Project Canterbury

The Compleat Angler
Or the Contemplative Man's Recreation
by Izaak Walton

CHAPTER 5
More directions how to fish for, and how to make for
the Trout an artificial Minnow and Fly, and
some merriment.

PISC. Well met Brother Peter, I heard you and a friend would lodge here to night, and that hath made me and my friend cast 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 dapping with a Grashopper, and he hath caught a lusty one of nineteen inches long. But, I pray Brother, who is it, that is your companion?

PET. Brother Piscator, my friend is an honest Country-man, and his name is Coridon, a most downright, wittie, and merry companion that met me here purposely to eat a trout, and to be pleasant, and I have not yet wet my Line since I came from home: but I will fit him tomorrow with a trout for his breakfast, if the weather be anything like.

PISC. Nay, brother, you shall not delay him so long, for look you, here is a Trout will fill six reasonable bellies. Come Hostess, dress it presently, and get us what other meat the house will afford, and give us some of your best Barley-wine, the good liquor that our honest Forefathers did use to drink of, which preserved their health, and made them live so long, and to do so many good deeds.

PET. On my word this Trout is in perfect 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 brothers good fortune tomorrow: I will furnish him with a Rod, if you will furnish him with the rest of the Tackling, we will set him up and make him a Fisher.

And I will tell him one thing for his incouragement, that his Fortune hath made 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 withall.

PISC. Trust me, brother Peter, I find my Scholar to be so sutable to my own humour, 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.

VENA. Trust me, good Master, you shall not sow your seed in barren ground, for I hope to return you an increase answerable to your hopes; but however you shall find me obedient, and thankful, and serviceable to my best abilitie.

PISC. ’Tis enough, honest Scholar, come lets to supper. Come my friend Coridon this Trout looks lovely, it was twentie 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 lilly: and yet me thinks it looks better in this good sawce.

COR. Indeed honest friend, it looks well, and tastes well, I thank you for it, and so does my friend Peter, or else he is to blame.

PET. Yes, and so I do, we all thank you, and when we have supt, I will get my friend Coridon to sing you a Song for requital.

COR. I will sing a song, if any body 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, ’Tis merry in Hall, When men sing all.

PISC. I’l promise you I’l 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 careere, 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 Country mans life: What will the rest sing of?

PET. I will promise you, I will sing another song in praise of Angling tomorrow 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 businesse.

VENA. ’Tis 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 merry too.

PISC. ’Tis a match my Masters, lets ev’n 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 fals to Coridon.

COR. Well then, I will begin, for I hate contention.

Coridons Song.

For Courts are full of flattery,
As hath too oft been tri’d;
high trolollie lollie loe, &c.
The City full of wantonnesse,
and both are full of pride:
Then care away, &c.

But oh the honest Country-man
Speaks truely from his heart,
high trolollie lollie loe, &c.
His pride is in his tillage,
his horses, and his cart:
Then care away, &c.

Our cloathing is good sheep skins,
Gray russet for our wives,
high trolollie lollie loe, &c.
’Tis warmth and not gay cloathing
that doth prolong our lives:
Then care away, &c.

The ploughman, though he labor hard,
Yet on the Holy-Day,
high trolollie lollie loe, &c.
No Emperour so merrily
does passe his time away:
Then care away, &c.

To recompence our tillage,
The Heavens afford us showrs;
high trolollie lollie loe, &c.
And for our sweet refreshments
the earth affords us bowers:
Then care away, &c.

The Cuckoe and the Nightingale
Full merily do sing,
high trolollie lollie loe, &c.
And with their pleasant roundelaies
bid welcome to the Spring:
Then care away, &c.

This is not half the happiness
the country man injoyes;
high trolollie lollie loe, &c.
Though others think they have as much,
Yet he that says so lies:
Then come away, turn
Country man with me.

Jo. Chalkhill.

