace, Chloris, peace ; or singing die, That together you and I To heaven may go : For all we know Of what the blessed do above I§^ that they sing, and^that they love** Chap, XVI.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 199 Pisc. Well remembered, Brother Peter; these verses came seasonably, and we thank you heartily. Come, we will all join together, my Host and all, and sing my Scholar's Catch over again, and then each man drink the t'other cup and to bed, and thank God we have a dry house over our heads. Pisc. Well now, Good night to everybody. Pet. And so say I. Ven. And so say I. Cor. Good night to you all ; and I thank you. Pisc. Good morrow. Brother Peter ! and the like to you, honest Coridon. Come, my Hostess says there is seven shil- lings to pay : let 's each man drink a pot for his morning's draught, and lay down his two shillings ; that so my Hostess may not have occasion to repent herself of being so diligent, and using us so kindly. Pet. The motion is liked by everybody, and so. Hostess, here 's your money : we Anglers are all beholden to you ; it will not be long ere I '11 see you again. And now. Brother Piscator, I wish you and my Brother, your Scholar, a fair day and good fortune. Come, Coridon, this is our way. THE FIFTH DAY. Chap. XVU.—O/ Roach and Dace, and how to fish for them ; and of Cadis. Venator. /^^OOD Master, as we go now towards London, be still so ^-* courteous as to give me more instructions, for I have several boxes in my memory, in which I will keep them all very safe ; there shall not one of them be lost. Pisc. Well, Scholar, that I will : and I will hide nothing from you that I can remember, and can think may help you forward towards a perfection in this art. And because we have so much time, and I have said so little of Roach and Dace, I will give you some directions concerning them. Some say the Roach is so called from rutilus, which, they say, signifies red fins. He is a fish of no great reputation for his dainty taste ; and his spawn is accounted much better than any other part of him. And you may take notice, that, as the Carp is accounted the water-fox for his cunning, so the Roach is accounted the water -sheep for his simplicity or foolishness. It is noted that the Roach and Dace recover strength, and grow in season in a fortnight after spawning : the Barbel and Chub in a month ; the Trout in four months ; and the Salmon in the like time, if he gets into the sea, and after into fresh water. Roaches be accounted much better in the river than in a pond, though ponds usually breed the biggest. But there is a kind of bastard small Roach that breeds in ponds, with a very forked tail, and of a very small size, which some say is bred by the Bream and right Roach, and some ponds are stored with these beyond belief; and knowing men that know their dif- Chap. XVII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 20 1 ference call them Ruds : they differ from the true Roach as much as a Herring from a Pilchard. And these bastard breed of Roach are now scattered in many rivers, but I think not in the Thames, which I believe affords the largest and fattest in this nation, especially below London Bridge. The Roach is a leather - mouthed fish, and has a kind of saw - like teeth in his throat. And lastly, let me tell you, the Roach makes an Angler excellent sport, especially the great Roaches about Lon- don, where I think there be the best Roach- Anglers ; and I think the best Trout-Anglers be in Derbyshire, for the waters there are clear to an extremity. Next, let me tell you, you shall fish for this Roach in winter with paste or gentles ; in April, with worms or cadis ; in the very hot months, with little white snails, or with flies under water, for he seldom takes them at the top, though the Dace will. In many of the hot months. Roaches may also be caught thus : take a May-fly or Ant-fly, sink him with a little lead to the bottom near to the piles or posts of a bridge, or near to any posts of a weir, I mean any deep place where Roaches lie quietly, and then pull your fly up very leisurely, and usually a Roach will follow your bait to the very top of the 202 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part t water, and gaze on it there, and run at it and take it lest the fly should fly away from him. I have seen this done at Windsor and Henley Bridge, and great store of Roach taken ; and sometimes a Dace or Chub. And in August you may fish for them with a paste made only of the crumbs of bread, which should be of pure fine man- chet ; and that paste must be so tempered betwixt your hands till it be both soft and tough too : a very little water, and time and labor, and clean hands, will make it a most excellent paste. But when you fish with it, you must have a small hook, a quick eye, and a nimble hand, or the bait is lost and the fish too ; if one may lose that which he never had. With this paste you may, as I said, take both the Roach and the Dace or Dare, for they be much of a kind, in matter of feeding, cunning, goodness, and usually in size. And therefore take this general direction for some other baits which may concern you to take notice of. They will bite almost at any fly, but especially at Ant-flies ; concerning which take this direction, for it is very good. Take the blackish Ant-fly out of the mole-hill or ant-hill, in which place you shall find them in the montji of June ; or, if that be too early in the year, then doubtless you may find them in July, August, and most of September. Gather them alive, with both their wings, and then put them into a glass that will hold a quart or a pottle : but first put into the glass a handful, or more, of the moist earth out of which you gather them, and as much of the roots of the grass of the said hillock ; and then put in the flies gently, that they lose not their wings : lay a clod of Chap. XVII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 203 earth over it, and then so many as are put into the glass with- out bruising will live there a month or more, and be always in a readiness for you to fish with : but if you would have them keep longer, then get any great earthen pot, or barrel of three or four gallons, which is better, then wash your barrel with water and honey ; and having put into it a quantity of earth and grass-roots, then put in your flies, and cover it, and they will live a quarter of a year. These, in any stream and clear water, are a deadly bait for Roach or Dace, or for a Chub ; and your rule is, to fish not less than a handful from the bot- tom, I shall next tell you a winter- bait for a Roach, a Dace, or Chub ; and it is choicely good. About All-hallontide, and so till frost comes, when you see men ploughing up heath-ground, or sandy ground, or greenswards, then follow the plough, and you shall find a white worm as big as two maggots, and it hath a red head ; you may observe in what ground most are, for there the crows will be very watchful and follow the plough very close ; it is all soft, and full of whitish guts : a worm that is in Norfolk, and some other counties, called a Grub, and is bred of the spawn or eggs of a beetle, which she leaves in holes that she digs in the ground under cow or horse dung, and there rests all winter, and in March or April comes to be, first a red, and then a black beetle : gather a thousand or two of these, and put them, with a peck or two of their own earth, into some tub or firkin, and cover and keep them so warm that the frost or cold air or winds kill them not : these you may keep all winter, and kill fish with them at any time ; and if you put some of them into a little earth and honey a day before you use them, you will find them an excellent bait for Bream, Carp, or indeed for almost any fish. And after this manner you may also keep gentles all winter, which* are a good bait then, and much the better for being lively and tough. Or you may breed and keep gentles thus ; take a piece of beast's liver, and with a cross-stick hang it in 204 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part L some corner over a pot or barrel, half full of dry clay ; and as the gentles grow big, they will fall into the barrel, and scour themselves, and be always ready for use whensoever you incline to fish ; and these gentles may be thus created till after Mich- aelmas. But if you desire to keep gentles to fish with all the year, then get a dead cat or a kite, and let it be fly-blown ; and when the gentles begin to be alive and to stir, then bury it and them in soft, moist earth, but as free from frost as you can, and these you may dig up at any time when you intend to use them : these will last till March, and about that time turn to be flies. But if you be nice to foul your fingers, which good Anglers seldom are, then take this bait : get a handful of well-made malt, and put it into a dish of water, and then wash and rub it be- twixt your hands till you make it clean, and as free from husks as you can ; then put that water from it, and put a small quan- tity of fresh water to it, and set it in something that is fit for that purpose over the fire, where it is not to boil apace, but leisurely and very softly, until it become somewhat soft, which you may try by feeling it betwixt your finger and thumb ; and when it is soft, then put your water from it : and then take a sharp knife, and, turning the sprout-end of the corn upward, with the point of your knife take the back part of the husk off from it, and yet leaving a kind of inward husk on the corn, or else it is marred ; and then cut off that sprouted end, I mean a little of it, that the white may appear, and so pull off the husk on the cloven side, as I directed you ; and then cutting off a very little of the other end, that so your hook may enter ; and, if your hook be small and good, you will find this to be a very choice bait, either for winter or summer, you sometimes casting a /ittle of it into the place where your float swims. And to take the Roach and Dace, a good bait is the young prood of wasps or bees, if you dip their heads in blood ; espe- c*:ally good for Bream, if they be baked or hardened in their husks in an oven, a-fter the bread is taken out of it ; or hardened on a Chap. XVIt] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 205 fire-shovel : and so also is the thick blood of sheep, being half dried on a trencher, that so you may cut it into such pieces as may best fit the size of your hook ; and a little salt keeps it from growing black, and makes it not the worse, but better : this is taken to be a choice bait if rightly ordered. There be several oils of a strong smell that I have been told of, and to be excellent to tempt fish to bite, of which I could say much. But I remember I once carried a small bottle from Sir George Hastings to Sir Henry Wotton, they were both chemical men, as a great present : it was sent, and received, and used, with great confidence ; and yet, upon inquiry, I found it did not answer the expectation of Sir Henry ; which, with the help of this and other circumstances, makes me have little belief in such things as many men talk of. Not but that I think fishes both smell and hear, as I have expressed in my former discourse : but there is a mysterious knack, which though it be much easier than the philosopher's stone, yet is not attainable by common capacities, or else lies locked up in the brain or breast of some chemical man, that, like the Rosicrucians, will not yet reveal it. But let me nevertheless tell you, that camphor, put with moss into your worm-bag with your worms, makes them, if many Anglers be not very much mistaken, a tempting bait, and the Angler more fortunate. But I stepped by chance into this discourse of oils, and fishes smelling ; and though there might be more said, both of it and of baits for Roach and Dace, and other float-fish, yet I will forbear it at this time, and tell you in the next place how you are to prepare your tackling : concern- ing which, I will, for sport-sake, give you an old rhyme out of an old fish-book, which will prove a part, and but a part, of what you are to provide. *' My rod and my line, my float and my lead, My hook and my plummet, my whetstone and knife, My basket, my baits both living and dead, My net and my meat, for that is the chief : Then I must have thread, and hairs green and small, With mine Angling-purse, and so you have all." 206 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. \.Part I But you must have all these tackling,* and twice so many more, with which, if you mean to be a fisher, you must store yourself; and to that purpose I will go with you either to Mr. Margrave, who dwells amongst the booksellers in St. Paul's Churchyard, or to Mr. John Stubbs, near to the Swan in Gold- ing Lane ; they be both honest men, and will fit an Angler with what tackling he lacks. Ven. Then, good Master, let it be at , for he is nearest to my dwelling, and I pray let 's meet there the 9th of May next about two of the clock ; and I '11 want nothing that a fisher should be furnished with. Pisc. Well, and I '11 not fail you, God willing, at the time and place appointed. Ven. I thank you, good Master, and I will not fail you. And, good Master, tell me what baits more you remember, for it will not now be long ere we shall be at Tottenham High Cross ; and when we come thither I will make you some requital of your pains, by repeating as choice a copy of verses as any we have heard since we met together ; and that is a proud word, for we have heard very good ones. Pisc. Well, Scholar, and I shall be then right glad to hear them. And I will, as we walk, tell you whatsoever comes in my mind, that I think may be worth your hearing. You may make another choice bait thus : Take a handful or two of the best and biggest wheat you can get ; boil it in a little milk, like as frumity is boiled ; boil it so till it be soft, and then fry it very leisurely with honey and a little beaten saffron dissolved in milk ; and you will find this a choice bait, and good I think for any fish, especially for Roach, Dace, Chub, or Grayling : I know not but that it may be as good for a River-Carp, and especially if the ground be a little baited with it. And you may also note, that the spawn of most fish is a very tempting bait, being a little hardened on a warm tile, and cut * I have heard that the tackling hath been priced at fifty pounds, in the In* ventory of an Angler. Chap. XVII. J THE COMPLETE ANGLTER. 20/ into fit pieces. Nay, mulberries and those blackberries which grow upon briers be good baits for Chubs or Carps : with these many have been taken in ponds, and in some rivers where such trees have grown near the water, and the fruit customarily dropped into it. And there be a hundred other baits, more than can be well named ; which, by constant baiting the water, will become a tempting bait for any fish in it. You are also to know, that there be divers kinds of Cadis, or Case-worms, that are to be found in this nation in several dis- tinct counties, and in several little brooks that relate to bigger rivers : as namely, one Cadis called a Piper, whose husk or case is a piece of reed about an inch long, or longer, and as big about as the compass of a two-pence. These worms being kept three or four days in a woollen bag with sand at the bottom of it, and the bag wet once a day, will in three or four days turn to be yellow ; and these be a choice bait for the Chub or Chavender, or indeed for any great fish, for it is a large bait. There is also a lesser Cadis-worm, called a Cockspur, being in fashion like the spur of a cock, sharp at one end, and the case or house in which this dwells is made of small husks, and gravel, and slime, most curiously made of these, even so as to be wondered at ; but not to be made by man, no more than a kingfisher's nest can, which is made of little fishes' bones, and have such a geometrical interweaving and connection, as the like is not to be done by the art of man. This kind of Cadis is a choice bait for any float-fish; it is much less than the Piper-Cadis, and to be so ordered ; and these may be so pre- served, ten, fifteen, or twenty days, or it may be longer. There is also another Cadis, called by some a Straw-worm, and by some a Ruif-coat ; whose house or case is made of little pieces of bents, and rushes, and straws, and water-weeds, and I know not what ; which are so knit together with condensed slime, that they stick about her husk or case, not unlike the bristles of a hedgehog. These three Cadises are commonly taken in the beginning of summer ; and are good, indeed, to 208 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. (Part I. take any kind of fish, with float or otherwise. I might tell you of many more, which as these do early, so those have their time also of turning to be flies later in summer ; but I might lose my- self and tire you by such a discourse. I shall, therefore, but re- member you, that to know these and their several kinds, and to what flies every particular Cadis turns, and then how to use them, first as they be Cadis, and after as they be flies, is an art, and an art that every one that professes to be an Angler has not leisure to search after ; and, if he had, is not capable of learning. I '11 tell you. Scholar, several countries have several kinds of Cadises, that indeed differ as much as dogs do : that is to say, as much as a very cur and a greyhound do. These be usually bred in the very little rills or ditches that run into bigger rivers ; and, I think, a more proper bait for those very rivers than any other. I know not, or of what, this Cadis receives life, or what colored fly it turns to ; but doubtless they are the death of many Trouts : and this is one killing way. Take one, or more if need be, of these large yellow Cadis : pull off" his head, and with it pull out his black gut ; put the body, as little bruised as is possible, on a very little hook, armed on with a red hair, which will show like the Cadis-head ; and a very little thin lead, so put upon the shank of the hook that it may sink presently. Throw this bait, thus ordered, which will look very yellow, into any great still hole where a Trout is, and he will presently venture his life for it, 't is not to be doubted, if you be not espied ; and that the bait first touch the water, before the line : and this will do best in the deepest, stillest water. Next let me tell you, I have been much pleased to walk quietly by a brook with a little stick in my hand, with which I might easily take these and consider the curiosity of their composure : and if you shall ever like to do so, then note that your stick must be a little hazel or willow, cleft, or have a nick at one end of it, by which means you may with ease take many Chap. XVII.J THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 209 of them in that nick out of the water, before you have any oc- casion to use them. These, my honest Scholar, are some ob- servations told to you as they now come suddenly into my memory, of which you may make some use : but for the prac- tical part, It is that that makes an Angler : it is diligence, and observation, and practice, and an ambition to be the hear, ixi the art, that must do it. I will tell you. Scholar, I once heara one say, ** I envy not him that eats better meat than I do, nor him that is richer, or that wears better clothes than I do : f envy nobody but him, and him only, that catches more fish than I do." And such a man is like to prove an Angler j and this noble emulation I wish to you and all young Anglere* THE FIFTH DAY. Chap. XVUl.—O/fAe Minnow or 'Penk, of //le LoAcn, and oj the Bull-Head, or Miller's-Thumb. PiSCATOR. THERE be also three or four other little fish that I had ■ ahiiost forgot, that all are without scales ; and may, for excellency of meat, be compared to any fish of greatest value and largest size. They be usually full of eggs or spawn all the months of summer ; for they breed often, as 't is observed mice and many of the smaller four-footed creatures of the earth do ; and as those, so these come quickly to their full growth and perfection. And it is needful that they breed both often and numerously ; for they be, besides other accidents of ruin, both a prey and baits for other fish. And first I shall tell you of the Minnow or Penk. Chap. XVIII.1 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 211 The Minnow hath, when he is in perfect season and not sick, which is only presently after spawning, — a kind of dap- pled or waved color, like to a panther, on his sides, inclining to a greenish and sky-color, his belly being milk-white, and his back almost black or blackish. He is a sharp biter at a small worm, and in hot weather makes excellent sport for young Anglers, or boys, or women that love that recreation. And in the spring they make of them excellent Minnow-Tansies ; for, being washed well in salt, and their heads and tails cut off, and their guts taken out, and not washed after, — they prove excellent for that use ; that is, being fried with yolks of eggs, the flowers of cowslips, and of primroses, and a little tansy ; thus used they make a dainty dish of meat. The Loach is, as I told you, a most dainty fish : he breeds and feeds in little and clear swift brooks, or rills, and lives there upon the gravel, and in the sharpest streams : he grows not to be above a finger long, and no thicker than is suitable to that length. This Loach is not unlike the shape of the Eel : he has a beard or wattles like a Barbel. He has two fins at his sides, four at his belly, and one at his tail ; he is dappled with many black or brown spots ; his mouth is Barbel-like under his nose. This fish is usually full of eggs or spawn, and is by Ges- ner, and other learned physicians, commended for great nour- ishment, and to be very grateful both to the palate and stomach of sick persons. He is to be fished for with a very small worm at the bottom ; for he very seldom or never rises above the gravel, on which, I told you, he usually gets his living. The Miller's-Thumb or Bull-head, is a fish of no pleasing shape. He is by Gesner compared to the Sea-toad-fish, for his similitude and shape. It has a head, big and flat, much greater than suitable to his body ; a mouth very wide and usu- ally gaping. He is without teeth, but his lips are very rough, much Hke to a file. He hath two fins near to his gills, which be roundish or crested ; two fins also under the belly ; two on the back ; one below the vent j and the fin of his tail is round. 212 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. Nature hath painted the body of this fish with whitish, black' ish, brownish spots. They be usually full of eggs or spawn all the summer, I mean the females ; and those eggs swell their vents almost into the form of a dug. They begin to spawn about April, and, as I told you, spawn several months in the summer. And in the winter the Minnow, and Loach, and Bull-Head dwell in the mud, a^ the Eel doth, or we know not where ; no more than we know where the cuckoo and swallow, and other half-year birds, which first appear to us in April, spend their six cold, winter, melancholy months. This Bull-Head does usually dwell and hide himself in holes, or amongst stones, in clear water : and in very hot days will lie a long time very still, and sun himself, and will be easy to be seen upon any flat stone, or any gravel ; at which time he will suffer an Angler to put a hook baited with a small worm very near unto his very mouth : and he never refuses to bite, nor indeed to be caught with the worst of Anglers. Matthiolus commends him much more for his taste and nourishment than for his shape or beauty. There is also a little fish called a Sticklebag : a fish with- out scales, but hath his body fenced with several prickles. I know not where he dwells in winter, nor what he is good for in summer, but only to make sport for boys and women^ anglers, and to feed other fish that be fish of prey, as Trouts in particular, who will bite at him as at a Penk; and better, if your hook be rightly baited with him : for he may be so baited as, his tail turning like the sail of a windmill, will make him turn more quick than any Penk or Minnow can. For note, that the nimble turning of that, or the Minnow, is the perfection of Minnow fishing. To which end, if you put your hook into his mouth, and out at his tail ; and then, having first tied him with white thread a Httle above his tail, and placed him after such a manner on your hook as he is like to turn, then sew up his mouth to your line, and he is like to turn quick, and tempt any Trout : but if he does not turn quick, Chap. XVIII] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 213 then turn his tail a Httle more or less towards the inner part, or towards the side of the hook ; or put the Minnow or Stickle- bag a little more crooked or more straight on your hook, until it will turn both true and fast : and then doubt not but to tempt any great Trout that lies in a swift stream. And the Loach that I told you of will do the like : no bait is more tempting, provided the Loach be not too big. And now. Scholar, with the help of this fine morning, and your patient attention, I have said all that my present memory will afford me concerning most of the several fish that are usu- ally fished for in fresh waters. Ven. But, Master, you have, by your former civility, made me hope that you will make good your promise, and say some- thing of the several rivers that be of most note in this nation ; and also of fish-ponds, and the ordering of them : and do it, I pray, good Master, for I love any discourse of rivers, and fish and fishing : the time spent in such discourse passes away very pleasantly. THE FIFTH \dAY. Chap. XIX. — Of several Rivers ^ and some Observations of Fish, PiSCATOR. \ 1 7ELL, Scholar, since the ways and weather do both favor ' ' us, and that we yet see not Tottenham Cross, you shall see my willingness to satisfy your desire. And, first, for the rivers of this nation : there be, as you may note out of Doc- tor Heylin's Geography and others, in number three hundred and twenty-five ; but those of chiefest note he reckons and de- scribes as folio weth. The chief is Thamisis, compounded of two rivers, Thame and Isis ; whereof the former, rising somewhat beyond Thame in Buckinghamshire, and the latter near Cirencester in Glou- cestershire, meet together about Dorchester in Oxfordshire; the issue of which happy conjunction is the Thamisis, or Thames. Hence it flieth betwixt Berks, Buckinghamshire, Middlesex, Surrey, Kent, and Essex, and so weddeth himself to the Kentish Medway in the very jaws of the ocean. This glorious river feeleth the violence and benefit of the sea more than any river in Europe ; ebbing and flowing twice a day more than sixty miles : about whose banks are so many fair towns, and princely palaces, that a German poet thus truly spake : — ** Tot campos, etc. ** We saw so many woods and princely bowers, Sweet fields, brave palaces, and stately towers, So many gardens, dressed with curious care, That Thames with royal Tiber may compare." 2. The second river of note is Sabrina or Severn. It hath its beginning in Plinlimmon Hill in Montgomeryshire, and his Chap. XIX.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 21$ end seven miles from Bristol ; washing, in the mean space, the walls of Shrewsbury, Worcester, and Gloucester, and divers other places and palaces of note. 3. Trent, so called from thirty kind of fishes that are found in it, or for that it receiveth thirty lesser rivers ; who, having his fountain in Staffordshire, and ghding through the counties of Nottingham, Lincoln, Leicester, and York, aug- menteth the turbulent current of Humber, the most violent Stream of all the isle. This Humber is not, to say truth, a distinct river, having a spring-head of his own, but it is rather the mouth, or aestuarium, of divers rivers here confluent and meeting together : namely, your Derwent, and especially of Ouse and Trent ; and (as the Danow, having received into its channel the rivers Dravus, Savus, Tibiscus, and divers others) changeth his name into this of Humberabus, as the old geographers call it. 4. Medway, a Kentish river, famous for harboring the royal navy. 5. Tweed, the northeast bound of England, on whose northern banks is seated the strong and impregnable town of Berwick. 