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THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
THE
COMPLETE ANGLER
BY
IZAAC WALTON AND CHARLES COTTON.
BV
G. CHRISTOPHER DAVIES,
AUTHOR OF "THE SWAN AND HER CREW," "WILDCAT TOWER," ETC.
LONDON :
FREDERICK WARNE AND CO.
AND NEW YORK.
PREFACE.
HE popularity of " The Complete Angler," written by Izaac Walton and Charles Cotton, is so deservedly great, that no excuse is necessary for its introduction into the series known as " The Favourite Library " and " The Chandos Classics," notwithstanding the great number of editions through which it has already passed. Indeed, no set of English classics would be com- plete without it.
As the present edition will, from the lowness of its price, have a wide circulation among all classes, the encumbrance of notes seems to be necessary both to explain the allusions in the text, and to prevent the promulgation of erroneous notions concerning Natural History, for Walton was some- times mistaken in his beliefs. Furthermore, in order to make the book as useful and comprehensive as possible, the Editor has thought it well to add concise and practical directions with respect to the modern art of angling, wherein will be found the results of his own experience, and a digest
055
vi PREFACE.
of the experiences of others. Much has been written about the art of angling, but generally that which has been of high value has also been high priced. The Editor hopes that this book, though low priced, will not be made of less value by the insertion of the angling directions. Angling is now one of the fine arts (it is a very fine art indeed), and in every new fishing book the Editor has read he finds some new idea or valuable wrinkle. As long as this is the case, there cannot be too many new angling books written.
Notes at the foot of the page are a horrible nuisance, distracting the attention of the reader to the greatest degree. It therefore seemed better to lump them together at the end of each chapter in the shape of an appendix, and the reader can please himself whether he refers to them or not. If he only desires to read the prose-poetry of the text, he can skip the chapters in smaller type ; and if he turns to the book for practical directions, he can look at the appendices only. The arrangement, therefore, is this ; A chapter of the text, and then an appendix containing, first, ^^Historical Notes^' chiefly from Hawkins, and referred to by the smaller letters in the text ; secondly, " General Notes " by the Editor, referred to by numerals ; and third, a "Practical Essay " by the Editor.
The majority of the woodcuts are from Major's beautiful edition ; to these are added modern cuts illustrative of fish- ing-tackle, etc.
With a sense of the honour done to him by the Publishers when they requested him to prepare this edition, and an equal sense of his own deficiencies for the task, the Editor lays down his pen, and, turning round to the fire, sees in the red-hot coals pictures of many a happy fishing day long since past, while outside the autumn winds blow hard, and
PREFACE. vii
the rain beats against his study window. And there are pleasant days to come, God willing : the salmon are rushing up the rivers fast as the spates are sweeping down ; the weeds are rotting, and the pike are gathering in the deep holes ; the trout are preparing to double their numbers ; and work must and shall stand aside, for some days at least, of the next seasons.
To all to whom these presents shall come the Editor sends an angler's greeting.
2 Jesmond Gardens, Newcastle-on-Tyne.
CONTENTS.
editor's preface ......
life of izaac walton .....
THE SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF THE "COMPLETE ANGLER'' THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY, BY WALTON . WALTON TO THE READER ..... COMMENDATORY VERSES . . . , .
PART I.
V
I
13
16 18 23
iFirst Dag.
CHAPTER I.
A DIALOGUE BETWEEN PISCATOR (AN ANGLER), VENATOR (A
HUNTER), AND AUCEPS (A FALCONER) . . .33
.Scconli Oag. CHAPTER II.
OF THE OTTER, OTTER-HUNTING, AND OBSERVATIONS ABOUT
THE HABITS OF THE CHUB . . . . . ZZ
STfjirU Bag. CHAPTER III.
HOW TO FISH FOR AND COOK THE CHAVENDER OR CHUB . IIO
CHAPTER IV.
OBSERVATIONS OF THE NATURE AND BEEEDING OF THE TROUT,
AND HOW TO FISH FOR HIM ; AND THE MILKMAID'S SONG I20
CHAPTER V.
MORE DIRECTIONS HOW TO FISH FOR, AND HOW TO MAKE FOR THE TROUT AN ARTIFICIAL MINNOW AND FLIES; WITH SOME MERRIMENT . . . . • • .145
CONTENTS,
JTourtfi ©ag.
Page
CHAPTER VI.
OBSERVATIONS OF THE UMBER OR GRAYLING ; AND DIRECTIONS
HOW TO FISH FOR HIM . . . . .189
CHAPTER VII.
OBSERVATIONS OF THE SALMON ; WITH DIRECTIONS HOW TO FISH
FOR HIM . . . . . . .194
CHAPTER VIII.
OBSERVATIONS OF THE LUCE OR PIKE ; WITH DIRECTIONS HOW
TO FISH FOR HIM ...... 2IO
CHAPTER IX.
OBSERVATIONS OF THE CARP ; WITH DIRECTIONS HOW TO FISH
FOR HIM , . . . . . .243
CHAPTER X. OBSERVATIONS OF THE BREAM; AND DIRECTIONS TO CATCH HIM 256
CHAPTER XL OBSERVATIONS OF THE TENCH ; AND ADVICE HOW TO ANGLE
FOR HIM ....... 266
CHAPTER XII.
OBSERVATIONS OF THE PERCH ; AND DIRECTIONS HOW TO FISH
FOR HIM . . . . . . .271
CHAPTER XIII. OBSERVATIONS OF THE EEL, AND OTHER FISH THAT WANT
scal::s ; and how to fish for them . . .278
CHAPTER XIV. observations of the BARBEL ; AND DIRECTIONS HOW TO FISH
for him . . . . . . .291
CHAPTER XV.
OBSERVATIONS OF THE GUDGEON, THE RUFFE, AND THE BLEAK ;
AND HOW TO FISH FOR THEM .... 299
CHAPTER XVI. IS OF NOTHING, OR THAT WHICH IS NOTHING WORTH . 304
iFiftfj {last) Bag. CHAPTER XVII.
OF ROACH AND DACE, AND HOW TO FISH FOR THEM ; AND OF
CADDIS . ,313
CONTENTS. xi
CHAPTER XVIII. ^''*^''
OF THE MINNOW OR PENK, OF THE LOACH, AND OF THE BULL- HEAD OR miller's thumb . . . . .329
CHAPTER XIX. OF SEVERAL RIVERS; AND SOME OBSERVATIONS OF FISH . 335
CHAPTER XX. OF FISH-PONDS, AND HOW TO ORDER THEM . . . 341
CHAPTER XXI. DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING OF A LINE, AND FOR THE COLOURING
OF BOTH ROD AND LINE . . . . .345
NOTE. — Each Chapter has an Editorial Appendix,
PART II.
BEING INSTRUCTIONS HOW TO ANGLE FOR A TROUT OR GRAYLING IN A CLEAR STREAM.
THE LIFE OF CHARLES COTTON . . , r .363
JFtrst Sag.
CHAPTER I. A DIALOGUE BETWEEN PISCATOR JUNIOR AND VIATOR. . 379
CHAPTER II. DITTO . . . . . . . .388
CHAPTER III. DITTO . . . . . . ,398
^ecouti Bag.
CHAPTER IV. angling at the "top," at the "middle," and at the "bottom" . . . . . . .403
CHAPTER V. OF FLY-FISHING AND FLY MAKING . . . .405
CHAPTER VI. A PRACTICAL LESSON ON FLY-FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAY- LING . . . . . . . .413
Xli CONTENTS.
Page
CHAPTER VII.
LISTS OF ARTIFICIAL FLIES FOR THE MONTHS OF JANUARY, FEBRUARY, MARCH, APRIL, AND MAY; SHOWING ALSO HOW TO DIB OR DAPE WITH THE GREEN DRAKE OR MAY- FLY, AND HOW TO MAKE THAT FAMOUS FLY ARTIFICIALLY . . 42I
CHAPTER VIII.
OF THE STONE-FLY ; ALSO A LIST OF FLIES FOR JUNE, JULY, AUGUST, SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER, NOVEMBER, AND DECEM- BER; WITH SOME GOOD REMARKS ON THE GREEN DRAKE AND STONE-FLY, AND ON POACHING . . . .435
^irU {last) Bag.
CHAPTER IX.
A SHORT DIALOGUE, AND A LAPSE IN ANGLING ON THE PART
OF PISCATOR; VIATOR FISHES SUCCESSFULLY BY HIMSELF 444
CHAPTER X. SHOWING HOW TROUT AND GRAYLING ARE BEST COOKED . 446
CHAPTER XI. TEACHES THE ART OF ANGLING AT THE BOTTOM WITH WORMS,
GRUBS, AND CADDIS ...... 449
CHAPTER XII.
CONTAINS DIRECTIONS TOUCHING ANGLING AT THE MIDDLE WITH A MINNOW FOR TROUT, AND WITH A WORM, GRUB, OR CADDIS FOR A GRAYLING. FAREWELL BETWEEN PISCATOR JUNIOR AND VIATOR ...... 456
APPENDIX THE LAST . , . . . 0461
LIFE OF IZAAC WALTON.
|ZAAC WALTON was born at Stafford, on the Ninth of August, 1593. We are in absolute ignorance of how and where he passed his youth ; but we feel sure that it was a simple, manly, and godly youth. The early years of it would pro- bably be spent at Stafford, where, too, he may have imbibed that love of angling which stayed with him in late years, and gave rise to the most beautiful English pastoral of its kind. We can only imagine the journey of the youth to London town to work his way in the world ; but in the year 1643 we find him settled in London, and following the trade of a sempster. He had a shop in the Royal Bourse, on Cornhill. Sir John Hawkins says : " In this situation he
THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
could scarcely be said to have elbow-room, for the shops over the Bourse were but seven feet and a half long and five wide ; yet here did he carry on his trade till some time before the year 1624, when he dwelt on the north side of Fleet Street, in a house two doors west of the end of Chancery Lane . . . and in this house he is, in the deed above referred to, said to have followed the trade of a Hnendraper. It further appears by that deed that the house was in the joint occupation of Izaac Walton, and John Mason, hosier, from whence we may conclude that half a shop was sufficient for the business of Walton ! "
We would rather conclude, however, that he was a whole- sale merchant, and that the small shop was in reality an office, where it is possible that he and Mason may have been in partnership.
He afterwards moved to a house in Chancery Lane, a few doors higher up on the left hand than the former.
Walton was married twice. His first marriage was to Rachel Floud, a descendant of Archbishop Cranmer, at Canterbury, in the month of December, 1626. He had seven children by this marriage ; but they all died young, and his wife died in 1640. He was married again, about the year 1646, to Anne, the daughter of Mr. Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath and Wells, one of the seven that were sent to the Tower, and who at the Revolution was deprived and died in retirement. Walton seems to have been as happy in the married state as the society and friendship of a prudent and pious woman of great endowments could make him.
At the age of fifty he retired from business, upon a very moderate fortune, which was, however, amply sufficient for his simple needs. He left London, "judging it dangerous
LIFE OF JZAAC WALTON.
for honest men to be there," and lived sometimes at his native town, "but mostly in the families of the eminent clergymen of England, of whom he was much beloved."
Angling was, of course, his recreation at all convenient times, and he appears to have chiefly fished in the river Lea.
In the year 1662 his wife died, and was buried at Wor- cester.
Living while in London in the parish of St. Dunstan's in the West, of which Dr. John Donne, Dean of St. Paul's, was vicar, he became a frequent hearer of that excellent preacher, and at length, as he himself says in some verses at the end of his Life of Dr. Donne, his convert. Upon his decease in 163 1, Sir Henry Wotton (of whom more here- after) requested Walton to collect materials for a Life of the doctor, which, it seems. Sir Henry had undertaken to write; but Sir Henry dying before he had completed the Life, Walton undertook it himself, and in the year 1640 printed and published it, with a collection of the doctor's sermons, in folio. As soon as the book came out, a complete copy was sent as a present to Walton by Mr. John Donne, the doctor's son, afterwards doctor of laws, and one of the blank leaves contained his letter to Mr. Walton. The letter is yet extant and in print, and is a handsome and grateful acknowledgment of the honour done to the memory of his father.
Dr. King, afterwards Bishop of Chichester, in a letter to Walton, thus expresses himself concerning this Life : *' I am glad that the general demonstration of his (Dr. Donne's) worth was so fairly preserved and represented to the world by your pen, in the history of his life ; indeed so well, that, besides others, Mr. John Hales, of Eaton, affirmed to me he
1 — 2
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
had not seen a Life written with more advantage to the sub- ject, or reputation to the writer, than that of Dr. Donne."
Sir Henry Wotton dying in 1639, Walton was importuned by Bishop King to undertake the writing his Life also, which Walton accordingly did.
Before Walton's time the literature of angling had been very scanty. In the year 1653, when he was sixty, Walton published his " Complete Angler." It at once attained a wide popularity, reaching a second edition in 1655, a third in 1664, a fourth in 1668, and a fifth (the last in the author's life) in 1676. Each edition was improved and altered from its predecessor : in the second edition a new interlocutor, AticepSy was introduced ; the third and fourth editions had several entire new chapters ; and the fifth contains no less than eight chapters more than the first, and twenty pages more than the fourth.
When the fifth edition was being prepared, his friend and adopted son, Charles Cotton, wrote a second part in pursu- ance of a prior arrangement between Walton and himself. This second part being approved of by Walton, was added to the book, and they came out together. Mr. Cotton's book had the title of the " Complete Angler ; being Instruction how to Angle for a Trout or Grayling in a Clear Stream " (Part II.), and it has ever since been received as a second part of Walton's book. In the title-page is a cypher which Cotton had caused to be cut on stone and set up over the door of a small fishing-box that he had erected near his dwelling on the bank of the Dove.
Two years after the Restoration Walton wrote the Life of Mr. Richard Hooker, author of the "Ecclesiastical Polity;" he was enjoined to undertake this work by his friend Dr.
I
LIFE OF IZAAC WALTON. 5
Gilbert Sheldon, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, who by the way was an angler. Walton also wrote the Life of George Herbert ; it was first published in duodecimo in 1670. Walton nevertheless professes himself to have been a stranger to the person of Herbert.
Two of these Lives, viz., those of Hooker and Herbert, we are told, were written under the roof of Walton's good friend and patron Dr. George Morley, Bishop of Winchester. In the year 1670 these Lives were collected and published in octavo, with a dedication to Dr. Morley, and a preface containing the motives for writing them.
A book which had been published by Col. Robert Venables some years before, called the " Experienced Angler ; or. Angling Improved," was sometimes bound up with Walton's and Cotton's books, and the three were sold under the title of the " Universal Angler." It has a preface signed I. W., undoubtedly of Walton's writing.
In his eighty-third year Walton wrote the Life of Dr. Robert Sanderson, Bishop of Lincoln, which was published together with several of the bishop's pieces and a sermon of Hooker's in octavo, 1677.
Walton was a Royalist and a friend of Royalists, as appears by the following quotation taken from Ashmole's " History of the Order of the Garter," page 228 : " Nor will it be unfitly here remembered by what good fortune the present sovereign's lesser George^ set with fair diamonds, was preserved, after the defeat given to the Scotch forces at Worcester, ann. 4 Car. II. Among the rest of his attendants then dispersed. Colonel Blogue was one, who, taking shelter at Blore-pipe House in Staffordshire, where one Mr. George Barlow then dwelt, delivered his wife this
6 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
George to secure. Within a week after Mr. Barlow himself carried it to Robert Milward, Esq., he being then a prisoner to the Parliament in the garrison of Stafford ; and by his means was it happily preserved and restored, for not long after he delivered it to Mr. Izaak Walton (a man well known and as well beloved of all good men, and will be better known to posterity by his ingenious pen, in the Lives of Dr. Donne, Sir Henry Wotton, Mr. Richard Hooker, and Mr. George Herbert), to be given to Colonel Blogue, then a prisoner in the Tower ; who, considering it had already past so many dangers, was persuaded it could yet secure one hazardous attempt of his own ; and thereupon leaving the Tower, without leave-taking, hasted the presentation of it to the present sovereign's hand."
Besides the works of Walton above mentioned, there are extant of his writing verses on the death of Dr. Donne, beginning " Our Donne is dead ; " verses to his reverend friend the author of the " Synagogue," printed together with Herbert's "Temple ;" verses before Alexander Browne's poems, octavo, 1646, and before Shirley's poems, octavo, 1646, and before Cartwright's plays and poems, 8vo., 165 1.
In 1683, when he was ninety years old, Walton published " Thealma and Clearchus, a pastoral history in smooth and easy verse," by John Chalkhill, Esq., an acquaintance and friend of Edmund Spenser, and to this poem he wrote a preface containing a very amiable character of the author. He lived but a very little time after the publication of this poem, for he ended his days on the 15th day of December, 1683, in the great frost at Winchester, in the house of Dr. William Hawkins, a prebendary of the church there, where he lies buried.
LIFE OF IZAAC WALTON,
In the cathedral of Winchester, in a chapel in the south aisle, called Prior Silksteed's Chapel, on a large black flat marble stone, is this inscription to his memory ;
HERE RESTETH THE BODY OF
Mr. IZAAC WALTON
WHO DYED THE 15TH OF DECEMBER
1683
ALAS ! HE'S GONE BEFORE GONE TO RETURN NO MORE OUR PANTING HEARTS ASPIRE AFTER THEIR AGED SIRE WHOSE WELL-SPENT LIFE DID LA?T FULL NINETY YEARS AND PAST BUT NOW HE HATH BEGUN THAT WHICH WILL NE'ER BE DONE CROWNED WITH ETERNAL BLISS WE WISH OUR SOULS WITH HIS
VOTIS MODESTIS SIC FLiiRUNT LIBER I
The issue of Walton's marriage were a son named Izaac
and a daughter named Anne.
The foregoing Life is chiefly founded on that written by Hawkins.
WALTON'S WILL.
August the Nijith^ One Thousand Six Hundred Eighty-three,
In t{)e Name of ffioti, Amen. I, Izaak Walton, the elder, of Winchester, being this present day in the ninetyeth year of my age, and in perfect memory, for which praised be God ; but considering how suddainly I may be deprived of both, do therefore make this my last will and testament as followeth : And first, I do declare my belief to be, that there is only one God, who hath made the whole world, and me and all mankind ; to whom I shall give an account of all my actions, which are not to be justified, but I hope to be pardoned, for the merits of my Saviour Jesus. And because the profession of Christianity does, at this time, seem to be sub- divided into Papist and Protestante, I take it at least to be con- venient to declare my belief to be, in all points of faith, as the Church of England now professeth ; and this I do the rather be- cause of a very long and very true friendship with some of the Roman Church. And for my worldly estate (which I have neither got by falsehood or flattery, or the extreme cruelty of the law of this nation), I do hereby give and bequeath it as followeth : First, I give my son-in-law. Doctor Hawkins, and to his wife, to them I give all my title and right of or in a part of a house and shop in Paternoster Row, in London^ which I hold by lease from the Lord
8
WALTON'S WILL.
Bishop of London for about fifty years to come. And I do also give to them all my right and title of or to a house in Chancery Lane, London, wherein Mrs. Greenwood now dwelleth, in which is now about sixteen years to come. I give these two leases to them, they saving my executor from all damage concerning the same. And I give to my son Izaak all my right and title of a lease of Norington Farme, which I hold from the Lord Bishop of Win- ton : And I do also give him all my right and title to a farme or land near to Stafford, which I bought of Mr. Walter Noell ; I say, I give it to him and his heirs for ever; but upon the condition following, namely : if my son shall not marry before he shall be of the age of forty and one years, or, being married, shall die before the said age, and leave no son to inherit the said farme or land, or if his son or sons shall not live to attain the age of twenty and one years, to dispose otherwise of it, then I give the said farme or land to the towne or corporation of Stafford, in which I was borne, for the good and benefit of some of the said towne, as I shall direct, and as followeth (but first note, that it is at this present time rented for twenty-one pounds ten shillings a year, and is like to hold the said rent, if care be taken to keep the bam and housing in repair). And I would have and do give ten pound of the said rent to bind out yearly two boys, the sons of honest and poor parents, to be apprentices to some tradesmen or handycraftsmen, to the intent the said boys may the better afterward get their own living. And I do also give five pound yearly out of the said rent, to be given to some maid-servant that hath attained the age of twenty and one years, not less, and dwelt long in one service, or to some honest poor man's daughter that hath attained to that age, to be paid to her at or on the day of her marriage. And this being done, my will is, that what rent shall remain of the said farme or land, shall be disposed of as followeth : First, I do give twenty shillings yearly, to be spent by the Maior of Stafford, and those that shall collect the said rent and dispose of it as I have and shall here- after direct ; and that what money or rent shall remain undisposed of, shall be imployed to buy coals for some poor people, that shall
lO THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
most need them, in the said towne ; the said coals to be delivered the first weeke in January, or in every first weeke in February : J say then^ because I take that time to be the hardest and most pinching times with poor people ; and God reward those that shall do this without partiality, and with honesty and a good conscience. And if the said maior and others of the said towne of Stafford shall prove so negligent, or dishonest, as not to imploy the rent by me given as intended and exprest in this my will, which God forbid, then I give the said rents and profits of the said farme or land to the towne and chief magistrates or governors of Ecleshall, to be disposed of by them in such a manner as I have ordered the dis- posal of it by the towne of Stafford, the said farme or land being near the towne of Ecleshall. And I give to my son-in-law. Dr. Hawkins, whom I love as my own son ; and to my daughter, his wife ; and my son Izaak ; to each of them a ring, with these words
or motto: "Love my memory. I. W., obiit .f to the Lord
Bishop of Winton a ring, with this motto : "A mite for a million.
I. W., obiit . ;" and to his friends hereafter named, I give to
each of them a ring, with this motto : "A friend's farewell. I. W.,
obiit ." And my will is, the said rings be delivered within
forty days after my death ; and that the price and value of all the said rings shall be thirteen shillings and fourpence apiece. I give to Dr. Hawkins " Doctor Donne's Sermons," which I have heard preacht and read with much content. To my son Izaak I give Doctor Sibbs his "Soul's Conflict;" and to my daughter his "Bruised Reed;" desiring them to read them so as to be well acquainted with them. And I also give unto her all my books at Winchester and Droxford, and whatever in those two places are or I can call mine, except a trunk of linnen, which I give to my son Izaak ; but if he do not live to marry or make use of it, then I give the same to my granddaughter, Anne Hawkins. And I give my daughter " Doctor Hall's Works," which be now at Farnham. To my son Izaak I give all my books, not yet given, at Farnham Castell ; and a deske of prints and pictures ; also a cabinett near my bed's head, in which are some little things that he will value,
WALTON'S WILL. II
though of no great worth. And my will and desire is, that he will be kind to his Aunt Beachame, and his Aunt Rose Ken, by allow- ing the first about fifty shillings a year, in or for bacon and cheese, not more, and paying four pounds a year towards the boarding of her son's dyet to Mr. John Whitehead : for his Aunt Ken, I desire him to be kind to her according to her necessity and his own abilitie; and I commend one of her children, to breed up as I have said I intend to do, if he shall be able to do it, as I know he will ; for they be good folke. I give to Mr. John Darbyshire the "Sermons" of Mr. Anthony Farringdon or of Dr. Sanderson, which my executor thinks fit. To my servant, Thomas Edgill, I give five pound in money, and all my cloths, linnen and woollen, — except one suit of cloths, which I give to Mr. Hollinshed, and forty shillings, — if the said Thomas be my servant at my death ; if not, my cloths only. And I give my old friend, Mr. Richard Mar- riot, ten pounds in money, to be paid him within three months after my death ; and I desire my son to shew kindness to him if he shall neede, and my son can spare it. And I do hereby will and declare my son Izaak to be my sole executor of this my last will and testament ; and Dr. Hawkins to see that he performs it, which I doubt not but he will. I desire my burial to be near the place of my death, and free from any ostentation or charge, but privately. This I make to be my last will (to which I shall only add the co- dicil for rings), this Sixteenth day of August, One Thousand Six Hundred Eighty-three.
Witness to this Will. Izaak Walton.
The rings I give are on the other side. To my brother, John Ken ; to my sister, his wife ; to my brother. Dr. Ken ; to my sister Pye ; to Mr. Francis Morley ; to Mr. George Vernon ; to his wife ; to his three daughters ; to Mrs. Nelson ; to Mr. Richard Walton ; to Mr. Palmer ; to Mr. Taylor ; to Mr. Tho. Garrard ; to the Lord Bishop of Sanmi ; to Mr. Rede, his servant ; to my cousin, Doro- thy Kenrick ; to my cousin Lewin ; to Mr. Walter Higgs ; to Mr. Charles Cotton ; to Mr. Richard Marryot :— 22. To my brother
12
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
Beachame ; to my sister, his wife ; to the Lady Ann How ; to Mrs. King; Dr. PhilHp's wife; to Mr. Valentine Harecourt; to Mrs. Eliza Johnson ; to Mrs. Mary Rogers j to Mrs. Eliza Mil ward ; to Mrs. Dorothy Wollop ; to Mr. Will. Milward, of Christ Church, Oxford j to Mr. John Darbyshire ; to Mr. Underill j to Mrs. Rock ; to Mr. Peter White ; to Mr. John Lloyde ; to my cousin Creinsell's widow; Mrs. Dalbin must not be forgotten : — 16.
IzAAK Walton.
Note, that several lines are blotted out of this my will, for they were twice repeated, and that this will is now signed and sealed this Twenty and fourth day of October, One Thousand Six Hun- dred Eighty-three, in the presence of us : WiinesSj Abraham Markland, Jos. Taylor, Thomas Crawley.
AMVVELL CHURCH.
THE SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF "THE COMPLETE ANGLER."
Seventy-four years after Walton's death, the Rev. Moses Brown, at the instigation of Dr. Samuel Johnson, revived " The Complete Angler " by issuing a new edition, spoiling it, however, by a process oipolishiiio. This was in 1750. In 1759 a second edition of it was pubHshed. In 1760 Mr. John Hawkins (afterwards Sir John Hawkins) published an edition with well- written Lives of Walton and Cotton, and copious notes, which are of sufficient value to be retained in almost every subsequent edition. Then followed — In 1766, a second edition of Hawkins'. 1772, a third edition of Brown's. 1775, a third edition of Hawkins'. 1784, a fourth edition of the same. 1792 and 1797, fifth and sixth editions of Hawkins', by his
son, John Sidney Hawkins. 1808, Bagster's edition, printed in three sizes. 1 8 10, a facsimile reprint by Bagster.
181 5, Bagster's second edition, edited by Sir Henry Ellis, of the British Museum, and printed at Broxboume.
1822, Gosden's edition.
1823, Major's edition, a very beautiful and complete one,
and a great favourite.
1824, a second edition of the above, the smaller illustrations
of which are incorporated with the present edition. 13
14 THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
1825 (about), Dove's reprint of Hawkins'.
1824 and 1826, reprints of Hawkins' by Whittingham.
No date, Cole's edition.
1825, Pickering's first edition.
1826, „ second edition.
1833, Professor Rennie's — very poor, but which had seven reprints at different dates subsequently.
1835, Major's third edition. 1S39, reprint of Major's by Lewis. 1842, „ „ Washboume.
1836, Pickering's third edition: this is a very handsome book
in two large volumes; it has many illustrations, — those of fish by Inskepp being good, but those of scenes by Stothard depicting the anglers in attitudes which no angler could ever assume.
1837, a reprint of Walton by Tilt. 1844, Major's fourth edition.
1847, 1848, 1852, American editions by Dr. G. W. Bethune,
which have many merits. 18 5 1, Causton's edition. 1853, Ephemera's edition, published by Messrs. Ingram and
Cooke; reprinted in 1854, and again by Messrs.
Routledge in 1859. 1856, Jesse's edition, published by Bohn. This is a perfect
olla podrida of notes and illustrations. 1858, a miniature reprint by Groombridge. i860, a re-issue by Nattali and Bond of Pickering's edition
of 1836.
1863, a pocket edition by Bell and Daldy.
1864, the Elzevir edition by Bell and Daldy. 1869, the "Complete Angler" by B. Murray.
1877, a facsimile of the first edition of 1653 by Elliot Stock.
"Beitig a. DifcouTfe of
FISH ancL FISHING,
Not -unworthy thepexiifal of moft Anglers.
Simon Petexyati, JgodMiing; cndileyfaU, We tdfo Hit ^0 ^Nith thee. John, 21. j»
XoTvcUm, Priivtcd l)y r. Mucey fbi Rich. Harriot^ in S. Dun/tans Chmci-yaii Ileetftreet, 16 5^,
\Facsifnile of Title-page of the Originai EdiiionJl
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL
JOHN OFFLEY, Esq.,
OF MADELEY MANOR, IN THE COUNTY OF STAFFORD.
My most HONOURED Friend, Sir, — I have made so ill use of your former favours, as by them to be encouraged to entreat, that they may be enlarged to the pa- tronage and protection of this book : and I have put on a modest confidence that, I shall not be denied, because it is a discourse of ^sh and fishing, which you know so well, and both love and practise 60 much. You are assured, though there be ignorant men of another belief,
16
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 17
that angling is an art : and you know that art better than others ; and that this truth is demonstrated by the fruits of that pleasant labour which you enjoy, when you purpose to give rest to your mind, and divest yourself of your more serious business, and (which is often) dedicate a day or two to this recreation.
At which time, if common anglers should attend you, and be eye-witnesses of the success, not of your fortune but your skill, it would doubtless beget in them an emulation to be like you, and that emulation might beget an industrious diligence to be so ; but I know it is not attainable by common capacities. And there be now many men of great wisdom, learning, and experience, which love and practise this art, that know I speak the truth.
Sir, this pleasant curiosity of fish and fishing, of which you are so great a master, has been thought worthy the pens and practices of divers in other nations, that have been reputed men of great learning and wisdom ; and amongst those of this nation, I remem- ber Sir Henry Wotton (a dear lover of this art) has told me, that his intentions were to write a discourse of the art, and in praise of angling ; and 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 could never yet see in English.
But mine may be thought as weak, and as unworthy of common view ; and I do here freely confess, that I should rather excuse myself, than censure others, my own discourse being liable to so many exceptions; against which you. Sir, might make this one, that it can contribute nothing to your knowledge. And lest a longer epistle may diminish your pleasure, I shall make this no longer than to add this following truth, that I am really,
Sir, Your most affectionate friend.
And most humble servant,
Iz. Wa. 2
TO THE READER OF THIS DISCOURSE,
BUT ESPECIALLY
TO THE HONEST ANGLER.
I THINK fit to tell thee these following truths, that I did neither undertake, nor write, nor publish, and much less own, this Discourse to please myself ; and, having been too easily drawn to do all to please others, as I propose not the gaining of credit by this undertaking, so I would not wil- lingly lose any part of that to which I had a just title before I began it, and do therefore desire and hope, if I deserve not commendations, yet I may obtain pardon.
And though this Discourse may be liable to some ex- ceptions, yet I cannot doubt but that most readers may receive so much pleasure or profit by it, as may make it worthy the time of their perusal, if they be not too grave or too busy men. And this is all the confidence that I can put on, concerning the merit of what is here offered to their consideration and censure ; and if the last prove too severe, as I have a liberty, so I am resolved to use it, and neglect all sour censures.
And I wish the reader also to take notice, that in writing of it I have made myself a recreation of a recreation ; and
18
TO THE READER. 19
that it might prove so to him, and not read dull and tedi- ously, I have in several places mixed, not any scurrility, but some innocent, harmless mirth, of which, if thou be a severe, sour-complexioned man, then I here disallow thee to be a competent judge ; for divines say, there are offences given, and offences tiot given but taken.
And I am the willinger to justify the pleasant part of it, because though it is known I can be serious at seasonable times, yet the whole Discourse is, or rather was, a picture of my own disposition, especially in such days and times as J have laid aside business, and gone a-fishing with honest Nat and R. Roe ; but they are gone, and with them most of my pleasant hours, even as a shadow that passeth away and returns not.
And next let me add this, that he that likes not the book should like the excellent picture of the trout, and some of the other fish ; which I may take a liberty to commend, because they concern not myself.
Next let me tell the reader, that in that which is the more useful part of this Discourse, that is to say, the obser- vations of the nature, and breeding, and seasons, and catch- ing of fish, I am not so simple as not to know that a cap- tious reader may find exceptions against something said of some of these ; and therefore I must entreat him to con- sider, that experience teaches us to know that several countries alter the time, and I think almost the manner of fishes' breeding, but doubtless of their being in season ; as may appear by three rivers in Monmouthshire, namely, Severn, Wye, and Usk, where Camden ("Brit. Fishes," 633) observes, that in the river Wye, salmon are in season from September to April ; and we are certain that in Thames
2—2
20 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
and Trent, and in most other rivers, they be in season the six hotter months.
Now for the art of catching fish, that is to say, how to make a man — that was none — to be an angler by a book ; he that undertakes it, shall undertake a harder task than Mr. Hales, a most valiant and excellent fencer, who, in a printed book called "A Private School of Defence," under- took to teach that art or science, and was laughed at for his labour — not but that many useful things might be learnt by that book, but he was laughed at because that art was not to be taught by words, but practice ; and so must angling. And note also that in this Discourse I do not undertake to say all that is known, or may be said of it, but I undertake to acquaint the reader with many things that are not usually known to every angler ; and I shall leave gleanings and observations enough, to be made out of the experience of all that love and practise this recreation, to which I shall encourage them, For angling may be said to be so like the mathematics, that it can never be fully learnt ; at least not so fully, but that there will still be more new experi- ments left for the trial of other men that succeed us.
But I think all that love this game may here learn some- thing that may be worth their money, if they be not poor and needy men ; and in case they be, I then wish them to forbear to buy it, for I write not to get money, but for plea- sure, and this Discourse boasts of no more ; for I hate to promise much and deceive the reader.
And however it proves to him, yet I am sure I have found a high content in the search and conference of what is here offered to the reader's view and censure : I wish him as much in the perusal of it, and so I might here take my
TO THE READER. 21
leave ; but will stay a little and tell him, that whereas it is said by many that in fly-fishing for a trout the angler must observe his twelve several flies for the twelve months of the year : I say, he that follows that rule shall be as sure to catch fish, and be as wise, as he that makes hay by the fair days in an almanac, and no surer ; for those very flies that use to appear about and on the water in one month of the year, may the following year come almost a month sooner or later, as the same year proves colder or hotter ; and yet, in the following Discourse, I have set down the twelve flies that are in reputation with many anglers, and they may serve to give him some observations concerning them. And he may note, that there are in Wales and other countries, peculiar flies, proper to the particular place or country ; and doubtless, unless a man makes a fly to counterfeit that very fly in that place, he is like to lose his labour, or much of it ; but for the generality, three or four flies, neat and rightly made, and not too big, serve for a trout in most rivers all the summer. And for winter fly-fishing — it is as useful as an almanac out of date ! And of these, because as no man is born an artist, so no man is born an angler, I thought fit to give thee this notice.
When I have told the reader, that in this fifth impression there are many enlargements, gathered both by my own observation and the communication with friends, I shall stay him no longer than to wish him a rainy evening to read this following Discourse ; and that, if he be an honest angler, the east wind may never blow when he goes a-fish- ing. I. W.
22
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
Prw^S" tfexl^ p>/ty^i^ </V- -piviw
For Do'^. C. Bewmount.
pray S'^, Accept this pore presant, by the as meane hand that brings it from
Y' affec. servant,
IzAAK Walton.
COMMENDATORY VERSES.
TO MY DEAR BROTHER IZAAK WALTON,
UPON HIS
"COMPLETE ANGLER."
Erasmus, in his learned Colloquies, Has mixt some toys, that by varieties He might entice all readers ; for in him Each child may wade, or tallest giant swim. And such is this Discourse : there 's none so low Or highly learned, to whom hence may not flow Pleasure and information ; both which are Taught us with so much art, that I might swear Safely, the choicest critic cannot tell Whether your matchless judgment most excell In angling or its praise ; where commendation P'irst charms, then makes an art a recreation.
'T was so to me : who saw the cheerful Spring Pictur'd in every meadow ; heard birds sing Sonnets in every grove ; saw fishes play In the cool crystal springs, like lambs in May ; And they may play, till anglers read this book ; But after, 't is a wise fish 'scapes a hook.
lo. Floud, M.A.
23
24 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
TO THE
READER OF THE "COMPLETE ANGLER."
First mark this title well : my friend that gave it Has made it good ; this book deserves to have it. For he that views it with judicious looks, Shall find it full of art, baits, lines, and hooks.
(The world the river is ; both you and I, And all mankind, are either fish or fry.) If we pretend to reason, first or last His baits will tempt us, and his hooks hold fast. Pleasure or profit, either prose or rhyme. If not at first, will doubtless take in time.
Here sits, in secret, blest theology, Waited upon by grave philosophy Both natural and moral ; history, Deck'd and adorn'd with flowers of poetry ; The matter and expression striving which Shall most excell in worth, yet seem not rich. There is no danger in his baits ; that hook Will prove the safest that is surest took.
Nor are we caught alone, — but, which is best. We shall be wholesome, and be toothsome, drest, Drest to be fed, not to be fed upon : And danger of a surfeit here is none. The solid food of serious contemplation Is sauc'd, here, with such harmless recreation, That an ingenuous and religious mind Cannot enquire for more than it may find Ready at once prepared, either t' excite Or satisfy a curious appetite.
COMMENDATORY VERSES. 25
More praise is due; for 'tis both positive And truth, — which, once, was interrogative, And utter'd by the poet, then, in jest — Et piscatorem piscis amare potest,
Ch. Harvie, M.A.
TO MY DEAR FRIEND, MR. IZAAK WALTON;
IN
Praise of Angling, which we both Love.
Down by this smooth stream's wand'ring side,
Adorn'd and perfum'd with the pride
Of Flora's wardrobe, where the shrill
Aerial choir express their skill —
First in alternate melody,
And then in chorus all agree —
Whilst the charm'd fish, as extas/d
With sounds, to his own throat deny'd,
Scorns his dull element, and springs
r th' air, as if his fins were wings.
'T is here that pleasures sweet and high Prostrate to our embraces lie : Such as to body, soul, or frame. Create no sickness, sin, or shame. Roses, not fenc'd with pricks, grow here ; No sting to th' honey-bag is near ; But, what 's perhaps their prejudice, They difficulty want, and price.
26 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
An obvious rod, a twist of hair, With hook hid in an insect, — are Engines of sport would fit the wish O' th' epicure, and fill his dish.
In this clear stream let fall a grub ; And, straight, take up a dace or chub. I' th' mud, your worm provokes a snig ; Which being fast, if it prove big. The Gotham folly will be found Discreet, — ere ta'en she must be drown'd. The tench, physician of the brook. In yon dead hole expects your hook j Which having first your pastime been, Serves then for meat or medicine. Ambush'd behind that root doth stay A pike \ to catch — and be a prey. The treacherous quill in this slow stream, Betrays the hunger of a bream. And that nimble ford, no doubt. Your false fly cheats a speckled trout.
When you these creatures wisely choose To practise on, which to your use Owe their creation, — and when Fish from your arts do rescue men, — To plot, delude, and circumvent. Ensnare and spoil, is innocent. Here by these crystal streams, you may Preserve a conscience clear as they \ And when by sullen thoughts you find Your harrassed, not busied, mind In sable melancholy clad, Distemper'd, serious, turning sad ; Hence fetch your cure, cast in your bait,
COMMENDATORY VERSES. 27
All anxious thoughts and cares will straight Fly with such speed, they '11 seem to be Possest with the hydrophobic. The water's calmness in your breast, And smoothness on your brow shall rest.
Away with sports of charge and noise, And give me cheap and silent joys. Such as Actaeon's game pursue. Their fate oft makes the tale seem true. The sick or sullen hawk, to-day. Flies not ; to-moiTow, quite away. Patience and purse to cards and dice To oft are made a sacrifice ; The daughter's dower, th' inheritance O' th' son, depend on one mad chance. The harms and mischiefs which th' abuse Of wine doth every day produce. Make good the doctrine of the Turks, That in each grape a devil lurks. And by yon fading sapless tree, 'Bout which the ivy twin'd you see. His fate 's foretold, who fondly places ** His bliss in woman's soft embraces. All pleasures but the angler's bring, I' th' tail, repentance like a sting.
Then on these banks let me sit down, Free from the toilsome sword and gown ; And pity those that do affect To conquer nations and protect. My reed affords such true content. Delights so sweet and innocent. As seldom fall unto the lot Of scepters, though they 're justly got. 1649. Tho. Weaver, M.A.
2S THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
TO THE READERS
OF
My most ingenious Friend's Book, "The Complete Angler."
He that both knew and writ the Lives of men, Such as were once, but must not be again ; Witness his matchless Donne and Wotton, by Whose aid he could their speculations try : He that conversed with angels such as were Ouldsworth and Featley, each a shining star Showing the way to Bedlam ; each a saint, Compar'd to whom our zealots, now, but paint. He that our pious and leam'd Morley knew. And from him suck'd wit and devotion too. He that from these such excellencies fetch'd. That he could tell how high and far they reach'd ; What learning this, what graces th' other had ; And in what several dress each soul was clad. Reader, this he, this fisherman comes forth. And in these fisher's weeds would shroud his worth.
Now his mute harp is on a willow hung, With which, when finely touch'd and fitly strung, He could friends' passions for these times allay, Or chain his fellow-anglers from their prey. But now the music of his pen is still. And he sits by a brook watching a quill : Where with a fixt eye, and a ready hand, He studies first to hook, and then to land Some trout, or pearch, or pike ; and having done, Sits on a bank, and tells how this was won. And that escap'd his hook, which with a wile Did eat the bait, and fisherman beguile.
COMMENDATORY VERSES. 2g
Thus whilst some vex they from their lands are thrown, He joys to think the waters are his own ; And like the Dutch, he gladly can agree To live at peace now, and have fishing fi-ee.
April 3, 1650. Edw. Powel, M.A.
TO MY DEAR BROTHER MR. IZAAK WALTON,
ON HIS
"COMPLETE ANGLER."
This book is so like you, and you like it. For harmless mirth, expression, art, and wit, That I protest, ingenuously, 't is true, I love this mirth, art, wit, the book, and you.
Rob. Floud, C.
CLARISSIMO AMICISSIMOQUE FRATRI, DOMINO ISAACO WALTON,
ArTIS PlSCATORIiE PERITISSIMO.
Unicus est medicus reliquorum piscis, et istis. Fas quibus est medicum tangere, certa salus
Hie typus est salvatoris mirandus Jesu, Litera mysterium quselibet hujus habet.
30 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
Hiinc cupio, himc cupias, bone frater arundinis Ix^hv ;
Solvent hie pro me debita, teque Deo. Piscis is est, et piscator, mihi credito, qualem
Vel piscatorem piscis amare velit.
Henry Bayley, A.M.
AD VIRUM OPTIMUM ET PISCATOREM PERITIS- SIMUM, ISAACUM WALTONUM.
Magister artis docte piscatoriae, Waltone, salve ! magne dux arundinis, Seu tu reducta valle solvs ambulas, Praeterfluentes interim observans aquas, Seu forte puri stans in amnis margine, Sive in tenaci gramine et ripa sedens, Fallis perita squameum pecus manu ; O te beatum ! qui procul negotiis, Forique et urbis pulvere et strepitu carens, Extraque turbam, ad lene manantes aquas Vagos honesta fraude pisces discipis. Dum csetera ergo poenb gens mortalium Aut retia invicem sibi et technas struunt, Donis, ut hamo, aut divites captant senes, Gregi natantum tu interim nectis dolos. Voracem inescas advenam hamo lucium, Avidamve percam parvulo alberno capis, Aut verme ruffo, muscula aut truttam levi, Cautumve cyprinum, et ferb indocilem capi Calamoque linoque, ars at hunc superat tua, Medicamve tincam, gobium aut esca trahis,
COMMENDATORY VERSES. 3 1
Gratum palato gobium, parvum licet,
Prasdamve, non acque salubrem barbulum,
Etsi ampliorem, et mystace insignem gravi.
Hse sunt tibi artes, dum annus et tempus sinunt,
Et nulla transit absque linea dies.
Nee sola praxis, sed theoria et tibi
Nota artis hujus \ unde tu simul bonus
Piscator, idem et scriptor ; et calami potens
Utriusque necdum et ictus, et tamen sapis,
Ut hamiotam nempe tironem instruas !
Stylo eleganti scribis en Halientica
Oppianus alter artis et methodum tuse, et
Prsecepta promis rite piscatoria,
Varias et escas piscium, indolem et genus.
Nee tradere artem sat putas piscariam,
(Virtutis est hsec et tamen quaedam schola
Patientiamque et temperantiam docet),
Documenta quin majora das, et regulas
Sublimioris artis, et perennia
Monimenta morem, vitae et exempla optima, —
Dum tu profundum scribis Hookerum ; et pium
Donnum ac disertum ; sanctum et Herbertum, sacrum
Vatem ; hos videmus nam penicillo tuo
Graphice, et perita, Isace, depictos manu.
