J
•',
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
THE
COMPLETE ANGLER,
THE CONTEMPLATIVE MAN'S RECREATION,
OF
IZAAK WALTON AND CHARLES COTTON.
EDITED BY JOHN MAJOR.
FOURTH EDITION.
LONDON :
D. BOGUE, FLEET-STREET;
H. WIX, NEW BRIDGE-STREET.
MDCCCXLIV.
And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in every thing.
Shakspeare.
Printed at the Shakspeare Press, by W. Nicol,
60, Pall Mall.
UNIv.. ' T?ORNIA
SANTA BARBARA
CONTENTS.
Introductory Essay . . . . xv
Author's Dedication to John Oppley, Esq. lvii
Author's Address to his Readers . . lxi
PART I.
THE FIRST DAY.
chap. i. A Conference betwixt an Angler, a
Hunter, and a Falconer ; each commending
his Recreation . . . . p. 1
THE SECOND DAY.
chap. ii. Observations of the Otter and Chub . 47
THE THIRD DAY.
chap. hi. How to Fish for, and to dress, the
Chavender or Chub .... 58
chap. iv. Observations of the Nature and
Breeding of the Trout, and how to Fish
for him. And the Milk-maid's Song . . 66
THE THIRD AND FOURTH DAYS.
chap. v. More Directions how to Fish for, and
how to make for the Trout an Artificial
Minnow and Flies, with some merriment . 82
vi CONTENTS.
THE FOURTH DAY.
(hap. vi. Observations of the Umber or Gray-
ling, and Directions how to Fish for them . 130
i ii \i\ vii. Observations of the Salmon, with
Directions hoiv to Fish for him . .134
chap. viii. Observations of the Luck or Pike,
with Directions how to Fish for him . .142
chap. ix. Observations of the Carp, with Di-
rections how to Fish for him . . 15S
(hap. x. Observations of the Brkam, and Di-
rections to catch him . . . .168
chap. xi. Observations of the Tench, and Advice
how to Angle for him . . . .177
chap. xii. Observations of the Pkarch, and
Directions how to Fish for him . . .181
chap. xm. Observations of the Eel, and other
Fish that want scales, and how to Fish for
them 187
chap. xiv. Observations of the Barbel, and
Directions how to Fish for him . . .197
(hap. xv. Observations of the Gudgeon, the
Rufkk, and the Bleak, and how to Fish for
them 203
chap. xvi. Is of nothing; or that which is
nothing worth ...... 207
THE FIFTH DAY.
chap. xvii. Of Roach and Dace, and how to
Fish for them; and of C adis . . .216
CONTENTS. vii
chap. xvni. Of the Minnow or Penk, of the
Loach, and of the Bull- He ad, or Miller's
Thumb 230
chap. xix. Of several Rivers, and some Obser-
vations of Fish . . . , .235
chap. xx. Of Fish-ponds, and how to order
them 240
chap. xxi. Directions for making of a Line,
and for the colouring of both Rod and Line . 244
PART II.
Instructions how to Angle for a Trout
or Grayling in a clear stream.
The First Day ....
The Second Day
The Third Day ....
Linn^ean arrangement of the Fish
Original and Selected Notes* .
General Index ....
266
287
342
363
368
409
* In these notes, in addition to much Biographical and His-
torical information, will be found the Various Readings of
the Editions published in the life-time of the Author.
LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS.
ENGRAVINGS ON STEEL.
1. Portrait of Izaak Walton, from the original, by Housman,
in the National Gallery, copied by C. R. Bone ; engraved
by Henry Robinson . . . .To face Title.
2. Portrait of Charles Cotton, from an original miniature,
by Sir Peter Lely, drawn by H. Corbould and K.
Meadows ; alluding to his character, as an Angler, a
Poet, a Lover, and a Bacchanalian. Engraved by Henry
Robinson . . .To face the Title to Part 2.
3. Fac-simile of the original Title, IG53. Engraved by W.
Collard. The type-letter carefully copied by F. P.
Becker. To precede the Dedication to John Offley, Esq.
The following Series of Designs are entirely
new, and they have been executed perfectly con
arnore by the painter, John Absolon, Esq., and
the engraver, J. T. Willmore, Esq., A. R. A.
4. The Salutation at Tottenham Cross, to face . page 1
5. The Hostess 56
6. The Milk-maid's Song 78
7. Landing the Trout 103
8. The Scholar's Recital 185
9. The Angler's Song 214
10. The Farewell at Tottenham Cross .... 255
11. Landing the Grayling .... 310
12. The Lesson 332
LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS.
PART I.
ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD.
Executed by John Jackson, Esq. and his brother,
Mason Jackson, Esq.
Ye Finny Tribes, by Nature gay,
That sport beneath the noontide ray,
Live ye ! as erst (in Memory's eye)
When love was young, and hope was high :
Renew, in thought, each sylvan scene.
On which my Mary smiled serene, —
Whom but to think I once possest
Makes yet the sunshine of my breast.
J. M.
Charterhouse,
Jan. 2d, 1843.
1. View from Lea Bridge,* drawn by T. Creswick,
A.R.A in the Title.
* The views on the River Dove accompanying Part II. were
most kindly placed at my disposal by my friend John L.
Anderdon, Esq. Being the result of several journeys made
in the very spirit of Pilgrimage to those romantic spots, they
form a very interesting illustration. I have also induced T,
Creswick, Esq. to make repeated visits to the Lea, in order
that this edition may boast a full display of the actual scenery
of both parts of this tranquillizing book.
x LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS.
2. Portraits of Donne, Wotton, Hooker, Herbert and
Sanderson, whose "lives were written by Walton,
drawn by J. W. Archer ..... xv
3. Autograph of Charles Cotton xx
4. Izaak Walton .... xxi
5. Seal-ring — a memorial-bequest from Sir H.Davy
to his friend, W. H. Pepys, Esq. . . . xli
f>. Additional Autograph of Walton, and engraving of
a seal given to him by Dr. Donne . . xlviii
7. Old houses in Fleet-street, including the residence
of Walton ....... Iv
8. View of Madeley Manor, drawn by J. W. Archer . lx
9. The Angler's Study, drawn by K. Meadows, Esq. lxiv
10. View of Ware on the River Lea, drawn by T. Cres- ^
wick, A.R. A.
11. Initial letter to Chapter I. alluding to its contents of
Angling, Hunting, and Hawking, drawn by J. W.
Archer.
12. Montaigne playing with his cat, drawn by K. Mea-
dows, Esq. ........ 5
13. Portrait of Elias Ashmole, Esq 29
These portraits of eminent men " of wisdom,
learning and experience," many of them per-
sonal friends of the author, were drawn on
the blocks from the best authorities, by J. W.
Archer.
14. Portrait of Dean Nowell, who " spent a tenth part
of his time in Angling " . .40
15. View of Amwell Hill and Bridge over the New River,
near Ware, drawn by T. Creswick, A.R.A. . . 4G
16. The Ottkr, drawn from the life at the Zoological
Gardens (with permission), by J. W. Archer, Esq.
The animal was in the act of devouring a fish at the
time 48
LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS. xi
17. The Chub, from an original painting by W. Smith . 55
These fish, with a few exceptions, are drawn
on the blocks by Alexander Fussei.l, from
the originals, painted by A. Cooper, Esq.,
R.A., and W. Smith, Esq, expressly for this
work, and now in the possession of my friend
W. Yarrell, Esq.
18. Portrait of W. Camden, Esq., from " Morgan's
Sphere of Gentry"
19. View of Broxbourn, on the River Lea, by T. Cres
wick, A.R.A
20. Skegger Trout, from an original painting by W
Smith
21. Portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh
22. The Trout, from an original painting by A. Cooper
R.A
23. A Gipsy camp, drawn by K. Meadows, Esq.
24. The Grayling, from an original painting byW. Smith
25. Portrait of Ulysses Aldrovandus .
26. The Salmon, from an original painting, by A. Coo
per, R.A. ......
27. View of "Waltham Abbey, by T. Creswick, A.R.A.
28. The Pike, from an original painting by A. Cooper
RA
29. Portrait of Lord Bacon ....
30. The Carp, from an original painting, by Geo. Lance
Esq., in the possession of W. J. Broderip, Esq.
drawn on the block by J. W. Archer, under the su
perintendence of the painter himself. Exhibited at
the British Institution, 1844
31. Portrait of Conrad Gesner
32. The Bream, from an original painting by W. Smith
33. View on the Lea, Mrs. Bullin's Cottage, Chingford
by T. Creswick, A.R.A.
57
65
67
82
83
130
132
133
138
142
149
157
164
168
170
177
xii LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS.
34. The Tench, from an original painting, by A. Cooper,
R.A 179
35. View on the Lea — the "Stop," Chingford, by T.
Creswick, A. R.A .180
36. The Pearch, drawn from life by Alex. Fussell . 183
37. Portrait of Guil. Rondeletius .... 186
38. The Eel, from an original painting by W. Smith . 193
39. Portrait of John Gerhard, the herbalist . . 196
40. The Barbel, drawn from the life by Alex. Fussell 199
41. Portrait of Archbishop Sheldon . . . 202
42. The Gudgeon, from the life, by Alex. Fussell . 203
43. The Pope or Ruffe, from the life by Ditto . 204
44. The Bleak, from the life by Ditto . . .205
45. View on the Lea, Ponders End, by T. Creswick,
A.R.A 206
46. Youthful Portrait of Edmund Waller . . 216
47. The Roach, from the life by Alex. Fussell . . 218
48. The Dace, from the life by Ditto . . .219
49. View on the Lea " Rural-bit," near Edmonton, byT.
Creswick, A.R.A 229
50. The Minnow, Loach, and Bullhead, from an ori-
ginal painting by W. Smith .... 230
51. Infantine fishing party, by K. Meadows, Esq. . 234
52. Portrait of Dr. Thomas Wharton, " that good man
who dared do any thing rather than tell an untruth,"
from the original in the College of Physicians . 239
53. Portrait of Bishop Dubravius, from a rare print in
the illustrated copy of W. J. Broderip, Esq. . 244
54. View on the Lea, Fishing-house, near Tottenham, by
T. Creswick, A.R.A. 262
The whole of the views by T. Creswick, Esq.
were taken on the spot expressly for this work,
and afterwards drawn on the blocks by himself.
LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS.
PART II.
ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD
CONTINUED.
Come enjoy these rosy bowers,
Scenes of all my happiest hours,
Aid me closer to entwine,
Joys of music, love and wine :
Now we'll fish the streamlet blithe
Whilst the meadows court the scythe,
Ev'ry thought of pomp or wealth,
Lost in joys of rosy health !
J. M.
Charterhouse,
June 10th, 1843.
55. Cypher of Walton and Cotton, faithfully reduced
from the original of 1676 . . in the title page.
56. Brelsford Well 1
°65
57. Initial Letter, drawn by J. W. Archer . . J
58. The Spittle Hill — the party descending on horse-
back 275
59. Hanson Toot and the WheeUbarrow Bridge . . 286
60. The Fishing-house 292
61. Back view of the Fishing-house — a spot which Cot-
ton used to call his " open air dining-room" . . 294
62. Beresford Hall .304
63. Pike Pool 314
xiv LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS.
64. Rocks, with confluence of the Dove and Cooper
Brook 331
65. Rocks, called the "Dove Holes," and the "Shepherd's
Abbey" 341
66. The Great Hawthorn Tree in Dove Dale . . 343
67. View in Dove Dale, near the Manifold River . . 347
68. The Hiding Caves, alluded to by Cotton in stanza
VIII. of his poem on " Retirement" . . . 356
69. Source of the Dove, with Explorers drinking to the
immortal memory of Walton and Cotton . .361
The above are from the original drawings
of Messrs. Gompertz and Leitch, in the col-
lection of John L. Anderdon, Esq., men-
tioned at page viii. ante. The whole were
drawn on the blocks for the Engravers by J. W.
Archer.
70. The Pearch, from a painting of a remarkably fine
specimen of this fish, by F. R. Lee, Esq., R.A., in
the possession of W. J. Broderip, Esq. . . 3f,7
IN THE NOTES.
71. The Walton Chamber in Beresford Hall, alluded to
p. 273, &c. 368
72. Music to the Angler's Song ... . 402
73. View of Theobald's, copied by J. W. Archer, from
the " Vetusta Monumenta." .... 40S
74. The Weathercock, with the wind in the " right quar-
ter," by K. Meadows, Esq. .... 41S
»««
I
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
If there were a single circumstance by which the
fame of those " honourable men," the effigies of
whom now face the reader, could possibly be en-
hanced, it was that of having for their biographer
one, who, with the soundest judgment, possessed
a sweetness of disposition ever inclining to the
bright side of things ; — a veracity not to be ques-
tioned, and a felicity of expression peculiarly his
own : thus gifted, like the skilful artist, at once
both nattering and faithful, he brought to the task
of delineation, that delicacy due to family feeling,
combined with the justice demanded by strict
impartiality : the existence, and the application
therefore, of such rare qualities, are equally the
subject of exultation.
On the other hand, that Izaak Walton should have
been deemed by his contemporaries, the fittest of
all persons to perform so important a task, were
sufficient bv reflection alone, to ensure to himself
xvi INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
an imperishable name ; the pictorial allusion, there-
fore, at the head of this Introductory Essay, will
probably be deemed particularly appropriate : — it
contains the Portraits of Dr. John Donne, Mr.
George Herbert, Bishop Sanderson, Mr. Richard
Hooker, and Sir Henry Wotton, whose lives, at
different times, were written by Walton.
The praise bestowed on the Life of Dr. Donne,
by Dr. King, afterwards Bishop of Winchester, in a
letter to Walton himself, is equally applicable to the
rest : — "I am glad that the general demonstration
of his worth was so fairly preserved, and represented
to the world by your pen, in the history of his life ;
indeed so well, that, beside others, the best critic
of our later time, Mr. John Hales of Eaton, affirmed
to me he had not seen a life, written with more
advantage to the subject, or reputation to the writer
than that of Dr. Donne."
The posthumous fame of these lives so well accords
with this contemporary applause, that they are to
be found in almost every respectable library : yet it
were unpardonable on the occasion of this attempt *
* The attempt was so successful as to leave me for ever
indebted to the whole body of the public press. Dr. Southey,
also spoke of this humble Essay in terms too flattering to be
here adduced ; but I must crave pardon for the necessary
egotism of a few other notes. Twenty one years having now
elapsed, and Three Editions become scarce, I have, in the en-
deavour yet further to increase the popularity of this work,
again the co-operation of a host of talent and a world of kind-
ness ! — while the staunchest Waltonians have looked on, free
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. xvii
to give additional popularity to our author's inimitable
work of the Complete Angler ; not to remind the reader
that he has other claims to literary reputation than
those derived from this truly felicitous achievement.
In both instances he became an author by mere
chance. Sir Henry Wotton had undertaken to write
the life of Dr. Donne, and had requested Walton
to assist him in collecting materials for that pur-
pose, but Sir Henry dying, before it was completed,
Walton undertook it himself, and succeeded so fully
to the satisfaction of the most learned men of his
time, that it was to be attributed to their importu-
nity, rather than to his own ambition, that he per-
formed the same office for his " dear friend Sir
Henry " himself, and those other eminent men
whose names have just been enumerated.
Sir Henry Wotton too, as it appears from the De-
dication of the Complete Angler, to John Omey,*Esq.,
had intended " to write a discourse of the Art and in
praise of Angling, and," continues Walton, " doubt-
less 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 un-
from jealousy, and anxious only, to see their beloved author
made as attractive as possible to the rising generation.
* This gentleman, whose ancestors had been settled at Made-
ley manor, as early as the year 1237, married the heiress of the
Crewes, of Crewe Hall, and was the progenitor of the present
Lord Crewe. The family is connected by marriages with the
noble houses of Hastings, Powis and Wilton.
b
xviii INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
learned 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."
Here again our modest author finds an excuse for
the undertaking of a work, of which it seems almost
too weak a praise to say, that its parallel could
scarcely have been hoped for, even from the elegant
mind of Sir Henry Wotton himself.
Our author, who was born at Stafford in 1593,
but who lived the greatest part of his time in Lon-
don, published the first edition of this celebrated
work in 1653, and lived to see it go through no
less than five editions; the last of which, in 1676,
was accompanied by a Second Part, written by his
intimate friend, and adopted son, Charles Cotton,
of Beresford Hall, in the County of Stafford, Esq.
This Second Part, in which Mr. Cotton, from his
local opportunities, was enabled to treat more at
large on Fly-fishiny, than Walton had proposed to
do, forms an important part of the work, in more
than one point of view ; but, chiefly, as conveying
the fullest evidence of that reverence, and almost
homage, which its accomplished author entertained
for the character of Walton.
The Fishing-house on the banks of the Dove,
seems to have been built expressly to perpetuate
the memory of their friendship ; the motto over its
door was " Piscatoribus sacrum," with the initials of
Walton and Cotton interwoven in a cypher upon
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. xix
the keystone of the building, and the same cypher,
was, by Mr. Cotton's desire, placed in the Title-page
of the first edition of his portion of the work, and
has been continued in all those since published.
This part of our history will be fully illustrated by
the following short epistles which passed on the occa-
sion ; and the opportunity is taken of giving the signa-
tures in the genuine autographs of the authors, —
that of Walton being also introduced with a more en-
larged specimen of his hand-writing in another place.
To my most worthy Father and Friend, Mr. Izaak
Walton, the Elder.
Sir,
jJeing 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 even of your meanest
friends, I accordingly expect to see these following particular di-
rections for the taking of a Trout, to waitupon your better and more
general rules for all sorts of Angling: and, though mine be neither
so perfect, so well digested, nor indeed so handsomely couched, as
they might have been, in so long a time as since your leave was
granted ; yet I dare affirm them to be generally true : and they
had appeared too in something a neater dress, but that I was sur-
prised with the sudden news of a sudden new edition of your
Complete Angler ; so that, having but a little more than ten days'
time to turn me in, and rub up my memory, for, in truth, I have
not, in all this long time, though I have often thought on't, and
almost as often resolved to go presently about it, I was forced upon
the instant to scribble what I here present you : which I have also
endeavoured to accommodate to your own method. And, if mine
be clear enough for the honest Brothersof the Angle readily to un-
derstand, which is the only thing 1 aim at, then I have my end,
xx INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
and shall need to make no further apology ; a writing of this kind
not requiring, if I were master of any sueh thing, any eloquence to
set it off, or recommend it; so that if you, in your better judgment,
or kindness rather, can allow it passable, for a thingof this nature,
you will then do ine honour, if the Cypher, fixed and carved in the
front of my little fishing-house, may be here explained: and to per-
mit me to attend you in public, who, in private, have ever been,
am, and ever resolve to be, Sir,
Your most affectionate Son and Servant,
Beresford,
10th of March, 167| ■
To my most honoured Friend, Charles Cotton, Esq.
Sir,
L ou 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 forthem, as theeffectsof anundissembledlove; then,
let me tell you, Sir, that I will really 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
judgement.
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
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. xxi
too, as will make any reader, that is blest with a generous soul, to
love you the better. I confess, that for doing this you may justly
judge me too bold : if you do, I will say so too ; and so far com-
mute 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,
London, n Pa Bi
April 29th, 1676. ^^ ^^Afor^
With this enlarged edition also, appeared, for the
first time, the following beautiful verses, exhibiting
as favourable a specimen of Cotton's poetical powers,
as his whole works could supply.
THE RETIREMENT.
IRREGULAR STANZAS,
ADDRESSED TO
MR. IZAAK WALTON.
JO arewell thou busy world ! and may
We never meet again :
Here I can eat, and sleep, and pray,
And do more good in one short day,
Than he, who his whole age out wears
Upon the most conspicuous theatres,
Where nought but vanity and vice do reign.
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
II.
Good God ! how sweet are all things here !
How beautiful the fields appear !
How cleanly do we feed and lie !
Lord ! what good hours do we keep !
How quietly we sleep !
What peace ! what unanimity !
How innocent from the lewd fashion,
Is all our business, all our recreation !
III.
Oh, how happy here's our leisure !
Oh, how innocent our pleasure !
Oh, ye valleys ! Oh, ye mountains !
Oh, ye groves, and chrystal fountains,
How I love at liberty,
By turns, to come and visit ye !
IV.
Dear Solitude, the soul's best friend,
That man acquainted with himself dost make,
And, all his Maker's wonders to entend,
With thee I here converse at will,
And would be glad to do so still,
For, it is thou alone, that keep'st the soul awake.
How calm, and quiet a delight,
Is it, alone
To read, and meditate, and write ;
By none offended, and offending none?
To walk, ride, sit, or sleep at one's own ease 1
And, pleasing a man's self, none other to displease.
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
VI.
Oh, my beloved Nymph ! fair Dove !
Princess of Rivers ! how I love
Upon thy flowery banks to lie,
And view thy silver stream,
When gilded by a Summer's beam !
And in it, all thy wanton fry,
Playing at liberty :
And, with my Angle upon them,
The all of treachery
I ever learn'd industriously to try.
VII.
Such streams, Rome's yellow Tiber cannot show,
The Iberian Tagus, or Ligurian Po ;
The Maese, the Danube, and the Rhine,
Are puddle-water all, compared with thine :
And Loire's pure streams yet too polluted are
With thine much purer to compare ;
The rapid Garonne, and the winding Seine,
Are both too mean,
Beloved Dove, with thee
To vie priority ;
Nay, Thame and Isis when conjoin'd, submit,
And lay their trophies at thy silver feet.
VIII.
Oh, my beloved rocks ! that rise
To awe the earth and brave the skies :
From some aspiring mountain's crown,
How dearly do I love,
Giddy with pleasure, to look down,
And from the vales, to view the noble heights above !
Oh, my beloved caves! from Dog star's heat,
And all anxieties, my safe retreat ;
xxiv INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
What safety, privacy, what true delight,
In th' artificial night,
Your gloomy entrails make,
Have I taken, do I take !
I low oft when grief has made me fly
To hide me from society,
Ev'n of my dearest friends, have I
In your recesses friendly shade,
All my sorrows open laid,
And my most secret woes, entrusted to your privacy !
IX.
Lord ! would men let me alone;
What an over-happy one
Should I think myself to be,
Might I, in this desert place,
Which most men in discourse disgrace,
Live but undisturb'd and free !
Here, in this despis'd recess,
Would I, maugre Winter's cold,
And the Summer's worst excess,
Try to live out to sixty full years old !
And, all the while,
Without an envious eye
On any thriving under Fortune's smile,
Contented live, and then — contented die.
C. C.
But, notwithstanding the purity of sentiment
contained in these verses, we are compelled to add
that the virtuous aspirations of the poet were ren-
dered vain, hy a general want of economy in his
affairs : thus forming a striking contrast to those
of the practical moralist, whom, we cannot help
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. xxv
wishing, he had been able to imitate in a degree more
consistent with his truly creditable admiration. Ne-
vertheless, their connexion was highly honourable
to them both ; it is beautiful to fancy the cheerful
sage relaxing to accommodate himself to the com-
paratively dissipated man of fashion, who, on the
other hand, seems to have held himself, as it were
in a course of reformation, in compliment to his in-
dulgent friend : nothing can be finer than his car-
rying this temper to the length of making his ac-
ceptableness to Walton the test of his general wor-
thiness. See Part n. chap. i. " My father Walton
will be seen twice in no man's company he does
not like, and likes none but such as he believes
to be very honest men ; which is one of the best
arguments, or at least one of the best testimonies
I have, that I either am, or that he thinks me one
of those, seeing I have not yet found him weary
of me."
Yet, here we cannot refrain from the remark, that
Walton triumphs over his coadjutor as much in the
true aims of genius as in moral worth ; having
immortalized himself by a work which he produced
by mere accident! — whilst Cotton, though almost
an author by profession, having chosen disgusting
topics for many of his original compositions, now
lives chiefly in connexion with the name of his
venerable friend : — or, to say the least, the benign
influence of a virtuous association was never more
strikingly illustrated, since his devoted attachment to
xxvi INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
Walton forms the best evidence we have of his
naturally amiable disposition, and a more honourable,
if not a more certain immortality, is, on his part, the
issue of this ever-memorable friendship — and yet it
has been recently and justly observed, that a judicious
selection of his poems would stamp him as first rate
with the present age ; though his capacity to vie
with the most licentious wits of his own times, in-
jured his performances, taken as a whole — his muse
was truly " fond to inspire" if sometimes " ashamed
to avow" — he flew to his pen upon all occasions, and
was so ready at it, that he could disclose all his
troubles, and his own noble, generous, jovial, and
even thankful temper in half a score lines, as in the
following part of an epistle to his friend Sir Clifford
Clifton.
" He's good fellow enough to do every one right,
And never was first that ask'd, what time of night ;
His delight is to toss the cann merrily round,
And loves to he wet, hut hates to be drown'd ;
He fain would be just, but sometimes he cannot,
Which gives him the trouble that other men ha' not,
He honours his friend, but he wants means to show it,
And loves to be rhyming, but is the worst poet.
Yet among all these vices, to give him his due,
He has virtue to be a true lover of you ;
But how much he loves you, he says you may guess it,
Since nor prose nor yet metre, he swears can express it !"
Right pithily, also, has honest Charles anticipated
as full a reply as will ever be necessarv, to all revilers
of his favourite recreation —
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. xxvii
" We care not who says,
And intends it dispraise,
That an angler to a fool is next neighbour;
Let him prate ; what care we ;
"We're as honest as he,
And so let him take that for his labour !" *
But to return to Walton, who must have often
lamented the misfortunes of his adopted son.
The precise situation in life in which Walton was
placed, has unfortunately never reached posterity ;
and with due deference to his earliest biographers,
we cannot help thinking it has been fixed in too
humble a sphere.
Sir John Hawkins speaks of a deed dated 1G24,
by which it appears that his house in Fleet-street
was in the joint occupation of Izaak Walton and John
Mason, Hosier; "whence," says Sir John, "we
may conclude, that half a shop was sufficient for the
business of Walton : " — now to this deduction we
by no means agree, but in unison with the tradition
in his family, that he was " A wholesale Linen-draper
or Hamburgh Merchant, " would much rather infer
that Izaak Walton, (it is to be observed that his name
* As for that morbid sensibility which rails at angling on the
score of cruelty, let us rely on the defence of the invincibly
reasoning Armstrong — it was neither made on behalf of
Walton or Cotton, but in justice to God and for all mankind !
" There are who think these pastimes scarce humane,
Yet in my mind (and not relentless I)
His life is pure that wears no fouler stains."
XXviii INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
is mentioned first in the said deed), had let a part
of his house to the said John Mason, his own busi-
ness not requiring the public exposure of his goods.
Be this as it might, we have the pleasure of pre-
senting the reader, with a genuine view of the house
rendered so truly interesting as the dwelling of our
author ; the curious in London topography will re-
cognise the corner house, in the print annexed to this
Essay, as the south-west end of Chancery-lane, Fleet-
street, as it appeared till within about the last 16 years.
The third west from the corner is considered as the
identical house of Walton, whilst the view, at the same
time, contains a glance of the curious old houses up
Chancery-lane, in one of which he also resided
about ten years after the above date. It is probably
the only correct delineation extant, having been
drawn on the spot by the late Mr. Smith of the
British Museum, whose superiority in topographical
delineation is particularly well known.
Again, we find some of our author's biographers
full of wonder, at the extent and high respectability
of his connexions, particularly among the superior
clergy of his time ; — it is true that this distinction
is ascribed to the most honourable sources, integrity
of character, and amiableness of disposition ; we are
also apprised of the undoubted fact, that he was
brother-in-law to the amiable Bishop Ken; whilst
his direct consanguinity with Archbishop Cranmer him-
self is (although erroneously) insisted on : — by extra-
ordinary ingenuity, therefore, mystery has been
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. xxix
created out of the very circumstances calculated to
afford elucidation ; for what is this hut presenting
Walton to us in the midst of his own relations and
family friends ? * proving him to have been in a walk
of life, whatever it exactly was, consistent even with
their alliance, as well as countenance and protection !
To reason but a little further (see only the list of
intimates named in his will!) — he appears to have
known almost every body who was worth knowing ! —
and were it not that there seems to be no record of
his intimacy with the congenially- minded Evelyn, we
should apply to him what was said by Johnson of
Congreve — " He lived only for himself and his
friends, and amongst his friends, he was able to name
almost every man of his time whom wit or elegance
had raised to reputation !"
That he was bred to trade may be accounted for,
either from the circumstance of his father's dying
when he was only two years old, or even from his
own choice : and that there existed no necessary
incompatibility between the character he held and
that of a gentleman, surely he may be said to have
* Even of John Offley, Esq. (see p. xvii ante,) it is stated by
Sir H. Nicholas, " He dedicated the work to John Offley of
Madeley Manor in Staffordshire, Esquire," his most honoured
friend " who, there is grounds for supposing was remotely re-
lated to him," — in another place, Sir Harris, also observes,
" This dedication is not the only evidence of a personal ac-
quaintance between the families of Walton and Offley : a John
Offley proved the will of Agnes Walton of the parish of Madeley
on the 22nd of April, 1573.
xxx INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
demonstrated, of whom that which is most certainly
known, would do honour to any station whatever:
his " only son Isaac" we find bred to the church,
seemingly as a matter of course ; and that his only
daughter was married to a dignified clergyman, Dr.
Hawkins of Winchester, strengthens all the fore-
going arguments.*
All these particulars we are enabled to collect,
notwithstanding that history and tradition are
* Rut I have now the pleasure of recording a very interesting
new fact relating to our author. So lately as June, 1 844, a
paper, by John Nicholl, Esq., of Islington, F.S.A., and of the
Worshipful Company of Ironmongers, — was read by Sir Henry
Ellis, disclosing as follows : — " 1617-18, Isaac Walton was made
one of the Ironmongers' Company, by Thomas Grinsell, Citizen
and Ironmonger." This may be relied on, whether he had
been previously apprenticed to Henry Walton or not — " but it
does not appear when he was bound or turned over to Grinsell."
This tempting "item" was seized by our keen antiquary, with
the eye of a hawk, and the avidity of a pearch ! — and he has
declared to some of his friends, that he is more pleased with
the discovery than with any other result of his researches
among the archives of his ancient fraternity. Walton was
then about 24 years of age, before which, in those days, no
one could take up his freedom. Here then, we have the very
first event of his manhood that can be confirmed by a date ! —
and I still contend that he must have been surrounded by
guardian friends, in every part of his prosperous career. No
further evidence is needed than that of his will to show that
the family of Grinsell, or Grinsells were relations! — for amongst
those to whom he leaves memorial rings there is this item —
" to my cosen Grinsells widow."
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. xxxi
equally parsimonious respecting this extraordinary
man ; wherever conjecture, therefore, supplies of
necessity, the place of fact, let us in the name of
goodness, (which were but synonymous with saying
in the name of Izaak Walton !) regulate our deci-
sions with one constant view to his immortal ho-
nour ! There is, at least, one delightful reflection
to be drawn from the internal evidence of his own
work; — he did really and substantially enjoy, in
his own person, that true happiness which he would
teach us all to acquire : with that genuine, philo-
sophical spirit which is worthy of universal imita-
tion, he sought his beloved independence, in the
limitation of his wants, rather than by aiming at
the acquirement of large possessions ; his book, as
he himself tells us, is a picture of his own mind,
and had that book been called " The Divine Art of
Contentment," or " the True Christian Philoso-
pher, " its principal contents would have justified
either of those titles, equally with that in which his
modesty dictated its setting forth.
Thus has this delightful work, notwithstanding
its unassuming title, excited from the first a most
commanding attention ; and may be said to have
risen in public estimation, even to this very hour.
The selection of a few passages from his various
editors and disinterested eulogists, will best prove
the assertion ; a slight glance, however, at the ear-
liest English work on Angling, seems to be first ne-
cessary, for the sake of those of our readers who
xxxii INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
may have been, hitherto, totally unacquainted with
Waltonian lore. We allude to a tract, written by
Dame Juliana Barnes, Prioress of the Nunnery of
Sopewell, near St. Alban's, and entituled The Trea-
tyse of Fysshinge with an Angle, being part of a book
" known to the curious in typographical antiquities
bv the title of the Book of St. Albans. Enprented at
Westmestre by Wynkyn de Worde, in 1496, in small
Folio ; the book consists of a treatise on Hawking,
another on Hunting, which is all in verse ; a book
wherein is determined the Lygnage of Cote Armures,
the above-mentioned treatise of Fishing, and the
method of-Blasynge of Armes."
The work is now of the most extreme rarity, yet
it was, doubtless, well known to Walton, some of
whose descriptions may be considered as paraphrastic
of the following beautiful passage, setting forth those
incidental pleasures of the Angler, which exist quite
independently of his taking fish, — he having,
" Atte the leest his holsom walke, and mery at
his ease, a swete ayre of the swete savoure of the
meede floures that makyth him hungry ; he hereth
the melodyous armony of fowles ; he seeth the
yonge swannes, heerons, duckes, cotes, and many
other foules, wyth their brodes ; whyche me semyth
better than alle the noyse of houndys, the Wastes
of hornys, and the cryes of foulis, that hunters,
fawkeners, and foulers can make. And if the angler
take fysshe, surely then is there noo man merier
than he is in his spyryte."
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. xxxiii
It is also probable that Walton might borrow
from " Barker's Art of Angling," first published in
1651, the idea of making his work humorous and
entertaining ; but how fine is the contrast between
the chastised mirth of a gentleman, and that of the
mere droll ! — for poor Mr. Barker aspires to no-
thing higher.
As for Walton's morality, it is almost entirely his
own ; we cannot help noticing one remarkable in-
stance of his propriety and delicacy of feeling : he
is conscious that, for some very ardent minds, he
may have made his descriptions too seductive, and
consequently he takes especial care to furnish a
hint which may serve for a corrective : it occurs
near the commencement of Chap, v., where Peter
says, " I will promise you I will sing another
" song in praise of angling to-morrow night, for
" we will not part till then ; but fish to-morrow
" and sup together, and the next day every man
" leave fishing , and fall to his business!"
This minute piece of admonition, is rendered the
more delicate from its timely utterance, being evi-
dently meant to remind us, that we should fix the
requisite limits to our pleasures, even before their
commencement.
In resuming our purpose of pointing out the pro-
gressive and still growing reputation of our author,
it may be fairly premised that what we now present
is to be viewed as the grateful feeling of posterity,
in opposition to that contemporary applause which
c
xxxiv INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
might be supposed to flow from favour or affection :
by far the greater part of those copies of verses,
prefixed, according to the custom of the time, to
the earlier editions, by friends of the author, might
be deemed liable to this exception ; besides that
they, in general, partake too much of metaphy-
sical conceit, to continue their attendance on an
author, whose mind was as unsophisticated as his lan-
guage was beautiful: — truly, indeed, may it be termed,
the " well spring of English, pure and undefiled."
The Reverend Moses Browne, is the first writer
whose remarks are applicable to our present view
of the subject ; he revived the " Complete Angler"
after it had lain dormant for upwards of eighty
years ; and this task, be it never forgotten, was
performed at the instigation of Dr. Samuel John-
son ! Mr. Browne, in his Preface, shews a laudable
anxiety that the work should be known as a literary
production, and not as a mere book of fishing ; these
are his words : — • " Mr. Izaak Walton's Complete
Angler, which, (with the second part by Mr. Cotton,
of equal scarcity and value, I have the satisfaction
of restoring in the present manner to the public,)
has been always had in the greatest reputation, by
such as are acquainted with books, and have any
discerning in works of merit and nature. Not only
the lovers of this art, but all * others, who have no in-
clinations in the least to the diversion of angling that it
* On the appearance of my first edition in 1823, Mr. D'ls-
eaeli (who somewhere speaks of the " Doric sweetness of
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. xxxv
treats of, have joined in giving it their mutual suf-
frage and commendation."
In the year 1760, appeared the first of those edi-
tions edited by Sir John Hawkins ; from whose life
ofWalton prefixed, we extract the following encomium.
" And let no man imagine, that a work on such a
subject must, necessarily, be unentertaining, or tri-
fling, or even uninstructive ; for the contrary will
most evidently appear from a perusal of this excel-
lent piece, which, whether we consider the elegant
simplicity of the style, the ease and unaffected hu-
mour of the dialogue, the lovely scenes which it de-
lineates, the enchanting pastoral poetry which it
contains, or the fine morality it so sweetly inculcates,
has hardly its fellow in any of the modern languages."
From Walton's latest* and most copious biogra-
lzaak Walton," ) observed to me, " one often sees a pretty
book which is interesting to a particular class ; but you have
hit on a work that pleases everybody ! " and Mr. Alexander
Chalmers was pleased to say, that I had given quite a new
tone to the subject, and had — " Waltonised the land," — for
my own part, I can only say, that I had long been asking my-
self in the language of Abraham Cowley — " What shall I do
to be for ever known ? " and my good genius whispered " give
your days and nights to emblazon the worth of Izaak Walton."
* Sir Harris Nicolas's elaborate and circumstantial Life
of our author — so far as it was possible for the most indus-
trious and skilful research to make it so — has appeared since
the above was written. Sir Harris has here, continued for
Walton, all that has been done in the way of literary and
personal illustration for Shukspeare himself!
xxxvi INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
pher, the Rev. Dr. Thomas Zouch, an equally ho-
nourable testimony is selected.
" In this volume of the Complete Angler,
which will he always read with avidity, even by
those who entertain no strong relish for the art
which it professes to teach, we discover a copious
vein of innocent pleasantry and good-humour. The
dialogue is diversified with all the characteristic
beauties of colloquial composition. The songs and
little poems which are occasionally inserted, will
abundantly gratify the reader who has a taste for
the charms of pastoral poetry. And, above all,
those lovely lessons of religious and moral instruc-
tion, which are so repeatedly inculcated throughout
the whole work, will ever recommend this exqui-
sitely pleasing performance."
Yet the enthusiastic admirer of Walton, will be
still more delighted with the wonder-working effects
of his book, as set forth by that deservedly-popular
writer, Mr. Washington Irving ; whose applause
being that of a man of acknowledged taste and
brilliant fancy, bespeaks its own peculiar value, in
pointing out our author's claims upon the present
and succeeding ages.
From the " Sketch Book" of this gentleman,
published under the assumed name of Geoffrey Crayon,
we extract the following.
" It is said that many an unlucky urchin is in-
duced to run away from his family, and betake him-
self to a seafaring life, from reading the history of
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. xxxvii
Robinson Crusoe ; and, I suspect that, in like man-
ner, many of those worthy gentlemen, who are
given to haunt the sides of pastoral streams with
angle-rods in hand, may trace the origin of their
passion to the seductive pages of honest Izaak
Walton. I recollect studying his ' Complete Angler,'
several vears since, in company with a knot of
friends in America, and moreover that we were all
completely bitten with the angling mania. It was
early in the year ; but as soon as the weather was
auspicious, and that the Spring began to melt into
the verge of Summer, we took rod in hand and sal-
lied into the country, as stark mad as was ever Don
Quixote from reading books of chivalry.
" One of our party had equalled the Don in the
fulness of his equipments, being attired cap-a-pie
for the enterprise. He wore a broad-skirted fustian
coat, perplexed with half a hundred pockets ; a pair
of stout shoes, and leathern gaiters ; a basket slung
on one side for fish ; a patent rod ; a landing-net ;
and a score of other inconveniences, only to be
found in the true Angler's armoury. Thus harnessed
for the field, he was as great a matter of stare and
wonderment among the country folk, who had never
seen a regular Angler, as was the steel-clad hero
of La Mancha, among the goatherds of Sierra
Morena.
" Our first essay was along a mountain brook
among the highlands of the Hudson : a most un-
fortunate place for the execution of those piscatory
xxxviii INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
tactics, which had been invented along the velvet
margins of quiet English rivulets."
" For my part, I was always a bungler at all kinds
of sport that required either patience or adroitness,
and had not angled above half an hour, before I
had completely ' satisfied the sentiment' and con-
vinced myself of the truth of Izaak Walton's opi-
nion, ' that angling is something like poetry — a
man must be born to it.' I hooked myself instead
of the fish ; tangled mv line in every tree ; lost
my bait : broke my rod ; until I gave up the at-
tempt in despair, and passed the day under the
trees, reading old Izaak ; satisfied that it was his
fascinating vein of honest simplicity and rural feel-
ing that had bewitched me, and not the passion
for angling."
" But above all, I recollect the ' good honest,
wholesome, hungry ' repast, which we made under
a beech tree, just by a spring of pure sweet water
that stole out of the side of a hill ; and how, when
it was over, one of the party read old Izaak Walton's
scene with the Milk-maid, while I lay on the grass and
built castles in a bright pile of clouds until I fell asleep."
The remainder of this elegant essay Mr. Irving
devotes to the character of an old Cheshire Angler ;
he concludes, " I could not refrain from drawing
this picture of this worthy ' brother of the angle,'
who has made me more than ever in love with the
theory, though I fear I shall never be adroit in the
practice of his art."
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. xxxix
This is precisely the treatment of our author
which agrees with our own views ; it requires not
so much the love of angling, as a relish for the ge-
neral charms of nature, to render any person of true
taste delighted with his pages. We have conse-
quently spared no effort to illustrate the literary
and rural beauties of the work : our numerous
topographical views,* with those other subjects which
have been suggested to the various artists as the
result of a long intimacy with these fascinating
pages, it is hoped, can leave but little to be desired
on this point, whilst the great pains which have
been taken to ensure correct delineations of the
FISH, f (the whole having been painted from nature ex-
pressly for this edition), may add to the character of
the work as connected with a popular branch of
natural history : — truly may it be said (after allow-
ing the painter, in each instance, due praise,) that
the " gravers," also,
" had a strife
With nature to outdo the life !"
* Greatly varied in the present edition.
t The list of engravings will shew that some entirely new
specimens of Fishes by artists of the highest rank are intro-
duced in this fourth edition. But the new designs by Mr. Abso-
lon form the crown of my present efforts — nothing could
exceed his zeal whilst they were on his easel — skilful anglers
stood for the men, and fair and handsome ladies volunteered
for the females ; the result, I warmly anticipate will come with
a pleasing surprise upon the minds of the most affectionate
admirers of our author.
xl INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
The important and classical addition of the spe-
cific and generic characters, will speak for itself to
proceed from a most competent quarter.
The Notes, consistently with our view of the work,
" in its more important character of a British Clas-
sic," arc devoted chiefly to the illustration of its
literary merits, and though we should deem it a
sort of profanation to place them on the same page *
with the text, we have most zealously endeavoured
to render them worthy of a distinct perusal.
The frequent occurrence of eminent names
throughout the work, naturally leads us to reflect
that the chief argument used by Walton in recom-
mending his art, — the " love and practice" of it by
persons of science and learning, — is of the most
permanent kind. The most ardent anglers of the
present day, will be found in the higher walks of
genius and knowledge ; a host in himself, as it re-
* These notes having been much praised for their very com-
prehensive usefulness, considering the limited space, it is only
due to the kind and friendly contributor, (declining to be
named) to acknowledge the careful revision of them, with
valuable additions on the present occasion ; and also to thank
him for a re-collation of the text itself, by which it has been
improved throughout. The bantling is, in truth my own, but
its sponsors are innumerable ; one kind patron, a gentleman of
fortune, used to say to his friends, " you must have this edition
for / have a share in it ! " and a total stranger once assured
me that he had bestowed no less than six guineas on the
binding of the work, as a specimen of the skill of Charles
Lewis.
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. xli
gards our purpose, it were superfluous to covet au-
thorities in addition to that of the, now, in these
enlightened days, illustrious President of the Royal
Society ! *
Again, for the honour of our author let us not for-
get that the brilliant wit, Richard Brinslev Sheridan,
is known to have declared that he never desired a
better companion for a post-chaise, than this same
angler, or Contemplative Man's Recreation.
Far indeed from singular is any man who imagines
himself alone to have carried his enthusiasm for our au-
thor to exactly the proper pitch ! it seems as if there
must yet exist a " friendly contention" about the mode
of expressing it — as to who shall be loudest in his
praise! — who honour him most in every possible
way — thus he is daily more and more appreciated
as an honour to the English Character ! — whilst his
increasing popularity is doubtless an honour to the
English people, who love him all the more, because
(though far from devoid of art) he drew — like his
* Sir Humphrey Davy ( — Alas ! for Chan-
trey also — ) since deceased. The annexed en-
graving is from a seal ring, which this ardent
angler, a short time before his death, caused
to be engraved " with a trout upon it " and
left to his friend W. Haseldine Pepys, Esq. F. R. S., " not
as a mourning ring " but to be worn " in memory of the
happy days they had passed together by the rirer side ! " — this
was quite in the true " love-my-memory " spirit of our own
Izaak himself!
xlii INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
own nightingale — all his graces "from beyond its
reach;" in good truth, whoever drinks deep of the true
spirit of our glorious Izaak, will be at a loss whether
most to admire the extreme clearness of his head or
the extreme goodness of his heart.
To a theme so pleasing, it requires much resolu-
tion to fix the necessary bounds ; if space were
allowed, we could greatly swell our collection of
laudatory extracts, even from popular authors : but
the reader must now be relieved by the perusal of
our author's Will ; a composition illustrating
equally his own benevolent character and the pecu-
liar nature of his connexions.
August the ninth, one thousand six hundred eighty-three.
31n ti)t /5amc of (Son, 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 fol-
loweth : 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 pardoned, for the
merits of my Saviour Jesus; and because the profession of
Christianity does, at this time, seem to be subdivided into Pa-
pist and Protestante, I take it, at least, to be convenient to de-
clare my belief to be, in all points of faith, as the Church of
England now professeth : and this I do the rather, because
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,
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. xliii
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 Pater-noster-row, in London, which I hold by lease from the
Lord 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 Chan-
cery-lane, London, wherein Mrs. Greinwood 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 con-
cerning the same. And I give to my son, Izaak, all my right
and title to a lease of Norington Farme, which I hold from the
Lord Bishop of Winton ; and I do also give him all my right
and title to a farm 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 dye 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
otherways 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 pound ten shillings a year, and is like to hold
the said rent, if care be taken to keep the barn 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 handicraft-men,
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 at-
tained the age of twenty and one year, 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 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 fol-
xliv INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
lowcth : first I do give twenty shillings yearly, to be spent by
the Major of Stafford, and those that shall collect the said rent,
and dispose of it as I have, and shall hereafter direct ; and that
what money or rent shall remain undisposed of, shall be im-
ployed to buy coals for some poor people, that shall 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 ; I say
then, because I take that time to be the hardest and most pinch-
ing times with poor people ; and God reward those that shall
do this without partialitie, and with honesty, and a good con-
science. And if the said Major and others of the said towne of
Stafford, shall prove so negligent, or dishonest, as not to im-
ploy 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 man-
ner as I have ordered the disposal of it by the towne of Stafford,
the said farme or land being near the towne of Ecleshall. And
1 give to my son-in-law, Doctor Hawkins, whom I love as my
own son, and to my daughter, his wife, and my son lzaak, to
each of them a ring, with these words or motto, " Love my me-
" mory, I. IV. obiit " to the Lord
Bishop of Winton a ring, with this motto " A mite for a mil-
" lion, I. IV. obiit " and to the friends here-
after 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 or value of all the said rings shall be
thirteen shillings and fourpence a-piece. I give to Doctor Haw-
kins Doctor Donne's Sermons, which I have heard preached,
and read with much content. To my son lzaak, 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 JVinchester and
Droxford, and whatever in those two places are, or I can call
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. xlv
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 grand daughter, Ann 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, 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 allowing the first about fifty shillings a-year, in or for
bacon and cheese, not more, and paying four pounds a-year to-
wards 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 Far-
ringdon, or of Dr. Sanderson, .which my executor thinks fit.
To my servant, Thomas Edgill, I give five pound in money, and
all my clothes, linen and woollen, except one suit of clothes:
which I give to Mr. Holinshed, and forty shillings, if the said
Thomas be my servant at my death ; if not, my clothes only.
And I give my old friend, Mr. Richard Mai 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 tes-
tament, and Dr. Hawkins to see that he performs it ; which I
* How many a " Grangerite " must have felt his mouth
water at this passage, in the rational idea, that Walton's good
taste had selected in this small compass so many Faithornes,
Elslrackes, Lombarts, &c, as would now fetch five hundred
guineas under the hammer of Christie and Manson, or Leigh
Sotheby and Wilkinson.
xlvi INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
doubt not but he will. I desire my burial may be near the
place of my death, and free from any ostentation or charge, but
privately. This 1 make to be my last will, to which I shall only
add the codicil for rings, this sixteenth day of August, one
thousand six hundred eighty-three, Izadk Walton. Witness to
this will.
The rings I give are as on the other side : to my brother John
Ken, to my sister his wife, to my brother, Doctor Ken, to my
sister Pye, to Mr. Francis Morley, to Mr. George Vernon, to his
wife, to his three daughters, to Mistris Nelson, to Mr. Richard
Walton, to Mr. Palmer, to Mr. Taylor, to Mr. Thos. Garrard,
to the Lord Bishop of Sarum, to Mr. Rede his servant, to my
cozen Dorothy Kenrick, to my cousin Lewin, to Mr. Walter
Higgs, to Mr. Charles Cotton, to Mr. Richard Marryot : 22, to
my brother Beacham, to my sister his wife, to the Lady Anne
How, to Mrs. King, Doctor Phillip's wife, to Mr. Valentine
Harecourt, to Mrs. Eliza Johnson, to Mrs. Mary Rogers, to Mrs.
Eliza Milward, to Mrs. Dorothy Wollop, to Mr. Will. Milward,
of Christ-Church Oxford, to Mr. John Darby shire, to Mr. Un-
devill, to Mrs. Rock, to Mr. Peter White, to Mr. John Lloyde,
to my cousin Greinsell's widow, Mrs. Dalbin must not be for-
gotten : 1 C, Izaak Walton. Note, that several lines are blotted
out of this will, for they were twice repeated : and that this
will is now signed and sealed this twenty and fourth day of Oc-
tober, one thousand six hundred eighty-three, in the presence
of us : Witness, A braham Markland, Jos. Taylor, Thomas Craw-
ley.
This Will was composed by him but a few months
before his death, which took place on the 15th of
December, 1683, at the house of his son-in-law,
Dr. Hawkins, a Prebendary of Winchester, he having
attained the great age of ninety years and four months.
In the Cathedral of the same place, is a grave-stone
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. xlvii
to his memory, but with such " uncouth rhymes"
and " shapeless sculpture" as but coldly to invite either
delineation or transcription ; but in this respect we
still hope to see justice done him : certain we are that
this wonderful man is far from having " gathered all
his fame;" — the bare hint will be sufficient to
those that love " virtue and angling." *
In the foregoing Will, as in every thing which
he wrote, will be found something characteristic
of the man; — the subjoined genuine little scrap,
exhibiting a fac-simile of his hand-writing, will be
new even to the Waltonian reader.