But I will not complement you out of the debt that I owe you, and therefore I will begin my Song, and wish it may be as well liked.

The Anglers Song.

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 Cupids snare:
My Angle breeds me no such care.

Of Recreation there is none
So free as Fishing is alone;
All other pastimes do no lesse
Than mind and body both possesse:
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:
And when none bite, I praise the wise,
Whom, vain allurements ne’re 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 chuse 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.

CON. Well sung brother, you have paid your debt in good coine, we Anglers are all beholding to the good man that made this Song. Come Hostess, give us more Ale, and lets drink to him.

And now lets every one go to bed that we may rise early; but first lets 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 tomorrow night? for my friend Coridon and I will go up the water towards Ware.

PISC. And my Scholar and I will go down towards Waltam.

COR. Then lets 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. ’Tis a match. Good night to every body.

PISC. And so say I.

VENA. And so say I.

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, lets be going.

VENA. 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 opportunity to do it.

The Trout is usually caught with a worm or a Minnow (which some call a Pinke) or with a flie, viz. either a natural or an artificial flie: concerning which three I will give you some observations and directions.

And first for Worms: Of these there be very many sorts, some bred onely in the earth, as the Earth-worm: others of or amongst Plants, as the Dug-worm; and others bred either out of excrements, or in the bodies of living creatures, as in the horns of Sheep or Deer; or some of dead flesh, as the Magot 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 squirel-tayles, (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, compared to a lively, quick, stirring worm: and for a Brandling, he is usually found in an old dunghil, or some very rotten place near to it: but most usually in Cow-dung, or hogs-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 worms which for colour and shape alter even as the ground out of which they are got, as the marsh-worm, the tag-tail, the stag-worm, the dock-worm, the oak-worm, the gilt-tayle, 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 hearbs 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 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 Brandling above an hour in water, and then put them into 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 Mosse, which is to be fresh every three or four dayes in Summer, and every week or eight dayes in Winter: or at least the mosse 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 bignesse, then you may recover him, by putting a little milk or cream (about a spoonful in a day) into them by drops on the mosse; and if there be added to the cream an egge beaten and boiled in it, then it will both fatten, and preserve them long. And note, that when the knot, which is near to the middle of the brandling begins to swell, then he is sick, and, if he be not well look’d to, is near dying. And for mosse, you are to note, that there be divers kinds of it, which I could name to you, but will onely tell you, that that which is likest a Bucks-Horn is the best, except it be white mosse, 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 squeez’d into water, or salt in Water, to make it bitter or salt and then that water poured on the ground, where you shall see worms are used to rise in the night, will make them to appear above ground presently.