Post fata factos hosce per te Virbios.
O quoe voluptas est legere in scriptis tuis !
Sic tu libris nos, lineis pisces capis,
Musisque litterisque dum incumbis, licet
Intcntus hamo, interque piscandum studes.
32
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
AD ISAACUM WALTONUM, •
ViRUM ET PiSCATOREM OPTIMUM.
IsAACE, macte hac arte piscatoria ; Hac arte Petnis principi censum dedit ; Hac arte princeps nee Petro multo prior, Tranquillus ille, teste Tranquillo, pater Patriae, solebat recreare se lubens Augustus, hamo instructus ac arundine. Tu nunc, amice, proximum clari est decus Post Caesarem hami, gentis ac Halienticae : Euge O professor artis haud ingloriaj, Doctor cathedrae, perlegens piscariam ! Nae tu magister, et ego discipulus tuus, Nam candidatum et me ferunt arundinis, Socium hac in arte nobilem nacti sumus, Quid ampHus, Waltone, nam dici potest ? Ipse hamiota Dominus en orbis fuit !
Iaco: Dup., D.D.
|
■ ^i^ ^M^9^ |
|
|
^^^2^-4^1 |
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
PART THE FIRST. CHAPTER I.
CONFERENCE BETWIXT AN ANGLER, A HUNTER, AND A FALCONER; EACH COMMENDING HIS RECREATION.
PiscATOR, Venator, Auceps.
PiSCATOR.
OU arc well overtaken, gentlemen, a good morning to you both ; I have stretched my legs up Tottenham Hill to overtake you, hoping your business may occasion you towards Ware, whither I am going this fine, fresh May morn- ing.
33 a
34 THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
Venator. Sir, I for my part shall almost answer your hopes ; for my purpose is to drink my morning's draught at the Thatched House in Hoddesdon,* and I think not to rest till I come thither, where I have appointed a friend or two to meet me : but for this gentleman that you see with me, I know not how far he intends his journey; he came so lately into my company, that I have scarce had time to ask him the question.
AUCEPS. Sir, I shall by your favour bear you company as far as Theobald's,^ and there leave you ; for. then I turn up to a friend's house who mews^ a hawk for me, which I now long to see.
Ven. Sir, we are all so happy as to have a fine, fresh, cool morning ; and I hope we shall each be the happier in the other's company. And, gentlemen, that I may not lose yours, I shall either abate or amend my pace to enjoy it ; knowing that, as the Italians say, " Good company in a jour- ney makes the way to seem the shorter."
Auc. It may do so. Sir, with the help of good discourse, which methinks we may promise from you that both look and speak so cheerfully ; and for my part I promise you, as an invitation to it, that I will be as free and open-hearted as discretion will allow me to be with strangers.
Ven. And, Sir, I promise the like; .
PiSC. I am right glad to hear your answers, and in confi- dence you speak the truth, I shall put on a boldness to ask you. Sir, whether business or pleasure caused you to be so early up, and walk so fast ; for this other gentleman hath declared that he is going to see a hawk that a friend mews for him.
Ven. Sir, mine is a mixture of both, a little business and
THE CONFERENCE. 35
more pleasure ; for I intend this day to do all my business, and then bestow another day or two in hunting the otter,^ which a friend, that I go to meet, tells me is much pleasanter than any other chase whatsoever : howsoever, I mean to try it ; for to-morrow morning we shall meet a pack of otter- dogs of noble Mr. Sadler's," upon Amwell Hill, who will be there so early that they intend to prevent [forestall] the sun- rising.
PiSC. Sir, my fortune has answered my desires, and my purpose is to bestow a day or two in helping to destroy some of those villanous vermin ; for I hate them perfectly, because they love fish so well, or rather, because they destroy so much ; indeed, so much that, in my judgment, all men that keep otter-dogs ought to have pensions from the king, to encourage them to destroy the very breed of those base otters, they do so much mischief.
Ven. But what say you to the foxes of the nation, would not you as willingly have them destroyed ? for doubtless they do as much mischief as otters do.
PiSC. Oh, Sir, if they do, it is not so much to me and my fraternity, as those base vermin the otters do.
Auc. Why, Sir, I pray, of what fraternity are you, that you are so angry with the poor otters }
PiSC. I am. Sir, a brother of the angle, and therefore an enemy to the otter ; for you are to note, that we anglers all love one another, and therefore do I hate the otter, both for my own and for their sakes who are of my brotherhood.
Ven. And I am a lover of hounds ; I have followed many a pack of dogs many a mile, and heard many merry huntsmen make sport and scoff at anglers.
Auc. And I profess myself a falconer, and have heard
3-2
^6 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
many grave serious men pity them, it is such a heavy, contemptible, dull recreation.
PiSC. You know, gentlemen, it is an easy thing to scoff at any art or recreation ; a little wit mixed with ill-nature, confidence, and malice, will do it ; but though they often venture boldly, yet they are often caught, even in their own trap, according to that of Lucian, the father of the family of scoffers.
Lucian, well skilled in scoffing, this hath writ,— Friend, that 's your folly, which you think your wit ; This, you vent oft, void both of wit and fear, Meaning another, when yourself you jeer.
If to this you add what Solomon says of scoffers, that " they are an abomination to mankind," let them that think fit scoff on, and be a scoffer still ; but I account them enemies to me and to all that love virtue and angling.
And for you that have heard many grave, serious men pity anglers ; let me tell you. Sir, there be many men that are by others taken to be serious and grave men, whom we contemn and pity. Men that are taken to be grave, because nature hath made them of a sour complexion ; money- getting men, men that spend all their time, first in getting, and next in anxious care to keep it ; men that are con- demned to be rich, and then always busy or discontented : for these poor rich men, we anglers pity them perfectly, and stand in no need to borrow their thoughts to think ourselves so happy. No, no. Sir, we enjoy a contentedness above the reach of such dispositions, and as the learned and ingenuous Montaigne says — like himself, freely, "When my cat and I entertain each other with mutual apish tricks, as
THE CONFERENCE. 37
playing with a garter, who knows but that I make my cat more sport than she makes me ? Shall I conclude her to be simple, that has her time to begin or refuse to play as freely as I myself have ? Nay, who knows but that it is a defect of my not understanding her language (for doubtless cats talk and reason with one another), that we agree no better ? And who knows but that she pities me for being no wiser than to play with her, and laughs and censures my folly for making sport for her, when we two play together?"
Thus freely speaks Montaigne concerning cats ; and I hope I may take as great a liberty to blame any man, and laugh at him too, let him be never so grave, that hath not heard what anglers can say in the justification of their art and recreation ; which I may again tell you is so full of pleasure, that we need not borrow their thoughts to make ourselves happy.
Ven. Sir, you have almost amazed me ; for though I am no scoffer, yet I have, I pray let me speak it without offence, always looked upon anglers as more patient and more simple men than I fear I shall find you to be.
PiSC. Sir, I hope you will not judge my earnestness to be impatience ; and for my simplicity, if by that you mean a harmlessness, or that simplicity which was usually found in the primitive Christians, who were, as most anglers are, quiet men, and followers of peace ; men that were so simply wise, as not to sell their consciences to buy riches, and with them vexation and a fear to die ; if you mean such simple men as lived in those times when there were fewer lawyers; when men might have had a lordship safely conveyed to them in a piece of parchment no bigger than your hand, though several sheets will not do it safely in this wiser age ; I
38 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
say, Sir, if you take us anglers to be such simple men as I have spoken, then myself and those of my profession will be glad to be so understood. But if by simplicity you meant to express a general defect in those that profess and practise the excellent art of angling, I hope in time to dis- abuse you, and make the contrary appear so evidently that, if you will but have patience to hear me, I shall remove all the anticipations that discourse, or time, or prejudice have possessed you with against that laudable and ancient art ; for I know it worthy the knowledge and practice of a wise man.
But, gentlemen, though I be able to do this, I am not so unmannerly as to engross all the discourse to myself; and therefore, you two having declared yourselves, the one to be a lover of hawks, the other of hounds, I shall be most glad to hear what you can say in the commendation of that re- creation which each of you love and practise ; and having heard what you can say, I shall be glad to exercise your attention with what I say concerning my own recreation and art of angling, and by this means we shall make the way to seem the shorter ; and if you like my motion, I would have Mr. Falconer to begin.
Auc. Your motion is consented to with all my heart; and to testify it, I will begin as you have desired me.
And first, for the element that I use to trade in, which is the air, an element of more worth than weight — an element that doubtless exceeds both the earth and water; for though I sometimes deal in both, yet the air is most properly mine. I and my hawks use that most, and it yields us most re- creation : it stops not the high soaring of my noble, gene- rous falcon ; in it she ascends to such a height as the dull
THE CONFERENCE, 39
eyes of beasts and fish are not able to reach to ; their bodies are too gross for such high elevations : in the air my troops of hawks soar up on high, and when they are lost in the sight of men, then they attend upon and converse with the gods ; therefore I think my eagle is so justly styled "Jove's servant in ordinary ; " and that very falcon, that I am now going to see, deserves no meaner title, for she usually in her flight endangers herself, like the son of Daedalus, to have her wings scorched by the sun's heat,^ she flies so near it ; but her mettle makes her careless of danger ; for then she heeds nothing, but makes her nimble pinions cut the fluid air, and so makes her highway over the steepest mountains and deepest rivers, and in her glorious career looks with contempt upon those high steeples and magnificent palaces which we adore and wonder at ; from which height I can make her to descend by a word from my mouth (which she both knows and obeys), to accept of meat from my hand, to own me for her master, to go home with me, and be willing the next day to afibrd me the like recreation.
And more : this element of air which I profess to trade in, the worth of it is such, and.it is of such necessity, that no creature whatsoever, not only those numerous creatures that feed on the face of the earth, but those various creatures that have their .dwelling within the waters, every creature that hath life in its nostrils stands in need of my element. The waters cannot preserve the fish without air, witness the not breaking of ice in an extreme frost :^ the reason is, for that if the inspiring and expiring organ of any animal be stopped, it suddenly yields to nature and dies. Thus neces- sary is air to the existence both of fish and beasts, nay, even to man himself: that air or breath of life with which God
40 THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
at first inspired mankind, he, if he wants it, dies presently, becomes a sad object to all that loved and beheld him, and in an instant turns to putrefaction.
Nay more, the very birds of the air, those that be not hawks, are both so many and so useful and pleasant to mankind, that I must not let them pass without some ob- servations. They both feed and refresh him — feed him with their choice bodies, and refresh him with their heavenly voices. I will not undertake to mention the several kinds of fowl by which this is done ; and his curious palate pleased by day, and which with their very excrements afford him a soft lodging at night — these I will pass by ; but not those little nimble musicians of the air, that warble forth their curious ditties, with which nature hath furnished them to the shame of art.
As first the lark, when she means to rejoice, to cheer herself and those that hear her ; she then quits the earth, and sings as she ascends higher into the air, and having ended her heavenly employment, grows then mute and sad, to think she must descend to the dull earth, which she would not touch, but for necessity.
How do the blackbird and thrassel with their melodious voices bid welcome to the cheerful spring, as in their fixed months warble forth such ditties as no art or instrument can reach to !
Nay, the smaller birds also do the like in their particular seasons, as namely the leverock [lark], the titlark, the little linnet, and the honest robin, that loves mankind both alive and dead.
But the nightingale, another of my airy creatures, breathes such sweet loud music out of her little instrumental throat,
THE CONFERENCE. 4 1
that it might make mankind to think miracles are not ceased. He that at midnight, when the very labourer sleeps securely, should hear, as I have very often, the clear airs, the sweet descants, the natural rising and falling, the doubling and redoubling of her voice, might well be lifted above earth, and say," Lord, what music hast Thou provided for the saints in heaven, when Thou affordest bad men such music on earth?"
And this makes me the less to wonder at the many aviaries in Italy, or at the great charge of Varro's aviary, the ruins of which are yet to be seen in Rome, and is still so famous there, that it is reckoned for one of those notables which men of foreign nations either record, or lay up in their memories, when they return from travel.
This for the birds of pleasure, of which very much more might be said. My next shall be of birds of political use. I think 'tis not to be doubted that swallows^ have been taught to carry letters between two armies. But it is certain, that when the Turks besieged Malta or Rhodes (I now remember not which it was), pigeons were then related to carry and re-carry letters. And Mr. G. Sandys,*^ in his Travels, relates it to be done between Aleppo and Babylon. But if that be disbelieved, it is not to be doubted that the dove was sent out of the ark by Noah, to give him notice of land, when to him all appeared to be sea ; and the dove proved a faithful and comfortable messenger. And for the sacrifices of the law, a pair of turtle-doves or young pigeons were as well accepted as costly bulls and rams. And when God would feed the prophet Elijah after a kind of miraculous manner, He did it by ravens, who brought him meat morning and evening. Lastly, the Holy Ghost, when He descended visibly upon our Saviour, did it by assuming the shape of a dove.
42 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
And to conclude this part of my discourse, pray remember these wonders were done by birds of the air, the element in which they and I take so much pleasure.
There is also a little contemptible winged creature, an inhabitant of my aerial element, namely, the laborious bee, of whose prudence, policy, and regular government of their own commonwealth I might say much, as also of their several kinds, and how useful their honey and wax are both for meat and medicines to mankind ; but I will leave them to their sweet labour, without the least disturbance, believing them to be all very busy at this very time amongst the herbs and flowers that we see nature puts forth this May morning.
And now to return to my hawks, from whom I have made too long a digression ; you are to note, that they are usually distinguished into two kinds ; namely, the long-winged and the short-winged hawk : of the first kind there be chiefly in use amongst us in this nation,^
The gerfalcon and jerkin.
The falcon and tassel-gen tel,
The laner and lanaret.
The bockerel and bockeret,
The saker and sacaret.
The merlin and Jack merlin,
The hobby and Jack : There is the stelletto of Spain,
The blood-red rook from Turkey,
The waskite from Virginia : And there is of short-winged hawks,
The eagle and iron.
The goshawk and tarccl,
THE CONFERENCE. 43
The sparhawk and musket,
The French pye, of two sorts. These are reckoned hawks of note and worth ; but we have also hawks of an inferior rank,
The stanyel, the ringtail,
The raven, the buzzard.
The forked kite, the bald buzzard.
The hen-driver, and others that I forbear to name. Gentlemen, if I should enlarge my discourse to the obser- vation of the eires, the brancher, the ramish hawk, the haggard, and the two sorts of lentners, and then treat of their several ayries, their mewings, rare order of casting, and the renovation of their feathers ; their reclaiming, dieting, and then come to their rare stories of practice ; I say, if I should enter into these, and many other observations that I could make, it would be much, very much pleasure to me ; but lest I should break the rules of civility to you, by taking up more than the proportion of time allotted to me, I will here break off, and entreat you, Mr. Venator, to say what you are able in the commendation of hunting, to which you are so much affected ; and, if time will serve, I will beg your favour for a further enlargement of some of those several heads of which I have spoken. But no more at present.
Ven. Well, Sir, and I will now take my turn, and will first begin with a commendation of the earth, as you have done most excellently of the air ; the earth being that element upon which I drive my pleasant, wholesome, hungry trade. The earth is a solid, settled element : an element most universally beneficial both to man and beast : to men who have their several recreations upon it, as horse-races, hunting, sweet smells, pleasant walks : the earth feeds man, and all
44 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
those several beasts that both feed him and afford him recreation. What pleasure doth man take in hunting the stately stag, the generous buck, the wild boar, the cunning otter, the crafty fox, and the fearful hare ? And if I may descend to a lower game, what pleasure is it sometimes with gins to betray the very vermin of the earth ! as namely, the fitchet,'^ the fulimart, the ferret, the polecat, the mould-warp, and the like creatures that live upon the face and within the bowels of the earth ! How doth the earth bring forth herbs, flowers, and fruits, both for physic and the pleasure of man- kind ! and above all, to me at least, the fruitful vine, of which, when I drink moderately, it clears my brain, cheers my heart, and sharpens my wit. How could Cleopatra have feasted Mark Antony with eight wild boars roasted whole at one supper, and other meat suitable, if the earth had not been a bountiful mother.-* But to pass by the mighty elephant, which the earth breeds and nourisheth, and descend to the least of creatures, how doth the earth afford us a doctrinal example in the little pismire, who in the summer provides and lays up her winter provision, and teaches man to do the like ! The earth feeds and carries those horses that carry us. If I would be prodigal of my time and your patience, what might not I say in commendations of the earth ? that puts limits to the proud and raging sea, and by that means pre- serves both man and beast, that it destroys them not, as we see it daily doth those that venture upon the sea, and are there shipwrecked, drowned, and left to feed haddocks; when we that are so wise as to keep ourselves on the earth, walk, and talk, and live, and eat, and drink, and go a-hunting : of which recreation I will say a little, and then leave Mr. Piscator to the commendation of angling.
THE CONFERENCE. 45
Hunting is a game for princes and noble persons ; it hath been highly prized in all ages ; it was one of the qualifications that Xenophon bestowed on his Cyrus, that he was a hunter of wild beasts. Hunting trains up the younger nobility to the use of manly exercises in their riper age. What more manly exercise than hunting the wild boar, the stag, the buck, the fox, or the hare 1 How doth it preserve health, and increase strength and activity !
And for the dogs that we use, who can commend their excellency to that height which they deserve 1 How perfect is the hound at smelling, who never leaves or forsakes his first scent, but follows it through so many changes and varieties of other scents, even over and in the water, and into the earth ! What music doth a pack of dogs then make to any man, whose heart and ears are so happy as to be set to the tune of such instruments ! How will a right grey- hound fix his eye on the best buck in a herd, single him out, and follow him, and him only, through a whole herd of rascal game, and still know and then kill him ! For my hounds, I know the language of them, and they know the language and meaning of one another as perfectly as we know the voices of those with whom we discourse daily.
I might enlarge myself in the commendation of hunting, and of the noble hound especially, as also of the docibleness of dogs in general ; and I might make many observations of land creatures, that for composition, order, figure, and constitution, approach nearest to the completeness and understanding of man ; especially of those creatures which Moses in the Law permitted to the Jews, which have cloven hoofs, and chew the cud ; which I shall forbear to name, because I will not be so uncivil to Mr. Piscator, as not to
4^ THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
allow him a time for the commendation of angling, which he calls an art ; but doubtless it is an easy one ; and, Mr. Auceps, I doubt we shall hear a watery discourse of it, but I hope it will not be a long one.
Auc. And I hope so too, though I fear it will.
PiSC. Gentlemen, let not prejudice prepossess you. I confess my discourse is like to prove suitable to my recrea- tion, calm, and quiet : we seldom take the name of God into our mouths but it is either to praise Him or pray to Him ; if others use it vainly in the midst of their recreations, so vainly as if they meant to conjure, I must tell you that it is neither our fault nor our custom ; we protest against it. But pray remember, I accuse nobody; for as I would not make a "watery discourse," so I would not put too much vinegar into it, nor would I raise the reputation of my own art by the diminution or ruin of another's. And so much for the prologue to what I mean to say.
And now for the water, the element that I trade in. The water is the eldest daughter of the creation, the element upon which the Spirit of God did first move, the element which God commanded to bring forth living creatures abundantly; and without which, those that inhabit the land, even all creatures that have breath in their nostrils, must suddenly return to putrefaction. Moses, the great lawgiver and chief philosopher, skilled in all the learning of the Egyptians, who was called the friend of God, and knew the mind of the Almighty, names this element the first in the creation ; this is the element upon which the Spirit of God did first move, and is the chief ingredient in the creation : many philoso- phers have made it to comprehend all the other elements, and most allow it the chiefest in the mixtion of all living creatures.
THE CONFERENCE. 47
There be that profess to believe that all bodies are made of water, and may be reduced back again to water only : they endeavour to demonstrate it thus :
Take a willow, or any like speedy-growing plant, newly rooted in a box or barrel full of earth, weigh them all to- gether exactly when the tree begins to grow, and then weigh all together after the tree is increased from its first rooting, to weigh a hundred pound weight more than when it was first rooted and weighed ; and you shall find this augment of the tree to be without the diminution of one drachm weight of the earth. Hence they infer this increase of wood to be from water of rain, or from dew, and not to be from any other element. And they affirm they can reduce this wood back again to water ; and they affirm also the same may be done in any animal or vegetable. And this I take to be a fair testimony of the excellency of my clement of water.
The water is more productive than the earth. Nay, the earth hath no fruitfulness without showers or dews ; for all the herbs and flowers and fruit are produced and thrive by the water ; and the very minerals are fed by streams that run underground, whose natural course carries them to the tops of many high mountains, as we see by several springs breaking forth on the tops of the highest hills ; and this is also witnessed by the daily trial and testimony of several miners.
Nay, the increase of those creatures that are bred and fed in the water is not only more and more miraculous, but more advantageous to man, not only for the lengthening of his life, but for preventing of sickness ; for it Is observed by the most learned physicians, that the casting off of Lent
48 THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
and other fish days, which hath not only given the lie to so many learned, pious, wise founders of colleges, for which we should be ashamed, hath doubtless been the chief cause of those many putrid, shaking, intermitting agues, unto which this nation of ours is now more subject than those wiser countries that feed on herbs, salads, and plenty of fish ; of which it is observed in story, that the greatest part of the world now do. And it may be fit to remember that Moses appointed fish to be the chief diet for the best common- wealth that ever yet was.*
And it is observable, not only that there are fish, as namely the whale, three times as big as the mighty elephant, that is so fierce in battle, but that the mightiest feasts have been of fish. The Romans in the height of their glory have made fish the mistress of all their entertainments ; they have had music to usher in their sturgeons, lampreys, and mullets, which they would purchase at rates rather to be wondered at than believed. He that shall view the writings of Macrobius, or Varro, may be confirmed and informed of this, and of the incredible value of their fish and fish-ponds.
But, gentlemen, I have almost lost myself, which I con- fess I may easily do in this philosophical discourse ; I met with most of it very lately, and I hope happily, in a con- ference with a most learned physician, Dr. Wharton, a dear friend, that loves both me and my art of angling. But, however, I will wade no deeper in these mysterious argu- ments, but pass to such observations as I can manage with more pleasure, and less fear of running into error. But I must not yet forsake the waters, by whose help we have so many known advantages.
And first to pass by the miraculous cures of our known
r
THE CONFERENCE. 49
baths, how advantageous is the sea for our daily traffic^ without whi(jh we could not now subsist ! How does it not only furnish us with food and physic for the bodies, but with such observations for the mind as ingenious persons would not want !
How ignorant had we been of the beauty of Florence, of the monuments, urns, and rarities that yet remain in and near unto old and new Rome, so many as it is said will take up a year's time to view, and afford to each of them but a convenient consideration ! And therefore it is not to be wondered at, that so learned and devout a father as St. Jerome, after his wish to have seen Christ in the flesh, and to have heard St. Paul preach, makes his third wish, to have seen Rome in her glory ; and that glory is not yet all lost, for what pleasure is it to see the monuments of Livy, the choicest of the historians ; of TuUy, the best of orators ; and to see the bay-trees that now grow out of the very tomb of Virgil ! These, to any that love learning, must be pleasing. But what pleasure is it to a devout Christian to see there the humble house in which St. Paul was content to dwell, and to view the many rich statues that are made in honour of his memory ! nay, to see the very place in which St. Peter and he lie buried together ! These are in and near to Rome. And how much more doth it please the pious curiosity of a Christian to see that place on which the blessed Saviour of the world was pleased to humble Himself, and to take our nature upon Him, and to converse with men : to see Mount Sion, Jerusalem, and the very sepulchre of our Lord Jesus ! How may it beget and heighten the zeal of a Christian to see the devotions that are daily paid to Him at that place! Gentlemen, lest I
4
50
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forget myself, I will stop here and remember you, that but for my element of water, the inhabitants of this poor island must remain ignorant that such things ever were, or that any of them have yet a being.
Gentlemen, I might both enlarge and lose myself in such- like arguments ; I might tell you that Almighty God is said to have spoken to a fish, but never to a beast ; that He hath made a whale a ship to carry and set His prophet Jonah safe on the appointed shore. Of these I might speak, but I must in manners break off, for I see Theobald's house. I cry your mercy for being so long, and thank you for your patience.
THEOBALD S HOUSE.
Auc. Sir, my pardon is easily granted you : I except against nothing that you have said ; nevertheless I must part with you at this park wall, for which I am very sorry ; but I assure you, Mr. Piscator, I now part with you full of good thoughts, not only of yourself, but your recreation. And so, gentlemen, God keep you both.
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PiSC. Well now, Mr. Venator, you shall neither want time nor my attention to hear you enlarge your discourse concerning hunting.
Ven. Not I, Sir: I remember you said that angling itself was of great antiquity and a perfect art, and an art not easily attained to ; and you have so won upon me in your former discourse, that I am very desirous to hear what you can say further concerning those particulars.
PiSC. Sir, I did say so ; and I doubt not but if you and I did converse together but a few hours, to leave you pos- sessed with the same high and happy thoughts that now possess me of it ; not only of the antiquity of angling, but that it deserves commendations ; and that it is an art, and an art worthy the knowledge and practice of a wise man.
Ven. Pray, Sir, speak of them what you think fit, for we have yet five miles to the Thatched House ; during which walk I dare promise you my patience and diligent attention shall not be wanting. And if you shall make that to appear which you have undertaken — first, that it is an art, and an art worth the learning, I shall beg that I may attend you a day or two a-fishing, and that I may become your scholar and be instructed in the art itself which you so much magnify.
PiSC. O, Sir, doubt not that angling is an art : is it not an art to deceive a trout with an artificial fly } a trout ! that is more sharp-sighted than any hawk you have named, and more watchful and timorous than your high mettled merlin is bold ; and yet I doubt not to catch a brace or two to-morrow for a friend's breakfast. Doubt not, therefore, Sir, but that angling is an art, and an art worth your learn- ing. The question is rather, whether you be capable of
4 — 2
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learning it ? for angling is somewhat like poetry, men are to be born so : I mean, with inclinations to it, though both may be heightened by discourse and practice ; but he that hopes to be a good angler, must not only bring an inquiring, searching, observing wit, but he must bring a large measure of hope and patience, and a love and propensity to the art itself f but having once got and practised it, then doubt not but angling will prove to be so pleasant that it will prove to be like virtue, a reward to itself
Ven. Sir, I am now become so full of expectation, that I long much to have you proceed, and in the order you propose.
PiSC. Then first, for the antiquity of angling, of which I shall not say much, but only this : some say it is as ancient aS' Deucalion's flood ; others, that Belus, who was the first inventor of godly and virtuous recreations, was the first in- ventor of angling ; and some others say, for former times have had their disquisitions about the antiquity of it, that Seth, one of the sons of Adam, taught it to his sons, and that by them it was derived to posterity ; others say, that he left it engraven on those pillars which he erected, and trusted to preserve the knowledge of the mathematics, music, and the rest of that precious knowledge and those useful arts which by God's appointment or allowance and his noble industry, were thereby preserved from perishing in ^^oah's flood.
These, Sir, have been the opinions of several men that have possibly endeavoured to make angling more ancient than is needful, or may well be warranted ; but for my part, I shall content myself in telling you, that angling is much more ancient than the Incarnation of our Saviour ; for in
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the prophet Amos mention is made of fish-hooks ; and in the book of Job, which was long before the days of Amos, for that book is said to be writ by Moses, mention is made also of fish-hooks, which must imply anglers in those times.
But, my worthy friend, as I would rather prove myself a gentleman, by being learned and humble, valiant and in- oftensive, virtuous and communicable, than by any fond ostentation of riches ; or, wanting those virtues myself, boast that these were in my ancestors (and yet I grant that where a noble and ancient descent and such merit meet in any man, it is a double dignification of that person) ; so if this antiquity of angling, which for my part I have not forced, shall, Hke an ancient family, be either an honour or an ornament to this virtuous art which I profess to love and practise, I shall be the gladder that I made an accidental mention of the antiquity of it, of which I shall say no more, but proceed to that just commendation which I think it deserves.
And for that, I shall tell you, that in ancient times a de- bate hath arisen, and it remains yet unresolved : whether the happiness of man in this world doth consist more in contemplation or action }
Concerning which, some have endeavoured to maintain their opinion of the first, by saying, that the nearer we mortals come to God by way of imitation, the more happy we are. And they say that God enjoys Himself only, by a contemplation of His own infiniteness, eternity, power, and goodness, and the like. And upon this ground, many clois- tcral men of great learning and devotion prefer contempla- tion before action. And many of the fathers seem to ap- prove this opinion, as may appear in their commentaries
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upon the words of our Saviour to Martha (Luke x. 41,
42).
And on the contrary, there want not men of equal autho- rity and credit, that prefer action to be the more excellent ; as namely, experiments in physic, and the application of it, both for the ease and prolongation of man's life ; by which each man is enabled to act and do good to others, either to serve his country or do good to particular persons. And they say also, that action is doctrinal, and teaches both art and virtue, and is a maintainer of human society ; and for these, and other like reasons, to be preferred before con- templation.
Concerning which two opinions, I shall forbear to add a third by declaring my own ; and rest myself contented in telling you, my very worthy friend, that both these meet together, and do most properly belong to the most honest, ingenious, quiet, and harmless art of angling.
And first, I shall tell you what some have observed, and I have found it to be a real truth, that the very sitting by the river's side is not only the quietest and fittest place for contemplation, but will invite an angler to it ; and this seems to be maintained by the learned Peter Du Moulin,' who in his discourse of the fulfilling of prophecies, observes, that when God intended to reveal any future events or high notions to His prophets, He then carried them either to the deserts or the sea-shore, that having so separated them from amidst the press of people and business, and the cares of the world, He might settle their mind in a quiet repose, and there make them fit for revelation.
And this seems also to be intimated by the Children of Israel (Psalm cxxxvii.), who having in a sad condition
THE CONFERENCE. 55
banished all mirth and music from their pensive hearts, and having hung up their then mute harps upon the willow-trees growing by the rivers of Babylon, sat down upon these banks, bemoaning the ruins of Sion, and contemplating their own sad condition.
And an ingenious Spaniard^ says, that "rivers and the inhabitants of the watery element were made for wise men to contemplate, and fools to pass by without consideration." And though I will not rank myself in the number of the first, yet give me leave to free myself from the last, by offer- ing to you a short contemplation, first of rivers and then of fish ; concerning which I doubt not but to give you many observations that will appear very considerable : I am sure they have appeared so to me, and made many an hour to pass away more pleasantly, as I have sat quietly on a flowery bank by a calm river, and contemplated what I shall now relate to you.
And first, concerning rivers : there be so many wonders reported and written of them, and of the several creatures that be bred and live in them, and those by authors of so good credit, that we need not to deny them an historical faith.»
As namely of a river in Epirus, that puts out any lighted torch, and kindles any torch that was not lighted.^ Some waters being drunk cause madness, some drunkenness, and some laughter to death. The river Selarus in a few hours turns a rod or wand to stone ; and our Camden mentions the like in England, and the like in Lochmere in Ireland. There is also a river in Arabia, of which all the sheep that drink thereof have their wool turned into a vermilion colour. And one of no less credit than Aristotle, tells us of a merry
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river, the river Eluslna, that dances at the noise of music, for with music it bubbles, dances, and grows sandy, and so continues till the music ceases, but then it presently returns to its wonted calmness and clearness. And Camden tells us of a well near to Kirby in Westmoreland, that ebbs and flows several times every day ; and he tells us of a river in Surrey, it is called Mole, that after it has run several miles, being opposed by hills, finds or makes itself a way under- ground, and breaks out again so far off, that the inhabitants thereabout boast, as the Spaniards do of their river Anus, that they feed divers flocks of sheep upon a bridge. And lastly, for I would not tire your patience, one of no less authority than Josephus, that learned Jew, tells us of a river in Judea that runs swiftly all the six days of the week, and stands still and rests all their Sabbath.
But I will lay aside my discourse of rivers, and tell you some things of the monsters, or fish, call them what you will, that they breed and feed in them. Pliny the philoso- pher says, in the third chapter of his ninth book, that in the Indian Sea, the fish called balcs7ta, or whirlpool, is so long and broad as to take up more in length and breadth than two acres of ground ; and of other fish of two hundred cubits long ; and that, in the river Ganges, there be eels of thirty feet long. He says there, that these monsters appear in the sea only when tempestuous winds oppose the torrents of waters falling from the rocks into it, and so turning what lay at the bottom to be seen on the water's top. And he says, that the people of Cadara, an island near this place, make the timber for their houses of those fish-bones. He there tells us, that there are sometimes a thousand of these great eels found wrapt or interwoven together. He tells us
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there, that it appears that dolphins love music, and will come when called for by some men or boys that know and use to feed them ; and that they can swim as swift as an arrow can be shot out of a bow; and much of this is spoken concerning the dolphin and other fish, as may be found also in the learned Dr. Casaubon's " Discourse of Credulity and Incredulity," printed by him about the year 1670.^
I know, we islanders are averse to the belief of these wonders; but there be so many strange creatures to be now seen, many collected by John Tradescant,^ and others added by my friend Elias Ashmole, Esq.,'' who now keeps them carefully and methodically at his house near to Lambeth near London, as may get some belief of some of the other wonders I mentioned. I will tell you some of the wonders that you may now see, and not till then believe, unless you think fit.
You may see the hog-fish, the dog-fish, the dolphin, the coney-fish, the parrot-fish, the shark, the poison-fish, sword- fish, and not only other incredible fish, but you may there see the salamander, several sorts of barnacles, and Solan geese, the bird of Paradise, such sorts of snakes, and such birds'-nests, and of so various forms, and so wonderfully made, as may beget wonder and amusement in any be- holder ; and so many hundred of other rarities in that col- lection, as will make the other wonders I spake of the less incredible ; for you may note, that the waters are Nature's store-house, in which she locks up her wonders.
But, Sir, lest this discourse may seem tedious, I shall give it a sweet conclusion out of that holy poet Mr. George Herbert, his divine " Contemplation on God's Providence."
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Lord, who hath praise enough ; nay, who hath any ?
None can express Thy works, but he that knows them; And none can know Thy works, they are so many,
And so complete, but only he that owes them.
We all acknowledge both Thy power and love
To be exact, transcendent, and divine ; Who dost so strongly and so sweetly move,
Whilst all things have their end, yet none but Thine.
Wherefore, most sacred Spirit, I here present, For me and all my fellows, praise to Thee;
And just it is that I should pay the rent, Because the benefit accrues to me.
And as concerning fish, in that psalm (Psalm civ.), where- in, for height of poetry and wonders, the prophet David seems even to exceed himself, how doth he there express himself in choice metaphors, even to the amazement of a contemplative reader, concerning the sea, the rivers, and the fish therein contained! And the great naturalist Pliny says, "that nature's great and wonderful power is more demonstrated in the sea than on the land." And this may appear by the numerous and various creatures inhabiting both in and about that element ; as to the readers of Gesner,^ Rondeletius," Pliny, Ausonius," Aristotle, and others, may be demonstrated. But I will sweeten this dis- course also, out of a contemplation in divine Du Bartas*= (in the fifth day), who says : —
God quicken'd in the sea, and in the rivers. So many fishes of so many features. That in the waters we may see all creatures. Even all that on the earth are to be found, As if the world were in deep waters drown'd.
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For seas— as well as skies — have sun, moon, stars ; As well as air— swallows, rooks, and stares ; As well as earth — vines, roses, nettles, melons, Mushrooms, pinks, gilliflowers, and many millions Of other plants, more rare, more strange than these. As very fishes living in the seas ; As also rams, calves, horses, hares, and hogs, Wolves, urchins, lions, elephants, and dogs ; Yea, men and maids ; and, which I most admire, The mitred bishop and the cowled friar j Of which, examples, but a few years since, Were shown the Norway and Polonian prince.
These seem to be wonders, but have had so many con- firmations from men of learning and credit, that you need not doubt them ; nor are the number nor the various shapes of fishes more strange or more fit for contemplation than their different natures, inclinations, and actions ; concerning which I shall beg your patient ear a little longer.^^
The cuttle-fish will cast a long gut out of her throat, which, like as an angler doth his Hne, she sendeth forth and puUeth in again at her pleasure, according as she sees som.e little fish come near to her ; and the cuttle-fish, being then hid in the gravel, lets the smaller fish nibble and bite the end of it, at which time she by little and little draws the smaller fish so near to her, that she may leap upon her, and then catches and devours her; and for this reason some have called this fish the sea-angler.
And there is a fish called a hermit, that at a certain age gets into a dead fish's shell, and like a hermit dwells there alone, studying the wind and weather, and so turns her shell that she makes it defend her from the injuries that they would bring upon her.
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There is also a fish called, by ^lian/ in his ninth book of Living Creatures, chap. i6, the Adonis, or darling of the sea ; so called because it is a loving and innocent fish, a fish that hurts nothing that hath life, and is at peace with all the numerous inhabitants of that vast watery element : and truly I think most anglers are so disposed to most of man- kind.
And there are also lustful and chaste fishes, of which I shall give you examples.
And first Du Bartas says of a fish called the sargus ; which, because none can express it better than he does, I shall give you in his own words ; supposing it shall not have the less credit for being in verse ; for he hath gathered this and other observations out of authors that have been great and industrious searchers into the secrets of nature.
The adulterous sargus doth not only change
Wives every day, in the deep streams, but, strange !
As if the honey of sea-love delight
Could not suffice his raging appetite,
Goes courting she-goats on the grassy shore,
Homing their husbands that had horns before.
And the same author writes concerning the cantharus that which you shall also hear in his own words :
But, contrary, the constant cantharus Is ever constant to his faithful spouse ; In nuptial duties spending his chaste life ; Never loves any but his own dear wife.
Sir, but a little longer, and I have done.
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Ven. Sir, take what liberty you think fit, for your dis- course seems to be music, and charms me to an attention.
PiSC. Why then, Sir, I will take a liberty to tell, or rather to remember you what is said of turtle-doves : first, that they silently plight their troth, and marry ; and that then the survivor scorns, as the Thracian women are said to do, to outlive his or her mate, and this is taken for a truth ; and if the survivor shall ever couple with another, then not only the living but the dead, be it either the he or the she, is denied the name and honour of a true turtle-dove.*! ^^
And to parallel this land rarity, and teach mankind moral faithfulness, and to condemn those that talk of religion, and yet come short of the moral faith of fish and fowl ; men that violate the law affirmed by St. Paul, Rom. ii. 14, 15, to be writ in their hearts, and which he says shall at the last day condemn and leave them without excuse; I pray hearken to what Du Bartas sings, for the hearing of such conjugal faith- fulness will be music to all chaste ears, and therefore I pray hearken to what Du Bartas sings of the mullet.
But for chaste love the mullet hath no peer ; For if the fisher hath surprised her pheer [mate], As mad with woe, to shore she followcth, Prest to consort him both in life and death.
On the contrary, what shall I say of the house cock, which treads any hen, and then, contrary to the swan, the partridge, and pigeon, takes no care to hatch, to feed, or to cherish his own brood, but is senseless, though they perish.
And it is considerable that the hen, which, because she also takes any cock, expects it not, \/ho is sure the chickens be her own, hath by a moral impression her care and affection
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to her own brood more than doubled, even to such a height that our Saviour, in expressing His love to Jerusalem, Matt, xxiii. 37, quotes her for an example of tender affection; as His Father had done Job for a pattern of patience.
And to parallel this cock, there be divers fishes that cast their spawn on flags or stones, and then leave it uncovered and exposed to become a prey and be devoured by vermin, cr 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 labour, both the spawner and the melter, to cover the spawn with sand, or watch it, or hide it in some secret place, unfrequented by vermin or 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, " 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 prudent 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.
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and by their powerful eloquence to beget faith in the unbe- lieving 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 everlasting life : this was the employ- ment 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 secondly, He found that the hearts of such men by nature were fitted for contemplation and quietness ; men of mild, and sweet, 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 call from their irrcprovable 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, Acts 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 Him company at His Transfiguration, that those three were all fishermen. And it is to be believed, that all the other apostles, after they betook themselves to follow Christ, betook themselves to be fishermen too ; for it is certain, that the greater number of them were found together fishing by Jesus after his Rcsur-
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rection, as it is recorded in the 2ist chapter of St. John's Gospel, ver. 3 and 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 express 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 ap- pointment, 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 was a shepherd, were both anglers ; for you shall in all the Old Testament find fish-hooks, I think, but twice men- tioned : namely, by meek Moses the friend 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 pro- phet, and compare it with the high, glorious, eloquent style of the prophet Isaiah (though they both be 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
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all fishers, with the glorious language and high metaphors of St. Paul, whom we may believe was not.
And for the lawfulness of fishing : it may very well be maintained 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 much use in other nations. He that reads the voyages of Ferdinand 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 Scripture, 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 forbidden to churchmen, as being, a turbulent, toilsome, perplexing recreation ; and shall find angling allowed to clergymen, as being a harmless recrea- tion, a recreation that invites them to contemplation and quietness.
I might here enlarge myself by telling you what com- mendations our learned Perkins"^ bestows on angling ; and how dear a lover, and great a practiser of it our learned Doctor Whittaker 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 1 also take to have been ornaments to the art of angling.
Tlie first is Doctor Nowel,^ sometime Dean of thd
c
66
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cathedral church of St. Paul's in London, where his monu- ment stands yet undefaced : a man that in the Reformation of Queen Elizabeth, not that of Henry VIII., 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 catechism which is printed with our good old service-book. I say, this good old man was si dear lover and constant practiser of angling, as any age can produce ; and his custom was to
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spend, besides his fixed hours of prayer (those hours whichj by command of the Church, were enjoined the clergy, and voluntarily dedicated to devotion by many primitive Christians) ; I say, besides 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 life 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 became a church- man. 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 Brazenose College ; to which he was a liberal bene- factor. In which picture he was drawn, leaning on a desk, with his Bible before hirn, and on one hand of him his lines, hooks, and other tackling lying in a round ; and on his other hand arc his angle-rods of several sorts ; and by them this is written, "That he died 13 Feb., 1601, being aged 95 years, 44 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 or useless." 'T is said, that angling 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 under-valuer of money, the late Provost of Eton College, Sir Henry Wotton — a man with whom I have often fished and conversed, a
6 — 2
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man whose foreign employments in the service of this nation, and whose experience, learning, wit, and cheerful- ness, 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, "'Twas 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 sadness, 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 humility, which has a calmness of spirit, and a world of other blessings 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 cohabit 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 pre- sent pleasure that possessed him, as he sat quietly in a summer's evening, on a bank, a-fishlng. It is a description of the spring; which, because it glided as soft 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 seem'd in love ; The lusty sap began to move ; Fresh juice did stir th' embracing vines ; And birds had drawn their valentines.
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The jealous trout, that low did lie,
Rose at a well-dissembled fly ;
There stood my friend, with patient ski!!,
Attending of his trembling quill ;
Already were the eaves possess'd
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 ;
'*Vhere, for some sturdy foot-ball swain,
Joan strokes a syllabub or twain.
The fields and gardens were beset
With tulips, crocus, violet ;
And now, though late, the modest rcse
Did more than half a blush disclose. Thus all looks gay and full of cheer, To welcome the new-livery'd year.
These were the thoughts that then possessed the undis- turbed 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 t 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 t' embrace.
And others spend their time in base excess
Of wine, or worse, in war and wantonness.
Let them that list, these pastimes still pursue, And on such pleasing fancies feed their fill ;
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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 culvcrlscys.
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 ey25
The watery clouds that, in the air up-rolFd, With sundry kinds of painted colours fly;
And fair Aurora, lifting up her head.
The hills and mountains raised from the plains, The plains extended level with the ground ;
The grounds divided into sundry veins.
The veins enclos'd 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 v/ide and long,
Adorn'd 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 intermix'd, 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 ihey be I
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Framing thereof an inward contemplation To set his heart from other fancies free ;
And whilst he looks on these with joyful eye. His mind is wrapt above the starry sky.
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 the sight of the Thatched House. And I must be your debtor, if you think it worth your attention, for the rest of my promised dis- course, 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 shewed it me. But now we are at it, we '11 turn into it, and refresh ourselves with a cup of drink, and a little rest.
PiSC. Most gladly. Sir, and we '11 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, of which number I am now willing 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 profess 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.
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PiSC. 'T is a match, Sir ; I '11 not fail you, God willing, to be at Amwell Hill to-morrow morning before sunrising.
APPENDIX I.
HistoricalNotes.
• The Thatched House at Hoddesdon is stated by the Rev. Moses Brown to be seventeen miles from London by the Ware Road. It is now quite unknown, but it is supposed that a thatched cottage, once distinguished by the sign of the Buffalo's Head, standing at the farther side of Hoddesdon, on the left of the road in going towards Ware, was the actual building. — Major.
