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IZAAK WALTON



THE COMPLEAT ANGLER




To the Right worshipful

John Offley

of Madeley Manor, in the County of Stafford

Esquire, My most honoured Friend

Sir,--I have made so ill use of your former favours, as by them to be
encouraged to entreat, that they may be enlarged to the patronage and
protection of this Book: and I have put on a modest confidence, that I
shall not be denied, because it is a discourse of Fish and Fishing,
which you know so well, and both love and practice so much.

You are assured, though there be ignorant men of another belief, that
Angling is an Art: and you know that Art better than others; and that
this is truth is demonstrated by the fruits of that pleasant labour
which you enjoy, when you purpose to give rest to your mind, and divest
yourself of your more serious business, and, which is often, dedicate a
day or two to this recreation.

At which time, if common Anglers should attend you, and be eyewitnesses
of the success, not of your fortune, but your skill, it would doubtless
beget in them an emulation to be like you, and that emulation might
beget an industrious diligence to be so; but I know it is not attainable
by common capacities: and there be now many men of great wisdom,
learning, and experience, which love and practice this Art, that know I
speak the truth.

Sir, this pleasant curiosity of Fish and Fishing, of which you are so
great a master, has been thought worthy the pens and practices of divers
in other nations, that have been reputed men of great learning and
wisdom. And amongst those of this nation, I 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 doubtless he had
done so, if death had not prevented him; the remembrance of which had
often made me sorry, for if he had lived to do it, then the unlearned
Angler had seen some better treatise of this Art, a treatise that might
have proved worthy his perusal, which, though some have undertaken, I
could never yet see in English.

But mine may be thought as weak, and as unworthy of common view; and I
do here freely confess, that I should rather excuse myself, than censure
others, my own discourse being liable to so many exceptions; against
which you, Sir, might make this one, that it can contribute nothing to
YOUR knowledge. And lest a longer epistle may diminish your pleasure, I
shall make this no longer than to add this following truth, that I am
really,

Sir,

your most affectionate Friend,

and most humble Servant,

Iz. Wa.




The epistle to the reader

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 propose 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 began it; and do therefore desire and hope, if I deserve not
commendations, yet I may obtain pardon.

And though this Discourse may be liable to some exceptions, 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 scurrility, but some innocent, harmless mirth, of which, if thou
be a severe, sour-complexioned man, then I here disallow thee to be a
competent judge; for divines say, there are offences given, and offences
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 times, yet the whole
Discourse is, or rather was, a picture of my own disposition, especially
in such days and times as I have laid aside business, and gone a-fishing
with honest Nat. and R. Roe; but they are gone, and with them most of my
pleasant hours, even as a shadow that passeth away and returns not.

And next let me add this, that he that likes not the book, should like
the excellent picture of the Trout, and some of the other fish, which I
may take a liberty to commend, because they concern not myself.

Next, let me tell the Reader, that in that which is the more useful part
of this Discourse, that is to say, the observations of the nature and
breeding, and seasons, and catching of fish, 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 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 book, he that undertakes it shall
undertake a harder task than Mr. Hales, a most valiant and excellent
fencer, who in a printed book called A Private School of Defence
undertook 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 must Angling. And note also, that in this Discourse
I do not undertake to say all that is known, or may be said of it, but I
undertake to acquaint the Reader with many things that are not usually
known to every Angler; and I shall leave gleanings and observations
enough to be made out of the experience of all that love and practice
this recreation, to which I shall encourage them. For Angling may be
said to be so like the Mathematicks, that it can never be fully learnt;
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 something that may be
worth their money, if they be not poor and needy men: and in case they
be, I then wish them to forbear to buy it; for I write not to get money,
but for 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 be
as wise, as he that makes hay by the fair days in an Almanack, and no
surer; for those very flies that used to appear about, and on, the water
in one month of the year, may the following year come almost a month
sooner or later, as the same year proves colder or hotter: and yet, in
the following Discourse, I have set down the twelve flies that are in
reputation with many anglers; and they may serve to give him some
observations concerning them. And he may note, that there are in Wales,
and other countries, peculiar flies, proper to the particular place or
country; and doubtless, unless a man makes a fly to counterfeit that
very fly in that place, he is like to lose his labour, or much of it;
but for the generality, three or four flies neat and rightly made, and
not too big, serve for a Trout in most rivers, all the summer: and for
winter fly-fishing it is as useful as an Almanack out of date. And of
these, because as no man is born an artist, so no man is born an Angler,
I thought fit to give thee this notice.

When I have told the reader, that in this fifth impression there are
many enlargements, gathered both by my own observation, and the
communication with friends, I shall stay him no longer than to wish him
a rainy evening to read this following Discourse; and that if he be an
honest Angler, the east wind may never blow when he goes a-fishing.

I. W.




The first day

A Conference betwixt an Angler, a Falconer, and a Hunter, each
commending his Recreation

Chapter I

Piscator, Venator, Auceps

Piscator. You are well overtaken, Gentlemen! A good morning to you both!
I have stretched my legs up Tottenham Hill to overtake you, hoping your
business may occasion you towards Ware, whither I am going this fine
fresh May morning.

Venator. Sir, I, for my part, shall almost answer your hopes; for my
purpose is to drink my morning's draught at the Thatched House in
Hoddesden; 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
Theobalds, 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.

Venator. 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 others' 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 way to seem the shorter".

Auceps. 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.

Venator. And, Sir, I promise the like.

Piscator. 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.

Venator. 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 sunrising.

Piscator. Sir, my fortune has answered my desires, and my purpose is to
bestow a day or two in helping to destroy some of those villanous
vermin: for I hate them perfectly, because they love fish so well, or
rather, because they destroy so much; indeed so much, that, in my
judgment all men that keep Otter-dogs ought to have pensions from the
King, to encourage them to destroy the very breed of those base Otters,
they do so much mischief.

Venator. 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.

Piscator. Oh, Sir, if they do, it is not so much to me and my
fraternity, as those base vermin the Otters do.

Auceps. Why, Sir, I pray, of what fraternity are you, that you are so
angry with the poor Otters?

Piscator. I am, Sir, a Brother of the Angle, and therefore an enemy to
the Otter: for you are to note, that we Anglers all love one another,
and therefore do I hate the Otter both for my own, and their sakes who
are of my brotherhood.

Venator. And I am a lover of Hounds; I have followed many a pack of dogs
many a mile, and heard many merry Huntsmen make sport and scoff at
Anglers.

Auceps. And I profess myself a Falconer, and have heard many grave,
serious men pity them, it is such a heavy, contemptible, dull
recreation.

Piscator. You know, Gentlemen, it is an easy thing to scoff at any art
or recreation; a little wit mixed with ill nature, confidence, and
malice, will do it; but though they often venture boldly, yet they are
often caught, even in their own trap, according to that of Lucian, the
father of the family of Scoffers:

     "_Lucian, well skilled in scoffing, this hath writ;
     Friend, that's your folly, which you think your wit:
     This, you vent oft, void both of wit and fear,
     Meaning another, when yourself you jeer._"

If to this you add what Solomon says of Scoffers, that "they are an
abomination to mankind," let him that thinks fit scoff on, and be a
Scoffer still; but I account them enemies to me and all that love Virtue
and Angling.

And for you that have heard many grave, serious men pity Anglers; let me
tell you, Sir, there be many men that are by others taken to be serious
and grave men, whom we contemn and pity. Men that are taken to be grave,
because nature hath made them of a sour complexion; money-getting men,
men that spend all their time, first in getting, and next, in anxious
care to keep it; men that are 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 borrow their thoughts to think
ourselves so happy. No, no, Sir, we enjoy a contentedness above the
reach of such dispositions, and as the learned and ingenuous Montaigne
says, like himself, freely, "When my Cat and I entertain each other with
mutual apish tricks, as playing with a garter, who knows but that I make
my Cat more sport than she makes me? Shall I conclude her to be simple,
that has her time to begin or refuse, to play as freely as I myself
have? Nay, who knows but that it is a defect of my not understanding her
language, for doubtless Cats talk and reason with one another, that we
agree no better: and who knows but that she pities me for being no wiser
than to play with her, and laughs and censures my folly, for making
sport for her, when we two play together?"

Thus freely speaks Montaigne concerning Cats; and I hope I may take as
great a liberty to blame any man, and laugh at him too, let him be never
so grave, that hath not heard what Anglers can say in the justification
of their Art and Recreation; which I may again tell you, is so full of
pleasure, that we need not borrow their thoughts, to think ourselves
happy.

Venator. 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.

Piscator. Sir, I hope you will not judge my earnestness to be
impatience: and for my simplicity, if by that you mean a harmlessness,
or that simplicity which was usually found in the primitive Christians,
who were, as most Anglers are, quiet men, and followers of peace; men
that were so simply wise, as not to sell their consciences to buy
riches, and with them vexation and a fear to die; if you mean such
simple men as lived in those times when there were fewer lawyers; when
men might have had a lordship safely conveyed to them in a piece of
parchment no bigger than your hand, though several sheets will not do it
safely in this wiser age; I say, Sir, if you take us Anglers to be such
simple men as I have spoke 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 practice the
excellent 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 practice; 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. Falconer to begin.

Auceps. Your motion is consented to with all my heart; and to testify
it, I will begin as you have desired me.

And first, for the Element that I use to trade in, which is the Air, an
element of more worth than weight, an element that doubtless exceeds
both the Earth and Water; for though I sometimes deal in both, yet the
air is most properly mine, I and my Hawks use that most, and it yields
us most recreation. It stops not the high soaring of my noble, generous
Falcon; in it she ascends to such a height as the dull eyes of beasts
and fish are not able to reach to; their bodies are too gross for such
high elevations; in the Air my troops of Hawks soar up on high, and when
they are lost in the sight of men, then they attend upon and converse
with the Gods; therefore I think my Eagle is so justly styled Jove's
servant in ordinary: and that very Falcon, that I am now going to see,
deserves no meaner a title, for she usually in her flight endangers
herself, like the son of Daedalus, to have her wings scorched by the
sun's heat, she flies so near it, but her mettle makes her careless of
danger; for she then heeds nothing, but makes her nimble pinions cut the
fluid air, and so makes her highway over the steepest mountains and
deepest rivers, and in her glorious career looks with contempt upon
those high steeples and magnificent palaces which we adore and wonder
at; from which height, I can make her to descend by a word from my
mouth, which she both knows and obeys, to accept of meat from my hand,
to own me for her Master, to go home with me, and be willing the next
day to 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 necessity, that no creature whatsoever--not
only those numerous creatures that feed on the face of the earth, but
those various creatures that have their dwelling within the waters,
every creature that hath life in its nostrils, stands in need of my
element. The waters cannot preserve the Fish without air, witness the
not breaking of ice in an extreme frost; the reason is, for that if the
inspiring and expiring organ of any animal be stopped, it suddenly
yields to nature, and dies. Thus necessary 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, 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 refresh him; feed him
with their choice bodies, and refresh him with their heavenly voices. I
will not undertake to mention the several kinds of Fowl by which this is
done: and his curious palate pleased by day, and which with their very
excrements afford him a soft lodging at night. These I will pass by, but
not those little nimble musicians of the air, that warble forth their
curious ditties, with which nature hath furnished them to the shame of
art.

As first the Lark, when she means to rejoice, to cheer herself and those
that hear her; she then quits the earth, and sings as she ascends higher
into the air and having ended her heavenly employment, grows then mute,
and sad, to think she must descend to the dull earth, which she would
not touch, but for necessity.

How do the Blackbird and Thrassel with their melodious voices bid
welcome to the cheerful Spring, 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 creatures, breathes such sweet
loud musick out of her little instrumental throat, that it might make
mankind to think miracles are not ceased. He that at midnight, when the
very labourer sleeps securely, should hear, as I have very often, the
clear airs, the sweet descants, the natural rising and falling, the
doubling and redoubling of her voice, might well be lifted above earth,
and say, "Lord, what musick hast thou provided for the Saints in Heaven,
when thou affordest bad men such musick on Earth!"

And this makes me the less to wonder at the many Aviaries in Italy, or
at the great charge of Varro's Aviary, the ruins of which are yet to be
seen in Rome, and is still so famous there, that it is reckoned for one
of those notables which men of foreign nations either record, or lay up
in their memories when they return from travel.

This for the birds of pleasure, of which very much more might be said.
My next shall be of birds of political use. I think it is 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 it was, 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, it is not
to be doubted that the Dove was sent out of the ark by Noah, to give him
notice of land, when to him all appeared to be sea; and the Dove proved
a faithful and comfortable messenger. And for the sacrifices of the law,
a pair of Turtle-doves, or young Pigeons, were as well accepted as
costly Bulls and Rams; and when God would feed the Prophet Elijah, after
a kind of miraculous manner, he did it by Ravens, who brought him meat
morning and evening. Lastly, the Holy Ghost, when he descended visibly
upon our Saviour, did it by assuming the shape of a Dove. And, to
conclude this part of my discourse, pray remember these wonders were
done by birds of air, the element in which they, and I, take so much
pleasure.

There is also a little contemptible winged creature, an inhabitant of my
aerial element, namely the laborious Bee, of whose prudence, policy, and
regular government of their own commonwealth, I might say much, as also
of their several kinds, and how useful their honey and wax are both for
meat and medicines to mankind; but I will leave them to their sweet
labour, without the least disturbance, believing them to be all very
busy at this very time amongst the herbs and flowers that we see nature
puts forth this May morning.

And now to return to my Hawks, from whom I have made too long a
digression. You are to note, that they are usually distinguished into
two kinds; namely, the long-winged, and the short-winged Hawk: of the
first kind, there be chiefly in use amongst us in this nation,

    The Gerfalcon and Jerkin,
    The Falcon and Tassel-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 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 Ramish Hawk, the Haggard, and the two sorts of
Lentners, and then treat of their several Ayries, their Mewings, rare
order of casting, and the renovation of their feathers: their
reclaiming, dieting, and then come to their rare stories of practice; I
say, if I should enter into these, and many other observations that I
could make, it would be much, very much pleasure to me: but lest I
should break the rules of civility 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 enlargement of some of those several
heads of which I have spoken. But no more at present.

Venator. Well, Sir, and I will now take my turn, and will first begin
with a commendation of the Earth, as you have done most excellently of
the Air; the Earth being that element upon which I drive my pleasant,
wholesome, hungry trade. The Earth is a solid, settled element; an
element most universally beneficial both to man and beast; to men who
have their several recreations upon it, as horse-races, hunting, sweet
smells, pleasant walks: the earth feeds man, and all those several
beasts that both feed him, and afford him recreation. What pleasure doth
man take in hunting the stately Stag, the generous Buck, the wild Boar,
the cunning Otter, the crafty Fox, and the fearful Hare! And if I may
descend to a lower game, what pleasure is it sometimes with gins to
betray the very vermin of the earth; as namely, the Fichat, the
Fulimart, the Ferret, the Pole-cat, the Mouldwarp, 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
physick 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 suitable, if the earth had not been a bountiful mother? But to pass
by the mighty Elephant, which the Earth breeds and nourisheth, and
descend to the least of creatures, how doth the earth afford us a
doctrinal example in the little Pismire, who in the summer provides and
lays up her winter provision, and teaches man to do the like! The earth
feeds and carries those horses that carry us. If I would be prodigal of
my time and your patience, what might not I say in commendations of the
earth? That puts limits to the proud and raging sea, and by that means
preserves 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 persons; it hath been highly
prized in all ages; it was one of the qualifications that Xenophon
bestowed on his Cyrus, that he was a hunter of wild beasts. Hunting
trains up the younger nobility to the use of manly exercises in their
riper age. What more manly exercise than hunting the Wild Boar, the
Stag, the Buck, the Fox, or the Hare? How doth it preserve health, and
increase strength and activity!

And for the dogs that we use, who can commend their excellency to that
height which they deserve? 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 in
a herd, single him out, and follow him, and him only, through a whole
herd of rascal game, and still know and then kill him! For my hounds, I
know the language of them, and they know the language and meaning of one
another, as perfectly as we know the voices of those with whom we
discourse daily.

I might enlarge myself in the commendation of Hunting, and of the noble
Hound especially, as also of the docibleness of dogs in general; and I
might make many observations of land-creatures, that for composition,
order, figure, and constitution, approach nearest to the completeness
and understanding of man; especially of those creatures, which Moses in
the Law permitted to the Jews, which have cloven hoofs, and chew the
cud; which I shall forbear to name, because I will not be so uncivil to
Mr. Piscator, as not to allow him a time for the commendation of
Angling, which he calls an art; but doubtless it is an easy one: and,
Mr. Auceps, I doubt we shall hear a watery discourse of it, but I hope
it will not be a long one.

Auceps. And I hope so too, though I fear it will.

Piscator. 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, pray
remember, I accuse nobody; for as I would not make a "watery discourse,"
so I would not put too much vinegar into it; nor would I raise the
reputation of my own art, by the diminution or ruin of another's. And so
much for the prologue to what I mean to say.

And now for the Water, the element that I trade in. The water is the
eldest daughter of the creation, the element upon which the Spirit of
God did first move, the element which God commanded to bring forth
living creatures abundantly; and without which, those that inhabit the
land, even all creatures that have breath in their nostrils, must
suddenly return to putrefaction. Moses, the great lawgiver and chief
philosopher, skilled in all the learning of the Egyptians, who was
called the friend of God, and knew the mind of the Almighty, names this
element the first in the creation: this is the element upon which the
Spirit of God did first move, and is the chief ingredient in the
creation: many 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 tree
begins to grow, and then weigh all together after the tree is increased
from its first rooting, to weigh a hundred pound weight more than when
it was first rooted and weighed; and you shall find this augment of the
tree to be without the diminution of one drachm weight of the earth.
Hence they infer this increase of wood to be from water of rain, or from
dew, and not to be from any other element; and they affirm, they can
reduce this wood back again to water; and they affirm also, the same may
be done in any animal or vegetable. And this I take to be a fair
testimony of the excellency of my element 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 testimony 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 preventing of
sickness; for it is 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 colleges, for which we
should be ashamed, hath doubtless been the chief cause of those many
putrid, shaking intermitting agues, unto which this nation of ours is
now more subject, than those wiser countries that feed on herbs, salads,
and plenty of fish; of which it is observed in story, that the greatest
part of the world now do. And it may be fit to remember that Moses
appointed fish to be the chief diet for the best commonwealth 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 musick to usher in their Sturgeons,
Lampreys, and Mullets, which they would purchase at rates rather to be
wondered at than believed. He that shall view the writings of Macrobius,
or Varro, may be confirmed and informed of this, and of the incredible
value of their fish and fish-ponds.

But, Gentlemen, I have almost lost myself, which I confess I may easily
do in this philosophical discourse; 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 into these mysterious arguments, but pass
to such observations as I can manage with more pleasure, and less fear
of running into error. But I must not yet forsake the waters, by whose
help we have so many known advantages.

And first, to pass by the miraculous cures of our known baths, how
advantageous is the sea for our daily traffick, without which we could
not now subsist. How does it not only furnish us with food and physick
for the bodies, but with such observations for the mind as ingenious
persons would not want!