* Soon after the appearance of my first edition, I received
the following from Michael Bland, Esq., F. R. S. — "The
Walton and Cotton Club, to which I am the Secretary, adopt-
ing the idea suggested in your Introductory Essay, have re-
solved to institute an immediate inquiry into the condition of
the insufficient monument to the memory of Honest Izaak
in Winchester Cathedral, with the view of taking some steps
towards the erection of a memorial more worthy of the Man,
and more honourable to those who delight in that recreation,
which he has so beautifully pourtrayed." Whatever may have
hitherto obstructed the above expressed intention, I still feel
perfectly satisfied that it will be yet carried into effect. One
gentleman, I was credibly informed, offered to put down two
hundred guineas to commence the work. But let a one
guinea subscription be set on foot and the lovers of Literature
and Angling will carry it in a summer's day ! The Dean of
Winchester, I understood, to have expressed himself delighted
that an honour so justly due, should be paid to him as the
" Historian of the Church."
ow
zlviii INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
fait So £? • 2J$, wwowy^
For Dor. C. Bewmount.
pray Sr, Accept this pore presant, by the as meane
hand that brings it from
Yr. affec. servant,
Izaak Walton.*
Were we required to give a designation to Walton's
style of writing, we should say that naivett is his
perpetual characteristic ; and that whether he be
humorous, instructive, or affecting, we have to ac-
knowledge a degree of elegance which it were hope-
less to attain and impossible not to admire.
The commendatory verses prefixed to the earlier
editions of the Complete Angler, by eminent per-
sons, friends of the author, were omitted for the first
* Some little inscription similar to the foregoing, generally
accompanied those copies of his works which he gave to his
friends ; when they have occurred at sales, they have produced
several guineas above the value of the work itself. He also,
wrote his name in all his own reading books, and Sir H. Nicolas
has enumerated about twenty thus enriched, now preserved in
the Cathedral Library, Salisbury.
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. xlix
time by the Rev. M. Browne, as not even then (1759),
agreeing with " the poetical taste of the times." The
following lines, however, signed Rob. Floud, seem,
equally for their brevity and terseness, to deserve their
share of lasting popularity.
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, 'tis true,
I love this mirth, art, wit, the book, and you."
Thus have we furnished a brief history of the
effects produced by this matchless work upon the
intelligent part of mankind, from its first appear-
ance to the present time ; and when it is recol-
lected that Walton himself was the first to set the
example of graphic embellishment, boasting from
the first, of the "excellent picture of the Trout;"
also that " Young Master Izaak" was so pleased
with a certain portion of " Peak Scenery" "as to
draw it" (as Cotton tells us, Part n. Chap, vi.) " 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 din-
ner," thus early indicating the propriety of topogra-
phical illustration : recollecting all this, (and Oh !
what would we not give even for a sight of " Young
Master Izaak's" genuine " Sketch Book?") surely no
d
I INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
apology need be offered, for attempting, (as expressed
in our original prospectus), " by the novelty and ex-
" tent of the Embellishments introduced in this Edition,
" to heighten to the utmost the pleasure of perusal ; to
" the Sportsman, the Naturalist, the lover of the Fine
" Arts, and the general Reader, to Artists and lovers
" of Art, Poets and lovers of Poetry."
In conclusion. — We are proud to acknowledge
the assistance and approbation * received throughout
the progress of the work, from numerous persons
of high taste, who " delight to honour" the memory
of its venerable author, by every demonstration of
regard ; saying constantly, that " it is impossible to
do too much for honest Izaak Walton*. "
With honest exultation we refer to the List of Em-
bellishments, which exhibits an extraordinary combina-
tion of taste and talent : such patronage and such
assistance, we would fain hope may constitute, at once
a shelter and a boast. It would be unjust not to ob-
serve that the Printer, as well as every other party
concerned, has executed his task perfectly con amore.
The work is, in truth, indebted throughout,
equally to Professional zeal, and Amateur co-ope-
ration ; and it is the chief pride of my life to have
* Two remarkable instances of the latter from private letters,
being very short, I indulge (with many apologies) in quoting.
" Such publications are apples of gold in pictures of silver."
From Wm. Hamper, Esq.
" I feel quite an interest in whatever you are doing, you do
everything so well." From the Ven Archdeacon Wrangham.
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. ii
pointed so successfully to that halo, which must ever
surround " meek Walton's heavenly memory." *
May the Rod of the Critic be exchanged for that
of the Fisher ; and endless be the willing captives of
Walton's imperishable Line !
JOHN MAJOR.
Charterhouse,
August 1st, 1844.
* Wordsworth.
Being a Difcouifeof
F I S H and FISH IN G,
Not unworthy the peiufal of moft Anglers.
Simon Peter /aid, 1 go a nfhing • and they /aid, We
alfo ml go with thee. John 21 . j.
London, Printed by T. Maxey for Rich. MARRiOT,in
S.Dunftans Church-yard Fleetftreet, 16 5?.
TO THE
RIGHT WORSHIPFUL
JOHN GFFLEY,
OF
MADELY MANOR, IN THE COUNTY OF
STAFFORD, ESQ. ;
My most Honoured Friend.
Sir,
1 have made so ill use of your former favours,
as by them to be encouraged to intreat that they
may be enlarged to the Patronage and Protec-
tion of this Book : and I have put on a modest
confidence, that I shall not be denied, because
it is a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, which you
know so well, and both love and practise so
much.
You are assured, though there be ignorant
men of another belief, that Angling is an Art ;
1ft THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
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 at-
tend you, and be eye-witnesses of the success,
not of your fortune but your skill, it would doubt-
less 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 attain-
able by common capacities. And there be now
many men of great wisdom, learning, and expe-
rience, 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 prac-
tices of divers in other nations, that have been
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. lv
reputed men of great learning and wisdom ; and,
amongst those of this nation, I remember 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 doubt-
less 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,! shall make
lvi
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
this no longer than to add this following truth,
That I am really,
SIR,
Your affectionate Friend,
And most humble Servant,
Iz. Wa.
TO ALL
READERS 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 pro-
posed not the gaining' of credit by this undertaking, so
I would not willingly lose any part of that, to which I had
a just title before I begun 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
that it might prove so to him, and not read dull and
tediously, I have in several places mixed, not any scurri-
lity, 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 not 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
lviii WALTON TO THE READER.
times, yet the whole discourse is, or rather was, a picture
of my own disposition ; especially in such (lavs and times
as I have laid aside business, and gone a-fisbing with ho-
nest Nat. and R. Roe : hut 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 com-
mend, 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 ob-
servations of the nature, and breeding, and seasons, and
catching, of Fisb, I am not so simple as not to know, that
a captious Reader may find exceptions against something
said of some of these : and therefore I must entreat him to
consider, 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. fol. 633,)
observes, that in the river Wye, Salmon are in season
from September to April ; and we are certain that in
Thames, 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 hook ;
he that undertakes it shall undertake a harder task than
Mr. Hales, a most valiant and excellent Fencer, who in a
printed hook, called " A private school of Defence," un-
dertook to teach that art or science, and was laughed at
for his labour. Not but that many useful things might be
learned by that book, but he was laughed at, because that
art was not to be taught by words, but practice : and so
WALTON TO THE READER. lix
must Angling. And note also, that in this Discourse I do
not undertake to say all that is known, or may he said of
it, but I undertake to acquaint the Reader, with many
thing's 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 learned ; at least not so fully, but
that there will still be more new experiments 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 he, I then wish them to
forbear to buy it : for I write not to get money, but for
pleasure, 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 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 he as wise, as he that makes
hay by the fair days in an almanack, 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, 1
have set down the twelve flies that are in reputation with
many Anglers, and they may serve to give him some ob-
servations concerning them. And he may note, that there
WALTON TO THE READER.
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 sum-
mer. And for winter fly-fishing, it is as useful as an
almanack out of date. And of these, because as no man
is bom 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 im-
pression there are many enlargements, gathered both by
my own observations and the communication with friends,
I shall stay him no longer than to wish him a rainy even-
ing to read this following Discourse; and that, if he be an
honest Angler, the East-wind may never blow when he
goes a-Fishing.
I. W.
=„ mm?,
THE FIRST DAY.
chap. t. A Conference betwixt an Angler, a Hunter,
and a Falconer ; each commending his Recreation.
PISCATOR, VENATOR, AUCEPS.
PlSCATOR.
OU are well overtaken, Gen-
tlemen : a good morning to
you both : I have stretched my
legs up Tottenham-hill to over-
take you, hoping your business
may occasion you towards
Ware, whither I am going this
fine, fresh, May morning.
Venator. Sir, I, for my part, shall almost answer
your hopes ; for my purpose is to drink my morn-
ing's draught at the Thatched-house in Hoddesden ;
B
2 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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 journey makes the
ivay 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.
Pise. I am right glad to hear your answers :
and in confidence 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 he is
going to see a hawk, that a friend mews for him.
chap, i.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 3
Ven. Sir, mine is a mixture of both, a little
business and 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
the sun-rising.
Pise. Sir, my fortune has answered my desires :
and my purpose is to bestow a day or two in help-
ing to destroy some of those villainous 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 en-
courage 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.
Pise. 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 ?
Pise. 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,
4 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
therefore, do I hate the otter, both for my own and
their sakes who are of my brotherhood.
Ven. And I am a lover of hounds ; I have fol-
lowed 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 many grave, serious, men pity them, 'tis such
a heavy, contemptible, dull recreation.
Pise. You know, Gentlemen, 'tis 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, xoell skilVd in scoffing, this hath writ,
Friend, that's your folly tvhich 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," Prov.
xxiv. 9, let him that thinks 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, which we contemn and pity. Men
that are taken to be grave, because nature hath
CHAP I.]
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
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
condemned 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 bor-
row 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 Montaign says like himself freely, " When
" my Cat and I entertain each other with mutual
" apish tricks, as 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)
6 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
" 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 think 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.
Pise. Sir, I hope you will not judge my earnest-
ness to be impatience : and for my simplicity, if by
that you mean a harmlessness, or that simplicity
which was usually found in the primitive chris-
tians, 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 ;
chap, i.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 7
— I say, Sir, if you take us Anglers to be such simple
men as I have spoken of, 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 excel-
lent Art of Angling, I hope in time to disabuse 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 is 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 recreation
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 can 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. Fal-
coner 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
8 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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 recrea-
tion. It stops not the high soaring of my noble ge-
nerous falcon : in it she ascends to such an height, as
the dull eyes of beasts and fish are not able to reach
to ; their bodies are too gross for such high eleva-
tions : 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 a title, for
she usually in her flight endangers herself, like the
son of D&dalus, to have her wings scorched by
the sun's heat, she flies so near it, but her mettle
makes her careless of danger ; for she then heeds
nothing, but makes her nimble pinions cut the fluid
air, and so makes her high wav 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 afford 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
chap, i.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 9
necessity, that no creature whatsoever — not only
those numerous creatures that feed on the face of
the earth, hut those various creatures that have
their dwelling within the waters, every creature
that hath life in it's 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 inspir-
ing 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 at first inspired mankind, Gen. ii. 7.
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 observations : they both feed and re-
fresh 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
10 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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 hut
for necessity.
How do the Black-bird and Thrassel with their
melodious voices, bid welcome to the cheerful Spring,
and 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 Laverock, the Tit-
lark, the little Linnet, and the honest Robin, that
loves mankind both alive and dead.
But the Nightingale, another of my airy crea-
tures, breathes such sweet loud music out of her
little instrumental throat, that it might make man-
kind 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 his 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
chap, i.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 11
foreign nations either record, or lay up in their me-
mories 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 'tis certain that, when the Turks
besieged Malta or Rhodes, I now remember not
which 'twas, Pigeons are then related to carry and
recarry letters. And Mr. G. Sandys, in his Travels,
relates it to be done betwixt Aleppo and Babylon.
But if that be disbelieved, 'tis 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, I. Kings xvii. 4-6. 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.
And, to conclude this part of my discourse, pray re-
member 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 crea-
ture, an inhabitant of my aerial element, namely
the laborious Bee, of whose prudence, policy, and
12 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [pakt i.
regular government of their own common-wealth, 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 il/oy-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-gentle.
The Laner and Laneret.
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 Tarcel.
The Sparhawk and Musket.
The French Pye of two sorts.
These are reckoned Hawks of note and worth, but
chap, i.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 13
we have also 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 observation of the Eires, the Brancher, the Ra-
mish-Hawk, the Haggard, and the two sorts of
Lentners, and then treat of their several Ayries,
their Mewings, rare order of casting, and the reno-
vation 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 with 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 enlarge-
ment 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
14 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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 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 cun-
ning Otter, the crafty Fox, and the fearful Hare ?
And if I may descend to a lower game, what plea-
sure is it sometimes with gins to betray the very
vermin of the earth ? as namely, the Fitchet, the
Fulimart, the Ferret, the Pole-cat, 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 mankind ? 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 suit-
able, 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 ex-
ample in the little Pismire, who in the summer pro-
vides 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
chap, i.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 15
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 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.
Hunting is a game for Princes and noble per-
sons ; 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 ? How doth
it preserve health, and increase strength and ac-
tivity !
And for the dogs that we use, who can commend
their excellency to that height which they deserve ?
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 Greyhound fix his eye on the best buck
IG THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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, ap-
proach nearest to the completeness and understand-
ing of man ; especially of those creatures which
Moses in the Law permitted to the Jews, Lev. ix. 2-8.
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 allow him a time for the
commendation of Angling, which he calls an Art ;
but doubtless 'tis an easy one : and, Mr. Auceps, I
doubt we shall hear a watery discourse of it, but I
hope 'twill not be a long one.
Auc. And I hope so too, though I fear it will.
Pise. Gentlemen, let not prejudice prepossess
you. I confess my discourse is like to prove suitable
to my recreation, 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, it is neither our
fault nor our custom ; we protest against it. But,
chap, i.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 17
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 repu-
tation 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 Crea-
tion, the Element upon which the Spirit of God did
first move, Gen. i. 2. the element which God com-
manded 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
law-giver 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 Philosophers have made it to comprehend all
the other elements, and most allow it the chiefest
in the mixtion of all living creatures.
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 together exactly when the trees begin to
grow, and then weigh all together after the tree is
18 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
increased from it's first rooting to weigh an hun-
dred pound weight more than when it was first
rooted and weighed ; and you shall find this aug-
ment 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 ele-
ment 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 under-ground,
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 testi-
mony of several miners.
Nay, the increase of those creatures that are bred
and fed in the water, are not only more and more
miraculous, but more advantageous to man, not
only for the lengthening of his life, but for the pre-
venting of sickness ; for 'tis observed by the most
learned physicians, that the casting off of Lent and
other fish-days, — which hath not only given the lie
to so many learned, pious, wise, founders of col-
chap, i.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 19
leges, for which we should be ashamed, — hath doubt-
less been the chief cause of those many putrid,
shaking, intermitting, agues, unto which this nation
of our's is now more subject than those wiser coun-
tries that feed on herbs, sallads, 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, Lev. xi. 9, Dent. xiv. 9, ap-
pointed fish to be the chief diet for the best com-
mon-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 incre-
dible value of their fish and fish-ponds.
But, Gentlemen, I have almost lost myself, which
I confess I may easily do in this philosophical dis-
course; I met with most of it very lately, and, I
hope, happily, in a conference 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 arguments,
but pass to such observations as I can manage with
20 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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 baths, how advantageous is the sea for our
daily traffic ; without which we could not now sub-
sist ? 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 Flo-
rence, 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 consi-
deration ; 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 mo-
numents of Llvy, the choicest of the Historians : of
Tully, 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 con-
tent to dwell ; and to view the many rich statues that
are there 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
chap, i.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 21
much more doth it please the pious curiosity of a
Christian, to see that place on which the blessed Sa-
viour 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 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 Al-
mighty 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 you mercy for being so long, and
thank you for your patience.
Auc. Sir, my pardon is easily granted you : I
except against nothing that you have said ; never-
theless, I must part with you at this park-wall, for
which I am very sorry ; but I assure you Mr. Pis-
cator, I now part with you full of good thoughts, not
only of yourself, but your recreation. And so, Gen-
tlemen, God keep you both !
Pise. Well, now, Mr. Venator you shall neither
22 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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.
Pise. Sir, I did say so, and I doubt not but if
you and I did converse together but a few hours, to
leave you possessed with the same high and happy
thoughts that now possess me of it ; not only of the
antiquity of Angling, but that it deserves commen-
dations, 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 un-
dertaken ; 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.
Pise. O, Sir, doubt not but that Angling is an
art ; is it not an art to deceive a Trout with an ar-
tificial fly ? a Trout ! that is more sharp sighted
than any Hawk you have named, and more watch-
ful and timorous than your high mettled Merlin is
chap, i.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 23
bold ? and yet, I doubt not to catch a brace or two
to-morrow, for a friend's breakfast : doubt not there-
fore, Sir, but that Angling is an art, and an art
worth your learning : the question is rather, whe-
ther you be capable of 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; but hav-
ing 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 expecta-
tion, that I long much to have you proceed ; and
in the order that you propose.
Pise. 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 vir-
tuous recreations, was the first inventor 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
24 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
precious knowledge, and those useful arts ■which by
God's appointment or allowance and his noble in-
dustry, were thereby preserved from perishing in
Noah'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 war-
ranted ; 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 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 im-
ply Anglers in those times.
But, my worthy friend, as I would rather prove
myself a gentleman by being learned and humble,
valiant and inoffensive, 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 merits 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, like 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.
chap, i.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 25
And for that I shall tell you, that in ancient times
a debate hath risen, and it remains yet unresolved,
whether the happiness of man in this world doth
copsist 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 imi-
tation, the more happy we are. And they say, that
God enjovs himself only by a contemplation of his
own Infiniteness, Eternity, Power and Goodness,
and the like. And upon this ground, many cloisteral
men of great learning and devotion, prefer contem-
plation before action. And many of the fathers seem
to approve this opinion, as may appear in their
commentaries upon the words of our Saviour to
Martha: Luke x. 41, 42.
And, on the contrary, there want not men of equal
authority 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 per-
sons : and they say also, that action is doctrinal,
and teaches both art and virtue, and is a maintainer
of humane society; and for these, and other like
reasons, to be preferred before contemplation.
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,
26 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
that both these meet together, and do most pro-
perly belong to the most honest, ingenuous, quiet,
and harmless art of Angling.
And first, I shall tell you what some have ob-
served, 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 main-
tained 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 Chil-
dren of Israel, Psal. 137, who, having in a sad condi-
tion banished all mirth and music from their pen-
sive hearts, and having hung up their then mute
harps upon the willow-trees growing by the rivers
of Babylon, sat down upon those 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
chap, i.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 27
leave to free mvself from the last, by offering 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 consi-
derable : I am sure they have appeared so to me, and
made many an hour 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 drank 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 Eng-
land, and the like in Loehmere in Ireland. There is
also a river in Arabia, of which all the sheep that
drink thereof have their wool turned into a vermi-
lion colour. And one of no less credit than Aristotle,
tells us of a merry river, the river Elusina, 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 it's 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
28 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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
thereabouts 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 pa-
tience, 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 philosopher says, in the third
chapter of his ninth book, that in the Indian Sea,
the fish called the Balcena 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 foot long. He says there,
that these monsters appear in that sea, only when
the 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
wrapped, or interwoven together. He tells us there,
chap, i.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 29
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 tins is spoken concerning the Dolphin,
and other fish, as may be found also in 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 crea-
tures 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 Ins house near to Lambeth near Lon-
don, 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 there see the Hog-fish, the Dog-fish, the
Dolphin, the Coney-fish, the Parrot-fish, the Shark,
30 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
the Poison-fish, Sword-fish, and not only other in-
credihle fish, but you may there see the Salamander,
several sorts of Barnacles, of Solan-geese, the Bird
of Paradise, such sorts of Snakes, and such Bird's-
nests, and of so various forms, and so wonderfully
made, as may beget wonder and amusement in any
beholder : and so many hundred of other rarities in
that collection, 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."
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, Psal. 104,
wherein for height of Poetry and wonders, the Pro-
phet David seems even to exceed himself, how doth
chap, i.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 31
he there express himself in choice metaphors, even
to the amazement of a contemplative reader, con-
cerning 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 crea-
tures inhabiting both in and about that element ;
as to the readers of Gesner, Rondeletius, Pliny, Au-
sonius, Aristotle, and others, may be demonstrated.
But I will sweeten this discourse also Du Cartas in
out of a contemplation in divine Du the Fiftn Day.
Bartas, who says,
God quickened in the sea and in the rivers,
So many fishes of so many features ,
That in the waters we may see all creatures,
Ev'n all that on the earth are to be found,
As if the world were in deep waters drown d.
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, Gillifiowers, 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 :
Of which, examples but a few years since,
Were shewn the Norway and Polonian Prince.
32 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
These seem to be wonders, but have had so many
confirmations 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 line, she
sendeth forth and pulleth in again at her pleasure,
according as she sees some little fish
Montaigne come near to h and the Cuttle-
Essays, and
other affirm 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 call a Hermit, that at a cer-
tain 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.
There is also a fish called, by JEllan, in his ninth
Book of Living creatures, Ch. 16, the Adonis or Dar-
ling 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 inhabi-
chap, i.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 33
tants of that vast watery element : and truly I think
most Anglers are so disposed to most of mankind.
And there are also lustful and chaste fishes, of
which I shall give you examples.
And first, what 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
verse, for he hath gathered this, and other obser-
vations out of authors that have been great and in-
dustrious searchers into the secrets of Nature.
The adult' rous 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,
Horning their husbands that had horns before.
And the same author writes concerning the Can-
tharus, 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.
Ven. Sir, take what liberty you think fit, for
your discourse seems to be music, and charms me
to an attention.
Pise. Why then, Sir, I will take a little liberty
D
34 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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 out-live
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 man-
kind 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, 16, 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
Fifth Day nearmg °f sucn conjugal faithfulness, will
be music to all chaste ears, and there-
fore 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 surpris'd her pheer,
As mad with woe, to shore she followeth,
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.
chap. I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 35
And 'tis considerable, that the Hen, which, because
she also takes any cock, expects it not, who is sure
the chickens be her own, hath by a moral impres-
sion her care and affection to her own brood more
than doubled, even to such a height, that our Savi-
our, in expressing his love to Jerusalem, Mat. 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, or other fishes ; but
other fishes, as namely the Barbel, take such care
for the preservation of their seed, that unlike to the
cock or the cuckoo, they mutually labour, both the
spawner and the melter, to cover their spawn with
sand, or watch it, or hide it in some secret place, un-
frequented by vermin or by any fish but themselves.
Sir, these examples may, to you and others, seem
strange ; but they are testified some by Aristotle,
some by Pliny, some by Gesner, and by many others
of credit, and are believed and known by divers,
both of wisdom and experience, to be a truth ; and
indeed are, as I said at the beginning, fit for the
contemplation of a most serious and a most pious
man. And, doubtless, this made the Prophet David
say, Psal. cvii. 23, 24., " They that occupy them-
" selves in deep waters see the wonderful works of
" God : " indeed such wonders and pleasures too as
the land affords not.
3G THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [parti.
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 Pro-
phets 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 in-
spired and sent to publish his blessed will to the Gen-
tiles, and inspired them also with a power to speak
all languages, and by their powerful eloquence to
beget faith in the unbelieving Jews, and themselves
to suffer for that Saviour whom their fore-fathers
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
employment of these happy fishermen, concerning
which choice, some have made these observations.
First, That he never reproved these for their em-
ployment or calling, as he did scribes and the mo-
ney-changers. And secondly, he found that the
hearts of such men by nature were fitted for contem-
plation 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 irreprovable employment of
fishing, and gave them grace to be his disciples, and
to follow him and do wonders ; I say four of twelve.
And it is observable, that it was our Saviour's will,
chap. I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 37
that these our four Fishermen should have a priority
of nomination in the Catalogue of his Twelve Apos-
tles, Mat. x. 2-4. Acts i. 1, 3., as namely, first St. Pe-
ter, St. Andrew, St. James, and St. John, and then the
rest in their order.
And it is yet more observable, that when our bless-
ed 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 them-
selves 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 Resurrection, as it is recorded in
the twenty-first chapter of St. John's Gospel, v. 3, 4.
And since I have your promise to hear me with
patience, I will take a liberty to look back upon an
observation that hath been made by an ingenious
and learned man ; who observes, that God hath been
pleased to allow those, whom he himself hath ap-
pointed 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 con-
version was remarkably carnally- amorous ; and
after by God's appointment wrote that spiritual
dialogue or holy amorous love-song, the Canticles,
betwixt God and his Church ; in which he says his
beloved had eyes like the fish-pools of Heshbon.
38 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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 Testa-
ment find fish-hooks, I think but twice mentioned,
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 prophet,
and compare it with the high, glorious, eloquent
style of the Prophet Isaiah, though they be both
equally true, may easily believe Amos to be, not only
a shepherd, but a good-natured, plain Fisherman.
Which I do the rather believe by comparing the
affectionate, loving, lowly, humble, Epistles of St.
Peter, St. James, and St. John, whom we know were
all Fishers, with the glorious language and high me-
taphors of St. Paul, who 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 Cesar. And let me tell
you, that Angling is of high esteem, and of much
use in other nations. He that reads the Voyages of
Ferdinand Mendez Pinto, shall find, that there he de-
clares to have found a king and several priests
a-fishing.
And he that reads Plutarch, shall find that Angl-
chap, i.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 39
ing 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 recrea-
tion. 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 Church-
men, as being a turbulent, toilsome, perplexing, re-
creation ; and shall find Angling allowed to Clergy-
men, as being a harmless recreation, a recreation,
that invites them to contemplation and quietness.
I might here enlarge myself by telling you, what
commendations our learned Perkins bestows on
Angling : and how dear a lover, and great a prac-
tiser of it our learned Doctor Whitaker was, as in-
deed many others of great learning have been. But
I will content myself with two memorable men, that
lived near to our own time, whom I also take to
have been ornaments to the Art of Angling.
The first is Doctor Nowel, sometimes Dean of 155q
the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in London,
where his monument stands yet undefaced : a man
that in the Reformation of Queen Elizabeth, not
that of Henry 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
40 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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 man was a dear lover, and constant prac-
tiser of Angling, as any age can produce ; and his
custom was to spend besides his fixed hours of
prayer, those hours which 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 con-
versed with him, to bestow a tenth part of his re-
venue, 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
chap, i.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 41
trouble ; both harmlessly, and in a recreation that
became a churchman. And this good man was
well content, if not desirous, that posterity should
know he was an Angler, as may appear by his pic-
ture now to be seen, and carefully kept in Brazen-
nose-College, to which he was a liberal benefactor ;
in which picture he is drawn leaning on a desk
with his Bible before him, and on one hand of him
his lines, hooks, and other tackling, lying in a
round ; and on his other hand are his Angle-rods of
several sorts : and by them this is written, " That
" he died 13 Feb. 1601, being aged ninety-five years,
" forty-four of which he had been Dean of St. Paul's
" Church ; and that his age had neither impaired his
" hearing, nor dimmed his eyes, nor weakened his
" memory, nor made any of the faculties of his mind
" weak or useless." Tis 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 man whose foreign employ-
ments in the service of this nation, and whose ex-
perience, learning, wit, and cheerfulness, made his
company to be esteemed one of the delights of man-
kind. 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 fre-
quent practiser of the art of Angling ; of which
42 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
he would say, " 'Twas an employment for his idle
" time, which was then not idly spent : " for Angl-
ing 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 pas-
" sions, 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 descrip-
tion of a part of the present pleasure that possessed
him, as he sat quietly in a Summer's evening on a
bank a-fishing. It is " a description of the Spring,"
which, because it glided as soft 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.
The jealous Trout, that low did lie,
Rose at a well- dissembled fly :
There stood my friend with patient skill,
Attending of his trembling quill.
chap. I.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 13
Already were the eaves possest
With the swift Pilgrim's daubed nest :
The groves already did rejoice,
In Philomel's triumphing voice :
The showers were short, the weather mild,
The morning fresh, the evening smil'd.
Joan takes her neat rubb'd pail, and now
She trips to milk the sand-red cow ;
Where, for some sturdy foot-ball swain,
Joan strokes a syllabub or twain,
The fields and gardens were beset
With tulips, crocus, violet :
And now, though late, the modest rose
Did more than half a blush disclose.
7'hus all looks gay, and full of cheer,
To welcome the new-livery' d year.
These were the thoughts that then possessed the
undisturbed mind of Sir Henry Wotton. Will you
hear the wish of another Angler, and the commen-
dation of his happy life, which he also sings in
verse ? viz. Jo. Davors, Esq. ;
Let me live harmlessly, and near the brink
Of Trent or Avon, have a divelling -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.
44 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
Let them that list, these pastimes still pursue,
And on such pleasing fancies feed their fill,
So I the Jields and meadows green may view,
And daily by fresh rivers walk at will,
Among the daisies and the violets blue,
Red hyacinth, and yellow daffodil,
Purple Narcissus like the morning rays
Pale gander-grass, and azure culver-keys.
I count it higher pleasure to behold
The stately compass of the lofty sky,
And in the midst thereof, like burning gold.
The flaming chariot of the world's great eye ;
The watery clouds that in the air up-roll'd,
With sundry kinds of painted colours fly ;
And fair Aurora lifting up her head,
Still blushing, rise from old Tithonus' bed.
The hills and mountains raised from the plains,
The plains extended level with the ground ;
The grounds divided into sundry veins,
The veins 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 vallies low,
Where lakes, and rills, and rivulets, do flow.
The lofty woods, the forests wide 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 quire the Summer's Queen ;
chap, i.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 4f,
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 chrystal 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, hoiv wonderful, they be !
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 rapt 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 dis-
course : 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
discourse, till some other opportunity, and a like
time of leisure.
Ven. Sir, you have Angled me on with much
pleasure to the Thatched-house : and I now find your
words true, " That good company makes the way
" seem short; " for trust me, Sir, I thought we had
wanted three miles of this house till you shewed it to
me : but now we are at it, we'll turn into it, and re-
fresh ourselves with a cup of drink and a little rest.
46
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
[part I.
Pise. Most gladly, Sir, and we'll drink a civil
cup to all the Otter-hunters that are to meet you
to-morrow.
Ven. That we will, Sir, and to all the lovers of
Angling too, of which number I am now willing to
be one myself; for, by the help of your good dis-
course 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 de-
dicate 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.
Pise. Tis a match, Sir, I'll not fail you, God
willing, to be at Amwell-hill to-morrow morning
before sun-rising:.
chap, ii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 47
THE SECOND DAY.
chap. ii. Observations of the Otter and Chub.
Venatok.
JVLy 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 ; there you may see
what work they make ; Look ! look ! you may see all
busy, men and dogs, dogs and men, all busy.
Pise. Sir, I am right glad to meet you, and glad
to have so fair an entrance into this day's sport,
and glad to see so many dogs, and more men all in
pursuit of the Otter : Let's compliment no longer,
but join unto them : Come honest Venator, let's be
gone, let us make haste ; I long to be doing : no
reasonable hedge or ditch shall bold me.
Ven. Gentleman- Huntsman, where found you
this Otter ?
Hunt. Marry, Sir, we found her a mile from
this place, a-fishing : she has this morning eaten the
greatest part of this Trout ; she has only left thus
much of it as you see, and was fishing for more :
when we came we found her just at it : but we were
here very early, we were here an hour before sun-
48
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
[part I.
rise, and have given her no rest since we came ;
sure she will hardly escape all these dogs and men.
I am to have the skin if we kill her.
Ven. Why, Sir, what's the skin worth ?
Hunt. Tis 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.
Pise. 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 Carthu-
sians, who have made vows never to eat flesh. But
I have heard the question hath been debated among
many great clerks, and they seem to differ about it ;
yet most agree that her tail is fish : and if her body
be fish too, then I may say, that a fish will walk
chap, ii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 49
upon land, for an Otter does so sometimes five, or
six, or ten, miles in a night, to catch for her young
ones, or to glut herself with fish, and I can tell you
that pigeons will fly forty miles for a breakfast ;
but Sir, I am sure the Otter devours much fish, and
kills and spoils much more than he eats : and I can
tell you, that this Dog-fisher, for so the Latins call
him, can smell a fish in the water an hundred yards
from him : Gesner says much farther, and that his
stones are good against the falling- sickness : and
that there is an herb, Benione, which being hung in
a linen-cloth near a fish-pond, or any haunt that he
uses, makes him to avoid the place ; which proves
he smells both by water and land ; and I can tell
you there is brave hunting this water-dog in Corn-
wall ; 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
Stveetlips 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
E
50 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
Otter too, it may be : now have at him with Kil-
buck, 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 Sweet-
lips 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, 'tis a Bitch-Otter, and
she has lately whelped, let's go to the place where
she was put down, and not far from it you will find
all her young ones, I dare warrant you, and kill
them all too.
Hunt. Come, gentlemen ! come all ! let's go to
the place where we put down the Otter. Look you,
hereabout it was that she kennelled ; look you, here
it was indeed, for here's her young ones, no less
than five : come let's kill them all.
Pise. No, I pray Sir, save me one, and I'll try if I
can make her tame, as I know an ingenious gentle-
man in Leicestershire, Mr. Nich. Seagrave, has done ;
who hath not only made her tame, but to catch fish,
and do many other things of much pleasure.
Hunt. Take one with all my heart, but let us
kill the rest. And now let's go to an honest Ale-
house, where we may have a cup of good Barley-
wine, and sing " Old Rose," and all of us rejoice
together.
Ven. Come my friend Piscator, let me invite you
along with us. I'll bear your charges this night, and
chap, ii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 51
you shall bear mine to morrow ; for my intention
is to accompany you a day or two in fishing.
Pise. 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.
Pise. 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 ?
Pise. We are not yet come to a likely place, I
must walk a mile further yet, before I begin.
Ven. Well then, I pray, as we walk, tell me freely
how do you like your lodging, and mine Host, and
the company ? Is not mine Host a witty man ?
Pise. Sir, I will tell you presently what I think of
your Host ; but first I will tell you, I am glad these
otters were killed, and I am sorry that there are
no more otter-killers : for I know that the want of
otter-killers, and the not keeping the Fence-months
for the preservation of fish, will in time prove the
destruction of all rivers ; and those very few that
are left, that make conscience of the laws of the
nation, and of keeping days of abstinence, will be
forced to eat flesh, or suffer more inconveniences
than are yet foreseen.
Ven. Why Sir, what be those that you call the
Fence-months ?
52 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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 wears and unlawful gins, which
the greedy fishermen set, and so destroy them by
thousands ; as they would, being so taught by nature,
change the fresh for salt water. He that shall view
the wise Statutes made in the 13th of Edward I. and
the like in Richard II. may see several 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 every body's business, is no
" body'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 nature, that Almighty God
hath in the Levitical law, Deuteron. xxii. 6, 7. made
a law against it.
But the poor fish have enemies enough beside
such unnatural fishermen, as namely, the Otters that
I spake of, the Cormorant, the Bittern, tbe Osprey,
the Sea-gull, the Heron, the King-fisher, the Gorara,
chap, ii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 53
the Puet, the Swan, Goose, Ducks, and the Craber,
which some call the Water-rat : against all which
any honest man may make a just quarrel, but I will
not, I will leave them to be quarrelled with, and
killed by others ; for I am not of a cruel nature, I
love to kill nothing but fish.
And now to your question concerning your
Host. To speak truly, he is not to me a good
companion : for most of his 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 companion that feasts the company
with wit and mirth, and leaves out the sin which
is usually mixed with them, he is the man ; and in-
deed such a companion should have his charges
borne, and to such company I hope to bring you this
night ; for at Trout-hall, not far from this place, where
I purpose to lodge to-night, there is usually an An-
gler that proves good company. And let me tell you,
good company and good discourse are the very si-
news 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 ano-
ther of the company that shall be nameless ; I am
sorry the other is a gentleman, for less religion will
not save their souls than a beggar's : I think more
will be required at the last great day. Well, you
know what example is able to do ; and I know what
54 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [parti.
the Poet says in the like case, which is worthy to
he 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
consideration of a wise man. But of this no more,
for though I love civility, yet I hate severe censures :
I'll 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.
Vent. Oh, Sir! a Chub is the worst fish that
swims ; I hoped for a Trout to my dinner.
Pise. Trust me. Sir, there is not a likely place
for a Trout hereabout, and we staid so long to take
our leave of your huntsmen 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'll
make it a good fish by dressing it.
Ven. Why, how will you dress him ?
Pise. I'll tell you by and by, when I have caught
him. Look you here, Sir, do you see ? but you
must stand very close, there lfe upon the top of
the water in this very hole twenty Chubs. I'll catch
only one, and that shall be the biggest of them all :
chap, ii.] THE COMFLETE ANGLER.
•r)5
and that I will do so I'll hold you twenty to one,
and you shall see it done.
Ven. Ay, marry Sir ! now you talk like an artist ;
and I'll say you are one, when I shall see you per-
form what you say you can do : but I yet doubt it.
Pise. 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'll warrant you I'll bring
him to you.
Ven. I'll sit down and hope well, because you
seem to be so confident.
Pise. Look ycu Sir, there is a trial of my skill ;
there he is ;
That very Chub that I shewed you with the white
spot on his tail : and I'll be as certain to make him
56 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
a good dish of meat, as I was to catch him. I'll
now lead you to an honest ale-house where we
shall find a cleanly room, lavender in the windows,
and twenty ballads stuck about the wall : there my
Hostess, which I may tell you, is both cleanly, and
handsome, and civil, hath dressed many a one for
me, and shall now dress it after my fashion, and I
warrant it good meat.
Ven. Come, Sir, with all my heart, for I begin
to be 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 ; yes-
terday's hunting hangs still upon me.
Pise. Well, Sir, and you shall quickly be at rest,
for yonder is the house I mean to bring you to.
Come, Hostess, how do you ? "Will you first
give us a cup of your best drink, and then dress
this Chub, as you dressed my last, when I and my
friend were here about eight or ten days ago ? But
you must do me one courtesy, it must be done in-
stantly.
Hostess. I will do it, Mr. Piscator, and with all
the speed I can.
Pise. 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.
Pise. Well, Sir, how do you like it ?
Ven. Trust me, 'tis as good meat as I ever
tasted : now let me thank you for it, drink to you,
V/r . //>-://:/,.
chap, ii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
57
and beg a courtesy of you ; but it must not be
denied me.
Pise. What is it, I pray, Sir ? 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 compan-
ion, and have so quickly caught, and so excellently
cooked this fish, as makes me ambitious to be your
scholar.
Pise. Give me your hand ; from this time for-
ward 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.
58 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
THE THIRD DAY.
chap. in. How to Fish for, and to dress, the
Chavender, or Chub.
Piscatob.
JL he Chub, though he eat well thus dressed, yet
as he is usually dressed, he does not : he is objected
against, not only for being full of small forked
bones, dispersed through all his body, but that he
eats waterish, and that the flesh of him is not firm,
but short and tasteless. The French esteem him so
mean, as to call him un Villain; nevertheless he
may be so dressed as to make him very good meat ;
as, namely, if he be a large Chub, then dress him
thus :
First scale him, and then wash him clean, and
then take out his guts ; and to that end make the
hole as little and near to his gills as you may con-
veniently, and especially make clean Ins 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 splin-
ters to a spit, and roast him, basted often with vi-
negar, 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
chap, in.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 59
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 re-
compense 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 are free from smoke ; and all the
time he is a-broiling baste him with the best sweet
butter, and good store of salt mixed with it ; and
to this add a little thyme cut exceeding small, or
bruised into the butter. The Cheven thus dressed
hath the watery taste taken away, for which so
many except against him. Thus was the Cheven
dressed that you now liked so well, and commended
60 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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 bet-
ter to enter a young Angler, he is so easily caught ;
but then it must be this particular way.
Go to the same hole in which I caught my Chub,
where in most hot days you will find a dozen or
twenty Chevens floating near the top of the water.
Get two or three grashoppers as you go over the
meadow ; and get secretly behind the tree, and stand
as free from motion as is possible. Then put a gras-
hopper 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 a Chub is the fearfullest of fishes, and will
do so if but a bird flies over him, and makes the
least shadow on the water ; but they will presently
rise up to the top again, and there lie soaring till
some shadow affrights them again. I say when they
lie upon the top of the water, look out the best
chap, in.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 61
Chub, which you, setting yourself in a fit place,
may very easily see, and move your rod as softly as
a snail moves, to that Chub you intend to catch :
let your bait fall gently upon the water three or
four inches before him, and he will infallibly take
the bait. And you will be as sure to catch him ; for
he is one of the leather-mouthed fishes, of which a
hook does scarcely ever lose it's 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'll go and observe your
directions.
Look you, Master, what I have done ! that which
joys my heart, caught just such another Chub as
your's was.
Pise. 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'll
warrant you.
Vex. But Master, what if I could not have found
a grashopper ?
Pise. Then I may tell you, that a black snail,
with his belly slit, to shew his white ; or a piece
of soft cheese, will usually do as well. Nay, some-
times a worm, or any kind of fly, as the Ant-fly, the
62 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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 grashopper, put it on your hook, with your line
about two yards long, standing behind a bush or
tree where his hole is, and make your bait stir up
and down on the top of the water. You may, if
you stand close, be sure of a bite, but not sure to
catch him, for he is not a leather-mouthed fish :
and after this manner you may fish for him with
almost any kind of live fly, but especially with a
grashopper.
Ven. But before you go farther, I pray, good
Master, what mean you by a leather-mouthed fish ?
Pise. By a leather-mouthed fish, I mean such as
have their teeth in their throat, as the Chub or Che-
ven ; and so the Barbel, the Gudgeon, and Carp,
and divers others have ; and the hook being stuck
into the leather, or skin, of the mouth of such fish,
does very seldom or never lose its hold : but on the
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 vou shall ob-
chap, in.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 63
serve 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.
Vex. I thank you, good Master, for this observ-
ation ; but now what shall be done with my Chub
or Cheven, that I have caught.
Pise. Marry Sir, it shall be given away to some
poor body, for I'll warrant you I'll give you a Trout
for your supper : and it is a good beginning of your
art to offer your first-fruits to the poor, who will botb
thank God and you for it, which I see by your si-
lence you seem to consent to. And for your willing-
ness 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 at any kind of snail, or at the black bee that
breeds in clay-walls ; and he never refuses a gras •
hopper 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 in the cooler months, a yellow
paste, made of the strongest cheese, and pounded in
a mortar with a little butter and saffron, so much of
it as being beaten small will turn it to a lemon-
colour. And some make a paste for the winter-
months, — at which time the Chub is accounted best,
G4 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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-wa-
ter, 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 Cheven, the throat be-
ing well washed, is the best part of him, I will say
no more of this fish at the present, but wish you
may catch the next you fish for.
But, lest you may judge me too nice in urging to
have the Chub dressed so presently after he is taken,
I will commend to vour consideration how curious
former times have been in the like kind.
You shall read in Seneca his " Natural Questions,"
Lib. iii. cap. 17, that the ancients were so curious in
the newness of their fish, that that seemed not new
enough that was not put alive into the guest's hand ;
and he says that to that end they did usually keep
them living in glass-bottles in their dining-rooms ;
and they did glory much in their entertaining of
friends, to have that fish taken from under their
table alive, that was instantly to be fed upon. And
chap, in.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
65
he says, they took great pleasure to see their Mul-
lets 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.
■
66 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
THE THIRD DAY.
chap. iv. Observations of the Nature and Breed-
ing of the Trout, and how to Fish for him. And
the Milkmaid's Song.
Piscator.
_L he Trout is a fish highly valued hoth 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
tbat 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, be-
ing in right season, the most dainty palates have
allowed precedency to him.
And before I go further in my discourse, let me
tell you, that you are to observe, that, as there be
some barren does, that are good in summer, so
there be some barren Trouts that are good in win-
ter : 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
chap, iv.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 67
notice, that in several countries, as in Germany and
in other parts, compared to our's, fish do differ
much in their bigness, and shape, and other ways,
and so do Trouts. It is well known that in the Lake
Leman, the Lake of Geneva, there are Trouts taken of
three cuhits 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
smallness. 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 Wind-
sor, a little Trout called a Samlet or Skegger-
Trout, — in both which places I have caught twenty
or forty at a standing, — that will bite as fast and as
freely as minnows ; these be by some taken to be
68 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part j.
young Salmons, but in those waters they never grow
to be bigger than a herring.
There is also in Kent near to Canterbury , a Trout
called there a Fordidge Trout, a Trout that bears the
name of the town where it is usually caught, that
is accounted the rarest of fish ; many of them near
the bigness of a salmon, but known by their differ-
ent colour, and in their best season they cut very
white : and none of these have been known to be
caught with an angle, unless it were one that was
caught by Sir George Hastings, an excellent Angler,
and now with God ; and he hath told me, he thought
that Trout bit not for hunger but wantonness ; and
it is the rather to be believed, because both he then,
and many others before him, have been curious to
search into their bellies, what the food was by which
they lived : and have found out nothing by which
they might satisfy their curiosity.
Concerning which you are to take notice, that it
is reported by good authors, that Grashoppers, 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, Psal. clxvii. 9, " To feed the
" young ravens that call upon him." And they be
kept alive, and fed by a dew, or worms that breed
in their nests ; or some other wavs that we mortals
chap, iv.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. f,9
know not ; and this may be believed of the Fordidge
Trout, which, as it is said of the Stork, Jerem. viii.
7, that " he knows his season," so he knows his
times, I think almost his day of coming into that
river out of the sea ; where he lives, and, it is like,
feeds, nine months of the year, and fasts three in the
river of Fordidge. And you are to note that those
townsmen are very punctual in observing the time
of beginning to fish for them ; and boast much that
their river affords a Trout, that exceeds all others.
And just so does Sussex boast of several fish ; as
namely, a Shelsey Cockle, a 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 fresh water ; and it may be the
better believed, because it is well known, that swal-
lows, 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 Michael-
mas leave us for a hotter climate; yet View Sir Fran.
Bacon, Exper.
some of them that have been left be- 899.
hind their fellows, have been found
many thousands at a time, in hollow-trees, or clay
caves ; where they have been observed to five and
sleep out the whole winter without meat. And so
Albertus observes, that there is one
kind of frog that hath her mouth na- froo-s_
turally shut up about the end of August,
and that she lives so all the winter : and though it
70 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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 for-
merly gotten in the sea, not unlike the swallow or
frog, or by the virtue of the fresh water only ; or
as the Bird of Paradise, and the Camelion are said to
live by the sun and the air.
There is also in Northumberland a Trout called a
Bull-Trout, of a much greater length and bigness,
than any in these southern parts : and there are in
many rivers that relate to the sea, Salmon-Trouts,
as much different from others, both in shape and in
their spots, as we see sheep in some countries differ
one from another in their shape and bigness, and in
the fineness of their wool : and certainly, as some
pastures breed larger sheep, so do some rivers, by
reason of the ground over which they run, breed
larger Trouts.
Now the next thing that I will commend to your
consideration is, that the Trout is of a more sudden
growth than other fish : concerning which you are
also to take notice, that he lives not so long as the
Pearch and divers other fishes do, as Sir Francis
Bacon hath observed in his " History of Life and
Death."
And next you are to take notice, that he is not
like the Crocodile, which if he lives never so long,
yet always thrives till his death : but 'tis not so
chap, iv.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 71
with the Trout ; for after he is come to his full
growth, he declines in his body, and keeps his big-
ness, or thrives only in his head, till his death. And
you are to know, that he will about, especially be-
fore, the time of his spawning, get almost miracu-
lously through wears, and flood-gates against the
streams ; even through such high and swift places
as is almost incredible. Next, that the Trout usu-
ally 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 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 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 a
worm, in shape hke a clove or pin, with a big head,
and sticks close to him and sucks his moisture ;
72 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
those, I think, the Trout breeds himself, and never
thrives till he free himself from them, which is
when warm weather comes ; and then, as he grows
stronger, he gets from the dead still water into
the sharp streams and the gravel, and there rubs
off these worms or lice ; and then, as he grows
stronger, so he gets him into swifter and swifter
streams, and there lies at the watch for any fly or
minnow, that comes near to him : and he especially
loves the May-fly, which is bred of the Cod- worm,
or Cadis ; and these make the Trout bold and lusty,
and he is usually fatter and better meat at the end
of that month than at any time of the year.
Now you are to know, that it is observed, that
usually the best Trouts are either red or yellow ;
though some, as the 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, Sal-
mon, 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 be-
fore 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
chap, iv.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 73
of Trouts ; but these several kinds are not consi-
dered but by very few men, for they go under the
general name of Trouts : just as Pigeons do in most
places ; though it is certain there are tame, and
wild Pigeons : and of the tame, there be Helmits
and Runts, and Carriers, and Cropers, and indeed
too many to name. Nay, the Royal Society have
found and published lately, that there be thirty and
three kinds of Spiders : and yet all, for aught I
know, go under that one general name of Spider.
And 'tis 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 Black -bird, 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 even-
ing 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,
74 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part I.
and not seen a fish stir, neither at your minnow nor
your worm.
Pise. Well Scholar, you must endure worse luck
sometime, or you will never make a good Angler.
But what say you now ? there is a Trout now, and
a good one too, if I can but hold him, and two or
three turns more will tire him. Now you see he
lies stiU, 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 ?
Ven. On my word, Master, this is a gallant
Trout, what shall we do with him ?
Pise. 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 cheerful companion, had
sent word he would lodge there to-night, and bring
a friend with him. My Hostess has two beds, and
I know, you and I may have the best : we'll rejoice
with my brother Peter and his friend, tell tales, or
sing ballads, or make a catch, or find some harm-
less 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 la-
vender, and I long to lie in a pair of sheets that
smell so. Let's be going, good Master, for I am
hungry again with fishing.
chap, iv.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 75
Pise. 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 ahout 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 honey-
suckle hedge ; there we'll 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 con-
tention with an echo, whose dead voice seemed to
live in a hollow tree, near to the brow of that prim-
rose-hill ; there I sat viewing the silver streams
glide silently towards their centre, the tempestuous
sea ; yet sometimes opposed by rugged roots, and
pebble-stones, which broke their waves, and turned
them into foam : and sometimes I beguiled time by
viewing the harmless lambs, some leaping securely
in the cool shade, whilst others sported themselves
in the cheerful sun ; and saw others craving com-
fort from the swollen udders of their bleating dams.
As I thus sat, these and other sights had so fully
76 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part I.
possessed my soul with content, that I thought as
the Poet has happily expressed it ;
/ was for that time lifted above earth ;
And possess' d joys not promis'd in my birth.
As I left this place, and entered into the next field,
a second pleasure entertained me ; 'twas a hand-
some 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 sung
like a nightingale. Her voice was good, and the
ditty fitted for it ; 'twas that smooth song, which
was made by Kit. Marlow, now at least fifty years
ago : and the Milk-maid's Mother sung an answer
to it, which was made by Sir Walter Raleigh in his
younger days.
They were old-fashioned poetry, but choicely
good, I think much better than the strong lines that
are now in fashion in this critical age. Look yon-
der ! 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 fish-
ing, and am going to Bleak-hall to my bed ; and
having caught more fish than will sup myself and
my friend, I will bestow this upon you and your
daughter, for I use to sell none.