^ A house built by Lord Burleigh in Herts, and by his son, an Earl of Salisbury, exchanged with James I. for Hatfield House. — Ephemera.
" Mr. Ralph Sadler was the grandson of Sir Ralph Sadler, so conspicuous in the reigns of Henry VIII. and Queen Elizabeth. " He delighted much in hawking and hunting, and the pleasures of a country life ; was famous for his noble table, his great hospitality, and his abundant charity to the poor." — Hawkins*
^ Mr. George Sandys, a very pious, learned, and accomplished gentleman, was the youngest son of Dr. Edwin Sandys, Archbishop of York. He published his " Travels to the Holy Land, Egypt," in folio, 1615 (frequently reprinted), and made an excellent Para- phrase on the Psalms, Canticles, and Ecclesiastes, in verse ; and also translated Ovid's " Metamorphoses," Grotius's " Tragedy of Christ's Piwsion," i2mo., 1640, &c. He died in 1642. — H.
7.3
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^ Markham, in his " Country Contentments," has a whole chap- ter on the subject of the "Angler's Apparel and Inward Qualities/' some of which are — " That he be a general scholar, and seen in all the liberal sciences ; as a grammarian, to know how to write or discourse of his art in true and fitting terms. He should," says he, "have sweetness of speech, to entice others to delight in an exercise so laudable. He should have strength of argument, to defend and maintain his profession against envy and slander." — H.
"A man would think, now, that with proper habits, good tackle in his pannier, and so much science in his head, our angler would stand a pretty good chance to catch fish ; but, alas ! those are little to the purpose, without the Christian virtues oi faith, hope, and charity; and unless two at least of the cardinal virtues can be per- suaded to go a-fishing, the angler may as well stay at home ; for hear what Mr. Markham says as \o fortitude: 'Then must he be strong and valiant ; neither to be amazed with storms nor affrighted with thunder ; and if he is not temperate, but has a gnawing sto- mach that will not endure much fasting, but must observe hours, it troubleth the mind and body, and loseth that delight which maketh the pastime only pleasing.' " — H.
' Dr. Peter du Moulin, Prebendary of Canterbury, and chaplain to Charles II. He was author of several pieces on the Romish controversy. — H.
^ John Valdesso, who wrote in Spanish "The Hundred-and- Ten Considerations of Signor Valdesso," which was translated into English by Nicolas Farrar. Oxford, 1638, small 4to, — H.
^ From cooling sulphuretted hydrogen gas. — Rennie.
* Meric, son of Isaac Casaubon, born at Geneva in 1599, but educated at Oxford, was, for his great learning, preferred to a pre- bend in the cathedral of Canterbury, and the rectory of Ickham, near that city. Oliver Cromwell would have engaged him by a pension of ,^^300 a year to write the history of his time, but Cas-
HISTORICAL NOTES, 75
aubon refused it. Of many books extant of his writing, that mentioned in the text is one, viz., "Of CreduUtie," &c., Lond. 1668, p. 143. He died in 1671, leaving behind him the character of a rehgious man, loyal to his prince, exemplary in his life and conversation, and very charitable to the poor. — Wood's "Athen. Oxon."— H.
^ There were three of the Tradescants, grandfather, fiither, and son : the son is the person here meant ; the two former were gardeners to Queen Elizabeth, and the latter to King Charles I. They were all great botanists, and collectors of natural and other curiosities, and dwelt at South Lambeth in Surrey, and, dying there, were buried in Lambeth churchyard. His house, known by the name of Turret House, still remains, and is in the occu- pation of Charles Bedford, Esq. Mr. Ashmole contracted an acquaintance with the last of them, and, together with his wife, boarded at his house for a summer, during which Ashmole agreed for tlie purchase of Tradescant's collection, and the same was conveyed to him by a deed of gift from Tradcscant and his wife. Tradescant soon after died, and Ashmole was obliged to file a bill in Chancery for the delivery of the curiosities, and succeeded in his suit. Mrs. Tradescant, shortly after the pronouncing of the decree, was found drowned in her pond. This collection, with wliat additions he afterwards made to it, Mr. Ashmole gave to the University of Oxford, and so became founder of the Aslimolean Museum. A monument to the three Tradescants, very curiously ornamented with sculptures, is to be seen in Lambeth churchyardj and a representation thereof, in four plates, and also some par- ticulars of the family, are given in the " Philosophical Transac- tions," vol.- Ixiii., Part I., p. 79, et seq. The monument, by the contribution of some friends, to their memory, was, in the year 1773, repaired ; and the following lines, formerly intended for an epitaph, inserted thereon:
Know, stranger, ere thou pass, beneath this stone Lie John Tradescant, grandsire, father, son.
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The last dy'd in his spring ; the other two
Liv'd till they had travell'd art and nature thro' ;
As by their choice collections may appear,
Of what is rare in land, in seas, in air ;
Whilst they (as Homer's Iliad in a nut)
A world of wonders in one closet shut.
These famous antiquarians — that had been
Both gardeners to the Rose and Lily queen —
Transplanted now themselves, sleep here. And when
Angels shall with their trumpets waken men,
^.nd fire shall purge the world, these hence shall rise,
And change their gardens for a Paradise.
The Tradescants were the first collectors of natural curiosities in this kingdom ; Ashmole and Sir Hans Sloane were the next. — H.
I' Ashmole was, at first, a solicitor in Chancery ; but marrying a lady with a large fortune, and being well skilled in history and antiquities, he was promoted to the office of Windsor Herald, and wrote the " History of the Order of the Garter," published in 1672, in folio. But addicting himself to the then fashionable studies of chemistry and judicial astrology, and associating himself with that enthusiast, John Aubrey, Esq., of Surrey, and Lilly the astrologer, he became a dupe to the knavery of the one and the follies of both, and lost in a great measure the reputation he had acquired by this and other of his writings. Of his weakness and superstition he has left on record this memorable instance : "nth April, 1681, I took, early in the morning, a good dose of elixir, and htrng three spiders about my neck; and they drove my ague away. Deo gratiasy — H.
^ Conrad Gesner, an eminent physician and naturalist, was born at Zurich in 1 5 1 6. His skill in botany and natural history procured him the appellation of the Pliny of Germany, and Beza, who kne\< him, scrupled not to assert that he concentred in himself the learning of Pliny and Varro. Nor was he more distinguished for
HISTORICAL NOTES. 77
his learning than esteemed and beloved for probity and sweetness of manners ; notwithstanding, he laboured under a pressure of poverty to a degree that compelled him to write for sustenance, and that in such haste, that his works, which are very numerous, are not exempt from marks of it. Besides a "Bibliotheca sive Catalogus Scriptorum Lat. Gr. et Heb. tam extantium quam non extantium, Tig. 1545 — 48," he wrote "Historia Animalium," and "De Serpentium Natura," to both of which works Walton frequently refers. He died in 1565. — H.
°» Guillaume Rondelet, an eminent physician, bom in Montpe- licr in Languedoc, 1507. He wrote several books, and a treatise, " De Piscibus Marinis," where all that Walton has taken from him is to be found. He died, very poor, of a surfeit occasioned by eating figs to excess, in 1666. — H.
^ Decius Ausonius, a native of Bordeaux; was a Latin poet, Consul of Rome, and preceptor to the Emperor Gratian. He died about 390. — H.
* Guillaume de Saluste, Sleur du Bartas, was a poet of great reputation in Walton's time. He wrote, in French, a poem called " Divine Weeks and Works " (a commentary on the creation of the world), whence the passage in the text, and many others cited in this work, are extracted. This, with his other delightful works, was translated into English by Joshua Sylvester, in folio, which is illus- trated with numerous fiue woodcuts. He is facetiously quoted in "Hudibras," in 1605, and is supposed to have given Milton the idea of his " Paradise Lost." — H.
' Claudius ^Elianus was born in Prgeneste in Italy, in the reign of the Emperor Adrian. He wrote " De Animalium Natura." — H.
** Of swans^ it is also said, that if either of a pair die, or be
78 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
otherwise separated from its mate, the other does not long survive ; and it is chiefly for this reason that the steaHng of swans is by our law made penal ; so as that " he who stealeth a swan, in an open and common river, lawfully marked, the same swan shall be hung in a house by the beak ; and he who stole it shall, in recompense thereof, give to the owner so much wheat as may cover all the swan, by putting and turning the wheat upon the head of the swan, until the head of the swan be covered with wheat." — Cope's " Reports," Part VII. The case of Swans.— H.
' Walton was a good Scrip turist, and therefore can hardly haVc been ignorant of the passage in Isaiah, chap, xix., ver. 8 : "The fishers shall mourn, and all they that cast angle upon the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish." — which words, as they do but imply the use oi fish-hooks^ he might think not directly to his purpose ; but in the translation of the above prophet by the learned Bishop Louth, who himself assures me that the word hook is truly rendered, the passage? stands thus :
" And the fishers shall mourn and lament ; All those that cast the hook in the river ; And those that spread nets upon the face of the waters shall languish."
The following passage Walton seems likewise to have forgotten when he wrote the above, unless the reason before assigned induced him to reject it : " They take up all of them with the angle^ they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag ; therefore they rejoice and are glad." — Hahbakkuk i. 15. — H.
* A traveller whose veracity is much questioned. — H.
* The account given by Plutarch is as follows : " It would be very tedious and trifling to recount all his follies, but his fishing must not be forgot. He went out one day to angle with Cleopalr.i,
HISTORICAL AOTES. 79
and being so unfortunate as to catch nothing in the presence of his mistress, he was very much vexed, and gave secret orders to the fishermen to dive under the water, and put fishes that had been fresh taken upon his hook. After he had dra^^^l up two or three, Cleopatra perceived the trick ; she pretended, however, to be sur- prised at his good fortune and dexterity ; told it to all her friends, and invited them to come and see him fish the next day. Accord- ingly, a very large company went out in the fishing-vessels, and as soon as Antony had let down his line, she commanded one of her servants to be beforehand with Antony's, and diving into the water, to fix upon his hook a salted fish, one of those which were brought from the Euxine Sea." — H.
" William Perkins was a learned divine, and a pious and painful preacher. Dr. William Whittaker, an able writer in the Romish controversy, and Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge. They both flourished at the latter end of the six- teenth century. I remark the extreme caution of our author in this passage ; foi he says not of Perkins, as he does of Whittaker, that he was a practiser of, but only that he bestows (in some of his writings, we must conclude) great commendations on angling. Perkins had the misfortune to want the use of his right hand, as we find intimated in this distich on him :
Dextera quantiumis fuerat tibi manca, docendi Pollcbas mira dexteritate tamen
(Though nature hath thee of thy right hand bereft, Right well thou writest with thy hand that 's left)
— and therefore can hardly be supposed capable of even baiting his hook.
The fact respecting Whittaker is thus attested by Dr. Fuller, in his "Holy State," book iii., chap. 13: "Fishing with an angle is to some rather a torture tlian a pleasure, to stand an h-»ur as mute as
8o THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
the fish they mean to take — yet herewithal Dr. Whittaker was much delighted."— H.
^ Dr. Alexander Nowel, a learned divine and a famous preacher in the reign of King Edward VI. ; upon whose death he, with many other Protestants, fled to Germany, where he lived many years. In 1561 he was made Dean of St. Paul's, and in 1601 died. The monument mentioned in the text was consumed in the Fire of London, but the inscription thereon is preserved in Stowe's " Survey." An engraving of the monument itself is in Dugdale's "History of St. Paul's Cathedral."— H.
Fuller, in his "Worthies" (Lancashire, page 115), has thought it worth recording of this pious and learned divine that he was accustomed to fish in the Thames; and having one day left his bottle of ale in the grass on the bank of the river, he found it some days after no bottle hut a gun, such the sound at the opening thereof. And hence he seems to derive the origin of bottled ale in England. — H.
General Notes.
» " Mews a hawk," — from the French. The moulting of hawks is termed " mewing," and particular care must be taken of them at this time. The enclosure of the country into fields has, amongst other things, put an end to the noble practice of hawking or falcomy, although several attempts have been made of late years to revive it.
* Otter -hunting is now confined to Wales and the northern
GENERAL NOTES. 8 1
counties and Scotland, where otters are still plentiful. Fishermen dislike the otter because he is a wasteful animal; he kills many more fish than he can eat, merely taking a tit-bit out of the shoulder — the " otter's bite " — and leaving the rest of the carcase. He is nocturnal in his habits, and is hunted in the summer at earliest dawn by hounds of a particular breed. The men are, of course, on foot. The excitement of running, wading, and swim- ming makes otter-hunting a sport to which I am very partial
5 This is " poetical licence."
* It is very rarely that fish die because the surface is covered with ice, even though it be so for many weeks, unless the water be very shallow and of limited extent. Fish have been known to live after being positively embedded in ice for some time.
* No birds will carry to and fro. The ordinary carrier-pigeon, when taken from a place to which it has been accustomed to a distance, and let loose, will fly back to such place, and of course carry any letter which may be tied to it. When a pigeon is cast off in a strange place, it soars high, wheeling in circles, and then makes straight off for its home.
" The hawks used in falconry are :
1. The gyr-falcon ; the best and largest are obtained from
Norway and Iceland.
2. The peregrine, very rare in England now.
3. The hobby, a plucky and elegant little bird.
4. The merlin, a small but bold hawk.
5. The goshawk, and
6. The sparrowhawk.
Both the latter are " short-winged " hawks, and very Httle used. The raven, the blood-red rook, and the French pye, are, of course, not hawks at all.
6
82 7'HE COMPLETE ANGLER.
^ " Fitchet " and " fulimart " (foul mart or smell) are two names for the polecat, an animal of the weasel tribe, very destructive to game, and still common. By " ferret" Walton probably means the weasel ; the mould-warp is the mole. The other " vermin " of this tribe common in England are the martens and the stoat.
8 Moses's directions are simply permtssory, not directory : *' These shall ye eat : whatsoever hath fins and scales," and not those fish without (Leviticus xi. 9, 10).
• Some of Walton's editors have laughed at him for his credulity; but there are wonders as great as those which he mentions, which are undoubted facts — witness the geysers, petrifying springs, &c.
^^ "Ephemera," in his edition of Walton, says that the state- ments with respect to the cuttle-fish, and others which follow, have no foundation in fact. He apparently was not aware of the exist- ence of the " fishing frog " {Lophius piscatorius)^ which has two long thin rays proceeding from the top of its head, which look like long silvery worms. This fish " lying on the bottom, stirs up the mud with its fins, and, thus concealed, elevates its bait-like appen- dages, moving them temptingly to and fro, until a sufficient number of curious spectators or intending diners have collected, when it opens its immense mouth and swallows them all." — Pennell.
So does the Silums glanis and the " star-gazer." The hermit or " soldier-crab " lives in the cast-off shells of other fish, changing his house for a bigger one as he grows in size.
11 It is a very common thing when a pair of birds are kept in captivity, and one of them dies, for the other to refuse food and pine away.
12 As a rule, when fish have deposited their spawn, they take no further care of it. but leave it to its fate. The Silurus glaftis, which
PRACTICAL ESSAY. 83
is a huge loach-like kind of fish found in continental waters, is a notable exception to this rule, for the male (not the female) watches the eggs most jealously for several weeks. The stickleback builds a nest for its eggs, and guards it well
Practical Essay.
This is a fit place for a few observations on the natural histor/ of fishes, or " Ichthyology."
Vertebrate animals (animals with a backbone) are divided into four classes, of which the last is the great group of Fishes. It is undoubtedly the largest group of all, and is broadly divided into two series: the bony fishes — those which have a bony skeleton; and the cartilaginous fishes, whose skeletons are of cartilage or gristle.
The first series is divided into six orders : Order I. has \^ families.
II. ,, 5 M
HI. ,, 3 »
IV. „ I „
V. „ I „
VI. „ 2 „
Series II. is divided into two orders :
Order I. has 2 families. II. » 2 „ These families are further divided into genera and sj^ecies. Our British fresh-water fishes only extend over a small section of the group thus classified. The annexed table will show at a glance the names and number of such fishes. (See pp. 84, 85.)
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S6 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
It will be seen that there are about fifty species of fresh -water fish which the angler may catch with a rod and line ; many, how- ever, are rare, and need only be mentioned incidentally.
It is needless to observe that fishes live in water ; but there are still many who do not know that fishes breathe air^ as will be seen by the following sketch of their structure and habits.
On each side of the neck you will observe bony plates of an arch-like shape, to which pouch fringes are attached : these are the gillsy by which fish breathe. The water passes in at the mouth and out at the gills ; but in its passage it impinges against the fringes, which consist of innumerable blood-vessels, and by this means the oxygen in the water \% filtered and conveyed to the lungs of the fish.
Fishes are enabled to float by means of an air-bladder in their interior. Some species, however, do not possess this apparatus; but as they are nearly of the same specific gravity as the water, the want of this air-bladder may be no great inconvenience. They are propelled through the water by means of the tail, and assisted and balanced by the fins.
The fins on either side of the breast are called the pectoral fins ; those on the back dorsal fins ; on the belly ventral fins ; that behind the vent the aural fin, and the tail the caudal fin.
The teeth are placed in various portions of the mouth and throat, according to the necessities of the species.
The scales, with which fish are covered as with armour, are very beautiful objects under the microscope.
The temperature of fishes is, as a rule, very little above that of the water they inhabit.
Fishes have keen sight, fair hearing powers, small taste, acute smell, and very little feeling or sensitiveness to pain. There are numerous instances on record of the indifference fish appear to have to injuries which would cause great pain to animals of a higher organization.
Finally, fishes lay eggs (spawn) on weeds, or in furrows in the gravel, which are covered over, and remain until they are hatched in due course. The male fish has the milt, or soft roe, and the
PRACTICAL ESSAY.
^7
female the hard roe. When the female spawns, the male fecundates the spawn with his milt. The productiveness of fishes is enormous : in a carp of ten pounds in weight Schneider found 700,000 eggs.
CHAPTER II.
OBSERVATIONS OF THE OTTER AND CHUB.
Ven. 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, chequered with water-lilies and lady- smocks ;i 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
88
THE OTTER AND CHUB. 89
us compliment no longer, but join unto them. Come, honest Venator, let us 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 1
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 is the skin worth }
Hunt. It 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.
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 ques- tion 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 a hundred
90 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 Sweetlips 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.
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 Sweetlips has her ; hold her, Sweetlips ! 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
THE OTTER AND CHUB. 91
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. Nicholas 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 alehouse, 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 company.
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 you begin to fish }
PiSC. We are not yet come to a likely place, I must walk a mile farther 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 ?
92 THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
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 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 L, and the like in Richard IL, may see several provisions 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 otherwise, there could not be so many nets and fish, that are under the statute size, sold daily amongst us ; and of which the conservators 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
THE OTTER AND CHUB. 93
nature that Almighty God hath in the Levitical law made a law against it (Deut. xii. 6, 7).
But the poor fish have enemies enough besides such un- natural fishermen, as namely, the otters that I spake of, the cormorant, 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 might make a just quarrel, but I will not ; I will leave them to be quarrelled with and killed by others ; for I am not of a cruel nature, I love to kill no- thing 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 conceits 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 com- panion 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 man 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 infects 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 re- quired at the last great day. Well ! you know what example
94 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 civility :
Many a one Owes to his country his religion ; And in another would as strongly grow, Had but his nurse or mother taught him so.
This is reason put into verse, and worthy the consider- ation of a wise man. But of this no more ; for though I love civility, 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 likely place for a trout hereabout ; and we staid so long to take leave of your hunts- men this morning, that the sun is 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 '11 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 biggest 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
772^^ OTTER AND CHUB. 95
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.
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 alehouse, 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 hand- some 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 hungry, 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, you shall quickly be at rest, for yonder is the house I mean to bring you to.
Come, hostess, how do you t Will you first give me 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 instantly.
q6 the complete angler.
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 ?
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 t
Ven. Trust me, 't is as good meat as I ever tasted : 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 t You are so modest that methinks 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 will 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 angler yet knows.
APPENDIX II.
Historical Note.
» About the year 1770 — upon the trial of an mdictment, before me, at Hick's Hall — a basket was produced in evidence, contain- ing flounders that had been taken with unlawful nets in the river Thames, so small that scarce any one of them would cover a half- crown piece. The indictment was for an affray, and an assault on a person authorized to seize unstatutable nets ; and the sentence of the off"ender was a year's imprisonment in Newgate. — H.
General Notes.
1 The cardamine, which with its white flowers Is so lovely an ornament to the riverside meads in spring.
* The otter is, of course, a beast of the weasel and polecat
family.
' Herons fly farther for their meals than any other bird I know
of.
97
98 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
* The otter "vents" when he rises to the surface to breathe. He cannot remain long under water without breathing.
6 If only Walton's warning had been heeded, many a happy hunting-ground for the angler would have been spared from de- struction. Fishermen have selfishly killed the goose with the golden eggs. The fence months on the Thames are — for trout — from the loth September to the 25th January on the lower waters, and until the ist April on the upper; and for pike, roach, dace, chub, barbel, and gudgeon, the months of March, April, and May.
Salmon may not be caught with the net between ist September and ist February, or with the rod between ist November and ist February.
^ Salmon spawn in November and December. See note on the salmon, post.
7 The water-rat — or more properly speaking, the water-vole — is not an enemy of fish. Its diet is a vegetable one. It has often, however, to bear the sins of the common rat, which, when it establishes itself by the waterside, is destructive enough, I ask all anglers to spare the pretty water-vole.
Practical Essay.
Before giving instructions how to angle for particular fish, it will be well to speak of angling generally, reserving our note on the chub for the Appendix to the next chapter.
Angling may be broadly divided into three kinds : — Fishing on
PRACTICAL ESSAY. 99
or near the bottom with a bait ; spinning about mid-water or near the surface with a small fish, natural or artificial, as bait ; and fly- fishing at the surface with real or artificial flies. Before a man can fish he must have tackle, and the first essentials are the rod, reel, line, and hooks.
Rods vary in nature according to the kind of fishing to be pur- sued with them. Fly-fishing needs a flexible and pliant rod; bottom-fishing, one stouter; and spinning or trolling for pike, a very stiff and strong rod. If the angler has a limited purse, he had better consider what kind of fishing he must go in for, and buy his rod accordingly. If he lives among trout streams, a fly rod is what he requires, and the substitution of a stiffer top will enable him to fish worm with it. If he lives among slow rivers or lakes, he will probably want a bottom-fishing rod also, and the substitution of a short stiff top will turn it into a fair pike rod. General rods which seek to combine all requisites in one rod are in general a delusion and a snare.
Many woods are used in the making of rods ; the principal are hickory, greenheart, bamboo, and ash.
For a fly rod, and indeed all rods, ash for the butt, hickory for the middle joints, and greenheart for the top is a good combination. For bottom rods, bamboo is excellent.
Unless the angler is poor, he will find it better to go to a good tackle shop, and, stating what kind of fishing he wants the rod for, trust to the advice of the tradesman, and his own perception which rod suits his hand the best. Cheap rods, however, are a mockery, certain to fail their owner in time of need ; and for those who can- not afford to buy good ones, why, let them try and make one.
A single-handed trout fly rod should be from 12 to 13 feet long, according to the length and strength of the fisher : a double-handed rod is a little longer. Salmon rods are from 17 to 20 feet; pike 12 feet; and ordinary bottom rods 14 to 17 feet, or even more. Except on pike rods, the rings are made to fall flat ; but it is safer to have them always fixed upright, even on fly rods.
The reel on which the spare line is wound is usually of brass;
7 — 2
lOO THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
but in the Nottingham style of fishing the reel is of wood, and nms so freely on its axis that the line can be \kimym front the reel, which unrolls as the line passes through the rings.
Multiplying reels are a nuisance. Check reels, in which the reel is prevented from overrunning and so entangling the line, by con- cealed cog wheels which act as a check or break, are very useful. The check system has lately been applied to wooden reels in such a way that by simply moving a pin the wheel becomes a check reel or a free-running reel at the angler's pleasure. These reels, how- ever, are expensive, and the same result can be obtained by fasten- ing an india-rubber brake withaspring on to the ordinary Nottingham reel in such a way that it can be turned off or on the revolving rim as desired.
Lines are made of various materials. For salmon fishing loo yards of dressed silk 8 -plait line is necessary. For trout fly-fishing a mixture of hair and silk is said to be the best by some ; but it does not run freely through the rings, and a dressed silk line, finer than that used for salmon, is, I think, the best. Cotton lines, undressed, and made by the Manchester Twine Spinning Company, 2 1 Cor- poration Street, Manchester, are very much cheaper than silk line, and answer every purpose nearly as well. I use their make, dressed or undressed, for every description of fishing now, and I am well satisfied with them. They are excellent for bottom-fishing, except for the Nottingham style, when a very fine, light, though strong line of undressed silk is used.
" Dressed " lines are lines made waterproof. See Appendix, for directions how to dress lines.
Hooks are of various makes. The two best for striking and holding are the Sneck bend and the Pennell ; but for worm-fishing the " round " is the best, as a worm can be more easily threaded upon it.
Hooks are numbered according to their sizes, and the numbers run different ways, according to the fancy of the various makers. This makes it diflicult to refer to them by the numbers.
Between the reel-line and the hook is a longer or shorter piece
PRACTICAL ESSAY.
lOl
rynryrvnn
/ 1 /i / ! / // / -'
KIRBr LIMERICK
PCNNCLL 5PR0AT
of guf, a fine strong substance procured from the silkworm : the advantage of this is that it is less visible than the finest ordinary line, and the fish are not alarmed by it. For pike fishing, gimj>, which is silk whipped round with fine wire, is used, as it is not liable to be cut by the fish's teeth. Gut should be fine, round, even, and translucent.
Floats are used to buoy the bait at a proper distance from the bottom, and to indicate a bite. They are made of corks and quills.
Split shot are used to place on the line, about a foot above the hook, in order to sink it. Very fine lead wire is also used by
102
THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
wrapping it round the line, and it is, I think, an improvement on shot. It is sold by the Manchester Twine Spinning Company, mentioned above.
A landing-net is exceedmgly useful in landing large fish, for fish often break away with a last desperate effort, just as the angler is
DISGORGER, LANDING-NET, AND FLY-RETRIEVER.
about to seize them, or the bank may be so encumbered with weeds or bushes that they cannot be lifted out ; in such cases the landing- net may be slipped under them, and they may be lifted out with safety.
A^<^^is simply a large hook at the end of a handle, and is also used for landing fish by inserting the hook into the gills, or plung- ing it into the shoulder of the fish.
DRAG-HOOK.
CLEARING-RING.
A disgorgcr is a piece of bone or metal forked at one end, and
PRACTICAL ESSAY.
103
[
by its aid hooks which are fast in a lish's throat may be more easily extracted.
A cleari fig-ring is made of iron or brass, and is used to slip down the line if the hook is fast in some obstruction out of reach. By pulling on the cord attached to the ring, the line may be freed.
The drag-hook is also used for the same purpose.
A fishing-basket or a waterproof bag is necessary to carry one's
FISHING-BASKET.
WATERrROOF EAG.
fish in ; and for fishing with live bait, a bait-can is requisite to carry the small fish or minnows in. Plummets are used to sound the depth of the water in which you
104
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
are fishing, so as to know how to adjust the float. They are sus- pended to the hook, and the line is dropped into the water — various trials being made with the position of the float until it is of the right depth.
A
K pocket-book^ in which to carry hooks, &c., is also necessary.
The various kinds of tackle mil be more particularly described in the essays on the various fish.
Next to tackle come baits. The following is a table of those usually used :
Worms are the bait in most general use for bottom-fishing.
PRACTICAL ESSAY.
105
POCKET-BOOK.
Before use they should be scoured by being kept in clean damp moss for several days. This makes them brighter and tougher. The varieties of worms are as follows :
The lob-worm is the large worm common in garden soils. The easiest method of obtaining a quantity is to go into the garden after dark with a light, and if after a shower of rain so much the better. You must move very gently, and you will see numbers lying stretched at full length on the earth or grass. Press your finger suddenly on their tails, and then you can pick them up easily. If you attempt to catch hold of any other part of them, they with- draw themselves into their holes, tails first, with great rapidity.
The red worm is pink in colour, and is smaller than the lob- worm. It is found in heaps of manure or decaying vegetable matter.
The brandling is a yellow worm ringed with red, and is found in dung-heaps and tan-heaps. It is a nasty-smelling worm to handle, but a very killing bait.
If moss is not procurable for scouring worms, tea-leaves are an excellent makeshift.
Wasp grubs J or the larvse of the wasp found in its subterraneous nests, are a most excellent bait, especially for trout and chub. They should be half dried or baked in a slow oven or before the fire, and kept in a cool place on dry straw, where they will keep good for a long time.
I06 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
Gentles or the maggots of the house-flies are a capital bait for most fish. They may be bought at the tallow-chandler's, or picked up for nothing ; but the best way is to breed them from liver. A piece of liver is hung up in the sun for a few days, and will get well fly-blown. Then put it in a pot or pan in a cool place, and the eggs will hatch, and in a few days the gentles will be full grown. They should be scoured in sand or bran before being used. They are also a good bait when they turn into the chrysalis state, but
are difficult to keep on the hook. Gentles may be kept for winter use by burying the vessel containing them and their food in the earth, in a dry place. The accompanying illustration shows a very good form of box to carry gentles in. They can be shaken on to the little tray for selection.
Caddis is the larva of certain water-flies. It inhabits little cylindrical cases of straw or small gravel glued together, and crawls along the bottom of the stream.
Caterpillars, snails, and slugs are used with success at times.
The creeper or larva of the stone-fly, found under stones in the water, is a deadly bait for trout when fresh.
Cockchafers, cockroaches, and beetles of all kinds are also good baits, as 2xq frogs, large and small.
Greaves or scratchings is the refuse from the tallow-chandler's made into hard cakes, which must be broken up and scalded before being used.
PRACTICAL ESSAY. 10/
Flies of all kinds.
Small fish for pike, minnows for trout and perch.
Pearl barley, boiled until it is soft enough for the hook to penetrate, is a capital bait for roach, as are boiled wheat and barley.
Cheese is a good bait for chub, barbel, and carp.
Shrimps (boiled) are good for salmon and perch.
Paste is a very favourite bait for roach, dace, carp, and other fish. It may be made in various ways. The crumb of new white bread, worked up, with clean hands, into a sticky paste, is as good as any. It may be coloured with vermilion, and sweetened or flavoured with honey or shrimp paste, or anything the angler fancies. Plain white paste made from Huntley and Palmer's biscuits is what a successful angler of my acquaintance swears by.
Artificial flies, minnows, dXi^fish are after\vards referred to.
Fish spawn of any kind is an illegal bait.
For the purpose of attracting fish to a given spot, where the angler may fish for them with greater chances of success, ground- bait is used. This is thrown in the day before, if possible; for time should be allowed the fish to get hungry again after partaking of it, when a little thrown in occasionally, while the angler is fishing, will keep them together.
Grains, soaked bread, broken worms, greaves, anything that fish will eat, may be used as ground-bait, so that it is inferior in quality to the bait the angler is fishing with.
Where there is a current the ground-bait should be kneaded into balls, and thrown so that it falls to the bottom and breaks up at the spot where you mean to fish.
And now, as a prelude to the instruction afterwards conveyed, let us carefully note the proceedings of a bottom-fisher at work by the side of a slow-nmning stream, where most bottom-feeding fish may be met with.
He has not had the time or the opportunity of ground-baiting the spot the day before, so he soaks a small loaf of bread in a little sand-pool while he is putting his tackle together. Then, squeezing a handful of it, he throws it in the river a little higher up than the
io8
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
spot he means to fish, so that it reaches the bottom opposite to him. His rod is put together so that the rings are all in a line ; the reel is on the under-side of the rod, with the handle to the left. He puts the line through the rings, and draws out a rod's length. He then puts the float on the line with the cap uppermost ; to the line he attaches a 4-feet length of gut with a medium-sized hook, on or
just above which are three or four shot. He baits with a red worm, and having found the depth of the water, he adjusts the float so that the worm will hang about four inches from the bottom. Then he casts gently in at the upper end of the pool, and watches the float as it swims gently down with the current. Suddenly it dips a little, then goes under with a dash. He strikes, and whisks a small perch out. At the next swim he hooks a larger fish, which it would not be wise to jerk out, so he brings it within reach of his landing-net, and sweeps it out with that.
Perhaps, however, he adopts a more scientific and deadly way of fishing, /.d, with a Nottingham reel and line, and a slider float.
The Nottingham reel runs very freely, and a fine undressed silk line is used with it. The slider float is made after this fashion : it has rings at both ends, and slides freely up and down the line.
PRACTICAL ESSAY.
109
except that it is prevented from slipping down to the hook by the shots, and the Hne is prevented from running down through the rings when the float is on the water by a piece of stick, or better, elastic, tied on to the line at any chosen depth. This con- struction is to enable the angler to make a long throw, and in deep water to en- able him to wind up his line without the float being stopped against the Xo^ ring of his rod.
Taking the rod in his right hand, with as much line out as he can throw, he draws more line out from the reel above the first ring, the float resting on the shots ; then swinging the bait out, he lets go the line, and the bait is pitched twice as far as it would be by the ordinary method. When the float falls on the water, the line nms through its rings until stopped by the piece of elastic, and the bait sinks a corresponding depth in the water. As the float travels down stream, the angler, by easing the line off the reel, can let it go as far as he likes, thus having a longer swim than he can have with the ordinary float-fishing.
So much for the general principles of bottom-fishing. In the Appendix to the next chapter we will give particular directions as to the chub.
NOTTINGHAM REEL.
DACE AND CHUC
CHAPTER III.
HOW TO FISH FOR, AND TO DRESS, THE CHAVENDER, OR CHUB.
PiSC. The Chub, though lie 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 " tm 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
110
THE CHUB. Ill
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 humour 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 keeping after he is dead, that I can compare him to nothing so fitly as to cherries newly gathered from a tree, and others that have 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 labour, 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
112 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 Hked so well and com- mended 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 remember 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 float- ing 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 on 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 likely the chubs will sink down towards the bottom of the water, at the first shadow of your rod (for 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 your- self in a fit place, may very easily see), and move your rod as softly as a snail moves, to that chub you intend to catch ;
THE CHUB. 113
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 scarce 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 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 evening : 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
8
114 THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
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 live 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 barbel, the gudgeon, and carp, and divers others have ; and the hook being stuck into the leather or skin, or the mouth of such fish, does very seldom or never lose its hold ; but, on the contrary, 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 sure 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 ofi*er your first-fruits to the poor, who will both thank you and God 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 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
THE CHUB. 115
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 ordinarily found by the mower of it. In August and 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 colour. And some make a paste, for the winter months, at which time the chub is ac- counted 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 bottom. 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 chcven, 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 com- mend to your consideration how curious former times have been in the like kind.
You shall reud 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
8 — 2
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
end they did usually keep them living in glass bottles in their dining-rooms ; and they did glory much in their enter- taining 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 colours 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.
APPENDIX III. Practical Essay.
THE CHUB.
Walton was a good chub fisher, and his directions are still valu able.
The chub is a fish well worth the catching (though not the eating),
for he affords good sport. It is common in most rivers, and grows
to a good weight, four and six pounds being not an uncommon
weight, and I have seen a chub caught in the Severn, with a net,
'which was said to weigh nine pounds, and looked fully that weight.
lit spawns in April and May, and afterwards selects the sharp streams
to cleanse itself and recruit, where it may be easily caught by fly-
ifishing with largish flies, of the black and red palmer type, having
'plenty of bushy hackle upon them, but almost any fair-sized stout
ly will do. As the summer advances the chub takes to the quietei
-vaters, and a very favourite place is the deepest water by a bank,
lilong which grows a fringe of bushes or trees. Here the chub
3asks on hot days in great numbers, and may be readily caught
ither by daping, fly-fishing, or bait-fishing, as mentioned afterwards.
n the late autumn it retires for the winter into still deeper and
[uieter pools, under campsheeting, near piles, lock-gates, sunken
oots, and similar harbours. In open weather, through the winter,
may be readily caught by bottom-fishing.
Once a chub-hole always a chub-hole is a true saying, and as the
Kts of the fish are well known in each river, ground-baiting over- 117
Il8 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
night is superfluous. A little ground-bait thrown in now and then while fishing will be sufficient to keep the fish together. The chub is a very shy and timid fish, and great quiet is advisable when angling for it.
In bottom-fishing for the chub you will require a stiffish rod, a few feet of strong though fine gut, a moderate-sized hook, and a buoyant float : the line should be shotted well, so as to sink at once to its proper depth, which is just to clear the bottom. Your line had best be the undressed silk line, with the wooden reel used in the Nottingham style ot fishing. Your bait may be worms, wasp grubs, cheese, slugs, snails, greaves — anything, in fact, so that there is plenty of it, for the chub likes a rich mouthful. Pith is a very killing bait, in winter-time especially. It is the spinal marrow of a bullock or cow, and is prepared for use by boiling for three or four minutes. Its accompanying ground-bait is the brains of any animal which the butcher kills, well washed, and boiled for about a quarter of an hour. Whatever the bait is, let it travel with the current, easing the line off" the reel until it has travelled as far as you can see the float well, or to the end of the hole. If you see it dip, strike, and strike at the end of a swim whether it dips or no.
The ledger-bait, as described in the Appendix relating to the barbelf may sometimes be used with advantage. Chub will often take a minnow, spinning or alive, but it is not a generally success- ful bait for them.
In the hot summer months, when the chub are lying under the bushes, fly-fishing for them is excellent sport. You must have a boat and an attendant to pull it, keep as far from the side where the chub are as you can throw your line, and drop quietly down stream, casting your fly, which should be a large, dark, and rough- bodied one, right to the edge of the boughs — if you can manage so that it touches the leaves, and falls on to the water from them, like a caterpillar, so much the better — and if the chub are there and on the feed, you should catch great nunabers of them. I have seen this mode of fishing practised on the Severn from a coracle, and I commend this conveyance to the luxurious Thames fishermen.
PRACTICAL ESSAY. 1 19
I hate having an attendant with me, and always like to " paddle my o\vn canoe," and the coracle is perfection for this kind of work.
You can dape or dib for chub with a cockchafer, bee, grasshop- per, or any large fly, and with a small frog. Stick your hook side- ways through the bee, or if you are afraid of his sting, try a cock- roach ; roll the line round the front of your rod, poke the latter through the bushes over where the chub are lying, and unroll the line by twisting the rod round until the fly touches the water, when the biggest chub will probably suck it in with his fat white lips, and then mind that he doesn't get you fast in the roots. In this way you may proceed dowTi the river, picking out the biggest fish. A very good plan is to bait with a tiny frog who has not long before cast off his tail and ceased to be a tadpole ; hook him gently (as if you loved him) through the skin of the back, have a small bullet on your line, about a foot above the hook, reel up your line until the bullet touches the top ring, push the rod through the branches as before, and let the bullet draw your line through the rings until the frog touches the water, where his efforts to swim away will pro- bably bring the biggest chub up to see what is the matter. For fly- fishing or daping for chub, select the calmest and hottest weather.
Blow-line fishing, as described in the Appendix on trout fishing, is also very killing.
Chub make rapid headway in a river when once introduced, and many of our best trout streams are being spoiled by their presence, for they take the place and the food from the nobler fish.
^c^
CHAPTER IV.
observations of the nature and breeding of the trout, and how to fish for him; and the milkmaid's song.
The 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 : a 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 precedency to him.
120
THE TROUT. 121
P 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 countries, as in Germany and in other parts, com- pared to ours, fish 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 you are further to know, that there be certain waters, that breed trouts remarkable both for their number and smallncss. I know a little brook in Kent that breeds them to a number incredible, 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 samlet, or skeggcr 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 salmon ; 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 colour ; and in their best season they cut very white ; and none of these have been known to
122 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 it is rather to be believed, be- cause 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.
^Concerning which you are to take notice, that it is re- ported by good authors, that grasshoppers, and some fish, have no mouths, 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, "to feed the young ravens that call upon Him." And they be kept alive and fed by 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 towns- men 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 Chichester 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 TROUT. 123
the fresh water ; and it may be 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 better climate than this ; 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 an angler sport, but either live their time of being in the fresh water, by their meat formerly got in the sea (not unlike the swallow or frog), or by the virtue of the fresh water only; or, as the birds of Paradise and the chamelion 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 the 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 con- sideration is, that the trout is of a more sudden growth than other fish. Concerning which, you are also to take notice.
124 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
that he Hves 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 now you are to take notice, that he is not Hke the crocodile, which if he lives never so long, yet always thrives 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 earth and the water, and made it fit for generation. And you are to note, that he continues many months out of season ; for it may be observed of the trout, that he is like the buck or the ox, that he will not be fat in many months, though he go in the very same 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- lice, which is a kind of worm, in shape like 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 him* self from them, which is when warm weather comes ; and
THE TROUT. 12$
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 caddis ; and these make the trout bold and lusty, and he is usually fatter and better meat at that end of that month [May] 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 Fordidge 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 little 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 ; 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 helmets 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
126 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
that one general name of spider. And it is so with many kinds of fish, and of trouts especially, which differ in their bigness and shape and spots and colour. 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 and 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 more 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 labour and your patience t
Ven. On my word, master, this is a gallant trout : what shall we do with him t
PiSC. Marry, e'en eat him to supper: we'll go to my hostess, from whence we came ; she told me, as I was going out of door, that my brother Peter, a good angler and a
THE TROUT. 127
cheerful companion, had sent word that 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 smells 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 have 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 silently towards their centre, the tem- pestuous sea ; yet sometimes opposed by rugged roots and pcbblc-stoncs, which broke their waves, and turned them
128 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 and other sights had so fully possessed my soul with content, that I thought, as the poet hath happily expressed it,
" I was for that time lifted above earth, And possess'd 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 milk- maid, 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 sang like a nightingale : her voice was good, and the ditty fitted for it : it was that smooth song which was made by Kit Marlow,^ now at least fifty years ago ; and the milkmaid's mother sang 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 persuade 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 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
THE TROUT. 1 29
hence, a grace of God, I *11 give you a syllabub of new ver- juice 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 all 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 ourselves still something in your debt ; it is but to sing us 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, Shepherds, deck your heads"? or, "As at noon Dulcina rested " ? or, " Phillida flouts me " ? or, " Chevy Chace " ? or, "Johnny Armstrong " ? or, " Troy Town " ?
PiSC. No, it is none of those ; it is a song that your daughter sang the first part, and you sang 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 daugh- ter ; 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 merry heart, and I '11 sing the second, when you have done.
THE MILKMAID'S SONG.*
Come, live with me, and be my love, And we will all the pleasures prove That valleys, groves, or hills, or field, Or woods and steepy mountains yield ;
130 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 Embroider'd 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 ;
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 my 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 Elizabeth did so often wish herself a milkmaid all the month of May, because they are not troubled with fears and cares, and 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
THE TROUT. 131
Overbury'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 MILKMAID'S MOTHER'S ANSWER.
If all the world and love were young, And truth in every shepherd's tongue. These pretty pleasures might we move To live with thee, and be thy love.
But Time drives flocks from field to fold, When rivers rage and rocks grow cold ; Then Philomel bccometh dumb. And age complains of care to come.
To wayward winter reckoning yields. A honey tongue, a heart of gal), Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall.
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 W^hich God hath bless'd, and sent for food.
But could youth last and love still breed — Had joys no date, or age no need — Then those delights my mind might move To live with thee, and be thy love.
132 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 sang last night, when young Coridon the shepherd played so purely on his oaten pipe to you and your cousin Betty.
Maud. I will, mother.
I married a wife of late, The more 's my unhappy fate ;
I married her for love,
As my fancy did me move, And not for a worldly estate ;
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.
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 "i 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.
APPENDIX IV.
Historical Notes.
a Gerard Mercator, of Ruremond, in Flanders, a man of so intense application to mathematical studies, that he neglected the necessary refreshments of nature. He engraved with his own hand and coloured the maps to his geographical atlas. He wrote several books of theology, and died 1594. — H.
^ 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, 1280. — H.
^ See Topsel on " Frogs." Edward Topsel was the author of a " History of Four-footed Beasts and Serpents," collected out of the works of Gesner and other authors, folio, Lond., 1658. In this history he describes the several kinds of frogs, and, in page 721 thereof, cites from Albertus the fact here related. — H.