How ignorant had we been of the beauty of Florence, of the monuments,
urns, and rarities that yet remain in and near unto old and new Rome, so
many as it is said will take up a year's time to view, and afford to
each of them but a convenient consideration! And therefore it is not to
be wondered at, that so learned and devout a father as St. Jerome, after
his wish to have seen Christ in the flesh, and to have heard St. Paul
preach, makes his third wish, to have seen Rome in her glory; and that
glory is not yet all lost, for what pleasure is it to see the monuments
of Livy, the choicest of the historians; of 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 content to dwell, and to view the many rich statues that are
made in honour of his memory! nay, to see the very place in which St.
Peter and he lie buried together! These are in and near to Rome. And how
much more doth it please the pious curiosity of a Christian, to see that
place, on which the blessed Saviour of the world was pleased to humble
himself, and to take our nature upon him, and to converse with men: to
see Mount Sion, Jerusalem, and the very sepulchre of our Lord Jesus! How
may it beget and heighten the zeal of a Christian, to see the devotions
that are daily paid to him at that place! Gentlemen, lest I forget
myself, I will stop here, and remember you, that but for my element of
water, the inhabitants of this poor island must remain ignorant that
such things ever were, or that any of them have yet a being.

Gentlemen, I might both enlarge and lose myself in such like arguments.
I might tell you that Almighty God is said to have spoken to a fish, but
never to a beast; that he hath made a whale a ship, to carry and set his
prophet, Jonah, safe on the appointed shore. Of these I might speak, but
I must in manners break off, for I see Theobald's House. I cry you mercy
for being so long, and thank you for your patience.

Auceps. Sir, my pardon is easily granted you: I except against nothing
that you have said: nevertheless, I must part with you at this
park-wall, for which I am very sorry; but I assure you, Mr. Piscator, I
now part with you full of good thoughts, not only of yourself, but your
recreation. And so, Gentlemen, God keep you both.

Piscator. Well, now, Mr. Venator, you shall neither want time, nor my
attention to hear you enlarge your discourse concerning hunting.

Venator. 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.

Piscator. 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 commendations; and that it is
an art, and an art worthy the knowledge and practice of a wise man.

Venator. Pray, Sir, speak of them what you think fit, for we have yet
five miles to the Thatched House; during which walk, I dare promise you,
my patience and diligent attention shall not be wanting. And if you
shall make that to appear which you have undertaken, first, that it is
an art, and an art worth the learning, I shall beg that I may attend you
a day or two a-fishing, and that I may become your scholar, and be
instructed in the art itself which you so much magnify.

Piscator. O, Sir, doubt not but that Angling is an art; is it not an art
to deceive a Trout with an artificial Fly? a Trout! that is more
sharp-sighted than any Hawk you have named, and more watchful and
timorous than your high-mettled Merlin is bold? and yet, I doubt not to
catch a brace or two to-morrow, for a friend's breakfast: doubt not
therefore, Sir, but that angling is an art, and an art worth your learning.
The question is rather, whether you be capable of learning it? 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
having once got and practiced it, then doubt not but angling will prove
to be so pleasant, that it will prove to be, like virtue, a reward to
itself.

Venator. Sir, I am now become so full of expectation, that I long much
to have you proceed, and in the order that you propose.

Piscator. Then first, for the antiquity of Angling, of which I shall not
say much, but only this; some say it is as ancient as Deucalion's flood:
others, that Belus, who was the first inventor of godly and virtuous
recreations, was the first 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 mathematicks, musick, and the rest of that precious knowledge, and
those useful arts, which by God's appointment or allowance, and his
noble industry, were thereby preserved from perishing in 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
warranted; but for my part, I shall content myself in telling you, that
angling is much more ancient than the incarnation of our Saviour; for in
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 have
been written by Moses, mention is made also of fish-hooks, which must
imply anglers in those times.

But, my worthy friend, as I would rather prove myself a gentleman, by
being learned and humble, valiant and 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 merit meet in any man,
it is a double dignification of that person; so if this antiquity of
angling, which for my part I have not forced, shall, like an ancient
family, be either an honour, or an ornament to this virtuous art which I
profess to love and practice, I shall be the gladder that I made an
accidental mention of the antiquity of it, of which I shall say no more,
but proceed to that just commendation which I think it deserves.

And for that, I shall tell you, that in ancient times a debate hath
risen, and it remains yet unresolved, whether the happiness of man in
this world doth consist more in contemplation or action? Concerning
which, some have endeavoured to maintain their opinion of the first; by
saying, that the nearer we mortals come to God by way of imitation, the
more happy we are. And they say, that God enjoys himself only, by a
contemplation of his own infiniteness, eternity, power, and goodness,
and the like. And upon this ground, many cloisteral men of great
learning and devotion, prefer contemplation 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.

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
physick, and the application of it, both for the ease and prolongation
of man's life; by which each man is enabled to act and do good to
others, either to serve his country, or do good to particular persons:
and they say also, that action is doctrinal, and teaches both art and
virtue, and is a maintainer of human society; and for these, and other
like reasons, to be preferred before 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, that both these meet together, and do most properly
belong to the most honest, ingenuous, quiet, and harmless art of
angling.

And first, I shall tell you what some have observed, and I have found it
to be a real truth, that the very sitting by the river's side is not
only the quietest and fittest place for contemplation, but will invite
an angler to it: and this seems to be maintained by the learned Peter du
Moulin, who, in his discourse of the fulfilling of Prophecies, observes,
that when God intended to reveal any future events or high notions to
his prophets, he then carried them either to the deserts, or the
sea-shore, that having so separated them from amidst the press of people
and business, and the cares of the world, he might settle their mind in
a quiet repose, and there make them fit for revelation.

And this seems also to be imitated by the children of Israel, who having
in a sad condition banished all mirth and musick from their pensive
hearts, and having hung up their then mute harps upon the willow-trees
growing by the rivers of Babylon, sat down upon 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 leave to free myself 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 considerable: 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 drunk, cause
madness, some drunkenness, and some laughter to death. The river Selarus
in a few hours turns a rod or wand to stone: and our Camden mentions the
like in England, and the like in Lochmere in Ireland. There is also a
river in Arabia, of which all the sheep that drink thereof have their
wool turned into a vermilion colour. And one of no less credit than
Aristotle, tells us of a merry river, the river Elusina, that dances at
the noise of musick, for with musick it bubbles, dances, and grows
sandy, and so continues till the musick ceases, but then it presently
returns to its wonted calmness and clearness. And Camden tells us of a
well near to Kirby, in Westmoreland, that ebbs and flows several times
every day: and he tells us of a river in Surrey, it is called Mole, that
after it has run several miles, being opposed by hills, finds or makes
itself a way under ground, and breaks out again so far off, that the
inhabitants thereabout boast, as the Spaniards do of their river Anus,
that they feed divers flocks of sheep upon a bridge. And lastly, for I
would not tire your patience, one of no less authority than Josephus,
that learned Jew, tells us of a river in Judea that runs swiftly all the
six days of the week, and stands still and rests all their sabbath.

But I will lay aside my discourse of rivers, and tell you some things of
the monsters, or fish, call them what you will, that they breed and feed
in them. Pliny the philosopher says, in the third chapter of his ninth
book, that in the Indian Sea, the fish called Balaena or Whirlpool, is
so long and broad, as to take up more in length and breadth than two
acres of ground; and, of other fish, of two hundred cubits long; and
that in the river Ganges, there be Eels of thirty feet long. He says
there, that these monsters appear in that sea, only when the tempestuous
winds oppose the torrents of water falling from the rocks into it, and
so turning what lay at the bottom to be seen on the water's top. And he
says, that the people of Cadara, an island near this place, make the
timber for their houses of those fish bones. He there tells us, that
there are sometimes a thousand of these great Eels found wrapt or
interwoven together He tells us there, that it appears that dolphins
love musick, and will come when called for, by some men or boys that
know, and use to feed them; and that they can swim as swift as an arrow
can be shot out of a bow; and much of this is spoken concerning the
dolphin, and other fish, as may be found also in the learned Dr.
Casaubon's Discourse of Credulity and Incredulity, printed by him about
the year 1670.

I know, we Islanders are averse to the belief of these wonders; but
there be so many strange creatures to be now seen, many collected by
John Tradescant, and others added by my friend Elias Ashmole, Esq., who
now keeps them carefully and methodically at his house near to Lambeth,
near London, as may get some belief of some of the other wonders I
mentioned. I will tell you some of the wonders that you may now see, and
not till then believe, unless you think fit.

You may there see the Hog-fish, the Dog-fish, the Dolphin, the
Cony-fish, the Parrot-fish, the Shark, the Poison-fish, Sword-fish, and
not only other incredible fish, but you may there see the Salamander,
several sorts of Barnacles, of Solan-Geese, the Bird of Paradise, such
sorts of Snakes, and such Birds'-nests, and of so various forms, and so
wonderfully made, as may beget wonder and amusement in any 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, transcendant, and divine;
    Who cost so strangely 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, wherein, for height of poetry and
wonders, the prophet David seems even to exceed himself, how doth he
there express himself in choice metaphors, even to the amazement of a
contemplative reader, concerning the sea, the rivers, and the fish
therein contained! And the great naturalist Pliny says, "That nature's
great and wonderful power is more demonstrated in the sea than on the
land ". And this may appear, by the numerous and various creatures
inhabiting both in and about that element; as to the readers of Gesner,
Rondeletius, Pliny, Ausonius, Aristotle, and others, may be
demonstrated. But I will sweeten this discourse also out of a
contemplation in divine Du 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,
    Even 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, Gilliflowers, and many millions
    Of other plants, more rare, more strange than these,
    As very fishes, living in the seas;
    As also Rams, Calves, Horses, Hares, and Hogs,
    Wolves, Urchins, Lions, Elephants, and Dogs;
    Yea, Men and Maids, and, which I most admire,
    The mitred Bishop and the cowled Friar:
    Of which, examples, but a few years since,
    Were strewn the Norway and Polonian prince.

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 come near to her; and
the Cuttle-fish, being then hid in the gravel, lets the smaller fish
nibble and bite the end of it; at which time she, by little and little,
draws the smaller fish so near to her, that she may leap upon her, and
then catches and devours her: and for this reason some have called this
fish the Sea-angler.

And there is a fish called a Hermit, that at a certain age gets into a
dead fish's shell, and, like a hermit, dwells there alone, studying the
wind and weather and so turns her shell, that she makes it defend her
from the injuries that they would bring upon her.

There is also a fish called by Ælian the Adonis, or Darling of the Sea;
so called, because it is a loving and innocent fish, a fish that hurts
nothing that hath life, and is at peace with all the numerous
inhabitants of that vast watery element; and truly, I think most Anglers
are so disposed to most of 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 observations out of authors that
have been great and industrious 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 ranging appetite,
    Goes courting she-goats on the grassy shore,
    Horning their husbands that had horns before.

And the same author writes concerning the Cantharus, that which you
shall also hear in his own words:

    But, contrary, the constant Cantharus
    Is ever constant to his faithful spouse
    In nuptial duties, spending his chaste life.
    Never loves any but his own dear wife.

Sir, but a little longer, and I have done.

Venator. Sir, take what liberty you think fit, for your discourse seems
to be musick, and charms me to an attention.

Piscator. Why then, Sir, I will take a little liberty to tell, or rather
to remember you what is said of Turtle-doves; first, that they silently
plight their troth, and marry; and that then the survivor scorns, as the
Thracian women are said to do, to outlive his or her mate, and this is
taken for a truth; and if the survivor shall ever couple with another,
then, not only the living, but the dead, be it either the he or the she,
is denied the name and honour of a true Turtle-dove.

And to parallel this land-rarity, and teach mankind moral faithfulness,
and to condemn those that talk of religion, and yet come short of the
moral faith of fish and fowl, men that violate the law affirmed by St.
Paul to be writ in their hearts, and which, he says, shall at the Last
Day condemn and leave them without excuse--I pray hearken to what Du
Bartas sings, for the hearing of such conjugal faithfulness will be
musick to all chaste ears, and therefore I pray hearken to what Du
Bartas sings of the Mullet.

    But for chaste love the Mullet hath no peer;
    For, if the fisher hath surpris'd her pheer
    As mad with wo, 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 cherish his own brood, but is senseless,
though they perish. And it is considerable, that the Hen, which, because
she also takes any Cock, expects it not, who is sure the chickens be her
own, hath by a moral impression her care and affection to her own brood
more than doubled, even to such a height, that our Saviour, in
expressing his love to Jerusalem, 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 unfrequented by vermin or by any fish but
themselves.

Sir, these examples may, to you and others, seem strange; but they are
testified, some by Aristotle, some by Pliny, some by Gesner, and by many
others of credit; and are believed and known by divers, both of wisdom
and experience, to be a truth; and indeed are, as I said at the
beginning, fit for the contemplation of a most serious and a most pious
man. And, doubtless, this made the prophet David say, "They that occupy
themselves in deep waters, see the wonderful works of God": indeed such
wonders and pleasures too, as the land affords not.

And that they be fit for the contemplation of the most prudent, and
pious, and peaceable men, seems to be testified by the practice of so
many devout and contemplative men, as the Patriarchs and Prophets of
old; and of the Apostles of our Saviour in our latter times, of which
twelve, we are sure, he chose four that were simple fishermen, whom he
inspired, and sent to publish his blessed will to the Gentiles; and
inspired them also with a power to speak all languages, and by their
powerful eloquence to beget faith in the unbelieving Jews; and
themselves to suffer for that Saviour, whom their forefathers and they
had crucified; and, in their sufferings, to preach freedom from the
incumbrances of the law, and a new way to 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 employment or calling, as
he did the Scribes and the Money-changers. And secondly, he found that
the hearts of such men, by nature, were fitted for contemplation and
quietness; men of mild, and sweet, and peaceable spirits, as indeed most
Anglers are: these men our blessed Saviour, who is observed to love to
plant grace in good natures, though indeed nothing be too hard for him,
yet these men he chose to call from their irreprovable employment of
fishing, and gave them grace to be his disciples, and to follow him, and
do wonders; I say four of twelve.

And it is observable, that it was our Saviour's will that these, our
four fishermen, should have a priority of nomination in the catalogue of
his twelve Apostles, as namely, first St. Peter, St. Andrew, St. James,
and St. John; and, then, the rest in their order.

And it is yet more observable, that when our blessed Saviour went up
into the mount, when he left the rest of his disciples, and chose only
three to bear him company at his Transfiguration, that those three were
all fishermen. And it is to be believed, that all the other Apostles,
after they betook themselves to follow Christ, betook themselves to be
fishermen too; for it is certain, that the greater number of them were
found together, fishing, by Jesus after his resurrection, as it is
recorded in the twenty-first chapter of St. John's gospel.

And since I have your promise to hear me with patience, I will take a
liberty to look back upon an observation that hath been made by an
ingenious and learned man; who observes, that God hath been pleased to
allow those whom he himself hath appointed to write his holy will in
holy writ, yet to express his will in such metaphors as their former
affections or practice had inclined them to. And he brings Solomon for
an example, who, before his conversion, was remarkably carnally amorous;
and after, by God's appointment, wrote that spiritual dialogue, or holy
amorous love-song the Canticles, betwixt God and his church: in which he
says, "his beloved had eyes like the fish-pools of Heshbon".

And if this hold in reason, as I see none to the contrary, then it may
be probably concluded, that Moses, who I told you before writ the book
of Job, and the Prophet Amos, who was a shepherd, were both Anglers; for
you shall, in all the Old Testament, find fish-hooks, I think but twice
mentioned, namely, by meek Moses the 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 metaphors 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 Caesar. And let me tell you, that
Angling is of high esteem, and of much use in other nations. He that
reads the Voyages of Ferdinand Mendez Pinto, shall find that there he
declares to have found a king and several priests a-fishing. And he that
reads Plutarch, shall find, that Angling was not contemptible in the
days of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, and that they, in the midst of their
wonderful glory, used Angling as a principal recreation. And let me tell
you, that in the Scripture, Angling is always taken in the best sense;
and that though hunting may be sometimes so taken, yet it is but seldom
to be so understood. And let me add this more: he that views the ancient
Ecclesiastical Canons, shall find hunting to be forbidden to Churchmen,
as being a turbulent, toilsome, perplexing recreation; and shall find
Angling allowed to clergymen, as being a harmless 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
practiser of it, our learned Dr. Whitaker was; as indeed many others of
great learning have been. But I will content myself with two memorable
men, that lived near to our own time, whom I also take to have been
ornaments to the art of Angling.

The first is Dr. Nowel, sometime dean of the cathedral church of St.
Paul, in London, where his monument stands yet undefaced; a man that, in
the reformation of Queen Elizabeth, not that of Henry VIII., was so
noted for his meek spirit, deep learning, prudence, and piety, that the
then Parliament and Convocation, both, chose, enjoined, and trusted him
to be the man to make a Catechism for public use, such a one as should
stand as a rule for faith and manners to their posterity. And the good
old man, though he was very learned, yet knowing that God leads us not
to heaven by many, nor by hard questions, like an honest Angler, made
that good, plain, unperplexed Catechism which is printed with our good
old Service-book. I say, this good man was a dear lover and constant
practiser 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 conversed with him, to
bestow a tenth part of his revenue, and usually all his fish, amongst
the poor that inhabited near to those rivers in which it was caught;
saying often, "that charity gave life to religion ": and, at his return
to his house, would praise God he had spent that day free from worldly
trouble; both harmlessly, and in a recreation that became a churchman.
And this good man was well content, if not desirous, that posterity
should know he was an Angler; as may appear by his picture, now to be
seen, and carefully kept, in Brazen-nose College, to which he was a
liberal benefactor. In which picture he is 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 neither impaired his
hearing, nor dimmed his eyes, nor weakened his memory, nor made any of
the faculties of his mind weak or useless". It is said that Angling and
temperance were great causes of these blessings; and I wish the like to
all that imitate him, and love the memory of so good a man.

My next and last example shall be that under-valuer of money, the late
provost of Eton College, Sir Henry Wotton, a man with whom I have often
fished and conversed, a man whose foreign employments in the service of
this nation, and whose experience, learning, wit, and cheerfulness, made
his company to be esteemed one of the delights of mankind. This man,
whose very approbation of Angling were sufficient to convince any modest
censurer of it, this man was also a most dear lover, and a frequent
practiser of the art of Angling; of which he would say, "it was an
employment for his idle time, which was then not idly spent"; for
Angling was, after tedious study, "a rest to his mind, a cheerer of his
spirits, a diverter of sadness, a calmer of unquiet thoughts, a
moderator of passions, a procurer of contentedness; and that it begat
habits of peace and patience in those that professed and practiced it ".
Indeed, my friend, you will find Angling to be like the virtue of
humility, which has a calmness of spirit, and a world of other blessings
attending upon it. Sir, this was the saying of that learned man.

And I do easily believe, that peace, and patience, and a calm content,
did cohabit in the cheerful heart of Sir Henry Wotton, because I know
that when he was beyond seventy years of age, he made this description
of a part of the 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.