6. TvNE, famous for Newcastle, and her inexhaustible coal- pits. These, and the rest of principal note, are thus compre- hended in one of Mr. Drayton's Sonnets. *' Our floods' queen, Thames, for ships and swans is crowned ; And stately Severn for her shore is praised ; The crystal Trent for fords and fish renowned ; And Avon's fame to Albion's cliffs is raised. Carlegion-Chester vaunts her holy Dee ; York many wonders of her Ouse can tell ; The Peak her Dove, whose banks so fertile be. And Kent will say her Medway doth excel. Cotswold commends her Isis to the Thame ; Our northern borders boast of Tweed's fair flood 5 Our western parts extol their Willy's fame, And the old Lea brags of the Danish blood." 2l6 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I These observations are out of learned Dr. Heylin, and my old deceased friend, Michael Drayton ; and because you say you love such discourses as these of rivers and fish and fishing, I love you the better, and love the more to impart them to you : nevertheless, Scholar, if I should begin but to name the several sorts of strange fish that are usually taken in many of those rivers that run into the sea, I might beget wonder in you, or unbelief, or both : and yet I will venture to tell you a real truth concerning one lately dissected by Dr Wharton, a man of great learning and experience, and of equal freedom to communicate it ; one that loves me and my art ; one to whom I have been beholden for many of the choicest observations that I have imparted to you. This good man, that dares do anything rather than tell an untruth, did, I say, tell me he lately dissected one strange fish, and he thus described it to me. " The fish was almost a yard broad, and twice that length ; his mouth wide enough to receive or take into it the head of a man ; his stomach seven or eight inches broad. He is of a slow motion, and usually lies or lurks close in the mud, and has a movable stri^ig on his head about a span, or near unto a quarter of a yard long, by the moving of which, which is his natural bait, when he lies close and unseen in the mud, he draws other smaller fish so close to him that he can suck them into his mouth, and so devours and digests them. ' ' And, Scholar, do not wonder at this, for, besides the credit of the relator, you are to note, many of these, and fishes which are of the like and more unusual shapes, are very often taken on the mouths of our sea-rivers, and on the sea-shore. And this will be no wonder to any that have travelled Egypt ; where 't is known the famous river Nilus does not only breed fishes that yet want names, but, by the overflowing of that river, and the help of the sun's heat on the fat slime which that river leaves on the banks, when it falls back into its natural channel, such strange fish and beasts are also bred, that no man Chap. XIX.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 217 can give a name to, as Grotius, in his '' Sophom," and others, have observed. But whither am I strayed in this discourse ? I will end it by telling you, that at the mouth of some of these rivers of ours Herrings are so plentiful, as namely, near to Yarmouth in Norfolk, and in the West-country Pilchers so very plentiful, as you will wonder to read what our learned Camden relates of them in his '' Britannia," pp. 178, 186. Well, Scholar, I will stop here, and tell you what by read- ing and conference I have observed concerning fish-ponds. THE FIFTH DAY. Chap. XX. — Of Fish- Ponds , and how to order them* PiSCATOR. r^OCTOR Lebault, the learned Frenchman, in his large dis- ■■-^ course of Maison Rustique, gives this direction for mak- ing of fish-ponds. I shall refer you to him to read it at large ; but I think I shall contract it, and yet make it as useful. He adviseth, that when you have drained the ground, and made the earth firm where the head of the pond must be, that you must then, in that place, drive in two or three rows of oak or elm piles, which should be scorched in the fire, or half burnt, before they be driven into the earth ; for being thus used it preserves them much longer from rotting. And hav- ing done so, lay fagots or bavins of smaller wood betwixt them ; and then earth betwixt and above them : and then, having first very well rammed them and the earth, use another pile in like manner as the first were : and note, that the second pile is to be of or about the height that you intend to make your sluice or flood-gate, or the vent that you intend shall con- vey the overflowings of your pond, in any flood that shall en- danger the breaking of the pond-dam. Then he advises that you plant willows or owlers about it, or both: and then cast in bavins in some places not far from the side, and in the most sandy places, for fish both to spawn upon, and to defend them and the young fry from the many fish, and also from vermin, that lie at watch to destroy them ; especially the spawn of the Carp and Tench, when 't is left to the mercy of ducks or vermin. He, and Dubravius, and all others, advise, that you make Chap. XX.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 219 choice of such a place for your pond, that it may be refreshed with a Uttle rill, or with rain-water running or falling into it ; by which fish are more inclined both to breed, and are also re- freshed and fed the better, and do prove to be of a much sweeter and more pleasant taste. To which end it is observed, that such pools as be large, and have most gravel, and shallows where fish may sport them- selves, do afford fish of the purest taste. And note, that in all pools it is best for fish to have some retiring-place ; as namely, hollow banks, or shelves, or roots of trees, to keep them from danger; and, when they think fit, from the extreme heat of summer ; as also from the extremity of cold in winter. And note, that if many trees be growing about your pond, the leaves thereof falling into the water make it nauseous to the fish, and the fish to be so to the eater of it. 'T is noted that the Tench and Eel love mud, and the Carp loves gravelly ground, and in the hot months to feed on grass. You are to cleanse your pond, if you intend either profit or pleasure, once every three or four years, especially some ponds, and then let it lie dry six or twelve months, both to kill the water-weeds, as water-lilies, candocks, reate, and bulrushes, that breed there : and also, that as these die for want of water, so grass may grow in the pond's bottom, which Carj)s will eat greedily in all the hot months if the pond be clean. The let- ting your pond dry and sowing oats in the bottom is also good, for the fish feed the faster : and, being some time let dry, you may observe what kind of fish either increases or thrives best in that water ; for they differ much both in their breeding and feeding. Lebault also advises, that if your ponds be not very large and roomy, that you often feed your fish by throwing into them chippings of bread, curds, grains, or the entrails of chick- ens, or of any fowl or beast that you kill to feed yourselves ; for these afford fish a great relief. He says that frogs and ducks do much harm, and devour both the spawn and the 220 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. young fry of all fish, especially of the Carp ; and I have, besides experience, many testimonies of it. But Lebault allows water- frogs to be good meat, especially in some months, if they be fat ; but you are to note, that he is a Frenchman, and we English will hardly believe him, though we know frogs are usually eaten in his country ; however, he advises to destroy them and kingfishers out of your ponds. And he advises not to suffer much shooting at wild-fowl ; for that, he says, af- frightens, and harms, and destroys, the fish. Note, that Carps and Tench thrive and breed best when no other fish is put with them into the same pond ; for all other fish devour their spawn, or at least the greatest part of it. And note, that clods of grass thrown into any pond feed any Carps in summer j and that garden-earth and parsley thrown into a pond recovers and refreshes the sick fish. And note, that when you store your pond, you are to put into it two or three melt- ers for one spawner, if you put them into a breeding-pond ; but if into a nurse-pond, or feeding-pond, in which they will not breed, then no care is to be taken whether there be most male or female Carps. It is observed that the best ponds to breed Carps are those that be stony or sandy, and are warm and free from wind ; and that are not deep, but have willow-trees, and grass on their sides, over which the water does sometimes flow : and note, that Carps do more usually breed in marle-pits, or pits that have clean clay-bottoms, or in new ponds, or ponds that lie dry a winter-season, than in old ponds that be full of mud and weeds. Well, Scholar, I have told you the substance of all that either observation or discourse, or a diligent survey of Dubra- vius and Lebault hath told me : not that they, in their long discourses, have not said more ; but the most of the rest are so common observations, as if a man should tell a good arith- metician that twice two is four. I will therefore put an end to this discourse, and we will here sit down and rest us. THE FIFTH DAY. CltAP. XXI. — Directions for making of a Line^ and for the color ing of both Rod and Line, PiSCATOR. WELL, Scholar, I have held you too long about these cadis, and smaller fish, and rivers, and fish-ponds ; and my spirits are almost spent, and so I doubt is your pa- tience ; but being we are now almost at Tottenham, where I first met you, and where we are to part, I will lose no time, but give you a httle direction how to make and order your lines, and to color the hair of which you make your lines, for that is very needful to be known of an Angler ; and also how to paint your rod, especially your top ; for a right-grown top is a choice commodity, and should be preserved from the water soaking into it, which makes it in wet weather to be heavy, and fish ill-favoredly, and not true; and also it rots quickly for want of painting : and I think a good top is worth preserving, or I had not taken care to keep a top above twenty years. But first for your line. First, note, that you are to take care that your hair be round and clear, and free from galls, or scabs, or frets ; for a well-chosen, even, clear, round hair, of a kind of glass-color, will prove as strong as three uneven, scabby hairs, that are ill-chosen, and full of galls or unevenness. You shall seldom find a black hair but it is round, but many white are flat and uneven ; therefore if you get a lock of right, round, clear, glass-color hair, make much of it. And for making your line, observe this rule : first let your hair be clean washed ere you go about to twist it ; and then 222 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part r. choose not only the clearest hair for it, but hairs that be of an equal bigness, for such do usually stretch all together, and break all together, which hairs of an unequal bigness never do, but break singly, and so deceive the Angler that trusts to them. When you have twisted your links, lay them in water for a quarter of an hour at least, and then twist them over again be- fore you tie. them into a hne ; for those that do not so, shall usually find their line to have a hair or two shrink, and be shorter than the rest at the first fishing with it ; which is so much of the strength of the line lost for want of first watering it and then re-twisting it ; and this is most visible m a seven- hair hne, one of those which hath always a black hair in the middle. And for dyeing of your hairs, do it thus. Take a pint of strong ale, half a pound of soot, and a little quantity of the juice of walnut-tree leaves, and an equal quantity of alum ; put these together into a pot, pan, or pipkin, and boil them half an hour ; and having so done, let it cool ; and being cold, put your hair into it, and there let it lie : it will turn your hair to be a kind of water or glass-color, or greenish ; and the longer you let it lie, the deeper colored it will be. You might be taught to make many other colors, but it is to little purpose ; for doubtless the water-color or glass-colored hair is the most choice and most useful for an Angler ; but let it not be too green. But if you desire to color hair greener, then do it thus. Take a quart of small ale, half a pound of alum ; then put these into a pan or pipkin, and your hair into it with them ; then put it upon a fire, and let it boil softly for half an hour ; and then take out your hair, and let it dry ; and, having so done, then take a pottle of water, and put into it two handfuls of marigolds, and cover it with a tile, or what you think fit, and set it again on the fire, where it is to boil again softly for half an hour, about which time the scum will turn yellow ; thoQ Chap. XXLJ THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 223 put into it half a pound of copperas, beaten small, and with it the hair that you intend to color ; then let the hair be boiled softly till half the Hquor be wasted ; and then let it cool three or four hours, with your hair in it : and you are to observe, that the more copperas you put into it, the greener it will be ; but doubtless the pale green is best. But if you desire yellow hair, which is only good when the weeds rot, then put in the more marigolds ; and abate most of the copperas, or leave it quite out, and take a little verdigris instead of it. This for coloring your hair. And as for painting your rod, which must be in oil, you must first make a size with glue and water boiled together until the glue be dissolved, and the size of a lye-color ; then strike your size upon the wood with a bristle, or a brush, or pencil, whilst it is hot. That being quite dry, take white lead, and a little red lead, and a little coal-black, so much as all together will make an ash-color ; grind these all together with linseed- oil ; let it be thick, and lay it thin upon the wood with a brush or pencil : this do for the ground of any color to lie upon wood. For a green : Take pink and verdigris, and grind them to- gether in linseed-oil, as thin as you can well grind it ; then lay it smoothly on with your brush, and drive it thin : once doing, for the most part, will serve, if you lay it well ; and if twice, be sure your first color be thoroughly dry before you lay on a second. Well, Scholar, having now taught you to paint your rod, and we having still a mile to Tottenham High-Cross, I will, as we walk towards it, in the cool shade of this sweet honeysuckle hedge, mention to you some of the thoughts and joys that have possessed my soul since we two met together. And these thoughts shall be told you, that you also may join with me in thankfulness, to " the Giver of every good and perfect gift," for our happiness. And, that our present happiness may appear to be the greater, and we the more thankful for it, I 224 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. will beg you to consider with me, how many do, even at this very time, lie under the torment of the stone, the gout, and toothache; and this we are free from. And every misery that I miss is a new mercy ; and therefore let us be thankful. There have been, since we met, others that have met disasters of broken limbs ; some have been blasted, others thunder- strucken ; and we have been freed from these, and all those many other miseries that threaten human nature : let us there- fore rejoice and be thankful. Nay, which is a far greater mercy, we are free from the unsupportable burden of an accus- ing, tormenting conscience, — a misery that none can bear : and therefore let us praise Him for His preventing grace, and say, Every misery that I miss is a new mercy. Nay, let me tell you, there be many that have forty times our estates, that would give the greatest part of it to be healthful and cheerful like us ; who, with the expense of a little money have eat and drank, and laughed, and angled, and sung, and slept securely ; and rose next day, and cast away care, and sung, and laughed, and angled again ; which are blessings rich men cannot pur- chase with all their money. Let me tell you, Scholar, I have a rich neighbor, that is always so busy that he has no leisure to laugh : the whole business of his life is to get money, and more money, that he may still get more and more money ; he is still drudging on, and says, that Solomon says, " The diligent hand maketh rich "; and is it true indeed : but he considers not that *t is not in the power of riches to make a man happy ; for it was wisely said, by a man of great observation, **That there be as many miseries beyond riches, as on this side them." And yet God deliver us from pinching poverty ; and grant that, having a competency, we may be content and thankful.. Let not us repine, or so much as think the gifts of God un- equally dealt, if we see another abound with riches ; when, as God knows, the cares that are the keys that keep those riches, hang often so heavily at the rich man's girdle, that they clog him with weary days, and restless nights, even when others Chap. XXI.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 22$ sleep quietly. We see but the outside of the rich man's happi- ness : few consider him to be like the silkworm, that, when she seems to play, is, at the very same time, spinning her own bowels, and consuming herself. And this many rich men do ; loading themselves with corroding cares, to keep what they have, probably, unconscionably got. Let us, therefore, be thank- ful for health and a competence, and above all, for a quiet con- science. Let me tell you. Scholar, that Diogenes walked on a day, with his friend, to see a country-fair ; where he saw ribbons, and looking-glasses, and nut-crackers, and fiddles, and hobby- horses, and many other gimcracks; and having observed them, and all the other finnimbruns that make a complete country-fair, he said to his friend, ''Lord! How many things are there in this world, of which Diogenes hath no need ! " And truly it i*? so, or might be so, with very many who vex and toil themselves to get what they have no need of. Can any man charge God, that he hath not given him enough to make his life happy ? No, doubtless ; for nature is content with a little. And yet you shall hardly meet with a man that complains not of some want ; though he, indeed, wants nothing but his will, it may be, nothing but his will of his poor neigh- bor, for not worshipping, or not flattering him : and thus, when we might be happy and quiet, we create trouble to ourselves. I have heard of a man that was angry with himself because he was no taller ; and of a woman that broke her looking-glass because it would not show her face to be as young and hand- some as her next neighbor's was. And I knew another, to whom God had given health, and plenty; but a wife, that nature had made peevish, and her husband's riches had made purse-proud, and must, because she was rich, and for no other virtue, sit in the highest pew in the church ; which being de- nied her, she engaged her husband into a contention for it ; and, at last, into a lawsuit with a dogged neighbor, who was as rich as he, and had a wife as peevish and purse-proud as the 226 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I Other : and this lawsuit begot higher oppositions, and action- able words, and more vexations and lawsuits ; for you must re- member, that both were rich, and must therefore have their wills. Well, this wilful, purse-proud lawsuit lasted during the life of the first husband ; after which his wife vexed and chid, and chid and vexed, till she also chid and vexed herself into her grave : and so the wealth of these poor rich people was curst into a punishment : because they wanted meek and thankful hearts ; for those only can make us happy. I knew a man that had health and riches, and several houses, all beautiful and ready furnished, and would often trouble himself and family to be removing from one house to another ; and being asked by a friend, why he removed so often from one house to another, replied, " It was to find content in some one of them." But his friend, knowing his temper, told him, *'If he would find content in any of his houses, he must leave himself behind him; for content will never dwell but in a meek and quiet soul." And this may appear, if we read and consider what our Saviour says in St. Matthew's Gospel : for he there says, '* Blessed be the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed be the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed be the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And, Blessed be the meek, for they shall possess the earth." Not that the meek shall not also obtain mercy, and see God, and be comforted, and at last come to the kingdom of heaven ; but in the mean time he, and he only, possesses the earth as he goes toward that kingdom of heaven, by being humble and cheerful, and content with what his good God has allotted him. He has no turbulent, repining, vexatious thoughts, that he deserves better ; nor is vexed when he sees others possessed of more honor, or more riches than his wise God has allotted for his share ; but he possesses what he has with a meek and contented quietness ; such a quietness as makes his very dreams pleasing both to God and himself. My honest Scholar, all this is told to incline you to thank- Cmap. XXI.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 227 fulness; and to incline you the more, let me tell you, that though the prophet David was guilty of murder and adultery, and many other of the most deadly sins, yet he was said to be a man after God's own heart, because he abounded more with thankfulness than any other that is mentioned in Holy Script- ure, as may appear in his book of Psalms ; where there is such a commixture of his confessing of his sins and unworthiness, and such thankfulness for God's pardon and mercies, as did make him to be accounted, even by God himself, to be a man after his own heart : and let us in that, labor to be as like him as we can ; let not the blessings we receive daily from God make us not to value, or not praise Him, because they be com- mon : let not us forget to praise Him for the innocent mirth and pleasure we have met with since we met together. What would a blind man give to see the pleasant rivers, and mead- ows, and flowers, and fountains, that we have met with since we met together? I have been told, that if a man that was born blind could obtain to have his sight for but only one hour during his whole life, and should, at the first opening of his eyes, fix his sight upon the sun when it was in his full glory, either at the rising or setting of it, he would be so transported and amazed, and so admire the glory of it, that he would not willingly turn his eyes from that first ravishing object, to be- hold all the other various beauties this world could present to him. And this, and many other Hke blessings, we enjoy daily. And for most of them, because they be so common, most men forget to pay their praises ; but let not us ; because it is a sac- rifice so pleasing to Him that made that sun, and us, and still protects us, and gives us flowers, and showers, and stomachs, and meat, and content, and leisure to go a-fishing. Well, Scholar, I have almost tired myself, and, I fear, more than almost tired you. But I now see Tottenham High- Cross ; and our short walk thither shall put a period to my too long discpurse ; in which my meaning was, and is, to : plant that in your mind, with which I labor to possess my 228 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. ' [Part 1 own soul, that is, a meek and thankful heart. And to that end I have showed you, that riches without them do not make any man happy. But let me tell you, that riches with them remove many fears and cares; and therefore my advice is, that you endeavor to be honestly rich, or contentedly poor ; but be sure that your riches be justly got, or you spoil all. For it is *vell said by Caussin, '' He that loses his conscience has nothing left that is worth keeping." Therefore be sure you look to that. And, in the next place, look to your health : and if you have it, praise God, and value it next to a good conscience ; for health is the second blessing that we mortals are capable of ; a blessing that money cannot buy ; and there- fore value it, and be thankful for it. As for money, which may be said to be the third blessing, neglect it not : but note, that there is no necessity of being rich ; for, I told you, there be as many miseries beyond riches as on this side them : and, if you have a competence, enjoy it with a meek, cheerful, thankful heart. I will tell you. Scholar, I have heard a grave divine say, that God has two dwellings ; one in heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful heart : which Almighty God grant to me, and to my honest Scholar ! And so you are wel- come to Tottenham High-Cross. Ven. Well, Master, I thank you for all your good directions ; but for none more than this last of thankfulness, which I hope I shall never forget. And pray now let 's rest ourselves in this sweet shady arbor, which Nature herself has woven with her own fine fingers; 't is such a contexture of woodbines, sweet- brier, jessamine, and myrtle, and so interwoven as will secure us both from the sun's violent heat, and from the approaching shower. And, being sat down, I will requite a pait of your courtesies with a bottle of sack, milk, oranges, and sugar^ which, all put together, make a drink like nectar; indeed, too good for anybody but us Anglers. And so, Master, here is a full glass to you of that liquor ; and when you have pledged me, I will repeat the verses which I promised you. It is a copy printed Chap. XXI.J THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 229 amongst some of Sir Henry Wotton's, and doubtless made either by him or by a lover of Angling. Come, Master, now drink a glass to me, and then I will pledge you, and fall to my repetition ; it is a description of such country recreations as I have enjoyed since I had the happiness to fall into your com- pa^ay. ** Quivering fears, heart-tearing cares, Anxious sighs, untimely tears, Fly, fly to courts, Fly to fond worldlings' sports, Where strained sardonic smiles are glozing still. And Grief is forced to laugh against her will : Where mirth 's but mummery. And sorrows only real be. ** Fly, from our country pastimes, fly, Sad troops of human misery. Come, serene looks, Clear as the crystal brooks. Or the pure azured heaven, that smiles to see The rich attendance of our poverty : Peace and a secure mind, Which all men seek, we only find. "Abused mortals, did you know Where joy, heart' s-ease, and comforts grow. You 'd scorn proud towers, And seek them in these bowers ; Where winds, sometimes, our woods perhaps may shalcc^ But blust'ring care could never tempest make j Nor murmurs e'er come nigh us. Saving of fountains that glide by us. ** Here 's no fantastic masque, nor dance. But of our kids that frisk and prance ; Nor wars are seen. Unless upon the green Two harmless lambs are butting one the other, Which done, both bleating run each to his mother t And wounds are never found, Save what the ploughshare gives the ground, 230 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part I. ** Here are no entrapping baits To hasten too, too hasty fates, Unless it be The fond credulity Of silly fish, which, worldling like, still look Upon the bait, but never on the hook : Nor envy, 'less among The birds, for prize of their sweet song, ••Goy let the diving negro seek For gems hid in some forlorn creek : We all pearls scorn, Save what the dewy mom Congeals upon each little spire of grass, Which careless shepherds beat down as they pass : And gold ne'er here appears, Save what the yellow Ceres bears. •* Blest silent groves ! O may you be Forever mirth's best nursery ! May pure contents Forever pitch their teiits Upon these downs, these meads, these rocks, these mountains, And peace still slumber by these purling fountains : Which we may every year Meet when we come a-fishing here." Pisc. Trust me, Scholar, I thank you heartily for these verses : they be choicely good, and doubtless made by a lover of An- gling. Come, now, drink a glass to me, and I will requite you with another very good copy : it is a Farewell to the Vanities of the World, and some say, written by Sir Harry Wotton, who I told you was an excellent Angler. But let them be writ by whom they will, he that writ them had a brave soul, and must needs be possessed with happy thoughts at the time of their composure. •' Farewell, ye gilded follies, pleasing troubles ! Farewell, ye honored rags, ye glorious bubbles ! Fame 's but a hollow echo ; Gold, pure clay ; Honor, the darling byt of one short day j Chap. XXI.) THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 23I Beauty, th' eye's idol, but a damasked skin ; State, hut a golden prison, to live in And torture free-born minds ; embroidered trains^ Merely but pageants for proud swelling veins ; And blood allied to greatness is alone Inherited, not purchased, nor our own. Fame, Honor, Beauty, State, Train, Blood, and Birth Are but the fading blossoms of the earth. ••I would be great, — but that the sun doth still Level his rays against the rising hill : I would be high, — but see the proudest oak Most subject to the rending thunder-stroke : I would be rich,-7but see men, too unkind. Dig in the bowels of the richest mind : I would be wise, — but that I often see The fox suspected, whilst the ass goes free : I would be fair, — but see the fair and proud. Like the bright sun, oft setting in a cloud : I would be poor, — but know the humble grass Still trampled on by each unworthy ass : Rich, hated ; Wise, suspected ; Scorned if poor ; Great, feared ; Fair, tempted ; High, still envied more t I have wished all ; but now I wish for neither j Great, High, Rich, Wise, nor Fair ; Poor I '11 be rathet; ** Would the World now adopt me for her heir, Would Beauty's queen entitle me the fair, — Fame speak me Fortune's minion ; — could I vie Angels with India ; with a speaking eye Command bare heads, bowed knees, strike justice dumb As well as blind and lame ; or give a tongue To stones by epitaphs ; be called great master In the loose rhymes of every poetaster ; — ' Could I be more than any man that lives, Great, fair, rich, wise, all in superlatives : Yet I more freely would these gifts resign, Than ever Fortune would have made them mine| And hold one minute of this holy leisure Beyond the riches of this empty pleasure. "Welcome, pure thoughts ! Welcome, ye silent groves I These guests, these courts, my soul most dearly loveat 232 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. (k'ARt t Now the winged people of the sky shall sing My cheerful anthems to the gladsome spring : A prayer-book now shall be my looking-glass, In which I will adore sweet Virtue's face. Here dwell no hateful looks, no palace-cares, No broken vows dwell here, nor pale-faced fears s Then here I '11 sit, and sigh my hot love's folly. And learn t' affect an holy melancholy : And if Contentment be a stranger, then I 'il ne'er look for it, but in heaven again.