And now, I shall shew 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 your hook, (but note that at the entring of your hook it must not be at the head-end of the worm, but at the taile-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 hooks-head of the first worm; you cannot lose above two or three worms before you attain to what I direct you; and having attain’d 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 easily found and caught in March, or in April; for then he appears in the River, but Nature hath 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 Weires to his confusion. And of these Minnows, 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 ’tis 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 2 or 3 inches beyond 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 taile about very neatly with a white thred, which will make it the apter to turn quick in the water: that done pull back that part of your line which was slack when you put your hook into the Minnow the second time: I say pull that part of it back so that it shall fasten the head, so that the body of the Minnow shall be almost streight on your hook; this done, try how it will turn by drawing it cross the water or against the 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 Loch, or a Sticklebag, or any other small fish will serve as well: And you are yet to know, that you may salt, and by that means keep them 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 time, and in some waters a Minnow is not to be got, and therefore let me tell you, I have (which I will shew to you) an artificial Minnow, that will catch a Trout as well as an artificial Flie, 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, shadowed as perfectly as you can imagine, just as you see a Minnow; the belly was wrought also with a needle, and it was a part of it white silk, and another part of it with silver thred, the tail and fins were of a quil, which was shaven thin, the eyes were of two little black beads, and the head was so shadowed, and all of it so curiously wrought, and so exactly dissembled, that it would beguile any sharpe sighted Trout in a swift stream. And this Minnow I will now shew you, and if you like it, lend it you, to have two or three made by it, for they be easily carryed about an Angler, and be of excellent use; for note, that a large Trout will come as fiercely at a Minnow, as the highest mettle Hawk doth seize on a Partridge, or a Greyhound on a Hare. I have been told, that 160 minnows have been found in a Trouts 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 as many sorts of Flies as there be of Fruits: I will name you but some of them, as the dun-flie, the stone-flie, the red-flie, the moor-flie, the tawny-flie, the shell-flie, the cloudy, or blackish-flie, the flag-flie, the vine-flie: 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 my self, 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-flie or worm, that by them you may guesse what a work it were in a Discourse but to run over those very many flies, worms, and little living creatures with which the Sun and Summer adorn and beautifie the River banks and Meadows; both for the recreation and contemplation of us Anglers, and which (I think) my self 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 Colworts or Cabbages: All which kinds of dews being thickned and condensed, are by the Suns generative heat most of them hatch’d, and in three dayes made living creatures; and these of several shapes and colours; 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 sixteen feet, some lesse, and some have none, but (as our Topsel hath with great diligence observed) those which have none, move upon the earth or upon broad leaves, their motion being not unlike to the waves of the sea. Some of them he also observes to be bred of the Eggs of other Caterpillars, and that those in their time turn to be Butter-flyes: and again, that their Eggs turn the following yeer to be Caterpillars. And some affirm, that every plant has his particular flye 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 Peascod, 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 daies, and thrived, and changed the colour two or three times, but by some neglect in the keeper of it, it then dyed and did not turn to a flye: but if it had lived, it had doubtlesse 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 ’tis observable, that as there be these flies of prey which be very large, so there be others very little, created I think onely to feed them, and bred 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.

’Tis endless to tell you what the curious searchers into Natures 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 wandring life and various food; not contenting himself (as others do) with 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 fixt to a particular place.

Nay, the very colour of Caterpillars are, as one has observed, very elegant and beautiful: I shall (for a taste of the rest) describe one of them, which I will sometime the next moneth shew 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 tayl two forked and black, the whole body stain’d with a kind of red spots which run along the neck and shoulder-blade, not unlike the form of Saint Andrew’s Crosse, or the letter X, made thus crosse-wise, and a white line 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 Butter-fly.

Come, come my Scholar, you see the River stops our morning walk, and I will also here stop my discourse, onely as we sit down under this Honey-suckle 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 give,
And to infuse the vertue generative,
By his wise power made many creatures breed
Of lifelesse bodies without Venus deed.

So the cold humor breeds the Salamander,
Who (in effect) like to her births commander,
With child with hundred winters, with her touch
Quencheth the fire though glowing ne’re so much.

So in the fire in burning furnace springs
The Fly Perausta with the flaming wings;
Without the fire it dyes, in it it joyes,
Living in that which all things else destroyes.

So slow Boštes underneath him sees
In th’ Icy Islands goslings hatcht of trees,
Whose fruitful leaves falling into the water,
Are turn’d (’tis known) to living fowls soon after.

So rotten planks of broken ships do change
To Barnacles. O transformation strange!
’Twas first a green tree, then a broken hull,
Lately a mushrome, now a flying Gull.

VENA. O my good Master, this morning walk has been spent 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, wholsome, hungry breakfast, and I will give 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 lets try which can catch the first Fish.

VENA. I thank you, Master, I will observe and practice 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 line, 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 you did the other. So, now we shall be sure to have a good dish of fish for supper.

VENA. 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. And now I have a bite at another: Oh me! he has broke all; there’s half a line and a good hook lost.