^ Christopher Mario w was a poet of no small eminence in his day, as may be inferred from the frequent mention of him in the writings of his contemporaries. He was some time a student at Cambridge, and after that an actor on, and a writer for, the stage. There are extant of his writings five tragedies, and a poem that bears his name, entitled " Hero and Ixander," possibly a transla- tion from Musaeus, which he not living to complete, it was finished
133
134 THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
by Chapman. The song here mentioned is printed, with his name to it, in a collection entitled "England's Helicon," 4to., 1600, as is also the Answer, here said to be written by Sir Walter Raleigh, but there subscribed " Ignoto." Of Marlow it is said that he was the author of divers atheistical and blasphemous discourses ; and that in a quarrel mth a servingman, his rival in a connection with a lewd woman, he received a stab with a dagger, and shortly after died of the stroke. See Wood's " Athen. Oxon.," vol. i. 338, and also Beard's " Theatre of God's Judgments."— H.
* Dr. Warburton, in his notes on " The Merry Wives of Windsor," ascribes this song to Shakspeare. It is true that Sir Hugh Evans, in the third act of that play, sings four lines of it ; and it occurs in a collection of poems said to be Shakspeare's, printed by Thomas Cotes for John Benson, i2mo., 1640, with some variations. On the contrary, it is to be found with the name of Christopher Marlow to it in "England's Helicon;" and Walton has just said (p. 128) it was made by Kit Marlow. The reader will judge of these evidences as he pleases. As to the song itself, though a beautiful one, it is not so purely pastoral as it is generally thought to be ; buckles oigoldy coral clasps and a^nber studs, stiver dishes and ivory tables, are luxuries, and consist not with the parsimony and sim- plicity of rural life and manners. — H.
General Notes.
* The samlet is now proved to be the young of salmon. — See essay on salmon, post,
* In the following paragraphs Walton is greatly mistaken in his
GENERAL NOTES. 135
natural history. All that he says about grasshoppers and some fish having no mouths is totally wrong. So is his assertion anent the raven. No fish fasts entirely when in fresh water.
Bats are not birds, and are not migratory like swallows, but lie dormant all the winter, in holes, in trees, and caves. Swallows migrate, leaving us for a warmer clime in the autumn. Yet many instances have been known of swallows and martins hybernating through the winter, they being discovered alive packed away in dark holes. Probably these are late bred or weakly birds which are not equal to the fatigue of a long journey.
Frogs will live an incredible time without food or even air, but their mouths are not naturally " shut up."
Birds of Paradise live, as do other birds, and chameleons live upon insects, which they very cleverly shoot with their long tongues.
^ The caddis is a plump white or yellow grub, which lives in a sheath or case made of bits of stick, sand, or fine gravel, and creeps about the bottom of the river. It is a capital bait for trout and gudgeon. In Wales it is called " corbet." The fly proceeding from this grub is, however, not the May-fly, but some species of the Fhryganidce, which class includes the sand, sedge, and other flies of similar shape. The EphemercBy of which the May-fly is the best English representative, come from larvaj which are in shape something like the perfect fly, with a fringe down each side, six legs, and strong curved jaws. This larva lives at the bottom of the river in holes and under stones. It turns into the pupa state, and then into a fly, which in a short time throws off" a complete outer skin, and becomes the perfect May-fly or grey drake. It enjoys its brief dance in the sunshine, lays its eggs on the surface of the water, and dies.
* The long-tailed tit will lay nineteen or twenty eggs, but the wrens and other kinds of tits rarely more than a dozen. Out of the whole batch, too, there will often be three or four addled.
Practical Essay.
THE TROUT.
There is scarcely a river in England in which the trout is not to oe found. It is in greatest abundance in the mountain streams of the north and west, and of the largest size in the streams of the south of England. While a half-pound fish is considered a good one in the north, fish under that weight are turned back again in some southern streams; and while the angler in Coquet baskets six or seven dozen of fish in a day, three or four brace are accounted sufficient in the south. The Thames trout is caught up to twelve and fourteen pounds in weight, but there are not many of them.
Trout spawn in late autumn, and come into season about March, being best about June.
More has been written about trout fishing than any other kind ; and, indeed, there is so much to be said, that I find it difficult to compress into the short space at my command sufficient to give an adequate idea of this fine sport.
The commonest and most successful way of fishing for this beau- tiful fish is by fly-fishing. For this purpose your rod should be light, pliant, and springy ; your line either consisting of silk and horsehair, or fine dressed silk : the former is stiffer and better when out, but the latter runs better through the rings. Their advantages seem to me to be about equal. To the end of the running-line is attached a " cast " or " collar " of fine gut, about 7 feet long. To this are attached three artificial flies, one at the end called the " stretcher," and the others called " droppers," at invervals of 2 feet, suspended from the cast by short links of gut.
Of rods : there are double-handed rods about 16 feet in length, and single-handed rods for which 1 2 feet is a good length. A single- handed rod will suit most men best, and is more convenient for narrow streams.
136
PRACTICAL ESSAY. 1 3/
Before gut can be knotted with safety, it should be well moist- ened, otherwise it will crack. The cut shows some of the ways in which knots can be made, and the tyro can try which he can tie the neatest. To attach the droppers, make a knot at the end of the link, and if the cast is tied by the knot sho\vn in Fig. i, you have only to push the knots apart and insert the knot of the dropper between them, and then draw them together again.
Fig. I, Fig. 2.
I
Fig. 3-
You now have to throw your line on the river where the trout are. I quote from a little handbook of mine on fishing as under : " Make your first trials with a short line, gradually increasing the length as you become more proficient. First wet the cast in the water to take out the curls, then taking the rod in the right hand, just above the reel, wave it gently backwards towards the left or right shoulder (both ways should be practised) until the line is well stretched out behind, then bringing it back, describing somewhat of a circle in the air with the point of the rod, switch it rapidly forward, checking the motion before it becomes horizontal. This ought to pitch the line straight out over the water, and the motion being suddenly (but not foo suddenly) checked, the flies should fall on the stream de/ore the rest of the line. This latter perfection cannot always be attained ; but it is well to try for it, as the slight splash made by the line will, in clear water, startle the fish before the flies fall. Every motion should be made quickly, but not harshly, or you may jerk your flies off. Nothing but practice can make you perfect in fly-fishing. A single day in the company of an expert will teach you more than the most diligent reading. When
138 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
the flies are on the water let them float down stream, keeping the line on the stretch, and imparting to it a quivering kind of motion, so as to aid the deceptive appearance of the flies. A dimple on the water and a galvanic twitch will warn you of a rise, at which strike with a sharp jerk of the wrist upwards. If hooked, keep an even and steady strain on the fish, letting go no more line than is absolutely necessary. Wind up slowly, and, if possible, walk back- wards until your fish is landed. If small, he may be whipped out at once, but if large, a landing-net will be advisable.
" Opinions are divided as to whether it is best to fish up or down the stream. In fishing down stream the line is kept well stretched, and not an inch of water is wasted, which is not always the case when you fish up stream. In the latter case the line is sometimes doubled upon itself, and has to be cast more frequently to cover the same extent of water; but then, when you do strike, you do so in the proper direction, and there is no chance of pulling the fly away from the fish, for they always lie with their noses pointing up stream. On the whole, perhaps, it is most convenient to fish do\\Tiwards ; but that is impossible when you are fishing a small burn or mountain stream, where you must approach the fish from behind, if you do not wish to be at once seen and fled from.
" Where possible, have the sun in your face and the wind at your back ; but if you cannot have this, avoid, at all events, letting your shadow fall across the water, for nothing frightens fish so much. It is better to use a shorter line, and cast right in the teeth of the wind."
Fly-fishing is best up to the end of June, and then again in Sep- tember, just before the season closes. Trout will not rise at a fly when the water is much coloured after rain, and only very shyly when it is prematurely bright and clear on a hot day : worm-fishing is then the most successful. Between these extremes, however, sport may be had in all sorts of waters and in all sorts of weathers. A " southerly wind and cloudy sky " are held to be the best, but do not be afraid of an east wind and a bright sky, although one would not choose such a combination. You may have sport in the worst
PRACTICAL ESSAY.
139
weather, and you may have none in a day that, as far as appearance goes, you would have picked out of all the year.
With respect to flies, opinions differ most dreadfully. Every angler seems to have his own fancies on the subject. Until the tyro learns to have them also, he may be satisfied with the follow- ing:
Figs. T, 2, 3, and 4 are red or black hackles, and are very general favourites.
140
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
Fig. 5. Black gnat, very good for clear water.
6. Hare-leg.
7. Yellow Sally.
8. Oak-fly.
9. The caperer. 10. The winged palmer.
Mr. Francis Francis gives the following list of flies as sufficient for general purposes :
1 1. Green drake or May-fly.
1 2. Another pattern of same.
13. The stone-fly.
14. March brown.
15. Red spinner.
16. The winged larva.
Duns and spinners of various
shades. The March brown. The cow-dung.
The black gnat and quill gnat. The alder. Green drake. Coch y bonddu. Sedge-fly.
Red and black ants. The whirling dun.
The cinnamon. The willow-fly. White moth. The Francis. Whickham's fancy. The governor. The coachman. Hofland's fancy. The soldier palmer. The grouse and hackles.
partridge
Mr. Cholmondeley-Pennell, who is well known as a successful angler and writer upon angling, asserts that three flies of certain fancy patterns of his own invention are sufficient for all times and seasons. I have never tried his flies, but I mean to do so next year on the clear waters of Coquet ; but his theory that trout only look at the general resemblance in colours of the artificial fly to the prevailing insect, is borne out in my mind by the fact that, when I was a youngster, I used to fish in the Welsh streams all the season with only three flies — the March brown, blue dun, and coch y bonddu — and I was at least as successful as other fishermen^ Mr. Pennell's flies are respectively green, brown, and yelloH hackles. These flies may be obtained at the principal tackle shops.
In fishing with the dry fly, the angler waves his fly in the air ^ few times until it is dry and will float (the fly being specially c< structed), and casts where he sees the large fish rising.
1
PRACTICAL ESSAY.
141
Floating May-flies are also very killing.
Daping with the natural fly is also very successful, and the best way is to attach a long line of floss silk to your running line, and a short cast of finest gut armed with a small hook to that. You stand at the windward side of a river or lake, or in a boat, and let the light line belly out in the breeze, so that the fly just touches the water here and there. This is a very artistic and killing method, and is called blow-line fishing.
Min7iow-fishi)ig is very deadly to the trout, and the largest fish are generally killed by its means. The accompanying cuts will show the methods of baiting. The object of bending the body of the minnow is that it shall spin while it is being drawn through tbc water, so hiding the hooks and increasing the brilliancy and
142
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
attractiveness of the bait. Close by the bait, and also i8 inches above it, you should have a swivel, and above the top swivel a lead of the shape shown in the following cut.
The object of the swivels (which should be oiled after using) is to permit the bait to turn without twisting the line, and the lead is of the shape shown, in order that it may always remain with the heavier side downwards, and so force the swivels to act. Above the lead should be at least a yard of gut. The bait is cast in the streams and eddies as far as it can be thrown, and worked home J again with short " lifts," and you strike directly you feel a touch. "
When fresh minnows cannot be procured, salted ones will do.
Another form of minnow tackle is the " plodge," or drop-minnow, shown in the following cut. It is baited by means of a baiting- needle thrust in at the mouth and out at the tail, so that the lead
B
IS hidden in the fish. It is used after the fashion of a gorge bait (see pike fishing), but you strike at once. It is most useful in small streams where there are many obstructions.
When the natural bait cannot be procured, artificial minnows
PRACTICAL ESSAY. I43
may be used : Hearder's plano-convex minnows, and the " phan- tom," are the best.
Worm-fishing, when the water is thick with rain, needs no parti- cular skill, for the fish are usually well on the feed and cannot see the angler ; but in clear water it requires more skill than fly-fishing, and is often more deadly though not so pleasant. You require a long and stiffish rod, a cast of about 6 feet in length, and a medium- sized hook, very fine in the wire, and dressed on the finest drawn gut, with one or two shots a foot above the hook. Bait with a small red worm or brandling, fish up stream, either wading or from the bank, moving cautiously and quietly, taking extreme care not to be seen by the fish, and casting your worm something like a fly, and with a longish line, well in front of you. It should fafl lightly in the likely streams and eddies, just above the spot where the fish are likely to be, and then be allowed to run do^vn with the current, you keeping a taut line until it comes close to you, when you cast it again. Strike at any suspicious stoppage, and get your fish out as fast as possible.
I am aware that some authors do not like the single hook of fine wire ; but it is the best, as it has better penetrating qualities. A hook, fine from the point nearly to the bend, and stouter in the bend and shank, would be better if it could be procured. Look often at your hook, and replace it if it is bent or blunted.
The Sieivart tackle (see cut) is a favourite with many. I took
strongly to it for a time, but I missed so many fish which dropped off while swinging them out of the water, that I gave it up. Mr. Pennell's improvement is having two hooks instead of three, and those rather larger.
144
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
The hooks are just stuck through the worm, and ^t hangs from them in a very natural manner.
The large trout of the Thames are caught by spinning with a gudgeon or bleak. The tackle described as suitable for pike, but finer and dressed on gut, may be used ; but as this branch of fish- ing, as also that for the great lake trout, will not come within the reach of the ordinary angler, I will not dilate upon it.
Trout may also be caught with gentles, caddis, and many other baits.
I
CHAPTER V.
MORE DIRECTIONS HOW TO FISH FOR, AND HOW TO MAKE FOR THE TROUT AN ARTIFICIAL MINNOW L AND FLTES; WITH SOME MERRIMENT.
[©Ijirlr gag.]
PiSC. Well 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 that 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
145 10
14^ THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
together ; but I hope to fit him with a trout for his break- fast, for I '11 be early up.
PiSC. Nay, brother, you shall not stay 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 ; the drink which preserved their health, and made them live so long, and 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 tackling ; we will set him up and make him a fisher. And I will tell him one thing for his encouragement, that his fortune hath made him happy to be scholar to such a mast — a master that knows as much, both of the nature an breeding of fish, as any man ; and can also tell him as well how to catch and cook them, from the minnow to th^ salmon, as any that I ever met withal.
PiSC. Trust me, brother Peter, I find my scholar to be suitable to my own humour, which is, to be free and pie sant and civilly merry, that my resolution is to hide nothi that I know from him. Believe me, scholar, this is my r solution ; and so here 's to you a hearty draught, and to a that love us and the honest art of angling.
Ven. Trust me, good master, you shall not sow you seed in barren ground, for I hope to return you an increas answerable to your hopes ; but, however, you shall find m obedient and thankful and serviceable to my best ability
lib
I
i
HOW TO FISH FOR TROUT. 147
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 lily ; 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.
Peter. Yes, and so do I, we all thank you ; and when we have supped, I will get my friend Coridon to sing you a song for requital.
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 country- man's life : what will the rest sing of.-*
Peter. 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.
10 — 2
148 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
PiSC. 'T is a match, my masters : let 's e'en 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.
Peter. It is a match. — Look, the shortest cut falls to Coridon.
Cor. Well, then, I will begin, for I hate contention.
CORIDON'S SONG.
Oh, the sweet contentment j
The countryman doth find ! '
Heigh trololHe loUie loe,
Heigh trololhe lolHe lee. That quiet contemplation Possesseth all my mind ;
Then care away,
And wend along with me.
For Courts are full of flattery, As hath too oft been tried ;
Heigh trolollie lollie loe, &c. The city full of wantonness. And both are full of pride :
Then care away, &c.
But oh ! the honest countryman Speaks truly from his heart ;
Heigh trolollie lollie loe, &c. His pride is in his tillage. His horses and his cart :
Then care away, &c.
Our clothing is good sheep-skins, Grey russet for our wives ;
Heigh trolollie lollie loe, &c.
HO IV TO FISH FOR TROUT. 149
'T is warmth, and not gay clothing, That doth prolong our lives : Then care away, &c.
The ploughman, though he labour hard, Yet on the holiday.
Heigh trolollie loUie be, &c. No emperor so merrily Doth pass his time away :
Then care away, &c.
To recompense our tillage, The heavens afford us showers ;
Heigh trolollie lollie loe, &c. And for our sweet refreshments The earth affords us bowers :
Then care away, &c.
The cuckoo and the nightingale Full merrily do sing,
Heigh trolollie lollie loe, &c. And with their pleasant roundelays Bid welcome to the spring :
Then care away, &c.
This is not half the happiness The countryman enjoys ;
Heigh trolollie lollie loe, &c. Though others think they have as much, Yet he that says so lies ;
Then come away, turn
Countryman with me. — JO. Chalkhill.
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 swearing and scurrilous discourse, is worth gold.
I50 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 companions, 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. I
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 liked.
THE ANGLER'S SONG.
As inward love breeds outward talk, The hound some praise, and some the hawk ; 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 fetter'd in fond Cupid's snare :
My angle breeds me no such care.
Of recreation there is none So free as fishing is alone ; All other pastimes do no less Than mind and body both possess ;
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,
HOW TO FISH FOR TROUT. 151
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'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, Bless'd 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, bi other! you have paid your debt in good coin. We anglers are all beholden to the good man that made 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:
152 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 sunrising,
Peter. A match. Come, Coridon, you are to be my bed- fellow. 1 know, brother, you and your scholar will lie together. But where shall we meet to-morrow night } for my friend Coridon 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.
Peter 'T is a match. Good night to everybody I
PlSC. And so say I.
Ven. 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 morn- ing 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.
PlSC. My honest scholar, I will take this very convenient opportunity to do it.
JIOIV TO FISH FOR TROUT. 153
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 artificial fly, concerning which three I will give you some observations and directions.
And, first, for worms : of these there be very many sorts : 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 living 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 par- ticular 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-worm.s 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, compared 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 tlian 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 flag-worm, the dock-worm, the oak-worm, the gilt-tail, the twachel or lob-
154 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 fennel, for sudden use ; but if you have time, and purpose to keep them long, then they be best preserved in an earthern 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, espe- cially the brandling, begins to be sick and lose of his bigness, then you may recover him by putting 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 ^gg 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 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 I 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
HOW TO FISH FOR TROUT. 1 55
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 ground where you shall see worms are used to rise in the night, will make them to appear aboveground presently. Arid 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 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 entering of your hook it 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.
156 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 headlong to mills and weirs, 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 it 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 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 tail about, very neatly, with a white thread, 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 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, it is impos- sible that it should turn too quick ; and you are yet to know
I
HOW TO FISH FOR TROUT. 1 57
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 shew to you — an artificial minnow, that will catch a trout as well as an artificial fly, and it was made by a hand- some 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 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 shadowed, and all of it so curiously wrought, and so exactly dissembled, that it would beguile any sharp- sighted trout in a swift stream. And this minnow I will now shew you : look, here it is, and, if you like it, lend it you, to lave two or three made by it ; for they be easily carried ibout an angler, and be of excellent use ; for note, that a jlarge trout will come as fiercely at a minnow as the highest lettled hawk doth seize on a partridge, or a greyhound on [a hare. I have been told that a hundred and sixty minnows [have been found in a trout's belly : either the trout had de- voured so many, or the miller that gave it a friend of mine
158 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 sort 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 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-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 creatures, with which the sun and summer adorn and beautify the river-banks and meadows, both for the recreation and contemplation of us anglers ; pleasures which, I think, I 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 som^e kinds of them are from a dew left upon herbs or flowers ; and others, from a dew left upon coleworts or cabbages; all which kinds of dews being thickened and condensed, are by the sun's generative heat most of them hatched, and in three days 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 ;
HOIV TO FISH FOR TROUT. 159
some have sixteen feet, some less, and some have none ; but as our Topsel hath with great diHgence 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 cater- pillars, 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 par- ticular 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 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 days, and thrived, and changed the colour 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 lived, 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 observable, 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 by accident.^
It 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
l6o THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
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, and various food ; not content- ing 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 fixed to a particular place.^
Nay, the very colours of caterpillars are, as one has ob- served, very elegant and beautiful. I shall, for a taste of the rest, describe one of them ; which I will, some time the next month, 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 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 St. Andrew's Cross, or the letter X, made thus cross-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, callec an aurelia ; and so lives a kind of dead life, without eating,] all the winter ; and, as others of several kinds turn to b( several kinds of flies and vermin the spring following, sc this caterpillar then turns to be a painted butterfly.^
Come, come, my scholar, you see the river stops oui
HOW TO FISH FOR TROUT. l6l
morning 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 give And to infuse the virtue generative, By His wise power made many creatures breed Of lifeless bodies, without Venus' deed.
So the cold humour breeds the salamander, Who, in effect, Hke to her birth's commander, With child with hundred winters, with her touch Quencheth the fire, though glowing ne'er so much.
So in the fire, in burning furnace, springs
The fly Perausta, with the flaming wings ; ,
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 hatch'd 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 ! '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
spent to my great pleasure and wonder : but I pray, when
shall I have your direction how to make artificial flies, like
I 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,
1 11
(02 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
ive will fish till nine, and then go to breakfast. Go you to yon 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 then give you direction for the making and using of your flies ; and in the meantime 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 v/ill 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 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 for 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. And now I have a bite at another. Oh me ! he has broke 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, n man can lose what he never had.
Ven. Master, I can neither catch with the first nor second angle : I have no fortune.
e
I
I
now TO FISH FOR TROUT. 1 63
PiSC. Look you, scholar, I have yet another. And now, having caught three [two] 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 com- posed it ; and though the borrower 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 congregation ; which the sermon borrower complained of to the lender of it; and thus was answered : " I lent you, indeed, my fiddle, but not my fiddle-stick ; for you are to know, that every one cannot make music with my words, which are fitted to 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 fiddle-stick, 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 fish ; that is to say, more in a great trouble- some 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,
11 — 2
I64 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 Lesslus" says : " That poor men, and those that fast often, have much more pleasure in eating than rich men and glut- tons, 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 seriously approve of that saying of yours, "that you would rather be a civil, well-governed, 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 direc- tion 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 excellent fly-fisher.
You are to note, that there are twelve kinds of artificij made flies to angle with upon the top of the water. Not( by the way, that the fittest season of using these is blustering windy day, when the waters are so troubled tha<
irOlV TO FISH FOR TROUT. 1 65
the natural fly cannot 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 partridge'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 hangs 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 herlc of a peacock's tail ; the wings arc 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 off 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
l66 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 August : the body made of black wool, lapped 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 fly-flshing, 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 yourself and rod too will be least ofl'ensive 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 : th
ca|
HOW TO FISH FOR TROUT. 1 67
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 mallard'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 v/as armed ; and having made the silk fast, take the hackle of a cock or capon's neck, or a plover's top, which is usually better ; take ofl" 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 crossways 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
1 68 THE CO Mr LET E ANGLER.
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 ingeni- ous 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- coloured heifer, hackles of a cock or capon, several coloured 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 colours (especially sad-coloured), to make the fly's head ; and there be also other coloured 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 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
HOW TO FISH FOR TROUT. 1 69
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 the 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 liaving 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 extreme cold by an east wind, shall be a little superstitious ; for as it is ob- sci-vcd 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 extreme cold, let the wind set in what corner it will and do its worst, I heed it not. 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 swims 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 lee-side of the water.
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 the greenish coloured crewel or willowish colour ; darkening 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 colour as you see the fly to have at that season — nay, at that very day, on the water. Or you may
70 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
make the oak-fly, with an orange tawny and black ground, and the brown of a mallard's feather for the whigs; 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 colour 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 crev/el as will make the grass- hopper ; and note, that usually the smallest flies are the best ; and note also that the light fly does usually make most sport in a dark day, and the darkest and least fly in bright or clear day ; and, lastly, note that you are to repaii upon any occasion to your magazine-bag, and upon an) 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 natura fly is excellent, and afifords much pleasure. They may b( found thus : the May-fly, usually in and about that month near to the river-side, especially against rain ; the oak-fly
HOW TO FISH FOR TROUT. 171
on the butt or body of an oak or ash, from the beginning of May to ths end of August : it is a brownish fly, and easy to be found, and stands usually with his head downward, that is to say, towards the root of the tree ; the small black fly, or hawthorn-fly, 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 grasshopper 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 yourself out of sight, you shall cer- tainly 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 other 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.
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.
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.
1/2 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
Only a sweet and virtuous soul, Like season'd 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. Herbert's verses, who, 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. Herbert's so well, let me tell you what a reverend and learned divine that pro- fesses to imitate him (and has indeed done so most ex- cellently), 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 f and Common f 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, V In choosing of the ways
HOIV TO FISH FOR TROUT. 173
Wherein to make Their soul's most intimate affections known To Him that sees in secret, when They 're most conceal'd from other men.
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 betray'd To blaspheme, when they meant to have pray'd.
Devotion will add life unto the letter; And why should not That which authority Prescribes, esteemtid be Advantage got ? If the prayer be good, the commoner the better; Prayer in the Church's words as well As sense J 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
174 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 our- selves 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 straw- berries, "Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did ; " and so, if I might be judge, *' God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recrea- tion than angling."
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 holi- days." As I then sat on this very grass, I turned my pre- sent thoughts into verse : 'twas 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 dewdrops kiss these flowei's. And then wash'd off by April showers ;
Here, hear my Kenna sing a song ;
There, see a blackbird feed her young,
Or a leverock build her nest ; Here, give my weary spirits rest,
HOW TO FISH FOR TROUT. I/S
And raise my low-pitch'd thoughts above Earth, or what poor mortals love :
Thus, free from lawsuits and the noise
Of princes' Courts, I would rejoice ;
Or, with my Bryan and a book, Loiter long days 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 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 gipsies, and near to them sat a gang of beggars. The gipsies 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 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 gipsies, according to their several degrees in their commonwealth.
And the first or chiefest gipsy was, by consent, to have a third part of the 20s., which all men know is 6s. Sd.
i;^ THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
The second was to have a fourth part of the 2Qs.^ wJiich all men know to be 5^.
The third was to have a fifth part of the 2os.^ which all men know to be 4^.
The fourth and last gipsy was to have a sixth part of the 205"., which all men know to be 3^. /\d. As for example, —
3 times 6j. Zd. is 20s,
And so is 4 times 5^-. . . 20s,
And so is 5 times /\s. . . 2Qs.
And so is 6 times 3^-. 4^. . 20s.
And yet he that divided the money was so very a gipsy,
that though he gave to eveiy one these said sums, yet he
kept IS. of it for himself
As for example,
|
s. , 6 |
d. 8 |
|
5 |
0 |
|
4 |
0 |
|
3 |
4 |
make but . 19 o But now you shall know, that when the four gipsies saw that he had got \s. by dividing the money, though not one of them knew any reason to demand more, yet, like lords and courtiers, every gipsy 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 con- test about it, as none that knows the faithfulness of one gipsy 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 gipsies were too wise to go to law, and did therefore choose their choice
I/OJV TO FiSH FOR TROUT. 177
friends Rook and Shark, and our late English Gusman/ to be their arbitrators and umpires ; and so they left this honey- suckle hedge, and went to tell fortunes, and cheat, and get more money and lodging in the next village.
When these were gone, we heard a high 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 'twas easiest to unrip a cloak, for that was to let it alone. But she was answered, by asking her how she unripped it if she let it alone ; and she confessed herself mistaken. These and twenty suchlike questions were proposed, and answered with as much beg- garly logic and earnestness, as was ever heard to proceed from the mouth of the most pertinacious schismatic : and sometimes all the beggars, whose number was neither more nor less than the poet's nine Muses, talked 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 corporation, was to lodge at an alehouse 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 suchlike questions, but refer all to father Clause at night, for he was an upright judge, and in the meantime 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 sang Frank Ddvison's song, which jhe made forty years ago; and all the others of the company
178 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
joined to sing the burthen with her. The ditty was this; but first the burthen :
Bright shines the sun ; play, beggars, play ! Mere'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 miss'd.
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.
Bright shines the sun ; play, beggars, play I
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 therefor, as sure as creed. Thus beggars lord it as they please, And only beggars live at ease.
Bright shines the sun ; play, beggars, play I
Here's scraps enough to serve to-day.
Ven. I thank you, good master, for this piece of merri- ment, and this song, which was well humoured by the maker, and well remembered by you.
PiSC. But, I pray, forget not the catch which you pro- mised to make against night ; for our countryman, honest Coridon, will expect your catch, and my song, which I must
I
I/O IV TO FISH FOR TROUT, 179
be forced to patch up, for it is so long since I learnt it, that I have forgotten 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 lend- ing them so long to be used by the trouts : lent them, indeed, like usurers, for our profit and their destruction.
Ven. Oh me ! look you, master, a fish ! a fish ! Oh, alas, master, 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 now is 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 here- after ; for I tell you, scholar, fishing is an art — or, at least, it is an art to catch fish.
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 f 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 to make the wonder seem yet less that hares change sexes, note that Doctor Mer. Casaubon affirms in his book of credible and
12 — 2
l8o THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 conditions. 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 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.
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 logger-headed chub ; and this is not 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 even retire to the sycamore-tree, and there I will give you more directions concerning 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 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
HOW TO FISH FOR TROUT. l8l
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 between 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 little hook ; and let him have time to gorge your hook, for he docs 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, and at the snap : nay, he will sometimes rise at a dead mouse, or a piece of cloth, or any- thing that seems to swim across the water, or to be in motion. This is a choice way, but I have not often used it, because it is void of the pleasures that such days 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 used to catch trouts in the night by the light of a torch or straw, which, when they
1 82 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
have discovered, they strike with a trout-spear, or other ways. This kind of way they catch very many ; but I would not beheve it till I was an eye-witness 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 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 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 occasioned by that thunder.
And this reason of Sir Francis Bacon (Exper. 792) has made me crave pardon of one that I laughed at, for affirm- ing 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 littk noise as I can when I am fishing, until Sir Francis Bacoi be confuted, which I shall give any man leave to do.^
And, lest you may think him singular in his opinion, will tell you this seems to be believed by our learned Doctol
HOW TO FISH FOR TROUT. 1^3
Hakewill, who, in his apology of God's power and pro- vidence, fol. 360, quotes Pliny to report, that one of the emperors had particular 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 the sea have been tamed by mankind. And Pliny tells us (lib. ix. 35) that Antonia, the wife of Drusus, had a lamprey, at whose gills 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. iv., Epigr. 30), who writes thus ;
riscaior^fugej 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, they Ve 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 a such particular pasture, they shall yield finer wool than they did that year before they came to feed in it, and coarser again if they sliall
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 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 colour of him hath been such as have joyed me to look on him ; and I have then 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 then the next shall be of the salmon.
APPENDIX V.
Historical Notes.
a This song beginning, " Forth from my dark and dismal cell," with the music to it, set by Henry Lawes, is printed in a book en- titled " Choice Ayres, Songs, and Dialogues, to sing to the Theorbo, Lute, and Bass Viol," foHo, 1675; ^^^ i^ Playford's "Antidote against Melancholy," 8vo., 1669; and also in Percy's "Reliques of Ancient English Poetry." — H.
** Ulysses Aldrovandus, a great physician and naturalist of Bo- logna. He wrote thirteen volumes folio on subjects of natural histor}', including one, " De Piscibus," published at Frankfort, 1640. — H.
° Leonard Lessius, a learned Jesuit, professor of divinity in the College of Jesuits at Louvain. He was born at Antwerp, 1554, and became famous in divinity, civil law, mathematics, physic, and history ; he wrote several theological tracts, and a book entitled " Hygiasticon, seu vera ratio valetudinis bonae, et vita3 ad extremam senectutem conservandae." From this tract of Lessius it is probable the text in the passage is cited. He died 1623. His " Hygiasticon " was translated by Timothy Smith, Camb., 1634. — H.
^ These verses were written at or near the time when the liturgy was abolished by an ordinance of Parliament, and while it was agitating, as a theological question, whether of the two, prccojueivcd
186
1 86 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
or extemporary prayer is most agreeable to the sense of Scripture. In favour of the former I have heard it asserted by a very eloquent person, and one of the ablest writers both in prose and verse now living, that he never, without premeditation, could address his Maker in terms suited to his conceptions ; and that of all written composition, he had found that of prayer to be the most difficult. Of the same opinion is a very eminent prelate of this day, who (being himself an excellent judge of literature), in a conversation on the subject declared it to me; at the same time saying that, excepting those in the liturgy, he looked on the prayers of Dr. Jeremy Taylor, that occur in the course of his work, as by far the most eloquent and energetic of any in our language. — H.
• The person here mentioned I take to be Dr. William Butler, an eminent physician of our author's time, styled by Fuller in his "Worthies" (Suffolk, p. 67), the ^sculapius of the age. He in- vented a medical drink called " Dr. Butler's Ale," which was a few years ago sold at certain houses in London, that had his head for a sign. One of these was in Ivy Lane, and another in an alley leading from Coleman Street to Basinghall Street. He was a great humourist, a circumstance in his character which, joined to his- reputation for skill in his profession, might contribute to render him popular. — H.
' Alluding to a work that appeared a few years before, entitled " The English Gusman ; or, the History of that unparalleled Thief, James Hind.'^
s The comedy of the " Royal Merchant, or Beggar's Bush," was written by Beaumont and Fletcher, and not by Ben Jonson. — H.
General Notes.
' Nearly all kinds of grubs, worms, or caterpillars which feed on plants are bred from eggs laid by butterflies, moths, beetles, or other insects. These when full grown turn into the chrysalis or pupa state, and then into the perfect insect. The caterpillar which Walton found on the privet would be the larva of the privet hawk-moth, a moth of great size and beauty. I presume that by " flies of prey " dragon-flies are meant. The larvce of these are very ferocious- looking creatures, which live in the water.
2 The palmer-worm is probably the caterpillar of the tiger-moth — " woolly bears " the children of Shropshire used to call them. They arc very restless in their habits, and are constantly found while wandering about.
' I cannot decide from Walton's description what caterpillar this would be. I should like to know.
"* Du Bartas' assertions are purely apocryphal. There is no such thing as spontaneous generation, and "the goslings hatched of trees " are very rarcR aves.
^ All these flies are obsolete. See Essay, post
^ This is, of course, erroneous, as is also the statement which follows, that certain people turn wolves, although there is a country, " not a hundred miles away," where certain of the people frequently become beasts.
^ " Leistering," or spearing salmon at night by torchlight, used to be a very common amusement in the Welsh and Scottish rivers. The fish are easily seen, and seem to be dazzled by the flare of the burning torch, or fire of straw.
187
1 88
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
^ Fish have a very long and keen sight, and hear well, particu- larly those sounds which cause the greatest vibration of the earth and water. It would also appear, from the construction of the organs of smell, that that sense is equally acute. Fish are often so tamed that they will come to be fed when summoned by a call or noise.
I
CHAPTER VI.
OBSERVATIONS OF THE UMBER OR GRAYLING, AND DIRECTIONS HOW TO FISH FOR HIM.
[|0urtlr ing.]
PiSC. The Umber and Grayling are thought by some to differ, as the herring and pilchard do. But though they may do so in other nations, I think those in England differ in nothing but their names. Aldrovandus says they be of a trout kind ; and Gesner says that in his country, which is in 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 at a much higher rate than any other fish. The French, which call the chub //;/ vilain, call the umber of the lake Leman tin 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 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
189
IQO THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
they may think so with as good reason as we do that our smelts smell like violets at their first being caught, which I think is a truth.i Aldrovandus 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 colours 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 medicin- able. And Gesner says that the fat of an umber or gray- ling, being set, with a little honey, a day or two in the sun, in a little glass, is very excellent against redness, or swarthi- ness, or anything that breeds in the eyes. Salvian takes him to be called umber from his swift swimming, or gliding out of sight more like 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 honour 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 there- fore 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
THE UMBER OR GRAYLING, IQI
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 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 Trent, and some other small 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.
APPENDIX VI.
Historical Note.
* Ilippolito Salviani, an Italian physician of the sixteenth cen- tury ; he wrote a treatise " De Piscibus, cum sorum figuris," and died at Rome, 1572, aged 59. — H.
General Notes.
Smelts have a decided cucumbery smell, which is so strong that persons have asserted that when the shoals of them come up the Yare, the smell can be detected by a keen-nosed person on the bank.
Practical Essay.
THE GRAYLING.
Grayling fishing comes in when trout fishing leaves off. autumn and winter this handsome fish is in its best condition.
192
J
PRACTICAL ESSAY. 193
is a local fish, only occurring in a limited number of rivers in England and Wales, and not at all in Scotland (except a few in the Clyde and Tweed) or Ireland. It likes streams not too swift, alternating with long and deep pools, flowing over a gravelly and loamy soil.
The grayling may be caught by fly, worm, or gentle, just like the trout ; but there is a special lure for it, and that is the artificial grasshopper. A very small pipe lead is slipped over the shank of a trout-womi hook, and pinched tight, or a thin piece of lead may be rolled round it. Over this light green Berlin wool or worsted is wrapped, with a few rings of red or yellow. (See cut.) This is baited with a bunch of gentles, and allowed to sink to the bottom of the eddy or pool, and then worked about all over, something like trolling, or sinking and drawing. The best and largest fish are caught in this manner. It needs a sharp frost or two to bring the grayling well on the feed.
I.
la
CHAPTER VIl.
OBSERVATIONS ON THE SALMON; WITH DIRECTIONS HOW TO FISH FOR HIM.
[I^wrtfe iag.]
PiSC. The 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 don
104
THE SALMON. 1 95
his natural office, and then hide it most cunningly, and cover it over with gravel and stones, and then leave it to that 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 fol- lowing.
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 hinders their feeding; and in time such fish, so left behind, pine away and die. It 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 it is noted, that those little salmons called skeggers, which abound in many rivers relat- ing 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 considerable bigness.
But if the old salmon gets to the sea, then that gristle, which shews 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 wittily observed, he has, like some persons of honour and riches, which have both their winter and summer houses, the fresh rivers for summer, and the salt water for
B""*"ter, to spend his life in ; which is not, as Sir Francis 13—2
I9<5 THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
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 a 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 them- selves 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 down- right, and so high, that the people stand and wonder at the strength and sleight by which they see the salmon use t< get out of the sea into the said river ; and the manner an< height of the place is so notable, that it is known, far, by th^ name of the " Salmon-leap." Concerning which, take thi^ also out of Michael Drayton,"^ my honest old friend ; as h< tells it you in his " Polyolbion : "
And when the salmon seeks a fresher stream to find, Which hither from the sea comes yearly by his kind ; As he tow'rds season grows, and stems the wat'ry tract Where Tivy falHng down, makes a high cataract, Forced by the rising rocks that there her course oppose, As though within her bounds they meant her to inclose ; Here, when the labouring fish does at the foot arrive, And finds that by his strength he docs but vainly strive,
THE SALMON. 197
i SU
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 httle 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 summer- sault 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 excel- lent a taste.2
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 gudgeon, 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 to the same chimney, there to make their nests and habitations for the summer following ; which has inclined many to think that
198 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 that 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 it 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, th< observation of this and many other things, I must in manners omit, because they will prove too large for oui narrow compass of time, and therefore I shall next fal upon my directions how to fish for this salmon.
And for that, first you shall observe, that usually he stayj not long in a place, as trouts will, but, as I said, covets stil to go nearer the spring-head ; and that he does not, as th( trout and many other fish, lie near the water-side, or bank or roots of trees, but swims in the deep and broad parts o: 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 b( 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 observec to bite at a minnow, yet sometimes he will, and not usuallj at a fly ; but more usually at a worm, and then mos usually at a lob or garden worm, which should be wel
THE SALMON. 199
scoured, that is to say, kept seven or eight days in moss before you fish with them ; and if you double your time of eiglit 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 camphor into it.
Note also, that many used 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 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 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
^06 Ti/£ COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 : it 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 the 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 : " Vtdnera hedercB grandissimce infiicta Sudani balsanium oleo gelaio, albicantique persimile, odoris vero long^ suavissimi."
It 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 pro- bable, and have had from some chymical men, namely, from Sir George Hastings and others, an affirmation 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, tcUj
THE SALMON.
201
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 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 pilchard 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 patience 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.
i
APPENDIX VII.
Historical Note.
a An excellent poet, bom in Warwickshire, 1563. Among his works, which are very numerous, is the " Polyolbion," a choro- graphical description of the rivers, mountains, forests, castles, &c., in this island. Though this poem has great merit, it is rendered much more valuable by the learned notes of Mr. Selden. The author died in 1631, and lies buried among the poets in West- minister Abbey. — PI.
General Notes.
^ This is not so. A great deal of this chapter is erroneous. See Essay.
^ It is a long time since any salmon have been seen in the Thames.
^ Trout are never in season in the winter. Of salmon, late spawncrs may sometimes be in season in December. See Essay.
* Scented oils, or other ointments wherewith to anoint baits, used
202
PRACTICAL ESSAY. 203
to be somewhat in fashion among the old race of anglers ; the gum obtained from ivy by making an incision in the stem, was a favourite for this purpose. Nearly all fishermen are now of the opinion that such inducements are valueless, however.
Practical Essay.
THE SALMON.
It is difficult with the space at command to give a comprehensive account of this noble fish and its wonderful life-history. The ap- pearance of the fish is well known to all. Its habits have been the study of angler-naturalists for years, and although much is now positively known concerning it, yet there is undoubtedly much to be learned. Mr. Pennell, in his delightful book, "The Angler- Naturalist," enumerates " proved facts in the history of the salmon," which he will, doubtless, permit me to quote.
" I. Salmon and grilse invariably spawn in fresh water if possible, both the eggs and the young fry, whilst in the parr state, being destroyed by contact with salt water.
" 2. The eggs are usually deposited on gravelly shallows [the fish make shallow trenches in which the spawn is deposited, and then lightly covered over with gravel. — Ed.] where they hatch in from eighty to one hundred and forty days, according to the temperature of the water. Eggs remaining unhatched beyond the latter period will seldom hatch at all, possibly from having been destroyed by the low temperature.
" 3. The eggs deposited by the female will not hatch under any circumstances unless vivified after exclusion by the milt of the male; and, at least up to the period of migration, there is no difference
204 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
whatever in fry bred between salmon only, between salmon and grilse, or between grilse and parr.
''Note. — The female parr cannot spawn; but the male parr possesses and constantly exercises the power of vivifying salmon and grilse eggs.
" 4. The fry remain one, two, and in some cases three years in the rivers as parr before going down to the sea, about half taking their departure at one year, nearly all the others at two years, and the remainder (which are exceptional) at three years old.
" 5. All young salmon fry are marked with bluish bars on their sides until shortly before their migration, up to which period they are parrs ; they then invariably assume a more or less complete coating of silvery scales and become smolts, the bars or parr marks, however, being still clearly discernible on rubbing off the new scales.
" 6. The young of all the species here included in the genus Salmo have at some period of their existence these bluish bars, and consequently such marks are not by themselves proofs that fry bearing them are the young of the true salmon {Salmo salar).
" 7. Unless the young fish put on their smolt dress in May or early in June, and thereupon go down to the sea, they remain as parrs another year, and without smolt scales they will not migrate, and cannot exist in salt water.
" 8. The length of the parr at six weeks old is about an inch and a half or tw^o inches, and the weight of the smolt before reaching the tidal wave from one to two ounces.
" 9. In at least many cases, smolts thus migrating to the sea in May and June, return as grilse, sometimes within five, generally within ten weeks, the increase in weight during that period varying from two to ten pounds, the average being from four to six pounds ; and these grilse spawn about November or December, go back to the sea, and (in many cases) re-ascend the rivers the next spring as salmon, with a further increase of from four to twelve pounds. Thus a fish hatched in April, 1854, and marked when migrating in May, 1855, was caught as a salmon of twenty-two pounds weight in March, 1S56.
I
PRACTICAL ESSAY. 205
"lo. It appears certain, however, that smolts do not always return during the same year as grilse, but frequently remain nine or ten months in the sea, returning in the following spring as small- sized salmon.
" II. It has also been clearly proved that, in general, salmon and grilse find their way back to spawn to the rivers in which they were bred — sometimes to the identical spots ; spawn about November or December, and go down again to the sea as '■ spent fish,' or ' kelts,' in February or March, returning, in at least many cases, during the following four or five months as ' clean fish,' and with an increase in weight of from seven to ten pounds.
" Note. — Shortly before spawning, and whilst returning to the sea as kelts or spent fish, salmon are unfit for food, and their cap- ture is then illegal. ' Foul fish ' before spawning are, if males, termed ' red fish,' from the orange-coloured stripes with which their cheeks are marked, and the golden-orange tint of the body ; the females are darker in colour, and are called 'black fish.' After spawning, the males are called ' kippers,' and the females ' shedders,' or * baggits.' "
Such is a summary of the habits of the salmon, to which little can be added in the space at my disposal.
It is an interesting sight to watch the salmon ascending a weir, as I have done scores of times. I lived for three years in a house abutting on a salmon-leap, and my bed-room window commanded an excellent and close view of a large weir, up which, at certain times, the salmon used to pass. They do not, as the old story goes, put their tails in their mouths and spring up by suddenly un- bending, but, " taking a run," they scurry up the part over which there is the deepest flow of water, hanging for an instant on the edge, and then shoot away into the deep water above.