** Ven. Well, Master, these verses be worthy to keep a room in every man's memory. I thank you for them ; and I thank you for your many instructions, which, God willing, I will not forget. And as St. Austin, in his Confessions, Book IV. Chap. 3, commemorates the kindness of his friend Verecundus, for lending him and his companion a country-house, because there they rested and enjoyed themselves free from the troubles of the world ; so, having had the like advantage, both by your con- versation and the Art you have taught me, I ought ever to do the like : for indeed, your company and discourse have been so useful and pleasant, that I may truly say, I have only lived since I enjoyed them and turned Angler, and not before. Neverthe- less, here I must part with you, here in this now sad place, where I was so happy as first to meet you : but I shall long for the 9th of May, for then I hope again to enjoy your beloved company at the appointed time and place. And now I wish for some somniferous potion, that might force me to sleep away the intermitted time, which will pass away with me as tediously as it does with men in sorrow; nevertheless I will make it as short as I can, by my hopes and wishes. And my good Master, I will not forget the doctrine which you told me Socrates taught his scholars, that they should not think to be honored so much for being philospphers, as to honor philosophy by their virtuous lives. You advised me to the like concerning Angling, and I will endeavor to do so, and to live like those many worthy men, of which you made mention in the former part of your discourse. Chap. XXL) THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 233 This is my firm resolution. And as a pious man advised his friend, that, to beget mortification, he should frequent churches, and view monuments, and charnel-houses, and then and there consider, how many dead bones Time had piled up at the gates of Death : so when I would beget content, and increase con- fidence in the power, and wisdom, and providence of Almighty God, I will walk the meadows by some gliding stream, and there contemplate the lilies that take no care, and those very many other various little living creatures, that are not only created, but fed, man knows not how, by the goodness of the God of nature, and therefore trust in him. This is my purpose ; and so, ** Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord " : and let the blessing of St. Peter's Master be with mine. Pisc. And upon all that are lovers of virtue, and dare trust in his providence, and be quiet, and go a-Angling. "Study to bs Quiet." — i Thcs. iv. ii. THE COMPLETE ANGLER CONTEMPLATIVE MAN'S RECREATION Part II. BEING INSTRUCTIONS HOW TO ANGLE FOR A TROUT OI GRAYLING IN A CLEAR STREAM THE FIRST DAY. CHAPTER I. PISCATOR JUNIOR AND VIATOR. PiSCATOR. YOU are happily overtaken, Sir. May a man be so bold as to inquire how far you travel this way ? Viator. Yes, sure, Sir, very freely ; though it be a question I cannot very well resolve you, as not knowing myself how far it is to Ashbourn, where I intend to-night to take up my inn. Pisc. Why then, Sir, seeing I perceive you to be a stranger in these parts, I shall take upon me to inform you, that from the town you last came through, called Brailsford, it is five miles ; and you are not yet above half a mile on this side. ViAT. So much ! I was told it was but ten miles from Derby ; and, methinks, I have rode almost so far already. Pisc. O, Sir, find no fault with large measure of good land ; which Derbyshire abounds in, as much as most counties of England. ViAT. It may be so ; and good land, I confess, affords a pleasant prospect : but, by your good leave, Sir, large measure of foul way is not altogether so acceptable. Pisc. True, Sir ; but the foul way serves to justify the fer- tility of the soil, according to the proverb, ** There is good land where there is foul way ' ' : and is of good use to inform you of the riches of the country you are come into, and of its con- tinual travel and traffic to the country-town you came from : which is also very observable by the fulness of its road, and the laden horses you meet everywhere upon the way. 238 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. t^ART a ViAT. Well, Sir, I will be content to think as well of your country as you would desire. And I shall have a good deal of reason both to think and to speak very well of you, if I may obtain the happiness of your company to the fore-mentioned place ; provided your affairs lead you that way, and that they will permit you to slack your pace, out of complacency to a traveller utterly a stranger in these parts, and who am still to wander further out of my own knowledge. Pisc. Sir, you invite me to my own advantage, and I am ready to attend you ; my way lying through that town ; but my business, that is, my home, some miles beyond it ; however, I shall have time enough to lodge you in your quarters, and afterwards to perform my ow*i journey. In the mean time, may I be so bold as to inquire the end of your journey ? ViAT. 'T is into Lancashire, Sir, and about some business of concern to a near relation of mine : for I assure you, I do not use to take long journeys, a(s from Essex, upon the single account of pleasure. Pisc. From thence. Sir ! I do not then wonder you should appear dissatisfied with the length of the miles, and the foul- ness of the way ; though I am sorry you should begin to quarrel with them so soon: for, beheve me, Sir, you will find the miles much longer and the way much worse, before you come to your journey's end. ViAT. Why truly. Sir, for that, I am prepared to expect the worst ; but methinks the way is mended since I had the good fortune to fall into your good company. Pisc. You are not obliged to my company for that : but be- cause you are already past the worst, and the greatest part of your way to your lodging. ViAT. I am very glad to hear it, both for the ease of myself and my horse : but especially because I may then expect a freer enjoyment of your conversation : though the shortness of the way will, I fear, make me lose it the sooner. Pisc. That, Sir, is not worth your care ; and I am sure you Chap. I] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 239 deserve much better, for being content with so ill company. But we have already talked away two miles of your journey ; for, from the brook before us, that runs at the foot of this sandy hill, you have but three miles to Ashbourn. ViAT. I meet everywhere in this country with these little brooks ; and they look as if they were full of fish. Have they not Trouts in them ? Pisc. That is a question which is to be excused in a stranger, as you are : otherwise, give me leave to tell you, it would seem a kind of affront to our country, to make a doubt of what we pretend to be famous for, next, if not before, our malt, wool, lead, and coal : for you are to understand, that we think we have as many fine rivers, rivulets, and brooks as any country whatever ; and they are all full of Trouts, and some of them the best, it is said, by many degrees, in England. ViAT. I was first. Sir, in love with you, and now shall be so enamored of your country, by this account you give me of it, as to wish myself a Derbyshire man, or at least that I might live in it ; for you must know I am a pretender to the Angle, and, doubtless, a Trout affords the most pleasure to the Angler of any sort of fish whatever ; and the best Trouts must needs make the best sport : but this brook, and some others I have met with upon this way, are too full of wood for that recreation. Pisc. This, Sir ! why this, and several others Hke it, which you have past, and some that you are like to pass, have scarce any name amongst us : but we can show you as fine rivers, and as clear from wood, or any other encumbrance to hinder an Angler, as any you ever saw ; and for clear, beautiful streams, Hantshire itself, by Mr. Izaak Walton's good leave, can show none such ; nor I think any country in Europe. ViAT. You go far. Sir, in the praise of your country rivers, and I perceive have read Mr. Walton's Complete Angler, by your naming of Hantshire; and I pray what is your opinion of that book ? Pisc. My opinion of Mr. Walton's book is the same with 240 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part 11. every man's that understands anything of the art of Angling, that it is an excellent good one ; and that the forementioned gentleman understands as much of fish, and fishing, as any man living. But I must tell you further, that I have the happiness to know his person, and to be intimately acquainted with him ; and in him to know the worthiest man, and to enjoy the best and the truest triend any man ever had : nay, I shall yet acquaint you further, that he gives me leave to call him father, and I hope is not yet ashamed to own me for his adopted son. ViAT. In earnest, Sir, I am ravished to meet with a friend of Mr. Izaak Walton's, and one that does him so nmch right in so good and true a character : for I must boast to you, that I have the good fortune to know him too, and came acquainted with him much after the san-*e manner I do with you ; that he was my Master who first taught me to love Angling, and then to become an Angler ; and, to be plain v/ith you, I am the very man deciphered in his book under the name of Venator ; for I was wholly addicted to the Chase, till he taught me as good, a more quiet, innocent, and less dangerous diversion. Pisc. Sir, I think myself happy in your acquaintance ; and before we part shall entreat leave to embrace you. You have said enough to recommend you to my best opinion ; for my Father Walton will be seen twice in no man's company he does not like, and likes none but such as he believes to be very honest men ; which is one of the best arguments, or at least of the best testimonies I have, that I either am, or that he thinks me, one of those, seeing I have not yet found him weary of me. ViAT. You speak like a true friend; and, in doing so, render yourself worthy of his friendship. May I be so bold as to ask your name ? Pisc. Yes, surely. Sir, and if you please a much nicer question ; my name is , and I intend to stay long enough in your company, if I find you do not dislike mine, to ask ' yours too. In the mean time, because we are now almost at; Chap. I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 241 Ashbourn, I shall freely and bluntly tell you, that I am a Brother of the Angle too ; and, peradventure, can give you some instructions how to angle for a Trout in a clear river, that my Father Walton himself will not disapprove ; though he did either purposely omit, or did not remember them when you and he sat discoursing under the sycamore-tree. And, being you have already told me whither your journey is intended, and that I am better acquainted with the country than you are, I will heartily and earnestly entreat you will not think of staying at this town, but go on with me six miles farther to my house, where you shall be extremely welcome ; it is directly in your way ; we have day enough to perform our journey, and, as you like your entertainment, you may there repose yourself a day or two, or as many more as your occasions will permit, to rec- ompense the trouble of so much a longer journey. ViAT. Sir, you surprise me with so friendly an invitation upon so short acquaintance : but how advantageous soever it would be to me, and that my haste, perhaps, is not so great, but it might dispense with such a divertisement as I promise myself in your company, yet I cannot, in modesty, accept your offer, and must therefore beg your pardon : I could otherwise, I confess, be glad to wait upon you, if upon no other account but to talk of Mr. Izaak Walton, and to receive those instruc- tions you say you are able to give me for the deceiving a Trout ; in which art I will not deny but that I have an am- bition to be one of the greatest deceivers : though I cannot forbear freely to tell you that I think it hard to say much more than has been read to me upon that subject. Pisc. Well, Sir, I grant that too ; but you must know that the variety of rivers require different ways of Angling : how- ever, you shall have the best rules I am able to give, and I will tell you nothing I have not made myself as certain of, as any man can be in thirty years' experience, for so long I have been a dabbler in that art ; and that, if you please to stay a few days, you shall in a very great measure see made good to you. '242 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. CPart IL But of that hereafter : and now, Sir, if I am not mistaken, I have half overcome you ; and that I may wholly conquer that modesty of yours, I will take upon me to be so familiar as to say, you must accept my invitation ; which, that you may the more easily be persuaded to do, I will tell you that my house stands upon the margin of one of the finest rivers for Trouts and Grayling in England ; that I have lately built a little fish- ing-house upon it> dedicated to Anglers, over the door of which you will see the two first letters of my Father Walton's name and mine, twisted in cipher ; * that you shall lie in the same bed he has sometimes been contented with, and have such country entertainment as my friends sometimes accept ; and be as welcome, too, as the best friend of them all. ViAT. No doubt, Sir, but my Master Walton found good reason to be satisfied with his entertainment in your house ; for you, who are so friendly to a mere stranger, who deserves so little, must needs be exceeding kind and free to him who deserves so much. Pisc. Believe me, no : and such as are intimately acquainted with that gentleman know him to be a man who will not en- dure to be treated like a stranger. So that his acceptation of my poor entertainments has ever been a pure effect of his own humility and good nature, and nothing else. But, Sir, we are now going down theSpittle Hill into the town ; and therefore let me importune you suddenly to resolve, and most earnestly not to deny me. ViAT. In truth. Sir, I am so overcome by your bounty, that I find I cannot ; but must render myself wholly to be disposed by you. Pisc. Why that 's heartily and kindly spoken, and I as heart- ily thank you : and, being you have abandoned yourself to my conduct, we will only call and drink a glass on horseback at the Talbot, and away. * As in the title-page Chap. I.J THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 243 ViAT. I attend you. But what pretty river is tliis, that runs under this stone bridge ? Has it a name ? Pisc. Yes, 't is called Henmore, and has in it both Trout and Grayling ; but you will meet with one or two better anon. And so soon as we are past through the town, I will endeavor, by such discourse as best likes you, to pass away the time till you come to your ill quarters. ViAT. We can talk of nothing with which I shall be more delighted, than of Rivers and Angling. Pisc. Let those be the subjects then. But we are now come to the Talbot. What will you drink. Sir, ale or wine ? ViAT. Nay, I am for the country liquor, Derbyshire ale, if you please ; for a man should not, methinks, come from Lon- don to drink wine in the Peak. Pisc. You are in the right : and yet, let me tell you, you may drink worse French wine in many taverns in London, than they have sometimes at this house. What, Ho ! bring us a flagon of your best ale. And now. Sir, my service to you, a good health to the honest gentleman you know of; and you are welcome into the Peak. ViAT. I thank you. Sir, and present you my service again, and to all the honest Brothers of the Angle. Pisc. I '11 pledge you, Sir : so there 's for your ale, and fare- well. Come, Sir, let us be going : for the sun grows low, and I would have you look about you as you ride ; for you will see an odd country, and sights that will seem strange to you. THE FIRST DAY. CHAPTER II. PiSCATOR. O O, Sir, now we have got to the top of the hill out of town^ *^ look about you, and tell me how you like the country. ViAT. Bless me ! what mountains are here ! Are we not in Wales ? Pisc. No, but in almost as mountainous a country ; and yet these hills, though high, bleak, and craggy, breed and feed good beef and mutton above ground, and afford good store of lead within. ViAT. They had need of all those commodities to make amends for the ill landscape : but I hope our way does not lie over any of these, for I dread a precipice. Pisc. Believe me, but it does, and down one especially, that will appear a little terrible to a stranger ; though the way is passable enough, and so passable, that we, who are natives of these mountains, and acquainted with them, disdain to alight. ViAT. I hope though, that a foreigner is privileged to use his own discretion, and that I may have the liberty to intrust my neck to the fidelity of my own feet, rather than to those of my horse ; for I have no more at home. Pisc. 'T were hard else. But in the mean time, I think 't were best, while this way is pretty even, to mend our pace, that we may be past that hill I speak of, to the end your ap- prehension may not be doubled for want of light to discern the easiness of the descent. ViAT. X am willing to put forward as fast as my beast will Chap. II.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 245 give me leave ; though I fear nothing in your company. But what pretty river is this we are going into ? Pisc. Why this, Sir, is called Bentley Brook, and is full of very good Trout and Grayling ; but so encumbered with wood in many places, as is troublesome to an Angler. ViAT. Here are the prettiest rivers and the most of them in this country that ever I saw : do you know how many you have in the country ? Pisc. I know them all, and they were not hard to reckon, were it worth the trouble ; but the most considerable of them I will presently name you. And to begin where we now are, for you must know we are now upon the very skirts of Derby- shire ; we have, first, the river Dove, that we shall come to by and by, which divides the two counties of Derby and Stafford, for many miles together ; and is so called from the swiftness of its current, and that swiftness occasioned by the declivity of its course, and by being so straitened in that course betwixt the rocks; by which, and those very high ones, it is hereabout, for four or five miles, confined into a very narrow stream. A river that, from a contemptible fountain, which I can cover with my hat, by the confluence of other rivers, rivulets, brooks, and rills, is swelled, — before it falls into Trent, a little below Egginton, where it loses the name, — to such a breadth and depth as to be in most places navigable, were not the passage frequently interrupted with fords and weirs : and has as fertile banks as any river in England, none excepted. And this river, from its head, for a mile or two, is a black water, — as all the rest of the Derbyshire rivers of note originally are ; for they all spring from the mosses, — but is in a few miles' travel so clarified, by the addition of several clear, and very great springs, bigger than itself, which gush out of the limestone rocks, that before it comes to my house, which is but six or seven miles from its source, you will find it one of the purest crystalline streams you have seen. ViAT. Does Trent spring in these parts ? 246 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II Pisc. Yes, in these parts : not in this county, but some- where towards the upper end of Staffordshire, I think not fai from a place called Trenthani ; and thence runs down not fa: from Stafford to Wolsley Bridge, and, washing the skirts and purlieus of the Forest of Needwood, runs down to Burton in the sanie county : thence it comes into this where we now are, and, running by Swarkeston and Dunnington, receives Der- went at Wildon ; and so to Nottingham, thence to Newark, and by Gainsborough to Kingston upon Hull, where it takes the name of Humber, and thence falls into the sea : but that the map will best inform you. ViAT. Know you whence this river Trent derives its name ? Pisc. No, indeed, and yet I have heard it often discoursed upon, when some have given its denomination from the fore- named Trentham, though that seems rather a derivative from it; others have said, 't is so called from thirty rivers that fall into it, and there lose their names ; which cannot be, neither, because it carries that name from its very fountain, before any other rivers fall into it : others derive it from thirty several sorts of fish that breed there ; and that is the most likely deri- vation : but be it how it will, it is doubtless one of the finest rivers in the world, and the most abounding with excellent Salmon, and all sorts of delicate fish. ViAT. Pardon me, Sir, for tempting you into this digres- sion : and then proceed to your other rivers, for I am mightily delighted with this discourse. Pisc. It was no interruption, but a very seasonable question ; for Trent is not only one of our Derbyshire rivers, but the chief of them, and into which all the rest pay the tribute of their names ; which I had, perhaps, forgot to insist upon, be- ing got to the other end of the county, had you not awoke my memory. But I will now proceed ; and the next river of note, for I will take them as they lie eastward from us, is the river ' Wye : I say of note, for we have two lesser betwixt us and it, namely, Lathkin, and Bradford ; of which Lathkin is, by many Chap. 11.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 247 degrees, the purest and most transparent stream that I ever yet saw, either at home or abroad ; and breeds, 't is said, the red- dest and the best Trouts in England ; but neither of these are to be reputed rivers, being no better than great springs. The river Wye then has its source near unto Buxton, a town some ten miles from hence, famous for a warm bath, and which you are to ride through in your way to Manchester : a black water too at the fountain, but, by the same reason with Dove, be- comes very soon a most delicate clear river, and breeds admi- rable Trout and Grayling, reputed by those who, by living upon its banks, are partial to it, the best of any ; and this run- ning down by Ashford, Bakewell, and Haddon, at a town a little lower called Rowsley, falls into Derwent, and there loses its name. The next in order is Derwent, a black water too, and that not only from its fountain, but quite through its prog- ress, not having these crystal springs to wash and cleanse it, which the two foremen tioned have : but abounds with Trout and Grayling, such as they are, towards its source, and with Salmon below : and this river from the upper and utmost part of this county, where it springs, taking its course by Chatsworth, Darley, Matlock, Derby, Burrow-Ash, and Awberson, falls into Trent at a place called Wildon, and there loses its name. The east side of this County of Derby is bounded by little in- considerable rivers, as Awber, Eroways, and the like, scarce worth naming, but Trouty too, and further we are not to in- quire. But, Sir, I have carried you, as a man may say, by water, till we are now come to the descent of the formidable hill I told you of, at the foot of which runs the river Dove, which I cannot but love above all the rest ; and therefore pre- pare yourself to be a little frighted. ViAT. Sir, I see you would fortify me, that I should not shame myself; but I dare follow where you please to lead me; and I see no danger yet ; for the descent, methinks, is thus far green, even, and easy. Pisc. You will like it worse presently, when you come to 248 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part 11. the brow of the hill: — and now we are there, what think you? ViAT. What do I think? Why I think it the strangest place that ever, sure, men and horses went down ; and that, if there be any safety at all, the safest way is to alight. Pisc. I think so too for you, who are mounted upon a beast not acquainted with these slippery stones : and, though I fre- quently ride down, I will alight too, to bear you company, and to lead you the way ; and, if you please, my man shall lead your horse. ViAT. Marry, Sir ? and thank you too : for I am afraid I shall have enough to do to look to myself ; and with my horse in my hand should be in a double fear, both of breaking my neck, and my horse's falling on me ; for it is as steep as a penthouse. Pisc. To look down from hence it appears so, I confess ; but the path winds and turns, and will not be found so trouble- some. ViAT. Would I were well down though I Hoist thee ! there 's one fair *scape ! these stones are so slippery I cannot stand ! yet again ! I think I were best lay my heels in my neck, and tumble down. Pisc. If you think your heels will defend your neck, that is the way to be soon at the bottom. But give me your hand at this broad stone, and then the worst is past. ViAT. I thank you. Sir, I am now past it, I can go myself. What 's here ? the sign of a bridge ? Do you use to travel with wheelbarrows in this country ? Pisc. Not that I ever saw. Sir. Why do you ask that question ? ViAT. Because this bridge certainly was made for nothing else ; why a mouse can hardly go over it : 't is not two fingers broad. Pisc. You are pleasant, and I am glad to see you so : but I have rid over the bridge many a dark night. Chap. II.