VENA. 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 a great commendation by him that composed and preach’d it; and though the borrower of it preach’d it word for word, as it was at first, yet it was utterly disliked as it was preached by the second: which the sermon-borrower complained of to the lender of it, and was thus answered; I lent you indeed my Fiddle, but not my Fiddlestick; for you are to know, that every one cannot make musick 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 labour: and you are to know, that though you have my Fiddle, that is, my very Rod and Tacklings 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, 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 flsh; 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 lets 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 Suns heat.

VENA. All excellent good, and my stomach excellent good too. And I now remember and find that true which devout Lessius sayes, That poor men, and those that fast often, have much more pleasure in eating than rich men and gluttons, that alwayes feed before their stomachs are empty of their last meat, and so rob themselves of that pleasure that hunger brings to poor men. And I do seriously approve of that saying of yours, That you had rather be a civil well-grounded, temperate poor Angler, than a drunken Lord. But I hope there is none such; however 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 flie.

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 your self more engaged to me than indeed you really are, I will freely give you such directions as were lately given to me by an ingenuous brother of the Angle, an honest man, and a most excellent Flie-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 way, that the fittest season of using these is in a blustering windie day, when the waters are so troubled that the natural flie cannot be seen, or rest upon them). The first is the dun-flie in March, the body is made of dun wool, the wings of the Partridges feathers. The second, is another dun-fly, the body of Black wool, and the wings made of the black Drakes feathers, and of the feathers under his taile. The third is the stone-fly in April, the body is made of black wool made yellow under the wings, and under the taile, 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 wooll, and the wings made of the red cocks hackel or tail. The sixth is, the black-fly in May also, the body made of black-wool and lapt about with the herle of a Peacocks 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-flie in June, the body is made of black-wool, with a yellow list on either side, and the wings taken off the wings of a Buzzard, bound with black braked hemp. The eighth is the moorish-fly made with the body of duskish wooll, 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, lapt 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, lapt about with the herle of a Peacocks tail; and the wings made of the wings of the Buzzard. The twelfth is the dark Drake-fly good in August, the body made with black wool, lapt about with black silk; his wings are made with the mail of the black Drake, with 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 Flie-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 yourself 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 your self, 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 colours, these and the May-fly are the ground of all Flie-angling, which are to be thus made.

First, you must arm your hook with the line in the inside of it, then take your Scissers, and cut so much of a brown Malards feather as in your own reason will make the wings of it, you having withal regard to the bignesse or littlenesse 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 hackel of a Cock or Capons neck, or a Plovers top, which is usually better: take off the one side of the feather, and then take the hackel, Silk, or Crewel, Gold or Silver thred, make these fast at the bent of the hook, that is to say, below your arming; then you must take the hackel, the Silver or Gold thred, and work it up to the wings, shifting or still removing your fingers 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 hackel 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-waies 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 proportion, 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 Flie well: and yet I know, this with a little practice will help an ingenuous Angler in a good degree: but to see a Flie made by an Artist in that kind, is the best teaching to make it, and then an ingenuous Angler may walk by the River and mark what Flie fall on the water that day, and catch one of them, if he see the Trouts leap at a flie of that kind, and then having alwaies hooks ready hung with him, and having a bag also, alwaies with him with Bears hair, or the hair of a Brown or Sad-coloured Heifer, hackels of a Cock or Capon, several coloured Silk and Crewel to make the body of the file, the feathers of a Drakes head, black or brown Sheeps wool, or Hogs wool, or hair, thred of Gold and of Silver: Silk of several colours (especially sad coloured to make the flies head:) and there be also other coloured feathers both of little birds and of peckled foul. I say, having those with him in a bag, and trying to make a flie, though he miss at first, yet shall he at last hit it better, even to such a perfection as none can well teach him; and if he hit to make his Flie 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.

VENA. 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, 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 smoaking showre, 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 flie-fishing for a Trout.