    Already were the eaves possess'd
    With the swift pilgrim's daubed nest;
    The groves already did rejoice
    In Philomel's triumphing voice:

    The showers were short, the weather mild,
    The morning fresh, the evening 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.
    Thus 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
commendation of his happy life, which he also sings in verse: viz. Jo.
Davors, Esq.

    Let me live harmlessly, and near the brink
    Of Trent or Avon have a dwelling-place
    Where I may see my quill, or cork, down sink
    With eager bite of Perch, or Bleak, or Dace;
    And on the world and my Creator think:
    Whilst some men strive ill-gotten goods t' embrace;
    And others spend their time in base excess
    Of wine, or worse, in war and wantonness.

    Let them that list, these pastimes still pursue,
    And on such pleasing fancies feed their fill;
    So I the fields and meadows green may view,
    And daily by fresh rivers walk at will
    Among the daisies and the violets blue,
    Red hyacinth, and yellow daffodil,
    Purple Narcissus like the morning rays,
    Pale gander-grass, and azure culver-keys.

    I count it higher pleasure to behold
    The stately compass of the lofty sky;
    And in the midst thereof, like burning gold,
    The flaming chariot of the world's great eye:

    The watery clouds that in the air up-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 inclos'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,
    Adorned 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;
    The meadows fair, where Flora's gifts, among
    Are intermix'd with verdant grass between;
    The silver-scaled fish that softly swim
    Within the sweet brook's crystal, watery stream.

    All these, and many more of his creation
    That made the heavens, the Angler oft doth see;
    Taking therein no little delectation,
    To think how strange, how wonderful 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
discourse. And I am glad your patience hath held out so long as to hear
them and me, for both together have brought us within the sight of the
Thatched House. And I must be your debtor, if you think it worth your
attention, for the rest of my promised discourse, till some other
opportunity, and a like time of leisure.

Venator. Sir, you have angled me on with much pleasure to the Thatched
House; and I now find your words true, "that good company makes the way
seem short"; for trust me, Sir, I thought we had wanted three miles of
this house, till you showed it to me. But now we are at it, we'll turn
into it, and refresh ourselves with a cup of drink, and a little rest.

Piscator. Most gladly, Sir, and we'll drink a civil cup to all the
Otter-hunters that are to meet you to-morrow.

Venator. 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 discourse and company, I have put on new thoughts both of the art
of Angling and of all that profess it; and if you will but meet me
to-morrow at the time and place appointed, and bestow one day with me
and my friends, in hunting the Otter, I will dedicate the next two days
to wait upon you; and we too will, for that time, do nothing but angle,
and talk of fish and fishing.

Piscator. It is a match, Sir, I will not fail you, God willing, to be at
Amwell Hill to-morrow morning before sun-rising.





The second day

On the Otter and the Chub

Chapter II

Piscator, Venator, Huntsman, and Hostess

Venator. My friend Piscator, you have kept time with my thoughts; for
the sun is just rising, and I myself just now come to this place, and
the dogs have just now put down an Otter. Look! down at the bottom of
the hill there, in that meadow, 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.

Piscator. 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 us compliment no longer, but join
unto them. Come, honest Venator, let us be gone, let us make haste; I
long to be doing; no reasonable hedge or ditch shall hold me.

Venator. Gentleman Huntsman, where found you this Otter?

Huntsman. Marry, Sir, we found her a mile from this place, a-fishing. She
has this morning eaten the greatest part of this Trout; she has only
left thus much of it as you see, and was fishing for more; when we came
we found her just at it: but we were here very early, we were here an
hour before sunrise, and have given her no rest since we came; sure she
will hardly escape all these dogs and men. I am to have the skin if we
kill her.

Venator. Why, Sir, what is the skin worth?

Huntsman. It is worth ten shillings to make gloves; the gloves of an
Otter are the best fortification for your hands that can be thought on
against wet weather.

Piscator. I pray, honest Huntsman, let me ask you a pleasant question:
do you hunt a beast or a fish?

Huntsman. Sir, it is not in my power to resolve you; I leave it to be
resolved by the college of Carthusians, who have made vows never to eat
flesh. But, I have heard, the question hath been debated among many
great clerks, and they seem to differ about it; yet most agree that her
tail is fish: and if her body be fish too, then I may say that a fish
will walk upon land: for an Otter does so sometimes, five or six or ten
miles in a night, to catch for her young ones, or to glut herself with
fish. And I can tell you that Pigeons will fly forty miles for a
breakfast: but, Sir, I am sure the Otter devours much fish, and kills
and spoils much more than he eats. And I can tell you, that this
dog-fisher, for so the Latins call him, can smell a fish in the water a
hundred yards from him: Gesner says much farther: and that his stones
are good against the falling sickness; and that there is an herb,
Benione, which, being hung in a linen cloth near a fish-pond, or any
haunt that he uses, makes him to avoid the place; which proves he smells
both by water and land. And, I can tell you, there is brave hunting this
water-dog in Cornwall; where there have been so many, that our learned
Camden says there is a river called Ottersey, which was so named by
reason of the abundance of Otters that bred and fed in it.

And thus much for my knowledge of the Otter; which you may now see above
water at vent, and the dogs close with him; I now see he will not last
long. Follow, therefore, my masters, follow; for Sweetlips was like to
have him at this last vent.

Venator. Oh me! all the horse are got over the river, what shall we do
now? shall we follow them over the water?

Huntsman. No, Sir, no; be not so eager; stay a little, and follow me;
for both they and the dogs will be suddenly on this side again, I
warrant you, and the Otter too, it may be. Now have at him with Kilbuck,
for he vents again.

Venator. Marry! so he does; for, look! he vents in that corner. Now,
now, Ringwood has him: now, he is gone again, and has bit the poor dog.
Now Sweetlips has her; hold her, Sweetlips! now all the dogs have her;
some above and some under water: but, now, now she is tired, and past
losing. Come bring her to me, Sweetlips. Look! it is a Bitch-otter, and
she has lately whelp'd. 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.

Huntsman. 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 us kill them all.

Piscator. No: I pray, Sir, save me one, and I'll try if I can make her
tame, as I know an ingenious gentleman in Leicestershire, Mr. Nich.
Segrave, has done; who hath not only made her tame, but to catch fish,
and do many other things of much pleasure.

Huntsman. 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.

Venator. Come, my friend Piscator, let me invite you along with us. I'll
bear your charges this night, and you shall bear mine to-morrow; for my
intention is to accompany you a day or two in fishing.

Piscator. Sir, your request is granted; and I shall be right glad both
to exchange such a courtesy, and also to enjoy your company.





The third day



Venator. Well, now let's go to your sport of Angling.

Piscator. 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.

Venator. NOW, Piscator, where will you begin to fish?

Piscator. We are not yet come to a likely place; I must walk a mile
further yet before I beam.

Venator. 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?

Piscator. Sir, I will tell you, presently, what I think of your host:
but, first, I will tell you, I am glad these Otters were killed; and I
am sorry there are no more Otter-killers; for I know that the want of
Otter-killers, and the not keeping the fence-months for the preservation
of fish, will, in time, prove the destruction of all rivers. And those
very few that are left, that make conscience of the laws of the nation,
and of keeping days of abstinence, will be forced to eat flesh, or
suffer more inconveniences than are yet foreseen.

Venator. Why, Sir, what be those that you call the fence-months?

Piscator. Sir, they be principally three, namely, March, April, and May:
for these be the usual months that Salmon come out of the sea to spawn
in most fresh rivers. And their fry would, about a certain time, return
back to the salt water, if they were not hindered by weirs and unlawful
gins, which the greedy fishermen set, and so destroy them by thousands;
as they would, being so taught by nature, change the fresh for salt
water. He that shall view the wise Statutes made in the 13th of Edward
the First, and the like in Richard the Second, may see several
provisions made against the destruction of fish: and though I profess no
knowledge of the law, yet I am sure the regulation of these defects
might be easily mended. But I remember that a wise friend of mine did
usually say, "that which is everybody's business is nobody's business":
if it were otherwise, there could not be so many nets and fish, that are
under the statute size, sold daily amongst us; and of which the
conservators of the waters should be ashamed.

But, above all, the taking fish in spawning-time may be said to be
against nature: it is like taking the dam on the nest when she hatches
her young, a sin so against nature, that Almighty God hath in the
Levitical law made a law against it.

But the poor fish have enemies enough besides such unnatural fishermen;
as namely, the Otters that I spake of, the Cormorant, the Bittern, the
Osprey, the Sea-gull, the Hern, the King-fisher, the Gorara, the Puet,
the Swan, Goose, Duck, 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 indeed such
a companion should have his charges borne; and to such company I hope to
bring you this night; for at Trout-hall, not far from this place, where
I purpose to lodge to-night, there is usually an Angler that proves good
company. And let me tell you, good company and good discourse are the
very sinews of virtue. But for such discourse as we heard last night, it
infects others: the very boys will learn to talk and swear, as they
heard mine host, and another of the company that shall be nameless. I am
sorry the other is a gentleman, for less religion will not save their
souls than a beggar's: I think more will be required at the last great
day. Well! you know what example is able to do; and I know what the poet
says in the like case, which is worthy to be noted by all parents and
people of 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.

Venator. Oh, Sir! a Chub is the worst fish that swims; I hoped for a
Trout to my dinner.

Piscator. 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.

Venator. Why, how will you dress him?

Piscator. I'll tell you by-and-by, when I have caught him. Look you
here, Sir, do you see? but you must stand very close, there lie upon the
top of the water, in this very hole, twenty Chubs. I'll catch only one
and that shall be the biggest of them all: and that I will do so, I'll
hold you twenty to one, and you shall see it done.

Venator. Ay, marry! Sir, now you talk like an artist, and I'll say you
are one, when I shall see you perform what you say you can do: but I yet
doubt it.

Piscator. 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.

Venator. I'll sit down; and hope well, because you seem to be so
confident.

Piscator. Look you, Sir, there is a trial of my skill; there he is: that
very Chub, that I showed you, with the white spot on his tail. And I'll
be as certain to make him 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.

Venator. Come, Sir, with all my heart, for I begin to be hungry, and
long to be at it, and indeed to rest myself too; for though I have
walked but four miles this morning, yet I begin to be weary; yesterday's
hunting hangs still upon me.

Piscator. 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 instantly.

Hostess. I will do it, Mr. Piscator, and with all the speed I can.

Piscator. NOW, Sir, has not my hostess made haste? and does not the fish
look lovely?

Venator. Both, upon my word, Sir; and therefore let's say grace and fall
to eating of it.

Piscator. Well, Sir, how do you like it?

Venator. Trust me, 'tis as good meat as I ever tasted. Now let me thank
you for it, drink to you and beg a courtesy of you; but it must not be
denied me.

Piscator. What is it, I pray, Sir? You are so modest, that methinks I may
promise to grant it before it is asked.

Venator. Why, Sir, it is, that from henceforth you would allow me to
call you Master, and that really I may be your scholar; for you are such
a companion, and have so quickly caught and so excellently cooked this
fish, as makes me ambitious to be your scholar.

Piscator. Give me your hand; from this time forward I will be your
Master, and teach you as much of this art as I am able; and will, as you
desire me, tell you somewhat of the nature of most of the fish that we
are to angle for, and I am sure I both can and will tell you more than
any common angler yet knows.





The third day-continued


How to fish for, and to dress, the Chavender of Chub


Chapter III


Piscator and Venator


Piscator. The 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 conveniently, and especially make clean his throat from the grass
and weeds that are usually in it; for if that be not very clean, it will
make him to taste very sour. Having so done, put some sweet herbs into
his belly; and then tie him with two or three splinters to a spit, and
roast him, basted often with vinegar, or rather verjuice and butter,
with good store of salt mixed with it.

Being thus dressed, you will find him a much better dish of meat than
you, or most folk, even than anglers themselves, do imagine: for this
dries up the fluid watery humour with which all Chubs do abound. But
take this rule with you, That a Chub newly taken and newly dressed, is
so much better than a Chub of a day's keeping after he is dead, that I
can compare him to nothing so fitly as to cherries newly gathered from a
tree, and others that have been bruised and lain a day or two in water.
But the Chub being thus used, and dressed presently; and not washed
after he is gutted, for note, that lying long in water, and washing the
blood out of any fish after they be gutted, abates much of their
sweetness; you will find the Chub, being dressed in the blood, and
quickly, to be such meat as will recompense your labour, and disabuse
your opinion.

Or you may dress the Chavender or Chub thus:

When you have scaled him, and cut off his tail and fins, and washed him
very clean, then chine or slit him through the middle, as a salt-fish is
usually cut; then give him three or four cuts or scotches on the back
with your knife, and broil him on charcoal, or wood coal, that 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 exceedingly small, or bruised into the butter. The
Cheven thus dressed hath the watery taste taken away, for which so many
except against him. Thus was the Cheven dressed that you now liked so
well, and commended so much. But note again, that if this Chub that you
eat of had been kept till to-morrow, he had not been worth a rush. And
remember, that his throat be washed very clean, I say very clean, and
his body not washed after he is gutted, as indeed no fish should be.

Well, scholar, you see what pains I have taken to recover the lost
credit of the poor despised Chub. And now I will give you some rules how
to catch him: and I am glad to enter you into the art of fishing by
catching a Chub, for there is no fish better to enter a young Angler, he
is so easily caught, but then it must be this particular way:

Go to the same hole in which I caught my Chub, where, in most hot days,
you will find a dozen or twenty Chevens floating near the top of the
water. Get two or three grasshoppers, as you go over the meadow: and get
secretly behind the tree, and stand as free from motion as is possible.
Then put a grasshopper on your hook, and let your hook hang a quarter of
a yard short of the water, to which end you must rest your rod on some
bough of the tree. But it is likely the Chubs will sink down towards the
bottom of the water, at the first shadow of your rod (for Chub is the
fearfullest of fishes), and will do so if but a bird flies over him and
makes the least shadow on the water; but they will presently rise up to
the top again, and there lie soaring till some shadow affrights them
again. I say, when they lie upon the top of the water, look out the best
Chub, which you, setting 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 scarce ever lose its hold; and therefore give him play
enough before you offer to take him out of the water. Go your way
presently; take my rod, and do as I bid you; and I will sit down and
mend my tackling till you return back.

Venator. 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 yours was.

Piscator. 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.

Venator. But, master! what if I could not have found a grasshopper?

Piscator. Then I may tell you, That a black snail, with his belly slit,
to show his white, or a piece of soft cheese, will usually do as well.
Nay, sometimes a worm, or any kind of fly, as the ant-fly, the
flesh-fly, or wall-fly; or the dor or beetle which you may find under
cow-dung; or a bob which you will find in the same place, and in time
will be a beetle; it is a short white worm, like to and bigger than a
gentle; or a cod-worm; or a case-worm; any of these will do very well to
fish in such a manner.

And after this manner you may catch a Trout in a hot evening: when, as
you walk by a brook, and shall see or hear him leap at flies, then, if
you get a grasshopper, put it on your hook, with your line about two
yards long; standing behind a bush or tree where his hole is: and make
your bait stir up and down on the top of the water. You may, if you
stand close, be sure of a bite, but not sure to catch him, for he is not
a leather-mouthed fish. And after this manner you may fish for him with
almost any kind of live fly, but especially with a grasshopper.

Venator. But before you go further, I pray, good master, what mean you
by a leather-mouthed fish?

Piscator. By a leather-mouthed fish, I mean such as have their teeth in
their throat, as the Chub or Cheven: and so the Barbel, the Gudgeon, and
Carp, and divers others have. And the hook being stuck into the leather,
or skin, 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 you shall observe to be very full of bones, and the skin very
thin, and little of it. I say, of these fish the hook never takes so
sure hold but you often lose your fish, unless he have gorged it.

Venator. I thank you, good master, for this observation. But now what
shall be done with my Chub or Cheven that I have caught?

Piscator. 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
both thank you and God for it, which I see by your silence you seem to
consent to. And for your willingness to part with it so charitably, I
will also teach more concerning Chub-fishing. You are to note, that in
March and April he is usually taken with worms; in May, June, and July,
he will bite at any fly, or at cherries, or at beetles with their legs
and wings cut off, or at any kind of snail, or at the black bee that
breeds in clay walls. And he never refuses a grasshopper, on the top of
a swift stream, nor, at the bottom, the young humble bee that breeds in
long grass, and is 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,
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 peek, as a Trout will: of which I
shall tell you more hereafter, and of divers other baits. But take this
for a rule, that, in hot weather, he is to be fished for towards the
mid-water, or near the top; and in colder weather, nearer the bottom;
and if you fish for him on the top, with a beetle, or any fly, then be
sure to let your line be very long, and to keep out of sight. And having
told you, that his spawn is excellent meat, and that the head of a large
Cheven, the throat being well washed, is the best part of him, I will
say no more of this fish at the present, but wish you may catch the next
you fish for.

But, lest you may judge me too nice in urging to have the Chub dressed
so presently after he is taken, I will commend to your consideration how
curious former times have been in the like kind.

You shall read in Seneca, his Natural Questions, 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 he says, they took great pleasure to see their
Mullets change to several colours when they were dying. But enough of
this; for I doubt I have staid too long from giving you some
Observations of the Trout, and how to fish for him, which shall take up
the next of my spare time.



The third day-continued


On the Nature and Breeding of the Trout, and how to fish for him





Chapter IV



Piscator, Venator, Milk-woman, Maudlin, Hostess


Piscator. The Trout is a fish highly valued, both in this and foreign
nations. He may be justly said, as the old poet said of wine, and we
English say of venison, to be a generous fish: a fish that is so like
the buck, that he also has his seasons; for it is observed, that he
comes in and goes out of season with the stag and buck. Gesner says, his
name is of a German offspring; and says he is a fish that feeds clean
and purely, in the swiftest streams, and on the hardest gravel; and that
he may justly contend with all fresh water fish, as the Mullet may with
all sea fish, for precedency and daintiness of taste; and that being in
right season, the most dainty palates have allowed precedency to him.

And before I go farther in my discourse, let me tell you, that you are
to observe, that as there be some barren does that are good in summer,
so there be some barren Trouts that are good in winter; but there are
not many that are so; for usually they be in their perfection in the
month of May, and decline with the buck. Now you are to take notice,
that in several countries, as in Germany, and in other parts, compared
to ours, fish do differ much in their bigness, and shape, and other
ways; and so do Trouts. It is well known that in the Lake Leman, the
Lake of Geneva, there are Trouts taken of three cubits long; as is
affirmed by Gesner, a writer of good credit: and Mercator says, the
Trouts that are taken in the Lake of Geneva are a great part of the
merchandize 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 Windsor, a little Trout called a Samlet, or Skegger
Trout, in both which places I have caught twenty or forty at a standing,
that will bite as fast and as freely as Minnows: these be by some taken
to be young Salmons; but in those waters they never grow to be bigger
than a Herring.