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 249 ViAT. Why, according to the French proverb, and 't is a good one among a great many of worse sense and sound that language abounds in, Ce que Dieu garde, est Hen garde. They whom God takes care of are in safe protection ; but, let me tell you, I would not ride over it for a thousand pounds, nor fall off it for two ; and yet I think I dare venture on foot, though if you were not by to laugh at me, I should do it on all four. Pisc. Well, Sir, your mirth becomes you, and I am glad to see you safe over ; and now you are welcome into Stafford- shire. ViAT. How, Staffordshire ! What do I there trow ? There is not a word of Staffordshire in all my direction. Pisc. You see you are betrayed into it ; but it shall be in order to something that will make amends j and 't is but an ill mile or two out of your way. ViAT. I believe all things. Sir, and doubt nothing. Is this your beloved river Dove? 'T is clear and swift, indeed, but a very little one. Pisc. You see it here at the worst \ we shall come to it anon again after two miles riding, and so near as to lie upon the very banks. ViAT. Would we were there once ! But I hope we have no more of these Alps to pass over. Pisc. No, no. Sir, only this ascent before you, which you see is not very uneasy; and then you will no more quarrel with your way. ViAT. Well, if ever I come to London, of which many a man there, if he were in my place would make a question, I will sit down and write my travels ; and, like Tom Coriate, print them at my own charge. Pray what do you call this hill we come down ? Pisc. We call it Hanson Toot. ViAT. Why, farewell Hanson Toot ! I '11 no more on thee : I '11 go twenty miles about first. Puh ! I sweat, that my shirt sticks to my back. 2 so THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part U Pisc. Come, Sir, now we are up the hill, and now how do you? ViAT. Why, very well, I humbly thank you, Sir, and warm enough, I assure you. What have we here, a church ! As I 'm an honest man, a very pretty church ! Have you churches in this country. Sir ? Pisc. You see we have : but, had you seen none, why should you make that doubt. Sir ? ViAT. Why, if you will not be angry, I '11 tell you I thought myself a stage or two beyond Christendom. Pisc. Come, come ! we '11 reconcile you to our country, be- fore we part with you ; if showing you good sport with An- gling will do it. ViAT. My respect to you, and that together may do much. Sir; otherwise, to be plain with you, I do not find myself much inclined that way. Pisc. Well, Sir, your raillery upon our mountains has brought us almost home. And look you where the same river of Dove has again met us to bid you welcome, and to invite you to a dish of Trouts to-morrow. ViAT. Is this the same we saw at the foot of Penmen-Maure ? It is a much finer river here. Pisc. It will appear yet much finer to-morrow. But look you. Sir, here appears the house, that is now like to be your inn, for want of a better. ViAT. It appears on a sudden, but not before 't was looked for. It stands prettily, and here 's wood about it too, but so young, as appears to be of your own planting. Pisc. It is so. Will it please you to alight. Sir.— And now permit me, after all your pains and dangers, to take you in my arms, and to assure you that you are infinitely welcome. ViAT. I thank you, Sir, and am glad with all my heart I am here ; for, in downright truth, I am exceeding weary. Pisc. You will sleep so much the better : you shall presently have a light supper, and to bed. Come, Sirs, lay the cloth. Chap. II.) THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 2Sl and bring what you have presently, and let the gentleman's bed be made ready in the mean time, in my Father Walton's chamber. And now, Sir, here is my service to you ; and once more welcome ! ViAT. I, marry, Sir, this glass of good sack has refreshed me. And I '11 make as bold with your meat, for the trout has got me a good stomach. Pisc. Come, Sir, fall to then, you see my little supper is al- ways ready when I come home; and I '11 make no stranger of you. ViAT. That your meal is so soon ready, is a sign your ser- vants know your certain hours. Sir. I confess I did not ex- pect it so soon ; but now 't is here, you shall see I will make myself no stranger. Pisc. Much good do your heart ! and I thank you for that friendly word. And now, Sir, my service to you in a cup of More-Lands ale; for you are now in the More-Lands, but within a spit and a stride of the Peak. Fill my friend his glass. ^ ViAT. Believe me, you have good ale in the More-Lands : far better than that at Ashbourn. Pisc. That it may soon be ; for Ashbourn has, which is a kind of a riddle, always in it the best malt, and the worst ale in England. Come, take away, and bring us some pipes, and a bottle of ale, and go to your own suppers. Are you for this diet, Sir ? ViAT. Yes, Sir, I am for one pipe of tobacco ; and I per- ceive yours is very good by the smell. Pisc. The best I can get in London, I assure you. But, Sir, now you have thus far complied with my designs, as to take a troublesome journey into an ill country, only to satisfy me ; how long may I hope to enjoy you ? ViAT. Why, truly, Sir, as long as I conveniently can ; and longer, I think, you would not have me. Pisc. Not to your inconvenience by any means, Sir, but I 252 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. IPart IL 5ee you are weary, and therefore I will presently wait on you to your chamber, where take counsel of your pillow, and to- morrow resolve me. Here ! take the lights, and pray follow them, Sir : here you are like to lie : and, now I have showed you your lodgings, I beseech you command anything you want ; and so I wish you good rest I ViAT. Good night, Sir I THE SECOND DAY. CHAPTER III. PiSCATOR. r^ OOD morrow, Sir ! What, up and dressed so early ? ^-* ViAT. Yes, Sir, I have been dressed this half-hour ; for I rested so well, and have so great a mind either to take, or see a Trout taken, in your fine river, that I could no longer lie abed. Pisc. I am glad to see you so brisk this morning, and so eager of sport ; though, I must tell you, this day proves so calm, and the sun rises so bright, as promises no great success to the Angler; but, however, we'll try; and, one way or other, we shall, sure, do something. What will you have to your breakfast, or what will you drink this morning ? ViAT. For breakfast, I never eat any, and for drink I am very indifferent ; but if you please to call for a glass of ale, I 'm for you : and let it be quickly, if you please, for I long to see the little fishing-house you spoke of, and to be at my lesson. Pisc. Well, Sir ! You see the ale is come without calling ; for though I do not know yours, my people know my diet ; which is always one glass so soon as I am dressed, and no more till dinner ; and so my servants have served you. ViAT. My thanks. And now, if you please, let us look out this fine morning. Pisc. With all my heart ; boy, take the key of my fishing- house, and carry down those two angle-rods in the hall-window, thither, with my fish-pannier, pouch, and landing-net ; and stay you there till we come. Come, Sir, we '11 walk after; where, 254 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. by the way, I expect you should raise all the exceptions against our country you can. ViAT. Nay, Sir, do not think me so ill-natured nor so un- civil : I only made a little bold with it last night to divert you, and was only in jest. Pisc. You were then in as good earnest as I am now with you : but had you been really angry at it, I could not blame you ; for, to say the truth, it is not very taking at first sight. But look you. Sir, now you are abroad, does not the sun shine as bright here as in Essex, Middlesex, or Kent, or any of your southern counties? ViAT. 'T is a delicate morning indeed ! And I now think this a marvellous pretty place. Pisc. Whether you think so or no, you cannot oblige me more than to say so ; and those of my friends who know my humor, and are so kind as to comply with it, usually flatter me that way. But look you. Sir, now you are at the brink of the hill, how do you Hke my river, the vale it winds through Hke a snake, and the situation of my Httle fishing-house? ViAT. Trust me, 't is all very fine; and the house seems at this distance a neat building. Pisc. Good enough for that purpose. And here is a bowl- ing-green too, close by it ; so, though I am myself no very good bowler, I am not totally devoted to m^ own pleasure, but that I have also some regard to other men's. And now. Sir, you are come to the door ; pray walk in, and there we will sit and talk, as long as you please. ViAT. Stay, what 's here over the door ? Piscatoribus sa- crum ! * Why then I perceive I have some title here ; for I am one of them, though one of the worst ; and here below it is the cipher too you spoke of, and *t is prettily contrived. Has * There is, under this motto, the cipher mentioned in the title-page And some part of the fishing-house has been described ; but the pleasantness of the river, mountains, and meadows about it cannot, unless Sir Philip Sidney, or Mr. Cotton's father, were again alive to do it. Chap. III.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 255 my Master Walton ever been here to see it ? for it seems new built. Pisc. Yes, he saw it cut in the stone before it was set up ; but never in the posture it now stands : for the house was but building when he was last here, and not raised so high as the arch of the door. And I am afraid he will not see it yet ; for he has lately writ me word, he doubts his coming down this summer ; which, I do assure you, was the worst news he could possibly have sent me. ViAT. Men must sometimes mind their affairs to make more room for their pleasures ; and 't is odds he is as much displeased with the business that keeps him from you, as you are that he comes not. But I am the most pleased with this Httle house of anything I ever saw : it stands in a kind of peninsula, too, with a delicate clear river about it. I dare hardly go in, lest I should not like it so well within as without ; but by your leave I '11 try. Why this is better and better, fine lights, finely wainscoted, and aH exceeding neat, with a marble table and all in the middle. Pisc. Enough, Sir, enough ! I have laid open to you the part where I can worst defend myself; and now you attack me there ! Come, boy, set two chairs, and whilst I am taking a pipe of tobacco, which is always my breakfast, we will, if you please, talk of some other subject. ViAT. None fitter, then, Sir, for the time and place, than those instructions you promised. Pisc. I begin to doubt, by something I discover in you, whether I am able to instruct you, or no : though, if you are really a stranger to our clear northern rivers, I still think I can ; and therefore, since it is yet too early in the morning at this time of the year, to-day being but the 7 th of March, to cast a fly upon the water, if you will direct me what kind of fishing for a Trout I shall read you a lecture on, I am willing and ready to obey you. ViAT. Why, Sir, if you will so far oblige me and that it may not be too troublesome to you, I would entreat you would run 256 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part IL through the whole body of it ; and I will not conceal from you, that I am so far in love with you, your courtesy, and pretty Moreland seat, as to resolve to stay with you long enough by intervals ; for I will not oppress you, to hear all you can say upon that subject. Pisc. You cannot oblige me more than by such a promise. And, therefore, without more ceremony I will begin to tell you, that my Father Walton having read to you before, it would look like a presumption in me, and peradventure would do so in any other man, to pretend to give lessons for Angling after him who, I do really believe, understands as much of it, at least, as any man in England ; did I not pre-acquaint you, that I am not tempted to it by any vain opinion of myself, that I am able to give you better directions ; but, having from my childhood pursued the recreation of Angling in very clear rivers, — truly I think by much, some of them at least, the clearest in this king- dom, — and the manner of Angling here with us, by reason of that exceeding clearness, being something different from the method commonly used in others, which, by being not near so bright, admit of stronger tackle, and allow a nearer approach to the stream ; — I may, peradventure, give you some instruc- tions, that may be of use even in your own rivers ; and shall bring you acquainted with more flies, and show you how to make them, and with what dubbing too, than he has taken notice of in his Complete Angler. ViAT. I beseech, you. Sir, do : and, if you will lend me your steel, I will light a pipe the while; for that is commonly my breakfast in a morning, too. THE SECOND DAY. CHAPTER IV. PiSCATOR. "1 1 7HY then, Sir, to begin methodically, as a master in any ^ " art should do, — and I will not deny but that I think myself a master in this, — I shall divide Angling for Trout or Grayling into these three ways : at the top, at the bottom, and in the middle ; which three ways, though they are all of them, as I shall hereafter endeavor to make it appear, in some sort common to both those kinds of fish, yet are they not so generally and absolutely so but that they will necessarily requiie a distinction ; which, in due place, I will also give you. That which we call angling at the top is with a fly ; at the bottom, with a ground-bait; in the middle, with a minnow, or ground-bait. Angling at the top is of two sorts : with a quick-fly, or with an artificial-fly. That we call angling at the bottom is also of two sorts : by the hand, or with a cork or float. That we call angling in the middle is also of two sorts : with a minnow for a Trout, or with a ground-bait for a Grayling. Of all which several sorts of Angling I will, if you can have the patience to hear me, give you the best account I can. ViAT. The trouble will be yours, and mine the pleasure and the obligation. I beseech you, therefore, to proceed. Pisc Why, then, first of Fly-fishing. THE SECOND DAY. Chap. V,—Of Fly-Fishing. PiSCATOR. pLY-FISHING, or fishing at the top, is, as I said before, of * two sorts : with a Natural, and hving. Fly, or with an Artificial, and made, Fly. First, then, Of the Natural Fly : of which we generally use but two sorts, and those but in the two months of May and June only, namely, the Green-drake and the Stone-fly ; though I have made use of a third that way, called the Camlet-fly, with very good success for Grayling, but never saw it angled with by any other after this manner, my master only excepted, who died many years ago, and was one of the best Anglers that ever I knew. These are to be angled with, with a short line, not much more than half the length of your rod, if the air be still ; or with a longer, very near or all out as long as your rod, if you have [any wind to carry it from you : and this way of fishing we call Daping, Dabbing, or Dibbling; wherein you are always to have your line flying before you up or down the river as the wind serves, and to angle as near as you can to the bank of the same side whereon you stand : though where you see a fish rise near you, you may guide your quick-fly over him, whether in the middle, or on che contrary side; and, if you are pretty well out of sight, either by kneeling or the in- terposition of a bank or bush, you may almost be sure to raise, and take him too, if it be presently done ; the fish will other- wise, peradventure, be removed to some other place, if it be ia the still-deeps, where he is always in motion, and roving up Chap. V] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 259 and down to look for prey ; though in a stream, you may always, almost, especially if there be a good stone near, find him in the same place. Your line ought in this case to be three good hairs next the hook ; both by reason you are, in this kind of Angling, to expect the biggest fish, and also that, wanting length to give him line after he is struck, you must be forced to tug for 't ; to which I will also add, that, not an inch of your line being to be suffered to touch the water in dib- bling, it may be allowed to be the stronger. I should now give you a description of those flies, their shape and color, and then give you an account of their breeding, and withal show you how to keep and use them ; but shall defer that to their proper place and season. ViAT. In earnest, Sir, you discourse very rationally of this affair, and I am glad to find myself mistaken in you ; for in plain truth I did not expect so much from you. Pisc. Nay, Sir, I can tell you a great deal more than this, and will conceal nothing from you. But I must now come to the second way of angling at the top, which is with an arti* ficial-fly, which also I will show you how to make before I have done : but first shall acquaint you, that with this you are to angle with a line longer, by a yard and a half or sometimes two yards, than your rod ; and with both this, and the other, in a still day, in the streams, in a breeze that curls the water in the still-deeps, where (excepting in May and June, that the best Trouts will lie in shallow streams to watch for prey, and even then too) you are like to hit the best fish. For the length of your rod, you are always to be governed by the breadth of the river you shall choose to angle at : and for a Trout-river, one of five or six yards long is commonly enough ; and longer, though never so neatly and artificially made, it ought not to be, if you intend to fish at case ; and if otherwise, where lies the sport ? Of these, the best that ever I saw are made in Yorkshire, which are all of one piece : that is to say of several, six, eight, 26o THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part TL ten, or twelve pieces, so neatly pieced, and tied together with fine thread below, and silk above, as to make it taper, like a switch, and to ply with a true bent to your hand. And these, too, are light, being made of fir-wood for two or three lengths nearest to the hand, and of other wood nearer to the top ; that a man might very easily manage the longest of them that ever I saw, with one hand. And these, when you have given over Angling for a season, being taken to pieces, and laid up in some dry place, may afterwards be set together again in their former postures, and will be as straight, sound, and good as the first hour they were made ; and being laid in oil and color, according to your Master Walton's direction, will last many years. The length of your line, to a man that knows how to handle his rod, and to cast it, is no manner of encumbrance, except- ing in woody places and in landing of a fish, which every one that can afford to angle for pleasure has somebody to do for him. And the length of line is a mighty advantage to the fishing at distance ; and to fish^ne and far offy is the first and principal rule for Trout -Angling. Your line in this case should never be less, nor ever exceed two hairs next to the hook ; for one (though some I know will pretend to more art than their fellows) is indeed too few, the least accident, with the finest hand, being sufficient to break it ; but he that cannot kill a Trout of twenty inches long with two, in a river clear of wood and weeds, as this and some other of ours are, deserves not the name of an Angler. Now to have your whole line as it ought to be, two of the first lengths nearest the hook should be of two hairs apiece ; the next three lengths above them of three; the next three above them of four ; and so of five, and six, and seven, to the very top : by which means your rod and tackle will, in a man- ner, be taper firom your very hand to your hook ; your line will fall much better and straighter, and cast your fly to any certaiii place to which the hand and eye shall direct it, with Chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 26l less weight and violence, than would otherwise circle the water and fright away the fish. In casting your line, do it always before you, and so that your fly may first fall upon the water, and as little of your line with it as is possible ; though if the wind be stiff, you will then of necessity be compelled to drown a good part of your line to keep your fly in the water : and in casting your fly, you must aim at the further, or nearer bank, as the wind serves your turn; which also will be with and against you on the same side, several times in an hour, as the river winds in its course ; and you will be forced to angle up and down by turns accord- ingly ; but are to endeavor, as much as you can, to have the wind evermore on your back. Ai>d always be sure to stand as far off the bank as your length will give you leave when you throw to the contrary side : though, when the wind will not permit you so to do, and that you are constrained to angle on the same side whereon you stand, you must then stand on the very brink of the river, and cast your fly at the utmost length of your rod and line, up or down the river as the gale serves. It only remains, touching your line, to inquire whether your two hairs, next to the hook, are better twisted, or open. And for that I should declare that I think the open way the better, because it makes less show in the water ; but that I have found an inconvenience, or two, or three, that have made me almost weary of that way : of which one is, that, without dispute, they are not so strong open as twisted ; another, that they are not easily to be fastened of so exact an equal length in the arming, that the one will not cause the other to bag, by which means a man has but one hair, upon the matter, to trust to ; and the last is, that these loose flying hairs are not only more apt to catch upon every twig or bent they meet with, but moreover the hook, in falling upon the water, will very often rebound, and fly back betwixt the hairs, and there stick, (which, in a rough water especially, is not presently to be dis- cerned by the A.ngler,) so as the point of the hook shall stand 262 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. (Pakt IL reversed ; by which means your fly swims backwards, makes a much greater circle in the water, and, till taken home to you and set right, will never raise any fish ; or, if it should, I am sure, but by a very extraordinary chance, can hit none. Having done with both these ways of fishing at the top, the length of your rod, and line, and all, I am next to teach you how to make a fly ; and afterwards, of what dubbing you are to make the several flies I shall hereafter name to you. In making a fly, then, which is not a Hackle, or Palmer-fly, (for of those, and their several kinds, we shall have occasion to speak every month in the year,) you are first to hold your hook fast betwixt the forefinger and thumb of your left hand, with the back of the shank upwards, and the point towards your fingers' ends : then take a strong small silk of the color of the fly you intend to make, wax it well with wax of the same color too : to which end you are always, by the way, to have wax of all colors about you ; and draw it betwixt your finger and thumb, to the head of the shank, and then whip it twice or thrice about the bare hook, which you must know is done, both to prevent slipping, and also that the shank of the hook may not cut the hairs of your towght, which sometimes it will otherwise do. Which being done, take your line and draw it likewise betwixt your finger and thumb, holding the hook so fast, as only to suffer it to pass by, until you have the knot of your towght almost to the middle of the shank of your hook, on the inside of it ; then whip your silk twice or thrice about both hook and line, as hard as the strength of the silk will per- mit. Which being done, strip the feather for the wings pro- portionable to the bigness of your fly, placing that side down- wards which grew uppermost before, upon the back of the hook, leaving so much only as to serve for the length of the wing of the point of the plume lying reversed from the end of the shank upwards : then whip your silk twice or thrice about the root-end of the feather, hook, and towght. Which bemg 9^^ ^c ^ South-Couatrymaa. 294 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part II. Pisc. Look you, Sir ! have I not made haste ? ViAT. Believe me. Sir, that you have ; and it looks so well, I long to be at it. Pisc. Fall to, then. Now, Sir, what say you, am I a toler- ble cook or no ? ViAT. So good a one, that I did never eat so good iish in my life. This fish is infinitely better than any I ever tasted of the kind in my life. 'T is quite another thing than our Trouts about London. Pisc. You would say so, if that Trout you eat of were in right season ; but pray eat of the Grayling, which, upon my word, at this time, is by much the better fish. ViAT. In earnest, and so it is. And I have one request to make to you, which is, that as you have taught me to catch Trout and Grayling, you will now teach me how to dress them as these are dressed; which, questionless, is of all other the best way. Pisc. That I will. Sir, with all my heart ; and am glad you like them so well, as to make that request. And they are dressed thus : — Take your Trout, wash, and dry him with a clean napkin ; then open him, and, having taken out his guts, and all the blood, wipe him very clean within, but wash him not ; and give him three scotches with a knife to the bone, on one side only. After which take a clean kettle, and put in as much hard stale beer (but it must not be dead), vinegar, and a little white wine, and water, as will cover the fish you intend to boil ; then throw into the Hquor a good quantity of salt, the rind of a lemon, a handful of sliced horse-radish root, with a handsome little fagot of rosemary, thyme, and winter-savory. Then set your kettle upon a quick fire of wood, and let your liquor boil up to the height before you put in your fish ; and then, if there be many, put them in one by one, that they may not so cool the liquor, as to make it fall. And whilst your fis^ is boiling, beat up the butter for your sauce with a ladleful Chap. X.