But first for the wind, you are to take notice, that of the winds the Southwind is said to be best. One observes, That

––When the wind is South,
It blowes your bait into a fishes 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) 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 extream 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 colour; so I have observed that if it be a cloudy day, and not extream cold, let the Wind sit in what corner it will, and do its worst. And yet take this for a rule, that I would willingly fish standing on the Lee-shore: and you are to take notice, that the fish lies or swimmes nearer the bottom, and in deeper water in Winter than in Summer; and also nearer the bottom in any cold day, and then gets nearest the low-side of the water.

But I promised to tell you more of the Flie-fishing for a Trout, which I may have time enough to do; for you see it rains May-butter: First for a May-flie, you may make his body with greenish coloured Crewel, or Willowish colour; darkning it in most places with waxed Silk, or rib’d black hair, or some of them rib’d with silver thred; and such Wings for the colour as you see the file to have at that season; nay, at that very day on the water. Or you may make the Oak-flie with an Orange-tawny and black ground, and the brown of a Mallards feather for the Wings; and you are to know, that these two are most excellent flies, that is, the May-flie and the Oak-flie. And let me again tell you, that you keep as far from the water as you can possibly, whether you fish with a flie or worm; and fish down the stream; and when you fish with a flie, if it be possible, let no part of your line touch the water, but your fiie only; and be still moving your fiie upon the water, or casting it into the water, you your self being also alwayes moving down the stream. Mr. Barker commends several sorts of the Palmer flies, not onely those rib’d with silver and gold, but others that have their bodies all made of black, or some with red, and a red hackel; you may also make the Hawthorn-flie, which is all black, and not big, but very small, the smaller the better; or the Oak-flie, the body of which is Orange-colour and black Crewel, with a brown Wing; or a Flie made with a Peacocks feather, is excellent in a bright day: You must be sure you want not in your Magazine-bag the Peacocks feather, and grounds of such wool and Crewel as will make the Grashopper: and note that usually the smallest flies are best: and note also, that the light flie does usually make most sport in a dark day; and the darkest and least flie 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 flie is excellent, and affords much pleasure; they may be found thus, the May-flie usually in and about that moneth near to the River side, especially against rain; the Oat-flye on the butt or body of an Oak or Ash from the beginning of May to the end of August; it is a brownish flie, and easie to be so found, and stands usually with his head downward, that is to say, towards the root of the tree: the small black fiie, or Hawthorn-flie, is to be had on any Hawthorn bush after the leaves be come forth; with these and a short Line (as I shewed to Angle for a Chub) you may dape or dop, and also with a Grashopper behind a tree, or in any deep hole, still making it to move on the top of the water, as if it were alive, and still keeping your self 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.

And now, Scholar, my direction for Flie-fishing is ended with this showre, 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 sayes of such dayes 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 other brace of Trouts.

Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright,
The bridal of the earth and skie,
Sweet dews shall weep thy fall to night,
for thou must die.

Sweet Rose, whose hew, angry and brave,
Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye,
Thy root is ever in its grave,
and thou must dye.

Sweet Spring, full of sweet dayes and roses,
A box where sweets compacted lye;
My Musick shewes you have your closes,
and all must dye.

Only a sweet and virtuous soul,
Like seasoned Timber never gives,
But when the whole world turns to cole,
then chiefly lives.

VENA. I thank you, good Master, for your good direction for Flie-fishing, and for the sweet injoyment 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. Herberts Verses, which I have heard loved Angling; and I do the rather believe it, because he had a spirit suitable to Anglers, 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. Herberts 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 prayes
In’s heart, what with his mouth he sayes.

They that in private by themselves alone
Do pray, may take
What liberty they please,
In chusing of the wayes
Wherein to make
Their souls most intimate affections known
To him that sees in secret, when
Th’ are most conceal’d from other men.

But he, that unto others leads the way
In publick 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; nor doubt they were betray’d
To blaspheme, when they should have pray’d.

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 Churches words, as well
As sense, of all prayers bears the bell.