Salmon lie in the pools at the foot of a rapid, often where the current is strongest, lying under the lee of a submerged rock, and in such places they should be fished for. The salmon-casts on every river are so well known to the local anglers, and are often in apparently unlikely places, while as often the most likely pools
206 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
never contain uny fish ; so that inquiries should be made in the locaHty before the angler fishes a river unknown to him.
The salmon is usually fished for with a fly. The rod may be from 17 to 20 feet in length, but 18 feet is an average length. Greenheart is perhaps the best wood. A large check-reel holding 100 yards of dressed silk line is required. The casting-line should be about 4 yards long, of treble gut for the upper part, double gut for the middle, and stout single gut for the lower part. One fly is generally sufficient. Salmon-flies are legion, and every river has its favourites, resembling nothing living on the earth or in the water.
The accompanying figures, i to 6, will give an idea of the form and size of some salmon-flies, though not of the colour. Mr. Pennell says that three flies — of which he gives illustrations — are sufficient foi any stream and all weathers. He calls them the " silver," the ''gold,'' and the "rainbow." They cannot be described without the aid of a coloured plate.
The rod must of course be worked with both hands, and beyond saying this, 1 do not propose to give any lengthy instruction how to cast and work the fly, because any salmon fisher will have been, or should have been, a trout fisher first ; and I maintain that if a man who knows how to throw a trout-fly gets hold of a salmon rod, he only needs practice, and if he has any nous at all, will soon find out the proper way. He is already beyond the reach of written instructions, which, in the best of cases, are only vanity and vexa- tion of spirit.
Salmon fishing is trout fishing on a magnified scale, and those who can afford to indulge in it will endeavour to learn its mi7iuti(j& from some more pretentious and expensive handbook of the gentle art.
While trout will rarely rise a second time at the fly, a salmon will rise again and again at intervals. Salmon may also be caught with the worm and by spinning.
There are two other species of the salmon family which are migratory, and similar to the salmon in their habits, and these are the Bull Trout and the Sea Trout or Salmon Trout. The former
I
PRACTICAL ESSAY.
207
is a local fisli, being found in comparatively few rivers. On the
208
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
Coquet it goes by the nnme of the salmon, there being no ti
PRACTICAL ESSAY.
209
salmon in that river. The small grilse sometimes take the fly freely, but the full-grown bull trout very rarely takes fly or bait of any kind, except when it is in the kelt state, when it is ravenous. It reaches fifteen and twenty pounds in weight.
The salmon trout does not usually grow to be more than six pounds in weight, and is very abundant in some of the northern rivers. Pennell says it is the " * Fordwich trout ' of Izaac Walton, so named from a village on the Stour near Canterbury, where it still maintains its reputation for being 'rare good meat.'"
Vk
CHAPTER VIII.
OBSERVATIONS ON THE LUCE OR PIKE; WITH DIRECTIONS HOW TO FISH FOR HIM.
[|0urt|r DairJ
PiSC. The mighty Luce or Pike is taken to be the tyrant, as the salmon is the king, of the fresh waters. It 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 particular months, and some ponds apted for it by nature, do become pikes. But, doubtless, divers pikes ai bred after this manner, or are brought into some pone some such other ways as is past man's finding out, of whic we have daily testimonies.^
210
THE PIKE. 211
Sir Francis Bacon, in his " History of Life and Death," observes 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 II., 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, observed to be the best meat ; and, contrary, the eel is observed 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, de- vouring 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 lips, 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 Killingworth pond, not far from Coventry. But I have been assured by my friend Mr. Seagrave, oi whom I spake to you formerly, that keeps tame otters, that
212 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 other part, that was in his mouth, and so put it over by degrees ; which is not 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, doubtless, 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 appears to us to be cold, can yet digest or put over any fish-flesh, by degrees, Vvithout being sick. And others observe 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 ^
I
THE PIKE. 213
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 himself alone, and never swims in shoals or with company, as roach and dace 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 expel the infection of the plague, and to be many ways medicinable and useful for the good of mankind ; but he observes, that the biting of the 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 oftener, 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 ^ggs^ and the melter hovers over
214 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 for- bear 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 embraced 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 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 fishermen to fetch his nets, and by all means to get the pike, that they might declare what
THE PIKE. 215
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, wlien 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
2l5 THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
remembering the discourse of Dubravius. I will therefore stop here, and tell you, according to my promise, how to catch the 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 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 [they think] 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 which you take with you, and have ever in motion. 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 be too sharp, and between 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 a: little bruising or hurting the fish as art and diligence wi
THE PIKE. 217
enable you to do ; and so carrying your arming-wire along his back, unto or near the tail of your fish, between 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 are venomous, and is it not dangerous to touch them ?
PiSC. Yes ; but I will give you some rules or cautions concerning them. And first, you are to note, that there are two kinds of frogs ; that is to say, if I may so express my- self, 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 colours, 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
2l8 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
opinion of Pliny, and Cardanus*^ (in his tenth book "De Sub- tilitate") undertakes to give a reason for the raining of frogs ; but if it were in my power, it should rain none but water- frogs, for those I think are not venomous, especially the right water-frog, which about February 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 docs.° 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 Wonderful 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 arming- 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
J
THE PIKE. 219
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 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 likeliest 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
220 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 practice, for time will not allow me to say more of this kind of fishing 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 towards the top of the water, and so up the stream, and it is more than likely that you have a pike follow with more than common eagerness.
And some afifirm, 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 direction 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 I
THE PIKE. 221
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 and butter 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 com- plete : 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 :
222
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
lastly, you may either put into the pike with the oysters two cloves of garlick, 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 garlick 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 Thrasy- mene in Italy ; and the next, if not equal to them, are the pikes of England ; and that in England, Lincolnshire boasteth to have the biggest. Just so doth Sussex boast of four sorts of fish ; namely, — an Arundel mullet, a Chi- chester lobster, a Shelsey cockle, and an Amerley 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.
APPENDIX VIII.
11 1 s T o III c A L Notes.
» Richard Franks, in his " Northern Memoirs," attacks Walton for what he has said of the pickerel- weed, in the following terms : "When I met him (Izaac Walton) at Stafford, I urged his own argument upon him, that pickerel-weed of itself breeds pickerel ; which question was no sooner stated, but he transmits himself to his authority, viz., Gesner, Dubravius, and Aldrovandus, which I readily opposed, and offered my reasons to prove the contrary ; asserting that pickerels have been fished out of ponds where that weed (for aught I know) never grew since the nonage of time, nor pickerel ever known to have shed their spawn there. This I pro- pounded from a rational conjecture of the heronshaw, who, to commode herself with the fry of fish, because in a great measure part of her maintenance, probably might lap some spawn about her legs, in regard to adhering to the segs and bullrushes, near the shallows, wliere the fish shed their spawn, as myself and others, without curiosity, have observed. And this slimy substance adher- ing to her legs, &c., and she mounting the air for another station, in all probability mounts with her. Where note, the next pond she haply arrives at, possibly she may leave the spawn behind her ; which my Compleat Angler no longer deliberated, but drops his argument, and leaves Gesner to defend it ; so huffed away, whicli rendered him rather a formal opinionist than a reformed and prac- tical artist, because to celebrate such antiquated records, whercl.)y to maintain such an improbable assertion." — H.
223
224 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
*» Walton appears to have quoted from memory, from " Hake- will's Apology," where Gesner is cited as the authority. It is there stated that the fish was put into the pond in 1 230. The like account differs, however, three years in the date, from that given in a well- known book entitled the " Gentleman's Recreation," which is : "In the year 1497, a fish was caught in a pond near Heilbron, in Suabia, with a brass ring at his gills, in which were engraved these words : I am the first fish which Frederick 11.^ governor of the worlds put into this pond the ^th of October, 1233." By which it appears that this fish had then lived two hundred and sixty odd years.~H.
° Janus Dubravius Scala, Bishop of Olmutz, in Moravia, in the sixteenth century, was born at Pilsen, in Bohemia j was sent am- bassador into Sicily, and made President of the Chamber which tried the rebels of Smalcald. Besides the above book (the Latin title whereof is " De Piscinis, et Piscum qui in eis alunter, naturis,") he wrote in Latin a " History of Bohemia ; " and an oration to Sigismund, King of Poland, exorting him to make war on the Turks. He seems to have practised the ordering of fish-ponds, and the breeding of fish, both for delight and profit. His book " On Fish and Fish-ponds," in which are many pleasant relations, was, in 1599, translated into English, and published in quarto, by George Churchey, Fellow of Lion's Inn, with the title of " A New Book of Good Husbandry, very pleasant and of great profit, both for Gentle- men and Yeomen, containing the order and manner of Making of Fish-ponds," &c.— H.
^ In his nineteenth book, " De Subtilitate." Hieronymus Car- danus was an Italian physician, naturalist, and astrologer, well kno\Mi by his numerous writings. He died at Rome, 1576. He is said to have foretold the day of his death, and that, when it apprr^ched, he suffered himself to die of hunger to preserve his reputation. He had been in England, and wrote a character of our Edward VI. — H.
I
General Notes.
1 Neither pike nor eels are bred in any way but through the natural intercourse of the sexes, although the appearance of both in ponds where they were not placed by man has seemed to many to be very marvellous. The explanation of this probably is, that herons and other birds, feeding on fish-spawn in other pools, void some of it in an undigested state into the water, and it is vivified. Eels will make their way over the grass of a meadow, when it is wet with rain or heavy dews.
2 The instances of the daring and voracity of the pike are num- berless. A keeper told me that he had seen a pike seize the feet of a swan that was skimming along the surface of the water while flying, and that the pike was lifted into the air some distance before it let go its hold.
2 Frogs are not venomous. The toad exudes a juice from its body, which is irritating if it gets into a scratch, and dogs do not like to mouth it. Ducks macerate frogs in the water, apparently to make them more easy to swallow.
* The process of spawning is the same with all fish. The female deposits her spawn, and the male fecundates it, or makes it fruitful, by depositing his viilt upon it.
5 There are no water-snakes in England. The common ringed snake, however, very frequently takes a swim. I used to fish in a pool in a wood, on the top of a lonely hill, where we often saw snakes swimming with the head and neck raised above the water. They would dive if we went close to them ; and although we knew that they were harmless, yet it was not a nice idea that they might tickle our legs while we were wading, a thing which, of course, they
225 15
226 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
never did. The common snake lays her eggs in a dunghill, where they are hatched by the heat ; but the young of the viper, which is the only venomous English snake, are either brought forth alive, or come from the membranes of the eggs very soon after the latter are laid. The matter is shrouded in some little mystery. It is a story very continually asserted, and very widely believed, that the young vipers will rush into the mouth of their dam for safety when alarmed, but no satisfactory evidence has ever been produced in proof of this assertion.
® There is but one species of frog in England, and two species of toads. All lay their eggs in the water, and pass through the tad- pole state, before becoming perfect reptiles. Every country boy is familiar with the masses of frogs' spawn in the ditches, and the swarm of tadpoles which issue thereout. Any one who has been kept awake by the croaking of frogs in a marsh at night, as I have been, will never forget it. A disturbed rookery is nothing to it. The frog's mouth does not grow up, as stated by Walton in his next paragraph.
Practical Essay.
THE PIKE.
Much has been written about the pike, but I have read nothing of late years which described its habits and habitats so well as the ancient treatise of Robert Nobbs, Esq., A.M., who wrote "The Art of Trolling" in the year 1682. He says :
" The harbour of a pike is generally amongst or near a bank weeds, for they are his chief refuge ; and if he be frightened by
PRACTICAL ESSAY. 22;
net, or the sudden disturbance of his approaching enemy, he strikes to his harbour, and there keeps his garrison. The weeds which he most dehghts in are flags and bullrushes, candocks, reeds, green fog, and a weed with a small leaf, which he often frequents, espe- cially about October, when they begin to rot. If a place is very thick and weedy, you can easily guess exactly where his lodgings are ; but if the river is free from weeds, only here or there a bank or bed of bullrushes, you may safely conclude those are his retire- ments and baiting-places. If the river is broad, deep, and straight, like a scour, it will be the more difficult to find his recess j and if there are but few fish, it will be next to seeking a needle in a bottle of hay ; for in such false rivers you may troll perhaps from morn- ing till night, and scarcely get a run. But if such a place be little beaten, and have plenty of fish, you may have sport enough : then you must arm yourself with patience, and fish it very true and slow. There is not much variety and delight in trolling such a river, be- cause it is all along even and alike, and you cannot conceive where your prey lies : this you may call haphazard, and expect a run every throw, though you go three or four hours, and neither see nor feel any fish but your oun bait.
" The best and securest way of fishing these wide reaches is by drawing the bait along the sides next to you, unless you can search the breadtli of it, and throw over to the farther side ; but that is but dull and slow sport : it will take much time to troll the length of a furlong. If your river consists of pits, which is the quickest and most delightful way of trolling, you must have a special regard to the top and bottom of the pit. A pike may be taken sometimes in the middle, but his chief seat and habitation is at the bottom of the pit ; and this I have often observed, that where one pike has I been taken at the mouth, another has been found at the foot or bottom of the pit.
" These are the ordinary places ; yet, according to the variety of weather and seasons of the year, a pike will alter and change his dwelling. In the winter he usually couches very nigh the ground, and gets into the deepest and obscurest places. About the latter
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228 THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
end of February, or the beginning of March, he begins to be weary of his melancholy repose, and to raise himself a little from the bottom, and is more active in seeking his food ; at the latter end of March, or sometimes the middle, he shoots into the scours, and there leaves the spawn to multiply according to its kind. In April or May he still gets higher, and advances himself into the shallows, and if unmolested there, he will so continue most of the summer. In September he begins to retreat again, and removes himself from hi? harbour to visit his winter quarters, which v.dll be much the same as before if no floods disorder him. This is his yearly course, to change according to heat or cold, so that a pike, like a person of quality, hath both a winter and a summer house.
" As to his daily transaction, he thus disposes of himself : in a hot gloomy day, he gets to the surface of the water, as if he had a desire to exchange his elem.ent tO' enjoy the comfortable influence of the airy region ; he then scorns to be tempted with a bait, and can live all day with a little more nourishment than the motes in the sun ; for you no sooner offer him the kindness of a deceitful bait, than he is gone as swift as lightning.
" A ford that is clear and gravelly at the bottom, especially if it have a pit adjoining to it that is deep and weedy, is looked upon as a probable place ; for though they generally affect a deep water, yet they will get as near as they can to a ford or shallow ; there they delight themselves and sport with the little fry. Thus, scours and pits that are near mills, either above or below them, are com- monly well stored with fish : a mill-dam that is deep and weedy is an approved receptacle for them. Rivers that are straight and level are not so good as those that are crooked and have many corners and turnings ; for the fish will get into those creeks and channels, and hide themselves in private apartments. If the water is narrow, it is more pleasing for the troller, for you may fish both sides, and the sooner find them ; you will then go on the faster and with more courage, and drive forward to your journey's end ; but this is chiefly as every one fancies, for some desire the widest pla( they can find, and fix themselves two or three hours without
PRACTICAL ESSAY, 229
considerable motion. I never approved of that dull way, because a pike, if he bites, commonly rises at it the first throw, though he may sometimes snap at it when you have the least thought of him. " As to the nature or constitution of the river, the deeper is gene- rally the better and the safest harbour, although they delight in a middle retirement. About four feet in depth is a right proportion, and the best pitch for the troller ; for if it be much deeper, they are the more difficult to stir and harder to find ; and if shallower, they will be apt to sec you. Small Jack will often lie within two, or sometimes one foot in water : it is the wisest course in such places to keep at a distance, and not come near the river till the bait is in.
"the best seasons for trolling.
"Though the depth of winter cannot be recommended for ang- ling, yet there are some days in December or January that a man may pick out to stand two or thee hours by the river-side ; but the weather must be open and temperate : the great fish will be soonest enticed with the bait at that time of the year, because they lie deep, and are not so careful of their own preservation. There is' another great advantage for the winter troller: the weeds are then down and rotten, which are a great hindrance, both for throwing the bait, and in keeping the fish from the sight of it. Though a pike delights much among the weeds, and usually takes his abode there, yet it is very difficult to take him there, except it be with the snap ; for if you give him the liberty of running and playing with your bait, he winds himself so fast about the weeds that you may be in some danger of losing both your fish and your hook, if your line is not very strong : if you take a snap, you will be troubled with them, for they are great enemies to that.
"To begin the year, February is the first and not the worst month the troller can pitch upon for his sport, after Candlemas, if the season is moderate, and the water in tune, which is very rare ; jfor if it is not a flood, as it is often at that time, yet the ditches and brooks are commonly so rank and full, that it is but indifferent
230 THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
fishing ; but if it chance to be a dry season and open, it is one of the best months. March, too, is very seasonable to the troller, excepting the time of spawning, which usually begins about the middle, unless the spring is very forward ; and then they will be sick sooner. The snap is then the only way. If you fish at pouch, you may have many runs, but scarcely take one except it be a male fish. These two months will try the fisherman's patience, even if he is wind and weatherproof; but April will make him amends for his former sufferings. This month he will find most propitious to his pastime, because the weeds which have couched all winter have not yet erected their heads to annoy the bait, or frustrate the hopes of an impatient fisherman. The river is now clear of fog and filth; and the fish having lately cast their spawn, are now more hungry and ready for their prey ; and there is now little fear of their for- saking the bait, as they did in March.
" The beginning of May is likewise seasonable, especially if it hits with the proverb, cold and windy. Towards the latter end of it the weeds spring up, and are very offensive to the hook ; then begins the troller's vacation, which continues till the latter end of August or the beginning of September.
"In the autumnal season, October is the principal month, the weather being then temperate, and the weeds, which were strong and high before, dying and falling to the bottom. The rivers are generally low, which is a great advantage, because the fish are more easily found in their harbours; they leave the shallows and the scours, and lodge themselves in pits and the deepest places. A pike is now very firm and fat, having had the benefit of the summer's food; and if the weather continues dry, and not extraordinarily cole you may take in part of November, which will add much to yoi sport, because the weeds will be more wasted and rotten ; but if . flood comes in October, or the beginning of November, you maj lay aside your tackling for that season ; for great rivers (like grej vessels), being long in filling, and slowly mounting to their ful height, are again long in falling and settling ; so that the water wil be thick and out of order unless frost or fair weather comes tc
PRACTICAL ESSAY. 23 1
clear it. In small brooks and rivulets it is not so ; you may fish there again within a week or less after the flood. If such incon veniences put off your designed sport, you must desist until the following spring, when the days will be longer, though the weather colder. As to the time of day, the morning and evening is best in summer, because towards noon the fish get to the top of the water, and are more mindful of their play than their meat. If the day be clear and calm, a snare is more proper than a bait ; for the least motion you can make with your line will affright a fish that lies high ; and if he is once moved and put to the flight, all the art you can use will not entice him to your bait again. Beside, it will then be too hot for sport ; for heat creates no appetite in anything, much less in fish. It is the wind and the cooler clouds, when Zephyrus curls the waves with a brisk gale, that invites a fish to repast : those hot and sultry days are fittest for the float, when the fish are for some light diet, and the angler has the best time with flies, bees, &c. At such a time of the year, early or late is the best fishing, if it is in the night. As to the winter or spring quarter, one part of the day is as favourable as the other, for then the sun being not so hot, it neither molests the fisher, nor takes away the fishes' stomachs. The south and the south-west winds are the most pleasing to the troller ; and it is granted that the fish are more brisk and quicker at the bait, and perhaps they may then have more sport than when the wind is contrary ; yet this is certain, that the colder the wind is, the closer the fish lie to the bottom, and farther in their harbour, which may hinder you from having so many bites as when they lie out and more open in a warmer day ; yet the air being cold and sharp, it makes them hungry, and if you are careful you may have as many fish as bites. A pike, in general, takes so much pleasure and delight in eating, that he never cares to stint himself, or physically, for his health's sake, to be content with moderate diet ; for I have often taken him so soon after his feeding that he has had part of his meat in his mouth ; having newly swallowed so large a fish, that his ventricle was neither capable to receive or digest it quickly; sometimes I have taken him with two or three baits in
232 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
his maw \ sometimes with a great roach or dace ; sometimes with one of his own species, very seldom with a frog in his belly. A frog is accounted a good bait once a year, that is about hay-time, when it looks bright and yellow, though then it is something diffi- cult to find. A pike will feed to such excess and fulness, that he cannot gorge your bait, yet will rise and show himself, and make many offers, having a good-will to do it, that you may often catch him with the snap."
The pike spawns in March and April, making its way up the narrow streams and ditches which run into the river, or to the shallow parts of the lake : from the ist of March to the ist of June the pike should not be angled for.
Pike grow to a great size. The largest I ever saw caught was thirty-three pounds; but I have seen stuffed specimens of pike, taken in the Thames, which weighed forty pounds and more, and larger fish are caught occasionally in the Irish lakes. Under three or four pounds a pike is called a Jack, and indeed the latter term is often applied to fish of all sizes.
The autumn and winter months are best for Jack fishing, and a good breeze is always desirable. The water should not be thick or impregnated with snow, but otherwise any state of water or any sort of weather will do for pike fishing. There are three ways in which this game fish is usually fished for — />., trolling, spinning, and live-baiting. The rod for all three purposes may be the same, only if the angler has a choice it is better to have a longer rod for
Fig. z. Fig.
live-baiting, as you can reach farther with less injury to the bait. Twelve feet is a good length. The rod should be springy, yet stiff,
PRACTICAL ESSAY, 233
third joints, and greenheart for the top, is an excellent mixture. The rings should be large and upright, in order to let the line run freely through them, and the bottom ring should be of the form shown in the cut, while the top ring should be like that shown in the next cut. The rings are of this form in order to throw off the coils of the line, and prevent them catching. A large check-reel with about 60 yards of strong dressed silk, 8-plait line, is requisite.' The Manchester Cotton Twine Spinning Company make some very cheap and strong cotton lines, which harden in the water and will do without dressing. They also make dressed lines, which are cheap, but the dressing is hard and wears off soon.
Trolling with the dead gorge-bait is most useful in holes which are weedy or abounding in stumps or tree-roots. The hooks do not catch in anything, and every hole and corner can be searched. The objection to it is that you must give the pike five or ten minutes to swallow or gorge the bait, otherwise the hooks will not catch in him, and it often happens that the pike rejects the bait before swallowing it, and your labour is in vain.
I should have said that the pike preys chiefly upon small fish, and tlicse are the staple bait for him. The engraving shows the form of gorge tackle, and how it is baited.
Fig. 3 is the tackle : a the hooks, b the lead, d the gimp trace looped on — (gimp is silk covered with brass or white metal wire lapped closely around it, to prevent the pike's teeth from cutting the trace. It is made of different degrees of strength and fineness).
Fig. 4 is a baiting-needle. Fix the loop of the trace on the needle, and draw it through the fish from the mouth to the centre of the tail, the tail fin having first been cut off. The lead will then lie in the body of the fish, and the hooks close against its cheeks or gills. If the gimp be passed again laterally through the tail, as at H, it will keep the bait secure and prevent it doubling up. The needle is unliooked, and the trace looped to the running-line. The bait is cast into the water and allowed to sink to the bottom, then drawn up nearly to the top, and allowed to sink again. In this way every part of the pool is thoroughly probed and searched.
34
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
It is a good plan to cut off a ventral fin on one side, and a pec- toral fin on the other, in order to make the bait glance and sail about in a more eccentric and attractive manner. In order to throw any distance, the line must be drawn off the reel and allowed to rest in coils on the ground. Then with the bait hanging about a yard and a half firom the top of the rod, the butt of the latter on the groin, supported by the right hand half-way up the butt, give the rod a swing, and as the bait is impelled forward, loose the line from the left hand, which has previously held it, and the bait will shoot out, drawing the line through the rings until it reaches the spot to which you have directed it. I have often thrown forty
PRACTICAL kSSAY. 235
yards with a gorge-bait, and five-and-thirty with a lighter spinning bait. No great advantage is gained by long throws, however, as in rivers the fish generally lie under the shelter of the bank or ad- jacent weeds. You then pull the line in with the left hand a yard at a time as you lift the bait up, until the latter is close to the side, when it is ready for a fresh throw. Take it out slowly, as a pike often seizes it at the last moment. If you see a pike take it or feel a check, give the fish free line, and let him take the bait where he likes. When he comes to a stop, give him about seven minutes to gorge, and then tighten your line, and if he has not rejected the bait upon a closer examination of it, you will hook him.
A pike seizes the bait across the middle, and then turns it head do^^^lwards to swallow it. If he is hungry and your bait is not stale, he will in seven or eight minutes' time have got it sufficiently far down his gullet to be hooked. If he is not hungry he will hold it between his jaws as long as you like to let him do so, and longer tlian you will care to wait. If he moves away a little before the time is up, he will most probably be hooked ; but if he moves about uneasily from the beginning, you must give him more time. He will not swallow while he is moving about. If he is hooked, he is generally safely hooked, for the steel is fleshed in his gullet or his stomach. Get him out as quickly as you can, and knock him on the head. To extract your hook, unloose the trace from the line, open the gills, or make an incision in the belly, where the bait appears to be, and draw it out that way. Meddle with his mouth as little as possible, for his teeth will inflict very nasty scratches.
A fish often takes the bait very quietly, and you may think that you have only fouled a weed. In such a case, just keep a light strain on your line for a few seconds, and if it is a fish, you will feel a jerk or two.
Spinning is a more artistic method of fishing than trolling. There are many kinds of flights of hooks used, but I shall briefly describe three. The first is that brought out by Mr. Pennell, and is shown, together with the mode of baiting it, in the illustration.
236
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
Fig. 6.
Fig. 7.
PRACTICAL ESSAY, 237
The lijo-hook, c, slides up and down the gimp to suit the length of the bait. The triangle, a, is what is called a "flying" one, />., it hangs loose. An additional one, b, can be added if the angler chooses. Mr. Pennell says that one large triangle is sufficient, and claims that fewer fish are missed with it than with any other form of tackle. This is not in accord with my experience, for I have missed more with it than with any other, and I have given up using it. The object of crooking the tail is to make the bait spin round while it is being drawn through the water, so as to conceal the hook and make its movement more attractive. The lip-hook is put through the under lip first, unless the bait be a gudgeon, when it should be put through the upper lip first.
The next illustration shows the Francis tackle and the method of baiting it. This is a neater and better tackle than the other, and is very good for fine fishing, but it is not so good as the third. This is a tackle which I used when a boy on the Shropshire meres, but I did not know that it had any specific name until I saw in Mr. Francis's book that it was called the Chapman Spinner.
It has a brass needle with a pair of bent fans at the top : these are to give the spinning motion. One triangle on one side, and two on the other, constitute its armament. The gimp from both sets of triangles passes through the loop of the wire. To bait it the needle is thrust down the bait until its cheeks lie close against the fans. The top triangles are hooked in on both sides, and the bait is ready with little trouble. In the old tackles the triangles used to be fastened by the gimp to the loop at the head of the wire, and the bait often worked loose ; but by the gimp passing through the loop (an improvement by a Mr. Wood), the fish is kept tight up to the fans. I do not like single triangled flights. It is said by their advocates that a pike will generally take the single set into its mouth ; all that I can say is that I generally meet with the exceptions. With three triangles kept sharp I do not often miss a fish which runs fairly. Feel the points of your hooks often, and if they are turned or blunted, touch them up with a fine polish- ing file. Keeping the hooks sharp, and hard striking to drive them
238
THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
Fig. 8.
Fig. 9.
into the hard and bony mouth of the pike, are the two things to remember in spinning.
Above the flight is the trace, which should be a yard of gimp of strength suited to the tackle and expected fish. A foot above the flight should be a loop, which can be taken off" and put on a hook swivel, which comes next, thus permitting the flight to be changed without taking the rest of the trace off. A foot above that should be another swivel, and then the lead. The lead should have all its weight on one side so as to prevent its turning over, and to force
PRACTICAL ESSAY.
239
the swivels to act. The use of such leads, and the keeping the swivels well oiled, will prevent the "kinking" of the line, which many a time has driven an angler to the verge of distraction. The '' Field " lead, shown in the cut in the chapter on spinning for trout, is the best of leads. At the end of the trace is a loop by which the trace can be fastened to the nmning-line.
Now supposing your flight baited and attached to the trace, and the trace to the line, take your stand by the water's-side, with the butt of the rod resting against your right groin, and the right hand grasping it about a foot above the ferule. Uncoil a sufficient quantity of line on the ground at your feet, draw the line in through the rings with your left hand until the bait hangs about a yard and a half from the point of the rod ; swing the rod gently backwards and sideways to the left, and then more sharply forwards and with
240 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
a slight lift, letting go the line with the left hand, and away the bait will go. Point the rod towards the spot you wish the bait to go, and at such an angle with the water as will make a straight line, or rather a gentle curve, from the butt of the rod along the line, thus avoiding that friction on the top ring which would ensue if the point were held higher, and forming an angle with the line. When the bait touches the water, lower the point of your rod until it is within a yard of the water, and let the bait sink to about mid- water ; then pull the line home with the rod for a yard, then let the rod-point fall back, but pull in a yard or so of line with the left hand, letting it fall in coils at your feet ; then a pull with the rod-point, then with the hand, so that the bait is pulled home by irregular shoots, spinning brightly all the while.
Take it out of the water with a short line and slowly, and repeat the throw. If a pike seizes it, strike, and strike hard, as hard as your tackle will bear ; and if you see him at any time and his mouth is shut, strike again until he opens it, as he always does when he is hooked. If he jumps out of the water, as pike, especially river- pike, often will, lower the point of your rod, or he may break free. If he comes to the top of the water, and shakes his head with his jaws open, there is an even chance you will lose him, and the only thing to do is to slack your line and let him sink again. If he is of any size, do not attempt to land him until he is blown and lies on his side, when, if you have a gaff, you can stick it into him, or scoop him out with your landing-net ; or if you have neither, lead him to a shelving spot, go quietly up to him, and seize him behind the head, pushing your fingers and thumb into his gills.
Keep your hooks sharp, and strike hard.
For spinning in this fashion a well-dressed line is required, which should neither be too stiff nor too sticky. The undressed cotton lines are very good and cheap.
For fine fishing, gut, either single or twisted, is used instead of gimp j but is very liable to be cut by the pike's teeth.
In the Nottingham style of fishing a large free-running woode^ reel is used, with a light undressed silk line, and instead of the lii
PRACTICAL ESSAY. 241
being coiled on the ground, it is thrown off the reely the weight of the bait causing the reel to revolve and the line to unwind. It is then wound in again, and as the circumference of the reel is large, it winds in rapidly enough to make the bait spin, though not so brilliantly as in the other way. This style has its advantages where the ground is scrubby, and the line is apt to catch; but where there are such disadvantages, I coil the line in my left hand, like a sailor coils a rope, and I can throw very well that way; but you must take care that the line slips off your hand coil by coil, and not all at once, or there will be a pretty scrawl.
Artificial baits are often used in spinning, and are made of every imaginable shape and material.
The spoon bait is a general favourite, but Hearder's plano-convex bait is the most killing that I have ever tried. If the water is at all clouded I prefer it to the natural bait.
Live baitfishijig is the next branch of the subject. The tackle consists of one large triangle, with a smaller single hook whipped on to the gimp, two inches above it. A foot above this is a pipe lead and a swivel, and on the line is a large float. The small hook is hooked through the flesh of the back, just under the back fin, and the float adjusted so that the bait swims at mid-water. "When the float goes under with the run of a pike, count three, and then strike hard. Live-baiting is best when the water is clouded, as the pike has more time to see the bait. It is needless to say that the baits should be as lively and fresh as possible.
The pike is also sometimes fished for with a large and gaudy fly, which occasionally takes well.
Gudgeon and dace are the best pike baits, but all small fish will do ; even the spiny perch, with his back fins cut off, may be used in default of others. In the winter-time baits are very diflftcult to I procure ; but they may be preserved for that time by placing them in a large-mouthed jar of methylated spirits of wine. They will keep bright and tough for a considerable time. Smelts may be obtained through the winter in all large towns, and are a very brilliant and killing bait, but very tender. Small eels, or the tail part of large
16
242
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
ones, are also capital, and very tough and lasting. Cut about nine inches of the tail of an eel off, skin two inches more of it, cut off the flesh, tie the skin tight and turn it down over the rest of the eel as far as it will go, fasten it securely to any of your flights, and you will have a bait that will last you all day, and be as killing as any- thing. Put in salt, and it will keep several weeks, and be all the better for it.
The experienced pike fisher will know that the above is but an outline of the art as far as regards pike fishing. I could fill a volume with lore upon the subject, but this is all the space I have at command.
CHAPTER IX.
OBSERVATIONS ON THE CARP; WITH DIRECTIONS HOW TO FISH FOR HIM.
[I^rtfe Sag J
PiSC. The 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 naturalized. It is said they were brought hither by one Mr. Mascal, a gentleman that then lived at Plumstead in Sussex, a county that abounds more with fish than any in this nation.
It 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
I 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
248 16—2
244 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
of 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; and 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. And it is the rather to be believed, because you shall scarce or never take a male carp without a melt, and 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 Pliny say six times in a year, if there be no pikes or 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. It is 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 sud- denly, and being born is but short-lived, so, on the contrary,
I
THE CARP, 245
the elephant is said to be two years in his dam'3 belly, some think he is ten years in it, and being born, grows in bigness twenty years ; and it is observed too, that he lives to the age of a hundred years.* And it 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 a goodly fish ; but have been assured there are of a far greater size, and in England too.
Now, as the increase of carps is wonderful for their num- ber, 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 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 stole 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 had almost watched the pond, and at a like distance of time, at the fishing of the 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
246f THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 the frogs, and then devoured.
And a person of honour, now living in Worcestershire,^ assured 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 there- fore give you three or four more 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 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 conclude 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
J
THE CARP. 247
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 summer, 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 becomes in a short time to be a living fish : and, as I told you, it is thought that the carp does this several months in the year. And most be- lieve 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 bear- ing 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 cost 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 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
248 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
carps to be very medicinable. But it 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 Lev. 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 con- cerning 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 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 colour ; but you are to remember 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 Tenth of April is a fatal day for carps.
THE CARP. 249
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 in 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 doubt- less, 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 a certain 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 chickens' 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 rabbit or cat cut small ; and bean-flour ; and if that may not be 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 some- times 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,
250 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 before 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 little piece of scarlet, about this bigness • 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 fishing, 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 practised 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, mj next discourse shall be of the bream ; which shall not prov< so tedious, and therefore I desire the continuance of youi attention.
But, first, I will tell you how to make this carp, that is soj curious to be caught, so curious a dish of meat, as shall make him worth all your labour and patience ; and though it is] not without some trouble and charges, yet it will recompense] both.
THE CARP. 251
Take a carp, alive if possible, scour him, and rub him :lean 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 five whole onions, twenty pickled oysters, and three anchovies. 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 suflficiently boiled; then take out the carp, and lay it with the broth in 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.
APPENDIX IX.
Historical Notes.
» From a passage in the book of Dame Juliana Bemers, it appears that in her time there were carps, though but few, in England. It seems, therefore, that Mr. Mascall, of Plumstead, did not first bring hither carps ; but, as the curious in gardening do by exotic plants, he naturalized this species of fish ; and that about the era mentioned in the above distich, " Hops and turkeys," &c., which is elsewhere read thus :
" Hops, reformation, turkeys, carps, and beer, Came into England all in one year."
— H.
^ Carps live longest out of water of any fish. It is a common practice in Holland to keep them alive for three weeks or a montli by hanging them in a cool place with wet moss in a net, and feed- ing them with bread steeped in milk, taking care to refresh the animal now and then by throwing fresh water over the net in which it is suspended. — H.
" Paulus Jovius, an Italian historian, of very doubtful authority ; he lived in the sixteenth century, and wrote a small tract, " De Romanis Piscibus." He died at Florence, 1552. — H.
d Mr. JFr. Ru. — This memorandum occurs for the first time on the margin of the fifth edition. It refers, no doubt, to Mr. Francis
252
GENERAL NOTES. 253
Rufford, of Sapy, Worcestershire, who died, at the age of 82, about 1678. — Nicolas.
General Notes.
* " The carp spawns towards the end of May, or the beginning of June, according to the temperature of the water and the season ; and it is supposed to continue spa^vning occasionally for four or five months, and always for a longer period than most other fish." — Pennell.
The spawn of a large carp contains from six to seven hundred thousand eggs.
* The period of gestation in the elephant is twenty months.
Practical Essay.
''^ CARP.
Carp fishing was a favourite amusement of mine in more youth- ful days. There were two pools full of very large carp, and I used to bring home, after an afternoon's fishing, a dozen carp, from two to six pounds in weight each. On© pool was on the top of aWelsh hill, and nobody fished there but ourselves until I wrote about it,
254 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
and now it is often fished, and the carp are wary. The other pool has been drained.
Carp are usually found in ponds, but often also in slow deep rivers. It is an exceedingly wary fish, and a very little fishing for it makes it hard to catch. It spawns in April and May, but may be considered in season all the year round. It grows up to fifteen pounds in weight, and is marvellously long-lived and prolific. On warm, dull, and showery days, carp will bite all day ; but in the summer, from dawn to seven o'clock in the morning is the best time for the large ones. After that the little ones come on the feed. Although paste and many other baits are recommended for carp, a red worm is undoubtedly the best of all. A small hook, fine gut, no shot if you are fishing in a pond, and a small float, will form your tackle. Let a foot of the line be on the ground, as otherwise the carp will be startled at the sight or feel of the upright gut line. Throw in quietly, keep well out of sight, and as quiet as possible, and have patience. The carp has a very small mouth, and is a slow biter. He will play with and carry the bait about for a considerable time before he makes up his mind to swallow it, and during this time it is not safe to strike, although the float will be moving all the time. If your float moves and then is still for a considerable time, do not suppose that the fish has left it : in all probability he has it just within his lips, considering, or cruising round it, debating whether he shall taste it again or not. When it moves steadily away, you may strike, and, as the carp has a leather mouth, the hook is likely to be well held, and you are safe to land him.
Carp often keep a provokingly long distance from the side, and in such cases I have done much execution with the ledger tackle. No float is used, but the fine passes through a perforated bullet, which is kept from slipping down to the hook by a split shot fast^ ened to the line about a foot above it. This bullet can be thro™ a long way out, and the rod laid down with the top slightly elevated. When the carp bites, he pulls the line through the bullet, and jeri the top of the rod, when you strike.
ki
PRACTICAL ESSAY.
255
Ground-baiting beforehand is advisable when practicable ; and if you can bait two or three places, so that when the fish leave off biting at one, you can throw in a little fresh ground-bait and go to another, by alternating between them you have a better chance of sport than by sticking to one.
On hot days carp swim about at the surface of the water, their great tails and back fins sticking out above it. At such time I have dropped a worm on to their very noses — ay, and even into their mouths — and they have just shook their heads disdainfully, and waddled off. Carp seem to feed in twos and threes, those of a size keeping together ; and when a companion and myself have been fishing at the same time, we have had bites at the same time, and often landed our fish at the same time. This occurred five or six times one afternoon, and with long intervals between the bites.
Green peas, potatoes, beans, pastes, large flies, and many other baits, are used for carp, but none are so sure as a bright red worm.
Carp can be tamed so as to come to the side when called, and fed from the hand. They are very hard to kill, and will live a long time out of water, bearing transport for a great distance if packed in wet moss. They are of very slow growth.
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CHAPTER X.
OBSERVATIONS OF THE BREAM, AND DIRECTIONS TO CATCH HIM.
Pisc. The 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 wholesome. 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 excellent order ; he hath large eyes, and a narrow sucking mouth ; he hath two sets of teeth, and a lozenge-like bone, a bone to help his grinding. The melter is observed to have two large melts ; and the female, two large bags of eggs or spawn.
256
THE BREAM. 257
Gesner reports, that in Poland a certain and a great number of large breams were put into a pond, which in the next following 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 re- surrection 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 Francis 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. i. Paste made of brown bread and honey, gentles, or the brood of wasps that be young, and then not unlike 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 unlike a maggot, at which tench will bite freely. Or he will bite at
17
25 3 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
a grasshopper with his legs nipped off, in June or 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 impart it to you.
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 common, 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
^y them to the low ends of your lines ; 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 perch, who will assuredly
J
THE BREAM. 259
visit your hooks, till they be taken out, as I will shew you afterward, 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 tack- ling, repair to the river, where you have seen them swim in skulls 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 dis- cern, for they return 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 is in the broadest and deepest 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 the best. Then consider with your- self 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 labours, to be regarded.
17 — ^2
26o THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
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 presently 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 fitted, leave your bag with the rest of your tackling and ground-bait near the sporting-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,
J
THE BREAM. 26 1
that you perceive nothing but the top of the floats, which you must watch most diligently. Then when you have a bite, you shall perceive the top of your float to sink sud- denly into the water : yet, nevertheless, be not too hasty to run to your rods, until you see that the line goes clear away, then creep to the water-side, and give as much line as you possibly 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 to- gether, you are sure to lose your game, for either your line, or hook, or hold will break ; and after you have overcome 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 fish- ing, but it is far better for experience and discourse than paper. Only thus much is necessary for you to know, and to be mindful and careful of, that if the pike or perch 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 among the young fry that gather about and hover over the bait.
The way to discern the pike and to take him, if you mis- trust your bream-hook, — for I have taken a pike a yard long several times at my bream-hooks, and sometimes he hath had the luck to share my line, — may be thus :
Take a small bleak, or roach, or gudgeon, and bait it, and set it alive among your rods two feet 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,
262 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 fattest.
Observe lastly, that after three or four days' fishing to- gether, 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 desist from your sport about two or three days ; and in the meantime, on the place you late baited, and again intend to bait, you shall take a tuft of green but short grass, as big or bigger than a round trencher ; to the top of thi turf, on the green side, you shall, with a needle and gree;
THE BREAM.
263
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.
APPENDIX X.
General Notes.
^ Fish will get into the mud so that they are not visible, and ponds have been known to dry completely up, yet when they were full again, the fish have reappeared from their bed of moist mud, alive and well.
2 Walton means the bream-flat, a fish, if possible, nastier and slimier than the bream. It is very common in the Norfolk waters. I do not think it is a hybrid.
Practical Essay. the bream.
There are two species of bream, the bream-flat, which is com- paratively small, silvery, and worthless for sport ; and the common carp bream, which is a better and larger ftsh, of a more golden colour, and affording more sport. The bream affects slow muddy rivers and lakes, and in the Norfolk rivers and broads it is found in countless numbers, and catches of it are counted by the stone
864
PRACTICAL ESSAY. 265
weight, and not by the pound. They grow to a good size, from four to five pounds being not a rare weight to see them of, if not to catch them. In the clear waters of the " pulks," or small pools off the Norfolk rivers, I have seen them of enormous size and in prodigious numbers. They swim in vast shoals, and plenty of ground-bait is advisable : it would be difficult to surfeit so many of them. This fish is covered with a thick nasty slime, and the Nor- folk anglers take a cloth in which to hold them while disengaging the hook. Worms are the best bait, and the hooks should be No. 6 or 7.
Bream spawn in May, and the large ones do not come well on the feed till autumn. All the modes of fishing for carp or barbel will do for the bream. The bait should swim about an inch from the bottom, unless the ledger-bait is used. After the first rush or two the bream gives in, and can be towed into the landing-net. The best bream are found in the brackish water.
The brandling is said to be an especial favourite with the breanj.
CHAPTER XI.
OBSERVATIONS ON THE TENCH, AND ADVICE HOW TO ANGLE FOR HIM.
[IrrtirtI i^SJ
PiSC. The 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 colour, 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
266
THE TENCH. 26y
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 tradition, from the father to the son, and so from generation to generation, without writing ; or (unless it were casually) without 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 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 boldness ; there are too many foolish meddlers in physic and divinity, that think themselves fit to meddle with hidden secrets, and so bring destruction to their followers. But I '11 not meddle with them any further 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 ob- served, 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 himself and others, loves yet to feed in very foul water, and
268 THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
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, directions how to catch this tench, of which I have given you these observations.
He will bite a paste made of brown bread and honey, or at a marsh worm, or a lob-worm ; he inclines 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 I can positively say no more of the tench, he being a fish I have not often angled for; but I wish my honest scholar may, and be ever fortunate when he fishes.
APPENDIX XI.
General Note.
1 The statement that the tench has healing power among his brother fishes has never been satisfactorily proved, yet it is widely believed that he has some such power. It is not a thing that I should dogmatically contradict. The skin of a freshly caught tench from clear waters, always seems to me to have a peculiarly cool, soft, and pleasant feel. It has been ascertained by experiment that pike will not feed upon tench, but one can scarcely imagine such abstention to be caused by gratitude.
Practical Essay, the tench.