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 295 or two of the liquor it is boiling in. And, being boiled enough, immediately pour the hquor from the fish ; and, being laid in a dish, pour your butter upon it ; and, strewing it plentifully over with shaved horse-radish, and a little pounded ginger, garnish your sides of your dish, and the fish itself with a sliced lemon or two, and serve it up. A Grayling is also to be dressed exactly after the same man- ner, saving that he is to be scaled, which a Trout never is ; and that must be done, either with one's nails, or very lightly and carefully with a knife for bruising the fish. And note, that these kinds of fish, a Trout especially, if he is not eaten within four or five hours after he be taken, is worth nothing. But come. Sir, I see you have dined ; and, therefore, if you please, we will walk down again to the little House, and there I will read you a lecture of Angling at the Bottom. THE THIRD DAY. CHAPTER XI. Viator. SO, Sir, now we are here, and set, let me have my instruc- tions for Angling for Trout and Grayling, at the Bottom ; which, though not so easy, so cleanly, nor, as 't is said, so genteel, a way of fishing, as with a fly, is yet (if I mistake not) a good holding way, and takes fish when nothing else will. Pisc. You are in the right, it does so ; and a worm is so sure a bait at all times, that, excepting in a flood, I would I had laid a thousand pounds that I killed fish more or less with it, winter or summer, every day throughout the year ; those days always excepted that, upon a more serious account, always ought so to be. But not longer to delay you, I will begin : and tell you, that Angling at the Bottom is also commonly of two sorts ; — and yet there is a third way of angling with a ground-bait, and to very great effect too, as shall be said hereafter ; — namely, by Hand, or with a Cork or Float. That we call Angling by Hand is of three sorts. The first : with a line about half the length of the rod, a good weighty plumb, and three hairs next the hook, which we call a running-line, and with one large brandling, or a dew-worm of a moderate size, or two small ones of the first, or any other sort, proper for a Trout, of which my Father Walton has already given you the names, and saved me a labor ; or, indeed, almost any worm whatever ; for if a Trout be in the humor to bite, it must be such a worm as I never yet saw that he will refuse ; and if you fish with two, you are then to bait your hook thus. You Chap. XL] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 297 are first to run the point of your hook in at the very head of your first worm, and so down through his body till it be past the knot, and then let it out, and strip the worm above the arming (that you may not bruise it with your fingers) till you have put on the other, by running the point of the hook in be- low the knot, and upwards through his body towards his head ; till it be but just covered with the head, which being done, you are then to slip the first worm down over the arming again, till the knots of both worms meet together. The second way of angling by hand, and with a running- line, is with a line something longer than the former, and with tackle made after this same manner. At the utmost extremity of your hne, where the hook is always placed in all other ways of angling, you are to have a large pistol or carabine bullet, into which the end of your line is to be fastened with a peg or pin, even and close with the bullet ; and, about half a foot above that, a branch of line, of two or three handfuls long, or more for a swift stream, with a hook at the end thereof baited with some of the forenamed worms ; and another, half foot above that ; another, armed and baited after the same manner, but with another sort of worm, without any lead at all above : by which means you will always certainly find the true bottom in all depths ; which, with the plumbs upon your line above you can never do, but that your bait must always drag whilst you are sounding (which, in this way of Angling, must be continu- ally), by which njeans you are like to have more trouble, and peradventure worse success. And both these ways of angling at the bottom are most proper for a dark and muddy water ; by reason that in such a condition of the stream, a man may stand as near as he will, and neither his own shadow nor the round- ness of his tackle will hinder his sport. The third way of anghng by hand with a ground-bait, and by much the best of all other, is, with a line full as long, or a yard and a half longer than your rod ; with no more than one hair next the hook, and for two or three lengths above it ; and 298 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [Part H. no more than one small pellet of shot for your plumb : your hook little ; your worms of the smaller brandlings, very well scoured ; and only one upon your hook at a time, which is thus to be baited : the point of your hook is to be put in at the very tag of his tail, and run up his body quite over all the arming, and still stripped on an inch at least upon the hair ; the head and remaining part hanging downward. And with this line and hook, thus baited, you are evermore to angle in the streams ; always in a clear, rather than a troubled water, and always up the river, still casting out your worm before you with a light one-handed rod, like an artificial fly ; where it will be taken, sometimes at the top, or within a very little of the superficies of the water, and almost always before that light plumb can sink it to the bottom ; both by reason of the stream, and also that you must always keep your worm in motion by drawing still back towards you, as if you were angling with a fly. And believe me, whoever will try it, shall find this the best way of all other to angle with a worm, in a bright water especially ; but then his rod must be very hght and pliant, and very true and finely made ; which, with a skilful hand, will do wonders, and in a clear stream is undoubtedly the best way of angling for a Trout or Grayling, with a worm, by many degrees, that any man can make choice of, and of most ease and delight to the angler. To which let me add, that if the angler be of a con- stitution that will suffer him to wade, and will slip into the tail of a shallow stream, to the calf of the leg or the knee, and so keep off the bank, he shall almost take what fish he pleases. The second way of angling at the bottom is with a cork or float. And that is also of two sorts : with a Worm, or with a Grub or Cadis. With a Worm, you are to have your line within a foot, or a foot and a half, as long as your rod, in a dark water with two, or, if you will, with three ; but in a clear water never with above one hair next the hook, and two or three for four or five lengths above it ; and a worm of what size you please : your Chap. XI.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 299 plumbs fitted to your cork, your cork to the condition of the river (that is, to the swiftness or slowness of it), and both, when the water is very clear, as fine as you can ; and then you are never to bait with above one of the lesser sort of brandlings ; or, if they are very little ones indeed, you may then bait with two after the manner before directed. When you angle for a Trout, you are to do it as deep, that is, as near the bottom as you can, provided your bait do not drag ; or if it do, a Trout will sometimes take it in that post- ure. If for a Grayling, you are then to fish further from the bottom, he being a fish that usually swims nearer to the middle of the water, and lies always loose ; or, however, is more apt to rise than a Trout, and more inchned to rise than to descend even to a ground-bait. With a Grub or Cadis, you are to angle with the same length of line, or if it be all out as long as your rod, 't is not the worse ; with never above one hair for two or three lengths next the hook, and with the smallest cork or float, and the least weight of plumb you can that will but sink, and that the swift- ness of your stream will allow : which also you may help, and avoid the violence of the current, by angling in the returns of a stream, or the eddies betwixt two streams ; which also are the most likely places wherein to kill a fish in a stream, either at the top or bottom. Of Grubs for a Grayling, the Ash-grub, which is plump, milk-white, bent round from head to tail, and exceeding ten- der, with a red head ; or the Dock-worm, or grub, of a pale yellow, longer, lanker, and tougher than the other, with rows of feet all down his belly, and a red head also ; are the best, I say, for a Grayling : because, although a Trout will take both these, the Ash-grub especially, yet he does not do it so freely as the other, and I have usually taken ten Graylings for one Trout with that bait ; though if a Trout come, I have observed that he is commonly a very good one. These baits we usually keep in bran, in which an Ash-grub 300 The complete angler. [Partii commonly grows tougher, and will better endure baiting; though he is yet so tender, that it will be necessary to warp in a piece of a stiff hair with your arming, leaving it standing out about a straw-breadth at the head of your hook, so as to keep the grub either from slipping totally off when baited, or at least down to the point of the hook, by which means your arm- ing will be left wholly naked and bare, which is neither so sightly, nor so likely to be taken : though, to help that, which will however very oft fall out, I always arm the hook I design for this bait with the whitest horse-hair I can choose ; which itself will resemble, and shine hke that bait, and consequently will do more good, or less harm, than an arming of any other color. These grubs are to be baited thus : the hook is to be put in under the head or chaps of the bait, and guided down the middle of the belly, without suffering it to peep out by the way (for then, the Ash-grub especially, will issue out water and milk, till nothing but the skin shall remain, and the bend of the hook will appear black through it) till the point of your hook come so low, that the head of your bait may rest, and stick upon the hair that stands out to hold it ; by which means it can neither slip of itself, neither will the force of the stream, nor quick pulling out, upon any mistake, strip it off. Now the Cadis, or Cod-bait, which is a sure killing bait, and, for the most part, by much surer than either of the other, may be put upon the hook, two or three together ; and is some- times, to very great effect, joined to a worm, and sometimes to an artificial fly to cover the point of the hook ; but is always to be angled with at the bottom, when by itself especially, with the finest tackle ; and is for all times of the year the most hold- ing-bait of all other whatever, both for Trout and Grayling. There are several other baits, besides these few I have named you, which also do very great execution at the bottom ; and some that are pecuhar to certain countries and rivers, of which every Angler may in his own place make his own observation ; and some others that I do not think fit to put you in mind of. Chap. XI.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 3OI because I would not corrupt you, and would have you, — as in all things else I observe you to be a very honest gentleman, a fair Angler. And so much for the second sort of angling for a Trout at the bottom. ViAT. But, Sir, I beseech you give me leave to ask you one question. Is there no art to be used to worms, to make them allure the fish, and in a manner compel them to bite at the bait? Pisc. Not that I know of : or did I know any such secret, I would not use it myself, and therefore would not teach it you. Though I will not deny to you that, in my younger days, I have made trial of Oil of Osprey, Oil of Ivy, Camphor, As- safoetida, Juice of Nettles, and several other devices that I was taught by several Anglers I met with, but could never find any advantage by them ; and can scarce believe there is anything to be done that way : though I must tell you, I have seen some men, who I thought went to work no more artificially than I, and have yet with the same kind of worms I had, in my own sight, taken five, and sometimes ten, for one. But we '11 let that business alone, if you please. And, because we have time enough, and that I would deliver you from the trouble of any more lectures, I will, if you please, proceed to the last way of angling for a Trout or Grayling, which is in the middle ; after which I shall have no more to trouble you with. ViAT. 'T is no trouble. Sir, but the greatest satisfaction that can be, and I attend you. THE THIRD DAY. CHAPTER XII. PiSCATOR. A NGLING in the Middle, then, for Trout or Grayling, is of **- two sorts : with a Penk or Minnow for a Trout ; or with a Worm, Grub, or Cadis for a Grayling. For the first ; it is with a Minnow, half a foot, or a foot, within the superficies of the water. And as to the rest that concerns this sort of Anghng, I shall wholly refer you to Mr. Walton's direction, who is undoubtedly the best Angler with a Minnow in England : only in plain truth I do not approve of those baits he keeps in salt, — unless where the living ones are not possibly to be had (though I know he frequently kills with them, and peradventure more than with any other, nay, I have seen him refuse a living one for one of them), — and much less of his artificial one ; for though we do it with a counterfeit- fly, methinks it should hardly be expected that a man should deceive a fish with a counterfeit-fish. Which having said, I shall only add, and that out of my own experience, that I do believe a Bull-head, with his gill-fins cut off, at some times of the year especially, to be a much better bait for a Trout than a Minnow, and a Loach much better than that : to prove which I shall only tell you, that I have much oftener taken Trouts with a Bull-head or a Loach in their throats (for there a Trout has questionless his first digestion) than a Minnow ; and that one day especially, having angled a good part of the day with a Minnow, and that in as hopeful a day, and as fit a water, as could be wished for that purpose, without raising any Chap. XII. ] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 305 one fish ; I at last fell to it with the worm, and with that took fourteen in a very short space ; amongst all which there was not, to my remembrance, so much as one that had not a Loach or two, and some of them three, four, five, and six Loaches, in his throat and stomach; from whence I concluded, that, had I angled with that bait, I had made a notable day's work oft. But, after all, there is a better way of angling with a Min- now than perhaps is fit either to teach or to practise : to which I shall only add, that a Grayling will certainly rise at, and sometimes take a Minnow, though it will be hard to be be- lieved by any one, who shall consider the littleness of that fish's mouth, very unfit to take so great a bait ; but 't is af- firmed by many, that he will sometimes do it, and I myself know it to be true ; for though I never took a Grayling so, yet a man of mine once did, and within so few paces of me, that I am as certain of it as I can be of anything I did not see ; and, which made it appear the more strange, the Grayling was not above eleven inches long. I must here also beg leave of your Master, and mine, not to controvert, but to tell him, that I cannot consent to his way of throwing in his rod to an overgrown Trout, and afterwards re- covering his fish with his tackle. For though I am satisfied he has sometimes done it, because he says so, yet I have found it quite otherwise ; and though I have taken with the Angle, I may safely say, some thousands of Trouts in my life, my top never snapped (though my line still continued fast to the re- maining part of my rod, by some lengths of line curled round about my top, and there fastened with waxed silk, against such an accident) nor my hand never slacked, or slipped by any other chance, but I almost always infallibly lost my fish, whether great or little, though my hook came home again. And I have often wondered how a Trout should so suddenly disengage himself from so great a hook as that we bait with a Minnow, and §q deep-bearded as those hooks commonly are; 304 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. (Part II. when I have seen by the forenamed accidents, or the slipping of a knot in the upper part of the line, by sudden and hard striking, that though the line has immediately been recovered, almost before it could be all drawn into the water, the fish cleared, and was gone in a moment. And yet, to justify what he says, I have sometimes known a Trout, having carried away a whole line, found dead three or four days after, with the hook fast sticking in him ; but then it is to be supposed he had gorged it, which a Trout will do, if you be not too quick with him, when he comes at a Minnow, as sure and much sooner than a Pike ; and I myself have also, once or twice in my life, taken the same fish with my own fly sticking in his chaps, that he had taken from me the day before, by the slipping of a hook in the arming. But I am very confident a Trout will not be troubled two hours with any hook, that has so much as one handful of line left behind with it, or that is not struck through a bone, if it be in any part of his mouth only : nay, I do cer- tainly know that a Trout, so soon as ever he feels himself pricked, if he carries away the hook, goes immediately to the bottom, and will there root like a hog upon the gravel, till he either rub out, or break the hook in the middle. And so much for this sort of angling in the middle for a Trout. The second way of anghng in the middle is with a Worm, Grub, Cadis, or any other ground-bait for a Grayling; and that is with a cork, and a foot from the bottom, a Grayling taking it much better there than at the bottom, as has been said before ; and this always in a clear water, and with the finest tackle. To which we may also, and with very good reason, add the third way of anghng by hand with a ground-bait, as a third way of fishing in the middle, which is common to both Trout and Grayling ; and, as I said before, the best way of angling with a worm of all other I ever tried whatever. And Xkow, Sir, I liave said all I can at present thii^ pf con- chaf. xilj the complete angler. 305 cerning Angling for a Trout and Grayling, and I doubt not have tired you sufficiently ; but I will give you no more trouble of this kind whilst you stay ; which I hope will be a good while longer. ViAT. That will not be above a day longer ; but if I live till May come twelvemonth, you are sure of me again, either with my Master Walton or without him ; and in the mean time shall acquaint him how much you have made of me for his sake, and I hope he loves me well enough to thank you for it. Pisc. I shall be glad, Sir, of your good company at the time you speak of, and shall be loath to part with you now ; but when you tell me you must go, I will then wait upon you more miles on your way than I have tempted you out of it, and heartily wish you a good journey. LINN^AN ARRANGEMENT OF THE FISH fiGURED IN THIS EDITION OF WALTON AND COTTON's COM PLETE ANGLER.* Extracted from General Zoology, by George Shaw, M.D., &c., &c. ; and British Zoology, by Thomas Pennant, Esq., Edit Lond., i8i2, 8vo. 'T'HE reader of Walton's most interesting and amusing work * will probably be gratified by its closer connection with the science of Natural History ; and for this purpose, the fol- lowing list is added, containing the Systematic Names and Characters of the principal Fish described in it. Fishes form one great division of the Systema Naturae of Linnaeus ; and the most generally received modification there of, by Dr. Shaw, arranges them under two great Classes, — to the former of which alone the present work has reference, — viz. those which have a Skeleton of Bone, and those which have a Skeleton of Cartilage. The Orders are founded upon circum- stances connected with the Fins, which are named from their situation, Dorsal, or Back Fins ; Pectoral, or Breast Fins ; Ventral, or Belly Fins ; Anal, or Vent Fin ; and Caudal, or Tail Fin. The Ventral Fins are held to be analogous to the Feet of Quadrupeds ; and from their absence, or relative situation to the others, the Orders are taken. Such as want the Ventral ♦ The late Dr. Richard Powell, Secretary of the Royal College of Physi- cians, volunteered the Linnsean Arrangement annexed, from his admiration of the original paintings, and the great pains taken to have them faithfully csgravod. THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 30/ Fins are named Apodal, or Footless ; such as have the Ventral placed before, or more forward than the Pectoral, are named Jugular ; such as have them immediately under the Pectoral are named Thoracic ; and such as have them behind or beyond the Pectoral are named Abdominal. As the ensuing descriptions of the Fish are placed according to their scientific order, and not according to that of their oc- currence in the preceding work, a reference to the chapter and the page in which they are treated of and represented is placed against each of the following Articles. ORDER L Apodal, or Footless, No Ventral Fins. Genus Anguilla, Eel. Head smooth. Nostrils tubular. Eyes covered by the common skin. Gill-membrane lo rayed. Body roundish, smooth, mucous. Dorsal, Caudal, and Anal fins united. Spiracles behind the head or Pectoral fins. A. vulgaris. Common Eel. Chap. xili. page 178. Olive-brown Eel, subargenteous beneath, with the lower jaw longer than the upper. ORDER n. Jugular. Ventral Fins before the PectoraL No example. ORDER in. Thoracic. Ventral Fins under the Pectoral. Genus Cottus, Bull-Head. Head broader than the body, spiny. Eyes vertical, and furnished with a nictitating membrane. Gill -membrane 6 rayed. Body (in most species), without scales, attenuated towards the tail. Dorsal fins (in most species), two. (7. Gobio^ River Bull- Head. Chap, xviii. pp. 210^ 31 1, 308 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. Smooth yellowish-olive Bull- Head, variegated with black ; bcneatk whitish. The Head furnished with a spine on each side. Genus Perca, Perch. Teeth sharp, incurvate. Gill-covers triphyllous (three-leaved), scaly, serrated. Dorsal fin spiny on the forepart. Scales (in most species) hard and rough. P. Fluviatilis^ Common Perch, Chap. XII. page 173. Olivaceous Perch, with transverse semi-decurrent blackish bands. Dorsal fin subviolaceous, the rest red. P. Cerntia, Ruffe-Perch. Chap. XV. page 191. Sub-olivaceous Perch speckled with black, with 15 spines in the Dorsal fin. N. B. The large Eyes (Oculi magni), which are noticed in Linnasus's description, are well expressed in the Plate. Genus Gasterosteus, Stickleback. Body somewhat lengthened. Dorsal spines distinct. Ventral fins spiny. Abdomen carinated on the sides, and bony beneath. G. Aculeatus, Common Stickleback. Chap. XVIII. pp. 210, 212. Olivaceous Stickleback, silvery-red beneath, with 3 Dorsal spines. ORDER IV. Abdominal. Ventral Fins behind, or beyond the Pectoral. Genus Cobitis, Loche. Mouth (in most species) bearded. Eyes situated in the upper part of the head. Body nearly of equal thickness, from head to tail. Scales small, easily deciduous. Air-bladder hard, or osseous. C. Barbatula, Common Loche. Chap. XVIII. pp. 210, 2II. Yellow-gray Loche, with dusky variegations, small compressed head and 6 beards. Genus Salmo, Salmon. Head compressed, smooth. Tongue cartilaginous. Teeth, both in the jaws, and on the tongue. Gill-membrane from 4 to 10 rayed. Body compressed, furnished at the hind part with an Adipose fin. .S". Salar, Common Salmon. Chap. VII. page 140. Silvery-gray spotted Salmon, with the jaws (in the male) incurvated. S. Fario, Commo7t Trout. Chap. v. page 99. Yellowish-gray Salmon with red spots, and lower jaw rather longer than the upper. S. Sahnulus, Samlet. Chap. iv. page 88. Bluigh-gray Salpaon, with distant reddish spots ancj forked tail, THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 309 Note, Pennant seems to have established this as a distinct species, and not the fry of the Salmon, which some have sup- posed. One conclusive reason amongst others is, that they are furnished with roes, and are therefore to be considered as full- grown fishes. A similar inference may be made with respect to the White-Bait of the Thames. S. T/iymallus, Grayling Salmon. Chap. VI. page 135. Gray Salmon, with longitudinal dusky blue lines, and violet-colored Dorsal fin barred with brown. Genus Esox, Pike. Head somewhat flattened above. Mouth wide. Teeth sharp, in the jaws, palate, and tongue. Body lengthened. Dorsal and Anal fins (in most species) placed near the tail, and opposite each other. E, Lucius, Common Pike. Chap. viii. page 149. Grayish-olive Pike, with yellowish spots, and depressed subequal jaws. Genus Cyprinus, Carp. Mouth small and toothless. Teeth in the throat. Gill-membrane 3 rayed. Ventral fins, in general, 9 rayed. Note. It is remarkable, that of the twenty-one principal Fish which minister to the pleasure of the Angler, ten belong to this single Genus. C Carpio, Common Carp. Chap. IX. page 159. Yellowish-olive Carp, with wide Dorsal fin, with the third ray serrated behind. C. Brama, Bream. Chap. X. page 164. Broad olivaceous Carp, with flesh-colored Abdomen; smallish Dorsal fin, and 27 rays in the Anal fin. C. Rutilusy Roach. Chap. xvii. page 201. Yellowish-silvery Carp, with olivaceous back. Dorsal fin brown, the rest reddish, and forked tail. C, Tinea, Tench. Chap. XI. page 171. Mucous blackish-olive Carp, with very small scales, and nearly even tail. C. Barbus, Barbel. Chap. XIV. page 186. Bluish-white Carp, with 4 beards, olive-colored back, and the first ray of the Dorsal fin serrated on both sides. C. Jeses^ Chub. Chap. II. page 79. Silvery-bluish Carp, with olivaceous back, thick head, and rounded snout. 3IO THE COMPLETE ANGLER. C. Leuciscus, Dace, Chap. xvil. page 202. Yellowish-silvery Carp, with olivaceous back, Dorsal fin brown, the rest reddish, and forked tail. C, Alburnus, Bleak. Chap. XV. page 192. Silvery Carp, with olivaceous back, 20 rays in the Anal fin, and forked tail. C. Gobioy Gudgeon. Chap. XV. page 190. Silvery-Olive Carp, with the upper lip bearded, and the Dorsal fin and tail spotted with black. C. Phoxinus, Minnow. Chap. XVIII. page 210. Blackish-green Carp, with blue and yellow variegations ; reddish« silvery Abdomen, and forked tail. ORIGINAL AND SELECTED NOTES. ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE COMPLETE ANGLER. PREVIOUS to entering upon the following series of illustra- tive Notes, it may be advantageous to state what were the books to which the Authors of the preceding work have referred in the course of it ; and, so far as they now can be ascertained, to specify the probable editions which they con- sulted. By doing this Walton's principal authorities will ap- pear at one view ; and by numbering each article separately, a connection will be formed between them and the following Notes, without the continual repetition of the title of any volume which may be referred to. Walton, by an admirable selection of his authors, was enabled to quote not only the best, most learned, and most popular writers of his own time, but he also was rendered capable of citing numerous ancient classics, as well as the works of many eminent foreigners, whose productions were generally written in Latin. The Complete Angler was, perhaps, fully as much as any other work in the English tongue, a progressive composition; since each suc- ceeding edition, down to the Fifth, — which was the last pub- lished in the author's life, — contained some variation, addition, or improvement on that which preceded it. Though Walton certainly anticipated future impressions of his most entertain- ing work, yet in the Preface to his First Edition, which was afterwards considerably altered, he writes of such a circum- stance with very great modesty. When speaking of the flies which are used for the different months, he says: *'Of these (because no man is born an artist nor an Angler) I thought fit to give thee this notice. I might say more, but it is not fit 312 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. for this place ; but if this Discourse which follows shall come to a second impression, which is possible, for slight books have been in this age observed to have that fortune, I shall then, for thy sake, be glad to correct what is faulty, or, by a conference with any, to explain or enlarge what is defective ; but for this time I have neither a willingness nor leisure to say more, than wish thee a rainy evening to read this book in, and that the east wind may never blow when thou goest a-fishing. Fare- well. Iz. Wa." He faithfully fulfilled this promise, for the Second Edition has eight entirely new chapters, and above an hundred pages more than the First ; and the Fifth contains twenty pages more than the Fourth.