Ch. Harvie.

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 rejoyce, as you know we have done this last hour, and sate as quietly and as free from cares under this Sycamore, as Virgills Tityrus and his Meliboeas 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 possesse ourselves in as much quietnesse 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; Doubtlesse God could have made a better berry, but doubtlesse God never did: And so (if I might be Judge) God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than Angling.

Ile tell you Schollar, when I sate last on this Primrose-bank, and look’d down these Meadows; I thought of them as Charles the Emperour did of the City of Florence: That they were too pleasant to be look’d on, but onely on Holy-Dayes: as I then sate on this very grass, I turn’d my present thoughts into verse: ’Twas a wish which Ile repeat to you.

The Anglers Wish.

I in these flowery Meades wo’d be:
These Christal streams should solace me;
To whose harmonious bubling noise,
I with my Angle wo’d 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 kisse these flowers,
And then washt off by April-showers:
Here hear my Clora sing a song,
There see a Black-bird feed her young,
Or a Leverock build her nest;
Here give my weary spirits rest,
And raise my low pitcht thoughts above
Earth, or what poor mortals love:
    Thus free from Law-suits, and the noise
    Of Princes Courts I wo’d rejoyce.

Or with my Bryan, and a book,
Loyter long dayes near Shawford-brook;
There sit by him, and eat my meat,
There see the Sun both rise and set:
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 honysuckle-hedge (one that will prove worth your acquaintance). I sate 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 sate a gang of Gypsies, and near to them sate a gang of Beggars. The Gypsies were then to divide all the money that had been got that week, either by stealing linen or poultrie, or by Fortune-telling or Legerdemain, or, indeed by any other sleights and secrets belonging 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 remaining twenty shillings, that was to be divided unto four Gentlemen Gypsies, according to their several degrees in their Common-wealth.

And the first or chiefest Gypsie, was to have a third part of the twenty shillings, which all men know is 6s. 8d.

The second was to have a fourth part of the 20s. which all men know to be 5s.

The third was to have a fifth part of the 20s. which all men know to be 4s.

The fourth and last Gipsie was to have a sixth part of the 20s. which all men know to be 35. 4d.

As for example,

3 times 6s. 8d. is ... 20s.

And so is 4 times 5s. ... 20s.

And so is 5 times 4s. ... 20s.

And so is 6 times 3s. 4d. ... 20s.

And yet he that divided the money was so very a Gipsie, that though he gave to every one these said sums, yet he kept one shilling of it for himself.

As for example, s. d.

6 8

5 0

4 0

3 4

make but .. 19 0

But now you shall know, that when the four Gipsies saw he had got one shilling by dividing the money, though not one of them knew why to demand more, yet like Lords and Courtiers every Gipsie envied him that was the gainer, and wrangled with him, and every one said the remaining shilling belonged to him: and so they fell to so high a contest about it, as none that knowes the faithfulness of one Gipsie to another, will easily believe; only we that have lived this last twenty years, are certain that money has been able to do much mischief. However the Gipsies were too wise to go to Law, and did therefore chuse their choice friends Rook and Shark, and our late English Gusman, to be their Arbitrators and Umpire; and so they left this Honey-suede hedg, 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 denyed by asking her, If doing and undoing were all one? then another said, ’Twas easiest to unrip a cloak, for that was to let it alone. But she was answered, by asking her, how she unript it, if she let it alone? And she confest her self mistaken. These and twenty such like questions were proposed, and answered with as much beggarly Logick and earnestnesse, as was ever heard to proceed from the mouth of the most pertinacious Schismatick; and sometimes all the Beggars (whose number was neither more nor lesse than the Poets nine Muses) talk’d all together about this ripping and unripping, and none heard what the other said; but at last one beggar crav’d audience, and told them, that old father Claus, whom Ben Johnson in his Beggars Bush created King of their Corporation, was that night to lodge at an Ale-house (called Catch-her-by-the-way,) not far from Waltam-Crosse, and in the high-rode towards London; and he desired them to spend no more time about that and such like questions, but refer all to Father Claus at night, 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 Franck Davisons Song, which he made forty years ago, and all the others of the company joined to sing the burthen with her: the Ditty was this, but first the burthen.