In his habits the tench is like the carp, but in appearance it is very different. It is very thickset and muscular in shape, golden greenish or olive green in hue, and covered with a cool soft slime. Tench grow to four or five pounds in weight, and frequent still, weedy waters. Many a small pool, apparently choked up with weeds, is yet full of fine tench. The ventral fins of the male tench
2/0 THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
are curiously curved like a shell. Tench spawn in May and June, and are said to be in best season in August Worms are the best baits, and should just touch the ground. The remarks as to bottom- fishing for carp will apply equally well to the tench. Like the carp, it is a slow and cautious biter ; but if the float rises so as to lie flat on the surface, you may safely strike. This rising of the float is peculiar to tench fishing, and is undoubtedly caused by the fish pushing the bait upwards. Another peculiarity of tench fishing is, that if a bite is not decisive, and you move the float away a little, the fish will seize the bait with greater eagerness. Tench are more long lived than carp, and almost as much so as eels. Ground-bait- ing is desirable to attract them to one spot, and a little chewed bread thrown in will keep them together. On hot days tench will be found among the weeds, and it pays to fish the minutest holes between the leaves, letting the bait fall first on a leaf, and roll off in a natural manner into the water. On very hot days, when tench are basking and making strange sucking noises among the weeds, they may be approached in a boat and taken out with the hand. I have before written of this fish : " Early in the morning and late in the evening tench usually bite well. On mild drizzling days they will bite well all day ; but even then you will obtain better sport towards dusk. It is a good plan at such times to afiix a white feather or piece of paper to the cap of the float, and when this cannot be seen, you must shorten your line and fish by feel. The biting will continue on dark nights as long as you like to stay ; but on bright moonlight nights, when a few hours by the water-side would be pleasant, tench are seldom caught. Indeed, this is true of most fish."
When the tench is hooked, keep a tight line on him or he will bore into the mud.
CHAPTER XII.
OBSERVATIONS ON THE PEARCH, AND DIRECTIONS HOW TO FISH FOR HIM.
PiSC. The Pearch is a very good and a very bold-biting fish. He is one of the fishes of prey that, like 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 will- ingly, and you may therefore easily believe him to be a bold biter.
The pearch is of great esteem in Italy, saith Aldrovandus,
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2/2 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 pro- verb, " 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 childbed.
He spawns but once a year, and is, by physicians, held very nutritive ; yet, by many, to be hard of digestion. They abound more in the river Po, and in England, says Rondeletius, than other parts, and have in their brain a stone which is in foreign parts sold by apothecaries, being there noted to be very medicinable against the stone in the reins. These be a part of the commendations which some philoso- phical 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 credibly informed, to be almost two foot long; for an honest informer told me such a one was not long since taken by Sir Abraham Williams, a gentleman of worth, and a brother] of the angle, that yet lives, and I wish he may : this was deep-bodied fish, and doubtless durst have devoured a pik< of half his own length ; for I have told you he is a bole 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 some-j times set up his tail.
But, my scholar, the pearch is not only valiant to defenc himself, but he is, as I said, a bold-biting fish, yet he will]
THE PERCH. 273
not bite at all seasons of the year; he is very abstemious in winter, yet will bite then in the midst of the day, if it be warm: and note, that all fish bite best about the midst 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 danger 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 an- other, 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 solitary pike, but love to accompany one another, and march together in troops.
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 the hook in his upper lip, and letting him swim up and down about mid-water, or a little lower, 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
18
274 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 angler 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.
PiSC. But, scholar, have you nothing to mix with this discourse, which now grows both tedious and tiresome t 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 shew the world that he could make soft and smooth verses when he thought smoothness worth his labour ; and I love them the better because 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 whisp'ring run, Warm'd by thy eyes more than the sun ; And there th' enamell'd fish will stay, Bccging themselves they may betray.
V/hen thou wilt swim in that live batli, £a'jh fish^ which every channel hath,
THE PERCH. 275
Most amorously to thee will swim, Gladder to catch thee, than thou him.
If thou to be so seen be'st loth, By sun or moon, thou darkenest 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, To 'witch poor wandering fishes' eyes :
For thee, thou need'st no such deceit. For thou thyself art thine own bait : That fish that is not catch'd 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 observa- tions of the eel, for it rains still, and because, as you say, our angles arc as money put to use, that thrives when we play, therefore we'll sit still and enjoy ourselves a httle longer under this honeysuckle hedge.
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APPENDIX XII.
Practical Essay.
THE PERCH.
The perch Is a very plucky and game fish. It swims in large shoals, and the small ones may be caught In great numbers by the most youthful hand with a worm-baited hook. It frequents slow rivers, lakes, and ponds. The small " pits " in Cheshire are often full of perch, although they may be no larger than a fair-sized room. I was once coming home from fishing, and had not taken my tackle to pieces, and while I took a rest I threw my line, a remnant of a worm being on the hook, into a tiny pond by the side of the road. The float instantly dipped, and I pulled out a nice perch. In a short time I caught nine perch averaging half a pound each.
The perch spawns in March, April, or May, according to the warmth or coldness of the season, and is in condition from June. It grows to four or five pounds in weight in England, but a two- pound fish may be considered as above the average. It affords good winter fishing, and at that season of the year It may be found in hundreds in some eddy or deep backwater.
Worms and minnows are the most common baits for perch, and may be used with a good-sized hook, and a cork float, the bait swimming midway In the water In the warmer months, and near the bottom in the colder ones. If the bait Is a minnow, it should be hooked through the upper lip. It Is well to have a second hook a couple of feet above the lower one, and one can be baited with a worm, and one with a minnow. Let the float be taken well
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PRACTICAL ESSAY, 277
away or under before you strike. The minnow should be as fresh and lively as possible.
Paternostering is a specialty of perch fishing. The paternoster is thus made : the gut bottom should be a yard long, weighted at the end with a bullet ; links of gut 6 inches long are fastened to this, one just above the bullet and the others at intervals of 10 inches above. Two, three, or four hooks may be thus suspended and baited with minnows and worms. No float is used, but the paternoster is cast into the eddies and other spots where perch are likely to be, and allowed to sink until the lead touches the bottom. It is then moved about, a foot or so at a time, until every part of the hole is well fished. When a bite is felt, the line must be slackened for a second or two, and when you feel a more vigorous tugging, strike firmly but not violently, or you may jerk the other baits off.
You may also troll with a minnow baited on a miniature gorge- hook, like that described in the article on pike fishing, or with a drop minnow, as described in that on trout fishing, or you may spin with a natural or artificial minnow, or a small spoon-bait. In Norfolk the pattern of spoon with a red tassel behind is rightly accounted most killing, and Hearder's plano-convex minnow is good at all times. I used to catch numbers of large perch in the Shropshire meres while spinning for pike, with a good-sized roach for bait, and I have caught them with a very large spoon. A friend assures me that the most killing bait of all for perch is that known as the " baby spinner," made for sea-fishing. It is a long-shanked hook, with a small Archimedean spinner on the shank of it. A red worm should be placed on the hook, and the bait, weighted with lead about a foot above the hook, is worked up and down in the perch haunts. My friend says its effect was perfectly marvellous on the occasions on which he tried it.
The ordinary bottom -fishing rod will do very well for perch fishing, but if the angler has a choice, one a little longer will be better for paternostering, as it is of advantage to be able to reach a distance, and yet have a short line.
CHAPTER XIII.
OBSERVATIONS OF THE EEL, AND OTHER FISH THAT WANT SCALES; AND HOW TO FISH FOR THEM.
Umxxt]) gag.]
PiSC. It is agreed by most men, that the Eel is a mosj dainty fish : the Romans have esteemed her the Helena their feasts, and some the queen of palate pleasure. Buj most men differ about their breeding : some say they breec by generation as other fish do, and others, that they bree( as some worms do, of mud ; as rats and mice, and man] other living creatures are bred in Egypt, by the sun's heal when it shines upon the overflowing of the river Nilus ; o^
278
THE EEL. 279
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 spawn ; for they say, that they are certain that eels have all parts fit for genera- tion, like other fish, but so small as not to be easily dis- cerned, by reason of their fatness ; but that discerned they may be ; and that the he and the she-eel may be distin- guished 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 worms are made of glutinous dew-drops, which are con- densed by the sun's heat in those countries, so eels 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 of the ancients have called the eels that are thus bred the offspring of Jov^e. I have seen, in the beginning of July, in a river not far from Can- terbury, 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 like of other rivers, as namely, in Severn, where they are called yelvers ; 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
28o THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
a kind of eel-cake of them, and eat it like as bread. And Gesner quotes Venerable 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 Camden, 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 believe 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 observations 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.
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 inj which they usually are, but get into the soft earth or mud and there many of them together bed themselves, and live!
THE EEL. 281
without feeding 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 1125, 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 Lan- cashire 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 live 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 certain, that the silver eel is bred by generation, but not by spawning as other fish do, but that her brood come alive from her, being then little live cols, no bigger nor longer than a pin ; and I have had too many testimonies 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.
282 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
And this eel, of which I have said so much to you, may be 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 anything, for he is a greedy fish :' but the eel may be caught especially with a little, a very little 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 baits 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 across the stream with many hooks at it, and those baited with the aforesaid baits, and a clod, or plummet, or stone, throvv^n 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 an 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 remembe^ I told you, that eels do not usually stir in the day-time ; for then they hide themselves under some covert; or unde
THE EEL, 283
boards or planks about flood-gates or weirs or mills ; or in holes on the river 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 her- self, you may, with the help 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 if there be an eel within the sight of it, the eel will bite instantly, 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, laying 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 pulling too hard.
And to commute for your patient hearing this long direction, I shall next tell you how to make this eel a most excellent dish of meat.
First, wash him in water and salt, then pull off his skin below his vent or navel, and not much further ; having done that, 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
284 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
moisture within his skin : and 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, " Hast thou found it, eat no more than is sufficient, 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 little more of your attention to tell you, 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 other 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 j 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, becaus
THE EEL, 285
they make us anglers no sport; therefore I will let them alone, as the Jews 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 there lose himself 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 little 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 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 Guiniad, of which I shall tell you what Camden and others speak. The river Dee (which runs by Chester) springs in Merionethshire ; and, as it runs toward Chester, it runs through Pemble Mere [Bala Lake], which is a large water ; and it is observed, that though the river Dee abounds with salmon, and . Pomble Mere with the guiniad, yet there is
286
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
never any salmon caught in the mere, nor a guiniad in the river. And now my next observation shall be of the barbel.
APPENDIX XIII.
Historical Notes.
» The most universal scholar of his time ; he was bom at Durham about 671, and bred under St. John of Beverley. He was a man of great virtue, and remarkable for a most sweet and engaging dis- position. He died in 734, and lies buried at Durham. His works make eight volumes folio, of which the most valuable and best known is his " Ecclesiastical History." — H.
^ Matthias de Lobcl, or L'Obel, an eminent physician and botanist of the sixteenth century, was a native of Lisle, in Flanders. He was a disciple of Rondcletius ; and being invited to London by King James I., published there his " Historia Plantarum," and died in the year 16 16. The work is entitled "Plantarum sen Stirpium Historia," and was first published at Antwerp in 1576, and repub- lished at London in 1605. He was author likewise of two other works, the former of which has for its title " Balsami, Opobalsami, Carpobalsami, ct Xylobalsami, cum suo cortice explanatio " (Lond., 1598); and the latter, "Stirpium Illustrationes" (Lond., 1655). — H.
« John Gerard was one of the first of our English botanists, was by profession a surgeon, and published, in 1597, an "Herbal" in a large folio, dedicated to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh; and, two years after, " A Catalogue of Plants, Herbs, &c.," to the number of eleven hundred, raised and naturalized by himself in a large garden near his house in Holborn. The latter is dedicated to Sir Walter Raleigh.— H.
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288 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
d Dr. Plot, in his " History of Staffordshire," p. 242, mentions certain waters and a pool that were stocked by eels that had, from waters they liked not, travelled " in arido" or over dry land, to these other. — H.
® Camden's relation is to this effect, viz., " That at a place called Sefton, in the above county, upon turning up the turf, men find a black deadish water, with small fishes therein." — " Britannia," Lan- cashire. Fuller, who also reports this strange fact, humorously says, " That the men of this place go a-fishing with spades and mattocks;" adding, that fishes are thus found in the country about Heraclea and Suis, in Pontus. — H.
' To this truth I myself can bear witness. When I dwelt at Twickenham, a large canal adjoined to my house, which I stocked with fish. I had from time to time broods of ducks, which, with their young ones, took to the water. One dry summer, when the canal was very low, we missed many young ducks, but could not find out how they went. Resolving to take advantage of the low- ness of the water to clean the canal, a work which had not been done for thirty years, I drained and emptied it, and found in the mud a great number of large eels. Some of them I reserved for the use of my family, which, being opened by the cook, surprised us all ; for in the stomachs of many of them were found, undigested, the necks and heads of young ducks, which doubtless were those of the ducks we had missed. The fact seems to have been that, the ^/ater being shallow, they became an easy prey, and were pulled under by the eels, or, if you will, by the heels, — H.
General Notes.
* " Ephemera " says : " Eels have ova and milt like other fresh- water fish. . . . They are migratory in rivers running into the sea. They migrate to deposit their spawn in salt water, and im- migrate to fresh water to grow in it. . . . I am of opinion that eels are oviparous, and I know, of my own knowledge, that Mr. Andrew Young, of Invershin, Sutherlandshire, has bred them arti- ficially from impregnated spawn, procured from living male and female specimens." See Essay as to the general habits of eels.
* There are three sorts of lampreys which inhabit British waters : the common or sea-lamprey, which grows to a great size in the Severn ; the lampem or river-lamprey, of which, when I was a boy, we used to catch great numbers in the Welsh Dee ; and the fringe- lipped lampern. The peculiar characteristics of the lampreys are their circular mouths, which act as suckers, by means of which they can hold on to stones or other objects with surprising tenacity, and the seven apertures on each side of the neck which act as gills.
Practical Essay.
THE EEL
is more useful as an article of food than of sport. There are three British species : the broad-nosed eel, the sharp-nosed eel, and the snig.
289 13
290 THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
The natural history of the eel is still shrouded in consider- able mystery. It is not clearly known where, when, or how they spawn. In October and November the eels descend the rivers in vast shoals to the brackish waters or the sea, and are caught in eel nets or basket traps. In the spring, in some rivers, young eels, three or four inches long, ascend the rivers in myriads, surmounting the weirs, &c., by crawling up through the wet grass at the edge oi over the moist rock.
Every one is familiar with the appearance of the eel, but every- one does not know that in spite of their smooth slimy skin, they have scales, which are very small and beneath the outer skin.
The reader will, of course, understand that eels cannot be gene- rated from horsehairs thrown into the water, as some people even yet believe.
As few fish for the eel for sport, it is not necessary for me to add anything to Walton's directions for fishing for it.
Eels will go out on the grass on damp warm nights, and deep into the mud in cold weather.
THE FLOUNDER
is not a sporting fish, but it is caught in great numbers m the Welsh Dee, twenty miles from the sea, the bait being a worm.
THE CHARR,
of which there seem to be several species, is of the salmon family, and is only locally distributed. It is very rarely caught, and, except during the few days on which it spawns, it inhabits the deepest parts of the lakes.
THE GUINIAD,
which is of the same family, only inhabits a few lakes, and is caught by the net.
CHAPTER XIV.
OBSERVATIONS OF THE BARBEL, AND DIRECTIONS HOW TO FISH FOR HIM.
[|0urtlr iajj
Pisc. The Barbel is so called, says Gesner, by reason of his barb or wattles 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 able to live in the strongest swifts of
291 19—2
292 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 nest 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 creatures sport them- selves 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 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 labour 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 of 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 dan- gerous meat, and especially in the month of May ; which is go certain, that Gesner and Gasius declare it had an ill effect upon them, even to the endangering of their lives.
This fish is of a fine cast and handsome shape, with small
I
THE BARBEL. 293
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 ; so lusty and cunning as to endanger the breaking of the angler's 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 Industrie, 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 they 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 especially 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 overbait 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 are still the likelier to catch fish : some have directed to cut the cheese into thin pieces, and toast it, and
294 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 1 shall commend any angler that tries conclusions, and is industrious to improve the art. And now, my honest scholar, the long shower and m'y tedious discourse are both ended together ; and I shall give you but this observation, that when you fish for 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 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 favour with Doctor Sheldon,* whose skill is above others ; and of that the poor that dwell about him have a comfortable experience.
And now let us 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, «^ .holar, 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 towards 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.
THE BARBEL. 295
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 fortune a-fishing this day, that we resolve to give you and Maudlin a brace of trouts for supper ; and we will now taste a draught of your red cow's milk.
MiLK-W. Marry, and that you shall with all my heart ; and I will still be 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 haycock 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, because you be such honest men.
Ven. We thank you, and intend, once in a month, to call 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 scliolar.
APPENDIX XIV.
Historical Note.
• Dr. Gilbert Sheldon, Warden of All Souls' College, chaplain to King Charles I., and, after the Restoration, Archbishop of Canter- bury. He founded the theatre at Oxford, died in 1677, and lies buried under a stately monument at Croydon, in Surrey.
Practical Essay, the barbel.
Barbel fishing is one of the sciences. The fish itself is not widely distributed, and is most common in the Thames and the Trent, where barbel fishing is a specialty. It is a wary fish and difficult to catch, yet worth catching — not for its edible qualities, which are low, but for the sport it affords, as it runs in general from two to ten pounds in weight, and is a strong fish. Its haunts are in strong and swift currents, flowing by "campshots," piles, tree- roots, and other strongholds. It spawns in May and June, and from July to October is in best condition. It " roots " along the
296
PRACTICAL ESSAY. 297
gravel just like a porker on dry land. Worms, greaves, and gentles are the best baits for it, and the best of all is the tail of a lob-worm, which should cover the hook, but not leave much dangling. As the barbel is fished for in strong currents, the line must be well shotted and the float well able to bear the weight, and not be overwhelmed with the stream. The Nottingham style of fishing with a slider- float is the best, and the worm should just trip along the bottom. Ground-baiting for one or two nights before is very advisable, and the best ground-bait is worms enclosed in clay balls, which break and dissolve away, freeing the worms gradually. If fishing with gentles, ground-bait with carrion gentles. If you cannot ground- bait beforehand, throw in broken worms, or hollow clay balls with worms inside : the balls should be lightly made, so as to break soon.
The ledger-bait, as described in the chapter on carp fishing, is a killing way in those streams which are too strong and turbulent for float-fishing. The bullet should be flattened, so that it does not roll with the stream ; or you may fish with a smaller bullet, and let it move down with the stream, striking when you feel a tug, but not in too much haste. A Jack rod and stout tackle is best for ledg- ing for barbel, as a strong stroke is necessary.
Another very killing way, but which I have never tried, is with the clay hall tackle. The hook is baited with half a dozen gentles or a piece of greaves. " A foot above the hook a little bit of stick is fastened crosswise," says Mr. Francis Francis ; " this is for the purpose of holding the ball on the line. A lump of stiff clay, of the size of an orange, is then taken, and some gentles being enclosed in it, it is worked up with bran over the piece of stick on to the line. The gut between the ball and the hook is then wound round the ball and drawn into the clay, which is squeezed and worked over it, so that only the hook shall protrude beyond the proper end of the ball, which is then dropped to the bottom — the hook with gentles showing just outside the ball in the most attrac- tive way. Soon the gentles in the clay force their way out, and the fish taking them from the ball, almost inevitably take those on
298
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
the hook also ; the angler strikes when he feels a bite, which he does almost as easily as with the ledger, and the strike shakes and breaks off the clay ball, leaving the line free to play the fish. . . A stoutish rod and tackle are required."
" Tight corking " is simply fishing with the line so well shotted that the bait does not drag, the shots resting on the ground, and also holding the float in its place.
CiUDGEON.
CHAPTER XV.
OBSERVATIONS ON THE GUDGEON, THE RUFFE, AND THE BLEAK; AND HOW TO FISH FOR THEM.
[latirtlj iaiiJ
t Pisc. The Gudgeon is reputed a fish of excellent taste, and to be very wholesome : he is of a fine shape, of a silver colour, 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 Germans 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 a most excellent fish to enter a young angler, being easy to be taken with a small red worm, on or near to the ground. He is one of those leather-mouthed fish that has his teeth in his throat, and will hardly be lost off from 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 and rot, and the weather colder, then they gather together and get into the deep
I
300 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 an excellent way, i^ you have a gentle rod and as gentle a hand.
There is also another fish called a Pope, and by some a Ruffe, a fish that is not known to be in some rivers : he is much like the perch for his shape, and taken to be better than the perch, but will not grow to be bigger than a gudgeon. He is an excellent fish, no fish that swims is of a pleasanter 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 as 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 ij ever in motion, and therefore called by some the rivei swallow ; for just as you shall observe the swallow to most evenings in summer ever in motion, making short an(
GUDGEON, RUFFE, AND BLEAK. lO\
quick turns when he flies to catch flies in the air, by which he hVes, so does the bleak at the top of the water. Ausonius would have him called bleak from his whitish colour : 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 Allamot salt and the skill that the Italians have to turn them into anchovies. This fish may be caught with a Paternoster 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 colour, 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 summer'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 I Italy will catch swallows so, or especially martins ; this I bird-angler standing on the top of a steeple to do it, and
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THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
tell you, scholar, that both martins 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 small gudgeon. The line and hook must be strong, and tied to some loose stafif, so big as she cannot fly away with it, a line not exceeding two yards.
APPENDIX XV.
Practical Essay.
THE GUDGEON
is a pretty little fish which noses along the gravel in thousands on those gravelly shallows which it affects. It is excellent fun fishing for it in the summer. The hook should be small, and just fitted, like with a glove, with a piece of red worm or brandling ; there must be none left to dangle. A small quill float will be necessary, and the bait should just touch the bottom as it drifts down stream. Strike at the least dip. Gudgeon are kept in one spot by raking the bottom with a heavy rake ; this stirs up the gravel, and the gudgeon crowd to seek for water-insects, &a
THE RUFF
is something like a cross between the perch and the gudgeon, having the spiny fins and general appearance of the former, and the habits of the latter. It is generally caught while gudgeon fish-
THE BLEAK
! .
is a slender, active, brilliant little fish, and may be caught, as Walton says, with gentles, or by fly-fishing with very small dark flies.
CO?
CHAPTER XVI. IS OF NOTHING, OR THAT WHICH IS NOTHING WORTH
[laurtfe iag.]
PiSC. My purpose was to give you some directions con- cerning 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 forbear at this time to say any more, because you see yon- der come our brother Peter and honest Coridon : but I will promise you, that as you and I fish, and walk to-morrow towards London, if I have now forgotten anything that I can then remember, I will not keep it from you.
Well met, gentlemen : this is lucky that we meet so just together 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, brother Peter, and Coridon, to you both : come, drink, and
804
i
OF NOTHING. 305
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 fishing and talking, and are returned home both weary and hungry, 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 alehouse, 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 haste you may ; and when we have supped let us have your song, Piscator, and the catch that your scholar promised us ; or 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 moderation.
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! 'T is full of pleasure, void of strife, And 't is beloved by many ; Other joys Are but toys ;
20
306 THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
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 eyes ; 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 abroad
For our recreation. In the fields is our abode. Full 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 too ; We can watch both night and mom, 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;
OF NOTHING. 307
If the sun's excessive heat Make our bodies swelter, To an osier hedge we get For a friendly shelter ;
Where in a dike,
Perch or pike,
Roach or dace.
We do chase ;
Bleak or gudgeon,
Without grudging ; We are still contented.
Or we sometimes pass an hour
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 : Other joys Are but toys, And to be lamented. — Jo. Chalkhill.
Ven. Well sung, master: this day's fortune and pleasure, and this nij^^ht's company and song, do all make me more and more in love with angling. Gentlemen, my master left me alone for an hour this day ; and I verily believe he retired himself 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 discom- mending it to beg your commendations of it. And therefore,
20-- 2
308 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
without replications, let us 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 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 had then left me : that he had a plentiful estate, and not a heart to think- so ; that he had at this time many law-suits 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 content that I, who pretended no title to them, took in his fields : for I could sit there quietly, and, looking on the water, see some fishes sport themselves in the silver streams, others leaping at flies of several shapes and colours; looking on the hills, I could behold them spotted with woods and groves ; looking down the meadows, could see, here a boy gathering lilies and lady-smocks, and there a girl cropping culverkeys and cowslips, 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 mc, I did thankfully remember what my Saviour said, that the
OF NOTHING. 309
meek possess the earth ; or rather, they enjoy what the others 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, Hke 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 written 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 botli 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 toss'd in boisterous seas
Or the vexatious world, or lost in slothful ease : Pleased and full bless'd he lives, when he his God can please.
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 ;
310 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 possessed me. And I here made a conversion of a piece of an old catch, and added more to it, fitting them to be sung by anglers. Come, master, you can sing well; you must sing a part of it as it is in this paper.
Man's life is but vain,
For 't is subject to pain
And sorrow, and short as a bubble ;
'T is a hodgepodge of business,
And money, and care ;
But we '11 take no care
When the weather proves fair,
Nor will we vex
Now, though it rain, We '11 banish all sorrow. And sing till to-morrow.
And angle and angle again.
Peter. Ay, 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 speakest sense
Without a tongue, excelling eloquence ;
With what ease might thy errors be excused,
Wert thou as truly loved as thou 'rt abused !
But though 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 musi< has called to my memory what Mr. Ed. Waller, a lover ol| the angle, says of love and music.
OF NOTHING. 3 r I
Whilst I listen to thy voice,
Chloris, I feel my heart decay: That powerful noise
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 Is — that they sing, and that they love.
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 other cup, and to bed, and thank God we have a dry house over our heads.
PiSC. Well now, good night to everybody.
Peter. 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 us each man drink a pot for his morning's draught, and lay down his two shillings ; that so my hostess
312
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
may not have occasion to repent herself of being so diligent, and using us so kindly.
Peter. The motion is liked by everybody; and so, hostess, here 's your money : we anglers are all beholding 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.
CHAPTER XVIL
OF ROACH AND DACE, AND HOW TO FISH FOR
them; and of caddis.
Ven. Good 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 riitilns^ 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 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
B foolishness. It is noted, that the roach and dace recover
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strength, and grow in season 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 difference, 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 capital sport, espe- cially the great roaches about London, 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 caddis ; 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 post of a bridge, or near to any posts of a weir, I mean any deej place where roaches lie quietly, and then pull your fly uj
ROACH AND DACE. 315
very leisurely, and usually a roach will follow your bait to the very top of the 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 manchet ; ^ 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 labour, 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 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 ; con- cerning which, take this direction, for it is very good :
Take the blackish gnt-fly out of the mole-hill or ant-hill, in which place you shall find them in the month 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 earth over it, and then so many as are put into the glass without bruising will live
I so
k
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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 bottom.
I shall next tell you a winter bait for a roach, a dace, or chub, and it is choicely good. About AU-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 brea: carp, or indeed for almost any fish.
ROACH AND DACE. 317
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 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 Michaelmas. 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 will be nice to foul your fingers, which good anglers seldom are, then take this bait : get a handful of well-made malt, and put into a dish of water ; and then wash and rub it betwixt 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 quantity 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 feel- ing 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 I 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 marr'd ; and then cut off that sprouted end, I mean a little of it, that the white may appear, and so pull
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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 sum- mer, you sometimes casting a little of it into the place where your float swims.
And to take the roach and dace, a good bait is the young brood of wasps or bees, if you dip their heads in blood ; es- pecially good for bream, if they be baked or hardened in their husks in an oven, after the bread is taken out of it, or hardened on a 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 chymical men, as a great present : it was sent and received, and used with great confidence ; and yet upon enquiry, 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 tn philosopher's stone, yet it is not attainable by common capacities, or else lies locked up in the brain or breast some chyn>'cal man, that, like the Rosicrucians, will not y
1
ROACH AND DACE. 3^9
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 tempt- ing 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 ; concerning 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.
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 book- sellers in St. Paul's Churchyard, or to Mr. John Stubs, near to the Swan in Golden 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 us meet there the Ninth 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.
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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 hear- ing. 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 into fit pieces. Nay, mulberries, and those black- berries which grow upon briars, 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 fruits customarily dropped in 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 caddis or case-worms, that are to be found in this nation, in several
ROACH AND DACE. 321
distinct counties, and in several little brooks that relate to bigger rivers ; as, namely, one caddis 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 caddis-worm, called a cock-spur, 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 caddis is a choice bait for any float-fish ; it is much less than the piper-caddis, and to be so ordered; and these may be so preserved, ten, fifteen, or twenty days, or it may be longer.
There is also another caddis, called by some a straw- worm, and by some a rufi*-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 caddises are commonly taken in the beginning of summer, and are good indeed to 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
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322 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
summer ; but I might lose myself and tire you by such a discourse : I shall therefore but remember you, that to know these and their several kinds, and to what flies every particular caddis turns, and then how to use them, first as they be caddis, 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 will tell you, scholar, several countries have several kinds of caddises, 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 how, or of what, this caddis receives life, or what coloured 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 caddis ; 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 caddis 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, it 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 water.
Next let me tell you, I have been much pleased to wall quietly by a brook with a little stick in my hand, with which I might easily take these, and consider the curiosity
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323
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 of them in that nick out of the water, before you have any occasion to use them. These, my honest scholar, are some observations told to you as they now come suddenly into my memory, of which you may make some use ; but for the practical part, it is that that makes an angler: it is diligence, and observation, and practice, and an ambition to be the best in the art, that must do it. Iwill tell you, scholar, I once heard 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 ; I envy nobody but him, and him only, that catches more fish than I do." And such a man is like to prove an angler ; and this noble emulation I wish to you and all young anglers.
APPENDIX XVII.
General Notes,
1 The rudd is a game little fish, found in great abundance in the " broads " and rivers of Norfolk, where it is called " roud." In Cambridgeshire it is called " shallow." I am inclined to think it is not a hybrid, but a distinct species. It is a brilliantly coloured fish, with scales inclining to a gold colour, belly and gill-covers yellow, eyes and fins bright red. It may be fished for in the same way as the roach.
Once while yachting on the Norfolk broads, we were lying at anchor close to the shore. About a yard from our bows was a clear pool amid the weeds, about 6 feet in diameter and 3 feet deep. This was literally as full as it could be of small roach and rudd swimming slowly to and fro : the brilliant sunshine lit up the red, and silver, and gold of the little fishes as they hovered over the bright green weed, and the whole made as pretty a sight as I have ever seen of the kind.
^ A manchet is a small delicate loaf.
3 It is an old idea that the nest of the kingfisher is curiousl made of fish-bones intenvoven. This, however, is a mistake. Tl kingfisher either makes a hole in some soft bank near the water, adapts a rat-hole, and lays its eggs on the dry earth at the en( which is made larger, like a chamber. The same kingfishers us the same nest year after year; and as the voidings and excremei
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PRACTICAL ESSAY. 325
of the old and young birds, which contain a vast quantity of the bones of minnows and other small fry, are deposited in this chamber, a considerable quantity is accumulated in the course of two or three years. The eggs are laid on the top of this each year, and it is in this manner that the "nest" is formed of fish-bones and soil, emitting anything but a savoury smell. Most anglers by the river- side know the blue, and green, and orange form of the kingfisher, but few have found its nest. The hole is often 3 feet long, and takes a twist which is awkward for any intruding ami. The eggs are seven in number, pure white, with a most delicate pearly shell, and are more round than oval. The kingfisher and the water-ouzel are my favourite birds.
Practical Essay.
THE ROACH.
The roach is a very well-known fish, abounding in most ponds and gently-flowing rivers. It has been greatly educated since Walton's day, and it requires no little skill to catch a basketful of fair-sized roach; the small fry may generally be caught in any number. The roach spawns in May and June, ascending the rivers from the lower portions for that purpose, and in ponds seeking the shallow portions, where it deposits its spawn in the weeds. After spawning they scour themselves in the swifter streams, and then for the rest of the summer haunt the slow but not deep streams, retiring in the autumn to deeper holes and quiet eddies.
The roach anglers on the Thames and Lea make a specialty of the art, and are the best in the kingdom.
Although the usual bottom-fishing rod will do very well for roach
326 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
fishing, yet it is advisable to have a longer and lighter weapon. One of East India cane, 20 feet and more in length, is generally used for the purpose. Quick striking is necessary in roach fishing, and for this purpose it is necessary to have the line above the float as short and " taut " as possible, hence the necessity of a long rod to reach over the weeds and fish long swims. Fine tackle is very requisite ; indeed, many roach fishers use single hair for their foot- links, but fine-drawn gut is perhaps as invisible, and certainly stronger. The hooks should be Nos. 9, 10, or 11 ; the float a fine porcupine quill, or where the fish are shy, a half-inch of quill plugged up at both ends, or even a bit of straw. Roach are gre- garious, and ground-baiting a day before fishing is desirable in order to secure the shoal being where you want them to be. Bran mixed with carrion gentles or bread, meal or boiled rice, or a judi- cious mixture made into balls, and if there is a stream, weighted with small stones or clay, and thrown in so as to find the bottom at the proper place, should be used as ground-bait. When you are fishing, small balls of soaked bread or of your ground-bait should be thrown in at not too frequent intervals, to keep the fish together. In some places, however, where the space is confined, such as by a lock-gate in a small river or canal, the roach must be there within reach, and ground-bait is unnecessary.
The best general hook bait for a roach is a gentle, of which two or three may be put on the hook ; the addition of the red chrysalis of the gentle on the point of the hook is an inducement when the fish are biting shyly. A small red worm is excellent for the large roach in the winter. Paste is a universal bait, and though many flavour it with honey, or other things sweet or tasty, or colour it with vermilion, plain white paste, made of the crumb of a new loaf or flour and water, kneaded into consistency with dean hands, is best. A litde cotton-wool mixed up with it will make it keep longer on the hook : a piece about the size of a pea should be pressed on to the hook. An acquaintance of mine says that the best paste is made of Huntley and Palmer's biscuits. Pearl barley boiled for two hours, until it has swelled its utmost and is soft, is
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PRACTICAL ESSAY. 327
as good as paste. Boiled wheat and dried malt have each their votaries, and the silk-weed is also stated to be a good bait when wrapped around the hook, but I have never had sufficient faith to try it. Wasp-grubs are also good for the large roach.
If you can see the roach, let your bait hang at the depth they appear to be swimming ; but if you cannot see them, three or four inches from the bottom will be about right. Strike the moment the float dips, and always at the end of the swim if in a stream.
Sinking and drawing without a float, and with a fly or gentle, or both on the hook, is very deadly. You cast your line into the stream, and work it gently up and down while it floats do^^^l stream, striking when you feel a bite. Daping with a fly is also kifling, and fly-fishing with a small black gnat or other small dark fly, tipped with a gentle or bit of white kid glove, is a capital way. The pit- men on the banks of the Wear use a casting-line of single hair well oiled. A fly is put on the hook, there is of course no shot, and the fly and line float on the surface till the former is seized by the fish. This is said to be a most deadly method. The roach bites well on open days during the winter.
]Mr. Francis says that " there are few of the ordinary fresh-waler fish so good for the table as a roach out of a gravelly stream, from Christmas to the end of March."
The rudd referred to in the note may be fished for in precisely the same way as the roach.
THE DACE.
The same tackle, baits, and mode of fishing that are applicable to roach fishing are also applicable to dace fishing, except that vegetable food is not so much to their mind as animal. The small red worm is perhaps the best general bait.
The dace is a brighter and more active fish than the roach, and is a river fish only. It rises well at the fly, and whipping for dace on summer evenings is a capital amusement, and a good introduc- tion to fly-fishing for trout. The dace is gregarious, and in favour- al;le situations is found in large shoals. I have seen some parts of
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the little Ouse fairly black with them, with occasional sheen of silver as a fish would dart aside at some bit of food. It spawns in May or June, and in July and August goes in shoals to the shallows. Any small fly may be used, and is made more killing by the addi- tion of a gentle, or, less troublesome, a bit of white kid glove on the hook. Mr. Francis Francis says : " I have found the inner rind of a scrap of stringy bacon answer the purpose better, perhaps, than f^Uher, being a kind of compromise between the two ; that is, something tu taste and not liable to be whipped off."
You must strike quickly when fly-fishing for dace, and if you can see the rise, do not wait until you feel it, for dace detect the deceit at once, and no sooner have they taken the fly within their mouths they blow it out again, apparently before it has had time even to tickle their lips. The dace scarcely reaches a pound in weight. I have seen and caught very large ones in the Severn, when trout fishing in the streams ; but I have never seen any over a pound.
CHAPTER XVIII.
OF TPIE MINNOW OR PENK, OF THE LOACH, AND OF THE BULL-HEAD OR MILLER'S THUMB.
[liftjiiag.]
PiSC. There be also three or four other little fish that I had almost forgot, that are all 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 ot summer ; for they breed often, as it 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 need- ful 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.
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330 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
The minnow hjsth, when he is in perfect season, and not sick, which is orily presently after spawning, a kind of dappled or waved colour, like to a panther, on his sides, in- dining to a greenish and sky-colour, 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 Gesner, and other learned physicians, commended for great nourishment, 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
MINNOW, LOACH, AND BULL-HEAD. 33 1
his similitude and shape. It has a head big and flat, much greater than suitable to his body ; a mouth very wide, and usually gaping ; he is without teeth, but his lips are very Tough, much like 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; and the fin of his tail is round. Nature hath painted the body of this fish with whitish, blackish, and 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 [teat]. 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, as 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 fish 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 sufl'er an angler to put a hook, baited with a small worm, very near unto his mouth ; and he never refuses to bite, nor in- deed to be caught with the worst of anglers. Matthioliis" commends him much more for his taste and nourishment, than for his shape or beauty.
There is also a fish called a Sticklebag, a fish without 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 trout
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in particular, who will bite at him as at a pcnk, 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 little 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 do not turn quick, then turn his tail a little more or less towards the inner part, or towards the side of the hook, or put the minnow or sticklebag a little more crooked or more strait 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 usually 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 something 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,
APPENDIX XVIII.
General Note.
^ Petrus Andreas Matthiolus, of Sienna, an eminent pliysician of the sixteenth century.
Practical Essay,
MINNOWS
are not without scales, as Walton asserts, although the scales are of course very minute. To catch them for bait, a clear glass bottle of this shape —
£
'^
Miift^
with a piece of muslin tied over the neck, and a few crumbs of bread inside, may be placed in the water with its neck up stream. The minnows get in through the hole at the bottom, and cannot find the way out again, when you haul it up with a string.
S33
334
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
THE LOACH
is a capital bait for trout and eels.
THE STICKLEBACK
is too well known, as far as appearance goes, to need description, though its habits, particularly its habit of building a nest like a bird, in which it lays its eggs, and by which it watches with great courage, arc worth more space to describe than I can afford here.
THE miller's thumb
will do as a bait for eels, but for nothing else-
CHAPTER XIX.
OF SEVERAL RIVERS, AND SOME OBSERVATIONS OF FISH.
[liftlr iaiiJ
Pisc. Well, scholar, since the ways and weather do both favour 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 Doctor Heylin's Geography, and others, in number 325, but those of chiefest note he reckons and describes as foUoweth :
I. The chief is Thamesis, compounded of two rivers, Thame and Isis, whereof the former, rising somewhat beyond Thame in Buckinghamshire, and the latter near Cirencester in Gloucestershire, meet together about Dor- chester in Oxfordshire ; the issue of which happy conjunc- tion is the Thamesis, or Thames ; hence it flieth between
335
33^ THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 dress'd with curious care. That Thames with royal Tiber may compare.
2. The second river of note is Sabrlna, or Severn : it hath its beginning in Plynlimmon Hill, in Montgomeryshire, and his 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 its fountain in Staffordshire, and gliding 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 river Dravus, Savus, Tibiscus, and divers others) changeth his name into this of Humberabus, as th old geographers call it.
OF SEVERAL RIVERS. 337
4. Medway, a Kentish river, famous for harbouring the royal navy.
5. Tweed, the north-east bound of England ; on whose northern banks is seated the strong and impregnable town of Berwick.
6. Tyne, famous for Newcastle, and her inexhaustible coal-pits. These, and the rest of principal note, are thus comprehended in one of Mr. Drayton's sonnets :
Our floods' queen, Thames, for ships and swans is crown'd ;
And stately Severn for her shore is praised ; The crystal Trent, for fords and fish renown'd ;
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 I sis to the Thame ;
Our northern borders boast of Tweed's fair flood ; Our western parts extol their Willy's fame ;
And the old Lea brags of the Danish blood.
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 dis- sected by Dr. Wharton, a man of great learning and ex-
22
338 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
perience, 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 had 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 string on his head, about a span or near unto a quarter of a yard long, by the moving of which, with his natural bait, when he lies close and unseen in the mud, he draws other fish so close to him tl at 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 that 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 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 o( ours herrings are so plentiful, as namely, near to Yarmoutl in Norfolk, and in the west country pilchers so very plenti-
OF SEVERAL RIVERS.
339
ful, 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.
APPENDIX XIX.
General Notes.
^ This fish will be the fishing-frog. See notes to Chapter I.
2 Of course, there is no such thing as this spontaneous genera- tion in which ^Valton believed. Nevertheless, some very interest- ing experiments have lately been carried on with reference to the appearance of animal culse in water and other fluijs, which have been boiled and then hermetically sealed up. This is, however, too abstruse a subject to enlarge on here.
i
CHAPTER XX.
OF FISH-PONDS, AND HOW TO ORDER THEM.
PiSC. Doctor Lebault, the learned Frenchman, in his large discourse of "Maison Rustique," gives this direction for making 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 having done so, lay faggots or bavins of smaller wood be- twixt 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
841
342 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
you intend shall convey the overflowings of your pond in any flood that shall endanger the breaking of the pond-dam.
Then he advises, that you plant willows or owlers [pop- lars] 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, tliat 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 choice of such a place for your pond, that it may be refreshed with a little rill, or with rain-water, running or falling into it ; by which fish are more inclined both to breed, and are also refreshed 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 themselves, 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 ex- treme heat of the 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
OF FISH-PONDS. 343
some ponds), and then let it lie dry six or twelve months, both to kill the water-weeds, as water-lilies, candocks, reate [sedge], and buUrushes, that breed there ; and also that as these die for want of water, so grass may grow in the pond's bottom, which carps will eat greedily in all the hot months, if the pond be clean. The letting your pond dry, and sowing oats in the bottom, is also good, for the fish feed the faster ; and being sometimes 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 chickens 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 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: how- ever, 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, affrightens 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; and that garden earth and parsley thrown
344
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 melters 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 sometimes flows : 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 Dubravius 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 arithmetician that twice two is four. I will therefore put an end to this discourse, and we will here sit down and rest us.
CHAPTER XXI.
DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING OF A LINE, AND FOR THE COLOURING OF BOTH ROD AND LINE.
[liftlr [last) gag.]
PiSC. Well, scholar, I have held you too long about these caddis, and smaller fish, and rivers, and fish-ponds ; and my spirits are almost spent, and so I doubt is your patience : 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 little direction how to make and order your lines, and to colour 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-favouredly, 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 ^bove twenty years.
But first for your line. First, note, that you are to take
345
34^ THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 colour, will prove as strong as three uneven scabby hairs, that are ill chosen, and full of galls or uneven- ness. 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-colour 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 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, before you tie them into a line ; 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 in a seven-hair line, 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 in 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 tun your hair to be a kind of water or glass colour, or greenish] and the longer you let it lie, the deeper it will be. Yoj
DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING A LINE. 347
might be taught to make many other colours, but it is to littLe purpose ; for doubtless the water-colour or glass- coloured hair is the most choice and most useful for an angler, but let it not be too green.
But if you desire to colour 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 hand- fuls 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; then put into it half a pound of copperas, beaten small, and with it the hair that you intend to colour ; then let the hair be boiled softly till half the liquor 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 verdigrease instead of it.
This for colouring 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 colour ; 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 altogether will make an ash colour ; grind these all together with linseed oil ; let it
34^ THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
be thick, and lay it thin upon the wood with a brush or pen- cil ; this do for the ground of any colour to lie upon wood.
For a green, take pink and verdigrease, and grind them together in linseed oil, as thin as you can well grind it ; then lay it smoothly on with your brush, and driv^e it thin : once doing for the most part will serve, if you lay it well ; and if twice, be sure your first colour 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 honey- suckle hedge, mention to you some of the thoughts and joys that have possest 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 hap- piness may appear to be the greater, and we the more thankful for it, 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 thunderstrucken ; and we have been freed from these, and all those many other miseries that threaten human nature ; let us therefore rejoice and be thankful. Nay, which is a far greater mercy, we are free from the unsupportable burthen of an accusing 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
DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING A LINE. 349
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 laught, and angled, and sung, and slept securely; and rose next day, and cast away care, and sung, and laught, and angled again ; which are blessings rich men cannot purchase with all their money. Let me tell you, scholar, I have a rich neighbour 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 it is true indeed ; but he considers not that it 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 com- petency, we may be content and thankful. Let not us repine, or so much as think the gifts of God unequally 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 sleep quietly. We see but the outside of the rich man's happiness ; 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 thankful for health and a competence, and above all, for a quiet conscience.