* It is from these variations, the most important of which will be found carefully preserved in the following Notes, that a con- ception may be formed of the editions used by Walton of the authors whom he cites ; and it is from a careful collation of these earlier impressions, that some illustrations of the text have been recovered, from marginal notes which were afterwards omitted. Nor from the author only have such illustrations been compiled, but the Editions of the Complete Angler by the Reverend Moses Browne, Sir John Hawkins, Sir Henry Ellis, and the elaborate and beautiful impression edited by Sir N. Harris Nicolas, pubHshed eight years since by Mr. Picker- ing, have been also consulted ; and the collection formed into a brief but comprehensive abstract of all. Brief indeed, the plan of the present volume required it to be, although it would in most instances have been truly interesting to have given the very words of the ancient and erudite authorities themselves ; but these extracts extend occasionally to many pages, and are to be found in the impressions referred to. The reader has * As these various Editions are referred to in the succeeding Notes by the number of the impression only, a list of them in the order of publication is here given. First, 1653 ; Second, 1655 ; Third, 1664 ; Fourth, 1668 ; Fifth, 1676. Of all these impressions, copies are in the possession of W. J. Bro- DERip, Esq., with the most liberal use of which, beside other assistance, the Editor has been favored for the improvement of this work. THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 313 however the less to regret, since he will find, on a reference to the originals, that Walton has so happily abbreviated them, as in the words of Addison, to have ''practised in the chemical method, and given the virtue of a bulky draught in a few drops." Such as are famiHar with the Hterature of the time will find the ensuing Notes almost all which can be required, since they will serve as an index to many of the passages re- ferred to in the numerous authors quoted ; while for the gener- al reader, it is presumed there will be sufficient to amuse and guide him, without the introduction of quaint extracts, which he would neither value or enjoy. The works referred to in The Complete Angler are presumed to be the following. 1. iElianus, Claudius : De Natur^ Animalium, libri xvii, Gr. Lat. Pet. Gillio et Conr. Gesnero Interp. Lugd. 1565. i6to. 2. Aldrovandus, Ulysses : De Piscibvs, libri v. et de Cetis liber vnvs. Bon, 1638. fol. 3. Bacon, Francis, Baron Verulam : Sylva Sylvarum : or a Naturall His- tory in Ten Centuries. Published after the Author's death, by W. Rawley, D.D. Lond. 1635. fol. 4. A History, Natural and Experimental, of Life and Death : or of the Prolongation of Life. Translated from the Latin by W. Rawley, D.D. Lond. 1638. i2mo. 5. Baker, Sir Richard : A Chronicle of the Kings of England, Lond. 1653. fol. 6. Barker, Thomas : The Art of Angling. Lond. 1661. i2mo. 7. Bartas, Guillaume De Salluste, Sieur Du : Du Bartas his Diuine Weekes and Workes. Translated by Joshua Sylvester, Gent. Lond. 1 641. fol. & Camden, William : Britain : or a Chorographical Description of the most flourishing Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the Islands adjoining. Translated from the Latin by Philemon Holland, M.D. Lond. 1637, fol. 9. Cardanus, Jerome : De Subtilitate, libri xxi. Par. 1551, 8vo. 10.' Casaubon, Dr, Meric : Of Credulity and Incredulity, in Things Natural, Civil, and Diviue. Lond. 1668. 8vo. 11. Caussin, Nicholas : The Holy Court, 1663, fol. 12. Diodorus Siculus : The History of the World ; Done into English by Mr. (Henry) Cogan. Lond. 1653. fol. 514 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 13. Donne, Dr. John : Poems by J, D. with Elegies on the Author's Death. Lond. 1663. 4to. 14. Drayton, Michael : Poly-Olbion. Lond. (1612.) fol. 15. Dubravius, Janus : De Piscinis et Piscium qui in eis aluntur naturis ; libri V. 1559. 8vo. 16. Fletcher, Phineas : The Purple Island, or the Isle of Man : together with Piscatorie Eclogs and other Poeticall Miscellanies. By P. F. Cambr. 1 633. 4to. 17. Gerard, John : The Herball or Generall Historic of Plantes. Lond, 1633. fol. 18. Gesner, Conrad : De Piscibvs et Aqvatilibvs omnibvs, libelli iii. Lat. Germ. Tigur. No date. i2mo. 19. Historise Naturalis Animalium, libri v. Quadrupedum, Avium, Piscium, et Serpentum, Tigur. 1551-1558. 5 vols. fol. 20. Grotius, Hugo : His Sophompaneas, or Joseph. A Tragedy. With Annotations by Francis Goldsmith, Esq. Lond. No date, but printed about 1634. 8vo. 21. Hakewill, Rev. George, D.D. An Apology or Declaration of the Power and Providence of God in the Government of the World. Lond. 1630. fol. 22. Herbert, Rev. George: The Temple. Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations. Cambr. 1633. i2mo. 23. Heylin, Rev. Peter, D.D. : Microcosmos. A Little Description of the Great World. Ox/. 1633. 4to. 24. Josephus, Flavins : Josephus's History : or the Antiquities of the Jews. Translated into English by Thomas Lodge, M.D. Lond. 1602. fol. 25. Jovius, Paulus : De Romanis Piscibus, libellus. Basil. 1531. 8vo. 26. Lessius, Leonardus : Hygiasticon : or the right course of preserving Life and Health unto extream Old Age. Done into English by T(imothy) S(mith). Cambr. 1634. i2mo. 27. Liebault, Dr. J. : Maison Rustique : or the Covntrey Farme. Com- pyled in the French Tongue by Charles Stevens, and John Lie- bavlt. Doctors of Physicke. And Translated into English by Richard Svrflet, Practitioner in Physicke. Lond. 1616. fol. 28. Matthiolus, Pet. Andr, : Epistolae Medicinales. Prag. 1561. fol. 29. Montaigne, Michael De : The Essayes, or Morall, Politicke, and Militarie Discovrses of Lord Michael de Montaigne, Translated by John Florio. Lond. 1632. fol. 3Q. Moulin, Rev. Pierre Du : The Accomplishment of the Prophecies, or the third book in defence of the Catholicke Faith. Translated by J. Heath. Oxf, x6x^ THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 315 31. Obel, Matthew De L' : Plantarum seu Stirpium Historia, cum alio volumine adversariorum ; per M. de L'Obel et P. Peaen. Antv. 1576. 32. Overbury, Sir Thomas : His Wife, with Additions of New Characters and many other witty conceits never before printed. Lotid. 1638. i6to. 33. Pinto, Ferdinand Mendez : The Voyages and Adventures of Ferdinand Mendez Pinto. Done into EngHsh by H(enry) C(ogan) Gent. Lond. 1633. fol. 34. Pliny, Junior : The Historia of the World. Commonly called the Naturall Historic of C. Plinivs Secvndvs. Translated into English by Philemon Holland, M.D. Lond. 1601. fol. 35. Plutarch : The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romanes, compared together by that graue and learned Philosopher and Histori- ographer, Plutarke of Chseroneoe : Translated out of Greeke into French by James Amyot, Abbot of Bellozane, &c., and out of French into Englishe by Thomas North. (Esq. Controller of the Household to Queen Elizabeth.) Lond. 1579. fol. 36. Rondeletius, Gulielmus : Libri de Piscibus Marinis ; in quibus verae Pisciura effigies expressae sunt. Ludg. 1554. fol. 37. Royal Society : The Philosophical Transactions, vol. vi. Lond, 167 1. 4to. 38. Salvianus, Hippolytus : Aqvatilivm Animalivm Historiae. Rom. 1554. fol. 39. Sandys, George : A Relation of a Journey begun An : Dom : i6io, Lond. 1615. fol. 40. Sidney, Sir Philip : The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia. Lond 1655. fol. 41. Topsell, Rev. Edw. : The Historie of Fovre-Footed Beastes. Lond 1607. fol. 42. The Historie of Serpents : or the Seconde Booke of Liuing Creatures. Lond. 1608. fol. 43. Wotton, Sir Henry : Reliquiae Wottonianae. Lond, 165 1. i2mo. 44. Xenophon : The Life of Cyrus, translated by Philemon Holland, M.D. Lond. 1632. fol. Page 28. /, Lzaak Walton, With respect to the peculiar orthography employed by Walton as to his Christian name, it is to be remembered, that in his time it was frequently spelled in the Scriptures Izak, Izaacke, and Izaack ; and also that such a manner was agreeable to the original Hebrew of the word Itxhak^ or 3l6 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. Laughter, vide Gen. xxi. 6. In this circumstance Walton was, most probably, guided by some of the many learned divines with whom he was acquainted. Page 31. Witness, Abraham Mark land. The appearance of the above name as a witness to Walton*s Will, is an additional proof of the great respect in which he was held by the most eminent clergy of his time. Dr. Abraham Markland was a Prebendary of Winchester Cathedral, where he was installed the 4th of July, 1692 ; and in August, 1694, he was named Master of the Hospital of St. Cross, near the above city. He published several Poems, in 1667, 4to, composed in that retirement, and "A Sermon, preached before the Aldermen in Guild- hall Chapel," Land. 1683. 4^°- ■^^^' Oxon. Edit, by Bliss, vol. iv. p. 710. The above circumstances were obligingly pointed out by his descendant J. H. Markland, Esq., F.R.S., etc. Walton's Will, which is given in the text, is recorded in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, in the volume called I Hare, 375, Art. 24. It was proved by the Executors at London, on February the 4th, 1683-4, before Sir Thomas Exton and Sir Leoline Jenkins. Page 41. A Conference betwixt an Angler, etc. The First Edition of the Complete Angler has not any descriptive titles prefixed to the chapters ; but the leaf immediately preceding the com- mencement of the work itself contains a short Table of Contents to the thirteen chapters of which that edition is composed, and which is intro- duced in the following manner : "Because in this Discourse of Fish and Fishing I have not observed a method, which (though the Discourse be not long) may be some inconvenience to the Reader, I have therefore for his easier finding out some particular things which are spoken of, made this following Table. The first chapter is spent in a vindication or com- mendation of the Art of Angling." After having gone through the Afhole number of chapters, the Table concludes with, "These directions the Reader may take as an ease in his search after some particular Fish, and the baits proper for them ; and he will shew himselfe courteous in mend- ing or passing by some few errors in the Printer, which are not so many but that they may be pardoned." In the Second Edition, there were twenty-one chapters, entitled as they are in the foregoing pages ; and the Third Edition was the first which had an index. Page 41. The Thatched House in Hoddesden. In the First Edition, there are but two characters introduced in Chapter I. : Viator, or the Wayfarer, whose name in the Second impression was changed to Venator, or the Hunter, and Piscator, the Fisherman. In- stead, therefore, of the dialogue as it now stands, the opening passages were originally as follow: ^^ Piscator. You are wel overtaken Sir; m THE COMPLETE ANGLER. ^if good morning to you ; I have stretch' d my legs up Totnam Hil to over- take you, hoping your businesse may occasion you towards Ware, this fine, pleasant, fresh, May-day in the morning. Viator. Sir, I shall almost answer your hopes ; for my purpose is to be at Hodsden (three miles short of that town) I will not say, before I drink, but before I break my fast : for I have appointed a friend or two to meet me there at the Thatcht- house, about nine of the clock this morning ; and that made me so early up, and, indeed, to walk so fast. Fisc. Sir, I know the Thatcht-house very well : I often make it my resting place, and taste a cup of ale there, for which liquor that place is very remarkable ; and to that house I shall by your favour accompany you, and either abate of my pace, or mend it, to enjoy such a companion as you seem to be, knowing that (as the Italians say,") etc. Pages i, 2. The Thatcht-house is stated by the Rev. Moses Browne, in a note in his Third Edition of the Complete Angler, Land. 1772, i2mo, p. I, to be "seventeen miles from London on the Ware road." It is now quite unknown ; but it has been supposed that a thatched cottage, once distinguished by the sign of the Buffalo's Head, standing at the farther end of Hoddesdon, on the left of the road in going towards Ware, about seventeen miles and half distant from Londoiv, was the actual building. Page 41. Mews a Hawk, Mew, derived from the old French Mu^, signifies a change, or the period when birds and other animals moult, or cast their feathers, hairs, or horns: hence Latham observes that the ^^ Mew is that place, whether it be abroad or in the house, where you set down your hawk during the time she rais- eth (or reproduces) her feathers." In the above passage, the term refers to the care with which a hawk should be kept in her mewing-time ; and in "The Gentleman*s Academic, or the Book of St. Alban's, " Lond. 1595. 4to. Edit, by Gerv. Markham, there are several sections on the mewing of hawks ; from one of which, p. 9, it may be learned that the best time to commence, is in the beginning of Lent, and, if well kept, the bird will be mewed by the beginning of August. Page 42. Hunting the Otter, In pursuing this sport, which is now almost obsolete, the huntsmen as- sembled on each side of the river where an otter was supposed to harbor, beating up the hollow banks, reed-beds, and sedges, with hounds kept solely for that purpose ; and, if the game were at hand, its *' j^a/," or the impression produced by the round ball under the soles of the feet, were soon discovered in the mud. Every hunter was armed with a spear, to assist the dogs, and attack the animal when it came to the surface of the water to breathe or vent ; but if the otter were not found by the river-side. It was traced by the seal, the fragments of the prey, and the ^^ sfraints^ 3l8 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. or soil, up the stream inland to the place where it had gone to couch. The otter when wounded, as it is noticed on page 75, bites violently, and makes towards land ; although the male-otter never utters a cry, but the pregnant females give a very shrill scream. When the otter fastens upon the dogs in the water, it dives with them, carries them far below the sur- face, and will seldom give up or quit its hold but with life. The hunting of an otter will last three and four hours, and the most fatal time for the pursuit is in snow and hard frost : an unbaited gin set near the landing- place of otters is also used to destroy them. Daniel. Otter-dogs, which are mentioned a short distance below the line above quoted, are a breed between the harrier and the terrier, and are hounds of great strength and activity. The following extract from the Whitehall Evening Post of May, 1760, was communicated for the first impression of this Edition of The Complete Angler, twenty-one years since, by the late Joseph Haslewood, as showing the time when otter-hunting in England began to decline. "To be Disposed of, At Barton under Need wood, near Litchfield, Staffordshire, Otter-Hounds, exceeding staunch, and thoroughly well trained to the hunting of this Animal. The Pack consists of nine Couple and a Terrier, and are esteemed to be as good, if not the best, Hounds in the Kingdom, In the Winter Season they hunt the Hare, except about two Couple and a half that are trained to the Otter only ; but there are about two Couple of Harriers, that have never been entered at the Otter, which will go with the rest ; beside three Couple of Year-old Hounds, now fit to enter at either or both ; and one Couple of Whelps, ready to go to Walks. The greatest part of them are the Blood of as high bred a Fox- Hound as any in England. The Proprietor disposes of them for the two following reasons only : First, because all the Otters except about three or four are killed within this Hunt, which consists of all the Rivers in this Country, (except the Dove, where Otters are not to be killed with Hounds,) Leicestershire, and Warwickshire ; but more especially, because the Pro- prietor finds himself too infirm to follow them. None but Principals will be treated with. Direct to Walter Biddulph, of Barton aforesaid, Esq. : by whom all letters from Principals will be duly answered. ** N.B. Mr. Biddulph has killed within these last six Years with these Hounds, above Burton upon Trent only, seventy-four Otters. There are six Spears to be disposed of with the Hounds." Page 42. Noble Mr. Sadler. Ralph Sadler, or Sadleir, of Standon, in the County of Hertford, Esq. ; only son and heir of Sir Thomas Sadler, and grandson of Sir Ralph Sadler, Knight-Banneret, celebrated in the times of Henry VIIL, Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth. He married, in 1601, Anne Paston, eldest daughter of the very eminent Sir Edward Coke, Lord Chief-Justice ; in 1606, he THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 3 19 succeeded to the family-seat of Standon, and he died without issue, on February the I2th, 1660 (1661) j Scotfs Sadler's Papers. He appears to have had a great attacliment to angling, and Sir Henry Chauncey, in his Historical Antiquities of Hertfordshire, p. 219, says of him, that "he brought an action of trespass Qtiare vi et armis against John Hyat in the Court of King's Bench, for fishing in the river Standon leading through his own land, and for erecting a weir there ; and he obtained judgment thereupon. He delighted much in hawking and hunting, and the pleas- ures of a country life ; was famous for his noble table, his great hospitality to his neighbors, and his abundant charity to the poor." The original edition of Walton's work in this part reads as follows. " Viator. In- deed, Sir, a little business and more pleasure : for my purpose is to be- stow a day or two in hunting the otter, which my friend, that I go to meet, tells me is more pleasant than any hunting whatsoever : and, having despatched a little business this day, my purpose is to-morrow to follow the dogs of honest Mr. , who hath appointed me and my friend to meet him upon Amwell-hill to-morrow morning by daybreak." Page 43. According to Lucian. The First Edition of the Complete Angler has these verses placed im- mediately after the extract from Montaigne, which was introduced by the same remarks which now precede it, upon Viator's answer to that speech of Piscator, in which he declares himself an enemy to the Otter, both on the account of his brother-anglers and his own. At page 5, in the original impression. Viator^ who is the subsequent Venator, though without his discourse in praise of Hunting, says : "Sir, to be plain with you, I am sorry you are an Angler : for I have heard many grave, serious men pitie, and many pleasant men scoffe, at Anglers." Piscator's reply is then nearly the same as it now appears, with the transposition already mentioned ; but at the end of the sentence * ' and I hope I may take, " etc. , see page 50, he continues : " But, if this satisfie not, I pray bid the scoffer put this Epi- gram in his pocket, and read it every morning for his breakfast (for I wish him no better) ; Hee shall find it fixed before the Dialogues of Lucian, who may justly be accounted the father of the family of all scoffers : And, though I owe none of that fraternitie so much as good-will, yet I have taken a little pleasant pains to make such a conversion of it as may make it the fitter for all of that fraternity." The translation of Lucian alluded to by Walton is entitled " Certain select Dialogues of Lucian : together with his true history," translated from the Greek into English by Mr. Francis Hickes. 0.r/i7r Charles L They resided at South Lambeth in Surrey, at a building now known by the name of Turret-House ; and, dying there, were buried in an altar-tomb, singularly ornamented, in Lambeth churchyard. "With the youngest of the family Mr. Ashmole contracted an intimacy, and, together with his wife, boarded at his house for a summer j during which time he agreed with him for the purchase of his whole collection of rarities, and it was accordingly conveyed to him by a deed of gift from Tradescant and his wife. On his death, Ashmole was obliged to file a bill in Chancery for the delivery of his property j but soon after a decree had been pronounced in his favor Mrs. Tradescant was discovered drowned, in her own pond. This collection of natural curiosities, which was the first made in England, Ashmole bequeathed with all its additions to the University of Oxford, and thus founded the Ashmolean Museum. Hawkins. The list of strange Fishes, etc., mentioned by Walton, will be found at page 8 of a Catalogue of the Collection, entitled " Museum Tradescantium, or a Col- lection of Rarities preserved at South Lambeth, near London, by John Tradescant." Lond. 1656, 8vo. The passage from the words, "But I will lay aside," p. 60, down to "she locks up her wonders," p. 61, was not inserted till Walton's Fifth Edition. Elias Ashmole^ who is men- tioned in the same sentence with Tradescant, was born May 16, 1617, ^"^ was a Chorister in Lichfield Cathedral. In 1638 he became a Solicitor in Chancery ; but in 1649 he married his second wife, the lady Mary Main- waring, who was possessed of a large fortune, and he resigned himself to alchemical study in concert with William Lilly and John Aubrey, Esq., of Surrey. In 1660 Charles IL gave him the office of Windsor Herald ; and ten years after he produced his excellent History of the Order of the Gar- ter. Ashmole married a third time in 1668, Elizabeth Dugdale, daughter of Sir William Dugdale, and he died on May 18, 1 692, celebrated for his knowledge of many and various Arts and Sciences. Page 61. Mr. George Herbert. This pious, learned, and eminent person was of the noble family of Her- bert, and a younger brother of the deistical Edward Lord Herbert of Cherbury. He was a King's-Scholar at Westminster, and subsequently a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge ; where, in 1 619, he was chosen University Orator. In that station he studied the modern languages with a view to the office of Secretary of State ; but being of a consumptive habit, and a retired turn of mind, he entered into holy orders, and was preferred to a Prebend in the Cathedral of Lincoln. He married about 1630 a near relation of the Earl of Danby, and died without issue in 1635, ^'^ ^^ ^8^ of forty-two. The printed works of Herbert are, a collection of Religious Poems called the Temple, his Remains, and a Translation of Luigi Cor- naro's Work on Temperance and Long Life. Walton, The passage 336 tHE COMPLETE ANGLER. quoted in the text is in tlie first of these, No. 22 of the foregoing list, pp. no, 113 of that volume, Stanzas 7, 8, 36. The word Owes in Herbert's verses is the older form of Owns. Page 62. Gesner, Rondeletius, Pliny, Atisonius^ Aristotle. Cotirad Gesner^ an eminent scholar, philosopher, physician, and natur- alist, was the son of Vasa Gesner and Barbara Friccius, and was born at ' Zurich in Switzerland in 15 16, and there received his initiation into the jGreek and Latin languages. His poverty obliged him to travel, and at length to study physic at Basle, where he took his Doctor's degree, and then returned to Zurich. His works are very numerous, and were, many of them, evidently written in haste to procure him a subsistence : of these, the principal is the *' Historise Animalium," for which he was surnamed the Pliny of Germany. For twenty-four years Gesner was Professor of Philosophy at Zurich, and he died of the plague on December 13, 1565. Gulielmus Rondeletius, or Guillaume Rondelet, was a celebrated physi- cian, who was born at Montpellier, in Languedoc, in 1507. He wrote several medical books, but his best production is his Treatise '* De Pisci- bus Marinis," of which there is also a French translation. He died, in great poverty, at Realmont in Albigeois, on July 18, 1566, of a surfeit, in- duced by eating figs to excess. Caius Plinius Secundtis, surnamed the Elder, was born at Verona, and was celebrat d as a soldier, a statesman, and a scholar. He wrote one hundred and sixty volumes of remarks on the authors which he had read ; but his Natural History, in thirty-seven books, is the only one of his works now extant. He perished in that eruption of Mount Vesuvius which overthrew Herculaneum, a.d. 79, in his fifty-sixth year. Decimus Magnus Ausonius was a Latin poet born at Bordeaux in Gaul ; and preceptor of Gratian, the son of the Emperor Valentinian, which occasioned him to be made Consul. His compositions are chiefly Epigrams from the Greek, Epitaphs, and poetical Epistles. He died about a.d. 390. Aristoteles^ the celebrated philosopher, was born at Stagira, and studied at Athens under Plato. He wrote above four hun- dred literary and scientific volumes, and Alexander the Great magnificently patronized his Natural History of Animals. He died at the age of sixty- three, B.C. 322. Page 62. Divine Du Bartas, Guillaume de Salluste, Sieur Du Bartas, was the son of a Treasurer of France, and was born in 1544, at Montfort in Armagnac. He served in the army of Henry IV. , as the commander of a company of cavalry, in Gascony, under Marechal de Matignon ; and the King also employed him in various commissions to England, Denmark, and Scotland. His works are numerous, and written both in French and Latin verse ; but his prin- cipal production is entitled *' A Commentary of the Week of the Creation THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 331 of the World," in seven books. In six years, it passed through upwards of thirty editions ; and an English translation of it in verse, by Joshua Sylvester, merchant-adventurer of London, was published in 1605. Du Bartas held the doctrines of Calvinism ; he was a modest and reserved man, a brave soldier, and he died in 1590, at the age of forty-six. The passage quoted in the text will be found in the Fifth Day of the First Week, line 33, but it is considerably varied from the original : see No. 7 in the list of Authorities, and p. 39, col. 2, of that volume. In the quota- tion from Du Bartas in the text, the word Stares is put for Starlings : it is derived from the Saxom Staer or the Teutonic Sterre, ultimately from the Latin Sturnus. The Two Ecclesiastical Fishes mentioned by Du Bartas are described by Rondeletius, and delineated in the Posthu- mous Works of Mr. John Gregory, Lond. 1683, 4to, pages 121, 122. Hawkins. Page 62. The Cuttk-ph^ etc. The margin in all the editions refers to Montaigne's Essays, see No. 29 of the preceding list ; and in the Apology for Raymond de Sebonde, book ii. chap, xii. p. 256, is the passage alluded to. Page 63. ^lian. Claudius ^Elianus was a Roman sophist of Praeneste in Italy, in the reign of Adrian, who originally taught Rhetoric at Rome ; bue taking a dislike to his profession, he became an author, and wrote seventeen books De Animalium Natura, and fourteen of various History, etc., in Greek. He died in his sixtieth year, A.D. 140. The passage from the words *' And there is a fish," down to " most of mankind," was not inserted till the Third Edition of The Complete Angler, 1664. Page 63. And first what Du Bartas says. See No. 7 in the preceding list, and the Fifth Day of the First Week, line 195, p. 41, col. i, of that volume : the verses on the Cantharus and the Mullet mentioned on pages 63 and 64, immediately follow the above at lines 201 and 205 ; and Walton's reference to the custom of the Thra- cian women also came from Du Bartas, beginning at line 209. The account of the Sargus was taken by Du Bartas from Oppian's Halieutics, lib. iv. Page 64. Pheer—prest. Pheer, or Fere, Saxon, Fera^ Gefera, is a Mate, an Equal ; and an- ciently, as in the present instance, a Husband or Wife. Prest is the old orthography of the French Pret, Ready. Hawkins. Page 67. The Voyages of Ferdinand Mendez Pinto. A native of Monte Mor Ouelho in Portugal, born about 1510, and whose Travels, written by himself, have been very much questioned as to their truth. For twenty-one years of his life he was iourneying chiefly in 332 THE COMPLETE ANGLER, the Ea5t ; and during tliat time lie was five times shipwrecked, sevente«« times sold, and thirteen limes made a slave : he returned to Lisbon, Sep- tember 22, 1558. A translation of his Voyages will be found in the list of Authorities, No. 33 ; and the passage alluded to by Walton is in chap. 79, p. 319. The paragraph in which this traveller is mentioned did not ap» pear until Walton's Second Edition. Page 67. He t}iat reads Fltitarch. See No. 35 in the foregoing list, p. 983, marginal letter D, in that volume. Those passages from the words, "And for the lawfulness," down to "great learning have been," did not appear until Walton's Second Edition. Page 67. Angling is always taken in the best sense. See Cniden's Concordance, under the titles Fishing and Hunting. Page 67. Our learned Perkins , , . Doctor Whitaker , , , Doctor NoweL William Perkins was a learned divine, and a pious and laborious preacher ; and Dr. William Whitaker was an eminent writer in the Rom- ish controversy, and Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge. They both flourished at the close of the sixteenth century ; and the love of the latter for Angling is mentioned in Fuller's Holy State, book iii, chap. 13. Dr. Alexander Nowel was a learned divine, and a famous preacher in the reign of King Edward VL ; upon whose death he, with many other Protestants, fled to Germany, where he