There is also in Kent, near to Canterbury, a Trout called there a
Fordidge Trout, a Trout that bears the name of the town where it is
usually caught, that is accounted the rarest of fish; many of them near
the bigness of a Salmon, but known by their different 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 grasshoppers and some fish have no mouths, but are
nourished and take breath by the porousness of their gills, man knows
not how: and this may be believed, if we consider that when the raven
hath hatched her eggs, she takes no further care, but leaves her young
ones to the care of the God of nature, who is said, in the Psalms, "to
feed the young ravens that call upon him ". And they be kept alive and
fed by a dew; or worms that breed in their nests; or some other ways
that we mortals know not. And this may be believed of the Fordidge
Trout, which, as it is said of the stork, 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 swallows, and
bats, and wagtails, which are called half-year birds, and not seen to
fly in England for six months in the year, but about Michaelmas leave us
for a hotter climate, yet some of them that have been left behind their
fellows, have been found, many thousands at a time, in hollow trees, or
clay caves, where they have been observed to live, and sleep out the
whole winter, without meat. And so Albertus observes, that there is one
kind of frog that hath her mouth naturally shut up about the end of
August, and that she lives so all the winter: and though it be strange
to some, yet it is known to too many among us to be doubted.

And so much for these Fordidge Trouts, which never afford an angler
sport, but either live their time of being in the fresh water, by their
meat formerly gotten in the sea, not unlike the swallow or frog, or, by
the virtue of the fresh water only; or, as the birds of Paradise and the
cameleon 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 the 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 with the Trout; for after he is come to his full growth, he
declines in his body, and keeps his bigness, or thrives only in his head
till his death. And you are to know, that he will, about, especially
before, the time of his spawning, get, almost miraculously, through
weirs and flood-gates, against the stream; even through such high and
swift places as is almost incredible. Next, that the Trout usually
spawns about October or November, but in some rivers a little sooner or
later; which is the more observable, because most other fish spawn in
the spring or summer, when the sun hath warmed both the earth and 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 pastures 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 like a clove, or pin with a big head, and sticks close to him, and
sucks his moisture, those, I think, the Trout breeds himself: and never
thrives till he free 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, Salmon or any other fish, is a sign
that that fish is in season.

But yet you are to note, that as you see some willows or palm-trees bud
and blossom sooner than others do, so some Trouts be, in rivers, sooner
in season: and as some hollies, or oaks, are longer before they cast
their leaves, so are some Trouts, in rivers, longer before they go out
of season.

And you are to note, that there are several kinds of Trouts: but these
several kinds are not considered but by very few men; for they go under
the general name of Trouts; just as pigeons do, in most places; though
it is certain, there are tame and wild pigeons; and of the tame, there
be hermits 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 it is so with many kinds of
fish, and of Trouts especially; which differ in their bigness, and
shape, and spots, and colour. The great Kentish hens may be an instance,
compared to other hens: and, doubtless, there is a kind of small Trout,
which will never thrive to be big; that breeds very many more than
others do, that be of a larger size: which you may rasher believe, if
you consider that the little wren and titmouse will have twenty young
ones at a time, when, usually, the noble hawk, or the musical thrassel
or blackbird, exceed not four or five.

And now you shall see me try my skill to catch a Trout; and at my next
walking, either this evening or to-morrow morning, I will give you
direction how you yourself shall fish for him.

Venator. Trust me, master, I see now it is a harder matter to catch a
Trout than a Chub; for I have put on patience, and followed you these
two hours, and not seen a fish stir, neither at your minnow nor your
worm.

Piscator. 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 still, and the sleight is to
land him: reach me that landing-net. So, Sir, now he is mine own: what
say you now, is not this worth all my labour and your patience?

Venator. On my word, master, this is a gallant Trout; what shall we do
with him?

Piscator. 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 harmless sport to content us, and pass away a little
time without offence to God or man.

Venator. A match, good master, let's go to that house, for the linen
looks white, and smells of lavender, and I long to lie in a pair of
sheets that smell so. Let's be going, good master, for I am hungry again
with fishing.

Piscator. Nay, stay a little, good scholar. I caught my last Trout with
a worm; now I will put on a minnow, and try a quarter of an hour about
yonder trees for another; and, so, walk towards our lodging. Look you,
scholar, thereabout we shall have a bite presently, or not at all. Have
with you, Sir: o' my word I have hold of him. Oh! it is a great
logger-headed Chub; come, hang him upon that willow twig, and let's be
going. But turn out of the way a little, good scholar! toward yonder
high honeysuckle 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 contention with an echo, whose dead voice seemed to live in a
hollow tree near to the brow of that primrose-hill. There I sat viewing
the silver streams glide silently towards their centre, the 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 comfort from the swollen udders of their bleating dams.
As I thus sat, these and other sights had so fully possess my soul with
content, that I thought, as the poet has happily express it,

    I was for that time lifted above earth,
    And possest 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 handsome milk-maid, that had not yet attained so
much age and wisdom as to load her mind with any fears of many things
that will never be, as too many men too often do; but she cast away all
care, and sung like a nightingale. Her voice was good, and the ditty
fitted for it; it was that smooth song which was made by Kit Marlow, now
at least fifty years ago; and the 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 yonder!
on my word, yonder, they both be a-milking again. I will give her the
Chub, and persuade them to sing those two songs to us.

God speed you, good woman! I have been a-fishing; and am going to Bleak
Hall to my bed; and having caught more fish than will sup myself and my
friend, I will bestow this upon you and your daughter, for I use to sell
none.

Milk-woman. Marry! God requite you, Sir, and we'll 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
meantime will you drink a draught of red cow's milk? you shall have it
freely.

Piscator. No, I thank you; but, I pray, do us a courtesy that shall
stand you and your daughter in nothing, and yet we will think ourselves
still something in your debt: it is but to sing us a song that was sung
by your daughter when I last passed over this meadow, about eight or
nine days since.

Milk-woman. What song was it, I pray? Was it, "Come, Shepherds, deck
your herds "? or, "As at noon Dulcina rested"? or, "Phillida flouts
me"? or, "Chevy Chace"? or, "Johnny Armstrong"? or, "Troy Town"?

Piscator. 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-woman. O, I know it now. I learned the first part in my golden age,
when I was about the age of my poor daughter; and the latter part, which
indeed fits me best now, but two or three years ago, when the cares of
the world began to take hold of me: but you shall, God willing, hear
them both; and sung as well as we can, for we both love anglers. Come,
Maudlin, sing the first part to the gentlemen, with a 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 fields,
    Or woods, and steepy mountains yields;

    Where we will sit upon the rocks,
    And see the shepherds feed our flocks,
    By shallow rivers, to whose falls
    Melodious birds sing madrigals.

    And I will make thee beds of roses;
    And, then, a thousand fragrant posies;
    A cap of flowers, and a kirtle,
    Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;

    A gown made of the finest wool
    Which from our pretty lambs we pull
    Slippers, 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 with me, and be my love,

    Thy silver dishes, for thy meat
    As precious as the Gods do eat
    Shall, on an ivory table, be
    Prepared each day for thee and me.

    The shepherd swains shall dance and sing
    For thy delight, each May morning.
    If these delights thy mind may move,
    Then live with me, and be my love.

Venator. 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.

    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 rise, 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 blessed and sent for food.

    But could youth last, and love still breed;
    Had joys no date, nor age no need;
    Then those delights my mind might move
    To live with thee, and be thy love.

Mother. Well! I have done my song. But stay, honest anglers; for I will
make Maudlin sing you one short song more. Maudlin! sing that song that
you sung last night, when young Coridon the shepherd played so purely on
his oaten pipe to you and your cousin Betty.

Maudlin. I will, mother.

    I married a wife of late,
    The more's my unhappy fate:
      I married her for love,
      As my fancy did me move,
    And not for a worldly estate:

    But oh! the green sickness
    Soon changed her likeness;
      And all her beauty did fail.
        But 'tis not so
        With those that go
        Thro'frost and snow
        As all men know,
    And carry the milking-pail.

Piscator. 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?

Hostess. 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 day-continued

On the Trout

Chapter V

Piscator, Peter, Venator, Coridon


Piscator. Well met, brother Peter! I heard you and a friend would lodge
here to-night; and that hath made me to bring my friend to lodge here
too. My friend is one that would fain be a brother of the angle: he hath
been an angler but this day; and I have taught him how to catch a Chub,
by dapping with a grasshopper; and the Chub he caught was a lusty one of
nineteen inches long. But pray, brother Peter, who is your companion?

Peter. Brother Piscator, my friend is an honest countryman, and his name
is Coridon; and he is a downright witty companion, that met me here
purposely to be pleasant and eat a Trout; and I have not yet wetted my
line since we met together: but I hope to fit him with a Trout for his
breakfast; for I'll be early up.

Piscator. 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 think of; the drink which
preserved their health, and made them live so long, and to do so many
good deeds.

Peter. On my word, this Trout is perfect in season. Come, I thank you,
and here is a hearty draught to you, and to all the brothers of the
angle wheresoever they be, and to my young brother's good fortune
to-morrow. I will furnish him with a rod, if you will furnish him with
the rest of the tackling: we will set him up, and make him a fisher. And
I will tell him one thing for his encouragement, that his fortune hath
made him happy to be scholar to such a 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.

Piscator. 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.

Venator. 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.

Piscator. 'Tis enough, honest scholar! come, let's to supper. Come, my
friend Coridon, this Trout looks lovely; it was twenty-two inches when
it was taken; and the belly of it looked, some part of it, as yellow as
a marigold, and part of it as white as a lily; and yet, methinks, it
looks better in this good sauce.

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

Peter. Yes, and so I do; we all thank you: and, when we have supped, I
will get my friend Coridon to sing you a song for requital.

Coridon. I will sing a song, if anybody will sing another, else, to be
plain with you, I will sing none. I am none of those that sing for meat,
but for company: I say,

'"Tis merry in hall, When men sing all."

Piscator. I'll 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.

Coridon. And then mine shall be the praise of a Countryman's life. What
will the rest sing of?

Peter. I will promise you, I will sing another song in praise of Angling
to-morrow night; for we will not part till then; but fish to-morrow, and
sup together: and the next day every man leave fishing, and fall to his
business.

Venator. Tis a match; and I will provide you a song or a catch against
then, too, which shall give some addition of mirth to the company; for
we will be civil and as merry as beggars.

Piscator. Tis a match, my masters. Let's e'en say grace, and turn to the
fire, drink the other cup to whet our whistles, and so sing away all sad
thoughts. Come on, my masters, who begins? I think it is best to draw
cuts, and avoid contention.

Peter. It is a match. Look, the shortest cut falls to Coridon.

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

       Coridon's song.

    Oh the sweet contentment
    The countryman doth find!
        Heigh trolollie lollie foe,
        Heigh 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 foe, 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 foe, etc.
    His pride is in his tillage,
    His horses, and his cart:
        Then care away, etc.

    Our cloathing is good sheep-skins
    Grey russet for our wives
    Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc.
    'Tis warmth and not gay cloathing
    That doth prolong our lives:
    Then care away, etc.

    The ploughman, tho' he labour hard,
    Yet on the holy-day
        Heigh trolollie lollie foe, 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 foe, etc.
    And for our sweet refreshment.
    The earth affords us bowers:
        Then care away, etc.

    The cuckow and the nightingale
    Full merrily do sing,
        Heigh trolollie lollie foe, etc.
    And with their pleasant roundelays
    Bid welcome to the spring:
        Then care away, etc.

    This is not half the happiness
    The countryman enjoys
        Heigh trolollie lollie foe, etc.,
    Though others think they have as much,
    Yet he that says so lies:
        Then come away,
        Turn countrymen with me.

        Jo. Chalkhill.

Piscator. Well sung, Coridon, this song was sung with mettle; and it was
choicely fitted to the occasion: I shall love you for it as long as I
know you. I would you were a brother of the angle; for a companion that
is cheerful, and free from swearing and scurrilous discourse, is worth
gold. 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 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.

       The Angler's song.

    As inward love breeds outward talk
    The hound some praise, and some the hawk
    Some, better pleas'd with private sport
    Use tennis, some a mistress court:
      But these delights I neither wish
      Nor envy, while I freely fish.

    Who hunts, doth oft in danger ride;
    Who hawks, lures oft both far and wide
    Who uses games shall often prove
    A loser, but who falls in love,
      Is fetter'd in fond Cupid's snare:
      My angle breeds me no such care.

    Of recreation there is none
    So free as fishing is alone;
    All other pastimes do no less
    Than mind and body both possess:
      My hand alone my work can do,
      So I can fish and study too.

    I care not, I, to fish in seas,
    Fresh rivers best my mind do please,
    Whose sweet calm course I contemplate,
    And seek in life to imitate:
      In civil bounds I fain would keep,
      And for my past offences weep.

    And when the timorous Trout I wait
    To take, and he devours my bait,
    How poor a thing, sometimes I find,
    Will captivate a greedy mind:
      And when none bite, I praise the wise
      Whom vain allurements ne'er surprise.

    But yet, though while I fish, I fast,
    I make good fortune my repast;
    And thereunto my friend invite,
    In whom I more than that delight:
      Who is more welcome to my dish
      Than to my angle was my fish.

    As well content no prize to take,
    As use of taken prize to make:
    For so our Lord was pleased, when
    He fishers made fishers of men;
      Where, which is in no other game,
      A man may fish and praise his name.

    The first men that our Saviour dear
    Did choose to wait upon him here,
    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.

    W. B.

Coridon. Well sung, brother, you have paid your debt in good coin. We
anglers are all beholden to the good man that made this song: come,
hostess, give us more ale, and let's drink to him. And now let's every
one go to bed, that we may rise early: 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.

Peter. 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.

Piscator. And my scholar and I will go down towards Waltham.

Coridon. Then let's meet here, for here are fresh sheets that smell of
lavender; and I am sure we cannot expect better meat, or better usage in
any place.

Peter. 'Tis a match. Good-night to everybody.

Piscator. And so say I.

Venator. And so say I.




The fourth day


Piscator. Good-morrow, good hostess, I see my brother Peter is still in
bed. Come, give my scholar and me a morning drink, and a bit of meat to
breakfast: and be sure to get a dish of meat or two against supper, for
we shall come home as hungry as hawks. Come, scholar, let's be going.

Venator. Well now, good master, as we walk towards the river, give me
direction, according to your promise, how I shall fish for a Trout.

Piscator. 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
peek, or with a fly, viz. either a natural or an artificial fly:
concerning which three, I will give you some observations and
directions.

And, first, for worms. Of these there be very many sorts: some breed
only in the earth, as the earth-worm; others of, or amongst plants, as
the dug-worm; and others breed either out of excrements, or in the
bodies of living creatures, as in the horns of sheep or deer; or some of
dead flesh, as the maggot or gentle, and others.

Now these be most of them particularly good for particular fishes. But
for the Trout, the dew-worm, which some also call the lob-worm, and the
brandling, are the chief; and especially the first for a great Trout,
and the latter for a less. There be also of lob-worms, some called
squirrel-tails, a worm that has a red head, a streak down the back, and
a broad tail, which are noted to be the best, because they are the
toughest and most lively, and live longest in the water; for you are to
know that a dead worm is but a dead bait, and like to catch nothing,
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 dry for that worm. But the best of them
are to be found in the bark of the tanners, which they cast up in heaps
after they have used it about their leather.

There are also divers other kinds of worms, which, for colour and shape,
alter even as the ground out of which they are got; as the marsh-worm,
the tag-tail, the flag-worm, the dock-worm, the oak-worm, the gilt-tail,
the twachel or lob-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 every three or four
days in summer, and every week or eight days in winter; or, at least,
the moss taken from them, and clean washed, and wrung betwixt your hands
till it be dry, and then put it to them again. And when your worms,
especially the brandling, begins to be sick and lose of his bigness,
then you may recover him, by putting a little milk or cream, about a
spoonful in a day, into them, by drops on the moss; and if there be
added to the cream an 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 I will only tell you that that which is likest a buck's-horn is the
best, except it be soft white moss, which grows on some heaths, and is
hard to be found. And note, that in a very dry time, when you are 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 presently. And you may take notice,
some say that camphire put into your bag with your moss and worms gives
them a strong and so tempting a smell, that the fish fare the worse and
you the better for it.

And now, I shall shew you how to bait your hook with a worm so as shall
prevent you from much trouble, and the loss of many a hook, too, when
you fish for a Trout with a running line; that is to say, when you fish
for him by hand at the ground. I will direct you in this as plainly as I
can, that you may not mistake.

Suppose it be a big lob-worm: put your hook into him somewhat above the
middle, and out again a little below the middle: having so done, draw
your worm above the arming of your hook; but note, that, at the entering
of your hook, it must not be at the head-end of the worm, but at the
tail-end of him, that the point of your hook may come out toward the
head-end; and, having drawn him above the arming of your hook, then put
the point of your hook again into the very head of the worm, till it
come near to the place where the point of the hook first came out, and
then draw back that part of the worm that was above the shank or arming
of your hook, and so fish with it. And if you mean to fish with two
worms, then put the second on before you turn back the hook's-head of
the first worm. You cannot lose above two or three worms before you
attain to what I direct you; and having attained it, you will find it
very useful, and thank me for it: for you will run on the ground without
tangling.

Now for the Minnow or Penk: he is not easily found and caught till
March, or in April, for then he appears first in the river; nature
having taught him to shelter and hide himself, in the winter, in ditches
that be near to the river; and there both to hide, and keep himself
warm, in the mud, or in the weeds, which rot not so soon as in a running
river, in which place if he were in winter, the distempered floods that
are usually in that season would suffer him to take no rest, but carry
him headlong to mills and weirs, to his confusion. And of these Minnows:
first, you are to know, that the biggest size is not the best; and next,
that the middle size and the whitest are the best; and then you are to
know, that your minnow must be so put on your hook, that it must turn
round when 'tis drawn against the stream; and, that it may turn nimbly,
you must put it on a big-sized hook, as I shall now direct you, which is
thus: Put your hook in at his mouth, and out at his gill; then, having
drawn your hook two or three inches beyond or through his gill, put it
again into his mouth, and the point and beard out at his tail; and then
tie the hook and his tail about, very neatly, with a white thread, which
will make it the apter to turn quick in the water; that done, pull back
that part of your line which was slack when you did put your hook into
the minnow the second time; I say, pull that part of your line back, so
that it shall fasten the head, so that the body of the minnow shall be
almost straight on your hook: this done, try how it will turn, by
drawing it across the water or against a stream; and if it do not turn
nimbly, then turn the tail a little to the right or left hand, and try
again, till it turn quick; for if not, you are in danger to catch
nothing: for know, that it is impossible that it should turn too quick.
And you are yet to know, that in case you want a minnow, then a small
loach, or a stickle-bag, or any other small fish that will turn quick,
will serve as well. And you are yet to know that you may salt them, and
by that means keep them ready and fit for use three or four days, or
longer; and that, of salt, bay-salt is the best.