Milk-w. Marry, God requite you ! Sir, and we'll
chap, iv.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 77
eat it cheerfully ; and if you come this way a-fishing
two months hence, a-grace of God I'll give you a
syllabub of new verjuice in a new-made hay-cock
for it, and my Maudlin shall sing you one of her
best ballads ; for she and I both love 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.
Pise. No, I thank you ; but I pray do us a cour-
tesy that shall stand you and your daughter in no-
thing, and yet we will think ourselves still some-
thing 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 Dul-
cinea rested : or Philida flouts me : or Chevy Chase ?
or Johnny Armstrong ? or Troy Town P
Pise. No, it is none of those : it is a song, that
your daughter sung the first part, and you sung the
answer to it.
Milk-w. O, I know it now, I learned the first
part in my golden- age, when I was about the age
of my poor daughter ; and the latter part, winch
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
78 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
gentlemen with a merry heart, and I'll sing the
second, when you have done.
THE MILK-MAID'S SONG.
Come, live with me, and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, or hills, or field,
Or ivoods, and steepy mountains yield.
Where we will sit upon the rocks,
And see the shepherds feed our fiocks,
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 lin'd 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 ivith me, and be my Love.
chap, iv.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 79
Thy silver dishes for thy meat,
As precious as the Gods do eat,
Shall, on an ivory table, be
Prepared each day for thee and me.
The shepherd-swains shall dance and sing,
For thy delight each May-morning :
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me, and be my Love.
Ven. Trust me, Master, it is a choice song, and
sweetly sung by honest Maudlin. I now see it was
not without cause, that our good Queen Elizabeth
did so often wish herself a Milk-maid all the month
of May, because they are not troubled with fears
and cares, but sing sweetly all the day, and sleep
securely all the night : and, without doubt, honest,
innocent, pretty, Maudlin does so. I'll bestow Sir
Thomas Overbury's Milk-maid's wish upon her,
" that she may die in the Spring ; and, being dead,
" may have good store of flowers stuck round about
" her winding-sheet."
THE MILK-MAID'S MOTHER'S ANSWER.
If all the world and love were young,
And truth in every Shepherd's tongue,
These pretty pleasures might me move
To live with thee, and be thy Love.
80 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
But time drives flocks from field to fold,
When rivers rage, and rocks grow cold,
Then Philomel becometh dumb,
And age complains of cares to come.
The flowers do fade, and wanton fields
To wayward Winter reckoning yields.
A honey tongue, a heart of gall,
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
Which God hath blest, and sent for food.
But could youth last, and love still breed,
Had joys no date, nor age no need ; —
Then those delights my mind might move,
To live with thee, and be thy Love.
chap, iv.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 81
Mother. Well, I have done my song. But stay,
honest Anglers, for I will make Maudlin to sing you
one short song more. Maudlin, sing that song that
you sung last night, when young Coridon the Shep-
herd played so purely on his oaten-pipe to you and
your Cousin Retty.
Maud. I will, Mother.
/ 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 'tis not so,
With those that go,
Through frost and snow,
As all men know,
And carry the milking -pail.
Pise. Well sung ! Good woman ; I thank you.
I'll give you another dish of fish one of these days ;
and then beg another song of you. Come, Scholar,
let Maudlin alone : do not you offer to spoil her
voice. Look ! yonder comes mine Hostess, to call
us to supper. How now ! is my Brother Peter
come ?
G
82 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part l.
Host. Yes, and a friend with him ; they are
both glad to hear that you are in these parts, and
long to see you, and long to be at supper, for they
be very hungry.
THE THIRD AND FOURTH DxVYS.
chap. v. More Directions how to Fish for, and how to
make for the Trout an Artificial Minnow and Flies,
with some merriment.
PlSCATOR.
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
CHAP. V.]
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
s3
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 grashopper ; and the Chub he caught was a
lusty one of nineteen inches long. But pray, Bro-
ther Peter, who is your companion ?
Peter. Brother Piscator, my friend is an honest
Countryman, and his name is Coridon, and he is a
downright witty companion, that met me here pur-
posely to be pleasant and eat a Trout ; and I have
not yet wetted my line since we met together ; but
I hope to fit him with a Trout for his breakfast, for
I'll be early up.
Pise. 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 oreserved their
84 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
health, and made them live so long, and to do so
many good deeds.
Peter. O' my word this Trout is perfect in sea-
son. Come, I thank you, and here is a hearty draught
to you, and to all the Brothers of the Angle where-
soever they he, and to my young brother's good for-
tune to-morrow. I will furnish hiin 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 master ; a master that knows as much both
of the nature and breeding of fish as any man : and
can also tell him as well how to catch and cook
them, from the Minnow to the Salmon, as any that
I ever met withal.
Pise. Trust me, Brother Peter, I find my Scholar
to be so suitable to my own humour, which is to
be free, and pleasant, and civilly merry, that my
resolution is to hide nothing that I know from him.
Believe me, Scholar, this is my resolution ; and so
here's to you a hearty draught, and to all that love
us, and the honest art of Angling.
Ven. Trust me, good Master, you shall not sow
your seed in barren ground ; for I hope to return
you an increase answerable to your hopes : but,
however, you shall find me obedient, and thankful,
and serviceable to my best ability.
Pise. 'Tis enough, honest Scholar : come, let's to
supper. Come, my friend Condon, this Trout looks
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 85
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.
Pet. Yes, and so I do ; 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 any-body will sing
another ; else, to be plain with you, I will sing
none : I am none of those that sing for meat, but
for company: I say, " 'Tis merry in hall, when men
sing all."
Pise. 1*11 promise you I'll sing a song that was
lately made at my request, by Mr. William Basse,
one that hath made the choice songs of the Hunter
in his career, and of Tom of Bedlam, and many
others of note ; and this that I will sing is in praise
of Angling.
Cor. And then mine shall be the praise of a
Countryman's Life. What will the rest sing of ?
Pet. I will promise you, I will sing another song
in praise of Angling to-morrow night ; for we will
not part till then ; but fish to-morrow, and sup to-
gether, and the next day every man leave fishing,
and fall to his business.
Ven. 'Tis a match ; and I will provide you a song
or a catch against then, too, which shall give some
*i THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [parti.
addition of mirth to the company ; for we will he
civil, and as merry as beggars.
Pise. 'Tis a match, my Masters. Let's ev'n say
grace, and turn to the fire, drink the other cup to
wet our whistles, and so sing away all sad thoughts.
Come on, my Masters, who begins ? I think it is
best to draw cuts, and avoid contention.
Pet. It is a match. Look, the shortest cut falls
to Coridon.
Cor. Well, then, I will begin, for I hate con-
tention.
CORIDON'S SONG.
Oh ! the sweet contentment
The Countryman doth find !
Heigh trolollie lollie loe,
Heiyh trolollie 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, etc.
The City full of wantonness,
And both are full of pride :
Then care away, etc.
But Oh ! the honest Countryman
Speaks truly from his heart,
Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc.
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 87
His pride is in his tillage,
His horses, and his cart :
Then care away, etc.
Our clothing is good sheep-skins,
Greg rasset for our wives,
Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc.
'Tis warmth, and not gay clothing,
That doth prolong our lives :
Then care away, etc.
The Ploughman, though he labour hard,
Yet on the holiday,
Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc.
No Emperor so merrily
Does pass his time away :
Then care away, etc.
To recompense our tillage,
The Heavens afford us showers ;
Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc.
And for our sweet refreshments
The earth affords us bowers :
Then care away, etc.
The cuckoo and the nightingale
Full merrily do sing,
Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc.
And icith their pleasant roundelays
Bid welcome to the Spring :
Then care away, etc.
88 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
This is not half the happiness
The Countryman enjoys ;
Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc.
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 oc-
casion : I shall love you for it as long as I know
you. I would you were a Brother of the Angle, for
a companion that is cheerful, and free from swear-
ing and scurrilous discourse, is worth gold. I love
such mirth as does not make friends ashamed to
look upon one another next morning ; nor men, that
cannot well bear it, to repent the money they spend
when they be warmed with drink. And take this
for a rule, you may pick out such times and such
companies, that you may make yourselves merrier
for a little than a great deal of money ; for " Tis
" the company and not the charge that makes the
" feast : " and such a companion you prove ; I thank
you for it.
But I will not compliment you out of the debt
that I owe you, and therefore I will begin my Song,
and wish it may be so well liked.
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 89
THE ANGLER'S SONG.
As inward love breeds outward talk,
The hound some praise, and some the hawk
Some, better pleas' d loith private sport
Use tennis, some a mistress court :
But these delights I neither wish,
Nor envy, while I freely fish.
Who hunts, doth oft in danger ride ;
Who hawks, lures oft both far and wide ;
Who uses games shall often prove
A loser ; but who falls in love,
Is fettered in fond Cupid's snare :
My Angle breeds me no such care.
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,
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.
90 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [paiit. i.
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,
1 make good fortune my repast ;
And thereunto my friend invite,
In whom I more than that delight :
Who is more xoelcome to my dish,
Than to my angle was my fish.
As well content no prise to take,
As use of taken prize to make :
For so our Lord toas pleased when
He fishers made fishers of men :
Where, which is in no other game,
A man may fish and praise his name.
The first men that our Saviour dear
Did choose to wait upon him here,
Blest fishers were, and fish the last
Food was, that he on earth did taste.
I therefore strive to follow those,
Whom he to follow him hath chose.
Cor. Well sung Brother, you have paid your
debt in good coin. We Anglers are all beholden to
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 91
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 hed that we may
rise early : but first let's pay our reckoning, for I
will have nothing to hinder me in the morning ; for
my purpose is to prevent the sun rising.
Pet. A match. Come Coridon, you are to be
my bed-fellow : I know, Brother, you and your
Scholar will lie together. But where shall we meet
to-morrow night ? for my friend Coridon and I will
go up the water towards Ware.
Pise. And my Scholar and I will go down to-
wards Walt ham.
Cor. Then let's meet here, for here are fresh
sheets that smell of lavender ; and I am sure we can-
not expect better meat, or better usage in any place.
Pet. Tis a match. Good night to every body !
Pise. And so say I.
Ven. And so say I.
THE FOURTH DAY.
Pise. Good morrow ! good Hostess, I see my Bro-
ther Peter is still in bed: Come, give my Scholar
and me a morning-drink, and a bit of meat to break-
fast, 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 to-
wards the river give me direction, according to
your promise, how I shall fish for a Trout.
92 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
Pisc. My honest Scholar, I will take this very
convenient opportunity to do it.
The Trout is usually caught with a worm, or a
minnow, which some call a 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 excre-
ments, 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
particular fishes : but for the Trout, the Dew-worm,
which some also call the Lob-worm, and the Brand-
ling, are the chief ; and especially the first for a
great Trout, and the latter for a less. There be also
of Lob-worms some called Squirrel-tails, a worm
that has a red head, a streak down the back, and a
broad tail, which are noted to be the best, because
they are the toughest and most lively, and live
longest in the water : for you are to know, that a
dead worm is but a dead bait, and like to catch no-
thing, 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
than horse- dung, which is somewhat too hot and
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 93
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 then-
leather.
There are also divers others 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 -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 earthen
pot with good store of moss, which is to be fresh
everv three or four days in summer, and even7 week
or eight days in winter ; or at least the moss taken
from them, and clean washed, and wrung betwixt
your hands till it be dry, and then put it to them
again. And when your worms, especially the Brand-
94 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
ling, 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 clay, into them by
drops on the moss ; and if there be added to the
cream an egg beaten and boiled in it, then it will
both fatten and 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 will only tell
you, that that which is likest a buck's horn is the
best, except it be soft white moss, which grows on
some heaths, and is hard to be found. And note,
that in a very dry time, when you are put to an
extremity for worms, walnut-tree leaves squeezed
into water, or salt in water, to make it bitter or
salt, and then that water poured on the ground,
where you shall see worms are used to rise in the
night, will make them to appear above-ground pre-
sently. And you may take notice, some say that
camphor put into your bag with your moss and
worms, gives them a strong and so tempting a
smell, that the fish fare the worse and you the
better for it.
And now I shall 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
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 95
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.
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 distem-
96 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
pered floods that are usually in that season, would
suffer him to take no rest, but carry him headlong
to mills and wears to his confusion. And of these
Minnows, first you are to know, that the biggest
size is not the best ; and next, that the middle size
and the whitest are the best : and then you are to
know, that your Minnow must be so put on your
hook, that it must turn round when 'tis drawn
against the stream, and that it may turn nimbly,
vou 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 cross 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 no-
thing ; for know, that it is impossible that it should
turn too quick : And you are yet to know, that in
case you want a Minnow, then a small Loach or a
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 97
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 handsome
woman that had a fine hand, and a live Minnow
lying by her : the mould or body of the Minnow
was cloth, and wrought upon or over it thus with
a needle ; the back of it with very sad French green
silk, and paler green silk towards the belly, shadow-
ed 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 have two or three
made bv it, for they be easily carried about an
Angler, and be of excellent use ; for note, that a
large Trout will come as fiercely at a Minnow, as
n
THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
the highest mettled hawk doth seize on a partridge,
or a greyhound on a hare. I have been told, that
one hundred and sixtv Minnows have been found in
a Trout's belly ; either the Trout had devoured so
many, or the Miller that gave it a friend of mine,
had forced them down his throat after he had taken
him.
Now for Flies, which is the third bait wherewith
Trouts are usually taken. You are to know, that
there are so many sorts of flies as there be of fruits :
I will name you but some of them ; as the Dun-fly,
the Stone-fly, the Red-fly, the Moor-fly, the Tawny-
fly, the Shell-fly, the Cloudy or Blackish-fly, the
Flag-fly, the Vine-fly : there be of flies, Caterpillars,
and Canker-flies, and Bear-flies ; and indeed too
many either for me to name or for you to remem-
ber : and their breeding is so various and wonderful,
that I might easily amaze myself, and tire you in
a relation of them.
And yet I will exercise your promised patience
by saving 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 recrea-
tion and contemplation of us Anglers : pleasures
which, I think, myself enjoy more than any other
man that is not of my profession.
Plimj holds an opinion, that many have their birth
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 99
or being from a dew, that in the spring falls upon
the leaves of trees ; and that some kinds of them
are from a dew left upon herbs or flowers ; and
others from a dew left upon coleworts or cabbages :
all which kinds of dews being thickened and con-
densed, are by the sun's generative heat most of
them hatched, and in three days made living crea-
tures : and these of several shapes and colours ;
some being hard and tough, some smooth and
soft ; some are horned in their head, some in their
tail, some have none : some have hair, some
none : some have sixteen feet, some less, and some
have none : but, as our Topsel hath,
.,, ,.,. , , ,, In his History
with great diligence, observed, those 0f serpents.
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 particular fly or caterpillar,
which it breeds and feeds. I have seen, and may
therefore affirm it, a green caterpillar, or worm, as
big as a small 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
100 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [parti.
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 'tis observable, that as there be these flies-of-
prey which be very large, so there be others, very lit-
tle, created, I think, only to feed them, and breed out
of I know not what : whose life, they say, Nature
intended not to exceed an hour ; and yet that life is
thus made shorter by other flies, or accident.
Tis endless to tell you what the curious search-
ers into Nature's productions have observed of these
worms and flies : but yet I shall tell you what Al-
drovandus, our Topsel, and others, say of the Palmer-
worm or Caterpillar : that whereas others content
themselves to feed on particular herbs or leaves, —
for most think those very leaves that gave them
life and shape, give them a particular feeding and
nourishment, and that upon them they usually
abide; — yet he observes, that this is called a Pil-
grim or Palmer-worm, for his very wandering life
and various food ; not contenting himself, as other
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.
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 101
Nay, the very colours of Caterpillars are, as one
has observed, very elegant and beautiful. I shall,
for a taste of the rest, describe one of them, which
I will 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 fore-
head purple, his feet and hinder parts green, his
tail two forked and black ; the whole body stained
with a kind of red spots which run along the neck
and shoulder-blade, not unlike the form of Saint An-
drew'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 Ca-
terpillar gives over to eat, and towards winter comes
to be covered over with a strange shell or crust,
called an Aurelia ; and so lives a kind
of dead life, without eating all the ^m lg,'J,'''
winter. And, as others of several kinds 728 and 2'.),
, ii-i c a- j in his Natural
turn to be several kinds or flies and mstun,
vermin the spring following, so this
caterpillar then turns to be a painted butterfly.
Come, come, my Scholar, you see the river stops
our morning- walk, and I will also here stop my
discourse : only as we sit down under this honey-
suckle hedge, whilst I look a line to fit the rod that
our brother Peter hath lent you, I shall, for a little
confirmation of what I have said, repeat the obser-
vation of Du Bartas : —
102 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
God, not contented to each kind to give, 6. Day of
And to infuse the virtue generative, Bartas.
By his wise power made many creatures breed
Of lifeless bodies, without Venus' deed.
So the cold humour, breeds the Salamander ;
Who, in effect, like 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 fig Perausta with the flaming wings :
Without the fire it dies ; in it it joys ;
Living in that which all things else destroys.
So, sloiv Bootes underneath him sees ;Tievf , "
Herbal and
In th' icy islands goslings hatch' d of trees ; Camden.
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. 0 transformation strange !
'Twas 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 to those that the Trout
loves best ? and also how to use them ?
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 103
Pise. My honest Scholar, it is now past five of
the clock ; we will fish till nine, and then go to
breakfast. Go you to yonder sycamore-tree, and
hide your bottle of drink under the hollow root of
it ; for about that time, and in that place, we will
make a brave breakfast with a piece of powdered-
beef, and a radish or two that I have in my fish-
bag : we shall, I warrant you, make a good, honest,
wholesome, hungry, breakfast ; and I will then give
you direction for the making and using of your
flies : and in the mean time there is your rod and
line ; and my advice is, that you fish as you see me
do, and let's try which can catch the first fish.
Ven. I thank you, Master, I will observe and
practise your direction, as far as I am able.
Pise. Look you, Scholar ; you see I have hold of
a good fish : I now see it is a Trout. I pray put that
net under him, and touch not my line, for if you
do, then we break all. "Well done, Scholar, I thank
you.
Now for another. Trust me I have another bite.
Come, Scholar, come, lay down your rod, and help
me to land this as you did the other. So, now we
shall be sure to have a good dish of fish to supper.
Ven. I am glad of that; but I have no for-
tune : sure, Master, your's is a better rod and
better tackling.
Pise. Nay, then, take mine, and I will fish with
your's. Look you, Scholar, I have another. Come,
do as vou did before. And now I have a bite at
104 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part I.
another. Oh me ! he has broke all ; there's half a
line and a good hook lost.
Vex. Ay, and a good Trout too.
Pise. Nay, the Trout is not lost ; for pray take
notice, no man can lose what he never had.
Vex. Master, I can neither catch with the first
nor second angle : I have no fortune.
Pise. Look you, Scholar, I have yet another.
And now, having caught three brace of Trouts, I will
tell you a short tale as we walk towards our break-
fast. A scholar, a preacher I should say, that was
to preach to procure the approbation of a parish,
that he might be their lecturer, had got from his
fellow-pupil the copy of a sermon that was first
preached with great commendation by him that
composed it : and though the 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 congregration ; which the sermon-
borrower complained of to the lender of it, and was
thus answered : " I lent you indeed my fiddle, but
" not my fiddlestick ; for you are to know, that every
" one cannot make music with my words, which are
" fitted for my own mouth." And so, my Scholar,
you are to know, that as the ill pronunciation or ill
accenting of words in a sermon spoils it, so the ill
carriage of your line, or not fishing even to a foot
in a right place, makes you lose your labour ; and
you are to know, that though you have my fiddle,
that is, my very rod and tacklings with which you
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 105
see I catch fish, yet you have not my fiddlestick :
that is, you yet have not skill to know how to
earn- 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 troublesome
stream than in a smaller that is quieter : as near as
may be, so much as will sink the bait to the bot-
tom, and keep it still in motion, and not more.
But now let's say grace and fall to breakfast.
What say you, Scholar, to the providence of an old
Angler ? Does not this meat taste well ? and was
not this place well chosen to eat it ? for this syca-
more-tree will shade us from the sun's heat.
Ven. All excellent good ; and my stomach excel-
lent good too. And now I remember, and find that
true, which devout Lessius says, " that poor men, and
" those that fast often, have much more pleasure in
" eating than rich men and gluttons, that always
" feed before their stomachs are empty of their last
" meat, and call for more ; for by that means they
" rob themselves of that pleasure that hunger
" brings to poor men." And I do seriously approve
of that saying of your's, " that you had rather be
" a civil, well-governed, well-grounded, temperate,
" poor Angler, than a drunken lord : " but I hope
106 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
there is none such. However, I am certain of this,
that I have been at many very costly dinners that
have not afforded me half the content that this has
done, for which I thank God and you.
And now, good Master, proceed to your promised
direction for making and ordering my Artificial-fly.
Pise. 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
artificial- made Flies to angle with upon the top of
the water. Note by the way, that the fittest season
of using these, is a blustering windy day, when the
waters are so troubled that the natural-fly cannot
be seen, or rest upon them. The first is the Dun-
fly in March : the body is made of dun wrool, 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 fea-
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 107
thers of a red capon also, which hang dangling on
his sides next to the tail. The fifth is the yellow
or greenish-fly, in May likewise : the body made of
yellow wool, and the wings made of the red cock's
hackle or tail. The sixth is the Black-fly, in May
also : the body made of black wool, and lapped about
with the herle of a peacock's tail ; the wings are
made of the wings of a brown capon with his blue
feathers in his head. The seventh is the Sad-yellow-
fly in June : the body is made of black wool, with a
yellow list on either side, and the wings taken 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 make 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 green-
ish wool, lapped about with the herle of a peacock's
tail ; and the wings made of the wings of the buz-
zard. The twelfth is the Dark-Drake-fly, good in
August : the body made with black wool, lapped
about with black silk ; his wings are made with the
mail of the black-drake, with a black head. Thus
108 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
have you a jury of flies likely to betray and condemn
all the Trouts in the river.
I shall next give you some other directions for
fly-fishing, such as are given by Mr. Thomas Barker,
a gentleman that hath spent much time in fishing :
but I shall do it with a little variation.
First, let your rod be light, and very gentle, I
take the best to be of two pieces : and let not your
line exceed, — especially for three or four links next
to the hook, — I say, not exceed three or four hairs
at the most, though you may fish a little stronger
above in the upper part of your line : but if you
can attain to angle with one hair, you shall have
more rises and catch more fish. Now you must be
sure not to cumber 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 the least offensive to the fish ; for
the sight of any shade amazes the fish, and spoils
your sport, of which you must take a great care.
In the middle of March, till which time a man
should not in honesty catch a Trout ; or in April, if
the weather be dark, or a little windy or cloudy,
the best fishing is with the Palmer- worm, of which
I last spoke to you ; but of these there be divers
kinds, or at least of divers colours : these and the
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 109
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 scissars, 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 was armed ; and, having
made the silk fast, take the hackle of a cock or ca-
pon's neck, or a plover's top, which is usually bet-
ter : take off the one side of the feather, and then
take the hackle, silk, or crewel, gold or silver thread,
make these fast at the bent of the hook, that is to
say, below your arming ; then you must take the
hackle, the silver or gold thread, and work it up to
the wings, shifting or still removing your finger, as
you turn the silk about the hook ; and still looking
at every stop or turn, that your gold, or what ma-
terials soever you make your fly of, do lie right and
neatly, and if you find they do so, then, when you
have made the head, make all fast : and then work
your hackle up to the head, and make that fast :
and then, with a needle or pin, divide the wing into
two ; and then, with the arming silk whip it about
cross-ways betwixt the wings ; and then, with your
thumb you must turn the point of the feather
110 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [parti.
towards the bent of the hook ; and then work three
or four times about the shank of the hook ; and then
view the proportion, and if all be neat and to your
liking, fasten.
I confess, no direction can be given to make a
man of a dull capacity able to make a fly well : and
yet I know this, with a little practice, will help an
ingenious Angler in a good degree : but to see a fly
made by an artist in that kind, is the best teaching
to make it. And, then, an ingenious Angler may
walk by the river and mark what flies fall on the
water that day, and catch one of them, if he see
the Trouts leap at a fly of that kind : and then hav-
ing 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 a 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 co-
loured 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 perfec-
tion, as none can web1 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
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. Ill
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.
Pise. Marry, Scholar, but I would not be there,
nor indeed from under this tree : for look how it
begins to rain, and by the clouds, if I mistake not,
we shall presently have a smoking shower, and
therefore sit close ; this sycamore-tree will shelter
us : and I will tell you, as they shall come into my
mind, more observations of Fly-fishing for a Trout.
But first for the wind, you are to take notice, that
of the winds the South wind is said to be best. One
observes, that
when the wind is South,
It blows your bait into a fish's mouth.
Next to that, the West wind is believed to be the
best : and having told you that the East wind is
the worst, I need not tell you which wind is the
best in the third degree : and yet, as Solomon ob-
serves, Eccles. xi. 4., that " he that considers the
wind shall never sow ; " so he that busies his head
too much about them, if the weather be not made
extreme cold by an East wind, shall be a little su-
perstitious : for as it is observed by some, that
there is no good horse of a bad colour, so I have
observed that if it be a cloudy day, and not extreme
112 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [parti.
cold, let the wind sit in what corner it will, and do
it's 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 a 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 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 make the Oak-fly with an orange-tawnv
and black ground, and the brown of a mallard's
feather for the wings ; and you are to know, that
these two are most excellent flies, that is, the May-
flv 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-
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 113
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 bet-
ter : 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 crewel as will make the Gras-
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 a bright or clear day : and
lastly note, that you are to repair upon any occa-
sion to your magazine-bag ; and upon any occasion
vary, and make them lighter or sadder according to
your fancy or the day.
And now I shall tell you, that the fishing with a
Natural-fly is excellent, and affords much pleasure.
They may be found thus ; the May-fly usually in and
about that month near to the river side, especially
against rain : the Oak- fly on the butt or body of an
oak or ash, from the beginning of May to the end
of Augvst ; it is a brownish fly, and easy to be so
found, and stands usually with his head down-
ward, that is to say, towards the root of the tree :
the small black-fly, or Hawthorn-fly, is to be had
i
114 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [parti.
on any hawthorn bush after the leaves be come
forth : with these and a short line, as I shewed to
angle for a Chub, you may dape or dop, and
also with a grashopper behind a tree, or in any
deep hole ; still making it to move on the top
of the water, as if it were alive, and still keep-
ing yourself out of sight, you shall certainly have
sport if there be Trouts ; yea, in a hot day, but
especially in the evening of a hot day, you will
have sport.
And now, Scholar, my direction for fly-fishing is
ended with this shower, for it has done raining.
And now look about you, and see how pleasantly
that meadow looks ; nay, and the earth smells as
sweetly too. Come, let me tell you what holy Mr.
Herbert says of such days and flowers as these ; and
then we will thank God that we enjoy them, and
"\valk to the river and sit down quietly, and try to
catch the other brace of Trouts.
Siveet 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 it's grave,
And thou must die !
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 115
Sioeet Spring, full of sweet days and roses,
A box where sweets compacted lie ;
My music sheivs you have your closes,
And all must die .'
Only a sweet and virtuous soul,
Like season d timber, never gives,
But when the whole world turns to coal,
Then chiefly lives !
Vex. I thank you, good Master, for your good
direction for fly-fishing, and for the sweet enjoy-
ment of the pleasant day, which is so far spent
without offence to God or man : and I thank you
for the sweet close of your discourse with Mr. Her-
bert's Verses ; who, I have heard, loved Angling :
and I do the rather believe it, because he had a spirit
suitable to Anglers, and to those primitive chris-
tians that you love, and have so much commended.
Pise. Well, my loving Scholar, and I am pleased
to know that you are so well pleased with my di-
rection and discourse.
And since you like these verses of Mr. Herbert's
so well, let me tell you what a reverend and learned
Divine that professes to imitate him, and has in-
deed done so most excellently, hath writ of our
Book of Common-Prayer : which I know you will
like the better, because he is a friend of mine, and
I am sure no enemy to Angling.
116 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [parti.
What :' Pray'r by tKBook? and Common? Yes; why not ?
The Spirit of Grace
And Supplication,
Is not left free alone
For time and place,
But manner too : to read or speak by rote,
Is all alike to him, that prays
Ins heart, what with his mouth he says.
They that in private, by themselves alone
Do pray, may take
What liberty they please.
In choosing of the ways
Wlierein to make
Their soul's most intimate affections known
To Him that sees in secret, when
Th' are most conceal' d from other men.
But he, that unto others leads the way
In public prayer,
Should do it so,
As all that hear may knoiv
They need not fear
To tune their hearts unto his tongue, and say,
Amen ! not doubt they tvere betray' d
To blaspheme, when they meant to have pray'd.
Devotion tvi/l add life unto the letter,
And why should not
That which authority
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 117
Prescribes, esteemed be
Advantage got ?
If th' prayer be good, the commoner the better,
Prayer in the Church's words, as well
As sense, of all prayers bears the bell.
CH. HARVIE.
And now, Scholar, I think it will be time to re-
pair 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 laving 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 sate
as quietly and as free from cares under this syca-
more, as Virgil's Tityrus and his Melibceus did under
their broad beech-tree. No life, my honest Scho-
lar, no life so happy and so pleasant, as the life of
a well-governed Angler ; for when the lawyer is
swallowed up with business, and the statesman
is preventing or contriving plots, then we sit on
cowslip-banks, hear the birds sing, and possess
ourselves in as much quietness as these silent silver
streams, which we now see glide so quietly by us.
Indeed, my good Scholar, we may say of Angling,
as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries ; " Doubtless
" God could have made a better berry, but doubt-
" less God never did : " and so, if I might be judge.
118 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [parti.
" God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent
" recreation, than Angling."
I'll tell you, Scholar, when I sat last on this
primrose-bank, and looked down these meadows, I
thought of them as Charles the Emperor did of the
City of Florence: " That they were too pleasant to
" be looked on, but only on holy-days : " as I then
sat on this very grass, I turned my present thoughts
into verse : 'twas a Wish, which I'll repeat to you.
THE ANGLER'S WISH.
J in these flow 'ry 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 ivest wind
Breathe health and plenty ; please my mind
To see sweet dew-drops kiss these flowers,
And then, wash'd off by April-showers :
* Like Her- Here, hear my Kenna sing * a song ;
mit poor. There, see a black-bird feed her young,
Or a leverock build her nest ;
Here, give my weary spirits rest,
And raise my low-pitch' d thoughts above
Earth, or what poor mortals love :
Thus free from Law-suits, and the noise
Of princes' courts, I would rejoice :
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 119
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 me 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
honey-suckle-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 Beg-
gars. The Gipsies were then to divide all the mo-
ney that had been got that week, either by stealing
linen or poultry, or by fortune-telling, or legerde-
main, 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 commonv/ealth.
And the first or chiefest Gipsy, was by consent
120 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
to have a third part of the twenty shillings ; which
all men know is 6s. 8d.
The second was to have a fourth part of the 20s.
which all men know to be 5s.
The third was to have a fifth part of the 20s.
which all men know to be 4s.
The fourth and last Gipsy, was to have a sixth
part of the 20s. which all men know to be 3s. Ad.
As for example,
3 times C>s. 8d. is 20s.
And so is 4 times 5s 20s.
And so is 5 times 4s 20s.
And so is C times 3s. 4d 20s.
And yet he that divided the money was so very a
gipsy, that though he gave to every one these said
sums, yet he kept one shilling of it for himself.
As for example, s. d.
6 8
5 0
4 0
3 4
make but 19 0
But now you shall know, that when the four Gip-
sies saw that he had got one shilling by dividing
the money, though not one of them knew any rea-
son 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 remain-
ing shilling belonged to him : and so they fell to
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 121
so high a contest about it, as none that knows the
faithfulness of one gipsy to another, will easily be-
lieve ; onlv 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 friends Rook and Shark, and our late English
Gusman to be their arbitrators and umpires. And so
thev left this honey- suckle hedge ; and went to tell
fortunes, and cheat, and get more money and lodg-
ing in the next village.
When these were gone, we heard as high a con-
tention 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 ask-
ing her, how she unripped it, if she let it alone ?
and she confessed herself mistaken. These, and
twenty such- like questions were proposed, and an-
swered with as much beggarly logic and earnest-
ness, 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 poets' nine muses, talked all to-
gether 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 Beg-
122 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
gars-bush created King of their corporation, was
that night to lodge at an ale-house, called Catch-
her-by-thc-way, not far from Walt ham- Cross, and in
the high-road towards London ; and he therefore
desired them to spend no more time ahout that and
such-like questions, but to refer all to father Clause
at night, for he was an upright judge, and in the
mean time draw cuts what song should he next
sung, and who should sing it. They all agreed to
the motion, and the lot fell to her that was the
youngest, and veriest virgin of the company, and
she sung Frank Davison's song, which he made forty
years ago ; and all the others of the company joined
to sing the burthen with her. The ditty was this ;
but first the burthen.
Bright shines the sun, play Beggars, play,
Here's scraps enough to serve to-day.
What noise of viols is so sweet
As when our merry clappers ring ?
What mirth doth ivant when Beggars meet ?
A Beggar's life is for a king :
Eat, drink, and play ; sleep when we list,
Go where we will, — so stocks be mist.
Bright shines the sun, play Beggars, play,
Here's scraps enough to serve to-day.
The world is our's and our's alone
For we alone have world at will ;
We purchase not, all is our own,
Both fields and streets we Beggars fill :
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 123
Nor care to get, nor fear to keep,
Did ever break a Beggar's sleep.
Bright shines the sun, play Beggars, play,
Here's scraps enough to serve to-day.
A hundred herds of black and white
I 'pan our gowns securely feed ;
And yet if any dare us bite,
He dies therefore as sure as creed.
Thus Beggars lord it as they please ;
And only Beggars live at ease.
Bright shines the sun, play Beggars, play,
Here's scraps enough to serve to-day.
Vkn. I thank vou, good Master, for this piece of
merriment, and this song, which was well humoured
by the maker, and well remembered by you.
Pise. But I pray forget not the catch which you
promised to make against night ; for our country-
man, honest Coridon, will expect your catch and
my song, which I must be forced to patch up, for it
is so long since I learned it, that I have forgot a
part of it. But come, now it hath done raining,
let's stretch our legs a little in a gentle walk to
the river, and try what interest our Angles will pay
us for lending them so long to be used by the
Trouts : lent them indeed, like usurers, for our
profit and their destruction.
Ven. Oh me ! look you Master, a fish a fish ! Oh,
alas Master, I have lost her !
Pise. Ay marry, Sir, that was a good fish indeed :
124 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
if I had had the luck to have taken up that rod,
then 'tis twenty to one, he should not have broke
my line by running to the 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 hereafter : 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.
Pise. Trust me, Scholar, I know not what to say
to it. There are many country-people that believe
Hares change sexes every year : And there be very
many learned men think so too, for in their dissect-
ing 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 Incre-
dible things," that Gaspar Peucerus, a learned Phy-
sician, 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
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 125
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.
Ykn. But, Master, will this Trout which I had hold
of die ? for it is like he hath the hook in his belly.
Pise. I will tell you, Scholar, that unless the
hook be fast in his very gorge, 'tis more than pro-
bable 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 log-
ger-headed Chub, and this is not much amiss, for
this will pleasure some poor body, as we go to our
lodging to meet our brother Peter and honest Co-
ridon. Come, now bait your hook again, and lav-
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.
Pise. 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 the Salmon, which I pur-
pose shall be next, and then of the Pike or Luce.
You are to know; there is night as well as day-fish-
ing for a Trout, and that in the night the best Trouts
come out of their holes : and the manner of taking
them is, on the top of the water with a great lob
126 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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 wa-
ter-rat or mouse that swims betwixt him and the
sky ; these he hunts after, if he sees the water but
wrinkle or move in one of these dead holes, where
these great old Trouts usually lie near to their
holds : for you are to note, that the great old Trout
is both subtle and fearful, and lies close all day, and
does not usually stir out of his hold, but lies in it
as close in the day, as the timorous hare does in
her form ; for the chief feeding of either is seldom
in the day, but usually in the night, and then the
great Trout feeds very boldly.
And you must fish for him with a strong line,
and not a little hook ; and let him have time to gorge
your hook, for he does not usually forsake it, as he
oft will in the day-fishing. And if the night be not
dark, then fish so with an artificial-fly of a light
colour, 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 cross the water, or to be in
motion. This is a choice way, but I have not oft used
it because it is void of the pleasures that such days
as these, that we two now enjoy, afford an Angler.
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 127
And you are to know, that in Hampshire, which I
think exceeds all England for swift, shallow, clear,
pleasant brooks, and store of Trouts, they use to
catch Trouts in the night, by the light of a torch
or straw, which when they have discovered, they
strike with a Trout-spear or other ways. This kind
of way they catch very many ; but I would not be-
lieve 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 ?
Pise. 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 ob-
served and demonstrated, as it is by that learned
man, has made me to believe that Eels unbed them-
selves, and stir at the noise of thunder, and not
only, as some think, by the motion or stirring of
the earth which is occasioned bv that thunder.
128 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
And this reason of Sir Francis Bacon, Exper. 792,
has made me crave pardon of one that I laughed at
for affirming', that he knew Carps come to a certain
place in a pond, to he fed, at the ringing of a bell,
or the beating of a drum : and, however, it shall be
a rule for me to make as little noise as I can when
I am fishing, until Sir Francis Bacon be confuted ;
which I shall give any man leave to do.
And, lest you may think him singular in this
opinion, I will tell you, this seems to be believed
by our learned Doctor Hakewill, who in his Apology
of God's Poicer and Providence, 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. hi. 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 won-
derful, seem to have a further confirmation from
Martial, Lib. iv. Epigr. 30, who writes thus :
Piscator fuge ne nocens, etc.
Angler, would 'st thou be guiltless ? then forbear ,
For these are sacred fishes that swim here ;
Who know their sovereign, and will lick his hand:
Than which none's greater in the world's command :
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 129
Nay, more, th'have names, and when they called are,
Do to their several owners' call repair.
All the further use that I shall make of this shall
be, to advise Anglers to be patient, and forbear
swearing, lest they be heard, and catch no fish.
And so I shall proceed next to tell you, it is cer-
tain, that certain fields near Lemster, a Town in
Herefordshire, are observed to make the sheep that
graze upon them more fat than the next, and also
to bear finer wool ; that is to say, that, that year in
which they feed in such a particular pasture, they
shall yield finer wool than they did that year before
they came to feed in it, and coarser again if they
shall return to their former pasture ; and again
return to a finer wool, being fed in the fine-wool
ground. Which I tell you, that you may the better
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 hath joyed me to look on him :
and I have then with much pleasure concluded
with Solomon, " Every thing is beautiful in his
" season." Eccles. iii. 11.
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
K
130
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
[part I.
and feeding, that I desire I may exercise your pa-
tience with a short discourse of him : and then the
next shall he of the Salmon.
■ -
■ ■ • . - .'-.'*,•'*'■
THE FOURTH DAY.
chap. vi. Observations of the Umber or Gratling,
and Directions hoiv to Fish for them.
PlSCATOR.
J. he Umber and Grayling are thought hy some to
differ, as the Herrine; and Pilcher do. But though
chap, vi.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 131
they may do so in other nations, I think those in
England differ nothing but in their names. Aldro-
vandus says, they be of a Trout kind : and Gesner
says that, in his country, which is Switzerland, he
is accounted the choicest of all fish. And in Italy,
he is, in the month of May, so highly valued, that he
is sold then at a much higher rate than any other
fish. The French, which call the Chub un villain,
call the Umber of the lake Leman, un Umble Che-
valier ; and they value the Umber or Grayling so
highly, that they say he feeds on gold ; and say that
many have been caught out of their famous river of
Loire, out of whose bellies grains of gold have been
often taken. And some think that he feeds on
water-thyme, and smells of it at his first taking
out of the water ; and they may think so with as
good reason as we do that our Smelts smell like
violets at their being first caught, which I think is
a truth. Aldrovandus says, the Salmon, the Gray-
ling, 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, is not my
purpose to dispute ; but 'tis certain, all that write
of the Umber declare him to be very medicinable.
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 swarthiness, or anv thing that breeds
132 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part I.
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
vou how to take this daintv 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
flv : though he bites not often at the minnow, and
is very gamesome at the fly, and much simpler,
and therefore bolder than a Trout ; for he will rise
twenty times at a fly, if you miss him, and yet rise
chap, vi.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
133
again. He has been taken with a fly made of the
red feathers of a Parukita, 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 in Trent,
and some other smaller rivers, as that which runs by
Salisbury, yet he is not so general a fish as the Trout,
nor to me so good to eat or to angle for. And so I
shall take mv leave of him, and now come to some
observations of the Salmon, and how to catch him.
134 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
THE FOURTH DAY.
chap. vii. Observations of the Salmon, with Direc-
tions how to Fish for him.
Piscator.
J. he Salmon is accounted the King of Fresh- water
fish, and is ever bred in rivers relating to the sea ;
yet so high, or far from it, as admits of no tincture
of salt, or brackishness. He is said to breed or cast
his spawn, in most rivers, in the month of August :
some say that then they dig a hole or grave in a
safe place in the gravel, and there place their eggs
or spawn, after the melter has done his natural
office, and then hide it most cunningly, and cover
it over with gravel and stones ; and then leave it
to their Creator's protection, who, by a gentle heat
which He infuses into that cold element, makes it
brood and beget life in the spawn, and to become
Samlets early in the spring next following.
The Salmons having spent their appointed time,
and done this natural duty in the fresh waters, they
then haste to the sea before winter ; both the
melter and spawner : but, if they be stopped by
flood-gates or wears, or lost in the fresh waters,
then those so left behind by degrees grow sick,
and lean, and unseasonable, and kipper ; that is to
say, have bony gristles grow out of their lower
chaps, not unlike a hawk's beak, which hinder
their feeding ; and, in time, such fish so left be-
chap, vii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 135
hind pine awav and die. Tis 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 ' tis noted, that those little Salmons called
Skeggers, which abound in many rivers relating to
the sea, are bred by such sick Salmons, that might
not go to the sea, and that though they abound, yet
thev 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 sum-
mer 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 winter, to spend his life in ;
which is not, as Sir Francis Bacon hath observed in
his History of Life and Death, above ten years. And
it is to be observed, that though the Salmon does
grow big in the sea, yet he grows not fat but in fresh
rivers ; and it is observed, that the farther they get
from the sea, they be both the fatter and better.
Next I shall tell you, that though they make very
hard shift to get out of the fresh rivers into the sea,
yet they will make harder shift to get out of the
salt into the fresh rivers, to spawn, or possess the
pleasures that they have formerly found in them : to
which end, they will force themselves through flood-
136 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part I.
gates, or over wears, or hedges, or stops in the wa-
ter, even to a height beyond common belief. Ges-
ner speaks of such places as are known to be above
eight feet high above water. And our Camden men-
tions in his Britannia the like wonder to be in Pem-
brokeshire, where the river Tivy falls into the sea ;
and that the fall is so downright, and so high, that
the people stand and wonder at the strength and
sleight by which they see the Salmon use to get out
of the sea into the said river : aud tbe manner and
height of the place is so notable, that it is known far
by the name of the Salmon-Leap. Concerning which,
take this also out of Michael Drayton, my honest old
friend, as he tells it you in his Polyolbion.
And when the Salmon seeks a fresher stream to find,
Which hither from the Sea comes yearly by his kind ;
As he toivards season grows ; and stems the ivat'ry tract
Where Tivy, falling down, makes an high cataract,
Forc'd 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 does but vainly strive ;
His tail takes in his mouth, and bending like a bote
That's to full co?npass drawn, aloft himself doth throw,
Then springing at his height, as doth a little wand,
That bended end to end, and started from mans 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 ycrking, never leaves until himself he fling
Above the opposing stream.
chap, vri.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 137
This Michael Drayton tells you, of this leap or
summersault of the Salmon.
And, next, I shall tell you, that it is observed by
Gesner and others, that there is no better Salmon
than in England ; and that though some of our
northern countries have as fat and as large as the
river Thames, yet none are of so excellent a taste.
And as I have told you that Sir Francis Bacon ob-
serves, the age of a Salmon exceeds not ten years,
so let me next tell you, that his growth is very
sudden : it is said, that after he is got into the sea,
he becomes, from a Samlet not so big as a Gud-
geon, to be a Salmon, in as short a time as a gos-
ling 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 wears 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 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
138
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
[part I.
that he is more kipper, and less ahle to endure a
winter in the fresh-water, than she is : yet she is at
that time of looking less kipper and hetter, as wa-
tery, and as had meat.
And yet you are to observe, that as there is no
general rule without an exception, so there are
some few rivers in this nation, that have Trouts and
Salmons in season in winter ; as 'tis certain there
be in the river Wye in Monmouthshire, where they
be in season, as Camden observes, from September
till April. But, mv Scholar, the observation of this
and many other things, I must in manners omit,
because they will prove too large for our narrow
compass of time ; and therefore % I shall next fall
upon my direction how to fish for this Salmon.
u fl^->
And for that : First you shall observe, that usually
he stays not long in a place as Trouts will, but, as
I said, covets still to go nearer the spring- head ;
and that he does not as the Trout, and many other
fish, lie near the water-side, or bank, or roots of
chap, vii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 139
trees, but swims in the deep and broad parts of the
water, and usually in the middle, and near the
ground, and that there you are to fish for him ; and
that he is to be caught as the Trout is, with a worm,
a minnow, which some call a Penk, or with a fly.
And you are to observe, that he is very seldom
observed to bite at a minnow, yet sometimes he
will, and not usually at a fly, but more usually at
a worm, and then most usually at a Lob or gar-
den-worm, which should be well scoured, that is to
say, kept seven or eight days in moss before you
fish with them : and if you double your time of
eight into sixteen, twenty, or more days, it is still
the better ; for the worms will still be clearer,
tougher, and more lively, and continue so longer
upon your hook. And they may be kept longer bv
keeping them cool and in fresh moss ; and some
advise to put camphire into it.
Note also, that many use to fish for a Salmon
with a ring of wire on the top of their rod, through
which the line may run to as great a length as is
needful when he is hooked. And to that end, some
use a wheel about the middle of their rod, or near
their hand, which is to be observed better by seeing
one of them, than by a large demonstration of words.
And now I shall tell you, that which may be
called a secret. I have been a-fishing with old
Oliver Henley, now with God, a noted Fisher both
for Trout and Salmon, and have observed, that he
would usually take three or four worms out of his
bag, and put them into a little box in his pocket,
140 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part. i.
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 tbe box in which he put those worms, was
anointed with a drop, or two or three, of the Oil
of Ivy-berries, made by expression or infusion ;
and told, that by the worms remaining in that box an
hour, or a like time, they had incorporated a kind of
smell tbat 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. Tis 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 excel-
lent 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.
chap, vii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 141
" Take the stinking oil drawn out of Polypody
" of the oak by a retort, mixed with turpentine
" and hive-honey, and anoint your bait therewith,
" and it will doubtless draw the fish to it."
The other is this : Vulnera Hederce grandissimce in-
flicta sudant Balsamum oleo gelato, albicantique per-
simile, odoris verb longe suavissimi.
'Tis supremely sweet to any fish, and yet Assa-
fwtida may do the like.
But in these things I have no great faith, yet
grant it probable ; and have had from some chemical
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 Sal-
mon, tell you, that there is more than one sort of
them, as namely, a Tecon, and another called in
some places a Samlet, or by some, a Skegger : but
these and others, which I forbear to name, may be
fish of another kind, and differ, as we know a Herring
and a Pilcher do ; which, I think, are as different, as
the rivers in which they breed, and must by me be
left to the disquisitions of men of more leisure, and
of greater abilities, than I profess myself to have.
And lastly, I am to borrow so much of your pro-
mised patience, as to tell you that the Trout or Sal-
mon 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 beautv, as, I think,
142
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
[part I.
was never given to any woman by the artificial
paint or patches, in which they so much pride them-
selves in this age. And so I shall leave them both,
and proceed to some observations on the Pike.
THE FOURTH DAY.
chap. viii. Observations of the Luce or Pike, with
Directions how to Fish for him.
Piscator.
1 he mighty Luce or Pike is taken to be the Ty-
rant, as the Salmon is the King of the fresh-waters.
Tis not to be doubted but that they are bred, some
chap, vin.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 143
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 gluti-
nous 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 are bred after this manner, or are
brought into some ponds some such other ways as
are past man's finding out, of which we have daily
testimonies.
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 the Second, more than two hun-
dred years before he was last taken, as by the in-
scription 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 bv the
death of so many other fish, even those of their own
kind ; which has made him bv some writers to be
144 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
called the Tyrant of the Rivers, or the Fresh-water-
Wolf, by reason of his bold, greedy, devouring dis-
position ; which is so keen, as Gesner relates, a man
going to a pond, where it seems a Pike had de-
voured 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 Killingworih-\)orid, not
far from Coventry. But I have been assured by my
friend Mr. Seagrave, of whom I spake to you for-
merly that keeps tame Otters, that he hath known
a Pike, in extreme hunger, fight with one of his
Otters for a Carp that the Otter had caught, and
was then bringing out of the water. I have told
you who relate these things, and tell you they are
persons of credit ; and shall conclude this observa-
tion, bv 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 evi-
dent 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
bv degrees ; which is not unlike the ox and some
chap, via.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 145
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 venom-
ous things, as some kind of frogs are, and yet
live without being harmed by them ; for as some say,
he has in him a natural balsam, or antidote against
all poison : and he has a strange heat, that though
it appear to us to be cold, can yet digest, or put
over, any fish-flesh, by degrees, without being sick.
And others observe, that he never eats the venom-
ous frog till he have first killed her, and then, — as
ducks are observed to do to frogs in spawning-
time, — at which time some frogs are observed to be
venomous, — so thoroughly washed her, by tumbling
her up and down in the water, that he may devour
her without danger. And Gesner affirms that a
Polonian gentleman did faithfully assure him, he
had seen two young geese at one time in the belly
of a Pike. And doubtless a Pike, in his height of
hunger, will bite at and devour a dog that swims
in a pond ; and there have been examples of it, or
the like ; for as I told you, " The belly has no ears
" when hunger comes upon it."
The Pike is also observed to be a solitary, me-
lancholy, and a bold fish : melancholy, because he
14C THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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 any
body, 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 a Pike is venomous and hard to
be cured.
And it is observed, that the Pike is a fish that
breeds but once a year, and that other fish, as
namely Loaches, do breed oftener : as we are cer-
tain 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
wanner, and to note, that his manner of breeding
is thus : a he and a she-Pike will usually go toge-
ther out of a river into some ditch or creek, and
that there the spawner casts her eggs, and the
melter hovers over her all that time that she is
casting her spawn, but touches her not.
I might say more of this, but it might be thought
curiosity or worse, and shall therefore forbear it,
chap, viii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 147
and take up so much of your attention, as to tell
you, that the best of Pikes are noted to be in rivers,
next, those in great ponds, or meres, and the worst
in small ponds.