350 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 ob- served 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 is 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 neighbour, 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 shew her face to be as young and handsome as her next neighbour'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 denied her, she engaged her husband into a contention for it, and at last into a law-suit with a dogged neighbour who was as rich as he, and had a wife as peevish and purse- proud as the other ; and this law-suit begot higher opposi-| tions, and actionable words, and more vexations and law-} suits ; for you must remember that both were rich, anc
DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING A LINE, 351
must therefore have their will. Well, this wilful, purse- proud law-suit, lasted during the life of the first husband ; after which his wife vext and chid, and chid and vext till she also chid and vext herself into her grave ; and so the wealth of these poor rich people was curst into a punish- ment, 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 bein^ asked by a friend why he removed so often from one house to another, repHed, " 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 meantime he, and he only, possesses the earth as he goes towards 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 vext when he sees others possest of more honour or more riches than his wise God has allotted for his share ; but he possesses what he has with a meek and contented quietness,
352 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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- 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 Scripture, 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, labour to be as like him as we can ; let not the bless- ings we receive daily from God make us not to value or not praise Him because they be common ; let us not 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 meadows, 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 its full glory, either at the rising or setting of it, he would be so transported and amazed, and so admire the glory of it, tliat he would not willingly turn his eyes from that first ravishing object, to behold all the other various beauties this world could present to him. And this, and many other like blessings, we enjoy daily. And for most of them, because they be so conimon, most men forget to pay their praises; but let n
DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING A LINE. 353
us, because it is a sacrifice 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 discourse, in which my meaning was and is, to plant that in your mind, with which I labour to possess my own soul ; that is, a meek and thankful heart. And to that end, I have shewed 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 endeavour to be honestly rich or contentedly poor ; but be sure that your riches be justly got, or you spoil all. For it is well 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 welcome to Tottenham High Cross.
23
354 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
Ven. Well, master, I thank you for all your good direc- tions, but for none more than this last, of thankfulness, which I hope I shall never forget. And pray let 's now rest ourselves in this sweet shady arbour, which nature herself has woven with her own fine finger ; 't is such a contexture of woodbines, sweetbriar, 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 part 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 any 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 among 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 descriptior of such country recreations as I have en- joyed since I had the happiness to fall into your company.
Quivering fears, heart-tearing cares. Anxious sighs, untimely tears,
Fly, fly to Courts,
Fly to fond worldlings' sports, Where strain'd Sardonic smiles are glosing 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,
DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING A LINE. 1^:^
Or the pure azured heaven that smiles to see The rich attendance on 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 ?jl:ake. But blustering care could never tempest make,
Nor murmurs e'er come nigh us.
Saving of fountains that glide by us.
Here *s no fantastic mask 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;
And wounds are never found.
Save what the ploughshare gives the ground.
Here are no entrapping baits, To hasten to 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.
Go, let the diving negro seek
For gems, hid in some forlorn creek :
We all pearls scorn,
Save what the dewy mom Ccngeals 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.
35^ THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
Bless'd silent groves, O may you be. For ever, mirth's best nursery !
May pure contents
For ever pitch their tents 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 angling. Come, now, drink a glass with me, and I will requite you with another very good copy : it is a fare- well 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 honour'd rags, ye glorious bubbles ! Fame 's but a hollow echo — gold, pure clay — ■ Honour, the darling but of one short day- Beauty, th' eye's idol, but a damask'd skin — State, but a golden prison to live in. And torture free-born minds— embroider'd trains, Merely but pageants for proud swelling veins — And blood allied to greatness is alone Inherited, not purchased, nor our own.
Fame, honour, beauty, state, train, blood, and birtl>
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— *
DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING A LINE. Z^7
I would be rich, but 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 — scorn'd, if poor —
Great, fear'd — fair, tempted — high, still envied more : I have wish'd all ; but now I wish for neither, Great, high, rich, wise, nor fair — poor I '11 be rather.
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, bow'd knees, strike justice dumb,
As well as blind and lame, or give a tongue
To stones by epitaphs — be call'd " 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 ! These guests, these courts, my soul most dearly loves ! Now the wing'd 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 ; Then here I '11 sit, and sigh my hot love's folly, And learn t' affect a holy melancholy :
And if contentment be a stranger, — then
I '11 ne'er look for it, but in heaven, again.
35S THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 conversation 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. Nevertheless, 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 Ninth of May ; for then I hope again to enjoy your beloved com- pany, 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 honoured so much for being philosophers, as to honour philosophy by their virtuous lives. You advised me to the like concerning angling, and I will endeavour to do so ; and to live like those many worthy men, of which you made mention in the former part of your discourse. 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
DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING A LINE.
359
then and there consider how many dead bodies time had piled up at the gates of death ; so when I would beget con* tent, and increase confidence 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 be quiet.— I. Thess, iv. ii,
APPENDIX XXI.
General Notes.
» Nicholas Caussin, a Jesuit and confessor to Louis XIII., was born at Troyes in Champagne, in 1580. He was esteemed a per- son of great probity, and of such a spirit, that he attempted to dis- place Cardinal Richelieu, 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, 165 1. — H.
^ Dr. Donne, Dean of St. Paul's, in his sermons. — H.
« Angel, a coin of the value of ten shillings. The words " to vie angels," are a metonomy, and signify " to compare wealth." In the old ballad of " The Beggar of Bethnal Green," a competition of this kind is introduced : a young knight, about to marry the beggar's daughter, is dissuaded from so unequal a match by some relations, who urge the poverty of her father ; the beggar challenges them to " drop angels " with him, and fairly empties the purses of them all.
The neighbourhood of Bethnal Green is seldom without a public house with a sign representing the beggar, and the dissuaders of the match, dropping gold ; the young woman and the knight her lover standing between them.
END OF PART I.
I
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
PART II.
THE LIFE OF CHARLES COTTON.
{Abridged from that written by Sir John Hawkins.)
H ARLES COTTON, ESQ., was descended from an honourable family of the town and county of Southampton. His grandfather was Sir George Cotton, Knt., and his grandmother Cassandra, the heiress of a family named Mac Williams ; the issue of their marriage were a daughter named Cassandra, who died unmarried, and a son named Charles, who settling at Oving- den in the county of Sussex, married Olive, the daughter of Sir John Stanhope, of Elvaston in the county of Derby, Knt., half-brother to Philip, the first Earl of Chesterfield, and ancestor of the present Earl of Harrington, and by her had issue, Charles, the author of the ensuing Dialogues. He was born on the 28th day of April, 1630, and having,
363
364 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
as we must suppose, received such a school education as quahfied him for an university, he was sent to Cambridge. He had for his tutor Mr. Ralph Rawson, once a fellow of Brazenose College, Oxford, but who had been ejected from his fellowship by the Parliament visitors in 1648. This person he has gratefully celebrated in a translation of an ode of Johannes Secundus.
But whatever were the views of his father in placing him at Cambridge, we find not that he betook himself in earnest to the pursuit of any lucrative profession. It is true that in a poem of his writing he hints that he had a smattering of the law, which he had gotten
More by practice than reading, By sitting 0' th' bench while others were pleading.
But it is rather probable that, returning from the University to his father's, he addicted himself to the lighter kinds of study, and the improvement of a talent in poetry of which he found himself possessed, and also that he might travel abroad ; for in one of his poems, he says he had been at Roan.
His father having married a lady of a Derbyshire family, and she being the daughter and heiress of Edward Beres- ford, of Beresford and Enson in Staffordshire, and of Bently in the county of Derby, it may be presumed that the de- scent of the family seat at Beresford to her might have been^ the inducement with her husband to remove with his familj from their first settlement at Ovingden to Beresford, a villag^ near the Peak in Derbyshire, and in the neighbourhood the Dove, a river that divides the counties of Derby an(
LIFE OF CHARLES COTTON, 3^5
Stafford, and of which the reader will be told so much here- after.
In 1656, being then twenty-six years of age, and before any patrimony had descended to him, or he had any visible means of subsisting a family, he married a distant relation, Isabella, daughter of Sir Thomas Hutchinson, of Owthorp in the county of Nottingham, Knt. The distress in which this step might have involved him was averted by the death of his father in 1658 — an event that put him into the pos- session of the family estate ; but, from the character of his father, as given by Lord Clarendon, it cannot be supposed but that it was struggling with lawsuits and laden with incumbrances.
The great Lord Falkland was wont to say that he pitied unlearned gentlemen in rainy weather : Mr. Cotton might possibly entertain the same sentiment, for in this situation we find that his employments were study, for his delight and improvement, and fishing, for his recreation and health — for each of which several employments we may suppose he chose the fittest times and seasons.
In 1663 he published the "Moral Philosophy of the Stoics," translated from the French of Monsieur de Vaix, President of the Parliament of Provence, in obedience, as the preface informs us, to a command of his father, doubtless with a view to his improvement in the science of morality ; and this notwithstanding the book had been translated by Dr. James, the first keeper of the Bodleian Library, above threescore years before.
His next publication was "Scarronides; or, Virgil Traves- tie," being the first book of Virgil's " ^neid " in English burlesque, 8vo., 166/j, concerning which (and also the fourth
366 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
book translated by him, and afterwards published) it may- be sufficient to say, that for degrading sublime poetry into doggerel, Scarron's example is no authority ; and that were the merit of this practice greater than many men think it, those who admire the wit, the humour, and the learning of " Hudibras," cannot but be disgusted at the low buffoonery, the forced wit, and coarseness and obscenity of the " Virgil Travestie ;" and yet the poem has its admirers, is commended by Sir John Suckling in his " Session of the Poets," and has passed fourteen editions.
Soon after he engaged in a more commendable employ- ment, a translation of the " History of the Life of the Duke d'Espernon," from 1598, where D'Avila's History ends, to 1642, in twelve books ; in which undertaking he was inter- rupted by an appointment to some place or post, which he hints at in the preface, but did not hold long ; as also by a sickness that delayed the publication until 1670, when the book came out in a folio volume, with a handsome dedica- tion to Dr. Gilbert Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury.
In the same year, being the fortieth of his age, and having been honoured with a captain's commission in the army, he was drawn by some occasion of business or interest to visit Ireland ; which event he has recorded, with some particular circumstances touching the course of his life, in a burlesque poem, called " A Voyage to Ireland," carelessly written, but abounding in humorous description, as will appear by th( following extract therefrom :
A guide I had got, who demanded great vails For conducting me over the mountains of Wales ; Twenty good shillings, which sure very large is, Yet that would not serve, but I must bear his charges ;
LIFE OF CHARLES COTTON. 367
And yet for all that rode astride on a beast,
The worst that e'er went on three legs, I protest :
It certainly was the most ugly of jades, —
His hips and his rump made a right ace of spades ;
His sides were two ladders, well spur-gall'd withal ;
His neck was a helve, and his head was a mall j
For his colour my pains and your trouble I '11 spare,
For the creature was wholly denuded of hair !
And except for two things as bare as my nail,
A tuft of a mane, and a sprig of a tail.
Now, such as the beast was, even such was the rider,
With a head like a nutmeg, and legs like a spider ;
A voice like a cricket, a look like a rat,
The brains of a goose, and the heart of a cat ; —
Even such was my guide and his beast — let them pass,
The one for an horse, and the other an ass.
In this poem he relates, with singular pleasantry, that at Chester, coming out of church, he was taken notice of by the mayor of the city for his rich garb, and particularly a gold belt that he then wore, and by him invited home to supper, and very hospitably entertained.
In the same year, and also the year after more correctly, he published a translation of the tragedy entited "Les Horaces, i.e., the Horatii, from the French of Pierre Cor- neille;" and in 1674 the "Fair One of Tunis," a novel, translated also from the French, as also a translation of the " Commentaries of Blaise de Montluc, Marshal of France," a thrasonical Gascon, as Lord Herbert has shown in his "History of Henry VIIL," far better skilled in the arts of flight than of battle.
In 1675, Mr. Cotton published two little books, "The Planter's Manual, being Instructions for Cultivating all sorts pf Fruit-trees," 8vo. ; and a burlesque of sundry select Dia-
368 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
logues of Lucian, with the title of " Burlesque upon Bur- lesque; or, the Scoffer Scoffed," i2mo., which has much the same merit as the " Virgil Travestie."
Angling having been the favourite recreation of Mr. Cot- ton for many years before this, we cannot but suppose that the publication of such a book as the " Complete Angler " of Mr. Walton had attracted his notice, and probably excited in him a desire to become acquainted with the author ; and that, setting aside other circumstances, the advantageous situation of Mr. Cotton near the finest trout river in the kingdom might conduce to beget a great intimacy between them ; for certain it is, that by the year 1676 they were united by the closest ties of friendship : Walton, as also his son, had been frequent visitors to Mr. Cotton at Beresford, who, for the accommodation of the former no less than of himself, had erected a fishing-house on the bank of the river, with a stone in the front thereof, containing a cypher that incorporated the initials of both their names.
These circumstances, with a formal adoption by Walton of Mr. Cotton for his son, were doubtless the inducements with the latter to the writing of the Second Part of the "Complete Angler." Afterwards he published a poem, written, as it is said, in emulation of Hobbes's " De Mira- bilibus Pecci," entitled " The Wonders of the Peak." This he first published in 168 1, and afterwards with a new edition of the " Virgil Travestie " and the burlesque of Lucian.
The only praise of this poem is the truth of the repre- sentations therein contained ; for it is a mean composition, inharmonious in the versification, and abounding in exple- tives. Of the spirit in which it is written, a judgment may be formed from the following lines, part of the exordium :
LIFE OF CHARLES COTTON. 3^9
Durst I expostulate with Providence,
I then should ask wherein the innocence
Of my poor undesigning infancy
Could Heav'n offend to such a black degree,
As for th' offence to damn me to a place
Where nature only suffers in disgrace.
And these other equally splenetic :
Environ'd round with nature's shames and ills, Black heaths, wild rocks, black crags, and naked hills.
So far was Mr. Cotton from thinking, with the Psalmist, " that his lot was fallen in a fair ground, or that he had a goodly heritage."
But a greater and, to the world, a more beneficial employ- ment at this time solicited his attention. The old trans- lation of Montaigne's " Essays," by the resolute John Florio, as he styled himself, was become obsolete, and the world were impatient for a new one. Mr. Cotton not only under- stood French with a critical exactness, but was well ac- quainted with the almost barbarous dialect in which that book is written ; and the freedom of opinion, and general notions of men and things which the author discovers, per- haps falling in with Mr. Cotton's sentiments of human life and manners, he undertook, and in 1685 gave to the world in a translation of that author in three volumes 8vo., one of the most valuable books in the English language ; in short, a translation that if it does not, and many think it does in some respects, transcend, is yet nothing inferior to the original ; and, indeed, little less than this is to be inferred from the testimony of the noble marquis to whom it is dedicated, who concludes a letter of his to Mr. Cotton with this elegant encomium : " Pray believe that he who can trans-
24
3/0 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
late such an author without doing him wrong, must not only make me glad, but proud of being his very humble servant, Halifax."
These are the whole of Mr. Cotton's writings published in his lifetime ; those that came abroad after his decease were "Poems on Several Occasions," 8vo., 1689; ^ book- sellers publication, tumbled into the world without preface, apology, or even correction ; and a translation from the French of the " Memoirs of the Sieur de Pontis," published in 1694 by his son, Mr. Beresford Cotton, and by him dedi- cated to the then Duke of Ormond, as having been under- taken and completed at the request of the old duke, his Grace's grandfather.
It is much to be feared that the difficulties he laboured under, and, in short, the straitness of his circumstances, were the reasons that induced Mr. Cotton to employ himself in writing, and in that, so much more in translation than original composition ; for first, by the way, they are greatly mistaken who think that the business of writing for book- sellers is a new occupation. It is known that Greene, Peacham, and Howel for a great part of their lives subsisted almost wholly by it ; though perhaps Mr. Cotton is the first instance of a gentleman by descent, and the inheritor of a fair estate, being reduced by a sad necessity to write for sub- sistence. But, secondly, whether through misfortune, or the want of economy, or both, it may be collected from number- less passages in his writings that Mr. Cotton's circumstances were narrow, his estates encumbered with mortgages, and his income less than sufficient for his maintenance in the port and character of a gentleman ; why else those querulou exclamations against the clamours of creditors, the hig]
LIFE OF CHARLES COTTON, 371
rate of interest, and the extortions of usurers, that so fre- quently occur in his poems ? From which several particulars it seems a natural and at the same time a melancholy infe- rence, that he was, not to say an author, a translator, pro- bably for hire, but certainly by profession.
It is, of all employments, one of the most painful to enumerate the misfortunes and sufferings of worthy and deserving men, and most so of such as have been distin- guished for either their natural or acquired endowments ; but truth and the laws of biographic history oblige all that undertake that kind of writing to relate as well the adverse as the prosperous events in the lives of those v/hom they mean to celebrate, else we would gladly omit to say that Mr. Cotton was, during the whole of his life, involved in difficulties : Lord Clarendon says of his father that he was engaged in lawsuits, and had wasted his fortune ; and it cannot be supposed but that his son inherited, in some degree, the vexation and expense of uncertain litigation, together with the paternal estate, and might finally be divested of great part of it ; further, we may suppose that the easiness of his nature, and a disposition to oblige others amounting even to imbecility, laid him open to the arts of designing men, and gave occasion to those complaints of in- gratitude and neglect which we meet with in his eclogues, odes, and other of his writings.
It is true that he was never reduced by necessity to alienate the family estate, nor were his distresses uniformly extreme, but they were at times severely pungent. It is said that the numerous pecuniary engagements into which he had entered drew upon him the misfortune of personal restraint ; and that during his confinement in one of the
24— a
372 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
city prisons, he inscribed on the wall of his apartment therein these affecting lines :
A prison is a place of care, Wherein no one can thrive ; A touchstone sure to try a friend, A grave for men alive.
And to aggravate these his afflictions, he had a wife, whom he appears to have tenderly loved, and of whom, in an ironi- cal poem, entitled " The Joys of Marriage," he speaks thus
handsomely :
Yet with me 't is out of season To complain thus without reason, Since the best and sweetest fair Is allotted to my share. But alas ! I love her so. That my love creates my woe ; For if she be out of humour, Straight displeased I do presume her, And would give the world to know What it is offends her so ; Or if she be discontented, Lord, how am I then tormented ! And am ready to persuade her, That I have unhappy made her ; But if sick, then I am dying, Meat and med'cine both defying.
This lady, the delight of his heart and the partner of his sorrows, he had the misfortune to lose, but at what period of his life is not certain.
We might flatter ourselves that his sun set brighter than it rose, for his second marriage, which was with the Countess Dowager of Ardglas, who possessed a jointure of fifteei hundred a year, and survived him, might suggest a hope
LIFE OF CHARLES COTTON. 373
that he might have been thereby enabled to extricate him- self out of the greatest of his difficulties, and in reality to enjoy that tranquillity of mind which he describes with so much feeling in the " Stanzes Irreguliers ; " but this sup- position seems to be contradicted by a fact, which the act of administration of his effects upon his decease discloses, viz., that the same was granted " to Elizabeth Blud worth, his principal creditrix ; the Honourable Mary, Countess Dowager of Ardglas, his widow ; Beresford Cotton, Esq., Olive Cotton, Catherine Cotton, Jane Cotton, and Mary Cotton, his natural and lawful children, first renouncing."
The above act, bearing date the 12th day of September, 1687, fixes, perhaps, within a few days, the day of his death, and describes him as having lived in the parish of St. James, Westminster ; it also ascertains his issue, which were all by his first lady.
[Note. — The part written by Cotton is far more practical than that written by Walton, and it does not call for the editorial notes and com- ments which Walton's does. All Cotton's directions, however, should be read subject to the Practical Essays in the First Part. His flies are all good working flies ; but the angler will find it more to his profit to adopt the directions already given.— Ed.]
k
^J^?r^^
r
THE
COMPLETE ANGLER.
PART THE SECOND.
INSTRUCTIONS
HOW TO ANGLE FOR A TROUT OR GRAYLING
IN A CLEAR STREAM.
«i=
Qui mihi non credit, facial licet ipse periclum ; Et fuerit scriptis gequior ille meis.
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 favour 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 couch'd 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 surprised with the sudden news of a sudden new edition of your ''Complete Angler;" so that, having 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 endeavoured 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 and 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 the honour if the cypher 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,
Bcrcsfordy 1 oth of March^ 1676.
/
TO
MY MOST HONOURED 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 been so obedient to your desires, as to endure all the praises you have ventured to fix upon me in it. And when I have thanked you for them, as the effects of an undissembled love, then let me tell you. Sir, that I will readily endeavour 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 paraphrase, for the reader's clearer understanding the situation both of your fishing-house, and the pleasantness of that you dwell in. And I have ventured 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, tliat is blessed 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 favour, and till then will live.
Sir, Your most affectionate father and friend,
IzAAK Walton. London^ April 29, 1676.
«r8
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
PART THE SECOND. CHAPTER I.
PiSCATOR JUNIOR AND VlATOR. PiSCATOR.
OU are happily overtaken, Sir ; may a man be so bold as to inquire how far you travel this way ?
VlAT. 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 Ashborn, where I intend to-night to take up my inn.
PiSC. Why then, Sir, seeing I perceive you to be a stranger
i
879
38o THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
in these parts, I shall take upon me to inform you, that from the town you last came through, called Brclsford, it is five miles ; and you are not yet above half a mile on this side.
VlAT. 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 coun- ties of England.
VlAT. It may be so ; and good land, I confess, affords a pleasant prospect ; but, by your good leave. Sir, large mea- sure of foul way is not altogether so acceptable.
PiSC. True, Sir ; but the foul way serves to justify the fertility 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 continual travel and traffic to the country town you came from ; which is also very observable by the fulness of its road, and the loaden horses you meet everywhere upon the way.
ViAT. Well, Sir, I will be content to think as well of your country as you would desire ; and I shall have a great 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 wa} and that they will permit you to slack your pace, out complacency to a traveller utterly a stranger in these part and who am still to wander further out of my own kno^ ledge.
PiSC. Sir, you invite me to my own advantage, and I ai ready to attend you, my way lying through that town ; bi my business, that is, my home, some miles beyond it : ho
FIRST DAY. 381
ever, I shall have time enough to lodge you in your quarters, and afterward to perform my own journey. In the mean- time, may I be so bold as to inquire the end of your journey?
VlAT. 'T is into Lancashire, Sir ; and about some busi- ness of concern to a relation of mine ; for I assure you, I do not use to take such long journeys as 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 foulness of the way : though I am sorry you should begin to quarrel with them so soon ; for believe me, sir, you will find the miles much longer, and the way much worse, before you come to your journey's end.
VlAT. 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 because you are already past the worst, and the greatest part of your way to your lodging.
VlAT. 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 deserve much better for being content with so ill com- pany. 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 Ashborn.
VlAT. 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 ?
383 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 under- stand, 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 enamoured 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 that I am a pre- tender 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 like it, which you have passed, and some that you are like to pass, have scarce any name amongst us ; but we can shew you as fine rivers, and as clear from wood, or any other incum- brance to hinder an angler, as any you ever saw ; and for clear beautiful streams, Hantshire itself, by Mr. Izaak Walton's good leave, can shew none such ; nor I think anyj country in Europe.
VlAT. You go far. Sir, in the praise of your counti rivers, and I perceive have read Mr. Walton's " Complet< 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 wit
FIRST DAY. 383
every man's that understands anything of the art of anghng^, that it is an excellent good one, and that the fore-mentioned 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 ac- quainted with him, and in him to know the worthiest man, and to enjoy the best and the truest friend 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 much 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 same 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 with 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 com-
,, pany he does not like, and likes none but such as he be-
Ilieves 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.
I
384 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 ques- tion : 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 meantime, because we are now almost at Ashborn, 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 ex- tremely welcome : it is directly in your way, we have day enough to perform our journey, and, as you like your enter- tainment, you may there repose yourself a day or two, or as many more as your occasions will permit, to recompense the trouble of so much a longer journey.
VlAT. Sir, you suprise 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. L Walton, and to receive these instructions you say you are able to give me for the
FIRST DAY. 3S5
deceiving a trout ; in which art I will not deny but that I have an ambition 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 : however, you shall have the best rules I am able to give, and I will tell you nothing I have not made myself as cer- tain of, as any man can be in a 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 ; 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 trout and grayling in England ; that I have lately built a little fishing-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 cypher; 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.
VlAT. 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 ac-
386 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
quainted with that gentleman know him to be a man who will not endure to be treated like a stranger. So that his acceptation of my poor entertainment has ever been a pure effect of his own humility and good-nature, and nothing else. But, Sir, we are now going down the Spittle Hill into the town ; and therefore let me importune you suddenly to resolve, and (most earnestly) not to deny me.
VlAT. In truth, Sir, I am so overcome by your bounty, that I find I cannot, but must render myself wholly to be disposed of by you.
PiSC. Why, that 's heartily and kindly spoken, and I as heartily thank you. And being you have abandoned your- self to my conduct, we will only call and drink a glass on horseback at the Talbot, and away.
VlAT. I attend you. But what pretty river is this, that runs under this stone bridge } Has it a name }
PiSC. Yes, it 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 endeavour by such discourse as best likes you, to f ass away the time till you come to your ill quarters.
VlAT. 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 }
VlAT. Nay, I am for the country liquor, Derbyshire ale, if you please ; for a man should not, methinks, come from London 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
FIRST DAY.
387
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.
VlAT. 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 farewell. 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.
CHAPTER 11.
[lirst iEg.]
PiSC. So, 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 aboveground, and afford good store of lead within.
ViAT. They had need of all those commodities to make amends for the ill landskip : but I hope our way does notj 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 passible, that we who are!
FIPST DAY. 389
natives of these mountains, and acquainted with them, dis- dain to alight.
VlAT. I hope, though, that a foreigner is privileged to use his own discretion, and that I may have the liberty to entrust my neck to the fidelity of my own feet, rather than to those of my horse, for I have no more at home.
PiSC. 'Twere hard else. But in the meantime, 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 apprehension may not be doubled for want of light to dis- cern the easiness of the descent.
VlAT. I am willing to put forward as fast as my beast will 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 Bently Brook, and is full of very good trout and grayling; but so encumbered with wood in many places, as is troublesome to an angler.
VlAT. 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 Derbyshire : 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
390 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
very narrow stream ; a river that from a contemptible foun- tain, 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 Eggington, 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 Derby- shire 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.
VlAT. Does Trent spring in these parts ?
PiSC. Yes, in these parts ; not in this county, but some- where towards the upper end of Stafibrdshire, I think not far from a place called Trentham ; and thence runs down, not far from Stafford, to Wolsly Bridge, and washing the skirts and purlieus of the forest of Needwood, runs down to Burton in the same county ; thence it comes into this, where we now are, and running by Swarkston and Dunnington, receives Derwent at Wildon, and so to Nottingham ; thence to Newark, and, by Gainsborough, to Kingston-upon-Hull, diere it takes the name of H umber, and thence falls into the sea ; but that the map will best inform you.
VlAT. Know you whence this river Trent derives its name }
Pisc. No, indeed ; and yet I have heard it often discoursed
J
FIRST DAY, 391
upon, when some have given its denomination from the fore- named Trentham, though that seems rather a derivative from it ; others have said it 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 derivation. But be it how it will, it is doubtless one of the finest rivers in the world, and the most abound- ing with excellent salmon, and all sorts of delicate fish.
VlAT. 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 ques- tion ; 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, being 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 degrees, the purest and most transparent stream that I ever yet saw, either at home or abroad, and breeds, it is said, the reddest 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 hence, famous for a warm bath, and which you are to ride through in your way to Man- chester ; a black water too, at the fountain, but, by the same reason with Dove, becomes very soon a most delicate clear
392 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
river, and breeds admirable trout and grayling, reputed by those who, by living upon its banks, are partial to it, the best of any ; and this, running down by Ashford, Bakewell, and H addon, at a town a little lower, called Rowesly, 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 progress, not having these crystal springs to wash and cleanse it, which the two fore- mentioned 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 the 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 inquire. But, Sir, I have carried you, as a man may say, by water, till we are now come to the descent of the for- midable hill I told you of, at the foot of which runs the river Dove, which I cannot but love above all the rest ; and there- fore prepare yourself to be a little frighted.
VlAT. 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 the brow of the hill ; and now we are there, what think you }
VlAT. 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.
FIRST DAY. 393
PiSC. I think so too for you, who are mounted upon a beast not acquainted with these sh'ppery stones ; and though I frequently ride down, I will alight too to bear you com- pany, and to lead you the way ; and, if you please, my man shall lead your horse.
VlAT. 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 troublesome.
VlAT. Would I were well down, though ! 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.
VlAT. 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 }
VlAT. 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.
VlAT. Why, according to the French proverb, and 't is a
394 THE COMPLETE ANGLER
good one among a great many of worse sense and sound that language abounds in, Ce que Dieu garde, est bie7t 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 Staf- fordshire.
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 ; and 't is but an ill mile or two out of your way.
VlAT. I believe all things. Sir, and doubt nothing. Is this your beloved river Dove 1 '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.
VlAT. 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 sec is not very uneasy, and then you will no more quarrel with your way.
VlAT. 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 came down t
FIRST DAY. 395
PiSC. We call it Hanson Toot.
VlAT. 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.
PiSC. Come, Sir, now we are up the hill ; and now how do you ?
VlAT. 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 }
VlAT. 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 before we part with you, if showing you good sport with angling 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.
VlAT. 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.
VlAT. It appears on a sudden, but not before 't was looked
39^ THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 pre- sently have a light supper, and to bed. Come, Sirs, lay the cloth, and bring what you have presently, and let the gen- tleman's bed be made ready in the meantime, in my father Walton's chamber. And now, Sir, here is my service to you, and once more welcome.
VlAT. Ay marry, Sir, this glass of good sack has refreshed me, and I '11 make as bold with your meat, for the trot has got me a good stomach.
PiSC. Come, Sir, fall to then : you see my little supper is always ready when I come home ; and I '11 make no stranger of you.
VlAT. That your meal is so soon ready is a sign your servants know your certain hours. Sir. I confess I did not expect 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 ol 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.
VlAT. Believe me, you have good ale in the More-Lands, far better than that at Ashborn.
FIRST DAY. 397
PiSC. That it may soon be ; for Ashborn 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 ?
VlAT. 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 .-*
VlAT. 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 see 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 pra)' follow them. Sir. Here you are like to lie ; and now I have showed you your lodging, I beseech you, command anything you want, and so I wish you good rest.
VlAT. Good night, Sir.
CHAPTER III.
[^^anlr iag.]
PiSC. Good morrow, Sir ; what ! up and drest so early ?
VlAT. Yes, Sir, I have been drest this half-hour ; for I rested so well, and have so great a mind either to take or to see a trout taken in your fine river, that I could no longer lie a-bed.
PiSC. I am so 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 '11 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 ?
VlAT. For breakfast, I never eat any, and for drink 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
Second day. 399
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 drest, 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 fish- ing-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, 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 uncivil : 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, docs not the sun shine as bright here as in Essex, Middlesex, or Kent, or any of your southern counties .-*
VlAT. It 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 humour, 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 like my river, the vale it winds through like a snake, and the situation of my little fishing- house ^.
400 THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
VlAT. 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 bowling-green too, close by it ; so, though I am myself no very good bowler, I am not totally devoted to my 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.
VlAT. Stay, what 's here over the door } PiSCATORIBUS Sacrum. 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 cypher too you spoke of, and 't is prettily contrived. Has 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.
VlAT. 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 most pleased with this little 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, fine wainscoted, and all exceeding neat, with a marble table and all in the middle.
r
SECOND DAY. 401
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 morn- ing at this time of the year, to-day being but the Seventh 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.
VlAT. 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 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 More-Land 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 pro- mise ; 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, per- adventure, 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
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better directions ; but having, from my childhood, pursued the recreation of angHng in very clear rivers, truly I think by much, some of them at least, the clearest in this kingdom, 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 ap- proach to the stream, — I may peradventure give you some instructions that may be of use, even in your own rivers, and shall bring you acquainted with more flies, and shew you how to make them, and with what dubbing too, than he has taken notice of in his " Complete Angler."
VlAT. I beseech you, Sir, do ; and if you will lend me your steel, I will light a pipe the while ; for that is com« monly my breakfast in a morning too.
COTTON S FISHING-HOUSE.
CHAPTER IV.
[S^r0nJr iag.]
Pisc. Why, 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 thi ee ways, though they are all of them, as I shall hereafter endeavour 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 require a distinction, which, in due place, I will also give you.
That which we call angling at the top, is with a fly ; at
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the bottom, with a ground-bait ; in the middle, with a minnow or ground-bait.
AngHng at the top is of two sorts ; ^A\\\ a quick [live] 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. i
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.
VlAT. 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.
CHAPTER V.
OF FLY-FISHING.
PiSC. Fly-fishing, or fishing at the top, is, as I said before, of two sorts ; with a natural and living {\y, 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 arc 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
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you have any wind to carry it from you. And this way of fishing we call daping, dabbing, or dibbing ; 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 the contrary side ; and if you are pretty well out of sight, either by kneeling or the interposition of a bank or bush, you may almost be sure to raise, and take him too, if it be presently done : the fish will otherwise, peradventure, be removed to some other place, if it be in the still deeps, where he is always in motion, and roving up 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 it ; to which I will also add, that not an inch of your line being to be suffered to touch the water in dibbing, it may be allowed to be the stronger. I should now give you a description of those flies, their shape and colour, and then give you an account of their breeding, and withal shew you how to keep and use them ; but shall defer them to their proper place and season.
ViAT. In earnest. Sir, you discourse very rationally of this aff'air, and I am glad to find myself mistaken in you ; for in 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
SECOND DAY. 407
to the second way of angling at the top, which is with an artificial fly, which also I will shew 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 com- monly enough ; and longer, though never so neatly and artificially made, it ought not to be, if you intend to fish at ease ; 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, 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 colour, according to your master Walton's direction, will last many years.
4o8 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
The length of your line, to a man that knows how to handle his rod, and to cast it, is no manner of incumbrance, excepting in woody places, and in landing of a fish, which every one that can afford to angle for pleasure has some- body to do for him ; and the length of line is a mighty advantage to the fishing at a distance ; and to fish fine, and far off, 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 others 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 manner, be taper from your very hand to your hook ; your line will fall much better and straighter, and cast your fly to any certain place to which the hand and eye shall direct it, with less weight and violence, that 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 farther or nearer bank as the wind
SECOND DAY. 4^
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 accordingly ; but endeavour as much as you can to have the wind evermore on your back. And 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 to 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 so 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 v/ater especially, is not presently to be discerned by the angler), so as the point of the hook shall stand reversed ; by which means your fly swims backward, makes a much greater circle in the water, and, till taken home to you and
410 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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 colour of the fly you intend to make, wax it well with wax of the same colour too (to which end, you are always, by the way, to have wax of all colours 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 pre- vent slipping, and also that the shank of the hook may not cut the hairs of your towght, which sometimes it will other- wise do ; which being done, take your line, and draw it like- wise 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 permit ; which being done, strip the feather for the wings proportionable to the bigness of your fly, placing that side downwards which grew uppermost before, upon the back of the hook, leaving so much only as to serve for the
SECOND DAY. 4' I
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 being done, clip off the root-end of the feather close by the arming, and then whip the silk fast and firm about the hook and towght, until you come to the bend of the hook, but not further, as you do at London, and so make a very unhandsome, and, in plain English, a very un- natural and shapeless fly ; which being done, cut away the end of your towght, and fasten it, and then take your dub- bing which is to make the body of your fly, as much as you think convenient, and holding it lightly with your hook be- twixt the finger and thumb of your left hand, take your silk with the right, and twisting it betwixt the finger and thumb of that hand, the dubbing will spin itself about the silk, which when it has done, whip it about the armed hook backward, till you come to the setting on of the wings ; and then take the feather for the wings, and divide it equally into two parts, and turn them back towards the bend of the hook, the one on the one side and the other on the other of the shank, holding them fast in that posture betwixt the fore- finger and thumb of your left hand ; which done, warp them so down as to stand and slope towards the bend of the hook ; and having warped up to the end of the shank, hold the fly fast betwixt the finger and thumb of your left hand, and then take the silk betwixt the finger and thumb of your right hand, and where the warping ends, pinch or nip it with your thumb-nail against your finger, and strip away the remainder of your dubbing from the silk, and then with the bare silk whip it once or twice about, make the wings to stand in due order, fasten, and cut it off; after which, with
412 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
the point of a needle, raise up the dubbing gently from the warp, twitch off the superfluous hairs of your dubbing; leave the wings of an equal length, your fly will never else swim true, and the work is done. And this way of making a fly, which is certainly the best of all other, was taught me by a kinsman of mine, one Captain Henry Jackson, a near neigh- bour, an admirable fly-angler, by many degrees the best fly- maker that ever I yet met with. An i now that I have told you how a fly is to be made, you shall v^esently see me make one, with which you may peradventure take a trout this morning, notwithstanding the unlikeliness of the day ; for it is now nine of the clock, and fish will begin to rise, if they will rise to-day : I will walk along by you, and look on, and after dinner I will proceed in my lecture of fly-fishing.
VlAT. I confess I long to be at the river, and yet I could sit here all day to hear you ; but some of the one, and some of the other, will do well ; and I have a mighty ambition to trout in your river Dove.
PiSC. I warrant you shall : I would not for more than I will speak of but you should, seeing I have so extolled my river to you ; nay, I will keep you here a month but you shall have one good day of sport before you go.
VlAT. You will find me, 1 doubt, too tractable that way ; for in good earnest, if business would give me leave, and that it were fit, I could find in my heart to stay with you for ever.
PiSC. I thank you, Sir, /or that kind expression. And now let me look out my things to make this fly.
'=^^^^'m.
CHAPTER VI.
[<^mnb' iag.J
PiSC. Boy, come, give me my dubbing-bag here presently. And now. Sir, since I find you so honest a man, I will make no scruple to lay open my treasure before you.
ViAT. Did ever any one see the like ! What a heap of trumpery is here ! Certainly never an angler in Europe has Lis shop half so well furnished as you have.
PiSC. You, perhaps, may think now, that I rake together this trumpery, as you call it, for show only, to the end that such as see it, which are not many, I assure you, may think me a great master in the art of angling ; but, let me tell you, here arc some colours, as contemptible as they seem here, that arc very hard to be got ; and scarce any one of them which, if it should be lost, I should not miss, and be con- cerned about the loss of it too, once in the year. But look
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414 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
you, Sir, amongst all these I will choose out these two colours only, of which this is bear's hair ; this darker, no great matter what ; but I am sure I have killed a great deal of fish with it ; and with one or both of these you shall take trout or grayling this very day, notwithstanding all dis- advantages, or my art shall fail me.
VlAT. You promise comfortably, and I have a great deal of reason to believe everything you say ; but I wish the fly were made, that we were at it.
PlSC. That will not be long in doing ; and pray observe then. You see first how I hold my hook, and thus I begin : look you, here are my first two or three whips about the bare hook ; thus I join hook and line ; thus I put on my wings ; thus I twirl and lap on my dubbing ; thus I work it up towards the head ; thus I part my wings ; thus I nip my superfluous dubbing from my silk ; thus fasten ; thus trim and adjust my fly ; and there 's a fly made. And now how do you like it .•*
VlAT. In earnest, admirably well, and it resembles a fly ; but we about London make the bodies of our flies both much bigger and longer, so long as even almost to the very beard of the hook.
PiSC. I know it very well, and had one of those flies given me by an honest gentleman, who came with my father Walton to give me a visit, which (to tell you the truth) I hung in my parlour window to laugh at ; but. Sir, you know the proverb, " They who go to Rome must do as they at Rome do ; " and believe me, you must here make your flies after this fashion, or you will take no fish. Come, I will look you out a line, and you shall put it on, and try it. There, Sir, now I think you are fitted, and now beyond the farther
SECOND DAY. 4^5
end of the walk you shall begin : I see, at that bend of the water above, the air crisps the water a little : knit your line first here, and then go up thither and see what you can do.
VlAT. Did you see that. Sir ?
PiSC. Yes, I saw the fish, and he saw you too, which made him turn short. You must fish farther off if you intend to have any sport here : this is no New River, let me tell you. That was a good trout, believe me. Did you touch him .-*
VlAT. No, I would I had, we would not have parted so. Look you, there is another : this is an excellent fly.
PiSC. That fly, I am sure, would kill fish if the day were right ; but they only chew at it, I see, and will not take it. Come, Sir, let us return back to the fishing-house : this still water, I see, will not do our business to-day. You shall now, if you please, make a fly yourself, and try what you can do in the streams with that ; and I know a trout taken with a fly of your own making will please you better than twenty with one of mine. Give me that bag again, sirrah. Look you. Sir, there is a hook, towght, silk, and a feather for the wings ; be doing with those, and I will look you out a dubbing that I think will do.
VlAT. This is a very little hook.
PiSC. That may serve to inform you that it is for a very little fly, and you must make your wings accordingly ; for as the case stands, it must be a little fly, and a very little one too, that must do your business. Well said ! beheve me you shift your fingers very handsomely ; I doubt I have taken upon me to teach my master. So, here 's your dubbing now.
ViAT. This dubbing is very black.
PiSC. It appears so in hand, t)ut step to the door and hold it up betwixt your eye and the sun, and it will appear a
4l6 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
shining red : let me tell you, never a man in England can discern the true colour of a dubbing any way but that, and therefore choose always to make your flies on such a bright sunshine day as this, which also you may the better do, be- cause it is worth nothing to fish in. Here, put it on, and be sure to make the body of your fly as tender as you can. Very good ! upon my word, you have made a marvellous handsome fly.
ViAT. I am very glad to hear it ; it is the first that ever I made of this kind in my life.
PiSC. Away, away ! you are a doctor at it ; but I will not commend you too much, lest I make you proud. Come, put it on, and you shall now go downward to some streams betwixt the rocks below the little foot-bridge you see there, and try your fortune. Take heed of slipping into the water as you follow me under this rock : so, now you are oyer, and now throw in.
ViAT. This is a fine stream indeed — there *s one ! I have him!
PiSC. And a precious catch you have of him : pull him out ! I see you have a tender hand. This is a diminutive gentleman, e'en throw him in again, and let him grow till he be more worthy your anger.
ViAT. Pardon me. Sir, all 's fish that comes to the hook with me now. — Another !
PiSC. And of the same standing.
VlAT. I see I shall have good sport now — another ! and a grayling. Why, you have fish here at will.
PiSC. Come, come, cross the bridge, and go down the other side lower, where you will find finer streams and better sport, I hope, than this. Look you. Sir, here is a fine stream
SECOND DAY. 417
now : you have length enough, stand a Httle farther off, let me entreat you, and do but fish this stream like an artist, and peradventure a good fish may fall to your share. How now ? what ! is all gone ?
VlAT. No, I but touched him ; but that was a fish worth taking.
PiSC. Why, now let me tell you, you lost that fish by your own fault, and through your own eagerness and haste ; for you are never to offer to strike a good fish if he do not strike himself, till first you see him turn his head after he has taken your fly, and then you can never strain your tackle in the striking, if you strike with any manner of moderation. Come, throw in once again, and fish me this stream by inches, for I assure you here are very good fish ; both trout and grayling lie here ; and at that great stone on the other side, it is ten to one a good trout gives you the meeting.
VlAT. I have him now, but he is gone down towards the bottom : I cannot see what he is, yet he should be a good fish by his weight ; but he makes no great stir.
PiSC. Why, then, by what you say, I dare venture to as- sure you it is a grayling, who is one of the deadest-hearted fishes in the world, and the bigger he is, the more easily taken. Look you, now you see him plain : I told you what he was. Bring hither that landing-net, boy ; and now, Sir, he is your own ; and believe me a good one, sixteen inches long I warrant him : I have taken none such this year.
VlAT. I never saw a grayling before look so black.
PiSC. Did you not t Why, then let me tell you, that you never saw one before in right season ; for then a grayling is very black about his head, gills, and down his back ; and has his belly of a dark grey, dappled with black spots, as
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41 8 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
you see this is ; and I am apt to conclude that from thence he derives his name of umber. Though I must tell you this fish is past his prime, and begins to decline, and was in better season at Christmas than he is now. But move on, for it grows towards dinner-time ; and there is a very great and fine stream below, under that rock that fills the deepest pool in all the river, where you are almost sure of a good fish.
VlAT. Let him come, I '11 try a fall with him. But I had thought that the grayling had been always in season with the trout, and had come in and gone out with him.