And here let me tell you, what many old anglers know right well, that at
some times, and in some waters, a minnow is not to be got; and
therefore, let me tell you, I have, which I will 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, shadowed
as perfectly as you can imagine, just as you see a minnow: the belly was
wrought also with a needle, and it was, a part of it, white silk; and
another part of it with silver thread: the tail and fins were of a
quill, which was shaven thin: the eyes were of two little black beads:
and the head was so shadowed, and all of it so curiously wrought, and so
exactly dissembled, that it would beguile any sharp-sighted Trout in a
swift stream. And this minnow I will now shew you; look, here it is,
and, if you like it, lend it you, to have two or three made by it; for
they be easily carried about an angler, and be of excellent use: for
note, that a large Trout will come as fiercely at a minnow as the
highest-mettled hawk doth seize on a partridge, or a greyhound on a
hare. I have been told that one hundred and sixty minnows have been
found in a Trout's belly: either the Trout had devoured so many, or the
miller that gave it a friend of mine had forced them down his throat
after he had taken him.

Now for Flies; which is the third bait wherewith Trouts are usually
taken. You are to know, that there are so many sorts of flies as there
be of fruits: I will name you but some of them; as the dun-fly, the
stone-fly, the red-fly, the moor-fly, the tawny-fly, the shell-fly, the
cloudy or blackish-fly, the flag-fly, the vine-fly; there be of flies,
caterpillars, and canker-flies, and bear-flies; and indeed too many
either for me to name, or for you to remember. And their breeding is so
various and wonderful, that I might easily amaze myself, and tire you in
a relation of them.

And, yet, I will exercise your promised patience by saying a little of
the caterpillar, or the palmer-fly or worm; that by them you may guess
what a work it were, in a discourse, but to run over those very many
flies, worms, and little living creatures, with which the sun and summer
adorn and beautify the river-banks and meadows, both for the recreation
and contemplation of us anglers; pleasures which, I think, myself enjoy
more than any other man that is not of my profession.

Pliny holds an opinion, that many have their birth, or being, from a dew
that in the spring falls upon the leaves of trees; and that some kinds
of them are from a dew left upon herbs or flowers; and others from a dew
left upon coleworts or cabbages: all which kinds of dews being thickened
and condensed, are by the sun's generative heat, most of them, hatched,
and in three days made living creatures, and these of several shapes and
colours; some being hard and tough, some smooth and soft; some are
horned in their head, some in their tail, some have none; some have
hair, some none: some have sixteen feet, some less, and some have none:
but, as our Topsel hath with great diligence observed, those which have
none, move upon the earth, or upon broad leaves, their motion being not
unlike to the waves of the sea. Some of them he also observes to be bred
of the eggs of other caterpillars, and that those in their time turn to
be butterflies; and again, that their eggs turn the following year to be
caterpillars. And some affirm, that every plant has its 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
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 little, created,
I think, only to feed them, and breed out of I know not what; whose
life, they say, nature intended not to exceed an hour; and yet that life
is thus made shorter by other flies, or accident.

'Tis endless to tell you what the curious searchers into nature's
productions have observed of these worms and flies: but yet I shall tell
you what Aldrovandus, our Topsel, and others, say of the Palmer-worm, or
Caterpillar: that whereas others content themselves to feed on
particular herbs or leaves; for most think, those very leaves that gave
them life and shape, give them a particular feeding and nourishment, and
that upon them they usually abide; yet he observes, that this is called
a pilgrim, or palmer-worm, for his very wandering life, and various
food; not contenting himself, as others do, with any one certain place
for his abode, nor any certain kind of herb or flower for his feeding,
but will boldly and disorderly wander up and down, and not endure to be
kept to a diet, or fixt to a particular place.

Nay, the very 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 forehead purple; his feet and hinder parts green; his tail
two-forked and black; the whole body stained with a kind of red spots,
which run along the neck and shoulder-blade, not unlike the form of St.
Andrew's cross, or the letter X, made thus crosswise, and a white line
drawn down his back to his tail; all which add much beauty to his whole
body. And it is to me observable, that at a fixed age this caterpillar
gives over to eat, and towards winter comes to be covered over with a
strange shell or crust, called an aurelia; and so lives a kind of dead
life, without eating all the winter. And as others of several kinds turn
to be several kinds of flies and vermin, the Spring following; so this
caterpillar then turns to be a painted 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
honeysuckle hedge, whilst I look a line to fit the rod that our brother
Peter hath lent you, I shall, for a little confirmation of what I have
said, repeat the observation of Du Bartas:

    God, not contented to each kind to give
    And to infuse the virtue generative,
    Made, by his wisdom, 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, tho'glowing ne'er so much.

    So of the fire, in burning furnace, springs
    The fly Pyrausta with the flaming wings:
    Without the fire, it dies: within it joys,
    Living in that which each shine else destroys.

    So, slow Boôtes underneath him sees
    In th' icy isles those goslings hatch'd of trees;
    Whose fruitful leaves, falling into the water,
    Are turn'd, they say, to living fowls soon after.

    So, rotten sides of broken ships do change
    To barnacles. O transformation strange!
    'Twas first a green tree; then, a gallant hull;
    Lately a mushroom; now, a flying gull.

Venator. 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?

Piscator. 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 meantime, there is your rod
and line; and my advice is, that you fish as you see me do, and let's
try which can catch the first fish.

Venator. I thank you, master. I will observe and practice your direction
as far as I am able.

Piscator. Look you, scholar; you see I have hold of a good fish: I now
see it is a Trout. I pray, put that net under him; and touch not my
line, for if you do, then we break all. Well done, scholar: I thank you.

Now for another. Trust me, I have another bite. Come, scholar, come lay
down your rod, and help me to land this as you did the other. So now we
shall be sure to have a good dish of fish for supper.

Venator. I am glad of that: but I have no fortune: sure, master, yours
is a better rod and better tackling.

Piscator. Nay, then, take mine; and I will fish with yours. Look you,
scholar, I have another. Come, do as you did before. And now I have a
bite at another. Oh me! he has broke all: there's half a line and a good
hook lost.

Venator. Ay, and a good Trout too.

Piscator. Nay, the Trout is not lost; for pray take notice, no man can
lose what he never had.

Venator. Master, I can neither catch with the first nor second angle: I
have no fortune.

Piscator. Look you, scholar, I have yet another. And now, having caught
three brace of Trouts, I will tell you a short tale as we walk towards
our breakfast. A scholar, a preacher I should say, that was to preach to
procure the approbation of a parish that he might be their lecturer, had
got from his fellow-pupil the copy of a sermon that was first preached
with great commendation by him that composed it: and though the borrower
of it preached it, word for word, as it was at first, yet it was utterly
disliked as it was preached by the second to his congregation, which the
sermon-borrower complained of to the lender of it: and was thus
answered: "I lent you, indeed, my fiddle, but not my fiddle-stick; for
you are to know, that every one cannot make musick with my words, which
are fitted for my own mouth". And so, my scholar, you are to know, that
as the ill pronunciation or ill accenting of words in a sermon spoils
it, so the ill carriage of your line, or not fishing even to a foot in a
right place, makes you lose your labour: and you are to know, that
though you have my fiddle, that is, my very rod and tacklings with which
you see I catch fish, yet you have not my fiddle-stick, that is, you yet
have not skill to know how to carry your hand and line, nor how to guide
it to a right place: and this must be taught you; for you are to
remember, I told you Angling is an art, either by practice or a long
observation, or both. But take this for a rule, When you fish for a
Trout with a worm, let your line have so much, and not more lead than
will fit the stream in which you fish; that is to say, more in a great
troublesome stream than in a smaller that is quieter; as near as may be,
so much as will sink the bait to the bottom, and keep it still in
motion, and not more.

But now, let's say grace, and fall to breakfast. What say you, scholar,
to the providence of an old angler? Does not this meat taste well? and
was not this place well chosen to eat it? for this sycamore-tree will
shade us from the sun's heat.

Venator. All excellent good; and my stomach excellent good, too. And now
I remember, and find that true which devout Lessius says, "that poor
men, and those that fast often, have much more pleasure in eating than
rich men, and gluttons, that always feed before their stomachs are empty
of their last meat and call for more; for by that means they rob
themselves of that pleasure that hunger brings to poor men". And I do
seriously approve of that saying of yours, "that you had rather be a
civil, well-governed, well-grounded, temperate, poor angler, than a
drunken lord ": but I hope there is none such. 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.

Piscator. 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 in 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 wool;
the wings, of the partridge's feathers. The second is another dun-fly:
the body, of black wool; and the wings made of the black drake's
feathers, and of the feathers under his tail. The third is the
stone-fly, in April: the body is made of black wool; made yellow under
the wings and under the tail, and so made with wings of the drake. The
fourth is the ruddy-fly, in the beginning of May: the body made of red
wool, wrapt about with black silk; and the feathers are the wings of the
drake; with the feathers of a red capon also, which 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 lapt 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
made of the blackish mail of the drake. The ninth is the tawny-fly, good
until the middle of June: the body made of tawny wool; the wings made
contrary one against the other, made of the whitish mail of the wild
drake. The tenth is the wasp-fly in July; the body made of black wool,
lapt about with yellow silk; the wings made of the feathers of the
drake, or of the buzzard. The eleventh is the shell-fly, good in
mid-July: the body made of greenish wool, lapt about with the herle of a
peacock's tail: and the wings made of the wings of the buzzard. The
twelfth is the dark drake-fly, good in August: the body made with black
wool, lapt about with black silk; his wings are made with the mail of
the black drake, with a black head. Thus have you a jury of flies,
likely to betray and condemn all the Trouts in the river.

I shall next give you some other directions for 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 great
care.

In the middle of March, till which time a man should not in honesty
catch a Trout; or in April, it the weather be dark, or a little windy or
cloudy; the best fishing is with the palmer-worm, of which I last spoke
to you; but of these there be divers kinds, or at least of divers
colours: these and the May-fly are the ground of all fly-angling: which
are to be thus made:

First, you must arm your hook with the line, in the inside of it: then
take your scissors, and cut so much of a brown mallard's feather as, in
your own reason, will make the wings of it, you having, withal, regard
to the bigness or littleness of your hook; then lay the outmost part of
your feather next to your hook; then the point of your feather next the
shank of your hook, and, having so done, whip it three or four times
about the hook with the same silk with which your hook was armed; and
having made the silk fast, take the hackle of a cock or capon's neck, or
a plover's top, which is usually better: take off the one side of the
feather, and then take the hackle, silk or crewel, gold or silver
thread; make these fast at the bent of the hook, that is to say, below
your arming; then you must take the hackle, the silver or gold thread,
and work it up to the wings, shifting or still removing your finger as
you turn the silk about the hook, and still looking, at every stop or
turn, that your gold, or what materials soever you make your fly of, do
lie right and neatly; and if you find they do so, then when you have
made the head, make all fast: and then work your hackle up to the head,
and make that fast: and then, with a needle, or pin, divide the wing
into two; and then, with the arming silk, whip it about cross-ways
betwixt the wings: and then with your thumb you must turn the point of
the feather towards the bent of the hook; and then work three or four
times about the shank of the hook; and then view the 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 sees the Trouts leap at a
fly of that kind: and then having always hooks ready-hung with him, and
having a bag always with him, with bear's hair, or the hair of a brown
or sad-coloured heifer, hackles of a cock or capon, several coloured
silk and crewel to make the body of the fly, the feathers of a drake's
head, black or brown sheep's wool, or hog's wool, or hair, thread of
gold and of silver; silk of several colours, especially sad-coloured, to
make the fly's head: and there be also other coloured feathers, both of
little birds and of speckled fowl: I say, having those with him in a
bag, and trying to make a fly, though he miss at first, yet shall he at
last hit it better, even to such a perfection as none can well teach him.
And if he hit to make his fly right, and have the luck to hit, also,
where there is store of Trouts, a dark day, and a right wind, he will
catch such store of them, as will encourage him to grow more and more in
love with the art of fly-making.

Venator. 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.

Piscator. Marry, scholar, but I would not be there, nor indeed from
under this tree; for look how it begins to rain, and by the clouds, if I
mistake not, we shall presently have a smoking shower, and therefore sit
close; this sycamore-tree will shelter us: and I will tell you, as they
shall come into my mind, more observations of fly-fishing for a Trout.

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

         ...when the wind is south,
    It blows your bait into a fish's mouth.

Next to that, the west wind is believed to be the best: and having told
you that the east wind is the worst, I need not tell you which wind is
the best in the third degree: and yet, as Solomon observes, that "he
that considers the wind shall never sow"; so he that busies his head too
much about them, if the weather be not made extreme cold by an east
wind, shall be a little superstitious: for as it is observed by some,
that "there is no good horse of a bad colour"; so I have observed, that
if it be a cloudy day, and not extreme cold, let the wind sit in what
corner it will and do its worst, I heed it not. And yet take this for a
rule, that I would willingly fish, standing on the lee-shore: and you
are to take notice, that the fish lies or swims nearer the bottom, and
in deeper water, in winter than in summer; and also nearer the bottom in
any cold day, and then gets nearest the lee-side of the water.

But I promised to tell you more of the Fly-fishing for a Trout; which I
may have time enough to do, for you see it rains May-butter. First for a
Mayfly: 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, tawny, and black ground; and the brown of a mallard's feather
for the wings. And you are to know, that these two are most excellent
flies, that is, the May-fly and the Oak-fly.

And let me again tell you, that you keep as far from the water as you
can possibly, whether you fish with a fly or worm; and fish down the
stream. And when you fish with a fly, if it be possible, let no part of
your line touch the water, but your fly only; and be still moving your
fly upon the water, or casting it into the water, you yourself being
also always moving down the stream.

Mr. Barker commends several sorts of the palmer-flies; not only those
ribbed with silver and gold, but others that have their bodies all made
of black; or some with red, and a red hackle. You may also make the
Hawthorn-fly: which is all black, and not big, but very small, the
smaller the better. Or the oak-fly, the body of which is orange 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 grasshopper. 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 occasion to
your magazine-bag: and upon any occasion, vary and make them lighter or
sadder, according to your fancy, or the day.

And now I shall tell you, that the fishing with a natural-fly 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 August; it is a brownish
fly and easy to be so found, and stands usually with his head downward,
that is to say, towards the root of the tree: the small black-fly, or
Hawthorn-fly, is to be had on any hawthorn bush after the leaves be come
forth. With these and a short line, as I shewed to angle for a Chub, you
may cape or cop, and also with a grasshopper, behind a tree, or in any
deep hole; still making it to move on the top of the water as if it were
alive, and still keeping yourself out of sight, you shall 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 so sweetly too.
Come let me tell you what holy Mr. Herbert says of such days and flowers
as these, and then we will thank God that we enjoy them, and walk to the
river and sit down quietly, and try to catch the other place of Trouts.

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

    Sweet rose, whose hue, angry and brave,
    Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye,
    Thy root is ever in its grave,
          And thou must die.

    Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses,
    A box where sweets compacted lie;
    My music shews 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.

Venator. I thank you, good master, for your good direction for
fly-fishing, and for the sweet enjoyment of the pleasant day, which is
so far spent without offence to God or man: and I thank you for the
sweet close of your discourse with Mr. Herbert's verses; who, I have
heard, loved angling; and I do the rather believe it, because he had a
spirit suitable to anglers, and to those primitive Christians that you
love, and have so much commended.

Piscator. Well, my loving scholar, and I am pleased to know that you are
so well pleased with my direction and discourse.

And since you like these verses of Mr. Herbert's so well, let me tell
you what a reverend and learned divine that professes to imitate him,
and has indeed done so most excellently, hath writ of our book of Common
Prayer; which I know you will like the better, because he is a friend of
mine, and I am sure no enemy to angling.

What! Pray'r by th' book? and Common? Yes; Why not?

          The spirit of grace
    And supplication
    Is not left free alone
          For time and place,
    But manner too: to read, or speak, by rote,
      Is all alike to him that prays,
      In's heart, what with his mouth he says.

    They that in private, by themselves alone,
        Do pray, may take
      What liberty they please,
      In chusing of the ways
        Wherein 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 know
        They need not fear
    To tune their hearts unto his tongue, and say
      Amen; not doubt they were betray'd
      To blaspheme, when they meant to have pray'd.

    Devotion will add life unto the letter:
        And why should not
      That, which authority
      Prescribes, 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.

And now, scholar, I think it will be time to repair to our angle-rods,
which we left in the water to fish for themselves; and you shall choose
which shall be yours; and it is an even lay, one of them catches.

And, let me tell you, this kind of fishing with a dead rod, and laying
night-hooks, are like putting money to use; for they both work for the
owners when they do nothing but sleep, or eat, or rejoice, as you know
we have done this last hour, and sat as quietly and as free from cares
under this sycamore, as Virgil's Tityrus and his Meliboeus did under
their broad beech-tree. No life, my honest scholar, no life so happy and
so pleasant as the life of a well-governed angler; for when the lawyer
is swallowed up with business, and the statesman is preventing or
contriving plots, then we sit on cowslip-banks, hear the birds sing, and
possess ourselves in as much quietness as these silent silver streams,
which we now see glide so quietly by us. Indeed, my good scholar, we may
say of angling, as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries, "Doubtless God
could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did"; and so,
if I might be judge, 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.

    I in these flowery meads would be:
    These crystal streams should solace me;
    To whose harmonious bubbling noise
    I with my Angle would rejoice:
      Sit here, and see the turtle-dove
      Court his chaste mate to acts of love:

    Or, on that bank, feel the west wind
    Breathe health and plenty: please my mind,
    To see sweet dew-drops kiss these flowers,
    And then washed off by April showers:
      Here, hear my Kenna sing a song;
      There, see a blackbird feed her 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:

    Or, with my Bryan, and a book,
    Loiter long days near Shawford-brook;
    There sit by him, and eat my meat,
    There see the sun both rise and set:
    There bid good morning to next day;
      There meditate my time away,
      And Angle on; and beg to have
      A quiet passage to a welcome grave.

When I had ended this composure, I left this place, and saw a brother of
the angle sit under that honeysuckle hedge, one that will prove worth
your acquaintance. I sat down by him, and presently we met with an
accidental piece of merriment, which I will relate to you, for it rains
still.

On the other side of this very hedge sat a gang of gypsies; and near to
them sat a gang of beggars. The gypsies were then to divide all the
money that had been got that week, either by stealing linen or poultry,
or by fortune-telling or legerdemain, or, indeed, by any other sleights
and secrets belonging to their mysterious government. And the sum that
was got that week proved to be but twenty and some odd shillings. The
odd money was agreed to be distributed amongst the poor of their own
corporation: and for the remaining twenty shillings, that was to be
divided unto four gentlemen gypsies, according to their several degrees
in their commonwealth. And the first or chiefest gypsy was, by consent,
to have a third part of the twenty shillings, which all men know is 6s.
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 gypsy was to have a sixth part of the
20s., which all men know to be 3s. 4d.

    As for example,
              3 times 6s. 8d. are 20s.
    And so is 4 times 5s.     are 20s.
    And so is 5 times 4s.     are 20s.
    And so is 6 times 3s. 4d. are 20s.