But before I proceed further, I am to tell you
that there is a great antipathy betwixt the Pike and
some frogs : and this may appear to the reader of
Dubravius, a Bishop in Bohemia, who in his book " Of
Fish and Fish-ponds," relates what he says he saw
with his own eyes, and could not forbear to tell the
reader. Which was :
"As he and the Bishop Thurzo were walking by
" a large pond in Bohemia, they saw a Frog, when
" the Pike lay very sleepily and quiet by the shore-
" side, leap upon his head ; and the Frog having
" expressed malice or anger by his swollen cheeks
" and staring eyes, did stretch out his legs and em-
" braced the Pike's head, and presently reached
" them to his eyes, tearing with them and his teeth
" those tender parts : the Pike, moved with an-
" guish, 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 Bi-
" shop, that had beheld the battle, called his fisher-
148 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [parti.
" man to fetch his nets, and by all means to get the
" Pike, that they might declare what had happened :
" and the Pike was drawn forth, and both his eyes
" eaten out ; at which when they began to wonder,
" the fisherman wished them to forbear, and as-
" sured 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 con-
sider, that there be Fishing-Frogs, which the Dal-
matians call the Water-devil, of which I might tell
you as wonderful a story : but I shall tell you, that
'tis not to be doubted, but that there be some Frogs
so fearful of the Water-snake, that, when they swim
in a place in which they fear to meet with him,
they then get a reed across into their mouths, which,
if they two meet by accident, secures the Frog from
the strength and malice of the snake ; and note,
that the Frog usually swims the fastest of the two.
And let me tell you, that as there be Water and
Land-Frogs, so there be Land and Water-snakes.
Concerning which, take this observation, that the
Land-snake breeds and hatches her eggs, which
become young snakes, in some old dunghill, or a
like hot place : but the Water-snake, which is not
venomous, and, as I have been assured by a great
observer of such secrets, does not hatch but breed
her young alive ; which she does not then forsake,
but bides with them, and in case of danger will
chap, viii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
149
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 he past : these
be accidents that we Anglers sometimes see, and
often talk of.
But whither am I going ? I had almost lost my-
self bv remembering the discourse of Dubravius. I
will therefore stop here, and tell you according to
my promise how to catch this Pike.
His feeding is usually of fish or frogs, and some-
times a weed of his own called Pickerel-weed. Of
which I told you some think some Pikes are bred ;
for they have observed, that where none have been
put into ponds, yet they have there found many :
and that there has been plenty of that weed in those
ponds, and that that weed both breeds and feeds
them ; but whether those Pikes so bred will ever
breed by generation as the others do, I shall leave
to the disquisitions of men of more curiosity and
leisure than I profess myself to have : and shall
150 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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, whe-
ther 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 Pearch 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 betwixt the head and the fin on the back,
cut or make an incision, or such a scar, as you may
put the arming wire of your hook into it, with as
little bruising or hurting the fish as art and dili-
gence will enable you to do ; and so carrying your
arming-wire along his back, unto, or near the tail
of your fish, betwixt the skin and the body of it,
draw out that wire or arming of your hook at ano-
ther scar near to his tail : then tie him about it
with thread, but no harder than of necessity to pre-
vent hurting the fish : and the better to avoid hurt-
ing the fish, some have a kind of probe to open the
way, for the more easy entrance and passage of
chap, viii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 151
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 di-
rections how to bait your hook with a Frog.
Ven. But, good Master, did you not say even
now, that some Frogs were venomous, and is it not
dangerous to touch them ?
Pise. 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 myself, a Flesh, and a Fish-
frog. By Flesh-frogs, I mean frogs that breed and
live on the land ; and of these there be several sorts
also, and of several 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, especi-
ally the she -frog of that kind ; yet these will some-
times come into the water, but it is not often : and
the Land-frogs are some of them observed by him,
to breed by laying eggs ; and others to breed of
the slime and dust of the earth, and that in winter
they turn to slime again, and that the next summer
that very slime returns to be a living creature ; this
is the opinion of Pliny. And * Car-
* In his 19th danus undertakes to give a reason for
Book De Sub- . , • • c £ ■, , -c ■.
m ex the raining or frogs : but if it were
in my power, it should rain none but
152 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
Water-frogs, for those I think are not venomous,
especially the right Water-frog, which, ahout Fe-
bruary or March, hreeds in ditches by slime, and
blackish eggs in that slime : about which time of
breeding, the he and she-frogs are observed to use
divers summersaults, and to croak and make a
noise, which the Land-frog, or Padock-frog, never
does. Now of these Water-frogs, if you intend to
fish with a frog for a Pike, you are to choose the
yellowest that you can get, for that the Pike ever
likes best. And thus use your frog, that he may
continue long alive.
Put your hook into his mouth, which you may
easily do from the middle of April till Augtist ; 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 arm-
ing-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 up-
per joint to the armed wire ; and in so doing, use him
as though you loved him, that is, harm him as little
as vou 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,
mv next must be to tell you, how your hook thus
baited must or may be used : and it is thus. Hav-
ing fastened your hook to a line, which if it be not
fourteen yards long, should not be less than twelve,
chap, viii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 153
you are to fasten that line to any bough near to a
hole where a Pike is, or is likely to lie, or to have a
haunt ; and then wind your line on any forked stick,
all your line, except half a yard of it, or rather
more ; and split that forked stick with such a nick
or notch at one end of it, as may keep the line from
any more of it ravelling from about the stick than
so much of it as you intend. And choose your forked
stick to be of that bigness as may keep the fish or
frog from pulling the forked stick under the water
till the Pike bites, and then the Pike having pulled
the line 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 in-
tended 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
154 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
sport presently if there be any store of Pikes : or
these live-baits may make sport, being tied about
the body or wings of a goose or duck, and she
chased over a pond. And the like may be done
with turning three or four live-baits, thus fastened
to bladders, or boughs, or bottles of hay or flags, to
swim down a river, whilst you walk cmietly 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 fish-
ing with live-baits.
And for your dead-bait for a Pike, for that you
may be taught by one day's going a-fishing with
me, or any other body that fishes for him ; for the
baiting your hook with a dead Gudgeon or a Roach,
and moving it up and down the water, is too easy
a thing to take up any time to direct you to do it :
and yet, because I cut you short in that, I will com-
mute 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 there-
with 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 affirm, that any bait anointed with the
marrow of the thigh-bone of an Hern, is a great
temptation to any fish.
These have not been tried by me, but told me by
chap, via.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 155
a friend of note, that pretended to do me a cour-
tesy. 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 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
15G THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [pakt i.
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 break-
ing 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 he kept unbroken and complete. Then, to
the sauce which was within, and also that sauce in
the pan, you are to add a fit quantity of the best
butter, and to squeeze the juice of three or four
oranges : lastly, you may either put into the Pike
with the oysters, two cloves of 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 Thrasymenc in Italy ; and the next, if not
chap, viii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
157
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 Chichester Lobster, a
Shelsey Cockle, and an Amerly Trout.
But I will take up no more of your time with
this relation, but proceed to give you some obser-
vations of the Carp, and how to angle for him, and
to dress him : — but not till he is caught.
% v ' V ' f* ' A;W , .
158 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
THE FOURTH DAY.
chap. ix. Observations of the Carp, with Directions
how to Fish for him.
PlSCATOR.
JL he Carp is the Queen of Rivers : a stately, a good,
and a very subtle, fish, that was not at first bred, nor
hath been long, in England, but is now naturalised.
It is said, they were brought hither by one Mr.
Muscat, a gentleman that then lived at Phtmsted in
Sussex, a County that abounds more with this fish
than any in this nation.
You may remember that I told you, Gesner says,
there are no Pikes in Spain; and doubtless, there
was a time, about a hundred or a few more years
ago, when there were no Carps in England, as may
seem to be affirmed by Sir Richard Baker, in whose
Chronicle you may find these verses.
Hops and Turkies, Carps and Beer,
Came into England all in a yeur.
And doubtless, as of sea-fish the Herring dies
soonest out of the water, and of fresh-water-fish
the Trout, so, except the Eel, the Carp endures
most hardness, and lives longest out of his own
proper element : and, therefore, the report of the
Carp's being brought out of a foreign country into
this nation, is the more probable.
chap, ix.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 159
Carps and Loaches are observed to breed several
months in one year, which Pikes and most other fish
do not. And this is partly proved by tame and wild
rabbits, as also by some ducks, which will lay
eggs nine of the twelve months ; and yet there be
other ducks that lay not longer than about one
month. And it is the rather to be believed, because
you shall scarce or never take a Male- Carp without
a melt, or a female without a roe or spawn, and
for the most part very much ; and especially all the
summer season : and it is observed, that they breed
more naturally in ponds than in running waters, if
they breed there at all ; and that those that live in
rivers, are taken by men of the best palates to be
much the better meat.
And it is observed, that in some ponds Carps will
not breed, especially in cold ponds ; but where they
will breed, they breed innumerably : Aristotle and
Pliny say, six times in a year, if there be no Pikes
nor Pearch to devour their spawn when it is cast
upon grass, or flags, or weeds, where it lies ten or
twelve days before it be enlivened.
The Carp, if he have water-room and good feed,
will grow to a very great bigness and length ; I
have heard, to be much above a yard long. 'Tis
said, by Jovius, who hath writ of fishes, that in the
lake Lurian in Italy, Carps have thriven to be more
than fifty pounds weight ; which is the more proba-
ble, for as the bear is conceived and born suddenly,
and being born is but short-lived, so, on the con-
160 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [parti.
trary, the elephant is said to be two years in his
dam's belly, some think he is ten years in it, and
being born, grows in bigness twenty years ; and
'tis observed too that he lives to the age of a hun-
dred years. And 'tis also observed, that the croco-
dile is very long-lived, and more than that, that all
that long life he thrives in bigness : and so I think
some Carps do, especially in some places ; though I
never saw one above twenty-three inches, which was
a great and goodly fish ; but have been assured there
are of a far greater size, and in England too.
Now, as the increase of Carps is wonderful for
their number, so there is not a reason found out,
I think by any, why they should breed in some
ponds, and not in others, of the same nature for soil
and all other circumstances. And as their breeding,
so are their decays also very mysterious : I have
both read it, and been told by a gentleman of tried
honesty, that 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 own-
er's constant being near to them, it was impossible
they should be stolen away from him : and that when
he has, after three or four years, emptied the pond,
and expected an increase from them by breeding
young ones, — for that they might do so, he had, as
the rule is, put in three melters for one spawner, —
he has, I say, after three or four years, found nei-
ther a young nor old Carp remaining. And the like
I have known of one that has almost watched the
chap, ix.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 161
pond, and at a like distance of time, at the fishing
of a pond, found of seventy or eighty large Carps
not above five or six : and that he had forborne
longer to fish the said pond, but that he saw in a
hot day in summer, a large Carp swim near the
top of the water with a frog upon his head ; and
that he upon that occasion caused his pond to be
let dry : and I say, of seventy or eighty Carps, onlv
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 kill-
ing. And the gentleman that did affirm this to me,
told me he saw it ; and did declare his belief to be,
and I also believe the same, that he thought the
other Carps that were so strangely lost, were so
killed by frogs, and then devoured.
And a person of honour now living, in Worcester-
shire * assured me he had seen a neck- „,._„„
* Mr. Fr. Ru.
lace, or collar of tadpoles, hang like a
chain or necklace of beads about a Pike's neck, and
to kill him : whether it were for meat or malice,
must be to me a question.
But I am fallen into this discourse by accident ;
of which I might say more, but it has proved
longer than I intended, and possibly may not to
you be considerable : I shall therefore give you
three or four more short observations of the Carp,
and then fall upon some directions how you shall
fish for him.
162 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [parti.
The age of Carps is by Sir Francis Bacon, in his
History of Life and Death, observed to be but ten
vears, vet others think they live longer. Gesner
savs, a Carp has been known to live in the Palati-
nate 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, espe-
cially to them that buy them : but Gesner says,
Carps have no tongue like other fish, but a piece
of flesh-like fish in their mouth like to a tongue,
and should be called a palate : but it is certain it
is choicely good, and that the Carp is to be reckoned
amongst those leather-mouthed fish, which I told
you have their teeth in their throat ; and for that
reason he is very seldom lost by breaking his hold,
if vour 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
chap, ix.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 163
upon it, and so it becomes in a short time to be a
living fish : and, as I told you, it is thought the
Carp does this several months in the year ; and most
believe that most fish breed after this manner, ex-
cept the Eel. And it has been observed, that when
the spawner has weakened herself by doing that
natural office, that two or three melters have helped
her from off the weeds by bearing her up on both
sides, and guarding her into the deep. And you
may note, that though this may seem a curiosity
not worth observing, yet others have judged it
worth their time and costs to make glass-hives,
and order them in such a manner as to see how
bees have bred and made their honey-combs, 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 Carps to be very medicinable. But 'tis
not to be doubted but that in Italy they make great
profit of the spawn of Carps, by selling it to the
Jews, who make it into Red Caviare, the Jews not
being by their law admitted to eat of Caviare made
of the Sturgeon, that being a fish that wants scales,
and, as may appear in Levit. xi. 10, by them reputed
to be unclean.
Much more might be said out of him, and out
of Aristotle, which Dubravius often quotes in his
Discourse of Fishes ; but it might rather perplex
164
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
[part I.
than satisfy you ; and therefore I shall rather choose
to direct you how to catch, than spend more time in
discoursing either of the nature or the breeding of
this Carp,
or of any more circumstances concerning him : but
yet I shall remember you of what I told you before,
that he is a very subtle fish, and hard to be caught.
And my first direction is, that if you will fish for
a Carp, you must put on a very large measure of
patience ; especially to fish for a River- Carp : I have
known a very good fisher angle diligently four or
six hours in a day, for three or four 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, that I have told you there
is no rule without an exception ; and therefore be-
chap. ix.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 165
ing 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 earlv
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 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 tooth-ache ; but doubt-
less sweet pastes are best ; I mean pastes made
with honey or with sugar : which, that you may
the better beguile this crafty fish, should be thrown
into the pond or place in which you fish for him,
some hours, or longer, before you undertake your
trial of skill with the angle-rod : and, doubtless, if
it be thrown into the water a day or two before, at
several times and in small pellets, you are the like-
lier when you fish for the Carp to obtain your de-
sired sport. Or in a large pond, to draw them to
any 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
chicken's guts or the like ; and then some of your
small sweet pellets with which you purpose to an-
166 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
gle : 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 sometimes work
them in your hands, your hands being very clean ;
and then make it into a ball, or two, or three, as
you like best for your use ; but you must work
or pound it so long in the mortar, as to make it so
tough as to hang upon your hook without washing
from it, yet not too hard : or that you may the
better keep it on your hook, you may knead with
your paste a little, and not much, white or yellowish
wool.
And if you would have this paste keep all the
year for any other fish, then mix with it virgin-wax
and clarified honey, and work them together with
your hands 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 small piece of scarlet about
this bigness Q , it being soaked in, or anointed
with oil of peter, called by some oil of the rock :
and if your gentles be put two or three days before,
into a box or horn anointed with honey, and so put
upon your hook as to preserve them to be living,
you are as like to kill this crafty fish this way as
any other : but still as you are fishing, chew a
chap, ix.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 167
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, my next
discourse shall be of the Bream, which shall not
prove so tedious ; and therefore I desire the contin-
uance of your attention.
But first I will tell you how to make this Carp,
that is so curious to be caught, so curious a dish
of meat, as shall make him worth all your labour
and patience : and though it is not without some
trouble and charges, yet it will recompense both.
Take a Carp, alive if possible, scour him, and rub
him clean with water and salt, but scale him not :
then open him, and put him with his blood and his
liver, which you must save when you open him,
into a small pot or kettle ; then take sweet-marjo-
ram, 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
168
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
[part I.
on a quick fire, till it be sufficiently boiled : then
take out the Carp, and lay it with the broth into
the dish, and pour upon it a quarter of a pound
of the best fresh butter, melted and beaten with
half a dozen spoonfuls of the broth, the yolks of
two or three eggs, and some of the herbs shred :
garnish your dish with lemons, and so serve it up,
and much good do you ! Dr. T.
THE FOURTH DAY.
chap. x. Observations of the Bream, and Directions
to catch him.
Piscator.
1 he 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
chap, x.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 1G9
likes the water and air, he will grow not onlv to
be very large, but as fat as a hog. He is by Gesner
taken to be more pleasant, or sweet, than whole-
some : this fish is long in growing, but breeds
exceedingly in a water that pleases him ; yea, in
many ponds so fast, as to over-store them, and
starve the other fish.
He is very broad with a forked tail, and his scales
set in 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.
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 re-
maining, 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 incre-
dible as the resurrection to an atheist. But it may
win something in point of believing it, to him that
considers the breeding or renovation of the silk-
worm, and of many insects. And that is considerable
which Sir 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.
170
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
[part i.
But though some do not, yet the French esteem
this fish highlv, and to that end have this proverb,
" He that hath Breams in his pond, is able to bid
" his friend welcome." And it is noted, that the
best part of a Bream is his belly and head.
Some say, that Breams and Roaches will mix their
eggs and melt together, and so there is in many
places a bastard-breed of Breams, that never come
to be either large or good, but very numerous.
The baits good to catch this Bream
are many. First, Paste made of brown bread and ho-
ney, 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 a grashopper with his legs nipped off,
in June and July ; or at several flies, under water,
which may be found on flags that grow near to the
water-side. I doubt not but that there be many
chap, x.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 171
other baits that are good, hut 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-com-
mons, 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
earthen pot or pipkin set dry, and change the moss
fresh every three or four days for three weeks or a
month together ; then your bait will be at the best,
for it will be clear and lively.
2. Having thus prepared your baits, get your
tackling ready and fitted for this sport. Take three
long angling-rods ; and as many and more silk, or
silk and hair, lines, and as many large swan or
goose-quill floats. Then take a piece of lead made
after this manner, and fasten them to
the low-ends of your lines. Then fas-
ten 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,
172 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
for fear of taking the Pike or Pearch, who will as-
suredly visit your hooks, till they be taken out, as
I will shew you afterwards, before either Carp or
Bream will come near to bite. Note also, that when
the worm is well baited, it will crawl up and down,
as far as the lead will give leave, which much en-
ticeth the fish to bite without suspicion.
3. Having thus prepared your baits, and fitted
your tackling, repair to the river, where you have
seen them to swim in skids or shoals in the sum-
mer-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 tum-
bling 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 best. Then consider with yourself whe-
ther that water will rise or fall by the next morn-
ing, by reason of any water-mills near, and accord-
ing to your discretion take the depth of the place,
where you mean after to cast your ground -bait, and
chap, x.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 173
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.
The Ground- Bait.
You shall take a peck, or a peck and a half, ac-
cording to the greatness of the stream, and deepness
of the water, where you mean to angle, of sweet
gross-ground barlev-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
174 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
in the morning, about three or four of the clock,
visit the water- side, but not too near, for they have
a cunning watchman, and are watchful themselves
too.
Then gently take one of your three rods, and
bait your hook, casting it over your ground-bait ;
and gently and secretly draw it to you, till the lead
rests about the middle of the ground-bait.
Then take a second rod and cast in about a yard
above, and your third a yard below the first rod,
and stay the rods in the ground ; but go yourself
so far from the water-side, that you perceive no-
thing 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 possibly you can : if it be a
good Carp or Bream, they will go to the farther
side of the river, then strike gently, and hold your
rod at a bent a little while ; but if you both pull
together, you are sure to lose your game, for either
your line, or hook, or hold, will break : and after
you have 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 fishing, but it is far fitter for experience
and discourse than paper. Only thus much is ne-
chap, x.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 175
cessary for you to know, and to be mindful and
careful of ; that if the Pike or Pearch do breed in
that river, they will be sure to bite first, and must
first be taken. And for the most part they are very
large ; and will repair to your ground-bait, not that
they will eat of it, but will feed and sport them-
selves amongst the young fry that gather about and
hover over the bait.
The way to discern the Pike and to take him,
if you mistrust your Bream-hook, — for I have taken
a Pike a yard long several 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 foot
deep from the cork, with a little red -worm on
the point of the hook ; then take a few crumbs
of white bread, or some of the ground-bait, and
sprinkle it gently amongst your rods. If Mr. Pike
be there, then the little fish will skip out of the
water at his appearance, but the live-set bait is
sure to be taken.
Thus continue your sport from four in the morn-
ing 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 vour
176 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [parti.
ground-bait, and stand off : then, whilst the fish are
gathering together, for there they "will most cer-
tainly 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 thev are the fattest.
Observe lastly, that after three or four days fish-
ing together, your game will be very shy and wary,
and you shall hardly get above a bite or two at a
baiting ; then your only way is to desist from your
sport about two or three days : and in the mean
time, on the place you late baited, and again in-
tend to bait, you shall take a turf of green but short
grass, as big or bigger than a round trencher ; to
the top of this turf, on the green side, you shall,
with a needle and green thred, 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
CHAP. XI.]
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
177
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.
THE FOURTH DAY.
chap. xi. Observations of the Tench, and Advice how
to Angle for him.
Piscatou.
-L he Tench, the Physician of fishes, is observed to
love ponds better than rivers, and to love pits bet-
ter 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
178 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part. i.
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 man. This he says,
was clone 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 at-
tained 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 hum-
ble art teaches no such boldness : there are too
chap, xi.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
179
many foolish medlers in physic and divinity, that
think themselves fit to meddle with hidden secrets,
and so bring destruction to their followers. But
I'll not meddle with them, any farther than to wish
them wiser ; and shall tell you next, for, I hope, I
may be so bold, that the Tench is the physician
of fishes ; for the Pike especially, and that the
Pike, being either sick or hurt, is cured by the
touch of the Tench. And it is observed, that the
tyrant Pike will not be a wolf to his physician,
but forbears to devour him though he be never so
hungry.
This fish, that carries a natural balsam in him
to cure both himself and others, loves yet to feed
in very foul water, and amongst weeds. And yet
I am sure he eats pleasantly, and, doubtless, you
will think so too, if you taste him. And I shall
therefore proceed to give you some few, and but a
few, directions how to catch this Tench,
of which I have given you these observations.
180
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
[part I.
He will bite at a paste made of brown bread and
honev, or at a marsb-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,
witb his head nipped off, and a cod-worm put on
the hook before that worm : and I doubt not but
that he will also in the three hot months, for in the
nine colder he stirs not much, bite at a flag- worm,
or at a green gentle, but can positively say no more
of the Tench, he being a fish that I have not often
angled for, but I wish my honest Scholar may, and
be ever fortunate when he fishes.
chap, xii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 181
THE FOURTH DAY.
chap. xii. Observations of the Pearch, and Direc-
tions how to Fish for him.
Piscator.
JL he 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 so willingly ; and, you may therefore
easily believe him to be a bold biter.
The Pearch is of great esteem in Italy, saith Al-
drovandus ; and especially the least are there esteem-
ed a dainty dish. And Gesner prefers the Pearch
and Pike above the Trout, or any fresh- water fish :
he says, the Germans have this Proverb, " More
" wholesome than a Pearch of Rhine : " and he says
the River-Pearch is so wholesome, that physicians
allow him to be eaten by wounded men, or by men
in fevers, or by women in child-bed.
He spawns but once a year, and is by physicians
held very nutritive ; yet, by many, to be hard of
182 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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 me-
dicinable 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 a deep-
bodied fish, and doubtless durst have devoured a
Pike of half his own length ; for I have told you,
he is a bold fish, such a one as, but for extreme
hunger, the Pike will not devour : for to affright
the Pike, and save himself, the Pearch will set up
his fins, much like as a turkey-cock will some-
times set up his tail.
But, my Scholar, the Pearch is not only valiant
to defend himself, but he is, as I said, a bold-biting
fish, yet he will not bite at all seasons of the year ;
he is very abstemious in 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
XII.]
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
183
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 another ; they being, as he says,
like the wicked of the world, not afraid, though
their fellows and companions perish in their sight.
And you may observe, that they are not like the
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
184 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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 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 my-
self, 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 ano-
ther. Come, come, the other fish, good Master.
Pise. But, Scholar, have you nothing to mix
with this discourse, which now grows both tedious
and tiresome ? Shall I have nothing from you, that
seem to have both a good memory and a cheerful
spirit ?
Ven. Yes, Master, I will speak you a copy of
verses that were made by Doctor Donne, and made to
chap, xii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 185
shew the world that he could make soft and smooth
verses, when he thought smoothness worth his la-
bour ; 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 ivhisp'ring run,
Warm'd by the eyes more than the sun ;
And there the enamel' d fish will stay,
Begging themselves they may betray.
When thou wilt swim in that live bath,
Each fish, which ev'ry channel hath,
Most amourously to thee will swim,
Gladder to catch thee than thou him.
If thou, to be so seen, be'st loath,
By sun or moon, thou dark' nest both ;
And if mine eyes have leave to see,
I need not their light, having thee.
Let others freeze with angling-reeds,
And cut their legs with shells and weeds ;
Or treach'rously poor fish beset
With strangling snares, or windowy net :
Let coarse bold hands, from slimy nest,
The bedded fish in banks outwrest ;
ISC THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
Let curious traitors sleave silk flies,
To 'witch poor wand' ring fishes eyes :
For thee, thou 7ieed'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.
Pise. Well remembered, honest Scholar. I thank
you for these choice verses, which I have heard
formerly, but had quite forgot till they were reco-
vered by your happy memory. Well, being I have
now rested myself a little, I will make you some
requital, by telhng you some observations of the
Eel, for it rains still ; and because, as you say, our
angles are as money put to use, that thrives when
we play, therefore we'll sit still and enjoy ourselves
a little longer under this honey-suckle-hedge.
chap, xm.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 187
THE FOURTH DAY.
chap. xm. Observations of the Eel, and other Fish
that want scales, and how to Fish for them.
PlSCATOR.
It is agreed by most men, that the Eel is a most
dainty fish : the Romans have esteemed her the
Helena of their feasts, and some the Queen of palate-
pleasure. But most men differ about their breed-
ing : some say they breed by generation as other
fish do ; and others, that they breed, as some worms
do, of mud ; as rats and mice, and many other living
creatures, are bred in Egypt, by the sun's heat when
it shines upon the overflowing of the river Nilus ;
or out of the putrefaction of the earth, and divers
other ways. Those that deny them to breed by
generation as other fish do, ask, If any man ever
saw an Eel to have a spawn or melt ? And they are
answered, That they may be as certain of their
breeding as if they had seen them spawn : for they
say, that they are certain that Eels have all parts
fit for generation, like other fish, but so small as
not to be easily discerned, by reason of their fat-
ness, but that discerned they may be, and that the
he and the she Eel may be distinguished by their
fins. And liondeletius says, he has seen Eels cling
together like dew-worms.
And others say, that Eels growing old, breed
188 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
other Eels out of the corruption of their own age,
which, Sir Francis Bacon says, exceeds not ten years.
And others say, that as pearls are made of glutin-
ous dew-drops, which are condensed by the sun's
heat in those countries, so Eels are bred of a par-
ticular 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 Jove. I have seen in the be-
ginning of July, in a river not far from Canterbury,
some parts of it covered over with young Eels,
about the thickness of a straw ; and these Eels did
lie on the top of that water, as thick as motes are
said to be in the sun : and I have heard the 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 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
chap, xiii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 189
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 labo-
rious 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 Em-
peror to be made tame, and so kept for almost
threescore years : and that such useful and pleasant
observations were made of this Lamprey, that Cras-
sus 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 in which they usually are,
but get into the soft earth or mud ; and there many
of them together bed themselves, and live without
feeding upon any thing, as I have told you some
swallows have been observed to do in hollow trees
1'JO THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part r.
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 re-
lates, that in La?icashire , 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 seldem taken in this Nation, and
yet taken sometimes. These several kinds of Eels
are, say some, diversly bred ; as namely, out of the
corruption of the earth, and some by dew, and other
ways, as I have said to you : and yet it is affirmed
by some for a certain, that the Silver Eel is bred
by generation ; but not by spawning as other fish
do, but that her brood come alive from her, being
chap, xiii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 191
then little live Eels 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.
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 any thing,
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 cross the
stream with many hooks at it, and those baited
with the aforesaid baits ; and a clod, or plummet,
or stone, thrown into the river with this line, that
so you may in the morning find it near to some
fixed place, and then take it up with a drag-hook
or otherwise. But these things are, indeed, too com-
mon to be spoken of, and an hour's fishing with
any Angler will teach you better both for these
and many other common things in the practical
192 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
part of Angling, than a week's discourse. I shall
therefore conclude this direction for taking the Eel,
hy telling you that, in a warm day in summer, I
have taken many a good Eel hy Sniffling, and have
been much pleased with that sport.
And because you that are but a young Angler,
know not what Singling is, I will now teach it to
you. You remember I told you that Eels do not
usually stir in the day-time, for then they hide
themselves under some covert, or under boards or
planks about flood-gates, or wears, or mills, or in
holes in the river-banks : so that you, observing
your time in a warm day, when the water is low-
est, may take a strong, small hook, tied to a strong
line, or to a string about a yard long ; and then
into one of these holes, or between any boards
about a mill, or under any great stone or plank,
or any place where you think an Eel may hide or
shelter herself, you may, 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 that if there be an Eel within the
sight of it, the Eel will bite instantly, and as cer-
tainly gorge it : and you need not doubt to have
him, if you pull him not out of the hole too quickly,
but pull him out by degrees ; for he lying folded
double in his hole, will, with the help of his tail,
break all, unless you give him time to be wearied
with pulling, and so get him out by degrees, not
pulling too hard.
chap, xiii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
193
And to commute for your patient hearing this
long direction, I shall next tell you how to make
this Eel
£ 7
■
■
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 fur-
ther : 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 moisture
witbin his skin : and having done this, tie him with
tape or packthread to a spit, and roast him lei-
o
194 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
surely, 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 Peter-
borough river in the year 1667, which was a yard
and three quarters long. If you will not believe
me, then go and see at one of the coffee-houses in
King -street in Westminster.
But now let me tell you, that though the Eel
thus dressed be not only excellent good, but more
harmless than any other way, yet it is certain, that
physicians account the Eel dangerous meat ; I will
advise you therefore, as Solomon says of honey,
Prov. xxv. 16, " Hast thou found it, eat no more
" than is 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, that Aldrovandus and divers physicians,
commend the Eel very much for medicine, though
not for meat. But let me tell you one observation ;
that the Eel is never out of season, as Trouts and
most 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 fre-
chap, xin.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 195
quent both the sea and fresh rivers ; as namely,
the Lamprel, the Lamprey, and the Lamperne ,- as
also of the mightv Conger, taken often in Severn
about Gloucester : and might also tell in what high
esteem many of them are for the curiosity of their
taste. But these are not so proper to be talked of
by me, because they make us Anglers no sport,
therefore I will let them alone as the 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 Lan-
cashire 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 ex-
ceeds fifteen or sixteen inches in length, and 'tis
spotted like a Trout, and has scarce a bone but on
the hack. But this, though I do not know whether
196
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
[PART I.
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 Cam-
den, and others speak. The river Dee, which runs
by Chester, springs in Merionethshire ; and, as it runs
toward Chester, it runs through Pemble-Mere, which
is a large water : and it is observed, that though
the river Dee abounds with Salmon, and Pemble-
Mere with the Guiniad, yet there is never any Sal-
mon caught in the mere, nor a Guiniad in the river.
And now my next observation shall be of the Barbel.
chap, xiv.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 197
THE FOURTH DAY.
chap. xiv. Observations of the Barbel, and Direc-
tions how to Fish for him.
PlSCATOR.
J. he Barbel is so called, says Gesner, by reason of
his barb or wattels at his mouth, which are under
his nose or chaps. He is one of those leather-
mouthed fishes that I told you of, that does very
seldom break his hold if he be once hooked : but
he is so strong, that he will often break both rod
and line, if he proves to be a big one.
But the Barbel, though he be of a fine shape, and
looks big, yet he is not accounted the best fish to
eat, neither for his wholesomeness nor his taste :
but the male is reputed much better than the fe-
male, whose spawn is very hurtful, as I will pre-
sently 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 the water, and in summer
they love the shallowest and sharpest streams ; and
love to lurk under weeds, and to feed on gravel
against a rising ground, and will root and dig in
the sands with his nose like a hog, and there nests
himself : yet sometimes he retires to deep and swift
bridges, or flood-gates, or wears, where he will nest
198 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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 themselves in the sun ; but at the approach of
winter, then he forsakes the swift streams and
shallow waters, and by degrees retires to those parts
of the river that are quiet and 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 Da-
nube, 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 na-
tion : but thus far we agree with him, that the
spawn of a Barbel, if it be not poison, as he says,
yet that it is dangerous meat, and especially in the
month of May ; which is so certain, that Gesner and
Gasius declare, it had an ill effect upon them, even
to the endangering of their lives.
This fish is of a fine cast and handsome shape,
with small scales, which are placed after a most
chap, xiv.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
199
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 re-
puted 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 endan-
ger 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 Industria Animalium ; and also so cunning to
nibble and suck off your worm close to the hook,
and yet avoid the letting the hook come into his
mouth.
The Barbel is also curious for his baits, that is
to say, that 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
200 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
boldly as at any bait, and specially, if, tbe night or
two before you fish for him, you shall bait the places
where you intend to fish for him, with big worms
cut into pieces : and note, that none did ever over-
bait the place, nor fish too early or too late for a
Barbel. And the Barbel will bite also at gentles,
which not being too much scoured, but green, are
a choice bait for him ; and so is cheese, which is
not to be too hard, but kept a day or two in a wet
linen cloth to make it tough : with this you may also
bait the water a day or two before you fish for the
Barbel, and be much the likelier to catch store :
and if the cheese were laid in clarified honey a short
time before, as namely, an hour or two, you were
still the likelier to catch fish. Some have directed
to cut the cheese into thin pieces, and toast it, and
then tie it on the hook with fine silk : and some
advise to fish for the Barbel with sheep's tallow and
soft cheese beaten or worked into a paste, and
that it is choicely good in August, and I believe it :
but doubtless the Lob-worm well scoured, and the
gentle not too much scoured, and cheese ordei-ed
as I have directed, are baits enough ; and I think
will serve in any month ; though I shall commend
any Angler that tries conclusions, and is industrious
to improve the art. And now, my honest Scholar,
the long shower and my tedious discourse are both
ended together : and I shall give you but this ob-
servation, that when you fish for a Barbel, your rod
and line be both long, and of good strength ; for, as
I told you, you will find him a heavy and a dogged
chap, xiv.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 201
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 Bar-
bel, 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's go and see what interest the Trouts
will pay us for letting our Angle-rods lie so long,
and so quietly, in the water, for their use. Come,
Scholar, which will you take up ?
Ven. Which you think fit, Master.
Pise. Whv, you shall take up that ; for I am
certain by viewing the line, it has a fish at it. Look
you, Scholar ! Well done ! Come now, take up the
other too ; well ! Now you may tell my brother Peter
at night, that you have caught a leash of Trouts
this day. And now let's move toward our lodging,
and drink a draught of Red-cow's milk as we go,
and give pretty Maudlin and her honest mother a
brace of Trouts for their supper.
Ven. Master, I like your motion very well; and
I think it is now about milking-time, and yonder
they be at it.
Pise. 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.
Milkw. Marry, and that you shall with all my
heart, and I will be still your debtor when you come
202
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
[part I.
this way : if you will but speak the word I will
make you a good syllabub, of new verjuice, and
then you may sit down in a hay-cock and eat it;
and Maudlin shall sit by and sing you the good old
song of the Hunting in Chevy Chace, or some other
good ballad, for she hath store of them. Maudlin,
my honest Maudlin, hath a notable memory, and she
thinks nothing too good for you, 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 warn-
ing, 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.
Pise. I will, honest Scholar.
chap, xv.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 203
THE FOURTH DAY.
chap. xv. Observations of the Gudgeon, the Ruffe,
and the Bleak, and how to Fish for them.
Piscator.
J. he 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 an excellent fish to enter a young Angler, be-
ing easy to be taken with a small red-worm, on, or
very near to the ground. He is one of those leather-
mouthed fish that has his teeth in his throat, and will
hardly be lost from off the hook if he be once strucken.
They be usually scattered up and down every river in
the shallows, in the heat of summer ; but in autumn,
204
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
[part I.
when the weeds begin to grow sour or rot, and the
weather colder, then they gather together, and get in-
to the deeper parts of the water ; and are to be fished
for there, witli 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 run-
ning-line upon the ground, without a cork, as a Trout
is fished for, and it is an excellent way, if you
have a gentle rod and as gentle a hand.
There is also another fish called a Pope, and by
some a Ruffe; a fish that is not known to be in some
~<=ct£
-^Jjj
s?<V
rivers : he is much like the Pearch for his shape, and
taken to be better than the Pearch, 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 liej abundance of
them together, in one reserved place, where the
water is deep, and runs quietly ; and an easy Angler,
if he has found where they lie, may catch forty or
fifty, or sometimes twice so many, at a standing.
chap, xv.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 205
You must fish for him with a small red worm,
and if you bait the ground with earth, it is excellent.
There is also a Bleak, or Fresh-water-Sprat, a
fish that is ever in motion, and therefore called by
some the River- Swallow ; for just as you shall ob-
serve the swallow to be, most evenings in summer,
ever in motion, making short and quick turns when
he flies to catch flies in the air, by which he lives, 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 An-
chovies. This fish may be caught with a Pater-noster
line ; that is, six or eight very small hooks tied along
the line, one half a foot above the other : I have seen
five caught thus at one time, and the bait has been
gentles, than which none is better.
Or this fish may be caught with a fine small
artificial fly, which is to be of a very sad brown
colour, and very small, and the hook answerable.
206
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
[part i.
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 hazle top about five or
six foot long, and a line twice the length of the
rod. I have heard Sir Henry Wotton say, that there be
many that in Italy will catch swallows so, or especially
martins, this Bird-Angler standing on the top of a
steeple to do it, and with a line twice so long as I
have spoken of : and let me tell you, Scholar, that
both 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 a small gud-
geon. The line and hook must be strong, and tied
to some loose staff, so big as she cannot fly away
with it ; a line not exceeding two yards.
chap, xvi.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 207
THE FOURTH DAY.
chap. xvi. Is of nothing ; or that which is nothing
worth.
Piscator.
JVLy 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 yonder 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
any thing 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 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 unplea-
208 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
sant day, and yet I have caught but five Trouts :
for indeed we went to a good honest ale-house, and
there we played at shovel-board half the day ; all
the time that it rained we were there, and as merry
as they that fished. And I am glad we are now with
a dry house over our heads ; for, hark ! how it rains
and blows. Come Hostess, give us more ale, and
our supper with what 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.
Pise. 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.
Pise. Well then, here's to you, Coridon; and
now for my song.
Oh ! the gallant fisher's life,
It is the best of any ;
'Tisfull of pleasure, void of strife,
And 'tis beloved by many :
Other joys
Are but toys,
chap, xvi.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 209
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.
mien 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.
210 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [parti.
We have gentles in a horn,
We have paste and worms too ;
We can watch both night and morn,
Suffer rain and storms too.
None do here
Use to swear,
Oaths do fray
Fish away ;
We sit still,
And watch our quill ;
Fishers must not wrangle.
If the suns excessive heat
Make our bodies swelter,
To an osier -hedge we get
For a friendly shelter ;
Where in a dike
Pearch or Pike,
Roach or Dace,
We do chase,
Bleak or Gudgeon
Without grudging ;
We are still contented.
Or we sometimes pass an hour
Under a green willow ;
That defends us from a shower,
Making earth oar pillow ;
Where we may
Think and pray,
chap, xvi.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 211
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 night'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 ?
Pise. 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 in-
vention, 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, without replications, let's hear your catch,
Scholar ; which I hope will be a good one, for you
are both musical and have a good fancy to boot.
Ven. Marry, and that you shall ; and as freely as
I would have my honest Master tell me some more
secrets of fish and fishing as we walk and fish to-
wards London to-morrow. But, Master, first let me
tell you that, that very hour which you were absent
from me, I sat down under a willow-tree by the
212 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [parti.
water-side, and considered what you had told me
of the owner of that pleasant meadow in which you
then left me : that he had a plentiful estate, and
not a heart to think so ; that he had at this time
many 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 there
sit quietly ; and, looking on the water, see some
fishes sport themselves in the silver streams, others,
leaping at flies of several shapes and colours ; look-
ing 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 culverkeyes and
cowslips, all to make garlands suitable to this pre-
sent 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 plea-
sant groves and meadows about me, I did thank-
fully remember what my Saviour said, that the Meek
possess the earth ; or rather, they enjoy what the other
possess and enjoy not : for Anglers, and meek, quiet-
spirited men, are free from those high, those rest-
chap, xvi.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 213
less thoughts, which corrode the sweets of life ; and
they, and they only, can say, as the poet has hap-
pily expressed it —
Hail ! blest estate of lowliness !
Happy enjoyments of such minds,
As, rich in self-contentedness,
Can, like the reeds in roughest winds,
By yielding make that blow but small,
At which proud oaks and cedars fall.
There came also into my mind at that time, cer-
tain verses in praise of a mean estate and an humble
mind : they were written by Phineas Fletcher, an ex-
cellent Divine, and an excellent Angler, and the
author of excellent Piscatory Eclogues, in which
you shall see the picture of this good man's mind ;
and I wish mine to be like it.
No empty hopes, no courtly fears him fright,
No begging wants, his middle-fortune bite,
But sweet content exiles both misery and spite.
His certain life, that never can deceive him,
Is full of thousand sweets, and rich content ;
The smooth-leav'd beeches in the field receive him
With coolest shade, till noon-tide's heat be spent :
His life, is neither toss'd in boisterous seas,
Or the vexatious world, or lost in slothful ease :
Pleas' d and full blest 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 ;
214 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
His little son, into his bosom creeps,
The lively picture of Ids father s face .
His humble house or poor state ne'er torment him ;
Less he could like, if less his God had letit 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 there made a conver-
sion of a piece of an old catch, and added more
to it, fitting1 them to be sung by us Anglers. Come,
,,, , , Master, vou can sins? well; you must
7/ ords and ' - => J
Music in sing a part of it as it is in this pa-
tln> Notes.
per.
Pet. I marry, Sir, this is music indeed ! This has
cheered my heart, and made me to remember six
verses in Praise of Music, which I will speak to you
instantly.
Music ! miraculous rhetoric ! that speak' st sense
Without a tongue, excelling eloquence ;
With what ease might thy errors be excus'd,
Wert thou as truly lov'd as thou'rt abus'd !
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
Music, have called to my memory what Mr. Edmund
Waller, a Lover of the Angle, says of Love and Music.
Whilst I listen to thy voice,
Chloris, I feel my heart decay ;
That powerful voice
Calls my fleeting soul away :
chap, xvi.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 215
Oh ! suppress that magic sound,
Which destroys without a wound.
Peace, Chloris, peace ; or singing die,
That together you and I
To heaven may go :
For all we know
Of xvhat the blessed do above
Is, that they sing, and that they love.
Pise. 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 tother cup and to bed, and
thank God we have a drv house over our heads.
Pxsc. Well now, Good night to every body.
Pet. And so say I.
Ven. And so say I.
Cor. Good night to you all ; and I thank you.
Pise. Good morrow, Brother Peter ! and the like
to you, honest Coridon. Come, my Hostess says
there is seven shillings to pay : let's each man drink
a pot for his morning's draught, and lay down bis
two shillings ; that so my Hostess may not have oc-
casion to repent herself of being so diligent, and
using us so kindly.
Pet. The motion is liked by every body, and so
Hostess, here's your money : We Anglers are all
216
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
[part I.
beholden to you ; it will not be long ere I'll see
you again. And now Brother Piscator, I wish you
and my Brother, your Scholar, a fair day and good
fortune. Come Coridon, this is our way.
THE FIFTH DAY.
chap. xvii. Of Roach and Dace, and how to Fish for
them ; and of Cadis.
Venator.
(jood 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
chap, xvii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 217
will keep them all very safe, there shall not one of
them be lost.
Pise. Well, Scholar, that I will : and I will hide
nothing from you that I can remember, and can
think may help you forward towards a perfection
in this art. And because we have so much time,
and I have said so little of Roach and Dace, I will,
give you some directions concerning them.
Some say the Roach is so called, from rutilus,
which, they say, signifies red fins. He is a fish of
no great reputation for his dainty taste ; and his
spawn is accounted much better than any other
part of him. And you may take notice, that as the
Carp is accounted the water-fox, for his cunning ;
so the Roach is accounted the water- sheep for his
simplicity or foolishness. It is noted that the Roach
and Dace recover strength, and grow in season in
a fortnight after spawning ; the Barbel and Chub
in a month ; the Trout in four months ; and the Sal-
mon 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
218
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
[part I.
scattered in many rivers, but I think not in the
Thames, which I believe affords the largest and fat-
test in this nation, especially below London-bridge.
The Roach is a leather-mouthed fish, and has a kind
of saw-like teeth in his throat. And lastly, let
me tell you, the Roach makes an Angler excellent
sport, especially the great Roaches about 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 cadis : in the very hot months with little white
snails, or with flies under water, for he seldom
takes them at the top, though the Dace will. In
many of the hot months, Roaches may also be
caught thus : Take a May-fly or Ant-fly, sink him
chap, xvn.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
219
with a little lead to the bottom near to the piles
or posts of a bridge, or near to any posts of a wear,
I mean any deep place where Roaches lie quietly,
and then pull your fly up very leisurely, and usually
a Roach will follow your bait to the very top of the
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 some-
times a Dace or Cbub. 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 the Dace or Dare,
for they be much of a kind, in matter of feeding,
cunning, goodness, and usually in size. And there-
fore take this general direction for some other baits
which mav concern vou to take notice of. They
220 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
will bite almost at any fly, but especially at Ant-
flies ; concerning which take this direction, for it is
very good.
Take the blackish Ant-fly out of the mole-hill or
ant-hill, in which place you shall find them in the
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 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 quar-
ter 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 All-
hallontide, and so till frost comes, when you see
men ploughing up heath-ground, or sandy ground,
chap, xvii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 221
or green- swards, 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 watch-
ful and follow the plough very close ; it is all soft,
and full of whitish guts : a worm that is in Norfolk,
and some other counties, called a Grub, and is bred
of the spawn or eggs of a beetle, which she leaves
in holes that she digs in the ground under cow or
horse-dung, and there rests all winter, and in March
or April, comes to be first a red, and then a black
beetle : gather a thousand or two of these, and put
them with a peck or two of their own earth, into
some tub or firkin, and cover and keep them so
warm that the frost, or cold air or winds, kill them
not : these you may keep all winter, and kill fish
with them at any time ; and if you put some of
them into a little earth and honey a day before you
use them, you will find them an excellent bait for
Bream, Carp, or indeed for almost any fish.
And after this manner you may also keep gentles
all winter, which are a good bait then, and much
the better for being lively and tough. Or you may
breed and keep gentles thus : take a piece of beast's
liver, and with a cross stick, hang it in some cor-
ner 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.
222 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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 tbese
you may dig up at any time when you intend to use
them : these will last till March, and about that
time turn to be flies.
But if you be nice to foul your fingers, which
good Anglers seldom are, then take this bait : get
a handful of well made malt, and put it into a dish
of water, and then wash and rub it 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 feeling it betwixt your finger and
thumb ; and when it is soft, then put your water
from it : and then take a sharp knife, and turning
the sprout- end of the corn upward, with the point
of your knife take the back part of the husk off
from it, and yet leaving a kind of inward husk on
the corn, or else it is marred ; and then cut off that
sprouted end, I mean a little of it, that the white
may appear, and so pull off the husk on the cloven
side, as I directed you ; and then cutting off a very
little of the other end, that so your hook may en-
ter ; and, if your hook be small and good, you will
chap, xvii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 223
find this to be a very choice bait, either for winter
or summer, you sometimes casting a little of it
into the place where vour float swims.
And to take the Roach and Dace, a good bait is
the voung brood of wasps or bees, if you dip their
heads in blood ; especially 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 grow-
ing 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 remem-
ber I once carried a small bottle from Sir George
Hustings to Sir Henry Wotton, they were both che-
mical 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 expect-
ation of Sir Henry ; which, with the help of this
and other circumstances, makes me have little be-
lief in such things as many men talk of. Not but
that I think fishes both smell and hear, as I have
expressed in my former discourse : but there is a
mysterious knack, which, though it be much easier
than the philosopher's stone, yet is not attainable
by common capacities, or else lies locked up in the
224 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
brain or breast of some cbemical man, that like the
Rosicrucians, will not yet reveal it. But let me
nevertheless tell you, that camphor, put with moss
into your worm-bag with your worms, makes them,
if many Anglers be not very much mistaken, a
tempting bait, and the Angler more fortunate. But
I stepped by chance into this discourse of oils, and
fishes smelling; and though there might be more
said, both of it and of baits for Roach and Dace,
and other float-fish, yet I will forbear it at this
time, and tell you in the next place how you are to
prepare your tackling : 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 rvhetstone 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 vourself;
/ hare heard that
the tackling hath and to that purpose I will go with
been priced at either to Mr. Margrave, who
Fifty pounds, in J .
the Inventory of dwells amongst the booksellers in
an Angler. gt< pauVs Church-yard, or to Mr.
John Stubbs, near to the Swan in Golding-lane ; they
chap, xvii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 225
be both, honest men, and will fit an Angler with
what tackling he lacks.
Ven. Then, good Master, let it be at
for he is nearest to my dwelling, and I pray let's
meet there the ninth of May next, about two of the
clock ; and I'll want nothing that a fisher should be
furnished with.
Pise. Well, and I'll not fail you, God willing, at
the time and place appointed.
Ven. I thank you, good Master, and I will not
fail you. And, good Master, tell me what baits
more vou 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.
Pise. Well, Scholar, and I shall be then right
glad to hear them. And I will, as we walk, tell you
whatsoever comes in my mind, that I think may be
worth your hearing. You may make another choice
bait thus : Take a handful or two of the best and
biggest wheat you can get ; boil it in a little milk,
like as frumity is boiled ; boil it so till it be soft,
and then fry it very leisurely with honey and a little
beaten saffron dissolved in milk ; and you will find
this a choice bait, and good I think for any fish,
especially for Roach, Dace, Chub, or Grayling : I
know not but that it may be as good for a River-
Q
226 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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, mul-
berries 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 fruit customarily dropped into it. And there be
a hundred other baits, more than can be well named ;
which, by constant baiting the water, will become
a tempting bait for any fish in it.
You are also to know, that there be divers kinds
of Cadis, or Case-worms, that are to be found in this
nation in several distinct counties, and in several
little brooks that relate to bigger rivers : as namely,
one Cadis called a Piper, whose husk or case is a
piece of reed about an inch long, or longer, and as
big about as the compass of a two-pence. These
worms being kept three or four days in a woollen
bag with sand at the bottom of it, and the bag wet
once a day, will in three or four days turn to be
yellow ; and these be a choice bait for the Chub or
Chavender, or indeed for any great fish, for it is a
large bait.