PiSC. Oh no ! assure yourself a grayling is a winter fish ; but such a one as would deceive any but such as know him very well indeed ; for his flesh, even in his worst season, is so firm, and will so easily calver, that in plain truth he is very good meat at all times ; but in his perfect season — which, by the way, none but an overgrown grayling will ever be — I think him so good a fish as to be little inferior to the best trout that ever I tasted in my life.
VlAT. Here's another skipjack ; and I have raised five or six more at least while you were speaking. Well, go thy way, little Dove ! thou art the finest river that ever I saw, and the fullest of fish. Indeed, Sir, I like it so well, that I am afraid you will be troubled with me once a year, so long as we two live.
PiSC. I am afraid I shall not. Sir ; but were you once here a May or a June, if good sport would tempt you, I should then expect you would sometimes see me ; for you I would then say it were a fine river indeed, if you had once seen the sport at the height.
VlAT. Which I will do, if I live, and that you please to give me leave. — There was one, and there another !
SECOND DAY. 419
PiSC. And air this in a strange river, and with a fly of your own making ! why, what a dangerous man are you !
VlAT. I, Sir : but who taught me ? and as Damaetas says by his man Dorus, so you may say by me —
If any man such praises have,
What then have I, that taught the knave ?
But what have we got here ? a rock springing up in the middle of the river ! this is one of the oddest sights that ever I saw.
PiSC. Why, Sir, from that pike that you see standing up there distant from the rock, this is called Pike Pool. And young Mr. Izaac Walton was so pleased with it, as to draw it in landscape, in black and white, in a blank book I have at home, as he has done several prospects of my house also, which I keep for a memorial of his favour, and will shew you when we come up to dinner.
VlAT. Has young Master Izaak Walton been here too ?
PiSC. Yes, marry has he. Sir, and that again and again too, and in France since, and at Rome, and at Venice, and I can't tell where ; but I intend to ask him a great many hard questions so soon as I can see him, which will be, God willing, next month. In the meantime, Sir, to come to this fine stream at the head of this great pool, you must venture over these slippery, cobbling stones : believe me. Sir, there you were nimble, or else you had been down ; but now you are got over, look to yourself; for, on my word, if a fish rise here, he is like to be such a one as will endanger your tackle. — How now }
VlAT. I think you have such command here over the fishes, that you can raise them by your word, as they say
420 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
conjurors can do spirits, and afterward make them do what you bid them ; for here 's a trout has taken my fly, I had rather have lost a crown. What luck 's this ! he was a lovely fish, and turned up a side like a salmon.
PiSC. O Sir, this is a war Avhere you sometimes win, and must sometimes expect to lose. Never concern yourself for the loss of your fly, for ten to one I teach you to make a better. Who 's that calls }
Serv. Sir, will it please you to come to dinner }
PiSC. We come. You hear, Sir, we are called ; and now take your choice, whether you will climb this steep hill be- fore you, from the top of which you will go directly into the house, or back again over these stepping-stones, and about by the bridge.
ViAT. Nay, sure, the nearest way is best ; at least my stomach tells me so ; and I am now so well acquainted with your rocks, that I fear them not.
PiSC. Come, then, follow me ; and so soon as we have dined, we will down again to the little house, where I will begin at the place I left off about fly-fishing, and read you another lecture ; for I have a great deal more to say upon that subject.
VlAT. The more the better. I could never have met with a more obliging master, my first excepted ; nor such sport can all the rivers about London ever afford, as is to be found in this pretty river.
PiSC. You deserve to have better, both because I see you are willing to take pains, and for liking this little so well ; and better I hope to shew you before we part.
CHAPTER VII.
[^cconb gair.]
VlAT. Come, Sir, having now well dined, and being again set in your little house, I will now challenge your promise, and intreat you to proceed in your instruction for fly-fishing; which that you may be the better encouraged to do, I will assure you that I have not lost, I think, one syllable of what you have told me ; but very well retain all your directions, both for the rod, line, and making a fly, and now desire an account of the flies themselves.
PiSC. Wliy, Sir, I am ready to give it you, and shall have the whole afternoon to do it in, if nobody come in to inter- rupt us ; for you must know (besides the unfitness of the day), that the afternoons, so early in March, signify very little to angling with a fly, though with a minnow, or a worm, something might (I confess) be done.
To begin, then, where I left off, my father Walton tells
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422 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
us of but twelve artificial flies only, to angle with at the top, and gives their names ; of which some are common with us here ; and I think I guess at most of them by his description, and I believe they all breed and are taken in our rivers, though we do not make them either of the same dubbing or fashion. And it may be in the rivers about London, which I presume he has most frequented, and where it is Hkely he has done most execution, there is not much notice taken of many more ; but we are acquainted with several others here, though perhaps I may reckon some of his by other names too ; but if I do, I shall make you amends by an addition to his catalogue. And although the fore-named great master in the art of angling, for so in truth he is, tells you that no man should, in honesty, catch a trout till the middle of March, yet I hope he will give a man leave sooner to take a grayling, which, as I told you, is in the dead months in his best season, and do assure you (which I re- member by a very remarkable token) I did once take upon the Sixth day of December one, and only one, of the biggest graylings, and the best in season, that ever I yet saw or tasted ; and do usually take trouts too, and with a fly, not only before the middle of this month, but almost every year in February, unless it be a very ill spring indeed ; and have sometimes in January, so early as New Year's-tide, and in frost and snow, taken grayling in a warm sunshine day for an hour or two about noon ; and to fish for him with a grub, it is then the best time of all.
I shall therefore begin my fly-fishing with that month, though I confess very few begin so soon, and that such as are so fond of the sport as to embrace all opportunities can rarely in that month find a day fit for their purpose ; and
.
SECOND DAY. 423
tell you, that upon my knowledge these flies in a warm sun, for an hour or two in the day, are certainly taken.
JANUARY.
1. A Red Brown, with wings of the male of a mallard almost white : the dubbing of the tail of a black long-coated cur, such as they commonly make muffs of ; for the hair on the tail of such a dog dies and turns to a red brown, but the hair of a smooth-coated dog of the same colour will not do, because it will not die, but retains its natural colour ; and this fly is taken in a warm sun, this whole month through.
2. There is also a very little Bright Dun Gnat, as little as can possibly be made, so little as never to be fished with with above one hair next the hook ; and this is to be made of a mixed dubbing of marten's fur, and the white of a hare's scut, with a very white and small wing ; and it is no great matter how fine you fish, for nothing will rise in this month but a grayling ; and of them I never, at this season, saw any taken with a fly of above a foot long in my life ; but of little ones about the bigness of a smelt, in a warm day and a glowing sun, you may take enough with these two flies, and they are both taken the whole month through.
FEBRUARY.
I. Where the red brown of the last month ends, another almost of the same colour begins, with this saving, that the dubbing of this must be of something a blacker colour, and both of them wrapt on with red silk. The dubbing that should make this fly, and that is the truest colour, is to be got off the black spot of a hog's ear : not that a black spot in any part of the hog will not afford the same colour, but
424 IHE COMPLETE ANGLER.
that the hair in that place is, by many degrees, softer, and more fit for the purpose. His wing must be as the other [i. in January] ; and this kills all this month, and is called the Lesser Red Brown.
2. This month, also, a plain hackle, or palmer-fly, made with a rough black body, either of black spaniel's fur, or the whirl of an ostrich feather, and the red hackle of a capon over all, will kill, and, if the weather be right, make very good sport.
3. Also a lesser hackle, with a black body, also silver twist over that, and a red feather over all, will fill your pannier, if the month be open, and not bound up in ice and snow, with veiy good fish ; but, in case of a frost and snow, you are to angle only with the smallest gnats, browns, and duns you can make ; and with those are only to expect graylings no bigger than sprats.
4. In this month, upon a whirling round water, we have a great hackle, the body black, and wrapped with a red feather of a capon untrimmed ; that is, the whole length of the hackle staring out (for we sometimes barb the hackle- feather short all over ; sometimes barb it only a little ; and sometimes barb it close underneath), leaving the whole length of the feather on the top or back of the fly, which makes it swim better, and, as occasion serves, kills very great fish.
5. We make use also, in this month, of another great hackle, the body black, and ribbed over with gold twist, and a red feather over all ; which also does great execution.
6. Also a Great Dun, made with dun bear's hair, and the wings of the grey feather of a mallard near unto his tail ; which is absolutely the best fly can be thrown upon a river
SECOND DAY. 4^5
this month, and with which an angler shall have admirable sport.
7. We have also this month the Great Blue Dun ; the dubbing of the bottom of bear's hair next the roots, mixed with a little blue camlet, the wings of the dark grey feather of a mallard.
8. We have also this month a dark brown, the dubbing of the brown hair off the flank of a brended cow, and the wings of the grey drake's feather.
And note, that these several hackles, or palmer-flies, are some for one water and one sky, and some for another; and, according to the change of those, we alter their size and colour; and note also, that both in this and all other months of the year, when you do not certainly know what fly is taken, or cannot see any fish to rise, you are then to put on a small hackle if the water be clear, or a bigger if something dark, until you have taken one ; and then thrusting your fingers through his gills, to pull out his gorge, which being opened with your knife, you will then discover what fly is taken, and may fit yourself accordingly.
For the making of a hackle, or palmer-fly, my father Walton has already given you sufficient direction.
MARCH.
For this month you are to use all the same hackles and flies with the other ; but you are to make them less.
I. We have, besides, for this month a little dun, called a Whirling Dun (though it is not the whirling dun indeed, which is one of the best flies we have) ; and for this the dubbing must be of the bottom fur of a squirrel's tail, and tlic wing of the grey feather of a drake.
426 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
2. Also a bright brown ; the dubbing either of the brown of a spaniel, or that of a red cow's flank, with a grey wing.
3. Also a whitish dun ; made of the roots of camel's hair, and the wings of the grey feather of a mallard.
4. There is also for this month a fly called the Thorn-tree Fly; the dubbing an absolute black, mixed with eight or ten hairs of Isabella-coloured mohair ; the body as little as can be made, of a bright mallard's feather. An admirable fly, and in great repute amongst us for a killer.
5. There is, besides this, another blue dun, the dubbing of which it is made being thus to be got : Take a small-tooth comb, and with it comb the neck of a black greyhound, and the down that sticks in the teeth will hz the finest blue that you ever saw. The wings of this fly can hardly be too white, and he is taken about the tenth of this month, and lasteth till the four-and-twentieth.
6. From the tenth of this month also, till towards the end, is taken a little black gnat ; the dubbing either of the fur of a black water-dog, or the down of a young black water-coot, the wings of the mals of a mallard as white as may be, the body as little as you can possibly make it, and the wings as short as his body.
7. From the sixteenth of this month also to the end of it, we use a bright brown ; the dubbing for which is to be had out of a skinner's Hme-pits, and of the hair of an abortive calf, which the lime will turn to be so bright as to shine like gold ; for the wings of this fly the feather of a brown hen is best, which fly is taken till the tenth of April.
APRIL. All the same hackles and flies that were taken in March
SECOND DAY. 427
will be taken in this month also, with this distinction only concerning the flies, that all the browns be lapped with red silk, and the duns with yellow.
1. To these a small bright brown, made of spaniel's fur, with a light grey wing, in a bright day and a clear water, is very well taken.
2. We have too a little dark brown, the dubbing of that colour and some violet camlet mixed, and the wing of the grey feather of a mallard.
3. From the sixth of this month to the tenth, we have also a fly called the Violet Fly, made of a dark violet stuff", with the wings of the grey feather of a mallard.
4. About the twelfth of this month comes in the fly called the Whirling Dun, which is taken every day, about the mid- time of day, all this month through, and, by fits, from thence to the end of June, and is commonly made of the down of the fox cub, which is of an ash colour at the roots next the skin, and ribbed about with yellow silk ; the wings of the pale grey feather of a mallard.
5. There is also a yellow dun ; the dubbing of camel's hair, and yellow camlet or wool, mixed, and a white-grey wing.
6. There is also this month another little brown, besides that mentioned before, made with a very slender body, the dubbing of dark brown and violet camlet mixed, and a grey wing, which, though the direction for the making be near the other, is yet another fly, and will take when the other will not, especially in a bright day and a clear water.
7. About the twentieth of this month comes in a fly called Horseflesh Fly, the dubbing of which is a blue mohair, with pink coloured and red tammy mixed, a light coloured wing,
428 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
and a dark brown head. This fly is taken best in an even- ing, and kills from two hours before sunset till twilight, and is taken the month through.
MAY.
And now, Sir, that we are entering into the month of May, I think it requisite to beg not only your attention, but also your best patience ; for I must now be a little tedious with you, and dwell upon this month longer than ordinary, which that you may the better endure, I must tell you, this month deserves and requires to be insisted on ; forasmuch as it alone, and the next following, afford more pleasure to the fly-angler than all the rest ; and here it is that you are to expect an account of the green drake and stone-fly, pro- mised you so long ago, and some others that are peculiar to this month, and part of the month following ; and that, though not so great either in bulk or name, do yet stand in competition with the two before-named ; and so that it is yet undecided amongst the anglers to which of the pre- tenders to the title of the May-fly it does properly and duly belong ; neither dare I, where so many of the learned in this art of angling are got in dispute about the contro- versy, take upon me to determine ; but I think I ought to have a vote amongst them, and according to that privilege, shall give you my free opinion ; and, peradventure, when I have told you all, you may incline to think me in the right.
VlAT. I have so great a deference to your judgment in these matters, that I must always be of your opinion ; and the more you speak, the faster I grow to my attention, for I can never be weary of hearing you upon this subject.
PiSC. Why, that's encouragement enough; and now pre-
I
J
SECOND DAY. 4^9
pare yourself for a tedious lecture ; but I will first begin with the flies of less esteem, though almost anything will take a trout in May, that I may afterwards insist the longer upon those of greater note and reputation. Know, therefore, that the first fly we take notice of in this month is called
1. The Turkey-Fly; the dubbing ravelled out of some blue stuff, and lapt about with yellow silk ; the wings of a grey mallard's feather.
2. Next, a Great Hackle or Palmer-Fly, with a yellow body ribbed with gold twist, and large wings of a mallard's feather dyed yellow, with a red capon's hackle over all.
3. Then a Black Fly; the dubbing of a black spaniel's fur, and the wings of a grey mallard's feather.
4. After that, a light brown with a slender body ; the dubbing twirled upon small red silk, and raised with the point of a needle, that the ribs or rows of silk may appear through ; the wings of the grey feather of the mallard.
5. Next, a little dun ; the dubbing of a bear's dun whirled upon yellow silk ; the wings of the grey feather of a mallard.
6. Then, a White Gnat, with a pale wing and a black head.
7. There is also in this month a fly called the Peacock- Fly ; the body made of a whirl of a peacock's feather, with a red head ; and wings of a mallard's feather.
8. We have then another very killing fly, known by the name of the Dun-Cut, the dubbing of which is a bear's dun, with a little blue and yellow mixed with it ; a large dun wing ; and two horns at the head, made of the hairs of a squirrel's tail.
9. The next is a Cow-Lady, a little fly ; the body of a peacock's feather ; the wing of a red feather, or strips of the red hackle of a cock.
430 THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
10. We have then the Cow-dung-Fly ; the dubbing h'ght brown and yellow mixed ; the wing the dark grey feather of a mallard. And note, that besides these above mentioned, all the same hackles and flies, the hackles only brighter and the flies smaller, that are taken in April, will also be taken this month, as all browns and duns. And now I come to my Stone-Fly and Green Drake, which are the matadores for trout and grayHng, and in their season kill more fish in our Derbyshire rivers than all the rest, past and to come, in the whole year besides.
But first I am to tell you that we have four several flies which contend for the title of the May- Fly ; namely,
The Green Drake,
The Stone-Fly,
The Black Fly, and
The little yellow May-Fly. And all these have their champions and advocates to dispute and plead their priority ; though I do not understand why the two last named should, the first two having so manifestly the advantage, both in their beauty and the wonderful exe- cution they do in their season.
11. Of these the Green Drake comes in about the twen- tieth of this month, or betwixt that and the latter end, for they are sometimes sooner and sometimes later, according to the quality of the year ; but never well taken till towards the end of this month and the beginning of June. The Stone-Fly comes much sooner, so early as the middle of April, but is never well taken till towards the middle of May, and continues to kill much longer than the green drake stays with us, so long as the end almost of June ; and indeed, so long as there are any of them to be seen upon
SECOND DAY, 431
the water ; and sometimes in an artificial fly, and late at night or before sunrise in a morning, longer.
Now both these flies, and I believe many others, though I think not all, are certainly and demonstratively bred in the very rivers where they are taken . our caddis or cod- bait, which lie under stones in the bottom of the water, most of them turning into those two flies, and being gathered in the husk, or crust, near the time of their maturity, are very easily known and distinguished, and are of all other the most remarkable, both for their size, as being of all other the biggest, the shortest of them being a full inch long or more ; and for the execution they do, the trout and grayling being much more greedy of them than of any others ; and indeed the trout never feeds fat, nor comes into his perfect season, till these flies come in.
Of these the green drake never discloses from his husk till he be first there grown to full maturity, body, wings, and all ; and then he creeps out of his cell, but with his wings so crimpt and ruffled, by being prest together in that narrow room, that they are for some hours totally useless to him ; by which means he is compelled either to creep upon the flags, sedges, and blades of grass, if his first rising from the bottom of the water be near the banks of the river, till the air and sun stiffen and smooth them ; or, if his first appear- ance above water happen to be in the middle, he then lies upon the surface of the water like a ship at hull ; for his feet are totally useless to him there, and he cannot creep upon the water as the stone-fly can, until his wings have got stiffness to fly with (if by some trout or grayling he be not taken in the interim, which ten to one he is), and then his wings stand high, and closed exact upon his back, like
432 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
the butterfly, and his motion in flying is the same. His body is, in some, of a paler, in others, of a darker yellow ; for they are not all exactly of a colour, ribbed with rows of green, long, slender, and growing sharp towards the tail, at the end of which he has three long small whisks of a very dark colour, almost black, and his tail turns up towards his back like a mallard ; from whence, questionless, he has his name of the green drake. These, as I think I told you be- fore, we commonly dape or dibble with, and having gathered great store of them into a long draw-box, with holes in the cover to give them air (where also they will continue fresh and vigorous a night or more), we take them out thence by the wings, and bait them thus upon the hook : We first take one (for we commonly fish with two of them at a time), and putting the point of the hook into the thickest part of his body, under one of his wings, run it directly through, and out at the other side, leaving him spitted cross upon the hook ; and then taking the other, put him on after the same manner, but with his head the contrary way ; in which posture they will live upon the hook, and play with their wings, for a quarter of an hour or more ; but you must have a care to keep their wings dry, both from the water, and also that your fingers be not wet when you take them out to bait them, for then your bait is spoiled.
Having now told you how to angle with this fly alive, I am now to tell you next how to make an artificial fly, that will so perfectly resemble him, as to be taken in a rough windy day, when no flies can lie upon the water, nor are to J be found about the banks and sides of the river, to a wonder; and with which you shall certainly kill the best trout and grayling in the river.
SECOND DAY, 433
The artificial green drake, then, is made upon a large hook ; the dubbing, camel's hair, bright bear's hair, the soft down that is combed from a hog's bristles, and yellow camlet, well mixed together; the body long, and ribbed about with green silk, or rather yellow, waxed with green wax ; the whisks of the tail of the long hairs of sables, or fitchet ; and the wings of a white-grey feather of a mallard, dyed yellow, which also is to be dyed thus :
Take the root of a barbary-tree, and shave it, and put to it woody viss, with as much alum as a walnut, and boil your feathers in it with rain-water, and they will be of a very fine yellow.
I have now done with the green drake, excepting to tell you that he is taken at all hours during his season, whilst there is any day upon the sky ; and with a made fly I once took, ten days after he was absolutely gone, in a cloudy day, after a shower, and in a whistling wind, five-and-thirty very great trouts and graylings, betwixt five and eight of the clock in the evening, and had no less than five or six flies, with three good hairs apiece, taken from me in despite of my art, besides.
12. I should now come next to the Stone-Fly, but there is another gentleman in my way, that must of necessity come in between, and that is the Grey Drake, which in all shapes and dimensions is perfectly the same with the other, but quite almost of another colour, being of a paler and more livid yellow and green, and ribbed with black quite down his body, with black shining wings, and so diaphanous and tender, cobweb-like, that they are of no manner of use for daping ; but come in, and are taken after the green drake, and in an artificial fly kill very well ; which fly is
23
434
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
thus made : the dubbing of the down of a hog's bristles, and black spaniel's fur, mixed, and ribbed down the body with black silk ; the whisks of the hairs of the beard of a black cat, and the wings of the black-grey feather of a mallard.
And now I come to the Stone-Fly ; but am afraid I have already wearied your patience ; which, if I have, I beseech you freely tell me so, and I will defer the remaining instruc- tions for fly-angling till some other time.
ViAT. No, truly. Sir, I can never be weary of hearing you. But if you think fit, because I am afraid I am too trouble- some, to refresh yourself with a glass and a pipe, you may afterwards proceed, and I shall be exceedingly pleased to hear you.
Pisc. I thank you. Sir, for that motion ; for, believe me, I am dry with talking. Here, boy, give us here a bottle and a glass ; and, Sir, my service to you, and to all our friends in the south.
VlAT. Your servant, Sir ; and I '11 pledge you as heartily; for the good powdered beef I eat at dinner, or something else, has made me thirsty.
CHAPTER VIII.
[^^anb fug.]
VlAT. So, Sir, I am nov/ ready for another lesson, so soon as you please to give it me.
PiSC. And I, Sir, as ready to give you the best I can. Having told you the time of the stone-fly's coming in, and that he is bred of a caddis in the very river where he is taken, I am next to tell you that,
1 3. This same Stone-Fly has not the patience to continue in his crust, or husk, till his wings be full grown ; but so soon as ever they begin to put out, that he feels himself strong (at which time we call him a Jack), squeezes himself out of prison, and crawk to the top of some stone, where if he can find a chink that will receive him, or can creep betwixt two stones, the one lying hollow upon the other, — which, by the way, we also lay so purposely to find them, — he there lurks, till his wings be full grown, and there is your only place to
435
436 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
find him, and from thence doubtless he derives his name ; though, for want of such convenience, he will make shift with the hollow of a bank, or any other place where the wind cannot come to fetch him off. His body is long, and pretty thick, and as broad at the tail almost as in the middle ; his colour a very fine brown, ribbed with yellow, and much yellower on the belly than the back ; he has two or three whisks also at the tag of his tail, and two little horns upon his head ; his wings, when full grown, are double, and flat down his back, of the same colour, but rather darker than his body, and longer than it, though he makes but Httle use of them ; for you shall rarely see him flying, though often swimming and paddling with several feet he has under his belly, upon the water, without stirring a wing ; but the drake will mount steeple-high into the air, though he is to be found upon flags and grass too, and indeed everywhere, high and low, near the river ; there being so many of them in their season as, were they not a very inofl*ensive insect, would look like a plague ; and these drakes, since I forgot to tell you before, I will tell you here, are taken by the fish to that incredible degree that, upon a calm day, you shall see the still deeps continually all over circles by the fishes rising, who will gorge themselves with those flics, till they purge again out of their gills ; and the trouts are at that time so lusty and strong, that one of eight or ten inches long will then more struggle and tug, and more endanger your tackle, than one twice as big in winter. But pardon this digression.
This stone-fly, then, we dape or dibble with, as with the drake ; but with this difl"erence, that whereas the green drake is common both to stream and still, and to all hours
SECOND DAY. 437
of the day, we seldom dape with this but in the streams (for in a whistHng wind a made fly in the deep is better), and rarely but early and late, it not being so proper for the mid-time of the day ; though a great grayling will then take it very well in a sharp stream, and here and there a trout too ; but much better toward eight, nine, ten, or eleven of the clock at night, at which time also the best fish rise, and the later the better, provided you can see your fly ; and when you cannot, a made fly will murder, which is to be made thus : The dubbing of bear's dun, with a little brown and yellow camlet very well mixed, but so placed that your fly may be more yellow on the belly and towards the tail, underneath, than in any other part ; and you are to place two or three hairs of a black cat's beard on the top of the hook, in your arming, so as to be turned up when you warp on your dubbing, and to stand almost upright, and staring one from another ; and note, that your fly is to be ribbed with yellow silk ; and the wings long, and very large, of the dark grey feather of a mallard.
14. The next May-fly is the Black-Fly ; made with a black body, of the whirl of an ostrich feather, ribbed with silver twist, and the black hackle of a cock over all ; and is a killing fly, but not to be named with either of the other.
15. The last May-fly (that is, of the four pretenders) is the little Yellow May-fly ; in shape exactly the same with the green drake, but a veiy little one, and of as bright a yellow as can be seen ; which is made of a bright yellow camlet, and the wings of a white-grey feather dyed yellow.
16. The last fly for this month (and which continues all June, though it comes in the middle of May), is the fly called the Camlet-Fly, in shape like a moth, with fine
43^ THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
diapered or water wings^ and with which, as I told you before, I sometimes used to dibble ; and grayling will rise mightily at it. But the artificial fly, — which is only in use amongst our anglers, — is made of a dark brown shining camlet, ribbed over with a very small light green silk, the wings of the double grey feather of a mallard ; and it is a killing fly for small fish. And so much for May.
JUNE.
From the first to the four-and-twentleth, the green drake and stone-fly are taken, as T told you before.
1. From the twelfth to the four-and-twentieth, late at night, is taken a fly called the Owl-Fly ; the dubbing of a white weasel's tail, and a white-grey wing.
2. We have then another dun, called the Barm-Fly, from its yeasty colour ; the dubbing of the fur of a yellow-dun cat, and a grey wing of a mallard's feather.
3. We have also a hackle with a purple body, whipt about with a red capon's feather.
4. As also a gold twist hackle with a purple body, whipt about with a red capon's feather.
5. To these we have this month a Flesh-Fly ; the dubbing of a black spaniel's fur, and blue wool mixed, and a grey wing.
6. Also another little flesh-fly, the body made of the whirl of a peacock's feather, and the wings of the grey feather of a drake.
7. We have then the Peacock-Fly, the body and wing both made of the feather of that bird.
8. There is also the Flying Ant or Ant-Fly ; the dubbing of brown and red camlet mixed, with a light grey wing.
SECOND DAY. 439
9. We have likewise a Brown Gnat, with a very slender body of brown and violet camlet well mixed, and a light grey wing.
10. And another little Black Gnat; the dubbing of black mohair, and a white-grey wing.
11. As also a Green Grasshopper ; the dubbing of green and yellow wool mixed, ribbed over with green silk, and a red capon's feather over all.
12. And, lastly, a little Dun Grasshopper ; the body slender, made of a dun camlet, and a dun hackle at the top.
JULY.
First, all the small flies that were taken in June are also taken in this month.
1. We have then the Orange Fly ; the dubbing of orange wool, and the wing of a black feather.
2. Also a little white-dun ; the body made of white mo- hair, and the wings, blue, of a heron's feather.
3. We have likewise this month a Wasp-Fly ; made either of a dark brown dubbing, or else the fur of a black cat's tail, ribbed about with yellow silk ; and the wing of the grey feather of a mallard.
4. Another fly taken this month is a black hackle ; the body made of the whirl of a peacock's feather, and a black hackle feather on the top.
5. We have also another, made of a peacock's whirl with- out wings.
6. Another fly also is taken this month, called the Shell- Fly; the dubbing of yellow-green Jersey wool, and a little white hog's hair mixed, which I call the Palm-Fly, and do believe it is taken for a palm that drops off the willows into
440 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
the water ; for this fly I have seen trouts take little pieces of moss, as they have swum down the river ; by which I conclude that the best way to hit the right colour is to com- pare your dubbing with the moss, and mix the colours as near as you can.
7. There is also taken, this month, a black -blue dun ; the dubbing of the fur of a black rabbit mixed with a little yellow; the wings of the feather of a blue pigeon's wing.
AUGUST.
The same flies with July.
1. Then another Ant-Fly ; the dubbing of the black-brown hair of a cow, some red wrapt in for the tag of his tail, and a dark wing ; a killing fly.
2. Next a fly called the Fern-Fly; the dubbing of the fur of a hare's neck, that is of the colour of fern or bracken, with a darkish grey wing of a mallard's feather ; a killer too.
3. Besides these we have a white hackle ; the body of white mohair, and wrapt about with a white hackle feather, and this is assuredly taken for thistle-down.
4. We have also this month a Harry Long-Legs ; the body made of bear's dun and blue wool mixed, and a brown hackle feather over all.
Lastly. In this month all the same browns and duns are taken that were taken in May.
SEPTEMBER.
This month the same flies are taken that are taken in April.
I. To which I shall only add a Camel-brown Fly ; the
SECOND DAY. 44 1
dubbing pulled out of the lime of a wall, whipped about with red silk, and a darkish grey mallard's feather for the wing.
2. And one other for which we have no name ; but it is made of the black hair of a badger's skin, mixed with the yellow softest down of a sanded hog.
OCTOBER.
The same flies are taken this month that were taken in
March.
NOVEMBER.
The same flies that were taken in February are taken
this month also.
DECEMBER.
Few men angle with the fly this month, no more than they do in January ; but yet, if the weather be warm (as I have known it sometimes in my life to be, even in this cold country, where it is least expected), then a brown, that looks rod in the hand, and yellowish betwixt your eye and the sun, will both raise and kill in a clear water and free from snow-broth ; but, at the best, it is hardly worth a man's labour.
And now. Sir, I have done with fly-fishing, or angling at the top, excepting once more to tell you, that of all these (and I have named you a great many very killing flies) none are fit to be compared with the drake and stone-fly, both for many and for very great fish ; and yet there are some days that arc by no means proper for the sport. And in a calm you shall not have near so much sport, even with dap- ing, as in a whistling gale of wind, for two reasons : both because you are not then so easily discovered by the fish,
442 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
and also because there are then but few flies that can lie upon the water ; for where they have so much choice, you may easily imagine they will not be so eager and forward to rise at a bait, that both the shadow of your body, and that of your rod, nay, of your very line, in a hot calm day, will, in spite of your best caution, render suspected to them ; but even then, in swift streams, or by sitting down patiently behind a willow-bush, you shall do more execution than at almost any other time of the year with any other fly ; though one may sometimes hit of a day, when he shall come home very well satisfied with sport with several other flies ; but with these two, the green drake and the stone-fly, I do verily believe I could, some days in my life, had I not been weary of slaughter, have loaden a lusty boy ; and have sometimes, I do honestly assure you, given over upon the mere account of satiety of sport ; which will be no hard matter to believe, when I likewise assure you, that with this very fly I have in this very river that runs by us, in three or four hours, taken thirty, five-and -thirty, and forty of the best trouts in the river. What shame and pity it is, then, that such a river should be destroyed by the basest sort of people, by those unlawful ways of fire and netting in the night, and of damming, groping, spearing, hanging, and hooking by day, which are now grown so common, that, though we have very good laws to punish such offenders, every rascal does it, for aught I see, impiink.
To conclude, I cannot now in honesty but frankly tell you, that many of these flies I have named, at least so made as we make them here, will peradventure do you no great service in your southern rivers ; and will not conceal from you, but that I have sent flies to several friends in London,
SECOND DAY.
443
that, for aught I could ever hear, never did any great feats Avith them ; and therefore, if you intend to profit by my instructions, you must come to angle with me here in the Peak. And so, if you please, let us walk up to supper, and to-morrow, if the day be windy, as our days here commonly are, 't is ten to one but we shall take a good dish of fish for dinner.
CHAPTER IX.
[©|u-l>Sitg.]
PiSC. A good day to you, Sir ; I see you will always be stirring before me.
ViAT. Why, to tell you the truth, I am so allured wjth the sport I had yesterday, that I long to be at the river again ; and when I heard the wind sing in my chamber- window, could forbear no longer, but leap out of bed, and had just made an end of dressing myself as you came in.
PiSC. Well, I am both glad you are so ready for the day, and that the day is so fit for you ; and look you, I have made you three or four flies this morning ; this silver twist hackle, this bear's dun, this light brown, and this dark brown, any of which I dare say will do ; but you may try them all, and see which does best ; only I must ask your pardon that I cannot wait upon you this morning, a little business being
THIRD DAY. 445
fallen out, that for two or three hours will deprive me of your company ; but I '11 come and call you home to dinner, and my man shall attend you.
VlAT. O Sir, mind your affairs by all means. Do but lend me a little of your skill to these fine flies, and, unless it have forsaken me since yesterday, I shall find luck of my own, I hope, to do something.
PiSC. The best instruction I can give you, is, that seeing the wind curls the water, and blows the right way, you Avould now angle up the still deep to-day ; for betwixt the rocks where the streams are, you will find it now too brisk ; and besides, I would have you take fish in both waters.
VlAT. I '11 obey your direction, and so good morning to you. Come, young man, let you and I walk together. But mark you. Sir, I have not done with you yet ; I expect an- other lesson for angling at the bottom, in the afternoon.
PiSC. Well, Sir, I '11 be ready for you.
CHAPTER X.
[StIjirJr iagj
PiSC. O Sir, are you returned ? you have but just pre- vented me. I was coming to call you.
ViAT. I am glad, then, I have saved you the labour.
PiSC. And how have you sped ?
VlAT. You shall see that, Sir, presently : look you. Sir, here are three brace of trouts, one of them the biggest but one that ever I killed with a fly in my life ; and yet I lost a bigger than that, with my fly to boot ; and here are three graylings, and one of them longer by some inches than that I took yesterday, and yet I thought that a good one too.
PiSC. Why, you have made a pretty good morning's work on 't. And now. Sir, what think you of our river Dove ?
VlAT. I think it to be the best trout river in England, and am so far in love with it, that if it were mine, and that I
446
THIRD DAY. 447
could keep it to myself, I would not exchange that water for all the land it runs over, to be totally debarred from it.
PiSC. That compliment to the river speaks you a true lover of the art of angling. And now, Sir, to make part of amends for sending you so uncivilly out alone this morning, I will myself dress you this dish of fish for your dinner : walk but into the parlour, you will find one book or other in the window to entertain you the while, and you shall have it presently,
VlAT. Well, Sir, I obey you.
PisC. Look you, Sir, have I not made haste ?
VlAT. 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 to- lerable cook or no }
VlAT. So good a one, that I did never eat so good fish 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 season is by far the better fish.
VlAT. 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 drest, 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 drest thus :
Take your trout, wash, and dry him with a clean napkin ;
448 THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
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 in- tend to boil ; then throw into the liquor a good quantity of salt, the rind of a lemon, a handful of sliced horse-radish root, with a handsome light faggot 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 fish is boiling, beat up the butter for your sauce with a ladleful or two of the liquor it is boil- ing in. And being boiled enough, immediately pour the liquor 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 the 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 manner, 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 fear of 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.
CHAPTER XL
[®|irl» iag.]
VlAT. So, Sir, now we are here, and set, let me have my instructions for angling for trout and grayling at the bot- tom ; 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 ac* count 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.
UO 29
450 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
The first with a Hne 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 labour; or, indeed, almost any worm whatever; for if a trout be in the humour 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 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 he 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 below the knot, 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 line, 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 fore-named worms, and, another half a foot above that, another armed and baited after the same manner, but with another sort of
I
THIRD DAY, 451
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 continually), by which means you are like to have more trouble, and peradventure worse success. And both these ways of ang- ling 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 roundness of his tackle will hinder his sport. The third way of angling 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 no more than one small pellet or shot for your plumb ; your hook, little ; your worms, of the smaller brandlings, veiy 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 every 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
29 — 2
452 THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
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 espe- cially ; but then his rod must be very light 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 constitution 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 caddis.
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 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 ^\\\ sometimes take it in that
THIRD DAY. 453
posture ; if for a grayling, you are then to fish farther 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 inclined to rise than to descend even to a ground-bait.
With a grub or caddis you are to angle with the same length of line, or if it be all out as long as your rod it 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 swiftness 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 tender, 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 gray- lings 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 commonly grows tougher, and will better endure bait- ing ; 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
454 THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
when baited, or at least down to the point of the hook ; by which means your arming will be left wholly naked and bare, which is neither so sightly nor so like 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 like that bait, and consequently will do more good, or less harm, than an arming of any other colour. These grubs are to be baited thus : The hook is to be put 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 caddis, 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 sometimes, to very great effect, joined to a worm, and sometimes to an artificial fly to cover the joint of your 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 holding 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 peculiar to certain countries and rivers, of which every angler may in his own place make his
THIRD DAY. 455
own observation ; and some others that I do not think fit to put you in mind of, because I would not corrupt you, and woiild 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.
VlAT. 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 osprcy, oil of ivy, camphire, assafoetida, 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 to one. But we '11 let 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.
VlAT. 'T is no trouble, Sir, but the greatest satisfaction that can be ; and I attend you.
CHAPTER XII.
mixi iag.J
PiSC. Angling in the middle, then, for a trout or grayling, is of two sorts : with a penk or minnow for a trout ; or with a worm, grub, or caddis 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 angling, I shall wholly refer you to Mr. Walton's directions, 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 see 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
456
THIRD DAY, 4S7
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 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 con- cluded that had I angled with that bait, I had made a notable day's work of it.
But, after all, there is a better way of angling with a minnow 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 believed by any one, who shall consider the littleness of that fish's mouth, very unfit to take so great a bait ; but it is affirmed by many that he will sometimes do it ; and I myself know it to be true ; for though I never took a gray- ling 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.
458 THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
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 after- wards recovering 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 snapt (though my line still con- tinued fast to the remaining 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 so deep bearded as those hooks commonly are, 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 gone in a moment. And yet, to justify what he says, I have sometimes known a trout, having carried away a whole lire, found dead three or four days after, with the hook fast stick- ing in him ; and 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
THIRD DAY, 459
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 certainly 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 angling in the middle is with a worm, grub, caddis, 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 angling 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 now, Sir, I have said all I can at present think of concerning 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.
VlAT. 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.
46o
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
PiSC. I shall be glad, Sir-, of your good company at the time you speak of, and shall be loth 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.
J
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Useful Recipes for Anglers.
To keep moth from feathers and tackle, — Pepper them profusely and keep them from the damp. Tobacco-leaf cut small and dis- persed among the feathers and tackle is very useful. Put no faith in camphor, as it evaporates. Turn the tackle and feathers out, and expose them to the air once or twice in the winter.
Varnish for hooks and tackle. — Dissolve shellac, or even -jealing- wax, in double the bulk of spirits of wine ; allow it to dry before using. One application is sufficient.
Varnish for rods. — The best coachmakers' varnish. Two coats, each thoroughly dried, is requisite.
White wax. — 2 oz. of best resin, \ oz. of bees-wax, simmer for ten minutes in a pipkin ; add \ oz. of tallow, and simmer for a quarter of an hour ; pour the whole into a basin of water, and work it about with the fingers till it is tough and pliable.
Liquid 7uax. — Dissolve some cobblers' wax in spirits of wine; shake up before using, and lay it on the silk with a feather. It is capital for weak or frayed silk, as the spirit evaporates and leaves the wax behind.
Directions for Staining Gimp.
Soak brass gimp in a solution of bichlorate of platinum, mixed in about the proportion of one part of platinum to eight or ten of water, until it has assumed the colour desired. This will take from a quarter of an hour to two or three hours, according to the strength
463
4^4 THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
of the solution, then dry the gimp before the fire, and, whilst wanu, with a brush, give it a coat of "lacquer."
The above process is only applicable to brass gimp ; copper and silver gimp do not take the stain properly.
To Stain Gut the Colour of Weeds, Water, &c.
Make a strong infusion of onion coatings, and when quite cold put the gut into it, and let it remain until the hue becomes as dark as required. A strong infusion of green tea will dye gut a useful colour.
So will warmed writing ink ; the gut to be steeped in it a few minutes, and immediately afterwards to be washed clean in spring water. You will obtain another good colour by steeping gut for three or four minutes in a pint of boiling water, in which you have put a teaspoonful of alum, a bit of logwood the size of a hazel nut, and a piece of copperas the size of a pea. To make your gut a water-colour, take a teaspoonful of common red ink, add to it as much soot, and about a third of a teacupful of water ; let them simmer for about ten minutes ; when cool, steep your line until it be stained to your fancy.
This is a very good colour for the purpose, but should be applied gradually, taking out your gut frequently to examine the depth of the tint, lest it should become too dark.
Laws and Regulations relating to Fishing.
Any person being armed and disguised, and who shall steal or unlawfully take away any fish out of a river or pond, or maliciously break down and destroy the mound or head of any river, whereby the fish shall be lost or destroyed, or shall rescue any person in
•^
APPENDIX. 465
custody for such offence, or procure another to assist him therein, shall be found guilty of felony, without benefit of clergy.
For destroying or killing fish in enclosed ground, being private property, a penalty of five pounds, or imprisonment in the House of Correction for not exceeding six months.
For breaking into an enclosed or private ground, and stealing or destroying the fish, transportation for seven years, and receivers the same punishment.
No persons may have in possession or keep any net, angle piche, or other engine for taking fish, but the makers and sellers thereof, and the owner or renter of a river fishery, except fishermen and their apprentices, legally authorized, in navigable rivers ; and the owner or occupier of the said river may seize, and keep, and convert to his own use, every net, &c., which he shall discover laid or used or in the possession of any person thus fishing without his consent.
Damaging or intmding, by using nettrices, fish-hooks, or other engines to catch fish, w^ithout consent of the owner or occupier, subjects the party thus trespassing to any amount of fine the magis- trate or justice orders, provided it exceeds not treble the damages, and to a further fine, not exceeding ten shillings, for ihe use of the poor of the parish, or imprisonment in the House of Correction, not exceeding one calendar month, unless he enters into a bond, with one surety, in a sum not exceeding ten pounds, not to offend again ; and the justice may cut or destroy the net, &:c.
If any person unlawfully or maliciously cut, break down, or de- stroy any head or dam of a fish-pond, or unlawfully fish therein, he shall, at the prosecution of the king or the owner, be imprisoned three months, or pay treble damages, and after such imprisonment, shall find sureties for seven years' good behaviour, or remain in prison till he doth.
To prevent the fish in the Thames from being improperly de- stroyed, the 30th of George 11. enacts that no person shall fish, or endeavour to take fish, in the said river between London Bridge and Richmond Bridge, with other than lawful nets : —
For salmon, not less than 6 inches in the mesh.
80
466 THE COMPLETE ANGLER,
For pike, Jack, perch, roach, chub, and barbel, with a flew or stream net, of not less than 3 inches in the mesh throughout, with a facing of 7 incht s and not more than 16 fathoms long.
For shads, not less than 2\ inches in the mesh.
For flounders, not less than 2\ inches in the mesh, and not more than 1 6 fathoms long.
For dace, with a single play net, of not less than 2 inches in the mesh, and not more than 13 fathoms long, to be worked by floating only, with a boat and a buoy.
For smelts, with a net of not less than \\ inches in the mesh, and not of greater length than 16 fathoms, to be worked by float- ing only, with a boat and a buoy ;
Under the penalty of paying and forfeiting the sum of five pounds for every such offence.
No fish of any of the sort hereinafter mentioned may be caught in the Thames or Medway, or sold, or exposed to or for sale, if caught in the Thames or Medway : —
No salmon of less weight than six pounds.
No trout of less weight than one pound.
No pike or Jack under 12 inches long from the eye to the length of the tail.
No perch under 8 inches long.
No flounder under 7 inches long.
No sole under 7 inches long.
No plaice or dab under 7 inches long.
No roach under 8 inches long.
No dace under 6 inches long.
No smelt under 6 inches long.
No gudgeon under 5 inches long.
No whiting under 8 inches long.
No barbel under 12 inches long.
No chub under 9 inches long ;
Under pain to forfeit five pounds for every such offence.
Salmon and trout may be taken only from 25 th January to loth September,
APPENDIX. 4^7
Pike, Jack, perch, roach, dace, chub, barbel, and gudgeon may be taken between ist July and ist March.
Bottom-fishing is prohibited in the river Thames, as far as the Corporation of London has jurisdiction, from the ist March to the ist June.
The right of fishing in the sea, and in all rivers where the tide ebbs and flows, is a right common to all the king's subjects.
Any person or persons considering themselves wronged or ag- grieved by any decision against them by the magistrate or justice, may appeal against it at the quarter sessions.
Protection of Preserves.
" That no person shall fish with any sort of well, reel, night-hook, any other device, except by angling in, or make use of any net, engine, or device to drive the fish out of any place which shall be staked by order of the Lord Mayor of the City of London for the time being, as conservator aforesaid, for the preservation of the fishery, and whereof notice shall be stuck up in some public place of the town or village next adjoining to the place or places so ordered to be staked ; and that no person shall take up or remove any stake, burr, boat, or anything which shall have been driven down or sunk in any such place as aforesaid, upon pain to forfeit and pay from time to time the sum of five pounds for every offence or breach of any part of this order " — City Ordinance, Mem. 44.
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