And yet he that divided the money was so very a gypsy, that though he
gave to every one these said sums, yet he kept one 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 gypsies saw that he had got
one shilling by dividing the money, though not one of them knew any
reason to demand more, yet, like lords and courtiers, every gypsy envied
him that was the gainer; and wrangled with him; and every one said the
remaining shilling belonged to him; and so they fell to so high a
contest about it, as none that knows the faithfulness of one gypsy to
another will easily believe; only we that have lived these last twenty
years are certain that money has been able to do much mischief. However,
the gypsies were too wise to go to law, and did therefore choose their
choice friends Rook and Shark, and our late English Gusman, to be their
arbitrators and umpires. And so they left this honeysuckle hedge; and
went to tell fortunes and cheat, and get more money and lodging in the
next village.

When these were gone, we heard as high a contention amongst the beggars,
whether it was easiest to rip a cloak, or to unrip a cloak? One beggar
affirmed it was all one: but that was denied, by asking her, If doing
and undoing were all one? Then another said, 'twas easiest to unrip a
cloak; for that was to let it alone: but she was answered, by asking
her, how she unript it if she let it alone? and she confess herself
mistaken. These and twenty such like questions were proposed and
answered, with as much beggarly logick and earnestness as was ever heard
to proceed from the mouth of the pertinacious schismatick; and sometimes
all the beggars, whose number was neither more nor less than the poets'
nine muses, talked all together about this ripping and unripping; and so
loud, that not one heard what the other said: but, at last, one beggar
craved audience; and told them that old father Clause, whom Ben Jonson,
in his Beggar's Bush, created King of their corporation, was to lodge at
an ale-house, called "Catch-her-by-the-way," not far from Waltham
Cross, and in the high road towards London; and he therefore desired
them to spend no more time about that and such like questions, but refer
all to father Clause at night, for he was an upright judge, and in the
meantime draw cuts, what song should be next sung, and who should sing
it. They all agreed to the motion; and the lot fell to her that was the
youngest, and veriest virgin of the company. And she 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 want where Beggars meet?
      A Beggar's life is for a King.
    Eat, drink, and play, sleep when we list
    Go where we will, so stocks be mist.
      Bright shines the sun; play, Beggars, play,
      Here's scraps enough to serve to-day.

    The world is ours, and ours alone;
      For we alone have world at will
    We purchase not, all is our own;
      Both fields and streets we Beggars fill.
      Nor care to get, nor fear to keep,
      Did ever break a Beggar's sleep,
      Play, Beggars, play; play, Beggars, play;
      Here's scraps enough to serve to-day.

    A hundred head of black and white
      Upon our gowns securely feed If any dare his master 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.

Venator. I thank you, good master, for this piece of merriment, and this
song, which was well humoured by the maker, and well remembered by you.

Piscator. But, I pray, forget not the catch which you promised to make
against night; for our countryman, honest Coridon, will expect your
catch, and my song, which I must be forced to patch up, for it is so
long since I learnt it, that I have forgot a part of it. But, come, now
it hath done raining, let's stretch our legs a little in a gentle walk
to the river, and try what interest our angles will pay us for lending
them so long to be used by the Trouts; lent them indeed, like usurers,
for our profit and their destruction.

Venator. Oh me! look you, master, a fish! a fish! Oh, alas, master, I
have lost her.

Piscator. Ay marry, Sir, that was a good fish indeed: if I had had the
luck to have taken up that rod, then 'tis twenty to one he should not
have broken 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 over-grown 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.

Venator. But, master, I have heard that the great Trout you speak of is
a Salmon.

Piscator. Trust me, scholar, I know not what to say to it. There are
many country people that believe hares change sexes every year: and
there be very many learned men think so too, for in their dissecting
them they find many reasons to incline them to that belief. And to make
the wonder seem yet less, that hares change sexes, note that Dr. Mer.
Casaubon affirms, in his book "Of credible and incredible things," that
Gasper Peucerus, a learned physician, tells us of a people that once a
year turn wolves, partly in shape, and partly in conditions. And so,
whether this were a Salmon when he came into fresh water, and his not
returning into the sea hath altered him to another colour or kind, I am
not able to say; but I am certain he hath all the signs of being a
Trout, both for his shape, colour, and spots; and yet many think he is
not.

Venator. But, master, will this Trout which I had hold of die? for it is
like he hath the hook in his belly.

Piscator. I will tell you, scholar, that unless the hook be fast in his
very gorge, 'tis more than probable he will live, and a little time,
with the help of the water, will rust the hook, and it will in time wear
away, as the gravel doth in the horse-hoof, which only leaves a false
quarter.

And now, scholar, let's go to my rod. Look you, scholar, I have a fish
too, but it proves a logger-headed Chub: and this is not much amiss, for
this will pleasure some poor body, as we go to our lodging to meet our
brother Peter and honest Coridon. Come, now bait your hook again, and
lay it into the water, for it rains again; and we will even retire to
the Sycamore-tree, and there I will give you more directions concerning
fishing, for I would fain make you an artist.

Venator. Yes, good master, I pray let it be so.

Piscator. Well, scholar, now that we are sate down and are at ease, I
shall tell you a little more of Trout-fishing, before I speak of the
Salmon, which I purpose shall be next, and then of the Pike or Luce.

You are to know, there is night as well as day fishing for a Trout; and
that, in the night, the best Trouts come out of their holes. And the
manner of taking them is on the top of the water with a great lob or
garden-worm, or rather two, which you are to fish with in a stream where
the waters run somewhat quietly, for in a stream the bait will not be so
well discerned. I say, in a quiet or dead place, near to some swift,
there draw your bait over the top of the water, to and fro, and if there
be a good Trout in the hole, he will take it, especially if the night be
dark, for then he is bold, and lies near the top of the water, watching
the motion of any frog or water-rat, or mouse, that swims betwixt him
and the sky; these he hunts after, if he sees the water but wrinkle or
move in one of these dead holes, where these great old Trouts usually
lie, near to their holds; for you are to note, that the great old Trout
is both subtle and fearful, and lies close all day, and does not usually
stir out of his hold, but lies in it as close in the day as the timorous
hare does in her form; for the chief feeding of either is seldom in the
day, but usually in the night, and then the great Trout feeds very
boldly.

And you must fish for him with a strong line, and not a 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
anything that seems to swim across 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.

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

Venator. But, master, do not Trouts see us in the night?

Piscator Yes, and hear, and smell too, both then and in the day-time:
for Gesner observes, the Otter smells a fish forty furlongs off him in
the water: and that it may be true, seems to be affirmed by Sir Francis
Bacon, in the eighth century of his Natural History, who there proves
that waters may be the medium of sounds, by demonstrating it thus: "That
if you knock two stones together very deep under the water, those that
stand on a bank near to that place may hear the noise without any
diminution of it by the water ". He also offers the like experiment
concerning the letting an anchor fall, by a very long cable or rope, on
a rock, or the sand, within the sea. And this being so well observed and
demonstrated as it is by that learned man, has made me to believe that
Eels unbed themselves and stir at the noise of thunder, and not only, as
some think, by the motion or stirring of the earth which is occasioned
by that thunder.

And this reason of Sir Francis Bacon has made me crave pardon of one
that I laughed at for affirming that he knew Carps come to a certain
place, in a pond, to be fed at the ringing of a bell or the beating of a
drum. And, however, it shall be a rule for me to make as little noise as
I can when I am fishing, until Sir Francis Bacon be confuted, which I
shall give any man leave to do.

And lest you may think him singular in this opinion, I will tell you,
this seems to be believed by our learned Doctor Hakewill, who in his
Apology of God's power and providence, 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, that all things in the sea have been tamed by
mankind. And Pliny tells us, that Antonia, the wife of Drusus, had a
Lamprey at whose gills she hung jewels or ear-rings; and that others
have been so tender-hearted as to shed tears at the death of fishes
which they have kept and loved. And these observations, which will to
most hearers seem wonderful, seem to have a further confirmation from
Martial, 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;
    Nay more they've names, and, when they called are,
    Do to their several owner's call repair.

All the further use that I shall make of this shall be, to advise
anglers to be patient, and forbear swearing, lest they be heard, and
catch no fish.

And so I shall proceed next to tell you, it is certain that certain
fields near Leominster, a town in Herefordshire, are observed to make
the sheep that graze upon them more fat than the next, and also to bear
finer wool; that is to say, that that year in which they feed in such a
particular pasture, they shall yield finer wool than they did that year
before they came to feed in it; and coarser, again, if they shall return
to their former pasture; and, again, return to a finer wool, being fed
in the fine wool ground: which I tell you, that you may the better
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, it 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, "Everything is
beautiful in his season".

I should, by promise, speak next of the Salmon; but I will, by your
favour, say a little of the Umber or Grayling; which is so like a Trout
for his shape and feeding, that I desire I may exercise your patience
with a short discourse of him; and then, the next shall be of the
Salmon.




The fourth day-continued

The Umber or Grayling

Chapter VI

Piscator

The Umber and Grayling are thought by some to differ as the Herring and
Pilchard do. But though they may do so in other nations, I think those
in England differ nothing but in their names. Aldrovandus says, they be
of a Trout kind; and Gesner says, that in his country, which is
Switzerland, he is accounted the choicest of all fish. And in Italy, he
is, in the month of May, so highly valued, that he is sold there at a
much higher rate than any other fish. The French, which call the Chub Un
Villain, call the Umber of the lake Leman Un Umble Chevalier; and they
value the Umber or Grayling so highly, that they say he feeds on gold;
and say, that many have been caught out of their famous river of Loire,
out of whose bellies grains of gold have been often taken. And some
think that he feeds on water thyme, and smells of it at his first taking
out of the water; and they may think so with as good reason as we do
that our Smelts smell like violets at their being first caught, which I
think is a truth. Aldrovandus says, the Salmon, the Grayling, and Trout,
and all fish that live in clear and sharp streams, are made by their
mother Nature of such exact shape and pleasant colours purposely to
invite us to a joy and contentedness in feasting with her. Whether this
is a truth or not, 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 Grayling, 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 anything that breeds in the eyes.
Salvian takes him to be called Umber from his swift swimming, or gliding
out of sight more like a shadow or a ghost than a fish. Much more might
be said both of his smell and taste: but I shall only tell you that St.
Ambrose, the glorious bishop of Milan, who lived when the church kept
fasting-days, calls him the flower-fish, or flower of fishes; and that
he was so far in love with him, that he would not let him pass without
the honour of a long discourse; but I must; and pass on to tell you how
to take this dainty fish.

First note, that he grows not to the bigness of a Trout; for the biggest
of them do not usually exceed eighteen inches. He lives in such rivers
as the Trout does; and is usually taken with the same baits as the Trout
is, and after the same manner; for he will bite both at the minnow, or
worm, or fly, though he bites not often at the minnow, and is very
gamesome at the fly; and much simpler, and therefore bolder than a
Trout; for he will rise twenty times at a fly, if you miss him, and yet
rise again. He has been taken with a fly made of the red feathers of a
paroquet, 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 my leave of him: and now come to some
observations of the Salmon, and how to catch him.




The fourth day-continued

The Salmon

Chapter VII

Piscator

The Salmon is accounted the King of freshwater fish; and is ever bred in
rivers relating to the sea, yet so high, or far from it, as admits of no
tincture of salt, or brackishness. He is said to breed or cast his
spawn, in most rivers, in the month of August: some say, that then they
dig a hole or grave in a safe place in the gravel, and there place their
eggs or spawn, after the melter has done his natural office, and then
hide it most cunningly, and cover it over with gravel and stones; and
then leave it to their Creator's protection, who, by a gentle heat which
he infuses into that cold element, makes it brood, and beget life in the
spawn, and to become Samlets early in the spring next following.

The Salmons having spent their appointed time, and done this natural
duty in the fresh waters, they then haste to the sea before winter, both
the melter and spawner; but if they be stopped by flood-gates or weirs, or
lost in the fresh waters, then those so left behind by degrees grow sick
and lean, and unseasonable, and kipper, that is to say, have bony
gristles grow out of their lower chaps, not unlike a hawk's beak, which
hinders their feeding; and, in time, such fish so left behind pine away
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 they never thrive to any considerable
bigness.

But if the old Salmon gets to the sea, then that gristle which shews him
to be kipper, wears away, or is cast off, as the eagle is said to cast
his bill, and he recovers his strength, and comes next summer to the
same river, if it be possible, to enjoy the former pleasures that there
possess 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 floodgates, or over weirs, or hedges, or stops
in the water, even to a height beyond common belief. Gesner speaks of
such places as are known to be above eight feet high above water. And
our Camden mentions, in his Britannia, the like wonder to be in
Pembrokeshire, where the river Tivy falls into the sea; and that the
fall is so downright, and so high, that the people stand and wonder at
the strength and sleight by which they see the Salmon use to get out of
the sea into the said river; and the manner and height of the place is
so notable, that it is known, far, by the name of the Salmon-leap.
Concerning which, take this also out of Michael Drayton, my honest old
friend; as he tells it you, in his Polyolbion:

    And when the Salmon seeks a fresher stream to find;
    (Which hither from the sea comes, yearly, by his kind,)
    As he towards season grows; and stems the watry tract
    Where Tivy, falling down, makes an high cataract,
    Forc'd by the rising rocks that there her course oppose,
    As tho' 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 bow
    That's to full compass drawn, aloft himself doth throw,
    Then springing at his height, as doth a little wand
    That bended end to end, and started from man's hand,
    Far off itself doth cast, so does that Salmon vault;
    And if, at first, he fail, his second summersault
    He instantly essays, and, from his nimble ring
    Still yerking, never leaves until himself he fling
    Above the opposing stream----.

This Michael Drayton tells you, of this leap or summersault of the
Salmon.

And, next, I shall tell you, that it is observed by Gesner and others,
that there is no better Salmon than in England; and that though some of
our northern counties have as fat, and as large, as the river Thames,
yet none are of so excellent a taste.

And as I have told you that Sir Francis Bacon observes, the age of a
Salmon exceeds not ten years; so let me next tell you, that his growth
is very sudden: it is said that after he is got into the sea, he
becomes, from a Samlet not so big as a Gudgeon, to be a Salmon, in as
short a time as a gosling becomes to be a goose. Much of this has been
observed, by tying a riband, or some known tape or thread, in the tail
of some young Salmons which have been taken in weirs as they have
swimmed towards the salt water; and then by taking a part of them again,
with the known mark, at the same place, at their return from the sea,
which is usually about six months after; and the like experiment hath
been tried upon young swallows, who have, after six months' absence,
been observed to return to the same chimney, there to make their nests
and habitations for the summer following; which has inclined many to
think, that every Salmon usually returns to the same river in which it
was bred, as young pigeons taken out of the same dovecote have also been
observed to do.

And you are yet to observe further, that the He-salmon is usually bigger
than the Spawner; and that he is more kipper, and less able to endure a
winter in the fresh water than the She is: yet she is, at that time of
looking less kipper and better, as watry, and as bad meat.

And yet you are to observe, that as there is no general rule without an
exception, so there are some few rivers in this nation that have Trouts
and Salmon 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, my scholar, the observation of this and many
other things I must in manners omit, because they will prove too large
for our narrow compass of time, and, therefore, I shall next fall upon
my directions how to fish for this Salmon.

And, for that: First you shall observe, that usually he stays not long
in a place, as Trouts will, but, as I said, covets still to go nearer
the spring-head: and that he does not, as the Trout and many other fish,
lie near the water-side or bank, or roots of trees, but swims in the
deep and broad parts of the water, and usually in the middle, and near
the ground, and that there you are to fish for him, and that he is to be
caught, as the Trout is, with a worm, a minnow which some call a peek,
or with a fly.

And you are to observe, that he is very seldom observed to bite at a
minnow, yet sometimes he will, and not usually at a fly, but more
usually at a worm, and then most usually at a lob or garden-worm, which
should be well scoured, that is to say, kept seven or eight days in moss
before you fish with them: and if you double your time of eight into
sixteen, twenty, or more days, it is still the better; for the worms
will still be clearer, tougher, and more lively, and continue so longer
upon your hook. And they may be kept longer by keeping them cool, and in
fresh moss; and some advise to put camphire into it.

Note also, that many used to fish for a Salmon with a ring of wire on
the top of their rod, through which the line may run to as great a
length as is needful, when he is hooked. And to that end, some use a
wheel about the middle of their rod, or near their hand, which is to be
observed better by seeing one of them than by a large demonstration of
words.

And now I shall tell you that which may be called a secret. I have been
a-fishing with old Oliver Henly, now with God, a noted fisher both for
Trout and Salmon; and have observed, that he would usually take three or
four worms out of his bag, and put them into a little box in his pocket,
where he would usually let them continue half an hour or more, before he
would bait his hook with them. I have asked him his reason, and he has
replied, "He did but pick the best out to be in readiness against he
baited his hook the next time": but he has been observed, both by
others and myself, to catch more fish than I, or any other body that has
ever gone a-fishing with him, could do, and especially Salmons. And I
have been told lately, by one of his most intimate and secret friends,
that the box in which he put those worms was anointed with a drop, or
two or three, of the oil of ivy-berries, made by expression or infusion;
and told, that by the worms remaining in that box an hour, or a like
time, they had incorporated a kind of smell that was irresistibly
attractive, enough to force any fish within the smell of them to bite.
This I heard not long since from a friend, but have not tried it; yet I
grant it probable, and refer my reader to Sir Francis Bacon's Natural
history, where he proves fishes may hear, and, doubtless, can more
probably smell: and I am certain Gesner says, the Otter can smell in the
water; and I know not but that fish may do so too. '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
excellent angler and a very friend, in writing: he told me the latter
was too good to be told, but in a learned language, lest it should be
made common.

"Take the stinking oil drawn out of polypody of the oak by a retort,
mixed with turpentine and hive-honey, and anoint your bait therewith,
and it will doubtless draw the fish to it."

The other is this: "Vulnera hederae grandissimae inflicta sudant
balsamum oleo gelato, albicantique persimile, odoris vero longe
suavissimi".

"'Tis supremely sweet to any fish, and yet assa foetida may do the
like."

But in these I have no great faith; yet grant it probable; and have had
from some chymical men, namely, from Sir George Hastings and others, an
affirmation of them to be very advantageous. But no more of these;
especially not in this place.

I might here, before I take my leave of the Salmon, 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 Pilchard do, which, I think, are as different as the
rivers in which they breed, and must, by me, be left to the
disquisitions of men of more leisure, and of greater abilities than I
profess myself to have.

And lastly, I am to borrow so much of your promised patience, as to tell
you, that the trout, or Salmon, being in season, have, at their first
taking out of the water, which continues during life, their bodies
adorned, the one with such red spots, and the other with such black or
blackish spots, as give them such an addition of natural beauty as, I
think, was never given to any woman by the artificial paint or patches
in which they so much pride themselves in this age. And so I shall leave
them both; and proceed to some observations of the Pike.