There is also a lesser Cadis- worm, called a 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
chap, xvii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 227
slime, most curiously made of these, even so as to
be wondered at ; but not to be made by man no
more than a King- Fisher's nest can, which is made
of little fishes' bones, aud have such a geometrical
interweaving and connection, as the like is not to
be done by the art of man. This kind of Cadis is a
choice bait for any fioat-fish ; it is much less than
the Piper-Cadis, and to be so ordered ; and these
mav be so preserved, ten, fifteen, or twenty, days,
or it may be longer.
There is also another Cadis, called by some a
Straw-ivorm, and by some a Ruff-coat ; whose house
or case is made of little pieces of bents, and rushes,
and straws, and water-weeds, and I know not what ;
which are so knit together with condensed slime,
that they stick about her husk or case, not unlike
the bristles of a hedgehog. These three Cadises
are commonly taken in the beginning of summer ;
and are good, indeed, to take any kind of fish, with
float or otherwise. I might tell you of many more,
which as these do early, so those have their time
also of turning to be flies later in summer ; but I
might lose 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 Cadis turns, and then how to use
them, first as they be Cadis, and after as they be
flies, is an art, and an art that every one that pro-
fesses to be an Angler has not leisure to search
after ; and, if he had, is not capable of learning.
228 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
I'll tell you, Scholar, several countries have se-
veral kinds of Cadises, that indeed differ as much
as dogs do : that is to say, as much as a very cur
and a greyhound do. These be usually bred in the
very little rills or ditches that run into bigger ri-
vers ; and, I think, a more proper bait for those very
rivers, than any other. I know not, or of what,
this Cadis receives life, or what 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 yel-
low Cadis : pull off his head, and with it pull out his
black gut ; put the body, as little bruised as is pos-
sible, on a very little hook, armed on with a red
hair, which will shew like the Cadis-head ; and a
very little thin lead, so put upon the shank of the
hook that it may sink presently. Throw this bait,
thus ordered, which will look very yellow, into any
great still hole where a Trout is, and he will pre-
sently venture his life for it, 'tis not to be doubted,
if you be not espied ; and that the bait first touch
the water, before the line : and this will do best in
the deepest stillest water.
Next let me tell you, I have been much pleased
to walk quietly by a brook with a little stick in my
hand, with which I might easily take these and
consider the curiosity of their composure : and if
you shall ever like to do so, then note, that your
stick must be a little hazel or willow ; cleft, or have
a nick at one end of it, by which means you may
chap, xvn.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
229
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 prac-
tice, and an ambition to be the best in the art that
must do it. I will 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.
r
230
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
[part I.
THE FIFTH DAY.
chap. win. Of the Minnow or Penk, of the Loach,
and of the Bull-Head, or Millek's-Thumb.
Piscator.
There be also three or four other little Fish that
I had almost forgot,
that all are without scales ; and may, for excellency
of meat, be compared to any fish of greatest value,
and largest size. They be usually full of eggs or
s*pawn all the months of summer ; for they breed
often, as 'tis 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 per-
chap, xviii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 231
fection. And it is needful that they breed both often
and numerously ; for they be, besides other accidents
of ruin, both a prey and baits for other fish. And
first I shall tell vou of the Minnow or Penk.
The Minnow hath, when he is in perfect season
and not sick, which is only presently after spawning,
— a kind of dappled or waved colour, like to a pan-
ther, on his sides, inclining to a greenish and sky-co-
lour, 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 Min-
now-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 tansie ; 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 fin-
ger 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 wattels like a Barbel. He
has two fins at his sides, four at his belly, and one
at his tail ; he is dappled with many black or brown
spots ; his mouth is Barbel-like under his nose. This
fish is usually full of eggs or spawn, and is by Ges-
ner, and other learned physicians, commended for
232 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
great nourishment, and to be very grateful both to
the palate and stomach of sick persons. He is to be
lished for with a very small worm at the bottom ;
for he very seldom or never rises above the gravel,
on which, I told you, he usually gets his living.
The Miller's-Thumb or Bull-head, is a fish of
no pleasing shape. He is by Gesner compared to the
Sea-toad-fish, for his similitude and shape. It has
a head, big and flat, much greater than suitable to
his body ; a mouth very wide and usually gaping.
He is without teeth, but his lips are very rough,
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,
brownish spots. They be usually full of eggs or
spawn all the summer, I mean the females ; and
those eggs swell their vents almost into the form of
a dug. They begin to spawn about April, and, as I
told vou, 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 cuc-
koo and swallow, and other half-year-birds, which
first appear to us in April, spend their six cold,
winter, melancholy, months. This Bull- Head does
usually dwell and hide himself in holes, or amongst
stones, in clear water : and in very hot clays will
lie a long time very still, and sun himself, and will
be easy to be seen upon any flat stone, or any gra-
chap, xviii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 233
vel ; at -which time he will suffer an Angler to put a
hook baited with a small worm, very near unto his
very mouth : and he never refuses to bite, nor indeed
to he caught with the worst of Anglers. Matthiolus
commends him much more for his taste and nou-
rishment, than for his shape or beauty.
There is also a little 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 Trouts
in particular, who will bite at him as at a Penk ; and
better, if your hook be rightly baited with him :
for he may be so baited as, his tail turning like the
sail of a windmill, will make him turn more quick
than any Penk or Minnow can. For note, that the
nimble turning of that, or the Minnow, is the per-
fection 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 does 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 straight on your hook, until it will turn
both true and fast : and then doubt not but to tempt
any great Trout that lies in a swift stream. And the
234
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
[part I.
Loach that I told you of, will do the like : no bait i*
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, con-
cerning most of the several fish that are usually
fished for in fresh-waters.
Ven. But, Master, you have, by your former civi-
lity, 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.
-^f'/r.
chap, xix.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 235
THE FIFTH DAY.
chap. xix. Of several Rivers, and some Observations
of Fish.
PlSCATOR.
\\ ell, 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 Three hundred and
twenty-five ; but those of chiefest note he reckons
and describes as followeth.
The chief is Thamisis, compounded of two rivers,
Thame and Isis ; whereof the former, rising some-
what beyond Thame in Buckinghamshire, and the
latter near Cirencester in Gloucestershire, meet toge-
ther about Dorchester in Oxfordshire ; the issue of
which happy conjunction is the Thamisis, or Thames.
Hence it flieth betwixt Berks, Buckinghamshire, Mid-
dlesex, Surrey, Kent and Essex, and so weddeth him-
self 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.
236 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
We saiv 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 Sabrina or Severn.
It hath its beginning in Plinilimmon-Hill in Mont-
gomeryshire, 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 his fountain in Staffordshire, and
gliding through the counties of Nottingham, Lin-
coln, Leicester, and York, augmenteth 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 ra-
ther the mouth, or cestuarium, of divers rivers here
confluent and meeting together ; namely, your Der-
went, and especially of Ouse and Trent : and (as the
Danow, having received into its channel the rivers
Dravus, Savus, Tibiscus, and divers others) changeth
his name into this of Humberabus, as the old geo-
graphers call it.
4. Med way, a Kentish river, famous for harbour-
ing the Royal-navy.
5. Tweed, the north east bound of England, on
whose northern banks is seated the strong and im-
pregnable town of Berwick.
chap, xix.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 237
6. Tyne, famous for Newcastle, and her inexhaust-
ible 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 prais'd;
The crystal Trent for fords and fish renown d ;
And Avon's fame to Albion's cliffs is rais'd.
Carlegion- Chester vaunts her holy Dee ;
York many ivonders of her Ouse can tell ;
The Peak her Dove, whose banks so fertile be,
And Kent will say her Medway doth excel.
Cotswold commends her Isis to the Thame ;
Our northern borders boast of Tweed's fair flood ;
Our western parts extoll 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 : never-
theless, 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 con-
cerning one lately dissected by Dr. Wharton, a man
of great learning and experience, and of equal free-
238 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
dom 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 any thing
rather than tell an untruth, did, I say, tell me he
lately dissected one strange fish, and he thus de-
scribed 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 mo-
" tion, and usually lies or lurks close in the mud,
" and has a moveable string on his head about a
" span, or near unto a quarter of a yard long, by
" the moving of which, which is his natural bait ;
" when he lies close and unseen in the mud, he
" draws other smaller fish so close to him, that
" he can suck them into his mouth, and so devours
" and digests them."
And, Scholar, do not wonder at this, for, besides
the credit of the relator, you are to note, many of
these, and fishes, which are of the like, and more
unusual shapes, are very often taken on the mouths
of our sea-rivers, and on the sea-shore. And this
will be no wonder to any that have travelled Egypt ;
where 'tis 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,
chap, xix.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 239
such strange fish and heasts are also bred, that no
man can give a name to, as Grotius, in his Sopkom,
and others, have observed.
But whither am I strayed in this discourse ? I
■will end it by telling you, that at the mouth of
some of these rivers of our's, Herrings are so plen-
tiful, as namely, near to Yarmouth in Norfolk, and
in the west-country, Pilchers so very plentiful, as
you will wonder to read what our learned Camden
relates of them in his Britannia, p. 178, 186.
Well, Scholar, I will stop here, and tell you
what by reading and conference I have observed
concerning Fish-ponds.
240 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part. i.
THE FIFTH DAY.
chap. xx. Of Fish-ponds, and how to order them.
Piscator.
JL/octor Lcbault, the learned Frenchman, in his
large discourse of Maison Rustique, gives this direc-
tion 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 he, 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 betwixt them ; and then earth betwixt and
above them : and then, having first very well ram-
med them and the earth, use another pile in like
manner as the first were : and note, that the second
pile, is to be of or about the height that you intend
to make your sluice or flood-gate, or the vent that
you intend shall 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
chap, xx.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 5 u
about it, or both : and then cast in bavins in some
places not far from the side, and in the most sandy
places, for fish both to spawn upon, and to defend
them and the young fry from the many fish, and
also from vermin, that lie at watch to destrov them ;
especially the spawn of the Carp and Tench, when
'tis 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, hol-
low banks, or shelves, or roots of trees, to keep
them from danger ; and, when they think fit, from
the extreme heat of summer ; as also from the ex-
tremity of cold in winter. And note, that if man}
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.
Tis 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
242 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
pond, if you intend either profit or pleasure, once
every three or four years, especially some ponds,
and then let it lie dry six or twelve months, both
to kill the water-weeds, as water-lilies, candocks,
reate, and bull-rushes, 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 sometime 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 : however, he
advises to destroy them and king -fishers out of
chap, xx.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 243
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 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 does sometimes flow : and note, that
Carps do more usually breed in marle-pits, or pits
that have clean clay-bottoms, or in new ponds, or
ponds that lie dry a winter-season, than in old ponds
that be full of mud and weeds.
Well, Scholar, I have told you the substance of
all that either observation or discourse, or a dili-
gent survey of Dubravius and Lebault hath told me :
not that they, in their long discourses, have not said
244
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
[part i.
more ; but the most of the rest are so common ob-
servations, as if a man should tell a good arithme-
tician, that twice two is four. I will therefore put
an end to this discourse, and we will here sit down
and rest us.
THE FIFTH DAY.
chap. xxi. Directions for making of a Line, and for
the colouring of both Rod and Line.
PlSCATOR.
\\ ell, Scholar, I have held you too long about
these cadis, and smaller fish, and rivers, and fish-
ponds ; and my spirits are almost spent, and so I
chap, xxi.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 245
doubt is your patience : but being we are now al-
most 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, especi-
ally 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 above twenty years.
But first for your Line. First, note, that you
are to take care, that your hair be round and clear,
and free from galls, or scabs, or frets ; for a well-
chosen, even, clear, round hair, of a kind of glass-
colour, will prove as strong as three uneven, scabby
hairs, that are ill-chosen, and full of galls or un-
evenness. 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 usuallv stretch all together, and break all
246 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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
into a pot, pan, or pipkin, and boil them half an
hour ; and having so done, let it cool ; and being
cold, put your hair into it, and there let it lie : it
will turn your hair to be a kind of water or glass-
colour, or greenish ; and the longer you let it lie,
the deeper coloured it will be. You might be taught
to make many other colours, but it is to little pur-
pose ; for doubtless the water-colour or glass-co-
loured 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
chap, xxi.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 247
alum ; then put these into a pan or pipkin, and
your hair into it with them ; then put it upon a
fire, and let it boil softly for half an hour ; and then
take out your hair, and let it dry : and, having so
done, then take a pottle of water, and put into it
two handfuls of marygolds, 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 marygolds ;
and abate most of the copperas, or leave it quite
out, and take a little verdigrise 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 all together will make an ash-colour ; grind
these all together with linseed-oil ; let it be thick, and
218 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [parti.
lay it thin upon the wood with a brush or pencil : this
do for the ground of any colour to lie upon wood.
For a Green : Take pink and verdigrise, and
grind them together in linseed-oil, as thin as you
can well grind it ; then lay it smoothly on with
your brush, and drive it thin : once doing, for the
most part, will serve, if you lay it well ; and if
twice, be sure your first 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 honeysuckle hedge, men-
tion to you some of the thoughts and joys that have
possessed my soul since we two met together. And
these thoughts shall be told you, that you also may
join with me in thankfulness, to " the Giver of every
good and perfect gift," for our happiness. And, that
our present happiness may appear to be the greater,
and we the more thankful for it, I 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 tooth-ache ; and this we are free from. And
every misery that I miss is a new mercy : and
therefore let us be thankful. There have been,
since we met, others that have met disasters of
broken limbs ; some have been blasted, others
thunder- strucken ; and we have been freed from
these> and all those many other miseries that threat-
en human nature : let us therefore rejoice and be
chap, xxi.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 249
thankful. Nay, which is a far greater mercy, we
are free from the unsupportable burthen of an ac-
cusing tormenting conscience ; a misery that none
can bear : and therefore let us praise Him for his
preventing grace, and say, Every misery that I
miss is a new mercy. Nay, let me tell you, there be
many that have forty times our estates, that would
give the greatest part of it to be healthful and
cheerful like us ; who, with the expense of a little
money have eat and drank, and laughed, and angled,
and sung, and slept securely ; and rose next day,
and cast away care, and sung, and laughed, and
angled again ; which are blessings rich men cannot
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 mo-
ney, 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 'tis 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 compe-
tency, we may be content and thankful. Let not
us repine, or so much as think the gifts of God un-
equally dealt, if we see another abound with riches ;
when, as God knows, the cares that are the keys
250 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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 hut the outside of the rich man's
happiness : few consider him to he like the silk-
worm, that, when she seems to play, is, at the very
same time, spinning her own bowels, and consum-
ing herself. And this many rich men do ; loading
themselves with corroding cares, to keep what they
have, probably, unconscionably got. Let us, there-
fore, be thankful for health and a competence, and
above all, for a quiet conscience.
Let me tell you, Scholar, that Diogenes walked
on a day, with his friend, to see a country-fair ;
where he saw ribbons, and looking-glasses, and
nut-crackers, and fiddles, and hobby-horses, and
many other gimcracks ; and having observed them,
and all the other finnimbruns that make a complete
country-fair ; he said to his friend, " Lord ! How
" many things are there in this world, of which
" Diogenes hath no need ! " And truly it is so, or
might be so, with very many who vex and toil them-
selves 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
chap, xxi.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 251
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 be-
cause 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
plentv ; 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 docked 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 oppositions, and ac-
tionable words, and more vexations and law-suits ;
for you must remember, that both were rich, and
must therefore have their wills. Well, this wilful,
purse-proud law-suit, lasted during the life of the
first husband ; after which his wife vexed and chid,
and chid and vexed, till she also chid and vexed
herself into her grave : and so the wealth of these
poor rich people was curst into a punishment ; be-
cause 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 beau-
tiful and ready furnished, and would often trouble
himself and family to be removing from one house
to another : and being asked by a friend, Why he
252 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
removed so often from one house to another, re-
plied, " It was to find content in some one of them."
But his friend, knowing his temper, told him, " If he
would rind content in any of his houses, he must
leave himself behind him ; for, content will never
dwell but in a meek and quiet soul." And this may
appear, if we read and consider what our Saviour
says in St. Matthew's Gospel : for he there says, —
" Blessed be the merciful, for they shall obtain
" mercy. Blessed be the pure in heart, for they
" shall see God. Blessed be the poor in spirit, for
" theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And, Blessed
" be the meek, for they shall possess the earth."
Not that the meek shall not also obtain mercy, and
see God, and be comforted, and at last come to the
kingdom of heaven ; but in the mean time he, and
he only, possesses the earth as he goes toward that
kingdom of heaven, by being humble and cheerful,
and content with what his good God has allotted
him. He has no turbulent, repining, vexatious
thoughts, that he deserves better ; nor is vexed
when he sees others possessed of more 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 ; 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 thankfulness : 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
chap, xxi.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 253
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 him-
self, 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 blessings we receive daily from God, make us
not to value, or not praise Him because they be
common : let not us forget to praise Him for the
innocent mirth and pleasure we have met with
since we met together. What would a blind man
give to see the pleasant rivers, and 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 his full glory, either
at the rising or setting of it, he would be so trans-
ported and amazed, and so admire the glory of it,
that 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 common,
most men forget to pay their praises ; but let not
254 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
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 en-
deavour 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 mo-
ney cannot buy ; and therefore 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 compe-
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256 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
Quivering fears, heart-tearing cares,
Anxious sighs, untimely tears,
Fig, Jig to courts,
Fig to fond war Idlings' sports,
Where strain d Sardonic smiles are glosing still,
And grief is fore d to laugh against her will :
Where mirth's but mummery,
And sorrows onlg real be.
Fly, from our country pastimes, fly,
Sad troops of human misery.
Come, serene looks,
Clear as the crystal brooks,
Or the pure azur'd heaven, that smiles to see
The rich attendance of our poverty :
Peace and a secure mind,
Which all men seek, we onlg find.
Abused mortals, did gou 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 mag shake,
But blust'ring care could never tempest make ;
Nor murmurs e'er come nigh us,
Saving of fountains that glide bg us.
Here's no fantastic masque, nor dance,
But of our kids that frisk and prance ;
Nor wars are seen,
Unless upon the green
chap, xxi.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 257
Two harmless lambs are butting one the other,
IVhich 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 too, too hasty fates,
Unless it be
The fond credulity
Of silly fish, ivhich, 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 gnus hid in some forlorn creek :
We all pearls scorn,
Save what the dewy morn
Congeals upon each little spire of grass,
Which careless shepherds beat down as they pass :
And gold ne'er here appears,
Save what the yellow Ceres bears.
Blest silent groves ! Oh may you he
For ever mirth's best nursery !
May pure contents
For ever pitch their tents
Upon these downs, these meads, these rocks, tltcse
mountains.
And peace still slumber by these purling fountains
258 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
Which, we may every year
Meet when we come a-fishing here.
Pise. Trust me, Scholar, I thank you heartily
for these verses ; they be choicely good, and doubt-
less made by a lover of Angling. Come, now, drink
a glass to me, and I will requite you with another
very good copy : it is a Farewell to the Vanities of
the World, and some say, written by Sir Harry
Wotton, who I told you was an excellent Angler.
But let them be writ by whom they will, he that
writ them had a brave soul, and must needs be pos-
sessed with happy thoughts at the time of their com-
posure.
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, tK 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 ally'd to greatness, is alone
Inherited, not purchas'd, nor our own.
Fame, Honour, Beauty, State, Train, Blood and
Birth,
Are but the fading blossoms of the earth.
I would be great, — but that the sun doth still-
Level his rays against the rising hill :
chap, xxi.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
I would be high, — but see the proudest oak
Most subject to the rending thunderstroke :
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
Tliefox 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 envy'd more:
I have wish'd all ; but now I wish for neither ;
Great, High, Rich, Wise, nor Fair; Poor Fll 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 called great master
In the loose rhymes of every poetaster : —
Could I be more than any man that lives,
Great, fair, rich, wise, all in superlatives :
Yet I more freely ivould these gifts resign,
Than ever Fortune ivould have made them mine ;
And hold one minute of this holy leisure,
Beyond the riches of this empty pleasure.
260 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i.
Welcome, pure thoughts ! Welcome ye silent groves !
These guests, these courts, my soul most dearly loves.
Now the uring'd people of the sky shall sing
My cheerful anthems to the gladsome spring :
A pray'r-boo/c 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-fac'd fears :
Then here I'll sit, and sigh my hot love's folly,
And learn t' affect an holy melancholy :
And, if Contentment be a stranger, — then
I'll ne'er look for it, but in heaven again.
Yen. 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 instruc-
tions, which, God willing, I will not forget. And as
St. Austin in his Confessions, book iv. chap. 3, com-
memorates 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
chap, xxi.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 261
for the ninth of May, for then I hope again to enjoy
your beloved company at the appointed time and
place. And now I wish for some somniferous po-
tion, that might force me to sleep away the inter-
mitted time, which will pass away with me as
tediously, as it does with men in sorrow ; never-
theless I will make it as short as I can, by my hopes
and wishes. And my good Master, I will not for-
get 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 then, and there consider, how many dead bones
Time had piled up at the gates of Death : So when
I would beget content, and increase confidence in
the power, and wisdom, and providence, of Almightv
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 every thing that hath breath
262
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
praise the Lord : " And let the blessing of St. Peter's
Master be with mine.
Pise. 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," 1 TlieS. iv. 11.
THE END OF THE FIRST PART.
.
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I
p
\
266 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
be a stranger in these parts, I shall take upon me
to inform you, that from the town you last came
through, called Brailsford, it is five miles ; and you
are not yet above half a mile on this side.
Viat. So much ! I was told it was but ten miles
from Derby ; and, methinks, I have rode almost so
far already.
Pise. O, Sir, find no fault with large measure of
good land ; which Derbyshire abounds in, as much
as most counties of England.
Viat. It may be so ; and good land, I confess,
affords a pleasant prospect : but, by your good
leave, Sir, large measure of foul way is not alto-
gether so acceptable.
Pise. True, Sir ; but the foul way serves to jus-
tify the fertility of the soil, according to the pro-
verb, " 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 it's
continual travel and traffic to the country-town you
came from : which is also very observable by the
fulness of it's road, and the loaden horses you meet
every-where 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 good deal of reason both to think and
to speak very well of you, if I may obtain the hap-
piness of your company to the fore-mentioned place ;
provided your affairs lead you that way, and that
chap, i.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 267
they will permit you to slack your pace, out of
complacency to a traveller utterly a stranger in
these parts, and who am still to wander further out
of my own knowledge.
Pise. Sir, you invite me to my own advantage,
and I am ready to attend you ; my way lying through
that town ; hut my business, that is, my home, some
miles beyond it ; however, I shall have time enough
to lodge you in your quarters, and afterwards to
perform my own journey. In the mean time, may
I be so bold as to enquire the end of your journey ?
Viat. 'Tis into Lancashire, Sir, and about some
business of concern to a near relation of mine : for
I assure you, I do not use to take so long journies,
as from Essex, upon the single account of pleasure.
Pise. From thence, Sir ! I do not then wonder
you should appear dissatified 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.
Viat. Why truly, Sir, for that, I am prepared to
expect the worst ; but methinks the way is mended
since I had the good fortune to fall into your good
company.
Pise. 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.
268 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part it.
Viat. I am very glad to hear it, both for the
ease of myself and my horse : hut especially because
I may then expect a freer enjoyment of your con-
versation : though the shortness of the way will, I
fear, make me lose it the sooner.
Pise. That, Sir, is not worth your care ; and I
am sure you deserve much better, for being con-
tent with so ill company. But we have already
talked away two miles of your journey ; for, from
the brook before us, that runs at the foot of this
sandy hill, you have but three miles to Ashbourn.
Viat. I meet every-where in this country with
these little brooks ; and they look as as if they were
full of fish. Have they not Trouts in them ?
Pise. That is a cpiestion which is to be excused
in a stranger, as you are : otherwise, give me leave
to tell you, it would seem a kind of affront to our
country, to make a doubt of what we pretend to be
famous for, next, if not before, our malt, wool, lead,
and coal : for you are to understand, that we think
we have as many fine rivers, rivulets, and brooks,
as any country whatever ; and they are all full of
Trouts, and some of them the best, it is said, by
many degrees in England.
Viat. I was first, Sir, in love with you, and now
shall be so enamoured of your country, by this ac-
count you give me of it, as to wish myself a Derby-
shire man, or at least that I might live in it : for
you must know I am a pretender to the Angle, and,
chap, i.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 269
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.
Pise. This, Sir ! why this, and several others
like it, which you have past, 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 incumbrance to hinder an
Angler, as any you ever saw ; and for clear, beauti-
ful streams, Hantshire itself, by Mr. Izaak Walton's
good leave, can shew none such ; nor I think any
country in Europe.
Viat. You go far, Sir, in the praise of your coun-
try rivers, and I perceive have read Mr. Walton's
Complete Angler, by your naming of Hantshire ; and
I pray what is your opinion of that book ?
Pise. My opinion of Mr. Walton's book is the
same with every man's that understands any thing
of the art of Angling, that it is an excellent good
one ; and that the fore-mentioned gentleman under-
stands as much of fish, and fishing, as any man liv-
ing. But I must tell you further, that I have the
happiness to know his person, and to be intimately
acquainted with him ; and in him to know the wor-
thiest man, and to enjov 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
270 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
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 cha-
racter : 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 Chace, till he taught me as
good, a more quiet, innocent, and less dangerous,
diversion.
Pise. Sir, I think myself happy in your acquaint-
ance ; and before we part shall entreat leave to em-
brace you. You have said enough to recommend
you to my best opinion ; for my Father Walton will
be seen twice in no man's company he does not
like, and likes none but such as he believes to be
very honest men ; which is one of the best argu-
ments, or at least of the best testimonies I have,
that I either am, or that he thinks me, one of those,
seeing I have not yet found him weary of me.
Viat. You speak like a true friend ; and, in doing
so, render yourself worthy of his friendship. May
I be so bold as to ask your name ?
Pise. Yes surely, Sir, and if you please a much
chap, i.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 271
nicer question : my name is , and I intend to
stay long enough in your company, if I find you do
not dislike mine, to ask your's too. In the mean
time, because we are now almost at Ashbourn, I shall
freely and bluntly tell you, that I am a Brother of
the Angle too ; and, peradventure, can give you
some instructions How to Angle for a Trout in a
Clear River, that my Father Walton himself will not
disapprove ; though he did either purposely omit, or
did not remember, them, when you and he sat dis-
coursing under the sycamore tree. And, being you
have already told me whither your journey is in-
tended, 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 further to my house,
where you shall be extremely welcome ; it is di-
rectly in your way ; we have day enough to per-
form our journey, and, as you like your entertain-
ment, 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.
Viat. Sir, you surprise me with so friendly an
invitation upon so short acquaintance : but how
advantageous soever it would be to me, and that
my haste, perhaps, is not so great, but it might
dispense with such a divertisement as I promise
myself in your company ; yet I cannot, in modesty.
:>72 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part II.
accept your offer, and must therefore beg your par-
don : I could otherwise, I confess, be glad to wait
upon you, if upon no other account but to talk
of Mr. Izaak Walton, and to receive those instruc-
tions you say you are able to give me for the de-
ceiving 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.
Pise. 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 certain of, as any man
can be in thirty years experience, for so long I have
been a dabler 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 over-
come you ; and that I may wholly conquer that
modesty of your's, I will take upon me to be so
familiar as to say, you must accept my invitation ;
which, that you may the more easily be persuaded
to do, I will tell you that my house stands upon the
margin of one of the finest rivers for Trouts and
Grayling in England : that I have lately built a little
Fishing-house upon it, dedicated to Anglers, over
the door of which, you will see the two first letters
chap, i.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 273
of my Father Walton's name and mine,
^ As Z7l the
twisted in Cypher ; * that you shall he fitle-Pa^e
in the same hed he has sometimes been
contented with, and have such country entertain-
ment as my friends sometimes accept ; and be as
welcome, too, as the best friend of them all.
Viat. No doubt, Sir, but my Master Walton
found good reason to be satisfied with his enter-
tainment 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 de-
serves so much.
Pise. Believe me, no : and such as are intimately
acquainted with that gentleman know him to be a
man who will not endure to be treated like a stran-
ger. So that his acceptation of my poor entertain-
ments, has ever been a pure effect of his own humi-
lity 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.
Viat. In truth, Sir, I am so overcome by your
bounty, that I find I cannot ; but must render myself
wholly to be disposed by you.
Pise. Why that's heartily and kindly spoken,
and I as heartily thank you : and, being you have
abandoned yourself to my conduct, we will only
call and drink a glass on horseback at the Talbot,
and away.
T
274 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
Viat. I attend you. But what pretty river is
this, that runs under this stone bridge ? Has it a
name ?
Pise. Yes, 'tis 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 dis-
course as best likes you, to pass away the time till
you come to your ill quarters.
Viat. We can talk of nothing with which I shall
be more delighted, than of Rivers and Angling.
Pise. Let those be the subjects then. But we
are now come to the Talbot. What will you drink,
Sir, ale or wine ?
Viat. Nay, I am for the countrv liquor, Derby-
shire ale, if you please ; for a man should not, me-
thinks, come from London to drink wine in the
Peak.
Pise. You are in the right : and yet, let me tell
you, you may drink worse French wine in many
taverns in London, than they have sometimes at this
house. What, Ho ! bring us a flagon of your best
Ale. And now, Sir, my service to you, a good health
to the honest Gentleman you know of ; and you are
welcome into the Peak.
Viat. I thank you, Sir, and present you my ser-
vice again, and to all the honest Brothers of the
Angle.
Pise. I'll pledge you, Sir : so, there's for your
II.]
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
275
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.
THE FIRST DAY.
CHAPTER II.
PiSCATOR.
oo, 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.
\ i \i. Bless me! what mountains are here ! Are
we not in Wales ?
Pise. No, but in almost as mountainous a coun-
276 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
try; and yet these hills, though high, hleak, and
craggy, breed and feed good beef and mutton above-
ground, and afford good store of lead within.
Viat. They had need of all those commodities
to make amends for the ill landscape : but I hope
our way does not lie over any of these, for I dread
a precipice.
Pise. Believe me, but it does, and down one
especially, that will appear a little terrible to a
stranger ; though the way is passable enough, and
so passable, that we, who are natives of these
mountains, and acquainted with them, disdain to
alight.
Viat. I hope though, that a foreigner is privi-
leged 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.
Pise. 'Twere hard else. But in the mean time,
I think 'twere 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 discern the easiness of
the descent.
Viat. 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 ?
Pise. Why this, Sir, is called Bentley brook, and
is full of very good Trout and Grayling ; but so
chap, ii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 277
encumbered with wood in many places, as is trou-
blesome to an Angler.
Viat. Here are the prettiest rivers, and the most
of them in this country that ever I saw : do you
know how many you have in the country ?
Pise. I know them all, and they were not hard
to reckon, were it worth the trouble : but the most
considerable of them I will presently name you.
And to begin where we now are, for you must
know we are now upon the very skirts of Derby-
shire ; we have, first, the river Dove, that we shall
come to by and by, which divides the two Counties
of Derby and Stafford, for many miles together ;
and is so called from the swiftness of it's current,
and that swiftness occasioned by the declivity of it's
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, con-
fined into a very narrow stream. A river that, from
a contemptible fountain, which I can cover with
my hat, by the confluence of other rivers, rividets,
brooks, and rills, is swelled, — before it falls into
Trent, a little below Egginton, where it loses the
name, — to such a breadth and depth, as to be in most
places navigable, were not the passage frequently
interrupted with fords and wears : and has as fer-
tile banks as any river in England, none excepted.
And this river, from it's head, for a mile or two, is
a black water, as all the rest of the Derbyshire ri-
vers of note originally are ; for they all spring from
278 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
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
lime-stone rocks, that before it comes to my house,
which is but six or seven miles from it's source,
you will find it one of the purest crystalline streams
vou have seen.
Viat. Does Trent spring in these parts ?
Pise. Yes, in these parts ; not in this county,
but somewhere towards the upper end of Stafford-
shire, I think not far from a place called Trentham ;
and thence runs down not far from Stafford to Wolsley-
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 Swarkeston and Dunnington, re-
ceives Derwent at Wildon ; and so to Nottingham,
thence to Newark, and by Gainsborough to Kingston
upon Hull, where it takes the name of Humber, and
thence falls into the sea : but that the map will best
inform you.
Viat. Know you whence this river Trent derives
it's name ?
Pise. No, indeed, and yet I have heard it often
discoursed upon, when some have given it's deno-
mination from the fore-named Trentham, though
that seems rather a derivative from it ; others have
said, 'tis so called from thirty rivers that fall into
it, and there lose their names ; which cannot be
neither, because it carries that name from it's very
chap, ii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 279
fountain, before anv 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 abounding with
excellent Salmon, and all sorts of delicate fish.
Viat. Pardon me, Sir, for tempting you into this
digression : and then proceed to your other rivers,
for I am mightilv delighted with this discourse.
Pise. It was no interruption, but a very season-
able question ; for Trent is not only one of our Der-
byshire 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 East-
ward from us, is the river Wye : I say of note, for
we have two lesser betwixt us and it, namely, Lath-
kin, 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, 'tis 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 it's source near unto Buxton,
a town some ten miles from hence, famous for a
warm bath, and which you are to ride through
in your way to Manchester : a black water too at
the fountain, but, by the same reason with Dove,
280 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
becomes very soon a most delicate clear river, and
breeds admirable Trout and Grayling, reputed by
those, who, by living upon it's banks, are partial
to it, the best of any ; and this running down by
Ashford, Bakewell, and Haddon, at a town a little
lower called Roivsley, falls into Derwent, and there
loses it's name. The next in order, is Derwent, a
black water too, and that not only from it's foun-
tain, 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 it's
source, and with Salmon below : and this river,
from the upper and utmost part of this county,
where it springs, taking it's course by Chatsworth,
Darley, Matlock, Derby, Burrow-Ash, and Awberson,
falls into Trent at a place called Wildon, and there
loses it's name. The East side of this County of
Derby, is bounded by little inconsiderable rivers, as
Awber, Eroways, and the like, scarce worth naming,
but Trouty too, and further we are not to enquire.
But, Sir, I have carried you, as a man may say, by
water, till we are now come to the descent of the
formidable hill I told you of, at the foot of which
runs the river Dove, which I cannot but love above
all the rest ; and therefore prepare yourself to be a
little frighted.
Viat. Sir, I see you would fortify me, that I
should not shame myself; but I dare follow where
you please to lead me ; and I see no danger yet ;
chap, ii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 281
for the descent, methinks, is thus far, green, even,
and easy.
Pise. You will like it worse presently, when you
come to the brow of the hill : — and now we are
there, what think you ?
Viat. What do I think? Why I think it the
strangest place that ever, sure, men and horses
went down ; and that, if there be any safety at all,
the safest way is to alight.
Pise. I think so too for you, who are mounted
upon a beast not acquainted with these slippery
stones : and, though I frequently ride down, I will
alight too, to bear you company, and to lead you
the way ; and, if you please, my man shall lead your
horse.
Viat. Marry, Sir ? and thank you too : for I am
afraid I shall have enough to do to look to myself;
and with my horse in my hand should be in a dou-
ble fear, both of breaking my neck, and my horse's
falling on me ; for it is as steep as a penthouse.
Pise. To look down from hence it appears so, I
confess ; but the path winds and turns, and will not
be found so troublesome.
Viat. 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.
Pise. 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.
282 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part II.
Viat. I thank you, Sir, I am now past it, I can
go myself. What's here ? the sign of a hridge ? Do
you use to travel with wheel-barrows in this country ?
Pise. Not that I ever saw, Sir. Why do you ask
that question ?
Viat. Because this bridge certainly was made
for nothing else ; why a mouse can hardly go over
it : 'tis not two fingers broad.
Pise. You are pleasant, and I am glad to see
you so : but I have rid over the bridge many a dark
night.
Viat. Why, according to the French proverb, and
'tis a good one among a great many of worse sense
and sound that language abounds in, Ce que Dieu
garde, est Men gard£. 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.
Pise. Well, Sir, your mirth becomes you, and
I am glad to see you safe over ; and now you are
welcome into Staffordshire,
Viat. How, Staffordshire/ What do I there
trow ? There is not a word of Staffordshire in all my
direction.
Pise. You see you are betrayed into it. but
it shall be in order to something that will make
amends ; and 'tis but an ill mile or two out of
your way.
Viat. I believe all things, Sir, and doubt nothing.
chap, ii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 283
Is this your beloved river Dove ? Tis clear and
swift, indeed, but a very little one.
Pise. You see it here at the worst ; we shall
come to it anon again after two miles riding, and so
near as to lie upon the very banks.
Viat. Would we were there once ! But I hope
we have no more of these Alps to pass over.
Pise. No, no, Sir, only this ascent before you,
which you see is not very uneasy ; and then you will
no more quarrel with your way.
Viat. Well, if ever I come to London, of which
many a man there, if he were in my place would
make a question, I will sit down and write my
travels ; and, like Tom Coriate, print them at my
own charge. Pray what do you call this hill we
come down ?
Pise. We call it Hanson Toot.
Viat. Why, Farewell Hanson Toot ! I'll no more
on thee : I'll go twenty miles about first. Puh ! I
sweat, that my shirt sticks to my back.
Pise. Come, Sir, now we are up the hill, and now
how do you ?
Viat. Why very well, I humbly thank you, Sir,
and warm enough, I assure you. What have we
here, a Church ! As I'm an honest man, a very pretty
Church ! Have you Churches in this country, Sir ?
Pise. You see we have : but, had you seen none,
why should you make that doubt Sir ?
Viat. Why, if you will not be angry, I'll tell you
I thought myself a stage or two beyond Christendom.
Pise. Come, come ! we'll reconcile you to our
284 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
country, before we part with you ; if shewing 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.
Pise. Well, Sir, your raillery upon our moun-
tains has brought us almost home. And look you
where the same River of Dove has again met us to
bid you welcome, and to invite you to a dish of
Trouts to-morrow.
Viat. Is this the same we saw at the foot of Pen-
men-Maure ? It is a much finer river here.
Pise. It will appear yet much finer to-morrow.
But look you, Sir, here appears the House, that is
now like to be your inn, for want of a better.
Viat. It appears on a sudden, but not before
'twas looked for. It stands prettily, and here's
wood about it too, but so young, as appears to be of
your own planting.
Pise. 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 down-right truth, I am
exceeding weary.
Pise. You will sleep so much the better : you
shall presently have a light supper, and to bed.
Come, Sirs, lay the cloth, and bring what you have
presently, and let the Gentleman's bed be made
ready in the mean time, in my Father Walton's
chap, ii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 285
Chamber. And now, Sir, here is my service to you ;
and once more welcome !
Viat. I, marry, Sir, this glass of good sack has
refreshed me. And I'll make as bold with your meat,
for the trot has got me a good stomach.
Pise. Come, Sir, fall to then, you see my little
supper is always ready when I come home ; and
I'll make no stranger of you.
Viat. That your meal is so soon ready, is a sign
your sen-ants know your certain hours, Sir. I con-
fess I did not expect it so soon ; but now 'tis here,
you shall see I will make myself no stranger.
Pise. Much good do your heart ! and I thank you
for that friendly word. And now, Sir, my service to
you in a cup of More-Lands ale ; for you are now in
the More-Lands, but within a spit and a stride of the
Peak. Fill my friend his glass.
Viat. Believe me, you have good ale in the More-
Lands : far better than that at Ashbourn.
Pise. That it may soon be : for Ashbourn has,
which is a kind of a riddle, always in it the best malt,
and the worst ale in England. Come, take away, and
bring us some pipes, and a bottle of ale, and go to
your own suppers. Are you for this diet, Sir ?
Viat. Yes, Sir, I am for one pipe of tobacco ;
and I perceive your's is very good by the smell.
Pise. 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 ?
28G
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
[fart II.
Viat. Why truly, Sir, as long as I conveniently
can ; and longer I think, you would not have me.
Pise. Not to your inconvenience hy 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 pray follow them, Sir :
Here you are like to lie : and, now I have shewed
you your lodgings, I beseech you command any
thing you want ; and so I wish you good rest !
Viat. Good night, Sir !
chap, in.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 287
THE SECOND DAY.
CHAPTER III.
PlSCATOR.
Cxood morrow, Sir ! What up and dressed so early ?
Viat. Yes, Sir, I have heen dressed this half
hour : for I rested so well, and have so great a mind
either to take, or see a Trout taken, in your fine
river, that I could no longer lie a-bed.
Pise. I am glad to see you so brisk this morning,
and so eager of sport ; though, I must tell you, this
day proves so calm, and the sun rises so bright,
as promises no great success to the Angler : but,
however, we'll try ; and, one way or other, we
shall, sure, do something. What will you have
to your breakfast, or what will you drink this
morning ?
Viat. For breakfast, I never eat any, and for
drink I am very indifferent ; but if you please
to call for a glass of ale, I'm for you : and let it
be quickly, if you please, for I long to see the lit-
tle Fishing-house you spoke of, and to be at mv
lesson.
Pise. Well, Sir ! You see the ale is come without
calling ; for though 1 do not know your's, my peo-
ple know my diet ; which is always one glass so soon
as I am dressed, and no more till dinner ; and so
my servants have served you.
288 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
Viat. My thanks. And now, if you please, let us
look out this fine morning1.
Pise. With all my heart ; Boy, take the key of
my Fishing-house, and carry down those two angle-
rods in the hall-window, thither, with my fish-pan-
nier, pouch, and landing-net ; and stay you there
till we come. Come, Sir, we'll walk after ; where,
hy the way, I expect you should raise all the excep-
tions 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.
Pise. You were then in as good earnest as I am
now with you : but had you been really angry at it,
I could not blame you ; for, to say the truth, it is
not very taking at first sight. But look you, Sir,
now you are abroad, does not the sun shine as
bright here as in Essex, Middlesex, or Kent, or any
of your southern counties.
Viat. "lis a delicate morning indeed ! And I now
think this a marvellous pretty place.
Pise. 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 ?
chap, in.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 289
Viat. Trust me, 'tis all very fine ; and the house
seems at this distance a neat building.
Pise. 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 totallv
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.
Viat. Stav, what's here over # _., . . ,, .
* There is, under this
the door ? Piscatoribus sa- motto, the Cypher men-
crum ' * Whv then I nerceive I tionedintheTitle-page.
crum . v\ny men i percene i And somg part of the
have some title here; for I am Fishing-house has been
r .1 .i -i r .1 described; but the plea-
one of them, though one of the gantnm of the ^
worst ; and here below it is mountains, and mea-
i( r~, , i r dows, about it, cannot ;
the Cypher too you spoke of, unkss sir philip sid.
and 'tis prettily contrived. Has ney, or Mr. Cotton's
, , T,r ,, , father, were again a-
my Master Walton ever been 'live to rfo it
here to see it ; for it seems new
built ?
Pise. Yes, he saw it cut in the stone before it
was set up ; but never in the posture it now stands :
for the house was but building when he was last
here, and not raised so high as the arch of the door.
And I am afraid he will not see it yet ; for he has
lately writ me word, he doubts his coming down
this summer ; which, I do assure you, was the worst
news he could possibly have sent me.
Viat. Men must sometimes mind their affairs to
290 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part H.
make more room for their pleasures : and 'tis odds
he is as much displeased with the business that
keeps him from you, as you are that he comes not.
But I am the most pleased with this little house of
any thing I ever saw : It stands in a kind of Pen-
insula 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'll try. Why
this is better and better, fine lights, finely wain-
scoted, and all exceeding neat, with a marble table
and all in the middle.
Pise. 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.
Pise. I begin to doubt, by something I discover
in you, whether I am able to instruct you, or no :
though, if you are really a stranger to our clear
northern rivers, I still think I can ; and therefore,
since it is yet too early in the morning at this time
of the year, to-day being but the 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.
Viat. Why, Sir, if you will so far oblige me and
chap, in.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 291
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 Moreland seat, as to resolve to stay with vou
long enough by intervals ; for I will not oppress
you, to hear all you can say upon that subject.
Pise. You cannot oblige me more than by such
a promise. And, therefore, without more ceremony
I will begin to tell you, that my Father Walton
having read to you before, it would look like a pre-
sumption in me, and peradventure would do so in
any other man, to pretend to give lessons for Ang-
ling after him who, I do really believe, under-
stands as much of it, at least, as any man in England ;
did I not pre-acquaint you, that I am not tempted
to it by any vain opinion of myself, that I am able
to give you better directions ; but, having from my
childhood pursued the recreation of Angling in
very clear rivers, truly I think by much, some of
them at least, the clearest in this 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, bv
being not near so bright, admit of stronger tackle,
and allow a nearer approach 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
292
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
[part II.
you how to make them, and with what dubbing
too, than he has taken notice of in his Complete
Angler.
Viat. I beseech you, Sir, do : and, if you will
lend me your steel, I will light a pipe the while ;
for that is commonly my breakfast in a morning
too.
iv.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 293
THE SECOND DAY.
CHAPTER IV.
PlSCATOR.
YY hv then, Sir, to begin methodically, as a mas-
ter in any art should do, and I will not deny but
that I think myself a master in this ; I shall divide
Angling for Trout or Grayling, into these three
ways : At the Top ; at the Bottom ; and in the
Middle. Which three ways, though they are all
of them, as I shall hereafter 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 re-
quire a distinction ; which, in due place, I will also
give you.
That which we call Angling at the Top, is with a
fly : at the Bottom, with a ground-bait : in the
Middle, with a minnow, or ground-bait.
Angling at the Top is of two sorts : with a quick-
fly, or with an artificial-fly.
That we call Angling at the Bottom, is also of
two sorts : by the hand, or with a cork or float.
That wc 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
294
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
[part II.
you can have the patience to hear me, give you the
best account I can.
Viat. The trouble will be your's, and mine the
pleasure and the obligation. I beseech you there-
fore to proceed.
Pise. Why then first of Fly-fishing.
-^fl
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 295
THE SECOND DAY.
chapter v. Of Fly-fishing.
Piscator.
Jb ly-fishing, or Fishing at the Top, is, as I said
before, of two sorts ; with a Natural, and living,
Fly, or with an Artificial, and made, Fly.
First then, Of the Natural Fly : of which we ge-
nerally use but two sorts, and those but in the two
months of May and June only, namely, the Green-
drake, and the Stone-fly ; though I have made use
of a third that way, called the Camlet-fly, with very
good success for Grayling, but never saw it angled
with by any other after this manner, my master
only excepted, who died many years ago, and was
one of the best Anglers that ever I knew.
These are to be angled with, with a short line,
not much more than half the length of your rod,
if the air be still ; or with a longer, very near or all
out as long as your rod, if you have any wind to
carry it from you : and this way of fishing we call
Daping, Dabbing, or Dibbling ; wherein you are
always to have your line flying before you up or
down the river as the wind serves, and to angle
as near as you can to the bank of the same side
whereon you stand : though where you see a fish
rise near you, you may guide your quick-fly over
296 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
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't ; to
which I will also add, that not an inch of your line
being to be suffered to touch the water in dibbling,
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 that to their proper place
and season.
Viat. In earnest, Sir, you discourse very ration-
ally of this affair, and I am glad to find myself mis-
taken in you ; for in plain truth I did not expect so
much from you.
Pise. Nay, Sir, I can tell you a great deal more
than this, and will conceal nothing from you. But
I must now come to the second way of Angling at
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 297
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 vour rod ; and with
both this, and the other, in a still day, in the
streams, in a breeze that curls the water in the still-
deeps, where (excepting in May and June, that the
best Trouts will lie in shallow streams to watch for
prey, and even then too) you are like to hit the best
fish.
For the length of your rod, you are always to be
governed by the breadth of the river you shall choose
to angle at : and for a Trout-river, one of five or
six yards long is commonly enough ; and longer,
though never so neatly and artificially made, it
ought not to be, if you intend to fish at 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,
298 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
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.
The length of your line, to a man that knows
how to handle his rod, and to cast it, is no manner
of encumbrance, excepting in woody places and in
landing of a fish, which every one that can afford
to angle for pleasure, has somebody to do for
him. And the length of line is a mighty advantage
to the fishing at distance ; and to fish 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 other of our's 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 a-piece ; 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
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 299
manner, be taper from your very hand to your hook ;
your line will fall much better and straiter, and cast
your fly to any certain place to which the hand and
eye shall direct it, with less weight and violence, than
would otherwise circle the water and fright away the
fish.
In casting your line, do it always before you,
and so that your fly may first fall upon the water,
and as little of your line with it as is possible ;
though if the wind be stiff, you will then of neces-
sity be compelled to drown a good part of your
line to keep your fly in the water : and in casting
your fly, you must aim at the further, or nearer,
bank, as the wind serves your turn ; which also will
be with and against you on the same side, several
times in an hour, as the river winds in it's course ;
and you will be forced to angle up and down by
turns accordingly ; but are to 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 con-
strained to angle on the same side whereon you
stand, — you must then stand on the very brink of
the river, and cast your fly at the utmost length of
your rod and line, up or down the river as the gale
serves.
It only remains, touching your line, to enquire
whether your two hairs, next to the hook, are
300 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part II.
better twisted, or open. And for that, T should
declare that 1 think the open way the better, be-
cause it makes less shew in the water ; but that I
have found an inconvenience, or two, or three, that
have made me almost weary of that way : of which
one is, that, without dispute, they are not so strong
open as twisted ; another, that they are not easily
to be fastened of so exact an equal length in the
arming, that the one will not cause the other to
bag, by which means a man has but one hair, upon
the matter, to trust to ; and the last is, that these
loose flying hairs are not only more apt to catch
upon every twig or bent, they meet with, but more-
over the hook, in falling upon the water, will very
often rebound, and fly back betwixt the hairs, and
there stick, (which, in a rough water especially, is
not presently to be discerned by the Angler) so as
the point of the hook shall stand reversed ; bv which
means vour fly swims backwards, makes a much
greater circle in the water, and, till taken home to
you and set right, will never raise any fish ; or, if
it should, I am sure, but by a very extraordinary
chance, can hit none.
Having done with both these ways of fishing at
the top, the length of your rod, and line and all,
I am next to teach you How to make a Fly ; and
afterwards, of what dubbing you are to make the
several flies I shall hereafter name to you.
In making a fly then, which is not a Hackle, or
Palmer-fly, (for of those, and their several kinds,
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 301
we shall have occasion to speak every month in the
year) you are first to hold your hook fast betwixt
the fore-finger and thumb of your left hand, with
the back of the shank upwards, and the point to-
wards your finger's 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 prevent
slipping, and also that the shank of the hook may
not cut the hairs of your towght, which some-
times it will otherwise do. Which being done,
take your line and draw it likewise betwixt your
finger and thumb, holding the hook so fast, as only
to suffer it to pass by, until you have the knot of
your towght almost to the middle of the shank of
your hook, on the inside of it ; then whip your silk
twice or thrice about both hook and line, as hard
as the strength of the silk will permit. Which be-
ing done, strip the feather for the wings proporti-
onable 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 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.
302 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part n.