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:
Play beggars play, play beggars play,
Here’s scraps enough to serve to day.

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.

VENA. I thank you good Master, for this piece of merriment, and this Song, which was well humoured by the Maker, and well remembred by you.

PISC. But I pray forget not the Ketch which you promised to make against night; for our Country-man, honest Coridon, will expect your Ketch and my Song, which I must be forced to patch up; for it is so long since I learnt it, that I have forgot 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.

VENA. Oh me, look you Master, a fish a fish, oh las Master, I have lost her.

PISC. I marry Sir, that was a good fish indeed: if I had had the luck to have taken up that Rod, then ’tis twenty to one, he should not have broke my line by running to the rods end as you suffered him: I would have held him within the bent of my Rod (unlesse 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 now to be seen at mine Hoste Rickabies 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 alwayes 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 fish.

VENA. 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 Countrey 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 incline them to that belief. And whether this were a Salmon when he came into the fresh water, and his not returning into the Sea hath altered him to another colour 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, colour, and spots, and yet many think he is not.

VENA. 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, 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, lets go to my Rod. Look you Scholar, I have a fish too, but it proves a logger-headed Chub, and this is not much amiss, for this will pleasure some poor body, as we go to our lodging 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 ev’n retire to the Sycamore-tree, and there I will give you more directions concerning Fishing: For I would fain make you an Artist.

VENA. Yes, good Master, I pray let it be so.

PISC. Well Scholar, now we are sate down and are at ease, I shall tell you a little more of trout-fishing, because I speak of 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 skie, these he hunts after, if he sees the water but wrinckle, 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 subtil 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 timerous hare does in her form: for the chief feeding of either is seldome 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 little 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-colour: nay, he will sometimes rise at a dead Mouse, or a piece of cloth, or any thing 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 pleasures, that such dayes as these, that we two now enjoy, afford an Angler.

And you are to know, that in Hampshire, which I think exceeds all England for swift, shallow, clear, pleasant Brooks, and store of Trouts, they use to catch Trouts in the night, by the light of a Torch or straw, which when they have discovered, they strike with a Trout-speer or other wayes. This kind of way they catch very many, but I would not believe it till I was an eye-witness of it, nor do I like it now I have seen it.

VENA. 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 furlongs 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 Medium 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 Eeles unbed themselves, and stir at the noise of the Thunder, and not onely, as some think, by the motion or the stirring of the earth, Which is occasioned by that Thunder.

And this reason of Sir Francis Bacon (Exper. 792.) has made me crave pardon of one that I laught 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 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 out learned Doctor Hackwell, who (in his Apology of God’s Power and Providence, f. 360) quotes Pliny to report that one of the Emperors had particular Fishponds, and in them several Fish, that appeared and came when they were called by their particular names; and St. James tells us (chap. 1. and 7) that all things in the Sea have been tamed by Mankind. And Pliny tells us (lib. 9. 35) that Antonia the Wife of Drusus had a Lamprey, at whose gils she hung Jewels or Ear-rings; 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. 4 epigr. 30.), who writes thus:

Piscator, fuge, ne nocens, &c.

Angler! Would’st 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 worlds 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 Lemster, a Town in Herefordshire, are observed that they 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 courser 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 believe that I am certain, if I catch a Trout in one Meadow, he shall be white and faint, and very like to be lowsie; 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 enamell’d colour of him hath been such, as hath joyed me to look on him; and I have with much pleasure concluded with Solomon, Everything is beautiful in his season.

I should by promise speak next of the Salmon, but I will by your favour 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 the next shall be of the Salmon.

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