The fourth day-continued

On the Luce or Pike

Chapter VIII

Piscator and Venator

Piscator. The mighty Luce or Pike is taken to be the tyrant, as the
Salmon is the king, of the fresh water. 'Tis not to be doubted, but that
they are bred, some by generation, and some not; as namely, of a weed
called pickerel-weed, unless learned Gesner be much mistaken, for he
says, this weed and other glutinous matter, with the help of the sun's
heat, in some particular months, and some ponds, apted for it by nature,
do become Pikes. But, doubtless, divers Pikes are bred after this
manner, or are brought into some ponds some such other ways as is 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 hundred years before he was
last taken, as by the inscription in that ring, being Greek, was
interpreted by the then Bishop of Worms. But of this no more; but that
it is observed, that the old or very great Pikes have in them more of
state than goodness; the smaller or middle-sized Pikes being, by the
most and choicest palates, observed to be the best meat: and, contrary,
the Eel is observed to be the better for age and bigness.

All Pikes that live long prove chargeable to their keepers, because
their life is maintained by the death of so many other fish, even those
of their own kind, which has made him by some writers to be called the
tyrant of the rivers, or the fresh-water wolf, by reason of his bold,
greedy, devouring, disposition; which is so keen, as Gesner relates, A
man going to a pond, where it seems a Pike had devoured all the fish, to
water his mule, had a Pike bit his mule by the lips; to which the Pike
hung so fast, that the mule drew him out of the water; and by that
accident, the owner of the mule angled out the Pike. And the same Gesner
observes, that a maid in Poland had a Pike bit her by the foot, as she
was washing clothes in a pond. And I have heard the like of a woman in
Killingworth pond, not far from Coventry. But I have been assured by my
friend Mr. Segrave, of whom I spake to you formerly, that keeps tame
Otters, that he hath known a Pike, in extreme hunger, fight with one of
his Otters for a Carp that the Otter had caught, and was then bringing
out of the water. I have told you who relate these things; and tell you
they are persons of credit; and shall conclude this observation, by
telling you, what a wise man has observed, "It is a hard thing to
persuade the belly, because it has no ears".

But if these relations be disbelieved, it is too evident to be doubted,
that a Pike will devour a fish of his own kind that shall be bigger than
his belly or throat will receive, and swallow a part of him, and let the
other part remain in his mouth till the swallowed part be digested, and
then swallow that other part that was in his mouth, and so put it over
by degrees; which is not unlike the Ox, and some other beasts taking
their meat, not out of their mouth immediately into their belly, but
first into some place betwixt, and then chew it, or digest it by degrees
after, which is called chewing the cud. And, doubtless, Pikes will bite
when they are not hungry; but, as some think, even for very anger, when
a tempting bait comes near to them.

And it is observed, that the Pike will eat venomous things, as some kind
of frogs are, and yet live without being harmed by them; for, as some
say, he has in him a natural balsam, or antidote against all poison. And
he has a strange heat, that though it 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 venomous frog till he have first
killed her, and then as ducks are observed to do to frogs in
spawning-time, at which time some frogs are observed to be venomous, so
thoroughly washed her, by tumbling her up and down in the water, that he
may devour her without danger. And Gesner affirms, that a Polonian
gentleman did faithfully assure him, he had seen two young geese at one
time in the belly of a Pike. And doubtless a Pike in his height of
hunger will bite at and devour a dog that swims in a pond; and there
have been examples of it, or the like; for as I told you, "The belly
has no ears when hunger comes upon it".

The Pike is also observed to be a solitary, melancholy, and a bold fish;
melancholy, because he always swims or rests himself alone, and never
swims in shoals or with company, as Roach and Dace, and most other fish
do: and bold, because he fears not a shadow, or to see or be seen of
anybody, as the Trout and Chub, and all other fish do.

And it is observed by Gesner, that the jaw-bones, and hearts, and galls
of Pikes, are very medicinable for several diseases, or to stop blood,
to abate fevers, to cure agues, to oppose or expel the infection of the
plague, and to be many ways medicinable and useful for the good of
mankind: but he observes, that the biting of 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
certain tame Pigeons do almost every month; and yet the Hawk, a bird of
prey, as the Pike is a fish, breeds but once in twelve months. And you
are to note, that his time of breeding, or spawning, is usually about
the end of February, or, somewhat later, in March, as the weather proves
colder or warmer: and to note, that his manner of breeding is thus: a he
and a she Pike will usually go together out of a river into some ditch
or creek; and that there the spawner casts her eggs, and the melter
hovers over her all that time that she is casting her spawn, but touches
her not.

I might say more of this, but it might be thought curiosity or worse,
and shall therefore forbear it; and take up so much of your attention as
to tell you that the best of Pikes are noted to be in rivers; next,
those in great ponds or meres; and the worst, in small ponds.

But before I proceed further, I am to tell you, that there is a great
antipathy betwixt the Pike and some frogs: and this may appear to the
reader of Dubravius, a bishop in Bohemia, who, in his book Of Fish and
Fish-ponds, relates what he says he saw with his own eyes, and could not
forbear to tell the reader. Which was:

"As he and the bishop Thurzo were walking by a large pond in Bohemia,
they saw a frog, when the Pike lay very sleepily and quiet by the shore
side, leap upon his head; and the frog having expressed malice or anger
by his sworn cheeks and staring eyes, did stretch out his legs and
embrace the Pike's head, and presently reached them to his eyes, tearing
with them, and his teeth, those tender parts: the Pike, moved with
anguish, moves up and down the water, and rubs himself against weeds,
and whatever he thought might quit him of his enemy; but all in vain,
for the frog did continue to ride triumphantly, and to bite and torment
the Pike till his strength failed; and then the frog sunk with the Pike
to the bottom of the water: then presently the frog appeared again at
the top, and croaked, and seemed to rejoice like a conqueror, after
which he presently retired to his secret hole. The bishop, that had
beheld the battle, called his fisherman to fetch his nets, and by all
means to get the Pike that they might 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 assured them
he was certain that Pikes were often so served."

I told this, which is to be read in the sixth chapter of the book of
Dubravius, unto a friend, who replied, "It was as improbable as to have
the mouse scratch out the cat's eyes". But he did not consider, that
there be Fishing frogs, which the Dalmatians call the Water-devil, of
which I might tell you as wonderful a story: but I shall tell you that
'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 take them
all into her mouth and swim away from any apprehended danger, and then
let them out again when she thinks all danger to be past: these be
accidents that we Anglers sometimes see, and often talk of.

But whither am I going? I had almost lost myself, by 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 sometimes a weed of his
own, called pickerel-weed, of which I told you some think Pikes are
bred; for they have observed, that where none have been put into ponds,
yet they have there found many; and that there has been plenty of that
weed in those ponds, and that that weed both breeds and feeds them: but
whether those Pikes, so bred, will ever breed by generation as the
others do, I shall leave to the disquisitions of men of more curiosity
and leisure than I profess myself to have: and shall proceed to tell
you, that you may fish for a Pike, either with a ledger or a
walking-bait; and you are to note, that I call that a Ledger-bait, which
is fixed or made to rest in one certain place when you shall be absent
from it; and I call that a Walking-bait, which you take with you, and
have ever in motion. Concerning which two, I shall give you this
direction; that your ledger-bait is best to be a living bait (though a
dead one may catch), whether it be a fish or a frog: and that you may
make them live the longer, you may, or indeed you must, take this
course:

First, for your LIVE-BAIT. Of fish, a roach or dace is, I think, best
and most tempting; and a perch is the longest lived on a hook, and
having cut off his fin on his back, which may be done without hurting
him, you must take your knife, which cannot be too sharp, and betwixt
the head and the fin on the back, cut or make an incision, or such a
scar, as you may put the arming-wire of your hook into it, with as
little bruising or hurting the fish as art and diligence will enable you
to do; and so carrying your arming-wire along his back, unto or near the
tail of your fish, betwixt the skin and the body of it, draw out that
wire or arming of your hook at another scar near to his tail then tie
him about it with thread, but no harder than of necessity, to prevent
hurting the fish; and the better to avoid hurting the fish, some have a
kind of probe to open the way for the more easy entrance and passage of
your wire or arming: but as for these, time and a little experience will
teach you better than I can by words. Therefore I will for the present
say no more of this; but come next to give you some directions how to
bait your hook with a frog.

Venator. But, good master, did you not say even now, that some frogs
were venomous; and is it not dangerous to touch them?

Piscator. 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 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 Topsel, taken to be venomous; and so is the
paddock, or frog-paddock, which usually keeps or breeds on the land, and
is very large and bony, and big, especially the she-frog of that kind:
yet these will sometimes come into the water, but it is not often: and
the land-frogs are some of them observed by him, to breed by laying
eggs; and others to breed of the slime and dust of the earth, and that
in winter they turn to slime again, and that the next summer that very
slime returns to be a living creature, this is the opinion of Pliny. And
Cardanus undertakes to give a reason for the raining of frogs: but if it
were in my power, it should rain none but water-frogs; for those I think
are not venomous, especially the right water-frog, which, about February
or March, breeds in ditches, by slime, and blackish eggs in that slime:
about which time of breeding, the he and she frogs are observed to use
divers summersaults, and to croak and make a noise, which the land-frog,
or paddock-frog, never does.

Now of these water-frogs, if you intend to fish with a frog for a Pike,
you are to choose the yellowest that you can get, for that the Pike ever
likes best. And thus use your frog, that he may continue long alive:

Put your hook into his mouth, which you may easily do from the middle of
April till August; and then the frog's mouth grows up, and he continues
so for at least six months without eating, but is sustained, none but He
whose name is Wonderful knows how: I say, put your hook, I mean the
arming-wire, through his mouth, and out at his gills; and then with a
fine needle and silk sew the upper part of his leg, with only one
stitch, to the arming-wire of your hook; or tie the frog's leg, above
the upper joint, to the armed-wire; and, in so doing, use him as though
you loved him, that is, harm him as little as you may possibly, that he
may live the longer.

And now, having given you this direction for the baiting your
ledger-hook with a live fish or frog, my next must be to tell you, how
your hook thus baited must or may be used; and it is thus: having
fastened your hook to a line, which if it be not fourteen yards long
should not be less than twelve, you are to fasten that line to any bough
near to a hole where a Pike is, or is likely to lie, or to have a haunt;
and then wind your line on any forked stick, all your line, except half
a yard of it or rather more; and split that forked stick, with such a
nick or notch at one end of it as may keep the line from any more of it
ravelling from about the stick than so much of it as you intend. And
choose your forked stick to be of that bigness as may keep the fish or
frog from pulling the forked stick under the water till the Pike bites;
and then the Pike having pulled the line 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 fixt place undisturbed by wind or other accidents which may
drive it to the shore-side, for you are to note, that it is likeliest to
catch a Pike in the midst of the water, then hang a small plummet of
lead, a stone, or piece of tile, or a turf, in a string, and cast it
into the water with the forked stick to hang upon the ground, to be a
kind of anchor to keep the forked stick from moving out of your intended
place till the Pike come: this I take to be a very good way to use so
many ledger-baits as you intend to make trial of.

Or if you bait your hooks thus with live fish or frogs, and in a windy
day, fasten them thus to a bough or bundle of straw, and by the help of
that wind can get them to move across a pond or mere, you are like to
stand still on the shore and see sport presently, if there be any store
of Pikes. Or these live baits may make sport, being tied about the body
or wings of a goose or duck, and she chased over a pond. And the like
may be done with turning three or four live baits, thus fastened to
bladders, or boughs, or bottles of hay or flags, to swim down a river,
whilst you walk quietly alone on the shore, and are still in expectaion
of sport. The rest must be taught you by practice; for time will not
allow me to say more of this kind of fishing with live baits.

And for your DEAD-BAIT for a Pike: for that you may be taught by one
day's going a-fishing with me, or any other body that fishes for him;
for the baiting your hook with a dead gudgeon or a roach, and moving it
up and down the water, is too easy a thing to take up any time to direct
you to do it. And yet, because I cut you short in that, I will commute
for it by telling you that that was told me for a secret: it is this:
Dissolve gum of ivy in oil of spike, and therewith anoint your dead bait
for a Pike; and then cast it into a likely place; and when it has lain a
short time at the bottom, draw it towards the top of the water, and so
up the stream; and it is more than likely that you have a Pike follow
with more than common eagerness. And some affirm, that any bait anointed
with the marrow of the thigh-bone of a heron is a great temptation to
any fish.

These have not been tried by me, but told me by a friend of note, that
pretended to do me a courtesy. But if this direction to catch a Pike
thus do you no good, yet I am certain this direction how to roast him
when he is caught is choicely good; for I have tried it, and it is
somewhat the better for not being common. But with my direction you must
take this caution, that your Pike must not be a small one, that is, it
must be more than half a yard, and should be bigger.

"First, open your Pike at the gills, and if need be, cut also 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-savoury; 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 mixt, with a blade or two of
mace, must be put into the Pike's belly; and then his belly so sewed up
as to keep all the butter in his belly if it be possible; if not, then
as much of it as you possibly can. But take not off the scales. Then you
are to thrust the spit through his mouth, out at his tail. And then take
four or five or six split sticks, or very thin laths, and a convenient
quantity of tape or filleting; these laths are to be tied round about
the Pike's body, from his head to his tail, and the tape tied somewhat
thick, to prevent his breaking or falling off from the spit. Let him be
roasted very leisurely; and often basted with claret wine, and
anchovies, and butter, mixt together; and also with what moisture falls
from him into the pan. When you have roasted him sufficiently, you are
to hold under him, when you unwind or cut the tape that ties him, such a
dish as you purpose to eat him out of; and let him fall into it with the
sauce that is roasted in his belly; and by this means the Pike will be
kept unbroken and complete. Then, to the sauce which was within, and
also that sauce in the pan, you are to add a fit quantity of the best
butter, and to squeeze the juice of three or four oranges. Lastly, you
may either put it 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 goût, 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 Thrasymene in Italy; and the next,
if not equal to them, are the Pikes of England; and that in England,
Lincolnshire boasteth to have the biggest. Just so doth Sussex boast of
four sorts of fish, namely, an Arundel Mullet, a Chichester Lobster, a
Shelsey Cockle, and an Amerly Trout.

But I will take up no more of your time with this relation, but proceed
to give you some Observations of the Carp, and how to angle for him; and
to dress him but not till he is caught.




The fourth day-continued

On the Carp

Chapter IX

Piscator

The Carp is the queen of rivers; a stately, a good, and a very subtil
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. Mascal,
a gentleman that then lived at Plumsted in Sussex, a county that abounds
more with this fish than any in this nation.

You may remember that I told you Gesner says there are no Pikes in
Spain; and doubtless there was a time, about a hundred or a few more
years ago, when there were no Carps in England, as may seem to be
affirmed by Sir Richard Baker, in whose Chronicle you may find these
verses:

    Hops and turkies, carps and beer,
    Came into England all in a year.

And doubtless, as of sea-fish the Herring dies soonest out of the water,
and of fresh-water fish the Trout, so, except the Eel, the Carp endures
most hardness, and lives longest out of its own proper element; and,
therefore, the report of the Carp's being brought out of a foreign
country into this nation is the more probable.

Carps and Loaches are observed to breed several months in one year,
which Pikes and most other fish do not; and this is partly proved by
tame and wild rabbits; as also by some ducks, which will lay eggs nine
of the twelve months; and yet there be other ducks that lay not longer
than about one month. 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
Perch to devour their spawn, when it is cast upon grass or flags, or
weeds, where it lies ten or twelve days before it be enlivened.

The Carp, if he have water-room and good feed, will grow to a very great
bigness and length; I have heard, to be much above a yard long. It is
said by Jovius, who hath writ of fishes, that in the lake Lurian in
Italy, Carps have thriven to be more than fifty pounds weight: which is
the more probable, for as the bear is conceived and born suddenly, and
being born is but short lived; so, on the contrary, 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 it is observed too,
that he lives to the age of a hundred years. And 'tis also observed,
that the crocodile is very long-lived; and more than that, that all that
long life he thrives in bigness; and so I think some Carps do,
especially in some places, though I never saw one above twenty-three
inches, which was a great and goodly fish; but have been 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 owner's constant being near to them, it was impossible they should
be stole away from him; and that when he has, after three or four years,
emptied the pond, and expected an increase from them by breeding young
ones, for that they might do so he had, as the rule is, put in three
melters for one spawner, he has, I say, after three or four years, found
neither a young nor old Carp remaining. And the like I have known of one
that had almost watched the pond, and, at a like distance of time, at
the fishing of a pond, found, of seventy or eighty large Carps, not
above five or six: and that he had forborne longer to fish the said
pond, but that he saw, in a hot day in summer, a large Carp swim near
the top of the water with a frog upon his head; and that he, upon that
occasion, caused his pond to be let dry: and I say, of seventy or eighty
Carps, only found five or six in the said pond, and those very sick and
lean, and with every one a frog sticking so fast on the head of the said
Carps, that the frog would not be got off without extreme force or
killing. And the gentleman that did affirm this to me, told me he saw
it; and did declare his belief to be, and I also believe the same, that
he thought the other Carps, that were so strangely lost, were so killed
by the frogs, and then devoured.

And a person of honour, now living in Worcestershire, assured me he had
seen a necklace, or collar of tadpoles, hang like a chain or necklace of
beads about a Pike's neck, and to kill him: Whether it were for meat or
malice, must be, to me, a question.

But I am fallen into this discourse by accident; of which I might say
more, but it has proved longer than I intended, and possibly may not to
you be considerable: I shall therefore give you three or four more short
observations of the Carp, and then fall upon some directions how you
shall fish for him.

The age of Carps is by Sir Francis Bacon, in his History of Life and
Death, observed to be but ten years; yet others think they live longer.
Gesner says, a Carp has been known to live in the Palatine above a
hundred years. But most conclude, that, contrary to the Pike or Luce, all
Carps are the better for age and bigness. The tongues of Carps are noted
to be choice and costly meat, especially to them that buy them: but
Gesner says, Carps have no tongue like other fish, but a piece of
fleshlike fish in their mouth like to a tongue, and should be called a
palate: but it is certain it is choicely good, and that the Carp is to
be reckoned amongst those leather-mouthed fish which, I told you, have
their teeth in their throat; and for that reason he is very seldom lost
by breaking his hold, if your hook be once stuck into his chaps.

I told you that Sir Francis Bacon thinks that the Carp lives but ten
years: but Janus Dubravius has written a book Of fish and fish-ponds in
which he says, that Carps begin to spawn at the age of three years, and
continue to do so till thirty: he says also, that in the time of their
breeding, which is in summer, when the sun hath warmed both the earth
and water, and so apted them also for generation, that then three or
four male Carps will follow a female; and that then, she putting on a
seeming coyness, they force her through weeds and flags, where she lets
fall her eggs or spawn, which sticks fast to the weeds; and then they
let fall their melt upon it, and so it becomes in a short time to be a
living fish: and, as I told you, it is thought that the Carp does this
several months in the year; and most believe, that most fish breed after
this manner, except the Eel. And it has been observed, that when the
spawner has weakened herself by doing that natural office, that two or
three melters have helped her from off the weeds, by bearing her up on
both sides, and guarding her into the deep. And you may note, that
though this may seem a curiosity not worth observing, yet others have
judged it worth their time and costs to make glass hives, and order them
in such a manner as to see how bees have bred and made their honeycombs,
and how they 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 it is not to be doubted but that in Italy they
make great profit of the spawn of Carps, by selling it to the Jews, who
make it into red caviare; the Jews not being by their law admitted to
eat of caviare made of the Sturgeon, that being a fish that wants
scales, and, as may appear in Leviticus xi., by them reputed to be
unclean.