Which being done, clip off the root-end of the fea-
ther 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 unnatural and shape-
less 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 betwixt the finger and thumb of your
left-hand, take your silk with the right, and twist-
ing 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 end 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
chap, v.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 303
silk ; and then, with the bare silk, -whip it once or
twice about, make the wings to stand in due order,
fasten, and cut if off: after winch, with the point
of a needle raise up the dubbing gently from the
warp ; twitch off the superfluous hairs of your dub-
bing ; 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. And now
that I have told you how a fly is to be made, you
shall presently see me make one, with which you
may peradventure take a Trout this morning, not-
withstanding 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.
Viat. 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 take a Trout in
your River Dove.
Pise. 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.
304
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
[part II.
Viat. You will find me, I doubt, too tractable
that way : for, in good earnest, if business would
give me leave, and that, if it were fit, I could find
in my heart to stay with you for ever.
Pise. I thank you, Sir, for that kind expression ;
and now let me look out my things to make this fly.
THE SECOND DAY.
CHAPTER VI.
PlSCATOR.
Doy ! come, give me my dubbing-bag here pre-
sently. And now, Sir, since I find you so honest a
man, I will make no scruple to lay open my trea-
sure before you.
Viat. Did ever any one see the like ! What a
heap of trumpery is here ! certainly never an Angler
chap, vi.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 305
in Europe, has his shop half so well furnished as
you have.
Pise. You, perhaps, may think now that I rake
together this trumpery, as you call it, for shew 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 are some
colours, as contemptible as they seem here, that
are very hard to be got ; and scarce any one of them,
which, if it should be lost, I should not miss, and be
concerned about the loss of it too, once in the year.
But look 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 disad-
vantages, or my art shall fail me.
Viat. You promise comfortably, and I have a
great deal of reason to believe every thing you say :
but I wish the fly were made, that we were at it.
Pise. 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
x
306 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
fasten ; thus trim and adjust my fly : and there's
a fly made. And now how do you like it ?
Viat. In earnest, admirably well ; and it perfectly
resembles a fly : but we about London make the
bodies of our flies both much bigger and long-
er, so long as even almost to the very beard of
the hook.
Pise. 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 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.
Viat. Did you see that, Sir.
Pise. Yes, I saw the fish, and he saw you too,
which made him turn short ; you must fish further
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 ?
Viat. No, I would I had, we would not have
chap, vi.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 307
parted so ! Look you, there was another ! This is
an excellent fly !
Pise. That fly, I am sure, would kill fish, if the
dav were right ; hut they only chew at it, I see, and
will not take it. Come, Sir, let us return hack 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 do-
ing with those, and I will look you out a dubbing,
that I think will do.
Viat. This is a very little hook.
Pise. That may serve to inform you, that it is for
a very little fly, and you must make your wings ac-
cordingly ; for as the case stands it must be a little
fly, and a very little one too, that must do your
business. Well said ! believe me you shift your
fingers very handsomely : I doubt I have taken
upon me to teach my master. So, here's your
dubbing now.
\ i at. This dubbing is very black.
Pise. It appears so in hand, but step to the door
and hold it up betwixt your eye and the sun, and
it will appear a 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
308 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part II.
always to make your flies on such a bright sun-
shine day as this, which also you may the better
do, because it is worth nothing to fish in. Here,
put it on ; and be sure to make the body of your fly
as slender as vou can. Very good ! Upon my word
vou have made a marvellous handsome fly.
Viat. I am very glad to hear it ; 'tis the first
tbat ever I made of this kind in my life.
Pise. Away, away ! You are a Doctor at it :
but I will not commend you too much, lest I make
vou 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
over, and now throw in.
Viat. This is a fine stream indeed ! There's
one ! I have him.
Pise. And a precious catch you have of him;
pull him out ! I see you have a tender hand. This
is a diminutive gentlemen, 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 !
Pise. And of the same standing.
Viat. I see I shall have good sport now. Ano-
ther ! and a Grayling. Why you have fish here at
will.
Pise. Come, come, cross the bridge, and go
chap, vi.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 309
down the other side, lower ; where you will find
finer streams, and hetter sport, I hope, than this.
Look you, Sir, here is a fine stream now. You have
length enough, stand a little further off, let me en-
treat you ; and do but fish this stream like an artist,
and perad venture a good fish may fall to your share.
How now ! What is all gone ?
Viat. No, I but touched him ; but that was a
fish worth taking.
Pise. Why now, let me tell you, you lost that
fish by your own fault, and through your own ea-
gerness 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, 'tis ten to
one a good Trout gives you the meeting.
Viat. I have him now, but he is gone down to-
wards the bottom. I cannot see what he is, yet he
should be a good fish by his weight : but he makes
no great stir.
Pise. Why then, by what you say, I dare ven-
ture to assure you 'tis 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 j I told you what he was.
310 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
Bring hither that landing-net, Boy. And now, Sir,
he is your own ; and believe me a good one, six-
teen inches long I warrant him : I have taken none
such this year.
Viat. I never saw a Grayling before look so
black.
Pise. Did you not ? 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 you see this is ;
and I am apt to conclude, that from thence he de-
rives 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.
Viat. Let him come, I'll try a fall with him. But
1 had thought, that the Grayling had been always
in season with the Trout, and had come in and
gone out with him.
Pise. 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,
1
tTU
.
312 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part n.
* 'Tis a rock in plsc. Why, Sir, from that Pike,*
the fashion of a
spire-steeple, and that you see standing up there dis-
cdmost as big. tant from the rock, this is called
It .stands in the
midst of the Rirer Pike-Pool. And young Mr. Izaak
Dove ; and not Walton was so pleased with it, as to
Jar t mm Mr. Cot- l
ton's house i below draw it in landscape in black and
which place this whh b & bknk b fc j haye
delicate rtver
takes a swift ca- home ; as he has done several pros-
reer betwixt many . c , , 1 • i t
mighty rocks, Pects of m>' house also> whlch I
much higher and keep for a memorial of his favour,
bigger than St. , ... , ,
Paul's church, be- and wlU shew you> when we come
fore 'twas burnt. Up to dinner.
And this Dove
being opposed by one of the highest of them, has, at last, forced
itself a way through it ; and after a mile's concealment, appears
again with more glory and beauty than before that opposition ;
running through the most pleasant valleys and most fruitful
meadows, that this nation can justly boast of.
Yiat. Has young Master Izaak Walton been here
too?
Pise. 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 mean time, 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 !
chap, vi.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 313
Viat. I think you have such command here over
the fishes, that you can raise them by your word,
as they say 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 !
Pise. O Sir, this is a war where 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 ?
Servant. Sir, will it please you to come to dinner ?
Pise. We come. You hear, Sir, we are called :
and now take your choice, whether you will climb
this steep hill before 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.
Pise. 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.
Viat. The more the better ; I could never
have met with a more obliging master, my first
314
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
[part II.
excepted ; nor such sport can all the rivers about
London ever afford, as is to be found in this pretty
river.
Pise. 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.
,.
chap, vn.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 315
THE SECOND DAY.
chapter vii.
Viator.
Oome, Sir ! having now well dined, and being
again set in your little house, I will now challenge
your promise, and entreat 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 direc-
tions both for the rod, line, and making a fly, and
now desire an account of the flies themselves.
Pise. Why, Sir, I am ready to give it you, and
shall have the whole afternoon to do it in, if no
body come in to interrupt 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 us but of Twelve Artificial-Flies, 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,
316 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
which I presume he has most frequented, and
where 'tis likely he has done most execution, there
is not much notice taken of many more : but we are
acquainted with several others here, though, per-
haps, 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 ho-
nesty 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 remember 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 usu-
ally 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 sun- shine 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 em-
brace all opportunities, can rarely in that month
chap, vii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 317
find a day fit for their purpose) and 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 dyes 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 dye, but retains it's 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 'tis 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.
318 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part II.
FEBRUARY.
1. 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 some-
thing a blacker colour, and both of them warpt-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 that the hair in that place is by many
degrees, softer, and more fit for the purpose : his
wing must be as the other ; and this kills all this
month, and is called the Lesser Red-brown.
2. This month also a Plain Hackle, or Pal-
mer-fly, made with a rough black body, either of
black spaniel's fur, or the whirl of an Estridg-fea-
ther, 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 very 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
chap, vii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 319
wrapped with a red feather of a capon untriramed :
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 some-
times 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 gray feather of a mal-
lard near unto his tail ; which is absolutely the best
fly can be thrown upon a river 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 to
the roots, mixed with a little blue camlet ; the wings
of the dark gray feather of a mallard.
8. We have also this month a Dark Brown ; the
dubbing of a brown hair off the flank of a brended
cow, and the wings of the gray 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
320 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
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 finger 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 di-
rection.
For this month you are to use all the same
Hackles, and flies with the other ; but you are to
make them less.
1. 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 the wing of the
gray feather of a drake.
2. Also a Bright Brown ; the dubbing either of
the brown of a spaniel, or that of a cow's flank,
with a gray wing.
3. Also a Whitish Dun, made of the roots of
camel's hair, and the wings of the gray 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
chap, vii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 321
mohair, the hody as little as can be made, and the
wings of a bright Mallard's feather : an admirable
fly, and in great repute amongst us for a killer.
5. There is, beside 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 be the finest blue, that ever
you 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 male
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 lime-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 also taken till the tenth of
April.
All the same Hackles and flies that were taken
in March, will be taken in this month also ; with this
Y
322 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
distinction only concerning the flies, that all the
hrowns 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 gray wing, in a bright
day and a clear water, is very well taken.
2. We have too a little Dark Brown ; the dub-
bing of that colour, and some violet camlet mixed,,
and the wing of a gray 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 gray 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 a 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 gray 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-gray 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 gray wing : which,
though the direction for the making be near the
other, is yet another fly ; and will take when the
chap, vii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 323
other will not, especially in a bright day, and a
clear water.
7. About the twentieth of this month comes in
a fly called the Horse-flesh Fly ; the dubbing of
which is a blue mohair, with pink-coloured and
red tammy mixed, a light-coloured wing, and a dark
brown head. This fly is taken best in an evening
and kills from two hours before sun-set till twi-
light; and is taken the month through.
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, for-
asmuch 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, promised 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 ang-
lers, to which of the pretenders to the title of the
May -fly, it does properly, and duly belong. Nei-
324 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part II.
ther dare I, where so many of the learned in this
art of Angling- are got in dispute ahout the contro-
versy, take upon me to determine ; hut 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.
Viat. I have so great a deference to your judg-
ment 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.
Pise. Why that's encouragement enough ; and
now prepare yourself for a tedious lecture : but I
will first begin with the flies of less esteem, though
almost any thing 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; dubbing ravelled out of
some blue stuff, and lapped about with yellow silk ;
the wings of a gray 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 gray mallard's
feather.
chap, vii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 325
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
gray feather of a mallard.
5. Next a Little Dun ; the dubbing of a bear's
dun whirled upon yellow silk, the wings of the
gray feather of a mallard.
6. Then a White Gnat, with a pale wing, and
a black head.
7. There is also this month a fly called the Pea-
cock-Fly ; the body made of a whirl of a pea-
cock'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 the Cow-Lady, a little fly ; the
body of a peacock's feather, the wing of a red fea-
ther, or strips of the red hackle of a cock.
10. We have then the Cow-Dung Fly ; the dub-
bing light-brown and yellow mixed, the wing the
dark gray feather of a mallard. And note, that
besides these above mentioned, all the same Hac-
kles and flies, the Hackles only brighter, and the
flies smaller, that are taken in April, will also be
taken this month, as also all Browns and Duns.
And now I come to my Stone-fly, and Green-drake,
326 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part II.
which are the Matadores for Trout and Grayling ;
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 execution
they do in their season.
11. Of these, the Green-Drake comes in about
the twentieth 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 to-
wards the middle of May, and continues to kill
much longer than the Green-Drake stays with us,
so long as to the end almost of June ; and indeed,
so long as there are any of them to be seen upon
chap, vii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 327
the water : and sometimes in an artificial fly, and
late at night, or before sun-rise in a morning,
longer.
Now both these flies, and, I believe, many others,
though I think not all, are certainly and demonstra-
tively bred in the very rivers where they are taken :
our Cadis 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 exe-
cution they do, the Trout and Grayling being much
more greedy of them than of any others : and in-
deed, 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 matu-
rity, body, wings, and all : and then he creeps out
of his cell, but with his wings so crimped and ruf-
fled, by being pressed 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 stif-
fen and smooth them : or, if his first appearance
above water happen to be in the middle, he then
328 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
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 hy some Trout or Grayling he he not taken in
the interim, which ten to one he is ; and then his
wings stand high, and closed exact upon his back,
like 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, question-
less, he has his name of the Green-Drake. These,
as I think I told you before, 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
chap, vii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 329
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 be found about
the banks and sides of the river, to a wonder ; and
with which you shall certainly kill the best Trout
and Gravling in the river.
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 the white-gray feather of a mal-
lard, 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 ; except-
ing to tell you, that he is taken at all hours during
his season, whilst there is any day upon the sky:
330 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
and with a made-fly I once took, ten days after he
was absolutely gone, in a cloudy dav, 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 a-piece, taken from
me in despite of mv heart, 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 Gray-
Drake, which, in all shapes and dimensions, is per-
fectly 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 thus made : the dub-
bing 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-
gray 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 instructions for Fly-Angling
till some other time.
Viat. No, truly, Sir, I can never be weary of hear-
chap, vii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
331
ing you. But if you think fit, because I am afraid I
am too troublesome, to refresh yourself with a
glass and a pipe : you may afterwards proceed, and
I shall be exceedingly pleased to hear you.
Pise. 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.
Viat. Your servant, Sir, and I'll pledge you as
heartily ; for the good powdered beef I eat at din-
ner, or something else, has made me tbirsty.
332 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
THE SECOND DAY.
chapter viii.
Viator.
So, Sir, I am now ready for another lesson, so soon
as you please to give it me.
Pise. 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 cadis in the
very river where he is taken, I am next to tell you,
that,
13. 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
crawls 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 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
SOAK "'
best
nee to
me:-
K ml
a off.
chap, viii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 333
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 lon-
ger than it ; though he makes but little 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 stir-
ring 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, every-where high
and low near the river ; there being so many of
them in their season, as, were they not a very in-
offensive 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 in-
credible 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 flies, 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 par-
don this digression.
This Stone-Fly, then, we dape or dibble with,
as with the Drake, but with this difference; that
334 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
whereas the Green-Drake is common hoth to stream
and still, and to all hours of the day, we seldom
dape with this but in the streams, for in a whistling
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 towards
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 vour 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 gray feather of a
mallard.
14. The next May-fly is the Black-Fly ; made
with a black body, of the whirl of an Ostridge-
feather, ribbed with silver-twist, and the black hac-
kle of a cock over all ; and is a killing fly, but not
to be named with either of the other.
chap, viii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 335
15. The last May -fly, that is of the four preten-
ders, is the Little Yellow May-Fly ; in shape
exactly the same with the Green-Drake, hut a very
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-gray feather dyed yellow.
16. The last fly for this month, and which con-
tinues all June ; though it comes in in the middle
of May, is the fly called the Camlet-Fly ; in shape
like a moth, with fine diapered, or water-wings, and
with which, as I told you before, I sometimes used
to dibble ; and Gravling 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-gray feather of a mal-
lard ; and 'tis a killing fly for small fish. And so
much for May.
From the first to the four-and-twentieth, the
Green-Drake, and Stone-fly are taken, as I 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-
gray-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 gray wing of a mallard's
feather.
336 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
3. We have also a Hackle with a purple bodv,
whipped about with a red capon's feather.
4. As also a Gold-twist Hackle with a purple
body, whipped 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 gray wing.
6. Also another Little Flesh-Fly ; the body
made of the whirl of a peacock's feather, and the
wings of the gray 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 gray wing.
9. We have likewise a Brown Gnat ; with a very
slender body of brown and violet camlet well
mixed, and a light gray wing.
10. And another little Black Gnat ; the dubbing
of black mohair, and a white-gray wing.
11. As also a Green Grashopper ; 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 Grashopper ; the
body slender, made of a dun camlet, and a dun
hackle at the top.
First, all the small flies that were taken in June,
are also taken in this month.
chap, viii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 337
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 mohair, 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 gray feather of a mallard.
4. Another fly taken this month is a Black -
Hackle ; the body made of the whirl of a pea-
cock's feather, and a black hackle-feather on the
top.
5. We have also another, made of a peacock's
whirl without wings.
6. Another fly also is taken this month, called
the Shell-Fly ; the dubbing of yellow-green Jer-
sey-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 the wa-
ter ; for this flv I have seen trouts take little pieces
of moss, as they have swam down the river ; by
which I conclude that the best way to hit the right
colour, is to compare your dubbing with the moss,
and mix the colours as near as you can.
7. There is also taken this month, a Black-Bluk
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.
z
338 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part n.
The same flies with July.
1. Then another Ant-Fly ; the dubbing of the
black-brown hair of a cow, some red warped in for
the tag of his tail, and a dark wing. A killing fly.
2. Next a fly called a Fern-Fly ; the dubbing
of the fur of a hare's neck, that is, of the colour of
fern or bracken, with a darkish-gray wing of a
Mallard's feather. A killer too.
3. Besides these we have a White Hackle ; the
body of white mohair, and warped 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.
1. To which I shall only add a Camel-Brown
Fly ; the dubbing pulled out of the lime of a wall,
wbipped about with red silk, and a darkish-gray
mallard's feather for the wing.
2. And one other, for which we have no name,
chap, vni.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 339
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 ex-
pected, — then a brown that looks red 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, 'tis 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 arc fit to be compared
with the Drake and Stone-fly, both for many and very
great fish. And yet, there are some days that are
by no means proper for the sport : and in a calm
you shall not have near so much sport, even with
daping, as in a whistling gale of wind, for two rea-
340 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
sons, both because you are not then so easily disco-
vered by the fish, 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 ho-
nestly assure you, given over upon the mere ac-
count 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 ri-
ver. What shame and pity is it then, that such a
river should be destroyed by the basest sort of peo-
ple, by those unlawful ways of fire and netting in
the night, and of damming, groping, spearing, hang-
ing, and hooking, by day ! which are now grown
so common, that, though we have verv good laws
chap, vm.j THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
341
to punish such offenders, every rascal does it, for
aught I see, impurie.
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 perad-
venture 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, that for
aught I could ever hear, never did any great feats
with 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, 'tis ten to one
but we shall take a erood dish of fish for dinner.
342 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part II.
THE THIRD DAY.
CHAPTER IX.
PlSCATOR.
A good day to you, Sir ; I see you will always be
stirring before me.
Yiat. Why, to tell you the truth, I am so allured
with 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.
Pise. 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 sav 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 fallen out, that for two or three
hours will deprive me of your company ; but I'll
come and call you home to dinner, and my man
shall attend you.
Viat. Oh 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.
Pise. The best instruction I can give you, is
chap, ix.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
343
that, seeing the wind curls the water, and blows
the right way, you would now angle up the still-
deep to-day ; for betwixt the rocks where the
streams are, you would find it now too brisk ; and,
besides, I would have you take fish in both waters.
Viat. I'll obey your direction, and so a good
morning to you. Come, young man, let you and I
walk together. But hark you, Sir, I have not done
with vou vet ; I expect another lesson for Angling
at the Bottom, in the afternoon.
Pise. Well, Sir, I'll be ready for vou.
344 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part II.
THE THIRD DAY.
CHAPTER X.
PlSCATOR.
Oh, Sir, are you returned ? You have but just
prevented me. I was coming to call you.
Viat. I am glad, then, I have saved you the
labour.
Pise. And how have you sped ?
Viat. You shall see that, Sir, presently : look
you, Sir, here are three * brace of
louttcountr * Trouts> one of them the biggest but
man. 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.
Pise. Why you have made a pretty good morn-
ing's work on't ; and now, Sir, what think you of
our River Dove ?
Viat. 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 could keep it to* myself, I
would not exchange that water for all the land it
runs over, to be totally debarred from it.
Pise. That compliment to the river, speaks you
chap, x.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 345
a true lover of the art of Angling : and now, Sir,
to make part of amends for sending you so unci-
villy out alone this morning, I will myself dress
you this dish of fish for your dinner ; walk hut into
the parlour, you will find one book or other in the
window to entertain you the while ; and you shall
have it presently.
Viat. Well, Sir, I obey vou.
Pise. Look you, Sir ! have I not made haste ?
Viat. Believe me, Sir, that you have ; and it
looks so well, I long to be at it.
Pise. Fall to then. Now, Sir, what say you, am
I a tolerable cook or no ?
Viat. 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.
'Tis quite another thing than our Trouts about
London.
Pise. You would say so, if that Trout you eat of
were in right season : but pray eat of the Grayling,
which, upon my word, at this time, is by much the
better fish.
Viat. In earnest, and so it is. And I have one
request to make to you, which is, that as you
have taught me to catch Trout and Grayling, you
will now teach me how to dress them as these
are dressed ; which, questionless, is of all other the
best way.
34G THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part II.
Pise. That I will, Sir, with all my heart ; and
am glad you like them so well, as to make that
request. And they are dressed thus :
Take your Trout, wash, and dry him with a clean
napkin ; then open hhn, and, having taken out his
guts, and all the hlood, wipe him very clean within,
but wash him not ; and give him three scotches with
a knife to the bone, on one side only. After which
take a clean kettle, and put in as much hard stale
beer, (but it must not be dead) vinegar, and a little
white wine, and water, as will cover the fish you
intend to boil : then throw into the liquor a good
quantity of salt, the rind of a lemon, a handful of
sliced horse-radish-root, with a handsome little
fagot of rosemary, thyme, and winter-savory.
Then set your kettle upon a quick fire of wood,
and let your liquor boil up to the height before you
put in your fish : and then, if there be many, put
them in one by one, that they may not so cool the
liquor, as to make it fall. And whilst your fish is
boiling, beat up the butter for your sauce with a
ladle-full or two of the liquor it is boiling 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 your sides of your dish, and the fish itself
with a sliced lemon or two, and serve it up.
A Gravling is also to be dressed exactly after
CHAP. X.]
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
347
the same manner, saving that he is to he scaled,
which a Trout never is : and that must be done, ei-
ther with one's nails, or very lightly and carefully
with a knife for bruising the fish. And note, that
these kinds of fish, a Trout especially, if he is not
eaten within four or five hours after he be taken, is
worth nothing.
But come, Sir, I see you have dined ; and, there-
fore, 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.
348 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
THE THIRD DAY.
chapter xi.
Viator.
bo, Sir, now we are here, and set, let me have my
instructions for Angling for Trout and Grayling, at
the Bottom ; which, though not so easy, so cleanly,
nor, as 'tis 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.
Pise. You are in the right, it does so : and a
worm is so sure a hait at all times, that, excepting
in a flood, I would I had laid a thousand pounds
that I killed fish more, or less with it, winter or
summer every day throughout the year ; those
days always excepted, that, upon a more serious
account, always ought so to be. But not longer
to delay you, I will begin : and tell you, that Ang-
ling at the Bottom is also commonly of two sorts ;
— and yet there is a third way of Angling with a
Ground bait, and to very great effect too, as shall
be said hereafter ; — namely, by Hand, or with a
Cork or Float.
That we call Angling by Hand is of three sorts.
The first : with a line about half the length of the
rod, a good weighty plumb, and three hairs next the
hook, which we call a running-line, and with one
large brandling, or a dew-worm of a moderate size,
chap, xi.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 349
or two small ones of the first, or any other sort,
proper for a Trout, of which my Father Walton has
alreadv given you the names, and saved me a la-
hour ; 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 it be past the knot,
and then let it out, and strip the worm above the
arming (that you may not bruise it with your fin-
gers) till you have put on the other, by running the
point of the hook in below the knot, and upwards
through his bodv 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
350 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part 11.
thereof baited with some of the fore-named worms ;
and another half foot above that ; another, armed
and baited after the same manner, but with ano-
ther sort of worm, without any lead at all above :
by which means you will always certainly find the
true bottom in all depths ; which, with the plumbs
upon your line above you can never do, but that
your bait must always drag whilst you are sound-
ing (which in this way of Angling, must be contin-
ually) by which means you are like to have more
trouble, and peradventure worse success. And
both these ways of Angling at the Bottom, are most
proper for a dark and muddy water ; by reason
that in such a condition of the stream, a man may
stand as near as he will, and neither his own sha-
dow, 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 of shot for your
plumb ; your hook little : your worms of the smaller
brandlings, very well scoured ; and only one upon
your hook at a time, which is thus to be baited :
the point of your hook is to be put in at the very
tag of his tail, and run up his body quite over all
the arming, and still stripped on an inch at least
upon the hair ; the head and remaining part hanging
chap, si.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 351
downward. And with this line and hook, thus
baited, you are evermore to angle in the streams ;
always in a clear, rather than a troubled, water, and
always up the river, still casting out your worm
before you with a light one-handed rod, like an
artificial-fly ; where it will be taken, sometimes at
the top, or within a very little of the superficies of
the water, and almost always before that light
plumb can sink it to the bottom ; both by reason of
the stream, and also that you must always keep
your worm in motion by drawing still back to-
wards you, as if you were angling with a fly. And
believe me, whoever will try it, shall find this the
best way of all other to angle with a worm, in a
bright water especially : but then his rod must be
very 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 Cadis.
With a Worm, you are to have your line within a
352 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
foot, or a foot and a half, as long as your rod, in a
dark water with two, or, if you will, with three ;
hut in a clear water never with above one hair next
the hook, and two or three for four or five lengths
ahove it ; and a worm of what size you please : your
plumhs fitted to your cork, your cork to the condi-
tion of the river (that is, to the swiftness or slow-
ness of it) and both, when the water is very clear,
as fine as you can ; and then you are never to bait
with above one of the lesser sort of brandlings ; or,
if they are very little ones indeed, you may then
bait with two, after the manner before directed.
When you angle for a Trout, you are to do it
as deep, that is, as near the bottom as you can,
provided your bait do not drag ; or if it do, a Trout
will sometimes take it in that posture. If for a
Gravling, you are then to fish further from the
bottom, he being a fish that usually swims nearer
to the middle of the water, and lies always loose;
or, however, is more apt to rise than a Trout, and
more inclined to rise than to descend even to a
ground-bait.
With a Grub or Cadis, you are to angle with the
same length of line, or if it be all out as long
as your rod, 'tis 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
chap, xi.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 353
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 espe-
cially, yet he does not do it so freely as the other,
and I have usually taken ten Graylings for one
Trout with that bait : though if a Trout come, I
have observed that he is commonly a very good
one.
These baits we usually keep in bran, in which
an Ash-grub commonly grows tougher, and will
better endure baiting ; though he is yet so tender,
that it will be necessary to warp-in a piece of a
stiff hair with your arming, leaving it standing out
about a straw-breadth at the head of your hook,
so as to keep the grub either from slipping totally
off when baited, or at least down to the point of
the hook, by which means your arming will be left
wholly naked and bare, which is neither so sightly,
nor so likely to be taken : though, to help that,
which will however very oft fall out, I always arm
the hook I design for this bait with the whitest
A A
354 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
horse-hair I can choose ; which itself will resemble,
aud 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 in under the head or chaps of
the bait, and guided down the middle of the belly,
without suffering it to peep out by the way (for
then, the Ash-grub especially, will issue out water
and milk, till nothing but the skin shall remain,
and the bend of the hook will appear black through
it) till the point of your hook come so low, that
the head of your bait may rest, and stick upon the
hair that stands out to hold it ; by which means it
can neither slip of itself, neither will the force of
the stream, nor quick pulling out, upon any mis-
take, strip it off.
Now the Cadis, or Cod-bait, which is a sure kil-
ling 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 some-
times to an artificial fly to cover the point of the
hook : but is always to be angled with at the bot-
tom, when by itself especially, with the finest tac-
kle ; 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 exe-
cution at the bottom , and tome that are peculiar
chap, xi.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 355
to certain countries and rivers, of which every Ang-
ler may in his own place make his own observa-
tion ; and some others that I do not think fit to
put you in mind of, because I would not corrupt
you, and would have you, — as in all things else I
observe vou to be a very honest gentleman, a
fair Angler. And so much for the second sort of
Angling for a Trout at the Bottom.
Viat. But, Sir, I beseech you give me leave to
ask you one question. Is there no art to be used to
worms, to make them allure the fish, and in a man-
ner compel them to bite at the bait ?
Pise. Not that I know of : or did I know any
such secret, I would not use it myself, and there-
fore would not teach it you. Though I will not
deny to you that, in my younger days, I have made
trial of Oil of Osprey, Oil of Ivy, Camphor, Assa-
fcetida, 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 any thing to be done
that way : though I must tell you, I have seen some
men, who I thought went to work no more artificially
than I, and have yet with the same kind of worms
I had, in my own sight, taken five, and sometimes
ten, for one. But we'll let that business alone, if
you please. And, because we have time enough, and
that I would deliver you from the trouble of any
more lectures, 1 will, if you please, proceed to the
last way of Angling for a Trout or Grayling, which
356
THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
[part II.
is in the Middle ; after which I shall have no more
to trouble you with.
Viat. Tis no trouble, Sir, but the greatest satis-
faction that can be, and I attend vou.
THE THIRD DAY.
CHAPTER XII.
PlSCATOR.
Angling in the Middle, then, for Trout or Gray-
ling, is of two sorts ; with a Penk or Minnow for
a Trout ; or with a Worm, Grub, or Cadis, for a
Grayling.
chap, xii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 357
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 direction,
who is undoubtedly the best Angler with a Min-
now in England: only in plain truth I do not ap-
prove 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, perad-
venture more than with any other, nay, I have
seen him refuse a living one for one of them) — and
much less of his artificial one : for though we do
it with a counterfeit-fly, methinks it should hardly
be expected that a man should deceive a fish with
a counterfeit-fish. Which having said, I shall only
add, and that out of my own experience, that I do
believe a Bull-head, with his gill-fins cut off (at
some times of the year especially) to be a much
better bait for a Trout, than a Minnow, and a
Loach much better that 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 diges-
tion) than a Minnow ; and that one day especially,
having angled a good part of the day with a Min-
now, and that in as hopeful a day, and as fit a
water, as could be wished for that purpose, with-
out 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
358 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part ii.
my remembrance, so much as one, that had not a
Loach or two, and some of them three, four, five,
and six, Loaches, in his throat and stomach ; from
whence I concluded, that had I angled with that
bait, I had made a notable day's work of 't.
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 'tis affirmed by many, that he wrill some-
times do it, and I myself know it to be true : for
though I never took a Grayling so, yet a man of
mine once did, and within so few paces of me, that I
am as certain of it as I can be of any thing I did not
see ; and, which made it appear the more strange,
the Grayling was not above eleven inches long.
I must here also beg leave of your Master, and
mine, not to controvert, but to tell him, that I
cannot consent to his way of throwing in his rod
to an overgrown Trout, and afterwards 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 thou-
sands of Trouts in my life, my top never snapped
(though my line still continued fast to the remain-
ing part of my rod, by some lengths of line curled
chap, xii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 359
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 al-
most 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 sud-
denly 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 fore-named accidents, or the slipping of a knot in
the upper part of the line, by sudden and hard strik-
ing, that though the line has immediately been reco-
vered, almost before it could be all drawn into the
water, — the fish cleared, and was gone in a moment.
And yet, to justify what he says, I have sometimes
known a Trout, having carried away a whole line,
found dead three or four days after, with the hook
fast sticking in him : but then it is to be supposed
he had gorged it, which a Trout will do, if you be
not too quick with him, when he comes at a Min-
now, as sure and much sooner than a Pike : and I
myself have also, once or twice in my life, taken
the same fish with my own fly sticking in his chaps,
that he had taken from me the day before, by the
slipping of a hook in the arming. But I am very
confident a Trout will not be troubled two hours
with any hook, that has so much as one handful
of line left behind with it, or that is not struck
through a bone, if it be in any part of his mouth
only : nay, I do certainly know that a Trout, so
360 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part II.
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, Cadis, or any other ground-
bait for a Grayling : and that is with a cork, and a
foot from the bottom, a Grayling taking it much
better there, than at the bottom, as has been said
before ; and this always in a clear water, and with
the finest tackle.
To which we may also, and with very good rea-
son, add the third way of Angling by Hand with a
Ground-bait, as a third way of Fishing in the Mid-
dle, 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 Gray-
ling, and I doubt not, have tired you sufficiently :
but I will give you no more trouble of this kind
whilst you stay ; which I hope will be a good while
longer.
Viat. That will not be above a day longer : but
if I live till May come twelvemonth, you are sure
of me again, either with my Master Walton or
chap, xii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
3C.1
without him ; and in the meantime 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.
Pise. I shall be glad, Sir, of your good company
at the time you speak of, and shall be loath to part
with you now : but when you tell me you must go,
I will then wait upon you more miles on your
way, than I have tempted you out of it, and
heartily wish you a good journey.
The late Dr. Richard Powell, Secretary of the
Royal College of Physicians, volunteered the Lin-
nsean Arrangement annexed, from his admiration of
the original paintings, and the great pains taken to
have them faithfully engraved.
LINNvEAN ARRANGEMENT
OF THE FISH
FIGURED IN THIS EDITION OF WALTON AND
COTTON'S COMPLETE ANGLER:
Extracted from General Zoology, by George Shaw, M.D.,
8,~c. 8fc. ; and British Zoology, by Thomas Pennant, Esq.
Edit. Lond. 1812. 8vo.
The Reader of Walton's most interesting and amusing
work, will probably be gratified by it's closer connec-
tion with the Science of Natural History ; and for this
purpose, the following List is added, containing the
Systematic Names and Characters of the principal Fish
described in it.
Fishes form one great division of the Systcma Naturae
of Li nine us ; and the most generally received modifica-
tion thereof, by Dr. Shaw, arranges them under two
great Classes, — to the former of which alone the pre-
sent work has reference: — viz. Those which have a
Skeleton of Done, and those which have a Skeleton 'if
Cartilage. The Orders are founded upon circumstances
connected with the Fins, which are named from their
situation, Dorsal, or Bach Fins; Pectoral, or Breast Fins ;
Ventral, or Belly Fins; Anal, or Vent Fin; and Caudal,
or Tail Fin.
The Ventral Fins are held to be analogous to the Feet
of Quadrupeds ; and from their absence, or relative
situation to the others, the Orders are taken. Such as
want the Ventral Fins, are named Apodal, or Footless :
such as have the Ventral placed before, or more forward
than the Pectoral, are named Jugular: such as have
364 LINNiEAN ARRANGEMENT
them immediately under the Pectoral, are named Tho-
racic : and such as have them behind or beyond the Pec-
toral, are named Abdominal.
As the ensuing descriptions of the Fish, are placed
according to their Scientific order, and not according
to that of their occurrence in the preceding work, a
reference to the Chapter and the page in which they are
treated of and represented, is placed against each of the
following Articles.
ORDER I.
Apodal, or Footless.
No Ventral Fins.
Genus Anguilla, Eel.
Head smooth. Nostrils tubular. Eyes covered by the
common skin. Gill-Membrane 10 rayed. Body roundish,
smooth, mucous. Dorsal, Caudal, and Anal fins, united.
Spiracles behind the head or Pectoral fins.
A. vulgaris. Common Eel. Chap. xm. page 193.
Olive-brown Eel, subargenteous beneath, with the lower
jaw longer than the upper.
ORDER II.
Jugular.
Ventral Fins before the Pectoral.
No example.
ORDER III.
Thoracic.
Ventral Fins under the Pectoral.
Genus Cottus, Bull-Head.
Head broader than the body, spiny. Eyes vertical, and
furnished with a nictitating membrane. Gill-membrane
6 rayed. Body (in most species), without scales, atte-
nuated towards the tail. Dorsal Fins (in most species), two.
C. Gobio, River Bull-Head. Chap. xvm. pages 230, 232.
Smooth yellowish-olive Bull-Head, variegated with black ;
beneath whitish. The Head furnished with a spine on
each side.
Genus Perca, Perch.
Teeth sharp, incurvate. Gill-covers triphyllous, (three-
OF THE FISH. 365
leaved) scaly, serrated. Dorsal fin spiny on the fore part
Scales (in most species), hard and rough.
P. Fluviatilis, Common Perch. Chap. xn. page 183.
Olivaceous Perch, with transverse semi-decurrent blackish
bands. Dorsal fin subviolaceous, the rest red.
P. Cernua, Ruffe-Perch. Chap. xv. page 204.
Sub-olivaceous Perch speckled with black, with 15 spines
in the Dorsal fin.
N.B. The large Eyes (Oculi magni), which are no-
ticed in Linmeus's description, are well expressed in
the Plate.
Genus Gasterosteus, Stickleback.
Body somewhat lengthened. Dorsal Spines distinct. Ventral
fins spiny. Abdomen carinated on the sides, and bony
beneath.
G. Aculeatus, Common Stickleback. Chap. xvm. pp. 230,
233. Olivaceous Stickleback, silvery-red beneath, with
3 Dorsal spines.
ORDER IV.
Abdominal.
Ventral Fins behind, or beyond the Pectoral.
Genus Cobitis, Loche.
Mouth (in most species), bearded. Eyes situated in the
upper part of the head. Body nearly of equal thickness,
from head to tail. Scales small, easily deciduous. Air-
bladder hard, or osseous.
C. Barbatula, Common Loche. Chap. xvm. pp. 230, 231.
Yellow-gray Loche, with dusky variegations, small com-
pressed head and C beards.
Genus Salmo, Salmon.
Head compressed, smooth. Tongue cartilaginous. Teeth,
both in the jaws, and on the tongue. Gill-membrane
from 4 to 10 rayed. Body compressed, furnished at the
hind part with an Adipose fin.
S. Salar, Common Salmon. Chap. VII. page 138.
Silvery-gray spotted Salmon, with the jaws (in the male)
incurvated.
5. Fario, Common Trout. Chap. v. page 83.
Yellowish-gray Salmon with red spots, and lower jaw
rather longer than the upper.
366 LINNjEAN ARRANGEMENT
S. Salmulus, Samlet. Chap. iv. page 67.
Bluish-gray Salmon, with distant reddish spots and
forked tail.
Note. Pennant seems to have established this as a
distinct species, and not the fry of the Salmon, which
some have supposed. One conclusive reason amongst
others, is, that they are furnished with roes, and are
therefore to be considered as full-grown fishes. A si-
milar inference may be made with respect to the
White-Bait of the Thames.
S. Thymallus, Grayling Salmon. Chap. vi. page 132.
Gray Salmon, with longitudinal dusky blue lines, and
violet-coloured Dorsal fin barred with brown.
Genus Esox, Pike.
Head somewhat flattened above. Mouth wide. Teeth
sharp, in the jaws, palate, and tongue. Body lengthened.
Dorsal and Anal fins (in most species) placed near the tail,
and opposite each other.
E. Lucius, Common Pike. Chap. vm. page 149.
Grayish-olive Pike, with yellowish spots, and depressed
subequal jaws.
Genus Cyprinus, Carp.
Mouth small and toothless. Teeth in the throat. Gill-
membrane 3 rayed. Ventral fins, in general, 9 rayed.
Note. It is remarkable, that of the 21 principal Fish
which minister to the pleasure of the Angler, Ten
belong to this single Genus.
C. Carpin, Common Carp. Chap. ix. page 1 64.
Yellowish-olive Carp; with wide Dorsal fin, with the
third ray serrated behind.
C. Brama, Bream. Chap. x. page 170.
Broad olivaceous Carp, with flesh-coloured Abdomen ;
smallish Dorsal fin, and 27 rays in the Anal fin.
C. Rutilus, Roach. Chap. xvn. page 218.
Yellowish -silvery Carp, with olivaceous back. Dorsal
fin brown, the rest reddish, and forked tail.
C. Tinea, Tench. Chap. xi. page 179.
Mucous blackish -olive Carp, with very small scales, and
nearly even tail.
OF THE FISH.
367
C. Bar bus, Barbel. Chap. xiv. page 199.
Bluish-white Carp, with 4 beards, olive-coloured back, and
the first ray of the Dorsal tin serrated on both sides.
C. Jeses, Chub. Chap. it. page 55.
Silvery-bluish Carp, with olivaceous back, thick head, and
rounded snout.
C. Leuciscus, Dace. Chap. xvn. page 219.
Yellowish-silvery Carp, with olivaceous back, Dorsal fin
brown, the rest reddish, and forked tail.
C. Alburnus, Bleak, Chap. xv. page 205.
Silvery Carp, with olivaceous back, 20 rays in the Anal fin,
and forked tail.
C. (iobio, Gudgeon. Chap. xv. page 203.
Silvery-Olive Carp, with the upper lip bearded, and the
Dorsal fin and tail spotted with black.
('. Phoxinus, Minnow. Chap. xvur. pages 230, 231.
Blackish-green Carp, with blue and yellow variegations;
reddish silvery Abdomen, and forked tail.
ORIGINAL AND SELECTED NOTES,
ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE COMPLETE ANGLER.
Previous to entering upon the following- series of illus-
trative Notes, it may be advantageous to state what were
the books to which the Authors of the preceding work
have referred in the course of it; and, so far as they now
can be ascertained, to specify the probable editions which
they consulted. By doing this Walton's principal au-
thorities will appear at one view; and by numbering
each article separately, a connection will be formed be-
tween them and the following Notes, without the con-
tinual repetition of the title of any volume which may
be referred to. Walton, by an admirable selection of
his authors, was enabled to quote not only the best, most
learned, and most popular, writers of his own time, but
he also was rendered capable of citing numerous ancient
classics, as well as the works of many eminent foreigners,
whose productions were generally written in Latin.
The Complete Angler was, perhaps, fully as much as any
NOTES. 369
other work in the English tongue, a progressive compo-
sition; since each succeeding edition, down to the Fifth, —
which was the last published in the Author's life, — con-
tained some variation, addition, or improvement, on that
which preceded it. Though Walton certainly anticipated
future impressions of his most entertaining work, yet
in the Preface to his First Edition, which was afterwards
considerably altered, he writes of such a circumstance
with very great modesty. When speaking of the flies
which are used for the different months, he says: "Of
" these (because no man is born an artist nor an Angler)
" I thought fit to give thee this notice. I might say
" more, but it is not fit for this place: but if this Dis-
" course which follows, sJiall come to a second impression,
" which is possible, for slight books have been in this
*' age observed to have that fortune ; I shall then for
" thy sake, be glad to correct what is faulty, or, by a
" conference with any, to explain or enlarge what is de-
" fective ; but for this time I have neither a willingness
" nor leisure to say more, than wish thee a rainy even-
" ing to read this book in, and that the east wind may
" never blow when thou goest a fishing. Farcwel. Iz.
" Wa." He faithfully fulfilled this promise, for the
Second Edition, has Eight entirely new Chapters, and
above an hundred pages more than the First j and the
Fifth contains twenty pages more than the Fourth.*
* As these various Editions are referred to in the succeeding
Notes by the number of the impression only, a list of them in
the order of publication is here given. First, 1653 — Second,
1655 — Third, 1664 — Fourth, 1668 — Fifth, 1676. Of all
these impressions, copie are in the possession of W. J. Broderip,
Esq., with the most liberal use of which, beside other assistance,
the Editor has been favoured for the improvement of this work.
B B
370 NOTES.
It is from these variations, the most important of
which will lie found carefully preserved in the following
Notes, that a conception may he formed of the editions
used by Walton of the authors whom he cites ; and it is
from a careful collation of these earlier impressions, that
some illustrations of the text have been recovered, from
marginal notes which were afterwards omitted. Nor
from the author only have such illustrations been com-
piled, but the Editions of the Complete Angler by the
Reverend Moses Browne, Sir John Hawkins, Sir Henry
Ellis, and the elaborate and beautiful impression edited
by Sir N. Harris Nicolas, published eight years since by
Mr. Pickering, — have been also consulted ; and the col-
lection formed into abrief but comprehensive abstract of
all. Brief indeed, the plan of the present volume required
it to be, although it would in most instances have been
truly interesting- to have given the very words of the
ancient and erudite authorities themselves; but these ex-
tracts extend occasionally to many pages, and are to be
found in the impressions referred to. The reader has
however the less to regret, since be will find on a re-
ference to the originals, that Walton has so happily ab-
breviated them, as in the words of Addison, to have
" practised in the chemical method, and given the virtue
" of a bulky draught in a few drops." Such as are
familiar with the literature of the time will find the
ensuing Notes almost all which can be required, since
they will serve as an index to many of the passages re-
ferred to in the numerous authors quoted; while for the
general reader, it is presumed there will be sufficient to
amuse and guide him, without the introduction of quaint
extracts, which he would neither value or enjoy.
NOTES. 371
The works referred to in The Complete Angler, are
presumed to be the following.
1. ^Elianus, Claudius : De Natura Animalium, libri xvn. Gr.
Lat. Pet. Gillio et Conr. Gesnero Interp. Lugd. 1565.
16to.
2. Aldrovandus, Ulysses : De Piscibvs, libri v. et de Cetis liber
vnvs. Bon. 1638. fol.
3. Bacon, Francis, Baron Verulam : Sylva Sylvarum : or a
Naturall History in Ten Centuries. Published after the
Author's death, by W. Rawley, D.D. Land. 1635. fol.
4. A History, Natural and Experimental, of Life and
Death : or of the Prolongation of Life. Translated
from the Latin by W. Rawley, D.D. Lond. 1638.
12 mo.
5. Baker, Sir Richard ; A Chronicle of the Kings of England.
Lond. 1653. fol.
6. Barker, Thomas : The Art of Angling. Lund. 1661. 12mo.
7. Bartas, Guillaume De Salluste, Sieur Du : Du Bartas his
Diuine Weekes and Workes. Translated by Joshua
Sylvester, Gent. Lond. 1641. fol.
8. Camden, William : Britain: or a Chorographical Description
of the most flourishing Kingdoms of England, Scotland,
and Ireland, and the Islands adjoining. Translated from
the Latin, by Philemon Holland, M.D. Lond. 1637. fol.
9. Cardanus, Jerome : De Subtilitate, libri xxi. Par. 1551. 8vo.
10. Casaubon, Dr. Meric : Of Credulity and Incredulity, in
things Natural, Civil, and Divine. Lond. 1668. 8vo.
11. Caussin, Nicholas : The Holy Court. 1663. fol.
12. Diodorus Siculus •. The History of the World ; Done into
English by Mr. (Henry) Cogan. Lond. 1653. fol.
13. Donne, Dr. John : Poems by J. D. with Elegies on the
Author's Death. Lond. 1663. 4to.
14. Drayton, Michael : Poly-Olbion. Lond. (1612.) fol.
372 NOTES.
15. Dubravius, Janus : De Piscinis et Piscium qui in eis aluntur
naturis; libri v. 1559. 8vo.
16. Fletcher, Phineas : The Purple Island, or the Isle of Man :
together with Piscatorie Eclogs and other Poeticall Mis-
cellanies. By P. F. Cambr. 1633. 4to.
17. Gerard, John : The Herball or Generall Histcrie of Plantes.
Lond. 1633. fol.
18. Gesner, Conrad : De Piscibvs et Aqvatilibvs omnibvs, libelli
iii. Lat. Germ. Tigur. No date. 12mo.
19. Historian Naturalis Animalium, libri v.
Quadrupedum, Avium, Piscium, et Serpentum. Tigur.
1551-58. 5 vols. fol.
20. Grotius, Hugo : His Sophompaneas, or Joseph. A Tragedy.
With Annotations by Francis Goldsmith, Esq. Lond.
No date, but printed about 1634. 8vo.
21. Hakewill, Rev. George, D.D. An Apology or Declaration
of the Power and Providence of God in the Government
of the World. Lond. 1630. fol.
22. Herbert, Rev. George: The Temple. Sacred Poems and
Private Ejaculations. Cambr. 1633. 12mo.
23. Heylin, Rev. Peter, D.D. : Microcosmos. A Little Descrip-
tion of the Great World. Oxf. 1633. 4to.
24. Josephus, Flavius : Josephus's History : or the Antiquities
of the Jews. Translated into English by Thomas Lodge,
M.D. Lond. 1602. fol.
25. Jovius, Paulus : De Romanis Piscibus, libellus. Basil.
1531. 8vo.
26. Lessius, Leonardus : Hygiasticon : or the right course of
preserving Life and Health unto extream Old Age.
Done into English by T(imothy) S(mith.) Cambr.
1634. i2mo.
27. Liebault, Dr. J.: Maison Rustique : or the Covntrey Farme.
Compyled in the French Tongue by Charles Stevens, and
John Liebavlt, Doctors of Physicke. And Translated
into English by Richard Svrflet, Practitioner in Physicke.
Lond. 1616. fol.
NOTES. 373
28. Matthiolus, Pet. Andr. : Epistolae Medicinales. Prag.
1561. fol.
29. Montaigne, Michael De: The Essayes, or Morall, Politicke,
and Militarie Discovrses of Lord Michael de Montaigne,
Translated by John Florio. Lond. 1632. fol.
30. Moulin, Rev. Pierre Du : The Accomplishment of the Pro-
phecies, or the third book in defence of the Catholicke
Faith. Translated by J. Heath. Oxf. 1613. 12mo.
31. Obel, Matthew De L' : Plantarum seu Stirpium Historia,
cum alio volumine adversariorum ; per M. de L'Obel et
P. Peaen. Antv. 1576.
32. Overbury, Sir Thomas: His Wife, with Additions of New
Characters and many other witty conceits never before
printed. Lond. 1638. 16to.
33. Pinto, Ferdinand Mendez': The Voyages and Adventures of
Ferdinand Mendez Pinto. Done into English by H(enry)
C(ogan) Gent. Lond. 1633. fol.
34. Pliny, Junior: The Historie of the World. Commonly
called the Naturall Historie of C. Plinivs Secvndvs.
Translated into English by Philemon Holland, M.D.
Lond. 1601. fol.
35. Plutarch : The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romanes,
compared together by that graue and learned Philo-
sopher and Historiographer, Plutarke of Chasroneae :
Translated out of Greeke into French by James Amyot,
Abbot of Bellozane, &c. and out of French into Englishe
by Thomas North. (Esq. Controller of the Household to
Queen Elizabeth.) Lond. 1579. fol.
36. Rondeletius, Gulielmus : Libri de Piscibus Marinis ; in
quibus verae Piscium effigies expressae sunt. Ludg.
1554. fol.
37. Royal Society: The Philosophical Transactions, vol. vi.
Lond. 1671. 4to.
38. Salvianus, Hippolytus : Aqvatilivm Animalivm Historiee.
Rom. 1554. fol.
374 NOTES.
39. Sandys, George : A Relation of a Journey begun An : Dom :
If) 10. Lond. 1615. fol.
40. Sidney, Sir Philip : The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia.
Lorn!. 1655. fol.
41. Topsell, Rev. Edvv. : The Historie of Fovre-Footed Beastes.
Lond. 1007. fol.
42. The Historie of Serpents : or the SecondeBooke of
Liuing Creatures. Lond. 1C08. fol.
43. Wotton, Sir Henry: Reliquiae Wottonianse. Lond. 1651.
12mo.
44. Xenophon : The Life of Cyrus, translated by Philemon Hol-
land, M.D. Lond. 1632. fol.
Page xxv. I, Izaak Walton.