lived several years. In 1561 he was made Dean of St. Paul's ; and died in 1601. His monument was consumed in 1666 ; but the inscription and an engraving of the tomb will be found in Dugdale's History of St. Paul's. There has been considerable dispute as to the Catechism alluded to by Walton : and it seems almost certain that it is not the one printed in the Book of Com- mon Prayer. See Fuller's Worthies, Lane. 115, Athen. Oxon. 113, and Churton's Life of Nowel, p. 366. Hawkins. See also Herbert's Typo- graphical Antiquities, Edit, by the Rev. T. F. Dibdin, vol. iv. p. 13, and the Rev. E. Cardwell's Documentary Annals of the Reformed Church of England, vol. L page 266, note. Page 69. Sir Henry Wotton, An eminent scholar and statesman, born at Bocton Hall in Kent, in 1568, and educated at Winchester School and New College, Oxford. Having travelled about nine years, he became Secretary to Robert Dev- ereux, Earl of Essex ; but upon his attainder he again went to the Conti- nent, and attached himself to the Duke of Florence, who sent him as Am- bassador to James VL of Scotland. When that Monarch came to be King of England, he received Wotton into his service, knighted him, and tmployed him as his principal Ambassador. About 1624 he took Dea- THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 333 con's Orders, and was made Provost of Eton College, where he died in December 1639. IValton. The passage quoted in the text is in his Re- mains ; see the foregoing list, No. 43, and the recto of sign, c 6 in that volume. The poem printed on page 70 is in the same book at p. 524 ; and in these verses the word Pilgrim is put for the Swallow, because of its migrations. Page 73. The gloves of an Otter ^ etc. All the particulars related of the Otter were derived from the Rev. Edward Topsail's Natural History ; see No. 41 in the list of Authorities, and pp. 572-575 of that volume. The work is, in effect, a translation of the Historiae Animalium of Gesner, and contains numerous references to many learned authorities. The Rev. Edward Topsell, by whom it was executed, was Chaplain to Dr. Neile, Dean of Westminster, in the Church of St. Botolph, Aldersgate. The Second Chapter in the First Edition of Walton contains a great part of the matter of the present Chapters IL, IIL, IV. ; since it ends with the Hostess calling Viator and Piscator to supper. The title of it, in the table already mentioned, is "In the Second are some observations of the nature of the Otter, and also some observations of the Chub or Cheven, with directions how and with what baits to fish for him. " Page 76. Make conscience of the Laws of the Nation. This passage — which from "Is not mine Host a witty man ? " p. 76, down to "To speak truly,'* p. 77, is wanting in the First Edition — alludes to a statute made in the 5th of Eliz., which enacts that any person eating flesh upon the usual Fish-days shall forfeit f^-^ for every offence, or under- go three months' imprisonment without bail. This Act, in all its branches, views, and amendments, is fully considered in a Tract published by John Erswicke, Gent., in 1642, 4to, entitled "A briefe note of the benefits that grow to this Realme by the obseruation of Fish-daies with a reason and cause wherefore the Law in that behalfe made is ordained." The statutes mentioned on p. 76, with many amendments, may be seen in " The Sec- ond Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England," by Sir Edw. Coke, Lond. 1642, fol. p. 477. In most of the former editions of The Com- plete Angler there is a misprint of Richard IIL for Richard IL P^ge 85. You shall read in Seneca. These particulars were taken from Dr. Hakewill's Apology, No. 21 in the preceding list, and book iv. sect. 6, p. 433 of that volume. The translation of Seneca by Dr. Thomas Lodge, printed in 1620, fol., was however most probably known to Walton. Page 87. His natne is of a German offspring. Minsheu shows it to be rather from the Low-Dutch Trort^ derived probably of the corrupt Latin TrtUcu 334 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. Page 87. Mercator says, etc. Gerard Mercator was born in 15 12, at Ruremonde in Flanders, and was a man of such intense application to mathematical studies, that he neg- lected the refreshments of nature. He engraved and colored with his own hand the maps to his geographical writings. He wrote several books of Theology ; and died at Duisburg in 1 594. Hawkins. Page 88. Sir George Hastings. The party referred to by Walton has been usually supposed to be the Hon. Henry Hastings of Woodlands, near Cranborne in Dorsetshire, who died October 5, 1650, at the age of ninety-nine. His character was written with great humor and ability by Lord Shaftesbury, and was in- scribed under his portrait at Winbourne St. Giles ; it may be also found printed in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xxiv. p. 160, and in Hutchins's History of Dorset, Edit. 1803, vol. ii. p. 510, with other particulars. It is, however, more probable that the person to whom Walton alludes was either Sir George Hastings, the son of Henry, who died October 25, 165 1 ; or Sir George, the nephew of Henry, the brother of Henry, Fifth Earl of Huntingdon, who is recorded in Richard Smith's Obituary to have died of the plague on June 4, 1641. See Peck's *' Desiderata Curiosa," vol. ii. lib. xiv. p. 19. Collins's Peerage, Edit. 1779, vol. iii. p. 97. Page. 89. Alberttts observes, etc. Albertus Magnus, a German Dominican, and a very learned man. Urban IV, compelled him to accept of the Bishopric of Ratisbon. He wrote a treatise on the Secrets of Nature, and twenty other volumes in folio ; and died at Cologne in 1280. Hawkins. The passage in the text is from Topsell's History of Serpents, No. 42 in the preceding list, p. i8q of that volume. The quotation from Bacon will be found at p. 194, Century ix. of No. 3. See also Dr. Franklin's letter to M. Dubourg, **On the prevailing Doctrines of Life and Death." Page 92. The Royal Society, etc. See No. 37 in the foregoing list, pp. 2170-2175 ; the list alluded to i« on the last page. This passage did not appear until Walton's last edition. The word sleight on the same page is from the Icelandic Slaegd or th« Anglo-Saxon Slyth, Deceit, or Deceitful. . Page 94. That smooth song which was made by Kit Marlowe. Christopher Marlowe, or Marloe, was a poet of considerable eminence, and is called by Phillips "a kind of second Shakespeare." He is suj)- posed to have been born about 1562, and in 1587 he became M. A. at Bene't College, Cambridge ; after which he commenced actor and drama- tic writer. There are extant five Tragedies of his writing, and a Poem en- titled Hero and Leander, which was finished by George Chapman. The song attributed to Marlowe in the text is printed with his name in Eng* THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 335 land's Helicon, 1600, 4to ; as is also the Answer, there signed Ignoto, but ascribed by Walton to Sir Walter Raleigh. Marlowe is said towards the end of his life to have become a professed atheist : he died before 1593, of a wound given him by a serving-man, who was his rival. Haw- kins. Page 95. What song was it^ I pray? See the songs As at Noon, Chevy Chace, Johnny Armstrong, and Troy Town, printed after the most authentic copies in Percy's Reliques of Eng- lish Poetry. Hawkins, Phillida flouts me was printed in the Theatre of Compliments. Lond. 1689, i2mo ; but it is also to be found in a volume collected by J. Ritson, entitled Ancient Songs from the Time of King Henry the Third to the Revolution. Lond. 1792, i2mo, Art. xi. p. 235, The Editor of that collection states, in the notice preceding the verses, that there is a modern Answer by A. Bradley, and that the song of Come, Shepherds^ is not known ; the last, however, was discovered in a manu- script belonging to the late Richard Heber, Esq., and was printed in Mr. Pickering's edition of the Complete Angler, from the communication of Mr. T. Rodd. Page 95. Come., live with me, and be my love. The notes of various Shakespearian commentators on the Comedy of The Merry Wives of Windsor contain the principal information now ex- tant concerning this song ; but the propriety of ascribing it to Shakespeare is also considered in Dr. Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, vol. i. p. 322, where it is printed under the title of The Passionate Shepherd to his Love. Dr. Warburton assigns it to Shakespeare, perhaps because Sir Hugh Evans, in Act iii. Sc. i, of the above play, sings four lines of it ; and it was printed, with some variations, in a collection of Poems said to be Shakespeare's, printed by Thomas Cotes for John Benson, 1640, i2mo. Page 96. Sir Thomas Overbtiry* s Milkmaid'' s wish. See the preceding list. No. 32, in which the following exquisite character is delineated with a simple beauty of language that is the very counterpart of Walton's own. " A faire and happy Milk- Maid Is a Countrey Wench, that is so farre from making her selfe beautifull by Art, that one looke of hers is able to put all face-Physicke out of counte- nance. She knowes a faire looke is but a Dumbe Orator to commend vertue, therefore minds it not. All her excellencies stand in her so silently, as if they had stolne upon her without her knowledge. The lin- ing of her apparell (which is her selfe) is farre better than outsides of Tis- sew : for though she be not arrayed in the spoile of the Silke-worme, shee is devkt in inn^c^ncy, a far better wearing. She doth not, with lying long 33^ THE COMPLETE ANGLER. abed, spoile both her complexion and conditions ; Nature bath taught heii too immoderate sleepe is rust to the Soule : she rises therefore with Chaun' ticUare her dame's cock, and at night makes the Lamb her Curfew. In milking a Cow, a-straining the Teats through her fingers, it seems that sa sweet a Milk-presse makes the Milk the whiter or sweeter ; for never came Almond Glove or Aromatique oyntment on her palme to taint it. The golden eares of come fall and kisse her feet when shee reapes them, as if they wisht to be bound and le'^ prisf ' pvs by the same hand that fell'd them. Her breath is her own, which sei.. ill the yeare long of Jtine, like a new-made Haycock, ftbe nakes her hand hard with labor, and her heart soft with pitty ; and V'h«n winter ev..'nings fall early (sitting ai: her mery wheele) she sings <- lefiance to the giddy wheele of Fortune, She doth all things with so s\^'eet a grace, it seems ignorance will not sufifer her to doe ill, being her mind is to doe well. Shee bestowes her yeare's wages at next faire ; and in chusing her garments, counts no brav- ery i' th' world like decency. The Garden and Bee-hive are all her Phy- sick and Chyrurgery, and she ives the longer for 't. She dares goe alone, and unfolds sheepe i' th' light, and feares no manner of ill, be- cause she meanes none: yet Co ay tiuth, she is never alone, for she is still accompanied with old son^s honest thoughts, and prayers, but short ones, yet they have their efficacy in that they are not pauled with insuing, idle cogitations. Lastly, her Itriames are so chaste, that shee dare tell them : only a Fridaie's dreame is all her ^upet -^tition : that shee conceales for feare of anger. Thus lives sne, and all hei care is that she may die in the Springtime, to have store of flowers stucke upon her winding-sheet." Character 51, sign. L. 7. FronC tht copy in the Library of Sion College, I^ondon, Page 10 1. The choice songs, etc. The Song of Old Tom of Bedlam will be found in Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, vol. ii. p. 356. It is also printed in Playford's *• Antidote against Melancholy," 1669, 8vo ; "and with the Music, com- posed by H. Lawes, in a work entitled Choice Ayres, Songs, and Dia- logues, to the Theorbo-Lute and Base- Viol." Fol. 1675. Ha7vkins. In the volume of Ancient Songs already cited, pp. 261, 265, there are two different songs, both called Tom of Bedlam, which are stated to have been taken out of an old Miscellany, entitled " Le Prince d' Amour, or the Prince of Love, with a Collection of Songs, by the Wits of the Age." Lond. 1660, 8vo. The Editor adds, however, that the above were in- serted in the collection in burlesque, on the love of the English for ballads on the subject of madness. See Percy's Reliques, vol. ii. p. 350. The song of *'The Hunter in his Career," also mentioned in the text, is re- printed for the first time in Mr. Pickering's edition of the Complete THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 33f Angler, from a collection of old ballads published in 1725. In Walton's First Edition, this passage is contained in the Third Chapter ; which is entitled " In Chapter 3 are some observations of Trouts, both of their nat- ure, their kinds, and their breeding." Page III. Aldrovandus. Ulysses Aldrovandus, a great physician and naturalist, born at Bologna in 1527 ; he wrote 120 books on several subjects, and a Treatise " De Piscibus," published last at Francfort, 164a He died blind in an hospi- tal at Bologna, in great poverty. May 4, 1605. The passage alluded to in the text is in his " Serpentum et Draconum Historiae," 1640, foL Haw- kins. Page 112. The observation of Du Bartas. See No. 7 in the foregoing list, p. 58, col. 2, the last 20 lines. Page 115. Devout Lessius. Leonard Lessius, Professor of Divinity in the College of Jesuits at Lou- vain ; he was born at Antwerp in 1554 ; and became very famous for his skill in divinity, civil-law, mathematics, physic, and history. He wrote several theological tracts, and a treatise entitled Hygiasticon ; see N. 26 in the preceding list, from the third chapter of which the sentiments in the text were extracted. He died in 1623. Hawkins. Page 117. Mr. Thomas Barker. This person, an account of whom is to be derived only from his writings, appears to have been an Angler by profession, and an experienced cook of fish ; since he says he " had been admitted into the most Ambassadors' kitchens that had come to England for forty years, and drest fish for them ; for which, he adds, he was duly paid by the Lord Protector." He spent a considerable portion of his time, and, it seems, of his property also, in fishing ; and in the latter part of his life, he resided in Henry the Seventh's Gifts, some almshouses which stood near the Gatehouse at Westminster. Hawkins. His work on Angling will be found at No. 6 of the preceding list, and the information contained in the text is at pp. 2 and 15 of the very neat reprint of that tract, published in 1821. Page 121. Holy Mr. Herbert. See No, 22 of the foregoing list, p. 80 of that volume. Page 123. Ch. Harvie. " t The verses with this signature do not appear until the Second Edition ; for the dialogue in the First passes immediately from Herbert's verses to the Beggars' Song, which is there sung by Viator, without the introductory story. It is most probable that the person mentioned above was a Chris- topher Harvey, M. A., Vicar of Clifton in Warwickshire ; born in 1597, and who lived until about 1663. The same signature also appears to a copy pf verses addressed to W?^ltoR on his Angler ; and that collection of poems 338 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. entitled the Synagogue is supposed to have been produced by the samt person. Hawkins. Page 123. Dr. Boteler. Dr. William Butler, a celebrated but eccentric physician, who was born at Ipswich about 1535, and educated at Clare-Hall, Cambridge, of whicti he became Fellow. He died January 29, 161 8, and was buried at St. Mary's Church, Cambridge. Page 124. Hear my Kenna sing a song. The reference to the margin indicates that Walton wishes to hear Ken- na, his mistress, sing the song. Like Hermit Poor. This song was set to music by Nicholas Laneare, an eminent master of Walton's time, — who, it is said by Wood, was also an excellent painter, and whose portrait is to be seen in the Music-school at Oxford, — and is printed with the notes in a collection entitled Select Afusical Ayres and Dialogues^ fol. 1659, page i. The verses which introduce this song were in all probability the production of Walton, for it may be observed that Kenna is evidently a feminine for- mation of Ken, the maiden name of his second wife. The first three words of the song of "Like Hermit Poor" were used as a proverb or phrase, about and after the middle of the seventeenth century, Haw- kins. Page 126. Our late English G us man. The very curious volume to which this passage alludes is entitled ** The English Guzman ; or the History of that unparalleled Thief James Hind, written by G(eorge) r(idge)." Lond. 1652, 4to. In the King's Tracts in the British Museum. Page 129, Caspar Peucerus. An eminent physician and mathematician, born at Lusatia, in 1525 : he married the daughter of Melancthon, wrote many books on various sub- jects, and died in 1602, aged seventy-eight, Hawkins. Casaubon quotes him at p. 252 of his book, No. 10 of the foregoing list. The paragraph from which the above line is quoted did not appear as it now stands until the Fifth Edition of Walton. The Hares changing sexes is mentioned by Topsell, see No. 41, p. 266. Page 131. Learned Doctor Hakewill. Dr. George Hakewill was born- at Exeter in 1579, and was Rector of Exeter College, Oxford ; he died at his living of Heanton in Devonshire, in April, 1649 His book will be found at No. 21 of the list, and the con- tents of the paragraph in the text, which did not appear until the Second Edition of Walton, are from p. 434 of that volume. In Walton's First Edition this part falls in Chap. V,, which is entitled, *' Some direction to fish for the Trout by night ; and a question whether fish hear ? and lastly, fome direction? hov^ \q fish for the Umber or Grayling." The titles of THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 339 the other chapters in the First Edition do not greatly differ from those in the present. Page 135. Salvian takes him^ etc. Hippolito Salviani, an Italian Physician, of the sixteenth century ; he wrote a treatise " De Piscibus cum eorum figuris'* ; and died at Rome in 1572, aged fifty-nine. Haivkins. The passage in the text is in chap vi. p. 81, of No, 38 in the preceding list. All references to Gesner concern- ing fish will be found in the fourth volume of No. 19. Page 137. The Salman . . . is said to breed, etc. This very interesting and curious subject has been recently most min- utely examined and illustrated by Mr. W. Yarrell, F. L. S. , in his work ** On the Growth of the Salmon in Fresh-water, with six colored engrav- ings of the fish, of the natural size, exhibiting its character and exact ap- pearance at various stages during the first two years." Lond. 1839. Oblong folio. Page 138. Alicluxel Drayton. An excellent poet, born in Warwickshire in 1563. One of his principal works, which are very numerous, is the Poly- Olbion^ a chorographical de- scription of the rivers, mountains, forests, castles, etc., in this island. Although the poem has great merit, it is rendered much more valuable by the learned notes of John Selden. The author died in 1631, and lies buried with the Poets in Westminster Abbey. Hawkins. The passage referred to is at p. 88 of No. 14 of the foregoing list ; and in Camden it occurs at page 654. This extract is not in the First Edition of Walton. Page 144. Gesner mentions a Pike, This story is told by Dr. Hakewill in his Apology, No. 21 of the pre- ceding list, lib. ii. chap. 8, sect. 2, p. 136, of that volume. Walton sub- sequently mentions several instances of the voracity of the Pike ; but, as a proof that other fish beside will swallow hard substances. Fuller, in his History of the Worthies of England, Lond. 1662, fol. Northumberland, p. 310, relates from a book entitled " Vox Piscis," printed in 1626, p. 13, that a Mr. Anderson, a townsman and merchant of Newcastle, who was afterwards knighted, and who was Mayor of that place in 1599, was con- versing on the bridge there, and suddenly let his seal-ring fall into the river T)me. As Mayor, he was entitled to the first Salmon caught in the season, and upon opening the one that was thus presented to him, his own ring was discovered in its stomach. Page 147. Dubravius. Janus Dubravius Scala, Bishop of Olmutz in Moravia, in the sixteenth century, was born at Pilsen in Bohemia, was sent Ambassador into Sicily, and made President of the Chamber which tried the Rebels of Smalcald. His book alluded to by Walton is No. 15 in the foregoing list, the pas- 340 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. sage is in the sixth chapter of book i., and a translation of it was published in 4to, 1599, by George Churchey, Fellow of Lincoln's Inn. He is said to have died in 1559. Hawkins. The extract from Dubravius is not in Walton's First Edition. Page 150. Cardanus. Jer )me Cardan, an Italian physician, naturalist, and astrologer, born at Pavia, September 24, 1501, well known by the many works he has pub- lished : he died at Rome on September 21, 1576. It is said that he had foretold the day of his death ; and that, when it approached, he suffered himself to die of hunger to preserve his reputation. He had been in Eng- land, and wrote a character of our Edward VI. Hawkins. Page 155. Sir Richard Baker ^ in whose Chronicle, etc. Vide No. 5, p. 428, marginal letter E. It is probable that this rhyme, with all its variations, is historically erroneous. Not in Walton's First Edition. Page 156. ^ T is said by Jovius. Paulus Jovius, an Italian historian, of very doubtful authority, was born at Como in 1483. He wrote a small tract De Romanis Piscibus, and he died at Florence in 1552. Ha-.okins. Page 176. Made by Doctor Donne. John Donne was born in London about the year 1573, and was educated at Oxford and Cambridge, whence he removed to Lincoln's Inn. He afterwards became secretary to Lord Ellesmere, and privately addressed and married a near relation of his lady's ; which was so highly resented by Sir George Moor, his wife's father, that Donne was dismissed from his situation, and involved in the greatest poverty and distress. About 1614, he was persuaded to enter into holy orders, and he at length obtained the Deanery of St. Paul's ; but his misfortunes had induced a lingering con- sumption, of which he died in 1631. Walton. Dr. Donne's Poems ap- pear at No. 13 of the preceding list, and at p. 190 of that volume are the verses quoted in the text, which are sometimes entitled " The Bait." The word sleave^ on page 176, is from the Icelandic Slefa, fibres of silk, and signifies to untwist ravelled silk. Page 179. Venerable Bede. The most universal scholar of his time : he was born at Durham about the year 671, and bred under St. John of Beverly. It is said that Pope Sergius I. invited him to Rome, though others say that he never quitted his cell. He was a man of great virtue, and remarkable for a sweet and engaging disposition ; he died in 734, and lies buried at Durham. The passage referred to in the text is in his Ecclesiastical History of the Eng- lish Nation, lib. iv. cap. 19. Matthias de H Obel^ who is mentioned in the same page, was an eminent physician and botanist of the sixteenth cen- THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 341 tury, and was a native of LTsle in Flanders. He was a disciple of Ron- deletius, and was invited to London by King James L He died in 1616. The book from which the text is quoted is No. 31 in the foregoing list. John Gerard^ who is also cited with L'Obel, was a surgeon in London, and one of the most celebrated of English botanists ; he was born at Namptwich in Cheshire, in 1545. His Herbal, mentioned in the text, is No. 17 in the list of authorities, and the passage referred to is in lib. 3, p. 1587, chap. 171, which is entitled "Of the Goose tree, Barnacle tree, or the Tree bearing Geese " : of this there is a curious woodcut. Hazukins. The passages from Lord Bacon, quoted on p. 179, are at p. 71, Nos. 46, 44, of his History, &c. ; those from Dr. Hakewill are in lib. iv. sect. 6, pp. 433, 434, of his Apology. The reference to Camden, on page 184, will be found on page 666 of his Britannia. Page 186. Gasius, Antonio Gazius of Padua, the author of the "Corona Florida Medi- cinse," which he published at Venice in 1491, in folio, at the age of twenty- eight. He died in 1530. His name does not appear in Walton's First Edition. Page 1 88. Doctor Sheldon. Dr. Gilbert Sheldon, Warden of All- Souls College, Chaplain to King Charles I., and, after the Restoration, Archbishop of Canterbury. He was born July 19, 1598, at Stanton in Staffordshire. He founded the Theatre at Oxford, died in 1677, and lies buried under a stately monu- ment at Croydon in Surrey. Hawkins. This passage is not in Walton's First Edition, and the Second reads, " Doctor Sh." Page 197. Of which Diodoriis speaks. Diodorus, surnamed Siculus, because his birthplace was Argyra in Sicily, was an excellent historian, who flourished about 44 years B. c. Of his History of Egypt, Persia, Syria, etc., there are only fifteen books re- maining, but it originally consisted of forty : it was the work of thirty years, although the greatest part of it is a compilation. The passage men- tioned in the text is in book v. ch. i. Page 197. Phineas Fletcher. The son of Giles Fletcher, LL. D., and Ambassador from Queen Elizabeth to the Duke of Muscovy. He is said to have been born about 1584, and in 1600 he became Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. In 1633 he was known as the author of a fine allegorical poem, entitled " The Purple Island," which was printed at Cambridge, with others of his works. He died about 1650. Hawkins. Page 198. You must sing a part of it. These verses were composed for two voices, a treble and a bass, by the very celebrated Henry Lawes, most probably at Walton's request, and THE ANGLER'S SONG.* Skt by H. Lawbs, 1653. Harmonized for Four Voices. By J. S. Major, 1844. Mau'8 life is but vain; For 'tis sub-ject to pain, And eor • row, and _ - #- -^ 5 I I • J ■*- m-^ - ^ -^ ^ short as a bob-ble ; 'Tis a hodge-podge of business and mon ey and ^—r- iifct ii^fi^g ^M \^^UU z"«rzE care ; And care and mon-ey and trouble. ^ >!* -_« But we'll take no care When the Pli^lippipp % ^ We'll ban-iph all m weather proves fair; Nor will we vex now tho' it rain; 3=C t^^ i^i^^^iliiaSii eor- row, And sing till to mor-row, And an - gle and an - gle a - gain. * Walton himself calls this a " Catch," — Hawkins styles it a Song, — proba- bly from the nature of the words, although the music is perfectly that of the Madrigal so much in the fashion of the time, and now again revived by per- sons of the best musical ta^te. The above version is harmonized for four vcices. the Alto and Tenor bemg now first added. For the convenience of publication, the four parts are given on two staves instead of a stave for each voice— a double tail being added where two voices sing the same note. THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 343 they are to be found at p. 62 of a volume entitled " Select Ayres and Dia- logues for One, Two, and Three Voyces ; to the Theorbo-Lvte, and Basse- Viol. Composed by John Wilson and Charles Coleman, Doctors in Music, Henry Lawes," etc Lond. 1659, fol. It occurs in the First Edition of Walton. The verses in praise of Music are also in the First Edition of Walton, and are taken from the end of the same book of songs, where they are signed W. D,, Knight, meaning perhaps Sir William Davenant, Hawkins. An harmonized version of Lawe's composition is given on the preceding page. Page 205. Like the Rosicrucians. The title of the Rosycrucians, or the Brothers of the Rosy-Cross, was first assumed by a sect of Hermetic Philosophers in Germany, about the com- mencement of the fourteenth century. They professed to have a knowl- ledge of all the occult sciences, as the making of gold, the prolongation of human life, the restoration of youth, from which they were also called Immortales, and the formation of the philosopher's stone ; but all these secrets they were bound by a solemn oath to reveal only to the members of their own fraternity, and it is to this custom, in particular, that Walton alludes. Their founder was a German gentleman, named Christian Crux, who had travelled to Palestine, where, falling sick, he was cured by Arabian physicians, who, he asserted, revealed to him their mysterious arts. He died in 1484 ; and the name of his society was composed of the word Ros, Dew, and his own name, Crux, a Cross, the old chemical character for light. Mosheim. Gassendi. Renaudot. Brticker, Page 206. Either to Mr. Margrave, etc. There is printed upon the reverse of the last leaf of Cotton's Second Part of the Complete Angler, Edit. 1676, the following memorandum con- cerning this person : " Courteous Reader. You may be pleas'd to take notice, that at the Sign of the Three Trouts in St. PauPs Church-Yard, on the North side, you may be fitted with all sorts of the best Fishing-Tackle, by John Margrave^"* The four earlier editions of Walton read, " I will go with you either to Charles Brandon's (neer to the Swan in Golding Lane) ; or to Mr. Fletch- er's, in the Court which did once belong to Dr. Nowel, the Dean of St. Paul's, that I told you was a good man and a good Fisher ; it is hard by the West end of St. Paul's Church; they be both," etc. Viator selects Charles Brandon. This is in the last chapter of the First Edition. The note on the value of an Angler's tackle did not appear until the Second Edition. Page 212. Matthiolus commends him, Petrus Andreas Matthiolus was born at Sienna in Tuscany, in 1501. 