With respect to the peculiar orthography employed by Walton
as to his christian name, it is to be remembered, that in his
time it was frequently spelled in the Scriptures Izak, Izaacke;
and Izaack ; and also that such a manner was agreeable to the
original Hebrew of the word Itzhak, or Laughter, vide Gen.
xxi. 6. In this circumstance Walton was, most probably,
guided by some of the many learned divines with whom he was
acquainted.
Page xxix. Witness Abraham Markland.
The appearance of the above name as a witness to Walton's
Will, is an additional proof of the great respect in which he was
held by the most eminent clergy of his time. Dr. Abraham
Markland was a Prebendary of Winchester Cathedral, where he
was installed the 4th of July 1692, and in August 1694 he was
named Master of the Hospital of St. Cross, near the above city.
He published several Poems, in 1667, 4to. composed in that
retirement, and " A Sermon, preached before the Aldermen in
Guildhall Chapel," Lond. 1683, 4to. Ath. Oxon. Edit, by Bliss,
vol. iv. p. 710. The above circumstances were obligingly
pointed out by his descendant J. H. Markland, Esq. F.R.S. etc.
Walton's Will, which is given in the text, is recorded in the Pre-
rogative Court of Canterbury, in the volume called 1. Hare 375,
Art. 24. It was proved by the Executors at London, on Fe-
bruary the 4th, 1683-4, before Sir Thomas Exton and Sir Leo-
line Jenkins.
Page 1 . A Conference beticixt an Angler, etc.
The First Edition of the Complete Angler has not any descrip-
tive titles prefixed to the chapters ; but the leaf immediately
NOTES. 375
preceding the commencement of the work itself, contains a
short Table of Contents to the thirteen chapters of which that
edition is composed, and which is introduced in the following
manner : " Because in this Discourse of Fish and Fishing I have
" not observed a method, which (though the Discourse be not
" long) may be some inconvenience to the Reader, I have
" therefore for his easier finding out some particular things
" which are spoken of, made this following Table. The first
" chapter is spent in a vindication or commendation of the Art
" of Angling." After having gone through the whole number
of chapters, the Table concludes with, " These directions the
" Reader may take as an ease in his search after some particular
" Fish, and the baits proper for them; and he will shew him-
" selfe courteous in mending or passing by some few errors in
" the Printer, which are not so many but that they may be par-
" doned." In the Second Edition, there were twenty-one chap-
ters, entitled as they are in the foregoing pages ; and the Third
Edition was the first which had an index.
Page 2. Tlw Thatched House in Hoddesdon.
In the First Edition, there are but two characters introduced
in Chapter I. : Viator, or the Wayfarer, whose name in the Se-
cond impression was changed to Venator, or the Hunter, and
Piscator, the Fisherman. Instead therefore, of the dialogue as
it now stands, the opening passages were originally as follow :
Piscator. You are wel overtaken Sir; a good morning to
you ; I have stretch'd my legs up Totnam Hil to overtake you,
hoping your businesse may occasion you towards Ware, this
fine, pleasant, fresh, May-day in the morning. Viator. Sir,
I shall almost answer your hopes ; for my purpose is to be at
Hodsden (three miles short of that town) I wil not say, before
I drink, but before I break my fast : for 1 have appointed
a friend or two to meet me there at the Thatcht-house, about
nine of the clock this morning ; and that made me so early
up, and, indeed, to walk so fast. Pise. Sir, I know the
Thatcht-house very well: I often make it my resting place,
and taste a cup of ale there, for which liquor that place is very
remarkable; and to that house I shall by your favour accom-
pany you, and either abate of my pace, or mend it, to
enjoy such a companion as you seem to be, knowing that (as
the Italians say,") etc. Pages 1-2. The Thatcht-house is
stated bj the Rev. Moses Browne, in a note in his Third edition
(d t lie ( Complete Angler, Land. 1772, 12mo. p. 1, to be " seven-
*' teen miles from London on the Ware road." It is now quite
unknown ; but it has been supposed, that a thatched cottage,
once distinguished by the sign of the Buffalo's I lead, standing
at the farther end of Hoddesdon, on the left of the road in going
376 NOTES.
towards Ware, about seventeen miles and half distant from
London, was the actual building.
Page 2. Mews a Ha irk.
Mew, derived from the old French Mue, signifies a change, or
the period when birds and other animals moult, or cast their
feathers, hairs, or horns : hence Latham observe- that the " Meiv
" is that place, whether it be abroad or in the house, where you
"set down your hawk during the time she raiseth (orrepro-
" duces) her feathers." In the above passage, the term refers to
the care with which a hawk should be kept in her mewing-
time; and in "The Gentleman's Academic, or the Book of St.
" Alban's," Lond. 1595, 4to. Edit, by Gerv. Markham, there are
several sections on the mewing of hawks; from one of which,
p. 9. it may be learned, that the best time to commence, is in
the beginning of Lent, and, if well kept, the bird will be mewed
by the beginning of August.
Page 3. Hunting the Otter.
In pursuing this sport, which is now almost obsolete, the
huntsmen assembled on each side of the river where an otter
was supposed to harbour, beating up the hollow banks, reed-
beds, and sedges, with hounds kept solely for that purpose ;
and, if the game were at hand, its " seal," or the impression
produced by the round ball under the soles of the feet, were
soon discovered in the mud. Every hunter was armed with a
spear, to assist the dogs, and attack the animal when it came to
the surface of the water to breathe or vent ; but if the otter
were not found by the river-side, it was traced by the seal, the
fragments of the prey, and the " spraints " or soil, up the stream
inland to the place where it had gone to couch. The otter
when wounded, as it is noticed on page 50, bites violently, and
makes towards land ; although the male-otter never utters a cry,
but the pregnant females give a very shrill scream. When the
otter fastens upon the dogs in the water, it dives with them,
carries them far below the surface, and will seldom give up or
quit its hold but with life. The hunting of an otter will last
three and four hours, and the most fatal time for the pursuit is
in snow and hard frost : an unbaited gin set near the landing-
place of otters is also used to destroy them. Daniel. Otter-
dogs, which are mentioned a short distance below the line
above-quoted, are a breed between the harrier and the terrier,
and are hounds of great strength and activity. The following
extract from The Whitehall Evening Post of May, 1760, was
communicated for the first impression of this Edition of The
Complete Angler, twenty-one years since, by the late Joseph
Haslewood, as shewing the time when otter-hunting in Eng-
land began to decline.
NOTES. 377
" To be Disposed of, At Barton under Needwood, near Litch-
" field, Staffordshire, Otter-Hounds, exceeding staunch, and
" thoroughly well trained to the hunting of this Animal. The
" Pack consists of nine Couple and a Terrier, and are esteemed
" to be as good, if not the best, Hounds in the Kingdom. In
" the Winter Season they hunt the Hare, except about two
" Couple and a half that are trained to the Otter only ; but
" there are about two Couple of Harriers, that have never been
" entered at the Otter, which will go with the rest; beside three
" Couple of Year-old Hounds, now fit to enter at either or
" both ; and one Couple of Whelps, ready to go to Walks. The
" greatest part of them are the Blood of as high bred a Fox-
" Hound as any in England. The Proprietor disposes of them
"for the two following reasons only: First, because all the
" Otters except about three or four, are killed within this Hunt,
" which consists of all the Rivers in this County, (except the
" Dove, where Otters are not to be killed with Hounds,) Lei-
" cestershiie, and Warwickshire ; but more especially, because
" the Proprietor finds himself too infirm to follow them. None
" but Principals will be treated with. Direct to Walter Bid-
" dulph, of Barton aforesaid, Esq.: by whom all Letters from
" Principals will be duly answered.
" N.B. Mr. Biddulph has killed within these last six Years
" with these Hounds, above Burton upon Trent only, seven ty-
" four Otters. There are six Spears to be disposed of with the
" Hounds."
Page 3. Noble Mr. Sadler.
Ralph Sadler, or Sadleir, of Standon, in the County of Hert-
ford Esq. ; only son and heir of Sir Thomas Sadler, and grand-
son of Sir Ralph Sadler, Knight-Banneret, celebrated in the
times of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth. He
married, in 1601, Anne Paston, eldest daughter of the very
eminent Sir Edward Coke, Lord Chief-Justice ; in 1606, he suc-
ceeded to the family-seat of Standon, and he died without issue,
on February the 12th, 1660 (1661); Scott's Sadler's Papers.
He appears to have had a great attachment to angling, and Sir
Henry Chauncy, in his Historical Antiquities of Hertfordshire,
p. 2)9, says of him, that " he brought an action of trespass
" Quarr n ft tirmis against John Hyat in the Court of King's
" Bench, for fishing in the river Standon leading through his
"own land, and for erecting a weir there; and he obtained
"judgment thereupon. He delighted much in hawking and
" hunting, and the pleasures of a country life; was famous for
" his noble table, his great hospitality to his neighbours, and
" his abundant charity to the poor." The original edition of
Walton's work in this part reads as follows. " Viator. Indeed,
378 NOTES.
" Sir, a little business and more pleasure : for my purpose is to
" bestow a day or two in hunting the otter, which my friend,
" that 1 go to meet, tells me is more pleasant than any hunting
" whatsoever : and, having despatched a little business this day,
" my purpose is to-morrow to follow the dogs of honest Mr.
" who hath appointed me and my friend to meet him
" upon Amwell-hiil to-morrow morning by day-break."
Page 4. According to Lucian.
The First Edition of the Complete Angler has these verses
placed immediately after the extract from Montaigne, which
was introduced by the same remarks which now precede it,
upon Viator's answer to that speech of Piscator, in which he
declares himself an enemy to the Otter, both on the account of
his brother-anglers and his own. At page 5, in the original
impression, Viator, who is the subsequent Venator, though
without his discourse in praise of Hunting, says : " Sir, to be
" plain with you, I am sorry you are an Angler: for I have
" heard many grave, serious men pitie, and many pleasant men
" scoffe, at Anglers." Piscator's reply is then nearly the same
as it now appears, with the transposition already mentioned ;
but at the end of the sentence " and I hope I may take," etc.,
see page 5, he continues : " But, if this satisfie not, I pray
" bid the scoffer put this Epigram in his pocket, and read it
" every morning for his breakfast (for I wish him no better;)
" Hee shall find it fixed before the Dialogues of Lucian, who
" may justly be accounted the father of the family of all scoff-
" ers : And, though I owe none of that fraternitie so much as
" good-will, yet I have taken a little pleasant pains to make
" such a conversion of it as may make it the titter for all of that
" fraternity." The translation of Lucian alluded to by Walton,
is entitled " Certain select Dialogues of Lucian : together with
" his true history," Translated from the Greek into English by
Mr. Francis Hickes. Oxford, 1634, 4to. The book was pub-
lished by Thomas Hickes, MA., the son of the translator ; and
at the end of an address "To the honest and judicious reader,"
is the Epigram already referred to, printed in Greek and Eng-
lish, and signed T. H. The original lines, taken from the copy
of this volume in the Library of Sion College, London, are as
follow :
" Lucian, well skill'd in old toyes, this hath writ :
For all's but folly that men thinke is wit ;
No settled judgement doth in men appear : —
But thou admirest that which others jeer."
Page 5. The learned and ingenuous Montaigne says.
The original edition, in this place, reads " And as for any
NOTES. 379
" Scoffer, ' qui mockat, mockabitur.' Let mee tell you, (that
" you may tell him) what the wittie French-man sayes in such
" a case." The extract then follows, and a marginal note refers
to the authority. The edition of Montaigne's Essays used by
Walton, was in all probability that marked No. 29, in the fore-
going list : the passage alluded to will be found in chap. xii.
" An Apologie of Raymond De Sebonde," and on page 250 of
the volume, but the paraphrase which has been given at the
place above quoted, is far more beautiful and copious than the
original. Michel De Montaigne, whose amusing and instructive
Essays Walton seems carefully to have read, was born at the
Chateau De Montagne, in Perigord, on February the 28th 1533.
As soon as he could sprak he was sent into Germany to learn
Latin, which he understood perfectly when he was only six
years old ; the Greek he also acquired with considerable ease ;
and by the time he was thirteen, his education was finished.
As he was intended for the profession of the Law, he married
Franchise Dela Chassaigne, the daughter of a Councillor of the
Parliament of Bourdeaux ; but although he was extensively
employed and caressed in Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, the
retirement of study was most congenial to his feelings. Charles
IX. of France invested him with the Order of St. Michael, and
he died on his own estate on the 15th of September 1592. His
principal work is his Moral, Political, and Military Essays, which
are replete with information on all subjects, and especially on
natural history ; but he also published a volume of travels, and
a French translation of the Natural Theology of Raymond De
Sebonde. John Florio, the Resolute, as he styled himself, who
made that translation of Montaigne's Essays, consulted by
Walton, was the son of Italian parents who wire Waldenses,
and who lied to London to avoid the Papal persecutions. In
that city he was bom in the reign of Henry VIII. Florio
taught Italian and French in the University of Oxford, and also
to Anne, the Queen of James I. and Prince Henry his son. He
died of the plague at Fulhain, in L625, at the age of 80.
Page i'i. I hiijjf in tmir ta disabuse you.
This expression is now nearly obsolete; it is derived from
the old French Desabuser, to Undeceive. In Chap. in. page 59,
the same word occurs again, and in the Rev. H.J. Todd's edition
of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary, the first of the foregoing passages
is given, as one of the authorities for the use of the expression.
The verb to abuse, put for deception, will be found in Wotton's
verses on page 256. — " Abused mortals did you know." In
the original edition of this work, in which there are two speakers
only in the first chapter, the dialogue immediately passes to
Piscator's illustrations of the antiquity of angling.
380 NOTES.
Page 10. Varro his Ariarij.
In book iv. section 7, and page 388, of Dr. Hakewill's Apo-
logy, No. 21 in the preceding list, are several particulars of
Varro's passion for birds, and his extensive aviaries, quoted
from himself, Lucius Accius. and Columella, with particular re-
ferences to each. Marcus Terentius Varro, was a very learned
Roman, who was Lieutenant to Pompey in his piratical wars,
and who obtained a naval crown. Cicero greatly commends
his erudition, and to him he dedicated his five books " De
Lingua Latina," in his 80th year. Beside these he wrote nearly
five hundred volumes, which are now all lost, excepting a Trea-
tise De Re Rustica, in book iii. of which some notices of his
aviary may be found.
Page 10. This for the Birds of Pleasure.
To these may with propriety be added the practice of the
Persian Kings mentioned by Robert Burton in his " Anatomy
"of Melancholy," Land. 1670. fol. part 2, sect. 2, memb. 4,
page 1G9, col. 1, which he quotes from Sir Anthony Shirley's
Travels. " The Persian Kings," says he, " hawk after butter-
" flies with sparrows made to that use, and starrs (starlings) :
" lesser hawks for lesser games they have and bigger for the
" rest, that they may produce their sport to all seasons. The
" Muscovian Emperours reclaim eagles to let fly at hindes,
" foxes, etc., and such a one was sent for a present to Queen
" Elizabeth : some reclaim ravens, castrils (young kites or
" bastard-hawks), pies, etc. and man them for pleasure." In
the very entertaining Life of Edward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury,
Lond. 1778. 4to. p. 134, it is related that M. De Luynes, subse-
quently Prime-minister of France in the early years of Louis
XIIL, "gained much upon the King by making hawks fly at
" all little birds in his gardens, and by making some of those
" little birds again catch butterflies," Hawkins.
Page 10. Mr. G. Sandys in his Trarels.
George Sandys, or Sandies, was the seventh or youngest son
of Dr. Edwin Sandys, Archbishop of York from 1576 to l.r>88,
and was born in the Archiepiscopal palace at Bishopsthorpe, in
1577. In 1 588 he was entered of St. Mary's Hall, Oxford ; and
in August 1 G 10, lie departed on his travels through Europe and
Asia, which occupied two years, and of which he published an
account in folio, with many plates, in 1615, and repeatedly re-
printed. Sandys was not only pious, learned, and accomplished,
but he was also one of the best versifiers of his time ; and in
poetry he published " Ovid's Metamorphoses Englished," 1626,
folio: — A Paraphrase upon the Psalms of David, etc. 1636,
octavo : — Christ's Passion, a Tragedy, translated from H. Gro-
tius, 1640, 12mo : — and a Paraphrase upon the Song of Solo-
NOTES. 381
mon, 1641, 4to. He died in 1643. The passage in his Travels
alluded to in the text will be found in No. 39 of the foregoing
list, p. 209.
Page 1 1 . The Dove was sent out of the Ark by Noah.
Genesis, chap. viii. 8-12. The Offering of Turtle- doves or
Pigeons, referred to immediately after, will be found in Leviticus
xii. 6. 8. and Luke ii. 24. The Descent of the Holy Ghost also
mentioned in the same paragraph, is related in St. Matthew iii.
16; St. Mark i. 10. St. Luke iii. 22; and St. John i. 32.
With the exception of the third reference, however, the words
imply that the Holy Spirit descended in the manner of a Dove,
over- shadowing and covering that which is beneath ; but Dr.
Whitby in his " Paraphrase and Commentary on the NewTesta-
" ment," Lond. 1727, fol. vol. i p. 370, says that even that
passage has the same meaning, since it is not a bocfily form as
of a Docc, but as a Dure which is similar to the phrase used in
Acts ii. 3. as of Fire. " This bodily shape," he continues,
" seems rather to have been that of light, or of a bright cloud,
" in which God usually appeared under the Old Testament,
" and from which he spake, and which is usually called ' the
" Glory of the Lord.' " Dr. Doddridge in his " Family Exposi-
" tor" Lond. 1760. 4to. vol. i. p. 115, Note g, says, that the
phrase might have been used without any actual appearance,
" but only a lambent flame falling from Heaven with a dove-like
" motion, which Dr. Scot in his Christian Life, vol. iii. p. 66,
" supposes to have been all. Dr. Owen and Grotius, think it was
" a bright Hame in the shape of a Dove, and Justin Martyr adds,
" that all Jordan shone with the reflection of the light." See
also Dr. Henry Hammond's " Paraphrase and Annotations on
" the New Testament," and Bishop Jeremy Taylor's " Ductor
" Dubitantium." Hawkins.
P?.ge 1 1 . The laborious Bee, of whose prudence, etc.
The following work was doubtless in Walton's memory when
this passage was written. " The Feminine Monarchic : or the
" Historie of Bees. Shewing their admirable nature and pro-
" perties, their generation and colonies, their gouernment,
" loyaltie, art, industrie, enemies, wanes, magnanimitie, etc.
" Together with the right ordering of them from time to time :
" and the sweet profit arising therefrom. Written out of ex-
" periment by Charles Butler. Lond. 1623. 4to." Hawkins.
Page 11. And now return to my Hawks.
This part of the text may be illustrated by referring to the
ensuing volumes, which are considered as being the best that
are extant on the subject of Falconry. " The Booke of Fal-
" conrie," by George Turberville, an English Poet, born about
1530: 1575. 4tO. " The Gentleman's Acudemie," Lond. 1595,
382 NOTES.
4to., and "Country Contentments," Land. 1675, 4to. by
Gcrvase Markham. " Falconrie," in Two Books, Lond. 1G58,
4to. ; and " Another New and Second Book of Falconry,"
Lond. 1618, 4to. by Simon Latham. Hawkins. The eulogies
on Hawking and Hunting are not in Walton's First Edition.
Page 14. The Fichat — the Fulimart — the Mouldwarp.
It has been ascertained that the first two of these names were
anciently applied indiscriminately to the Ferret and the Pole-
cat ; but the Fitchet, Fitchel, or Fitchew, is a name most com-
monly appropriated to the Weazel, and it is supposed is derived
of the Teutonic Visse, Fisse, or Fitche, an extremely rank animal
of the Mustela or Weazel genus. Dr. Skinner in his Etymolo-
gicon Linguae Anglicans, Lond. 1671. fol., under the word Fuli-
mart, states that " it is a word which is not in any place except-
" ing in the book called The Complete Angler :" but it may be
observed that Juliana Barnes, in the Book of St. Albans, speaks
of the Fulmarde as one of the rascal beasts of chase ; and Strutt
in his " Sports and Pastimes of the People of England," Lond.
1801, p. 14, places it as one of the animals of rank, or fetid
flight, which leave a foul scent behind them. In Dr. Adam
Lyttleton's Dictionary, it is called " a fetid mouse of Pontus ;"
and Phillips in his " World of Words," explains it to be a
species of Polecat, in which sense the word Fowmarte is still
used in Scotland. Francis Junius calls it " Fullmer, that is the
" same as Polecat, a Marten. It is from the Teutonic Ful,
" Fetid, and Merder, a Marten. Also in the Belgic it is now
" called Visse, which was formerly Fiest, from its offensive
" smell." Etymologicum Anglicanum. Oxon. 1743. fol. The
Mouldwarp is a name of the Mole, compounded of the Anglo-
Saxon words Molde, dust, and Weorpan, to cast. " We call"
says Verstegan, " in some parts of England, a mole, a MouW-
" warp, which is as much as to say a cast-earth."
Page 14. Hon- could Cleopatra have feasted Mark Antony.
See North's Translation of Plutarch's Lives, No. 35, of the
preceeding list page 982. Marginal letter d. of that volume.
Page 15. One of the qualifications that Xenophon, etc.
The Edition of the Cyropaedia used by Walton, was in all pro-
bability that marked No 44 in the preceding list : and the
passage referred to is in the first book. In the translation of
this author by the Hon. Maurice Ashley, Lond. 1728, 8vo. it
will be found in vol. i. p. 84.
Page 17. Moses — who was called the Friend of God.
This title in the Scriptures is usually applied to Abraham, see
2 Chron. xx. 7, Isaiah xli. 8, James ii. 23 ; but in Exodus
xxxiii. 11, it is said that " God spake to Moses as a Man to his
" Friend." Walton has another passage similar to the line
NOTES. 383
cited above, on page 37. The reference relating to the learning
of Moses, mentioned on page 17, is to Acts vii. 22 ; and that
which alludes to his meekness, is to Numbers xiii. 3.
Page 19. Hf that shall view the writings of Macrobius orVarro.
This passage occurs first in the Second Edition of The Com-
plete Angler, 1655 ; and the materials of it are taken, with little
alteration in the language, from lib. iv. sect. 6, p. 434, of Dr.
HakewilFs Apology, etc.; see the preceding list, No. 21.
Aurelius Macrobius was a Latin writer of the fourth century,
who is by some supposed to have been a Christian, and Cham-
berlain to the Emperor Theodosius II. His principal production
is the " Saturnalia Convivia," in seven books, consisting of a
miscellaneous collection of antiquities and criticisms, supposed
to have been derived from the conversation of some learned Ro-
mans, during the Saturnalian Festival. The circumstances
mentioned in the text will be found in lib. ii. cap. xi. of that
work. He also wrote a Commentary on Cicero's Somnium
Scipionis, and many other books which are now lost ; but his
latinity is often corrupt, as he was not born in a part of the Ro-
man Empire where the Latin language was spoken. The passage
taken from Varro will be found in his book. " De Re
Rustica,"lib. iii. cap. xvii.
Page 19. A most learned Physician, Dr. Wliarton.
Dr. Thomas Wharton was descended from an ancient family
in Yorkshire, and was originally educated at Pembroke Hall,
Cambridge ; whence he removed to Trinity College, Oxford,
before the breaking out of the civil-wars. On the commence-
ment of the rebellion, he came up to London, and practised
physic under the eminent Dr. John Bathurst, until 1046 ; when
he again returned to his college, and, through the recommen-
dation of Lord Fairfax, was created M.D. early in 1647.
In 1650 he was admitted a Fellow of the College of Phy-
sicians in London, where he resided in Aldersgate-street,
and remained in the city throughout the whole of the
last Plague of 1665. He died at his house on the 14th
of November, 1673. He published an excellent descrip.
tion of the Glands, written in Latin, which was printed at
London in 1656, 8 vo. Amsterd. 1659. Hawkins. Dr. Whar-
ton's name was not inserted in the text at this place till the
Edition of 1676: and the First is entirely without the eulogy
on water. It is worthy of remark, that the whole of these
passages relating to Hawking, Hunting, and Angling, are
copied almost verbatim, in a very popular and well known
work, entitled " The Gentleman's Recreation ;" of which the
first edition was printed in 1674, six years after the fourth edi-
384 NOTES.
tion of Walton's Angler; and that portion of The Gentleman's
Recreation, which treats of Fishing, is merely an abstract
of Walton's researches. Another imitation of this author,
although of a much slighter extent, may be found in the
Works of Bishop Home, Edit, by W. Jones, Lond. 1809. 8vo.
vol. iv. p. 537, in a Discourse composed at Brighthelmston,
entitled " Considerations on the Sea." This similarity was
pointed out to the Editor by the Rev. Dr. J. T. Barrett, of
Westminster.
Page 21. I see Theobald's House.
This favourite palace of King James 1., formerly stood in a
large Manor called Thebaudes, in the County of Hertford, and
Parish of Cheshunt, somewhat north of the Ware road, about
twelves miles from London. It was erected about the year
1570, by John Thorpe, for Secretary Cecil, afterwards Lord
Treasurer Burghley. On the 27th of July 1564, Elizabeth
made her first visit to the house ; and, having probably ex-
pressed her intention of repeating it, by her second progress
to Theobald's on the 22d of September, 1571, it was consi-
derably enlarged and improved. During her reign, the Queen
went thither twelve different times ; at some of which, the
expenses of her entertainment amounted to from 2000/. to
3000/. On the death of Lord Burghley, he was succeeded at
Theobald's by his son Robert, subsequently the Earl of Salis-
bury ; who, on the 3d of May 1603, entertained King James I.
then on his journey to London to assume the English Crown.
This costly entertainment was repeated in 1606, when that
Sovereign was accompanied by Christiern IV., King of Denmark,
and, from these visits, King James became so great an admirer
of Theobald's, that he at length exchanged for it the Palace of
Hatfield ; after which it became his favourite residence, and he
died there on March the 27th, 1625. His son Charles also
occasionally lived at Theobald's : he there received the Pe-
tition from the Parliament in 1642, and it was thence he
went to assume the command of his army. In 1650, after a
minute Parliamentary survey, and some disputes concerning its
sale, the greater part of Theobald's was taken down, and the
amount received for the materials sold employed for the use of
the army. About 1660, George Monk, Duke of Albemarle,
received Theobald's by patent from King Charles II.; but on
the failure of male issue in the second Duke Christopher, the
property again returned to the Crown. In 1689, King Wil-
liam III. issued a patent granting it to William Bentinck, Earl
of Portland ; but about 1762, it was sold to George Prescott,
Esq. from whom it has ultimately descended to Sir George
NOTES. 385
William Prescott, Bart, the present possessor. Of the magni-
ficence of the Palace at Theobald's, some idea may be formed
from the particular description given of it in the Life of Lord
Burghley, in Peck's " Desiderata Curiosa;" that by Sir Paul
Hentzner ; that in the " Voyages Ce'lebres" of the Sieur Jean
Albert De Mandelslo ; that in the Parliamentary Survey of 1 650,
already mentioned ; and also from a short notice in the " De-
scription of Hertfordshire," by John Norden. See also the
Rev. Daniel Lysons's "Environs of London," vol. iv., pages
29-39, and " Clutterbuck's History and Antiquities of the
County of Hertford," vol. ii. pp. 87-95, whence the foregoing
account has been abstracted. There are two small old views of
the exterior of this mansion, by John Stent and Peter King; but
the best is that published by the Society of Antiquaries, in 1 765,
in the second volume of the " Vetusta Monumenta," under the
name of Richmond Palace, from a painting by Vinkenboom. It
was identified as Theobald's in The Gentleman's Magazine, for
September 1836, and engraven as an illustration in Mr. Picker-
ing's edition of the Complete Angler. In 1840, in the first
volume of Mr. C. J. Richardson's Architectural Remains of
Elizabeth and James I. Part ii. plate x. were published for the
first time fac-similes of Thorpe's original plans of the base-
ment and ground floor of Theobald's Palace, from the collection
of the architect's drawings in the Museum of Sir John Soane.
The fragments of the old Theobald's House were taken down
about 1765, the present building standing on a rising ground,
about a mile to the north-west of the ancient site. Theobald's
House is not mentioned in the First Edition of the Contem-
plative Man's Recreation.
Page 23. Then first for the Antiquity of Ans;lin^.
At this place, in Walton's First Edition, p. J 2, there is a mar-
ginal reference to " J. Da. Jer. Mar." as the authorities which
furnished this paragraph ; which are certainly meant for John
Davors, and Jervis or Gervase Markham. The beautiful verses
by the former of these persons on page 43, have been, how-
ever, considered to belong rather to a John Dennys ; since
those stanzas which in the First Edition of Walton, p. 35, are
marked Jo. Da. afterwards extended into Davors, form a part of
a very rare poem entitled "The Secrets of Angling, by J. D.,
"Esquire," first printed in octavo, in 1613. In a modern
reprint of this very curious work, the following extract from the
Books of the Stationers' Company gave an account of this
poem and the Author. " 1612. 23° Martij. Mr. Rog. Jackson
" entred for his copie under th'ands of Mr. Mason and Mr.
" Warden Hooper, a booke called the Secrete of Angling,
" teaching the choycest tooles, bates, and seasons, for the
c c
386 NOTES.
" taking of any fish in any pond or river, practised and opened
" in three bookes, by John Dennis, Esquire." It is however
possible that John Davors was a maternal relative of the author,
and assisted him in his work, and that this circumstance was
known to Walton. There are fourteen lines prefixed to the
poem in commendation " of his praiseworthy skill and work,"
signed " Jo. Daves," which might have been an old or con-
tracted way of writing the name of Davors. The passage at
present alluded to by Walton, will be found in that division of
the poem entitled "The Author of Angling, Poetical fictions,"
and on p. 13 of the reprint of 1811, beginning "Then did Deu-
" calion first the art invent." The Stanzas which Piscator
quotes on p. 43, will be found in the division called " a Worthy
" Answer," on p. 10, " O let me rather on the pleasant
" brinke," etc.; and in this instance, as in nearly every other,
Walton has improved his author. The passage referred to in
Markham, will be found in his " Pleasures of Princes, or Good
" Men's Recreations ; containing a Discourse of the generall
" Art of Fishing with an Angle or otherwise." Lond. 1614. 4to.
Chap. 1. " Of Angling the vertue, vse, and antiquitie," p. 3.
Sir John Hawkins supposed that when Piscator is defining the
mental character of a fisherman, Walton had in his mind that
singular chapter in Markham's Country Contentments, on the
subject of the " Angler's Apparel and Inward qualities ;" but it
is more probable that he alluded to those stanzas contained in
the third book of The Secrets of Angling, which are entitled
" The Qualities of an Angler."
Page 24. In the Prophet Amos, mention is made of Fish-hooks.
Chap.iv.2. Canne, in his marginal references to this chapter,
refers to Jeremiah xvi. 16. " Behold I will send for many
" fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them." The pas-
sage of Job which the text refers to, will be found in chap. xli.
1, 2, and the 7th verse is also distantly allusive to the forma-
tion of hooks. Again, in Isaiah the word occurs in chap,
xxxvii. 29. " I will put my hook in thy nose :" And also in
chap. xix. 8, which Bishop Lowth translated
" And the fishers shall mourn, and lament;
All those that cast the hook on the river,
And those, that spread nets on the face of the waters
shall languish."
" Isaiah, A New Translation," etc. by Robert
Lowth, D.D. Lond. 1795, 8vo. p. 56.
The common translation of King James reads " all they that
" cast angle into the brooks shall lament." In Ezekiel, xxix.4,
hooks are mentioned in connection with fishing, as the medium
NOTE S. 387
of catching the King of Egypt, who is represented under the
figure of the crocodile, lying in the midst of his rivers ; and the
word occurs again in Ezek. xxxviii. 4. The Prophet Habbakuk
in chap. i. 14-17, has an inference to hooks, but the word is
commonly translated Angle. Hawkins.
Page 24. In ancient times a debate has arisen, etc.
This was a favourite subject with the old theological writers
of Italy ; and the chief of their arguments with many refer-
ences, are considered in " A collection of several Tracts of the
Right Honourable Edward, Earl of Clarendon, Lond. 1727, fol.
pp. 167-205. This tract was most probably written at Mont-
pellier in March 1670. Hawkins. Walton however might
probably allude to a rare piece by Evelyn, which he wrote in
answer to Sir George Mackenzie, entitled " PublicEmployment,
and an Active Life preferred to Solitude." Lond. 1667. 12mo.
Page 26. The learned Peter Du Moulin.
This very eminent writer in the Romish controversy was the
eldest son of Peter Du Moulin, who was also celebrated in the
same cause. He was Chaplain to King Charles II. of England,
and a Prebendary of the Cathedral of Canterbury, in which
city he died in 1684, at the age of 84. The passage alluded to
by Walton, will be found in No. 30 of the preceding list, at
sign, a 3 in the Preface to the Reader.
Page 26. And an ingenious Spaniard says.
This passage is commonly supposed to allude to John Val-
desso, a Spanish soldier in the service of the Emperor Charles
V. ; of whom in his old age, he obtained leave to retire, by
urging the aphorism " It is fit that between the employment of
" life and the day of death, some space should intervene :"
reflection on this is thought to have been the chief reason of
that Sovereign's abdication, of which Walton gives a particular
narrative in his Life of Mr. George Herbert. Valdesso secluded
himself in the city of Naples, and there wrote, in the Castilian
tongue, " The Hundred and Ten Considerations of Signor
Valdesso," which were translated into Italian by Caelius Se-
cundus Curio, of Basil, and thence into English by the cele-
brated Nicholas Farrar, Jun. of Little Gidding, and published
in 4to. at Oxford in 1638. From this work the passage in the
text is said to have been taken, but it does not appear there.
Hawkins.
Page 27. One of no less credit than Aristotle.
In the margin of the First Edition of Walton is inserted at
this place, " In his Wonders of Nature. This is confirmed by
Ennius, and Solon in his Holy History." The circumstances
mentioned by Camden will be found in his Britannia, see No. 8
in the preceding list, at pages 558, and 762. The Sabbatical
388 NOTES.
River of Josephus, is described in the Seventh Book and 5th
Chapter of his History, No. 24 in the list; and in the fifth
volume of Purchas, his Pilgrims and Pilgrimage, p. 581, will be
found some additional particulars and references concerning it.
Page 29. Learned Dr. Casaubon's Discourse.
Meric, son of Isaac Casaubon, a man of very great learning,
was born at Geneva in 1599, and was educated at Oxford ; he
was afterwards made a Prebendary of Canterbury, in addition
to which Oliver Cromwell vainly endeavoured to engage him by
a pension of 3001. to write the history of his time. He died in
1G71, bearing an amiable character for loyalty, religion, and
charity : he wrote many volumes, but the singular work men-
tioned in the text, will be found at No. 10 of the preceding
list, and the passage alluded to commences at page 243 of that
edition.
Page 29. Collected by John Tradeseant .
Of these names there were three persons, grand-father, father,
and son ; of whom the son is the one alluded to in the text.
They were all eminent botanists, and collectors of natural
curiosities, the two former were gardeners to Queen Elizabeth,
and the latter held the same situation under Charles I. They
resided at South Lambeth in Surrey, at a building now known by
the name of Turret- House; and, dying there, were buried in an
altar-tomb, singularly ornamented, in Lambeth church-yard.
With the youngest of the family Mr. Ashmole contracted an
intimacy, and, together with his wife, boarded at his house for a
summer; during which time he agreed with him for the pur-
chase of his whole collection of rarities, and it was accordingly
conveyed to him by a deed of gift from Tradeseant and his wife.
On his death, Ashmole was obliged to file a bill in Chancery for
the delivery of his property ; but soon after a decree had been
pronounced in his favour Mrs. Tradeseant was discovered
drowned in her own pond. This collection of natural curio-
sities, which was the first made in England, Ashmole be-
queathed with all its additions to the University of Oxford, and
thus founded the Ashmolean Museum. Hawkins. The list of
strange Fishes, etc. mentioned by Walton, will be found at
page 8 of a Catalogue of the Collection, entitled " Museum
" Tradescantium, or a Collection of Rarities preserved at South
" Lambeth, near London, by John Tradeseant." Land. 1656.
8vo. The passage from the words " But I will lay aside,"
p. 28, down to " she locks up her wonders," p. 29, was not in-
serted till Walton's Fifth Edition. E/ias Ashmole, who is men-
tioned in the same sentence withTradescant, was bornMay 16th,
1617, and was a Chorister in Lichfield Cathedral. In 1638 he
became a Solicitor in Chancery ; but in 1649 he married his
NOTES. 389
second wife, the Lady Mary Mainwaring, who was possessed of
a large fortune, and he resigned himself to alchemical study in
concert with William Lilly and John Aubrey, Esq. of Surrey.
In 1660 Charles II. gave him the office of Windsor Herald;
and ten years after he produced his excellent History of the
Order of the Garter. Ashmole married a third time in 16G8,
Elizabeth Dugdale, daughter of Sir William Dugdale, and he
died on May 18th, 1692, celebrated for his knowledge of many
and various Arts and Sciences.
Page 30. Mr. George Herbert.
This pious, learned, and eminent, person, was of the noble fa-
mily of Herbert, and a younger brother of the deistical Edward
Lord Herbert of Cherbury. He was a King's-Scholar at West-
minster, and subsequently a Fellow of Trinity College, Cam-
bridge; where, in 1619, he was chosen University Orator. In
that station he studied the modern languages with a view to the
office of Secretary of State; but being of a consumptive habit,
and a retired turn of mind, he entered into holy orders, and
was preferred to a Prebend in the Cathedral of Lincoln. He
married about 1630, a near relation of the Earl of Danby, and
died without issue in 1635, at the age of 42. The printed
works of Herbert are, a collection of Religious Poems called
the Temple, his Remains, and a Translation of Luigi Cornaro's
work on Temperance and Long Life. Walton. The passage
quoted in the text is in the first of these, No. 22 of the fore-
going list, pp. 110, 113 of that volume; Stanzas 7, 8, 36. The
word Owes in Herbert's verses is the older form of Owns.
Page 30. Gesner, Rondeletius, Pliny, Ausonius, Aristotle.
Conrad Gesner, an eminent scholar, philosopher, physician,
and naturalist, was the son of Vasa Gesner and Barbara Fric-
cius, and was born at Zurich in Switzerland in 1516, and there
received his initiation into the Greek and Latin languages.
His poverty obliged him to travel, and at length to study physic
at Basle, where he took his Doctor's degree, and then returned
to Zurich. His works are very numerous, and were, many of
them, evidently written in haste to procure him a subsistence :
of these, the principal is the " Historiae Animalium," for which
he was surnamed the Pliny of Germany. For twenty-four
years Gesner was Professor of Philosophy at Zurich, and he died
of the plague on December 13th, 1565. Qulielmus Rondeletius,
or Guillaume Rondelet, was a celebrated physician, who was
born at Montpellier in Languedoc, in 1507. He wrote several
medical books, but his best production is his Treatise " De Pis-
cibus Marinis," of which there is also a French translation. He
died, in great poverty, at Realmont in Albigeois, on July 18th,
1566, of a surfeit, induced by eating figs to excess. Caius
390 NOTES.
Plinius Secundus, surnamed the Elder, was born at Verona, and
was celebrated as a soldier, a statesman, and a scholar. He
wrote 160 volumes of remarks on the authors which he had
read ; but his Natural History, in 37 books, is the only one of
his works now extant. He perished in that eruption of Mount
Vesuvius which overthrew Herculaneum, a.d. 79, in his 56th
year. Decimus Magnus Ausonius was a Latin poet born at
Bordeaux in Gaul ; and preceptor of Gratian, the son of the
Emperor Valentinian, which occasioned him to be made Consul.
His compositions are chiefly Epigrams from the Greek, Epi-
taphs, and poetical Epistles. He died about a.d. 390. Aris-
toteles, the celebrated philosopher, was born at Stagira, and
studied at Athens under Plato. He wrote above 400 literary
and scientific volumes, and Alexander the Great magnificently
patronised his Natural History of Animals. He died at the
age of G3, b.c. 322.
Page 3 1 . Divine Du Bartas.
Guillaume De Salluste, Sieur Du Bartas, was the son of a
Treasurer of France, and was born in 1544, at Montfort in Ar-
magnac. He served in the army of Henry IV. as the com-
mander of a company of cavalry, in Gascony, under Marechal
De Matignon ; and the King also employed him in various
commissions to England, Denmark, and Scotland. His works
are numerous, and written both in French and Latin verse ;
but his principal production is entitled "A Commentary of the
" Week of the Creation of the World," in seven books. In six
years, it passed through upwards of thirty editions ; and an
English translation of it in verse, by Joshua Sylvester, mer-
chant-adventurer of London, was published in 1605. Du Bartas
held the doctrines of Calvinism ; he was a modest and reserved
man, a brave soldier, and he died in 1590, at the age of 46. The
passage quoted in the text, will be found in the Fifth Day of the
First Week, line33, but it is considerably varied from theoriginal:
see No. 7 in the list of Authorities, and p. 39, col. 2, of that
volume. In the quotation from Du Bartas in the text, the
word Stares is put for Starlings : it is derived from the Saxon
Staer or the Teutonic Sterre, ultimately from the Latin Sturnus.
The Two Ecclesiastical Fishes mentioned by Bu Bartas, are de-
scribed by Rondeletius, and delineated in the Posthumous
Works of Mr. John Gregory. Lond. 1683. 4to. pages 121, 122.
Hawkins.
Page 31. The Cuttle-fish, etc.
The margin in all the editions refers to Montaigne's Essays,
see No. 29 of the preceding list; and in the Apology for Ray-
mond De Sebonde, book ii. chap. xii. p. 256, is the passage
alluded to.
NOTES. 391
Page 32. Mlian.
Claudius iElianus was a Roman sophist of Prreneste in Italy, in
the reign of Adrian, who originally taught Rhetoric at Rome ;
but taking a dislike to his profession, he became an author, and
wrote seventeen books De Animalium Natura, and fourteen of
various History, etc. in Greek. He died in his 60th year,
a. d. 140. The passage from the words " And there is a fish,"
down to " most of mankind," was not inserted till the Third
Edition of The Complete Angler, 1664.
Page 32. And first what Du Bartas says.
See No. 7 in the preceding list, and the Fifth Day of the
First Week, line 195, p. 41, col. 1, of that volume : the verses
on the Cantharus and the Mullet, mentioned on pages 33 and
34, immediately follow the above at lines 201 and 205; and
Walton's reference to the custom of the Thracian women also
came from Du Bartas, beginning at line 209. The account of
the Sargus was taken by Du Bartas from Oppian's Halieutics,
lib. iv.
Page 34. Pheer — prest.
Pheer, or Fere. Saxon, Fern, Gefera, is a Mate, an Equal ; and
anciently, as in the present instance, a Husband or Wife. Prest
is the old orthography of the French Pret, Ready. Hawkins.
Page 38. The Voyages of Ferdinand Mendez Pinto.
A native of Monte Mor Ouelhoin Portugal, born about 1510,
and whose Travels, written by himself, have been very much
questioned as to their truth. For twenty-one years of his life
he was journeying chiefly in the East ; and during that time
he was five times shipwrecked, seventeen times sold, and thir-
teen times made a slave : he returned to Lisbon, Sept. 22nd,
1558. A translation of his Voyages will be found in the list of
Authorities, No. 33 ; and the passage alluded to by Walton is
in chap. 79, p. 319. The paragraph in which this traveller is
mentioned, did not appear until Walton's Second Edition.
Page 38. He that reads Plutarch.
See No. 35 in the foregoing list, p. 983, marginal letter D, in
that volume. Those passages from the words " And for the
" lawfulness," down to " great learning have been," did not
appear until Walton's Second Edition.
Page 38. Angling is always taken in the best sense.
See Cruden's Concordance under the titles Fishing and
Hunting.
Page 39. Our learned Perkins — Doctor Whitaker — Doctor
Nowel.
William Perkins was a learned Divine, and a pious and labo-
rious preacher ; and Dr. William Whitaker was an eminent
writer in the Romish controversy, and Regius Professor of
Divinity in the University of Cambridge. They both flourished
392 NOTES.
at the close of the sixteenth century ; and the love of the
latter for Angling is mentioned in Fuller's Holy State, book iii.
chap. 13. Dr. Alexander Nowel was a learned divine, and a
famous preacher in the reign of King Edward VI. ; upon whose
death he, with many other Protestants, fled to Germany, where
he lived several years. In 1561 he was made Dean of St. Paul's;
and died in 1601. His monument was consumed in 1666; but
the inscription and an engraving of the tomb will be found in
Dugdale's History of St Paul's. There has been considerable
dispute as to the Catechism alluded to by Walton : and it seems
almost certain that it is not the one printed in the Book of
Common Prayer. See Fuller's Worthies, Lane. 115, Athen.
Oxon. 113, and Churton's Life of Nowel, p. 366. Hawkins.
See also Herbert's Typographical Antiquities, Edit, by the Rev.
T. F. Dibdin, vol. iv. p. 13, and the Rev. E. Cardwell's Docu-
mentary Annals of the Reformed Church of England, vol. i.
page 266, note.
Page 41. Sir Henry Wotton.
An eminent scholar and statesman, born at Bocton Hall in
Kent, in 1568, and educated at Winchester School and New
College, Oxford. Having travelled about nine years, he became
Secretary to Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex ; but upon his at-
tainder he again went to the Continent, and attached himself to
the Duke of Florence, who sent him as Ambassador to James VI.
of Scotland. When that Monarch came to be King of England,
he received Wotton into his service, knighted him, and em-
ployed him as his principal Ambassador. About 1624 he
took Deacon's Orders, and was made Provost of Eton College,
where he died in December, 1639. Walton. The passagequoted
in the text, is in his Remains ; see the foregoing list, No. 43,
and the recto of sign, c 6 in that volume. The poem printed
on page 42 is in the same book at p. 524 ; and in these verses
the word Pilgrim is put for the Swallow, because of its migra-
tions.
Page 48. The gloves of an Otter, etc.
All the particulars related of the Otter were derived from the
Rev. Edward Topsell's Natural History; see No. 41 in the list of
Authorities, and pp. 572-575 of that volume. The work is, in
effect, a translation of the Historise Animalium of Gesner, and
contains numerous references to many learned authorities.
The Rev. Edward Topsell, by whom it was executed, was Chap-
lain to Dr. Neile, Dean of Westminster, in the Church of St.
Botolph Aldersgate. The Second Chapter in the First Edi-
tion of WTalton contains a great part of the matter of the
present Chapters II, III, IV; since it ends with the Hostess
calling Viator and Piscator to supper. The title of it in the
table already mentioned, is " In the Second are some obser-
NOTES. 393
" vations of the nature of the Otter, and also some observa-
" tions of the Chub or Cheven, with directions how and with
" what baits to fish for him."
Page 51 . Make conscience of the Lairs of the Nation.
This passage, which from " Is not mine Host a witty man ?"
p. 51, down to " to speak truly," p. 53, is wanting in the First
Edition ; — alludes to a Statute made in the 5th of Eliz., which
enacts that any person eating flesh upon the usual Fish-days
shall forfeit 31. for every offence, or undergo three months im-
prisonment without bail. This Act, in all its branches, views,
and amendments, is fully considered in a Tract published by
John Erswicke, Gent., in 1642, 4to. entitled "A briefe note of
" the benefits that grow to this Realme by the obseruation of
" Fish-daies with a reason and cause wherefore the Law in that
" behalfemade is ordained." The Statutes mentioned on p. 52,
with many amendments, may be seen in "The Second Part of
" the Institutes of the Lawes of England," by Sir Edw. Coke,
Lond. 1642, fol. p. 477. In most of the former editions of
The Complete Angler, there is a misprint of Richard III. for
Richard II.
Page 64. You shall read in Seneca.
Those particulars were taken from Dr. Hakewill's Apology,
No. 21 in the preceding list, and book iv. sect. 6, p. 433 of that
volume. The translation of Seneca by Dr. Thomas Lodge,
printed in 1620, fol. was however most probably known to
Walton.
Page 66. His name is of a German origin.
Minsheu shows it to be rather from the Low-Dutch Trort,
derived probably of the corrupt Latin Truta.
Page 67. Mercator says, etc.
Gerard Mercator was born in 1512, at Ruremonde in Flan-
ders, and was a man of such intense application to mathema-
tical studies, that he neglected the refreshments of nature. He
engraved and coloured with his own hand the maps to his
geographical writings. He wrote several books of Theology;
and died at Duisburg in 1594. Hawkins.
Page 68. Sir George Hastings.
The party referred to by Walton has been usually supposed
to be the Hon. Henry Hastings, of Woodlands, near Cran-
borne in Dorsetshire, who died October 5th, 1650, at the age
of 99. His character was written with great humour and abi-
lity by Lord Shaftesbury, and was inscribed under his portrait
at Winbourne St. Giles; it may be also found printed in the
Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xxiv. p. 160, and in Hutehins's
History of Dorset, Edit. 1803, vol. ii. p. 510, with other parti-
culars. It is, however, more probable that the person to whom
Walton alludes was either Sir George Hastings, the son of
394 NOTES.
Henry, who died October 25th, 1651 ; or Sir George, the
nephew of Henry, the brother of Henry, Fifth Earl of Hunt-
ingdon, who is recorded in Richard Smith's Obituary to have
died of the plague on June 4th 1641. See Peck's " Desiderata
Curiosa," vol. ii. lib. xiv. p. 19. Collins' Peerage, Edit. 1779,
vol. iii. p. 97.
Page 69. Albertus observes, etc.
Albertus Magnus, a German Dominican, and a very learned
man : Urban IV. compelled him to accept of the Bishopric of
Ratisbon. He wrote a treatise on the Secrets of Nature, and
twenty other volumes in folio; and died at Cologne in 1280.
Hawkins. The passage in the text is from Topsell's History of
Serpents, No. 42 in the preceding list, p. 180 of that volume.
The quotation from Bacon will be found at p. 194, Century ix
of No. 3. See also Dr. Franklin's letter to M. Dubourg, " On
" the prevailing Doctrines of Life and Death."
Page 73. The Royal Society, etc.
See No. 37 in the foregoing list, pp. 2170-2175; the list
alluded to is on the last page. This passage did not appear
until Walton's last edition. The word Sleight on the follow-
ing page is from the Icelandic Slaegd or the Anglo-Saxon Slyth,
Deceit, or Deceitful.
Page 76. That smooth song which was made by Kit Marlow.
Christopher Marlow, or Marloe, was a poet of considerable
eminence, and is called by Phillips " a kind of second Shaks-
peare." He is supposed to have been born about 1562, and in
1587 he became M.A. at Bene't College, Cambridge; after
which he commenced actor and dramatic writer. There are
extant five Tragedies of his writing, and a Poem entitled Hero
and Leander, which was finished by George Chapman. The
Song attributed to Marlow in the text, is printed with his name
in England's Helicon, 1600, 4to. ; as is also the Answer, there
signed Ignoto, but ascribed by Walton to Sir Walter Raleigh.
Marlow is said towards the end of his life to have become a
professed atheist : he died before 1593, of a wound given him
by a serving-man, who was his rival. Hawkins.
Page 77. What song was it I pray ?
See the Songs As at Noon, Chevy Chase, Johnny Armstrong,
and Troy Town, printed after the most authentic copies in Percy's
Reliques of English Poetry. Hawkins. Phillida flouts me, was
printed in the Theatre of Compliments. Lond. 1689, 12mo. but
it is also to be found in a volume collected by J. Ritson, en-
titled " Ancient Songs from the time of King Henry the Third
to the Revolution." Lond. 1792, 12mo. Art. xi. p. 235. The
Editor of that collection states in the notice preceding the
verses, that there is a modern Answer by A. Bradley, and that
the song of Come Shepherds, is not known ; the last, however,
NOTES. 395
was discovered in a manuscript belonging to the late Richard
Heber, Esq. and was printed in Mr. Pickering's edition of "The
Complete Angler," from the communication of Mr. T. Rodd.
Page 78. Come lire with me and be my love.
The notes of various Shakspearian commentators on the Co-
medy of The Merry Wires of Windsor, contain the principal in-
formation now extant concerning this Song; but the propriety
of ascribing it to Shakspeare, is also considered in Dr. Percy's
Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, vol. i. p. 322, where it is
printed under the title of The Passionate Shepherd to his Lore.
Dr.Warburton assigns it to Shakspeare, perhaps because Sir Hugh
Evans, in Act iii. Sc. 1. of the above play, sings four lines of it;
and it was printed, with some variations, in a collection of
Poems said to be Shakspeare's, printed by Thomas Cotes for
John Benson, 1640. 12mo.
Page 79. Sir Thomas Orerbury's Milk Maid's Wish.
See the preceding list, No. 32, in which the following exqui-
site character is delineated with a simple beauty of language,
that is the very counterpart of Walton's own.
" A faire and happy Milk-Maid
Is a Countrey Wench, that is so farre from making her selfe
beautifull by Art, that one looke of hers is able to put all face -
Physicke out of countenance. She knowes a faire looke is but
a Dumbe Orator to commend vertue, therefore minds it not. All
her excellencies stand in her so silently, as if they had stolne
upon her without her knowledge. The lining of her apparell
(which is her selfe) is farre better than outsides of Tissew : for
though she be not arrayed in the spoile of the Silke-ivorme,
shee is deckt in innocency, a far better wearing. She doth not,
with lying long abed, spoile both her complexion and condi-
tions ; Nature hath taught her, too immoderate sleepe is rust
to the Soule : she rises therefore with Chaunticleare her dame's
cock, and at night makes the Lamb her Curfew. In milking a
Cow, a-straining the Teats through her fingers, it seems that
so sweet a Milk-presse makes the Milk the whiter or sweeter;
for never came Almond Glove or Aromutique oyntment on her
palme to taint it. The golden eares of corne fall and kisse her
feet when shee reapes them, as if they wisht to be bound and
led prisoners by the same hand that fell'd them. Her breath
is her own, which sents all the yeare long of June, like a new-
made Haycock. She makes her hand hard with labour, and her
heart soft with pitty ; and when winter evenings fall early (sit-
ting at her mery wheele) she sings a defiance to the giddy wheele
of Fortune. Shedoth all things with so sweet a grace, it seems
ignorance will not suffer her to doe ill, being her mind is to doe
well. Shee bestowes her yeare's wages at next faire ; and in
396 NOTES.
chusing her garments, counts no bravery i' th' world like de-
cency. The Garden and Bee-hire are all her Phi/sick and Chy-
rwrgery, and she lives the longer for't. She dares goe alone,
and unfolds sheepe i' th'night, and feares no manner of ill, be-
cause she meanes none: yet to say truth, she is never alone,
for she is still accompanied with old songs, honest thoughts, and
prayers, but short ones ; yet they have their efficacy, in that
they are not pauled with insuing idle cogitations. Lastly, her
dreames are so chaste, that shee dare tell them: only a Fridaie's
dreame is all her superstition : that shee conceales for feare of
anger. Thus lives she, and all her care is that she may die in
the Spring-time, to have store of flowers stucke upon her wind-
ing-sheet." Character 51. sign. L. 7. From the copy in the
Library of Sion College, London.
Page 85. Tlte choice Songs, etc.
The Song of Old Tom of Bedlam will be found in Percy's
" Reliques of Ancient English Poetry," vol. ii. p. 356. It is
also printed in Playford's " Antidote against Melancholy,"
1669, 8vo. ; " and with the Music, composed by H. Lawes, in
" a work entitled Choice Ayres, Songs, and Dialogues, to the
" Theorbo-Lute and Base-Viol." fol. 1675. Hawkins. In the
volume of Ancient Songs already cited, pp. 261, 265, there are
two different songs, both called Tom of Bedlam, which are stated
to have been taken out of an old Miscellany, entitled " Le
" Prince d'Amour, or the Prince of Love, with a Collection
" of Songs, by the Wits of the Age." Lond. 1 660. 8vo. The
Editor adds however, that the above were inserted in the col-
lection in burlesque, on the love of the English for ballads on
the subject of madness. See Percy's Reliques vol. ii. p. 350
The song of " The Hunter in his Career" also mentioned in the
text, is reprinted for the first time in Mr. Pickering's edition of
the Complete Angler from a collection of old ballads, pub-
lished in 1725. In Walton's First Edition, this passage is
contained in the Third Chapter ; which is entitled " In Chap-
" ter 3, are some observations of Trouts, both of their nature,
" their kinds, and their breeding."
Page 100. Aldrovandus.
Ulysses Aldrovandus, a great Physician and naturalist, born at
Bologna in 1527 ; he wrote 120 books on several subjects, and
a Treatise " De Piscibus," published last at Francfort, 1640.
He died blind in an hospital at Bologna, in great poverty,
May 4, 1605. The passage alluded to in the text, is in his
" Serpentum et Draconum Historise," 1640. fol. Hawkins.
Page 101. The observation of Du Bar tas.
See No. 7 in the foregoing list, p. 58, col. 2, the last 20 lines.
Page 105. Devout Lessius.
Leonard Lessius, Professor of Divinity in the College of
NOTES. 397
Jesuits at Louvain ; he was born at Antwerp in 1554 ; and be-
came very famous for his skill in Divinity, civil- law, mathe-
matics, physic, and history. He wrote several Theological
tracts, and a treatise entitled Hygiasticon ; see N. 26 in the
preceding list, from the 3rd chapter of which the sentiments in
the text were extracted. He died in 1623. Hawkins.
Page 108. Mr. Thomas Barker.
This person, an account of whom is to be derived only from
his writings, appears to have been an Angler by profession, and
an experienced cook of fish ; since he says he " had been ad-
" mitted into the most Ambassadors' kitchens that had come
" tc England for forty years, and drest fish for them ; for
" which, he adds, he was duly paid by the Lord Protector."
He spent a considerable portion of his time, and, it seems, of
his property also, in fishing ; and in the latter part of his life, he
resided in Henry the Seventh's Gifts, some alms-houses which
stood near the Gatehouse at Westminster. Hawkins. His
work on Angling will be found at No. 6 of the preceding list,
and the information contained in the text, is at pp. 2 and 15 of
the very neat reprint of that tract, published in 1821.
Page 114. Holy Mr. Herbert.
See No. 22 of the foregoing list, p. 80 of that volume.
Page 117. Ch. Harrie.
The verses with this signature do not appear until the
Second Edition ; for the dialogue in the First passes imme-
diately from Herbert's verses to the Beggars' Song, which is
there sung by Viator, without the introductory story. It is
most probable that the person mentioned above, was a Chris-
topher Harvey, M. A., Vicar of Clifton in Warwickshire; born
in 1597, and who lived until about 1663. The same signature
also appears to a copy of verses addressed to Walton on his
Angler ; and that collection of poems entitled the Synagogue,
is supposed to have been produced by the same person.
Hawkins.
Page 117. Dr. Boteler.
Dr. William Butler, a celebrated but eccentric Physician,
who was born at Ipswich about 1535, and educated at Clare-
Hall, Cambridge, of which he became Fellow. lie died Jan.
29th, L618, and was buried at St. Mary's Church, Cambridge.
Page 118. Hear my Kenna sing a song.
The reference to the margin indicates that Walton wishes to
hear Kenna, his mistress, sing the song, " Like Hermit Poor."
This song was set to music by Nicholas Laneare, an eminent
master of Walton's time, — who, it is said by Wood, was also
an excellent painter, and whose portrait is to be seen in the
Music-school at Oxford ; — and is printed with the notes, in a
collection entitled, " Select Musical Ayres and Dialogues," fol.
398 NOT E S.
1659. page 1. The verses which introduce this song were in
all probability the production of Walton, for it may be observed
that Kenna is evidently a feminine formation of Ken, the
maiden name of his second wife. The first three words of the
song of " Like Hermit Poor," were used as a proverb or
phrase, about and after the middle of the seventeenth century.
Hawkins.
Page 121. Our late. English Guzman.
The very curious volume to which this passage alludes, is
entitled, " The English Guzman ; or the History of that unpa-
ralleled Thief James Hind, written by G(eorge) F(idge)."
Lond. 1G52. 4to. In the King's Tracts in the British Mu-
seum.
Page 124. Gaspar Peucerus.
An eminent Physician and mathematician, born at Lusatia,
in 1525: he married the daughter cf Melancthon, wrote
many books on various subjects, and died in 1602, aged 78.
Hawkins. Casaubon quotes him at p 252 of his book, No. 10
of the foregoing list. The paragraph from which the above
line is quoted, did not appear as it now stands, until the Fifth
Edition of Walton. The Hares changing sexes is mentioned
by Topsell, see No. 41, p. 266.
Page 128. Learned Doctor Hakewill.
Dr. George Hakewill was born at Exeter in 1579, and was
Rector of Exeter College, Oxford ; he died at his living of
Heanton in Devonshire, in April 1649. His book will be
found at No. 21, of the list, and the contents of the paragraph
in the text, which did not appear until the Second Edition of
Walton, are from p. 434 of that volume. In Walton's First
Edition this part falls in Chap. V. which is entitled, "Some
" direction to fish for the Trout by night ; and a question
" whether fish hear? and lastly, some directions how to fish
" for the Umber or Grayling." The titles of the other Chap-
ters in the First Edition, do not greatly differ from those in
the present.
Page 131. Salvian takes him, etc.
Hippolito Salviani, an Italian Physician, of the sixteenth
century; he wrote a treatise De Piscibus cum eorum figuris;
and died at Rome in 1572, aged 59. Hairkins. The passage
in the text is in chap. vi. p. 81, of No. 38 in the preceding list.
All references to Gesner concerning fish, will be found in the
fourth volume of No. 19.
Page 134. The Salmon — is said to breed, etc.
This very interesting and curious subject has been recently
most minutely examined and illustrated by VIr. W. Yarrell,
F.L.S. in his work " On the Growth of the Salmon in Fresh-
" water, with six coloured engravings of the fish, of the natural
NOTES. 399
" size, exhibiting its character and exact appearance at various
" stages during the first two years." Lond. 1839. Oblong folio.
Page 136. Michael Dray ton.
An excellent Poet born in Warwickshire, in 1563. One of
his principal works, which are very numerous, is the Polij-
Olbion, a chorographical description of the rivers, mountains,
forests, castles, etc. in this island. Although the poem has
great merit, it is rendered much more valuable by the learned
notes of John Selden. The author died in 1631, and lies
buried with the Poets in Westminster Abbey. Hawkins. The
passage referred to is at p. 88 of No. 14 of the foregoing list;
and in Camden it occurs at page 654. This extract is not in
the First Edition of Walton.
Page 143. Gesner mentions a Pike.
This story is told by Dr. Hakewill in his Apology, No. 21 of
the preceding list, lib. ii. chap. 8, sect. 2, p. 136, of that
volume. Walton subsequently mentions several instances of
the voracity of the Pike ; but, as a proof that other fish beside
will swallow hard substances, Fuller, in his History of the
Worthies of England, Lond. 1662. fol. Northumberland, p. 310,
relates from a book entitled " Vox Piscis," printed in 1626,
p. 13, that a Mr. Anderson, a townsman and merchant of New-
castle, who was afterwards knighted, and who was mayor of
that place in 1599, was conversing on the bridge there, and
suddenly let his seal-ring fall into the river Tyne. As Mayor,
he was entitled to the first Salmon caught in the season, and
upon opening the one that was thus presented to him, his own
rin? was discovered in its stomach.
Page 147. Dubravius.
Janus Dubravius Scala, Bishop of Olmutz in Moravia, in the
sixteenth century, was born at Pilsen in Bohemia, was sent
Ambassador into Sicily, and made President of the Chamber
which tried the Rebels of Smalcald. His book alluded to by
Walton, is No. IS in the foregoing list, the passage is in the
6th chap, of book i., and a translation of it was published in
4to. 1599, by George Churchey, Fellow of Lincoln's Inn. He
is said to have died in 1559. Hawkins. The extract from
Dubravius is not in Walton's First Edition.
Page 152. Cardanus.
Jerome Cardan, an Italian Physician, naturalist, and astrolo-
ger, born at Pavia, Sept. 24, 1501, well known by the many
works he has published : he died at Rome on Sept. 21, 1576.
It is said, that he had foretold the day of his death ; and that,
when it approached, he suffered himself to die of hunger to
preserve his reputation. He had been in England, and wrote
a character of our Edward VI. Hawkins.
Page 158. Sir Richard Baker, in whose Chronicle, etc.
400 NOTES.
Vide No. 5, p. 428, marginal letter E. It is probable that
this rhyme, with all it's variations, is historically erroneous.
Not in Walton's First Edition.
Page 159. It is said by Jovius.
Paulus Jovius, an Italian Historian, of very doubtful autho-
rity, was born at Como in 1483. He wrote a small tract De
Romanis Piscibus, and he died at Florence in 1552. Hawkins.
Page 184. Made by Doctor Donne.
John Donne was born in London about the year 1573, and
was educated at Oxford and Cambridge, whence he removed to
Lincoln's Inn. He afterwards became secretary to Lord Elles-
mere, and privately addressed and married a near relation of
his lady's ; which was so highly resented by Sir George Moor,
his wife's father, that Donne was dismissed from his situation,
and involved in the greatest poverty and distress. About 1G14,
he was persuaded to enter into holy orders, and he at length
obtained the Deanery of St. Paul's ; but his misfortunes had
induced a lingering consumption, of which he died in lf)31.
Walton. Dr. Donne's Poems appear at No. 13 of the preced-
ing list, and at p. 190 of that volume, are the verses quoted in
the text, which are sometimes entitled " the Bait." The word
sleave on page 186, is from the Icelandic Slefa, fibres of silk,
and signifies to untwist ravelled silk.
Page 188. Venerable Bede.
The most universal scholar of his time : he was born at
Durham about the year 671, and bred under St. John of
Beverly. It is said that Pope Sergius I. invited him to Rome,
though others say that he never quitted his cell. He was a man
of great virtue, and remarkable for a sweet and engaging dis-
position ; he died in 734, and lies buried at Durham. The
passage referred to in the text is in his Ecclesiastical History
of the English nation, lib. iv. cap. 19. Matthias de L'Obel,
who is mentioned in the next page, was an eminent phy-
sician and botanist of the 16th century, and was a native
of L'Isle in Flanders. He was a disciple of Rondeletius; and
was invited to London by King James I. He died in 1616.
The book from which the text is quoted, is No. 31 in the fore-
going list. John Gerard, who is also cited with L'Obel, was a
surgeon in London, and one of the most celebrated of English
botanists; he was born at Namptwich in Cheshire, in 1545.
His Herbal, mentioned in the text, is No. 17 in the list of
Authorities, and the passage referred to is in lib. 3, p. 1587,
chap. 171; which is entitled " Of the Goose tree, Barnacle tree,
" or theTree bearing Geese:" of this there is a curious wood-cut.
Hawkins. The passages from Lord Bacon, quoted on p. 189,
are at p. 71, Nos. 46, 44, of his History, &c. ; those from Dr.
Hakewill, are in lib. iv. sect. 6, pp. 433, 434, of his Apology.
NOTES. 401
The reference to Camden on page 196, will be found on page
666 of his Britannia.
Page 198. Gasius.
Antonio Gazius of Padua, the Author of the " Corona Flo-
" rida Medicinae," which he published at Venice in 149), in
folio, at the age of 28. He died in 1530. His name does not
appear in Walton's First Edition.
Page 201. Doctor Sheldon.
Dr. Gilbert Sheldon, Warden of All-Souls College, Chaplain
to King Charles I., and, after the Restoration, Archbishop of
Canterbury. He was born July 19th, 1598, at Stanton in Staf-
fordshire; he founded the Theatre at Oxford; died in 1677,
and lies buried under a stately monument at Croydon in Surrey.
Hawkins. This passage is not in Walton's First Edition, and the
Second reads, " Doctor Sh."
Page 212. Of which DioJorus speaks.
Diodorus, surnamed Siculus, because his birth-place was
Argyra in Sicily, was an excellent Historian, who flourished
about 44 years b. c. Of his History of Egypt, Persia, Syria,
etc. there are only fifteen books remaining, but it originally
consisted of forty ; it was the work of thirty years, although
the greatest part of it is a compilation. The passage men-
tioned in the text is in book v. ch. i.
Page 213. Phineas Fletcher.
The son of Giles Fletcher, LL. D., and Ambassador from
Queen Elizabeth to the Duke of Muscovy. He is said to have
been born about 1584, and in 1600 he became Fellow of King's
College, Cambridge. In 1633 he was known as the author of a
fine allegorical poem, entitled "The Purple Island," which was
printed at Cambridge, with others of his works. He died
about 1650. Hawkins.
Page 214. You must siirj' n pari of it.
These verses were composed for two voices, a Treble and a
Bass, by the very celebrated Henry Lawes, most probably at
Walton's request, and they are to be found at p. 62 of a
volume entitled, " Select Ayres and Dialogues for One, Two,
"and Three Voyces; to the Theorbo-Lvte, and Basse-Viol.
" Composed by John Wilson and Charles Coleman, Doctors in
" Music, Henry Lawes," etc. Lond. 1659. fol. It occurs in the
First Edition of Walton. The verses in praise of Music are
also in the First Edition of Walton, and are taken from the end
of the same book of songs, where they are signed W. IX, Knight,
j perhaps Sir William Davenant. //""
An harmonised version of Lawcs's composition is given on
the following pages.
402
THE ANGLER'S SONG,*
SET BY H. LAWES, 1653.
Man's life is but vain; For 'ti» sub - - jcct to
J liodgc podge of bus' - ness, and mo- • ncy, and rare; and
J- «L J
A J 1 J- -±
hotlge podge of bus*- ntss, and mo - - liey, and care ; and
r • c
e, and mo - « ney and trou - ble.
* Walton himself calls this a " Catch"— Hawkins styles it a Song—
probably from the nature of the words, although the music is perfectly
that of the Madrigal so much in the fashion of the time, and now again
revived by persons of the best musical taste. The above version
403
HARMONISED FOR FOUR VOICES.
BY J. S. MAJOR, 18-14.
pJ Jil ,^J ■ J>
T-T
fair ; Nor will we vex now tho* it rain
an - -gle and an - - glc a - - - - gain.
is harmonised for four voices, the Alto and Tenor being now first
added. For the convenience of publication, the four parts aie given
on two staves instead i I a stave for each voice — a double tail being-
added where two voices sing the same note.
404 NOTES.
Page 224. like the Rosicrucians.
The title of the Rosycrucians, or the Brothers of the Rosy-
Cross, was first assumed by a sect of Hermetic Philosophers in
Germany, about the commencement of the fourteenth century.
They professed to have a knowledge of all the Occult Sciences,
as the making of gold, the prolongation of human life, the
restoration of youth, from which they were also called Im-
mortales, and the formation of the Philosopher's Stone ; but
all these secrets they were bound by a solemn oath to reveal
only to the members of their own fraternity, and it is to this
custom, in particular, that Walton alludes. Their founder was
a German gentleman, named Christian Crux, who had tra-
velled to Palestine, where, falling sick, he was cured by Ara-
bian Physicians, who, he asserted, revealed to him their
mysterious Arts. He died in 1484 ; and the name of his
Society was composed of the word Ros, Dew, and his own
name, Crux a Cross, the old chemical character for light. Mos-
heim. Gassendi. Renaudot. Brucker.
Page 224. either to Mr. Margrave, etc.
There is printed upon the reverse of the last leaf of Cotton's
Second Part of the Complete Angler, Edit. 1676, the following
memorandum concerning this person. " Courteous Reader.
You may be pleas'd to take notice, that at the Sign of the
Three Trouts in St. Pant's Church-Yard, on the North side,
you may be fitted with all sorts of the best Fishing-Tackle, by
John Margrave."
The four earlier editions of Walton read, " I will go with you
" either to Charles Brandon's (neer to the Swan in Golding-
" Lane) ; or to Mr. Fletcher's, in the Court which did once
" belong to Dr. Nowel, the Dean of St. Paul's, that I told you
" was a good man and a good Fisher ; it is hard by the West
" end of St. Paul's Church ; they be both," etc. Viator selects
Charles Brandon. This is in the last chapter of the First Edi-
tion. The marginal note on the value of an Angler's Tackle
did not appear until the Second Edition.
Page 233. Matthiolus commends him.
Petrus Andreas Matthiolus, was born at Sienna in Tuscany,
in 1501. He was an eminent Physician, and particularly
famous for his Commentaries on some of the writings of Dios-
corides. He died of the plague at Trent, in 1577. Hawkins.
Page 235. As you may note out of Dr. Hey tin's Geography.
See No. 23 in the foregoing list, from pages 458, 459, of
which, this Chapter, from the words " The chief is Thamisis" —
down to the end of Drayton's Sonnet, is printed almost ver-
batim. Dr. Peter Heylin was born at Burford in Oxfordshire,
Nov. 29th, 1600. In 161'J he was made Fellow of Magdalen
NOTES. 405
College, Oxford, and in lf)21, he published his Microcosmos,
alluded to in the text. He was stedfastly attached to King
Charles I. and wrote for him the weekly paper entitled Mer-
curius Aulicus; though his loyalty reduced him to great
poverty. He died on May 8th, 16G2.
Page 239. Grotiusin his Suphom.
Hugo Grotius, or De Groot, a very celebrated scholar, states-
man, and theologian, who was born at Delft in Holland, on
April 10th, 1583. He was at first an advocate, but about 1613
he became Grand-Pensionary of Holland; though in 1618, for
adhering to the doctrines of Arminius, he was confined for
nine months in the castle at the Hague. Grotius died at Ros-
tock in Pomerania, August 28th, 1645. His works were very
numerous, and a translation of that alluded to in the text, is
shewn at No. 20 in the foregoing list. The passage will be
found at pages 29, etc. in the speech of the Chorus, and in the
notes to the third Act, pages 84, etc. The title of the Tragedy,
Sophompaneas, signified, in the Egyptian language, the Saviour
of the World ; and was given to Joseph, Pharoah's minister,
because he delivered so many nations from destruction by
famine.
Page 254. It is well said by Caussin.
Nicholas Caussin, a Jesuit and Confessor to Louis XIII.,
was born at Troyes in Champagne, in 1580. He was esteemed
a person of great probity, and of such a spirit, that he
attempted to displace Cardinal 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 1651. Hawkins. The " grave Divine" mentioned
on the next page, according to the Rev. Moses Browne, was
Dr. Donne. The verses by Sir Henry Wotton, in the same
place, are printed near the end of his Remains, No. 43 of the
preceding list.
Page 266. Brelsford.
Brelsford, or Brailsford, a Township in the Hundred of
Appletree, in Derbyshire, situated about seven miles N.W. of
the Town of Derby.
Page 270. Own me for his adopted Son.
This alludes to the practice of the ancient Alchemists and
Astrologers, of adopting favourite persons for their sons or
pupils, to whom they imparted their secrets. Hawkins. In
the English translation of the Scriptures, the disciples of the
Prophets are called " the Sons of the Prophets," with the
same signification.
Page 283. Tom Coriate.
The son of the Rev. George Coriate, born at Odcombe in
406 NOTES.
Somersetshire, in 1577. He was educated at Westminster-
School, and at Gloucester-Hall, Oxford ; after which, he went
into the family of Henry Prince of Wales. He travelled
almost all over Europe on foot, and in that tour walked 900
miles with one pair of shoes, which he got mended at Zurich.
Afterwards he visited Turkey, Persia, and the Great Mogul's
dominions; proceeding in so frugal a manner, that, as he tells
his mother in a letter, in his ten months' travel between
Aleppo and the Mogul's Court, he spent but Three Pounds
Sterling, living reasonably well for about Two pence Sterling a
day ! He was a redoubted champion for the Christian reli-
gion, against the Mahometans and Pagans ; in the defence
whereof he sometimes risqued his life. He died of the flux,
occasioned by drinking sack at Surat in 1617; having, in
1611, published his Travels in a quarto volume, which he called
his Crudities; in which, on the reverse of b 1, in " a Character
" of the Author," is the passage alluded to in the text.
Hawkins.
Page 283. What have we here ? A Church ?
This passage alludes to the Church at Alstonefield, a Parish
in the North Division of the Hundred of Totmanslow, and
County of Stafford ; it is dedicated to St. Peter, and stands
5 miles north-north-west from Ashborn.
Page 289. Now you are come to the door.
This celebrated Fishing-House, views of which are given at
pages 292 and 294, is formed of stone, and the room within is
a cube of fifteen feet, paved with black and white marble,
having in the centre a square black marble table. The roof,
which is triangular in shape, terminates in a square stone
sun-dial surmounted by a globe and a vane. It was originally
wainscoated with walls of carved pannels and divisions, in the
larger spaces of which were painted some of the most inte-
resting scenes in the vicinity of the building ; whilst the
smaller ones were occupied with groups of fishing-tackle. In
the right-hand corner stood a large beaufet with folding-doors,
on which were painted the portraits of Walton and Cotton
attended by a servant-boy ; and beneath it was a closet, having
a Trout and a Grayling delineated upon the door. Such was
the original appearance of the Fishing-House, as collected from
a description given by Mr. White of Crickhowel to Sir John
Hawkins, in 1784 ; although it was then considerably decayed,
especially in the wainscoating and the paintings, To this, the
following account of its present state, written from actual
observation by W. H. Pepys, Esq., F. R. S., etc. will form an
appropriate and an interesting counterpart. The visit which it
details was made by a party composed of several eminent cha-
racters equally distinguished in Science and the Fine- Arts.
NOTES. 407
" It was in the month of April, 181 1, that I visited the cele-
" brated Fishing-House of Cotton and Walton. I left Ash-
" bourne about nine o'clock in the morning, accompanied by
" several Brothers of the Angle: we took the Buxton road for
" about six miles, and turning through a gate to the left, soon
" descended into the Valley of the Dove, and continued along
" the banks of the river about three miles farther, when we
" arrived at Beresford Hall. The Fishing-House is situated on
" a small peninsula, round which the river flows, and was then
" nearly enveloped with trees. It has been a small neat stone
" building, covered with stone-slates, or tiles, but is now going
" fast to decay : the stone steps by which you entered the
" door are nearly destroyed. It is of a quadrangular form,
" having a door and two windows in the front, and one larger
" window on each of the other three sides. The door was
" secured on the outside, by a strong staple; but the bars and
" casements of the windows being gone, an easy entrance was
" obtained. The marble floor, as described by White in 1784,
" had been removed ; only one of the pedestals upon which the
" table was formerly placed was standing, and that much dete-
" riorated. On the left side was the fire-place, the mantle-
" piece and sides of which were in a good state. The chimney
" and recess for the stove were so exactly on the Rumford
" plan, that one might have supposed he had lived in the time
" when it was erected. On the right hand side of the room,
" is an angular excavation or small cellar, over which the cup-
" board, or beaufet, formerly stood. The wainscoat of the
" room is wanting, the ceiling is broken, and part of thestone-
" tiling admits both light and water. Upon examining the
" small cellar, we found the other pedestal which supported the
" marble table ; and against the door on the inside, three
" large fragments of the table itself, which were of the Black
" Dove- Dale Marble, bevelled on the edges, and had been well
" polished. The inscription over the door, and the cypher of
" Walton and Cotton in the Key-stone, were very legible."
Page 311. As Dameetas says by his man Dorus.
See Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, No. 40 in the foregoing list,
lib. i. p. 70, of that volume. Browne.
Page 313. He was a lovely fish, and turned up a side like, a
Salmon.
There is but little doubt, that the Author of Guy Mannering
had these words in his mind, when he wrote the description of
the Salmon-hunt near Charlies-hope; since he makes one of
the characters say, " Come here, Sir \ Come here, Sir ! look at
" this ane ! look at this ane ! he turns up a 6ide like a Sow."
Edit. Edinb. 1815. vol- ii. chap. v. p. 65.
408
NOTES.
Page 320. Isabella-coloured.
A species of whitish-yellow, or buff-colour somewhat soiled.
Altieri. The name of this tint is said to have originated in the
following circumstance. The Archduke Albert, who had mar-
ried the infanta Isabella, daughter of Philip II. King of Spain,
with whom he had the Low-Countries in dowry, in the year
1 602, having determined to lay siege to Ostend, then in the pos-
session of the Protestants, the Princess, who attended him in
his expedition, made a vow, that until it was captured she
would never change her garments. It was however, three
years, before the city was reduced ; and in that time the
Infanta's linen had acquired the hue above-mentioned. Haw-
kins.
GENERAL INDEX.
Abdominal Fishes, explanation of, 364. Order of, 365.
Action, its connection with Man's happiness, 25. Debates on
ditto, 387.
iElian, C, 32. Account of &c. 371,391.
Air, eulogium on, 7.
Albertus Magnus, 69, 190. Account of, 394.
Aldrovandus, U. 100, 131, 181, 194. Portrait of, 133. Ac-
count of, &c. 371, 396.
Ambrose, St. his admiration of the Grayling, 132.
Amos, Illustration from the Prophet, 24, 37, 386.
Amwell-hill, 3, 46, 47. View of, 46.
Anderdon, John, L. Esq., his great love of Walton, and kind
contributions to this work, ix.
Anglers, eminent modern, xxiv. Ditto ancient, 38. Qua-
lities of, 23. The Angler's Wish, 43, 118. Ditto Song 89.
Their peculiar enjoyment of Nature, xxxii, 98.
Angling, earliest English work on, xxxii. Paper on, from the
Sketch-Book, xxxvi. Defence of, 6. Praise of, 22. Anti-
quity of, 23, 385. Allowed to Ecclesiastics, 38. Remarks
on, 40,41. With an Artificial fly, 1)2. With a Natural
fly, 113,295. At the Bottom, 293, 348. In the Middle,
293, 356. With Cadis, 228, 352. With a Minnow, 95.
With a Running-line, 94, 349. With a Ledger-bait, 150.
With a Float, 351. By Hand, 348.
Ant-fly, 61, 218, 220. Directions for making, 336, 338.
Apostles, four of them Fishermen, 35. Comparison of their
language, 38.
April, Artificial flies for, 106, 108, 321.
Aristotle, 27, 30, 35, 159, 387. Account of, 389.
Ash-Grub, 353, 360.
Ashmole, E., his collection of Natural History, and Portrait of,
29. Account of him and his collection, 388.
August, Artificial flies for, 107, 338.
Ausonius, D. M., 30, 205. Account of, 389.
Authors consulted by Walton, 371.
Bacon, Fr. Baron Verulam, references to, 69, 70, 127, 135,
137, 140, 143, 162, 188, 189, 371, 394. Portrait of, 157.
410 GENERAL INDEX.
Baker, Sir R., references to, 158, 371, 399.
Barbel, Observations on the, &c. 197. Representation of the
199. Season of the, 217. Linnaean description of the, 367.
Barker, Tho., xxxiii. 108, 371. Account of, 397.
Bartas, G. de S. Du, references to, 31, 33, 34, 102, 189,371,
390, 396. Account of, 390.
Bede, Venerable, his notice of the Island of Ely, 188. Account
of, 400.
Beggars, humorous story of, 121.
Beresford Hall, 272, 288. View of, 304. Walton Chamber, 368.
Berners, Jul., her work on Hunting, &c. xxxii.
Birds, various properties of, 9. Enemies to Fish, 52. Migra-
tions, 69. Breed of, 73.
Black Blue Dun Fly, directions for making, 337.
• Fly, ditto, 107, 324, 334.
Gnat Fly, ditto, 321, 336.
Hackle Fly, ditto, 337.
Bland, Michael, Esq., an advocate for a Monument to Walton,
xlvii.
Bleak, particulars of the, 204. Engraving of the, 205. Lin-
naean description of the, 367.
Blue Dun Fly, directions for making, 319, 321.
Brandling, 92, 184.
Bream, Observations of the, 168. Engraving of the, 170.
Seasons of the, 176. Linnsean description of the, 366.
Bright Brown Fly, directions for making, 320.
Dun Gnat Fly, ditto, 317.
Broderip, W. J. Esq., his various kind assistances to this work,
xi. xii. xiv. 369.
Browne, Rev. M., his praise of Walton, xxxiv.
Bull-Head, 230. Account of the, 232. Linnsean description
of the, 364.
Butler, Dr. W., remark of, 117. Account of, 397.
Cadis-Worms, account of, 216, 226, 327. How to angle with,
228, 352, 354, 360.
Camden, W., references to, lviii. 27, 49, 177, 189, 190, 195, 239,
371. Portrait of, 57.
Cardanus, J., Extract from, 152. Notice of, &c. 371, 399.
Carp, docility of, 128. Observations of the, &c. 158. Repre-
sentation of the, 164. How to dress the, 167. Linnnsean
description of the, 366.
Casaubon, Dr. M., references to, 29, 124, 371, 388.
Caterpillar, account of, 99.
Caussin, N., references to, 254, 371. Account of, 405.
Chalkhill, J., verses by, 88, 211.
GENERAL INDEX. 411
Chub, Observations on the, 47. Representation of the, 55.
How to fish for and dress the, 58. Linnaean description of
the, 367.
Confidence in God, incitements to, 201.
Conscience, happiness of a good, 254.
Contemplation, how connected with Man's happiness, 25. De-
bates on ditto, 387.
Content, verses in praise of, 213, 256. Incitements to, 261.
Coriate, Tho., 283. Account of, 405.
Cotton, Ch., various particulars of, xviii. Letter of, xix. Poem
by, xxi. Character of, xxiv.
Covetous men unhappy, 5.
Country Life, song in Praise of, 86. Scenery, beautiful de-
scription of, 212.
Dace, Observations on the, 216. Engraving of the, 219. Lin-
naean description of the, 367.
David, his exceeding gratitude to God, 252.
Davison, F. humorous song by, 122.
Davors, J. pastoral song by, 43. His real name, &c. 385.
Davy, Sir H., Characteristic Memorial to his friend W. H.
Pepys, Esq., xli.
December, Artificial flies for, 339.
Dennys, J., his Secrets of Angling, 385.
Derbyshire, rivers in, 277.
Diodorus Siculus, references to, 212, 371, 401.
Donne, Dr. J., his Portrait, xv. Praise of Walton's life of, xvi.
Copy of a Seal given by him to Walton, xlviii. Verses by,
185. Account of, &c. 371, 400.
Dove River, account of, 277. Views near or on the Dove,
265, 275, 286, 292, 294, 304, 314, 331, 341, 343, 347, 356,
361.
Drayton, M., his description of the Salmon-leap, 136. Sonnet
on the English Rivers, 237. Account of, &c. 371, 399.
Dubravius, J. S., references to, 147, 162, 241, 372. Account
of, 399. Portrait of, 244.
Dun-flies, 98. Directions for making, 106, 317.
Earth, Eulogy on, 13. Earth- Worms, how bred, 92.
Eel, Observations on the, and how to fish for the, 187. How
to dress the, 193. Linnaean description of the, 364.
Elizabeth, Queen, her Laws on the eating Fish, 393.
Feathers, a yellow dye for, 329.
February, Artificial flies for, 318.
412 GENERAL INDEX.
Fish, of extraordinary size, IS, 124, 238. Have the sense of
hearing, 127. Linnecan Arrangement of, 363.
Fish-days, laws for their preservation, 391.
Fish-hooks, mention of in the Scriptures, 24, 386.
Fish-ponds, directions for making, 240.
Fishing-house at Beresford Hall, View of, 292. Descrip-
tions of, 289, 406.
Fletcher, P., Verses by, 213. Account of, &c. 372, 401.
Flies, Artificial, directions for making, 106, 109, 301, 305, 317.
Materials for, 110. How to discover what are taken, 320.
How to angle with, 297. Natural, how to angle with, 113.
Water, observations on, 228.
Florio, J., account of, 379, xlix.
Flounder, notice of and bait for the, 195.
Floud, R., his verses in praise of Walton, xlix.
Fly-fishing, remarks on, xix. Directions concerning, 108, 295.
Frogs, wonderfully sustained, 69. Their enmity to the Pike,
147. How to bait with, 152, i54, 184.
Fulimart, account of the, 382.
Gasius or Gazius, A., 198. Notice of, 401.
Gentles, 92, 166, 170, 200, 218. How to breed, 221.
Gerard, J., 189. Portrait of, 196. Notice of, &c. 372, 400.
Gesner, C., references to, 30, 35, 49, 66, 131, 137, 143, 157,
162,169,181,188, 190, 198, 231,372,399. Portrait of,
168. Account of, 389.
Gipsies, a party of, humorous story concerning, 119, 130.
Grashopper, 60, 62, 170. How sustained without a mouth, 68.
Grayling, or Umber, Observations on the, and how to fish for,
130, 293. Engraving of, 132. How to dress, 316. Lin-
nsean description of the, 366.
Green-Drake fly, account of, 326.
Grotius, H., 239. Account of, &c. 372, 405.
Ground-Bait for Bream, &c. 173. Angling by Hand with, for,
350.
Grubs, how to find and preserve, 221, 353. How to angle
with, 352.
Gudgeon, Observations on, and how to fish for, 203. Lin-
naean description of, 367.
Guiniad, notice of the, 196.
Guzman, the English, 121. Notice of, 398.
Hackle flies, directions for making, 318.
Hair, how to select, 245.
Hakewill, Dr. G., references to, 128, 189, 372, 380, 393, 399.
Account of, 398.
GENERAL INDEX. 413
Hampshire, famous for Trout-Rivers, 127, 269.
Hand, Angling by, explained, 348.
Harvie or Harvey, Chr., his verses, 116. Account of, 397.
Hastings, Sir G., 68, 223. Notice of, 393.
Hawking, the praise of, 7. Hawks, List of, 12. Curious
method of, 338. Works on, 376, 381.
Hawkins, Sir J., his statement concerning Walton, xxvii. His
first edition of the Complete Angler, xxxv.
Hawthorn fly, 113.
Herbert, G., Portrait of, xv. Verses by, 30, 114. Account of,
&c. 372, 389, 397.
Heylin, P., his description of English rivers, 235. Account of,
&c. 372, 404.
Hoddesdon, Thatchcd-House at, 1, 45. Notice of , 375.
Holy Spirit, form of the Descent of the, 11, 381.
Hook, directions for baiting, 94, 228, 233, 328, 349, 353.
Hooker, R., Portrait of, xv.
H umber, River, account of, 236, 278.
Hunting, the praise of, 13. Not permitted to Ecclesiastics, 38.
January, Artificial flies for, 316, 317.
Introductory Essay, xv.
Josephus, F., references to, 28, 372, 388.
Jovius, P., references to, 159, 372. Account of, 400.
Irving, W., his eulogy on Walton, xxxvi.
Isaac, Hebrew spelling and signification of, 374.
Isabella-coloured, 320. Historical explanation of, 408.
July, Artificial flies for, 107, 336.
June, Artificial flies for, 107, 335.
Lamprels or Lampreys, 191, 195.
Laneare, N., Song composed by, 397.
Lawes, H., Song composed by, 402.
Laws concerning Fish, 51, 393.
Lea River, Views on, 1, 65, 142, 177, 180, 206, 229, 262.
Lebault or Liebault, Dr. J., references to, 240, 242, 372.
Lessius, L., references to, 105, 372, 396.
Lines, various directions concerning, 245, 298, 348.
Linncean Arrangement of River Fish, 363.
Loach, representation of the, 230. Particulars concerning the,
231. Linnaean description of the, 365.
Lob-Worm, 93, 95, 139, 180, 191, 199.
London-Bridge, excellent Roach near, 218.
Lowth, Dr K., illustration from, 3*0.
Lucian, Verses prefixed to his Dialogues 4. Hickes' Transla-
tion of, 378.
414 GENERAL INDEX.
Macrobius, A., references to, and account of, 19, 383.
Madely Manor, Staffordshire, View of, lvi.
March, Artificial flies for, 106, 320.
Markham,G., illustrations from, 376, 382, 385.
Markland, Abr., account of, 374.
Marlow, Chr., Song by, 76, 78. Account of, 394.
Marsh- Worm, 165, 180.
Martial, his Epigram on Fish, 128.
Matthiolus, P. A., references to, 233, 3 73. Account of, 404.
May, Artificial flies for, 106, 323.
May-fly, how to make, 112, 218. Account of, 113. Various
titles of the, 326.
Meadow-Worm, 165.
Medway, notice of the River, 236.
Mercator, G., reference to, 67. Account of him, 393.
Middle, Angling in the, 293, 356.
Miller's Thumb, a name of the Bull-head, 230, 232.
Minnow, used as a bait, 64, 92, 95, 139, 183, 191, 206,357,
358. Time of catching, and description of the, 95, 231,
367. How to preserve and imitate, 97. Representation of
the, 230. How to dress, 231. Linnsean description of the,
367.
Montaigne, M. de, references to, and account of, and Portrait,
5,32, 373, 378,390.
Moorish- fly, how to make, 107.
Moses, various references to, 11, 16, 17, 18, 24, 37.
Moss, for scouring Worms, 93.
Mouldwarp, explanation of the name, 382.
Moulin, P. Du, references to, and account of, 26, 372, 386.
Mullet, how used in Roman feasts, 65. Verses on the, 34.
Peculiar kind of, 69.
Music, to the Angler's Song, 402. Verses in praise of, ib. 401 .
Nicolas, Sir H., his copious Life of, and Literary Illustrations
of Walton, xxxv.
Night-fishing, particulars of, 126.
Nightingale, melody of, 10.
Notes, Illustrative, 368. Character of the, xl.
November, Artificial flies for, 339.
Nowel, Dr. Al., Portrait and character of, 39, 40. Account of,
391. Notice of his residence, 404.
Oak-fly, directions for making and finding, 112,113. Worm, 93.
Obel, M. de L', references to, 189, 373. Notice of, 400.
October, flies for, 339.
Offley, J., xvii. Original Dedication to.liii. View of his House, lvi.
GENERAL INDEX. 415
Oils for baits, remarks on, 141, 154, 166, 223, 355.
Orange-fly, how to make, 337.
Orders of Fishes, 363.
Otter, great destruction of fish by the, 3, 47,51. Engraving and
various particulars of the, 48. Description of an Otter-hunt,
49, 37G, 392. Tame ones taught to fish, 50. Power of the,
to smell under water, 140.
Overbury, Sir Tho., 79, 373. His Milkmaid's character, 395.
Owl-fly, how to make, 335.
Palmer, or Pilgrim-Worm, account of, 100. Palmer-flies, di-
rections for making, 109, 112, 318, 324.
Pastes, for Chub, 63. For Carp, 165, 167. For Bream, 170. For
Tench, 180. For Barbel, 200. For Roach, 219.
Peacock-fly, how to make, 325, 336.
Pearch, Observations on the, 181. Representation of the, 183,
367. How to fish for, 184. Linnaean description of the, 364.
Pemble-Mere, a fish peculiar to, 196.
Pepys, W. H., the friend of Sir H. Davy, xli. His account
of Cotton's Fishing-House, 406.
Perkins, W., his praise of Angling, 39. Account of, 391.
Peucerus, G., 124. Account of, 398.
Pickerel-Weed, various properties of, 143, 149.
Pigeons, various uses of, 11. Their long flight for food, 49.
Names of, 73.
Pike, Observations on the, 142. Instances of its voracity,
144, 147, 399. Representation of the, 149. How to fish
for, 150, 153. Baits for, ib. 154. How to dress, 155.
Countries of, 157. Destroyed by Tadpoles, 161. Linnaean
description of the, 366.
Pike-Pool, Staffordshire, description of, 312. View of, 314.
Pinto, F. M., references to, and account of, 38, 373, 391.
Pliny, C. S., references to, 28, 30, 35, 98, 128, 152, 159, 373.
Account of, 389.
Plutarch, references to, 14, 38, 199, 373, 391.
Poetry, vide Songs, xxi. xxvi. xxvii. xlix. 4, 30, 31, 33, 34,
42, 43, 54, 76, 114, 116, 118, 128, 136,158, 185, 213,
214, 224, 236, 237, 256, 258, 311, 378.
Powell, Dr. R., contributor of the Linnaean Arrangement of
Fish, 365.
Prophets, inspiration of, 26. Comparison of, 37.
Proverbs, various, 2, 4, 52, 85, 88, 170, 181, 194, 266, 282, 285.
Raleigh, Sir W., Song by, 76, 79, 394. Portrait of, 82.
Raven, various particulars of the, 11, 68.
Red-Worm, 171, 203, 204.
Rich Men, unhappiness of, 249.
416 GENERAL INDEX.
Ring swallowed by a Salmon, account of, 399.
Rivers, the wonders of, 27. Accounts of the English, 235, 277.
Roach, Observations on, 170, 216. Inferior breed of, 217.
representation of the, 218. How to fish for the, 223, 225.
Linnaean description of the, 366.
Rod, various directions for the, 247, 297.
Rome, splendid entertainment of fish there, 19. Rarities of, 20.
Rondeletius, Guil., references to, 30, 178, 187, 189, 198, 373.
Portrait of, 186. Account of, 389.
Rosicrucians, allusion to the, 224. Notice of the, 404.
Royal Society, reference to the Transactions of the, 73, 373, 394.
Ruddy-fly, how to make, 106.
Ruds, an inferior Roach, 217.
Ruffe or Pope, representation of the, &c. 204. Linnaean de-
scription of the, 365.
Running-line, how to bait the hook of a, 94.
Sadler, Mr. R., 3. Account of, 377.
Sad-yellow-fly, how to make, 107.
Salmon, Observations on the, 134. Leap of the, and verses on
ditto, 135, 136. Age and growth of the, 137. Representa-
tion of the, 138. Seasons of the, lviii. 216, 138. How to
fish for the, 139. Varieties of the, 70, 141. Linnaean
description of the, 365.
Salvian, Hipp., references to, 131, 373. Account of, 398.
Samlet or Skegger-Trout, Engraving of the, 67. A variation
of the Salmon, 141. Linnaean description of the, 365. A
distinct species offish, 366.
Sanderson, Dr. R. Portrait of, xv.
Sandys, G., references to his Travels, 10, 374. Account of, 380.
Sargus, verses on the, 33.
Scouring of Worms, directions for, 93.
Sea, discoveries made by means of the, 20. Sea-Angler, a fish so
called, 32.
Seneca, L. A., references to, 64, 393.
September, Artificial flies for, 338.
Severn River, account of its spring and course, 236.
Shaw, Dr. G., his classification of fishes, 363.
Sheldon, Dr. G., 201. Portrait of, 202. Account of, 401.
Shell-fly, how to make, 107, 337.
Sheridan, Hon. R. B., his praise of the Complete Angler, xli.
Sidney, Sir P., references to, 311, 374, 407.
Singing Birds, Eulogy on, 9.
Sketch-book, paper on Angling from the, xxxvi.
Snakes, bred by various means, 148.
Snaresbrook, Essex, View of, 244.
GENERAL INDEX. 417
Songs, names and references to old, 77, 85, 394, 39 3. The Milk-
maid's, 78, 81, 394, 395. Answer to ditto, 79. Coridon's
Song, 8G. The Beggar's ditto, 122. The Angler's ditto, 89,
208,401,402. Kenna's ditto, 397.
Stickleback, representation of the, 230. Descriptions and
uses of the, 97, 233, 365.
Stone-fly, 98, account of the, 326. Birth and Description of,
332. How to make, 106, 334.
Sussex, fish peculiar to, 69.
Tackle, directions concerning, 224. Ditto for making, 244.
Tawny- fly .^how to make, 107.
Tench, Observations on the, 177. Medical virtues of the, 178.
Representation of the, 179. Linnaean description of the, 366.
Thames, River, account of the, 235. Verses on, 236. Trouts in,
67.
Thatched House, Herts., 1, 45. Notice of, 375.
Theobald's House, 2. History of, 383. View of, 408.
Thorn-tree fly, how to make, 320.
Top, Angling at the, explained, 293, 295.
Topsell, Edw., references to, 69, 99, 151, 374, 392.
Tottenham High-Cross, 1, 255.
Tradescant, J., his Museum, 29. Account of, 388.
Trent River, account of the, 236, 278.
Trout, Observations on the, 66. Varieties of the, 67, 70, 73.
Seasons of the, 71, 217. How to fish for, 82, 105, 126,
127, 349, 357. Representation of the, 83. Best Anglers
for the, 218. How to dress, 346. Linnrean description of
the, 365.
Tyne, notice of the River, 237.
Tweed, notice of the River, 236.
Umber, a name of the Grayling, 130, 131, 132.
Valdesso, Sign. J., references to his works, Account of, 387.
Varro, references to, and account of, 10, 19, 380, 383.
Ventral fins, Orders of fishes taken from the, 3ti3.
Violet-fly, directions for making, 322.
Walking-bait explained, 150.
Waller, Edm., Verses by, 214. Portrait of, 216.
Wall-fly, a bait for a Chub, 62.
Walton, Izaak, his literary character, xv. xlviii. Biographical
Sketch of, xxv. Fac-similes of his writing, xxi. xlviii. His
Will, xlii. Character of, by Cotton, 269. Notes by, 289, 312.
Jun., xxix. xliii. xlix. 312.
Ware, Town of in Herts, View of, 1 .
418
GENERAL INDEX.
Wasps, used as baits, 170, 188, 223.
Wasp-fly, how to make, 107, 337.
Water, the praise of, lf>. A medium for sound, 127.
Frogs, natureof,&c., 152,242. Snake, accountof, 148.
Wharton, Dr. Tho., 237. Portrait of, 239. Account of, 383.
Whirling-Dun-tty, how to make, 320, 322.
Whitaker, Dr. W., 39. Account of, 391.
White-bait, a distinct species of fish, 366.
Willow, experiment with concerning Water, 17.
Worms, names of, and directions concerning, 92, 93, 95, 139,
140, 165, 171, 180, 204, 221, 349, 351, 353.
Wotton, Sir H., references to,xvii.41, 42, 206, 255, 258, 374.
Portrait of, xv. Account of, 392.
Wye River, notice of, 279.
Xenophon, references to, 14, 374, 382.
Yarrell, W. Esq., treatise on the growth of the Salmon, 398.
Yellow-Dun fly, how to make, 107, 322.
Yellow dye for feathers, 329.
Zouch, Dr. Tho., his praise of Walton, xxxvi.
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