344 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. He was an eminent physician, and particularly famous for his Commen- taries on some of the writings of Dioscorides. He died of the plague at Trent, in 1577. Hawkins, Page 214. As you may note out of Dr, HeylMs Geography. See No. 23 in the foregoing list, from pages 458, 459 of which this chap- ter, from the words "The chief is Thamisis," down to the end of Dray- ton's Sonnet, is printed almost verbatim. Dr. Peter Heylin was born at Burford in Oxfordshire, November 29, 1600. In 1619 he was made Fel- low of Magdalen College, Oxford, and in 1621, he published his Micro- cosmos, alluded to in the text. He was steadfastly attached to King Charles I., and wrote for him the weekly paper entitled Mercurius Auli- cus ; though his loyalty reduced him to great poverty. He died on May 8, 1662. Page 217. Gr otitis in his Sophom. Hugo Grotius, or De Groot, a very celebrated scholar, statesman, and theologian, who was born at Delft in Holland, on April 10, 1583. He was at first an advocate, but about 16 13 he became Grand- Pensionary of Holland ; though in 161 8, for adhering to the doctrines of Arminius, he was confined for nine months in the castle at the Hague. Grotius died at Rostock in Pomerania, August 28, 1645. His works were very numerous, and a translation of that alluded to in the text is shown at No. 20 in the foregoing list. The passage will be found at pages 29, etc., in the speech of the Chorus, and in the notes to the third Act, pages 84, etc. The title ot the Tragedy, Sophompaneas^ signified, in the Egyptian language, the Saviour of the World ; and was given to Joseph, Pharaoh's minister, be- cause he delivered so many nations from destruction by famine. Page 228. // is well said by Caussin. Nicholas Caussin, a Jesuit and Confessor to Louis XHL, was born at Troyes in Champagne, in 1580. He was esteemed a person of great probity, and of such a spirit that he attempted to displace Cardinal Riche- lieu ; but that minister proved too powerful for him, and procured his banishment to a city of Lower Bretagne. He returned to Paris after the Cardinal's death, and died in the Jesuits' Convent there, in July, 1651. Hawkins. The " grave Divine ** mentioned on the same page, according to the Rev. Moses Browne, was Dr. Donne. The verses by Sir Henry Wotton, in the same place, are printed near the end of his Remains, No. 43 of the preceding list. Page 237. Brelsford. Brelsford, or Brailsford, a township in the Hundred of Appletree, in Derbyshire, situated about seven miles northwest of the Town of Derby. Page 240. Own me for his adopted Son. This alludes to the practice of the ancient Alchemists and Astrologers, THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 345 of adopting favorite persons for their sons or pupils, to whom they ina- parted their secrets. Hawkins. In the English translation of the Script- ures, the disciples of the Prophets are called *' the Sons of the Prophets,** with the same signification. Page 249. Tom Coriate. The son of the Rev. George Coriate, bom at Odcombe in Somersetshire, in 1577. He was educated at Westminster School, and at Gloucester Hall, Oxford ; after which, he went into the family of Henry Prince of Wales. He travelled almost all over Europe on foot, and in that tour walked nine hundred miles with one pair of shoes, which he got mended at Zurich. Afterwards he visited Turkey, Persia, and the Great Mogul's dominions ; proceeding in so frugal a manner that, as he tells his mother in a letter, in his ten months' travel between Aleppo and the Mogul's Court, he spent but three pounds sterling, living reasonably well for about twopence sterling a day ! He was a redoubted champion for ^he Christian religion, against the Mahometans and Pagans ; in the defence whereof he sometimes risked his life. He died of the flux, oc- casioned by drinking sack at Surat in 1617 ; having, in 161 1, published his Travels in a quarto volume, which he called his Crudities ; in which, on the reverse of b. i. in "a Character of the Author," is the passage alluded to in the text. Hawkins. Page 250. What have we here, a church ? • This passage alludes to the Church at Alstonefield, a Parish in the North Division of the Hundred of Totmanslow, and County of Stafford ; it is "dedicated to St. Peter, and stands five miles north-northwest from Ashbom. Page 254. Now you are come to the door. This celebrated Fishing- House is formed of stone, and the room within is a cube of fifteen feet, paved with black and white marble, having in the centre a square black marble table. The roof, which is triangular in shape, terminates in a square stone sun-dial, surmounted by a globe and a vane. It was originally wainscoted with walls of carved panels and divisions, in the larger spaces of which were painted some of the most interesting scenes in the vicinity of the building ; whilst the smaller ones were occupied with groups of fishing-tackle. In the right-hand corner stood a large beaufet with folding-doors, on which were painted the portraits of Walton and Cotton attended by a servant-boy ; and beneath it was a closet, having a Trout and a Grayling delineated upon the door. Such was the original appearance of the Fishing- House, as collected from a description given by Mr. White of Crickhowel to Sir John Hawkins, in 1784; although it was then con- ■"siderably decayed, especially in the wainscoting and the paintings. To this, the following account of its present state, written from actual obser- vation by W. H. Pepys, Esq., F. R. S., etc., will form an appropriate and 346 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. an interesting counterpart. The visit which it details was made by a party composed of several eminent characters equally distinguished in Science and the Fine Arts. " It was in the month of April, 1811, that I visited the celebrated Fish- ing-House of Cotton and Walton. I left Ashbourne about nine o'clock in the morning, accompanied by several Brothers of the Angle : we took the Buxton road for about six miles, and, turning through a gate to the left, soon descended into the valley of the Dove, and continued along the banks of the river about three miles farther, when we arrived at Beresford Hall. The Fishing-House is situated on a small peninsula, round which the river flows, and was then nearly enveloped with trees. It has been a small, neat stone building, covered with stone slates, or tiles, but is now going fast to decay : the stone steps by which you entered the door are nearly destroyed. It is of a quadrangular form, having a door and two windows in the front, and one larger window on each of the other three sides. The door was secured on the outside by a strong staple ; but the bars and casements of the windows being gone, an easy entrance was ob- tained. The marble floor, as described by White in 1784, had been re- moved : only one of the pedestals upon which the table was formerly placed was standing, and that much deteriorated. On the left side was the fireplace, the mantle-piece and sides of which were in a good state. The chimney and recess for the stove were so exactly on the Rumford plan, that one might have supposed he had lived in the time when it was erected. On the right-hand side of the room is an angular excavation or small cellar, over which the cupboard, or beaufet, formerly stood. The wainscoat of the room is wanting, the ceiling is broken, and part of the stone-tiling admits both light and water. Upon examining the small cellar, we found the other pedestal which supported the marble table, and against the door on the inside, three large fragments of the table itself, which were of the Black Dove-Dale Marble, bevelled on the edges, and had been well polished. The inscription over the door, and the cipher of Walton and Cotton in the key-stone, were very legible." Page 270. As Damcetas says by his man Dorus. See Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, No. 40 in the foregoing list, lib, i. p. 70, of that volume. Browne. Page 271. He was a lovely fish^ and turned up a side like a salmon. There is but little doubt that the author of Guy Mannering had these words in his mind, when he wrote the description of the Salmon-hunt near Charlies-hope ; since he makes one of the characters say, " Come here, Sir ! Come here, Sir ! look at this ane ! look at this ane ! he turns up « side like a Sow." Edit. Edinb. 1815, vol. ii. chap. v. p. 65. THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 347 Page 276. Isabella-Colored. A species of whitish-yellow, or buff-color somewhat soiled. Altieri. The name of this tint is said to have originated in the following circum- stance. The Archduke Albert, who had married the Infanta Isabella, daughter of Philip II., King of Spain, with whom he had the Low Coun- tries in dowry, in the year 1602, having determined to lay siege to Ostend, then in the possession of the Protestants, the Princess, who attended him in his expedition, made a vow, that until it was captured she would never change her garments. It was, however, three years before the city was re- duced ; and in that time the Infanta's linen had acquired tke hue above mentioned. Hawkins, GENERAL INDEX. Abdominal Fishes, explanation of, 307 ; Order of, 308. Action, its connection with Man's happiness, 57 ; Debates on ditto, 327- iElian, C, 63 ; Account of, &c., 313, 331. Air, eulogium on, 45. Albertus Magnus, 89, 180 ; Account of. 334- Aldrovandus, U., in, 134, 173, 183; Account of, &c., 313, 337. Ambrose, St. , his admiration of the Grayling, 135. Amos, Illustration from the Prophet, 57. 67, 327- Amwell Hill, 42, 72, j^. Anglers, eminent modern, 16 ; Ditto ancient, 67 ; Qualities of, 56 ; The Angler's Wish, 70, 124 ; Ditto Song, 103 ; Their peculiar enjoyment of Nature, 21, no. Angling, earliest English work on, 21 ; Paper on, from the Sketch- 1 Book, 24 ; Defence of, 44 ; Praise j of, 55, 56 ; Antiquity of, 56, 326 ; | Allowed to Ecclesiastics, 67 ; Re- marks on, 68, 69 ; With an Arti- ficial Fly, 120; With a Natural Fly, 121, 122, 258; At the Bottom, 257, 298 ; In the Middle, 257, 302 ; With Cadis, 208, 298, 299 ; With a Min- now, 108 ; With a Running-line, 107, 298 ; With a Ledger-bait, 149 ; With a Float, 298 ; By Hand, 296. Ant-Fly, 83, 201, 202 ; Directions for Making, 287, 288. Apostles, four of them Fishermen, 65 ; Comparison of their language, 67. April, Artificial Flies for, 116, 117, 277. Aristotle, 59, 62, 65, 156, 328 ; Ac- count of, 330, Ash Grub, 299, 304. Ashmole, E. , his collection of Natural History, and Portrait of, 60 ; Ac- count of him and his collection, 339. August, Artificial Flies for, 116, a^S. Ausonius, D. M., 62, 191 ; Account of, 330. Authors consulted by Walton, 313. Bacon, Fr., Baron Verulam, refer- ences to, 89, 90, 131, 138, 139, 142, 144, 158. 178, 179. 313, 334. Baker, Sir R. , references to, 155, 313, 340. Bakbel, observations on the, &c., 185 ; Representation of the, 231 ; Season of the, 200 ; Linnaean de- scription of the, 309, Barker, Tho., 22, 117, 313 ; Account of, 337. Bartas, G. de S. Du, references to, 62, 63, 64, 112, 179, 313, 330, 337 ; Account of, 330. Bede, Venerable, his notice of the Island of Ely, 179 ; Account of, 340. Beggars, humorous story of, 126. Beresford Hall, 242, 254. Berners, Jul, her work on Hunting, &c., 21. Birds, various properties of, 46 ; Ene- mies to Fish, jj ; Migrations, 89 ; Breed of, 92. Black Blue Dun-Fly, directions for making, 288. Fly, ditto, 116, 279, 286. Gnat-Fly, ditto, 276, 278. Hackle-Fly, ditto, 287. Bland, Michael, Esq., an advocate for a Monument to Walton, 31. Bleak, particulars of the. 191 ; En- graving of the, 192 ; Linnaean de- scription of the, 310. Blue Dun-Fly, directions for making, 275, 276. Brandling, 106, 175. Bream, observations of the, 163 ; Engraving of the, 164 ; Seasons of the, 168 ; Linnaean description of the, 309. Bright Brown Fly, directions for mak- ing, 376. 350 GENERAL INDEX. Bright Dun Gnat-Fly, ditto, 273. Broderip, W. J., Esq., his various kind assistances to this work, 312. Browne, Rev, M., his praise of Wal- ton. 23. Bull-Head, 210; Account of the, 211 ; Linnsean description of the, 307. Butler, Dr. W. , remark of, 123 ; Ac- count of, 338. Cadis- Worms, account of, 200, 207, 280 ; How to angle with, 207, 298, 300.304. Camden, W., references to, 38, 59, 74, 170, 179, 180, 184, 217, 313. Cardanus, J., Extract from, 150; No- tice of, &c., 313, 340. Carp, docility of, 131 ; Observations of the, &c. , 155 ; Representation of the, 159 ; How to dress the, 162 ; Linnsean description of the, 309. Casaubon, Dr. M., references to, 60, 129, 313, 328. Caterpillar, account of, no. Caussin, N., references to, 228, 313 ; Account of, 344. Chalkhill, J., verses by, 101, 194. Chub, observations on the, 73 ; Rep- resentation of the, 79 ; How to fish for and dress the, 81 ; Linnaean de- scription of the, 309. Confidence in God, incitements to, 232. Conscience, happiness of a good, 228. Contemplation, how connected with man's happiness, 57 ; Debates on ditto, 327. Content, verses in praise of, 197, 229; Incitements to, 233. Coriate, Tho., 249 ; Account of, 345. Cotton, Ch. , various particulars of, 11; Letter of, 12; Poem by, 13; Character of, 16. Covetous men unhappy, 43. Country Scenery, beautiful descrip- tion of, 196. Life, Song in Praise of, loi. Dace, observations on the, 200 ; En- graving of the, 201 ; Linnaean de- scription of the, 310. David, his exceeding gratitude to God, 227. Davison, F. , humorous song by, 127. Davors, J., pastoral song by, 70; His real name, &c., 326. Davy, Sir H., Characteristic Memo- rial to his friend W. H. Pepys, Esq.. 37. December, Artificial Flies for, 289. Dennys, J., his Secrets of Angling, 326. Derbyshire, rivers in, 245. Diodorus Siculus, references to, 197, 313. 341. Donne, Dr. J. , his Portrait, 9 ; Praise of Walton's life of, 9 ; Copy of a Seal given by him to Walton, 32 ; Verses by, 176; Account of, &c., 314. 340. Dove River, account of, 245. Drayton, M., his description of the Salmon-leap, 138, 139 ; Sonnet on the English Rivers, 215 ; Account of. &c., 314, 339. , Dubravius, J. S., references to, 147, j 158, 218, 314 ; Account of, 339. 1 Dun-Flies, no ; Directions for mak- I ing, 116, 275. i Earth, eulogy on, 49 ; Earth-Worms, ! how bred, 106. Eel, observations on the, and how to fish for the, 178 ; How to dress the, 182 ; Linnaean description of the, 307. Elizabeth, Queen, her Laws on the eating Fish, 333. Feathers, a yellow dye for. 283. February, Artificial Flies for, 274, Fish, of extraordinary size, 53, 128, 216; Have the sense of hearing, 131; Linnaean arrangement of, 306. Fish-days, laws for their preservation, 333 Fishhooks, mention of in the Script- tures, 57, 327. Fish-ponds, directions for making, 218. Fishing-house, at Beresford Hall, de- scriptions of, 254, 345. Fletcher, P., Verses by, 197 ; Account of, &c., 314, 341. Flies, Artificial, directions for mak- ing, 115, 117,. 262, 265, 273, 274; Materials for, 118 ; How to discover what are taken, 275 ; How to angle with, 259 ; Natural^ how to angle with, 120 ; Water, observations on, 208. Florio, J. , account of, 402. Flounder, notice of, and bait for the, 183. Floud, R., his verses in praise of Walton, 33. Fly-fishing, remarks on, 12 ; Direc- tions concerning, 117, 258. Frogs, wonderfully sustained, 189; GENERAL INDEX. 351 Their enmity to the Pike, 147 ; How to bait with, 151, 152, 175. Fuhmart, account of the, 323. Gasius, or Gazius, A. , 186 ; Notice of, 341- Gentles, 105, 161, 164, 187, 201 ; How to breed, 203. Gerard, J., 179; Notice of, &c., 314, 341. Gei.ner, C, references to, 62, 65, 74, 87. 134, 139. 144, 154. 158. 163, 173. 179, 180, 186, 211, 314, 339 ; Account of, 330. Grasshopper, 82, 84, 164 ; How sus- tained without a mouth, 89. Grayling, or Umber, obacrvations on the, and how to fish for, 134, 257 ; Engraving of, 135 ; How to dress, 295 ; Linnaean description of the, 309- Green-Drake Fly, account of, 280. Grotius, H., 217; Account of, &c., 314. 344- Ground-Bait for Bream, &c., 166; Angling by hand with, for, 297. Grubs, how to find and preserve, 203, 299 ; How to angle with, 299. Gudgeon, observations on, and how to fish for, 190 ; Linnaean descrip- tion of, 310. Guiniad, notice of the, 184. Guzman, the English, 126 ; Notice of, 338. Gypsies, a party of, humorous story concerning, 125. Hackle-Flies, directions for making, 274. Hair, how to select, 221. Hakewill, Dr. G., references to, 131, 179. 314, 321. 333. 339; Account of, 338. Hampshire, famous for Trout rivers, 130, 239. Hand, Angling by, explained, 296. Harvie or Harvey, Chr. , his verses, 122 ; Account of, 337. H.istings, Sir G., 88, 205 ; Notice of, 334- Hawking, the praise of, 45 ; Hawks, list of, 48, 49 ; Works on, 317, 322. Hawkins, Sir J., his statement con- cerning Walton, 18 ; His first Edi- tion of the Complete Angler, 23. Hawthorn-Fly, 120. Herbert, G. , Portrait of, 9 ; Verses by, 61, 121; Account of, &c. , 314, 329. 337- Heylin, P., his description of Eng- lish Rivers, 214 ; Account of, &c., I 314. 344. Hoddesdon, Thatched-House at, 41. I 72 ; Notice of, 316. Holy Spirit, form of the descent of I the, 48, 322. Hook, directions for baiting, 107, 208, I 212, 282, 296, 300. I HouKer, R., Portrait of, 9. hu.noer River, account of, 215, 346. I Hunting, the praise of, 49 ; Not per- j mitted to Ecclesiastics, 67. j Introductory Essay, 9. Irving, W.,his eulogy on Walton, 24. I Isaac, Hebrew spelling and significa- ' tion of, 315. Isabella-colored, 276 ; Historical ex- j planation of, 347. I January, Artificial Flies for, 373. i Josephus F., references to, 60, 314, ! 328. I Jovius, P., references to, 156, 314; Account of, 340. j July, Artificial Flies for, 117, 287. I June, Artificial Flies for, 117, 286. j Lamprels or Lampreys, 181, 183, Laneare, N., Song composed by, 338. Lawes, H., Song composed by, 341. Laws concerning Fish, 76, 333. Lebault or Liebault, Dr. J., refer- ences to, 218, 219, 314. Lessius, L., references to, 115, 314, 337. Lines, various directions concerning, 221, 260, 296. Linnaean Ai rangement of River Fish, 306. Loach, representation of the, 210 ; Particulars concerning the, 211 ; Linnaean description of the, 308. Lob-worm, 106, 107, 108, 141, 172, 181. London-Bridge, excellent Roach near, 201. Lowth, Dr. R., illustration from, 327, Lucian, Verses prefixed to his Dia- logues, 43 ; Hickes's Translation of, 319- Macrobius, A. , references to, and account of, 53, 324. March, Artificial Flies for, 116, 276. Markham, G., illustrations from, 317, 323, 326. Markland, Abr., account of, 316. Marlow, Chr., Song by, 94, 95; Ac- count of, 334. 352 GENERAL INDEX. Marsh- Worm, i6o, 172. Martial, his Epigram on Fish, 132. Matthiolus, P. A., references to, 212, 314 ; Account of, 343. May, Artificial Flies for, 116, 278. May-Fly, how to make, 120, 201 ; Ac- count of, 121 ; Various titles of the, 280. Meadow-Worm, 160. Medway, notice of the River, 215. Mercator, G., reference to, 87 ; Ac- count of him, 334. Middle, Angling in the, 257, 302. Miller's Thumb, a name of the Bull- Head, 2IO, 211. Minnow, used as a Bait, 85, 105, io8, 141, 17s, 181, 192, 302, 303; Time of catching, and description of the, 108, 211, 310; How to preserve and imitate, 108; Representation of the, 210 ; How to dress, 211 ; Linnaean description of the, 310. Montaigne, M. de, references to, and account of, 43, 314, 320. 331. Moorish-Fly, how to make, 116. Moses, various references to, 48, 51, 52. 53, 57. 66. Moss, for scouring Worms, 107. Mouldwarp, explanation of the name, 323- Moulin. P. Du, references to, and ac- count of, 58, 314, 327. Mullet, how used in Roman Feasts, 85 ; Verses on the, 64 ; Peculiar kind of, 89. Music, to the Angler's Song, 342. Verses in praise of, 341. Nicolas, Sir H., his copious Life of, and Literary Illustrations of Wal- ton, 24, Night-fishing, particulars of, 130. Nightingale, melody of, 47. Notes, Illustrative, 311 ; Character of the, 27, November, Artificial Flies for, 289. Nowel, Dr. Al., Character of. 68, 69; Account of, 332 ; Notice of his Resi- dence, 343. Oak-Fly. directions for making and finding. 120. 121 ; Worm. 106. Obel, M. de L', references to, 179, 315 ; Notice of, 340. October, Flies for, 289. OfRey, J., 10; Original Dedication to. 35. Oils for Baits, remarks on, 142, 152, i6i, 205, 301. loi, aps '• Qrange-Fly* how to make, 287. Orders of Fishes, 306. Otter, great destruction of Fish by the, 42, 73, 76 ; various particulars of the, 7S ; Description of an Otter- hunt, 74, 317 ; Tame ones taught to fish, 75 ; Power of the, to smell under water, 142. Overbury, Sir Tho.. 96, 315; His Milkmaid's character, 335 Owl-Fly, how to make, 286. Palmer, or Pilgrim-Worm, account of, in ; Palmer-Flies, directions for making, 118, 120, 274, 279. Pastes, for Chub, 85 ; For Carp, 160, 161 ; For Bream. 164 ; For Tench, 171 ; For Barbel, 187 ; For Roach, 202. Peacock-Fly, how to make, 279, 287. Pearch, observations on the, 173 ; Representation of the, 175, 310 ; How to fish for, 175 ; Linnasan de- scription of the. 308. Pemble-Mere. a fish peculiar to. 184. Pepys. W. H., the friend of Sir H. Davy, 28 ; His account of Cotton's Fishing-House. 345. Perkins. W., his praise of Angling, 67 ; Account of, 332. Peucerus, G. , 129 ; Account of, 338. Pickerel-Weed, various properties of, 144, 149. Pigeons, various uses of, 47 ; Their long flight for food, 74 ; Names of, 92. Pike, observations on the, 144; In- stances of its voracity, 144, 147, 339; Representation of the, 149; How to fish for, 149. 151 ; Baits for, id., 151 ; How to dress, 153 : Countries of, 154 ; Destroyed by Tadpoles, 157 ; Linnaean description of the, Pike-Pool, Staffordshire, description of, 270. Pinto. F. M.. references to. and ac- count of, 67. 315. 331. Pliny. C. S.. references to, 60, 61, 65. no. 131, 150, 156, 315 ; Account of, 330. Plutarch, references to, 67, 187, 315, 332. Poetry, vide Songs, 13, 17, 18, 33, 43, 61. 62, 63, 64, 70, 71, 77, 94, 121, 122, 123. 124, 132, 139. 155, 176, 197, 205. 214. 215. 229, 231, 270, 320. Powell. Dr. R. , contributor of the Linnaean Arrangement of Fish, 306. Prophets, inspiration of, 58 ; Com- parison of, 66, 67. GENERAL INDEX. 353 Proverbs, various, 41, 43, 'jd, loi, 103, 164, 173, 183, 237. 249, 251. Raleigh. Sir W., Song by, 94, 95, 335. Raven, various particulars of the, 48, 89. Red-Worm, 165, 190, 191. Rich Men, unhappiness of, 224. Ring swallowed by a Salmon, account of, 339. Rivers, the wonders of, 59 ; Accounts of the English, 213, 245. Roach, observations on, 164, 200 ; Inferior breed of, 201 ; Representa- tion of the, 201; How to fish for the, 204, 206 ; Linnsean description of the, 309. Rod, various directions for the, 223, 259. Rome, splendid entertainment of Fish there, 53 ; Rarities of, 54. Rondeletius, Guil, references to, 62, 170, 178, 179, 186, 315 ; Account of, 330- Rosicrucians, allusion to the, 205 ; Notice of the, 343. Royal Society, reference to the transactions of the, 92, 315, 334. Ruddy-Fly, how to make, 116. Ruds, an inferior Roach, 201. Ruffe or Pope, representation of the, &c. , 191 ; Linn^-Ean description of the, 308. Running-line, how to bait the hook of a, 107. Sadler, Mr. R., 42 ; Account of, 318. Sad- Yellow- Fly, how to make, 116. Salmon, observations on the. 137 ; Leap of the, and verses on ditto, 1381 139 ; Age and growth of the, 139 ; Representation of the, 140 ; Seasons of the, 38, 140, 200 ; How to fish for the, 141 ; Varieties of the, 90, 142 ; Linnaean description of the, 308, 309. Salvian, Hipp., references to, 135, 315 ; Account of, 339. Samlet or Skegger-Trout, engrav- ing of the, 88 ; A variation of the ■ Salmon, 143 ; Linnasan description of the, 308 ; A distinct species of fish, 309. Sanderson, Dr. R., Portrait of, 9. Sandys, G. , references to his Travels, 47. 315 I Account of, 321. Sargus, verses on the, 63. Scouring of Worms, directions for, 10$. Sea, discoveries made by means of the, 54 ; Sea-Angler, a Fish so called, 62. Seneca, L. A. , references to, 85, 333. September, Artificial Flies for, 288. Severn River, account of its springy and course, 214. Shaw, Dr. G., his classification of Fishes, 306. Sheldon, Dr. G.,i88; Account of, 341- Shell-Fly, how to make, 116, 288. Sheridan, Hon. R. B., his praise of the Complete Angler, -27. Sidney, Sir P. .references to, 254, 315, 346. Singing Birds, eulogy on, 46. Sketch-book, paper on Angling from the, 24. Snakes, bred by various means, 148. Songs, names and references to old, 95, loi, 334, 335 ; The Milkmaid's, 95. 97' 335t 33^ I Answer to ditto, 96 ; Coridon's Song, loi ; The Beg- gar's ditto, 127 ; The Anglers ditto, 103, 194, 342 ; Kenna's ditto, 338. Sticklkback, representation ot the, 210 ; Descriptions and uses of the, 109. 212, 308. Stone-Fly, no ; Account of the, 380 ; Birth and Description of, 284; How to make, 116, 285. Sussex, Fish peculiar to, 89. Tackle, directions concerning, ao6 ; Ditto for making, 221. Tawny-Fly, how to make, Ii6. Tench, observations on the, 170; Medical virtues of the, 171 ; Repre- sentation of the, 171 ; Linnaean de- scription of the, 309. Thames, River, account of the, 314 ; Verses on, 214 ; Trouts in, 88. Thatched-House, Herts., 41, 72 ; No- tice of, 316. Theobald's House, 41 ; History of, 325- Thorn-tree Fly, how to make, 276. Top, Angling at the, explained, 257. Topsell, Edw., references to, iio, 150, 315, 333. Tottenham High-Cross, 41, 228. Tradescant, J., his Museum, 60 ; Ac- count of, 328. Trent River, account of the, 215, 246. Trout, observations on the, 87 ; Va- rieties of the, 88, 90, 91 ; Seasons of the, 91, 208 ; How to fish for, 99, 115, 130, 297, 302 ; Representation of the, 99 ; Best anglers for the. 354 GENERAL INDEX. 30I ; How to dress, 294 ; Linnaean description of the, 308. Tyne, notice of the River, 215. Tweed, notice of the River, 215. Umber, a name of the Grayling, 134, ^3S< 136. Valdesso, Sign. J., references to his works, account of, 328. Varro. references to, and account of, 47. 53, 321, 324, Ventral fins, orders of fishes taken from the, 306, Violet-Fly, directions for making, 277. Walking-Bait explained, 149. "Waller. Edm., Verses by, 198. Wall-Fly, a bait for a Chub, 83. Walton, Izaak, his literary character, 9. 32; Biographical Sketch of, 18 ; Fac-similes of his writing. 13, 32 ; His Will, 28 ; Character of. by Cot- ton, 240 ; Notes by, 254, 270. ■ Izaak, Jun., 20, 29. 33, 270. Wasps, used as Baits. 164, 179, 204, Wasp)-Fly, how to make, 116, 287. Water, the praise of, 52 ; A medium for sound, 131. - Frogs, nature of, &c., 150, 220. ■ ■ ■ Snake, account of, 148. Wharton, Dr. The, 216 ; Account o^ 324- Whirling-Dun-Fly, how to make, 276, 277. Whitaker, Dr. W. , 68 ; Account of, 332- White-Bait, a distinct species of fish, 309. Willow, experiment with concerning water, 52. Worms, names of.and directions con- cerning, 105, 106, 107, 141, 142, 160, 165, 172. 191, 203, 296, 298, 299. Wotton, Sir H., references to, 10, 69, 70, 192, 229, 230, 315 ; Portrait of, 9 ; Account of, 332. Wye River, notice of, 248. Xenophon, references to, 50, 315, 323. Yarrel. W,, Esq., treatise on tha growth of the Salmon, 339. Yellow Dun-Fly, how to make, 116, 277. Yellow dye for feathers, 282. Zouch, Dr. Tho., his praise of Wal ton, 24. rS 10612 :i-!;!i