Much more might be said out of him, and out of Aristotle, which
Dubravius often quotes in his Discourse of Fishes: but it might rather
perplex than satisfy you; and therefore I shall rather choose to direct
you how to catch, than spend more time in discoursing either of the
nature or the breeding of this Carp, or of any more circumstances
concerning him. But yet I shall remember you of what I told you before,
that he is a very subtil 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
being possess with that hope and patience which I wish to all fishers,
especially to the Carp-angler, I shall tell you with what bait to fish
for him. But first you are to know, that it must be either early, or
late; and let me tell you, that in hot weather, for he will seldom bite
in cold, you cannot be too early, or too late at it. And some have been
so curious as to say, the tenth of April is a fatal day for Carps.

The Carp bites either at worms, or at paste: and of worms I think the
bluish marsh or meadow worm is best; but possibly another worm, not too
big, may do as well, and so may a green gentle: and as for pastes, there
are almost as many sorts as there are medicines for the toothache; but
doubtless sweet pastes are best; I mean, pastes made with honey or with
sugar: which, that you may the better beguile this crafty fish, should
be thrown into the pond or place in which you fish for him, some hours,
or longer, before you undertake your trial of skill with the angle-rod;
and doubtless, if it be thrown into the water a day or two before, at
several times, and in small pellets, you are the likelier, when you fish
for the Carp, to obtain your desired sport. Or, in a large pond, to draw
them to any 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 mixt 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 propose to angle: and these small pellets being a few of
them also thrown in as you are angling, will be the better.

And your paste must be thus made: take the flesh of a rabbit, or cat,
cut small; and bean-flour; and if that may not be easily got, get other
flour; and then, mix these together, and put to them either sugar, or
honey, which I think better: and then beat these together in a mortar,
or 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 too 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, it being soaked in or anointed with
oil of petre, called by some, oil of the rock: and if your gentles be
put, two or three days before, into a box or horn anointed with honey,
and so put upon your hook as to preserve them to be living, you are as
like to kill this crafty fish this way as any other: but still, as you
are fishing, chew a little white or brown bread in your mouth, and cast
it into the pond about the place where your float swims. Other baits
there be; but these, with diligence and patient watchfulness, will do
better than any that I have ever practiced 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 continuance
of your attention.

But, first, I will tell you how to make this Carp, that is so curious to
be caught, so curious a dish of meat as shall make him worth all your
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 marjoram, thyme, and parsley, of each half a
handful; a sprig of rosemary, and another of savoury; bind them into two
or three small bundles, and put them in your Carp, with four or five
whole onions, twenty pickled oysters, and three anchovies. Then pour
upon your Carp as much claret wine as will only cover him; and season
your claret well with salt, cloves, and mace, and the rinds of oranges
and lemons. That done, cover your pot and set it on a quick fire till it
be 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-continued

On the Bream

Chapter X

Piscator

The Bream, being at a full growth, is a large and stately fish. He will
breed both in rivers and ponds: but loves best to live in ponds, and
where, if he likes the water and air, he will grow not only to be very
large, but as fat as a hog. He is by Gesner taken to be more pleasant,
or sweet, than wholesome. This fish is long in growing; but breeds
exceedingly in a water that pleases him; yea, in many ponds so fast, as
to overstore 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 remaining, nor
one of these fish to be found, though they were diligently searched for;
and yet the next spring, when the ice was thawed, and the weather warm,
and fresh water got into the pond, he affirms they all appeared again.
This Gesner affirms; and I quote my author, because it seems almost as
incredible as the resurrection to an atheist: but it may win something,
in point of believing it, to him that considers the breeding or
renovation of the silk-worm, and of many insects. And that is
considerable, which Sir Francis Bacon observes in his History of Life
and Death, fol. 20, that there be some herbs that die and spring every
year, and some endure longer.

But though some do not, yet the French esteem this fish highly; and to
that end have this proverb "He that hath Breams in his pond, is able to
bid his friend welcome"; and it is noted, that the best part of a Bream
is his belly and head.

Some say, that Breams and Roaches will mix their eggs and melt together;
and so there is in many places a bastard breed of Breams, that never
come to be either large or good, but very numerous.

The baits good to catch this Bream are many. First, paste made of brown
bread and honey; gentles; or the brood of wasps that be young, and then
not unlike gentles, and should be hardened in an oven, or dried on a
tile before the fire to make them tough. Or, there is, at the root of
docks or flags or rushes, in watery places, a worm not unlike a maggot,
at which Tench will bite freely. Or he will bite at a grasshopper with
his legs nipt off, in June and July; or at several flies, under water,
which may be found on flags that grow near to the water-side. I doubt
not but that there be many other baits that are good; but I will turn
them all into this most excellent one, either for a Carp or Bream, in
any river or mere: it was given to me by a most honest and excellent
angler; and hoping you will prove both, I will 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
commons, after a shower of rain; and put them with clean moss well
washed and picked, and the water squeezed out of the moss as dry as you
can, into an 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, and fasten them to the low ends of your
lines: then fasten your link-hook also to the lead; and let there be
about a foot or ten inches between the lead and the hook: but be sure
the lead be heavy enough to sink the float or quill, a little under the
water; and not the quill to bear up the lead, for the lead must lie on
the ground. Note, that your link next the hook may be smaller than the
rest of your line, if you dare adventure, for fear of taking the Pike or
Perch, who will assuredly visit your hooks, till they be taken out, as I
will show you afterwards, before either Carp or Bream will come near to
bite. Note also, that when the worm is well baited, it will crawl up and
down as far as the lead will give leave, which much enticeth the fish to
bite without suspicion.

3. Having thus prepared your baits, and fitted your tackling, repair to
the river, where you have seen them swim in skulls or shoals, in the
summer-time, in a hot afternoon, about three or four of the clock; and
watch their going forth of their deep holes, and returning, which you
may well discern, for they return about four of the clock, most of them
seeking food at the bottom, yet one or two will lie on the top of the
water, rolling and tumbling themselves, whilst the rest are under him at
the bottom; and so you shall perceive him to keep sentinel: then mark
where he plays most and stays longest, which commonly is in the broadest
and deepest place of the river; and there, or near thereabouts, at a
clear bottom and a convenient landing-place, take one of your angles
ready fitted as aforesaid, and sound the bottom, which should be about
eight or ten feet deep; two yards from the bank is best. Then consider
with yourself, whether that water will rise or fall by the next morning,
by reason of any water-mills near; and, according to your discretion,
take the depth of the place, where you mean after to cast your
ground-bait, and to fish, to half an inch; that the lead lying on or
near the ground-bait, the top of the float may only appear upright half
an inch above the water.

Thus you having found and fitted for the place and depth thereof, then
go home and prepare your ground-bait, which is, next to the fruit of
your labours, to be regarded.


The GROUND-BAIT.

You shall take a peck, or a peck and a half, according to the greatness
of the stream and deepness of the water, where you mean to angle, of
sweet gross-ground barley-malt; and boil it in a kettle, one or two
warms is enough: then strain it through a bag into a tub, the liquor
whereof hath often done my horse much good; and when the bag and malt is
near cold, take it down to the water-side, about eight or nine of the
clock in the evening, and not before: cast in two parts of your
ground-bait, squeezed hard between both your hands; it will sink
presently to the bottom; and be sure it may rest in the very place where
you mean to angle: if the stream run hard, or move a little, cast your
malt in handfuls a little the higher, upwards the stream. You may,
between your hands, close the malt so fast in handfuls, that the water
will hardly part it with the fall.

Your ground thus baited, and tackling fitted, leave your bag, with the
rest of your tackling and ground-bait, near the sporting-place all
night; and in the morning, about three or four of the clock, visit the
water-side, but not too near, for they have a cunning watchman, and are
watchful themselves too.

Then, gently take one of your three rods, and bait your hook; casting it
over your ground-bait, and gently and secretly draw it to you till the
lead rests about the middle of the ground-bait.

Then take a second rod, and cast in about a yard above, and your third a
yard below the first rod; and stay the rods in the ground: but go
yourself so far from the water-side, that you perceive nothing but the
top of the floats, which you must watch most diligently. Then when you
have a bite, you shall perceive the top of your float to sink suddenly
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
necessary for you to know, and to be mindful and careful of, that if the
Pike or Perch do breed in that river, they will be sure to bite first,
and must first be taken. And for the most part they are very large; and
will repair to your ground-bait, not that they will eat of it, but will
feed and sport themselves among the young fry that gather about and
hover over the bait.

The way to discern the Pike and to take him, it 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 feet deep from the cork, with a little red
worm on the point of the hook: then take a few crumbs of white bread, or
some of the ground-bait, and sprinkle it gently amongst your rods. If
Mr. Pike be there, then the little fish will skip out of the water at
his appearance, but the live-set bait is sure to be taken.

Thus continue your sport from four in the morning till eight, and if it
be a gloomy windy day, they will bite all day long: but this is too long
to stand to your rods, at one place; and it will spoil your evening
sport that day, which is this.

About four of the clock in the afternoon repair to your baited place;
and as soon as you come to the water-side, cast in one-half of the rest
of your ground-bait, and stand off; then whilst the fish are gathering
together, for there they will most certainly come for their supper, you
may take a pipe of tobacco: and then, in with your three rods, as in the
morning. You will find excellent sport that evening, till eight of the
clock: then cast in the residue of your ground-bait, and next morning,
by four of the clock, visit them again for four hours, which is the best
sport of all; and after that, let them rest till you and your friends
have a mind to more sport.

From St. James's-tide until Bartholomew-tide is the best; when they have
had all the summer's food, they are the fattest.

Observe, lastly, that after three or four days' fishing 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 meantime, on the place you late baited,
and again intend to bait, you shall take a turf of green but short
grass, as big or bigger than a round trencher; to the top of this turf,
on the green side, you shall, with a needle and green thread, fasten one
by one, as many little red worms as will near cover all the turf: then
take a round board or trencher, make a hole in the middle thereof, and
through the turf placed on the board or trencher, with a string or cord
as long as is fitting, tied to a pole, let it down to the bottom of the
water, for the fish to feed upon without disturbance about two or three
days; and after that you have drawn it away, you may fall to, and enjoy
your former recreation.

B. A.





The fourth day-continued

On the Tench

Chapter XI

Piscator

The Tench, the physician of fishes, is observed to love ponds better
than rivers, and to love pits better than either: yet Camden observes,
there is a river in Dorsetshire that abounds with Tenches, but doubtless
they retire to the most deep and quiet places in it.

This fish hath very large fins, very small and smooth scales, a red
circle about his eyes, which are big and of a gold colour, and from
either angle of his mouth there hangs down a little barb. In every
Tench's head there are two little stones which foreign physicians make
great use of, but he is not commended for wholesome meat, though there
be very much use made of them for outward applications. Rondeletius
says, that at his being at Rome, he saw a great cure done by applying a
Tench to the feet of a very sick man. This, he says, was done after an
unusual manner, by certain Jews. And it is observed that many of those
people have many secrets yet unknown to Christians; secrets that have
never yet been written, but have been since the days of their Solomon,
who knew the nature of all things, even from the cedar to the shrub,
delivered by tradition, from the father to the son, and so from
generation to generation, without writing; or, unless it were casually,
without the least communicating them to any other nation or tribe; for
to do that they account a profanation. And, yet, it is thought that
they, or some spirit worse than they, first told us, that lice,
swallowed alive, were a certain cure for the yellow-jaundice. This, and
many other medicines, were discovered by them, or by revelation; for,
doubtless, we attained them not by study.

Well, this fish, besides his eating, is very useful, both dead and
alive, for the good of mankind. But I will meddle no more with that, my
honest, humble art teaches no such boldness: there are too many foolish
meddlers in physick 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.

He will bite at a paste made of brown bread and honey, or at a
marsh-worm, or a lob-worm; he inclines very much to any paste with which
tar is mixt, and he will bite also at a smaller worm with his head
nipped off, and a cod-worm put on the hook before that worm. And I doubt
not but that he will also, in the three hot months, for in the nine
colder he stirs not much, bite at a flag-worm or at a green gentle; but
can positively say no more of the Tench, he being a fish I have not
often angled for; but I wish my honest scholar may, and be ever
fortunate when he fishes.





The fourth day-continued

On the Perch

Chapter XII

Piscator and Venator

Piscator. The Perch is a very good and 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 Perch is of great esteem in Italy, saith Aldrovandus: and especially
the least are there esteemed a dainty dish. And Gesner prefers the Perch
and Pike above the Trout, or any fresh-water fish: he says the Germans
have this proverb, "More wholesome than a Perch of Rhine": and he says
the River-Perch is so wholesome, that physicians allow him to be eaten
by wounded men, or by men in fevers, or by women in child-bed.

He spawns but once a year; and is, by physicians, held very nutritive;
yet, by many, to be hard of digestion. They abound more in the river Po,
and in England, says Rondeletius, than other parts: and have in their
brain a stone, which is, in foreign parts, sold by apothecaries, being
there noted to be very medicinable against the stone in the reins. These
be a part of the commendations which some philosophical brains have
bestowed upon the freshwater Perch: yet they commend the Sea-Perch 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 Perch grows slowly, yet will grow, as I have been credibly informed,
to be almost two feet 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 Perch will set up his fins, much like as a
turkey-cock will sometimes set up his tail.

But, my scholar, the Perch 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 warm day in winter. And he hath been observed, by some, not
usually to bite till the mulberry-tree buds; that is to say, till
extreme frosts be past the spring; for, when the mulberry-tree blossoms,
many gardeners observe their forward fruit to be past the danger of
frosts; and some have made the like observation of the Perch's biting.

But bite the Perch 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 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 Perch 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 Perch 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 Perch time enough when he bites; for
there was scarce ever any angler that has given him too much. And now I
think best to rest myself; for I have almost spent my spirits with
talking so long.

Venator. Nay, good master, one fish more, for you see it rains still:
and you know our angles are like money put to usury; they may thrive,
though we sit still, and do nothing but talk and enjoy one another.
Come, come, the other fish, good master.

Piscator. 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?

Venator. Yes, master, I will speak you a copy of verses that were made
by Doctor Donne, and made to shew the world that he could make soft and
smooth verses, when he thought smoothness worth his labour: and I love
them the better, because they allude to Rivers, and Fish and Fishing.
They be these:

    Come, live with me, and be my love,
    And we will some new pleasures prove,
    Of golden sands, and crystal brooks,
    With silken lines, and silver hooks.

    There will the river whisp'ring run,
    Warm'd by thy eyes more than the sun
    And there the enamel'd fish will stay
    Begging themselves they may betray.

    When thou wilt swim in that live bath,
    Each fish, which every channel hash,
    Most amorously to thee will swim,
    Gladder to catch thee, than thou him.

    If thou, to be so seen, beest loath
    By sun or moon, thou dark'nest both;
    And if mine eyes have leave to see,
    I need not their light, having thee,

    Let others freeze with angling reeds,
    And cut their legs with shells and weeds,
    Or treacherously poor fish beset
    With strangling snares or windowy net;

    Let coarse bold hands, from slimy nest,
    The bedded fish in banks outwrest;
    Let curious traitors sleeve silk flies,
    To 'witch poor wand'ring fishes' eyes.

    For thee, thou need'st no such deceit,
    For thou thyself art shine own bait;
    That fish that is not catcht thereby,
    Is wiser afar, alas, than I.

Piscator. Well remembered, honest scholar. I thank you for these choice
verses; which I have heard formerly, but had quite forgot, till they
were recovered by your happy memory. Well, being I have now rested
myself a little, I will make you some requital, by telling you some
observations of the Eel; for it rains still: and because, as you say,
our angles are as money put to use, that thrives when we play, therefore
we'll sit still, and enjoy ourselves a little longer under this
honeysuckle hedge.





The fourth day-continued

Of the Eel, and other Fish that want Scales

Chapter XIII

Piscator

It is agreed by most men, that the Eel is a most dainty fish: the Romans
have esteemed her the Helena of their feasts; and some the queen of
palate-pleasure. But most men differ about their breeding: some say they
breed by generation, as other fish do; and others, that they breed, as
some worms do, of mud; as rats and mice, and many other living
creatures, are bred in Egypt, by the sun's heat when it shines upon the
overflowing of the river Nilus; or out of the putrefaction of the earth,
and divers other ways. Those that deny them to breed by generation, as
other fish do, ask, If any man ever saw an Eel to have a spawn or melt?
And they are answered, That they may be as certain of their breeding as
if they had seen spawn; for they say, that they are certain that Eels
have all parts fit for generation, like other fish, but so small as not
to be easily discerned, by reason of their fatness; but that discerned
they may be; and that the He and the She Eel may be distinguished by
their fins. And Rondeletius says, he has seen Eels cling together like
dew-worms.

And others say, that Eels, growing old, breed other Eels out of the
corruption of their own age; which, Sir Francis Bacon says, exceeds not
ten years. And others say, that as pearls are made of glutinous
dewdrops, which are condensed by the sun's heat in those countries, so
Eels are bred of a particular dew, falling in the months of May or June
on the banks of some particular ponds or rivers, apted by nature for
that end; which in a few days are, by the sun's heat, turned into Eels:
and some of the Ancients have called the Eels that are thus bred, the
offspring of Jove. I have seen, in the beginning of July, in a river not
far from Canterbury, some parts of it covered over with young Eels,
about the thickness of a straw; and these Eels did lie on the top of
that water, as thick as motes are said to be in the sun: and I have
heard the 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
young goslings bred by the sun's heat and the rotten planks of an old
ship, and hatched of trees; both which are related for truths by Du
Bartas and Lobel, and also by our learned Camden, and laborious Gerhard
in his Herbal.

It is said by Rondeletius, that those Eels that are bred in rivers that
relate to or be nearer to the sea, never return to the fresh waters, as
the Salmon does always desire to do, when they have once tasted the salt
water; and I do the more easily believe this, because I am certain that
powdered beef is a most excellent bait to catch an Eel. And though Sir
Francis Bacon will allow the Eel's life to be but ten years, yet he, in
his History of Life and Death, mentions a Lamprey, belonging to the
Roman emperor, to be made tame, and so kept for almost threescore years;
and that such useful and pleasant observations were made of this
Lamprey, that Crassus the orator, who kept her, lamented her death; and
we read in Doctor Hakewill, that Hortensius was seen to weep at the
death of a Lamprey that he had kept long, and loved exceedingly.

It is granted by all, or most men, that Eels, for about six months, that
is to say, the six cold months of the year, stir not up or 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 anything, as I have told you some swallows
have been observed to do in hollow trees, for those six cold months. And
this the Eel and Swallow do, as not being able to endure winter weather:
for Gesner quotes Albertus to say, that in the year 1125, that year's
winter being more cold than usually, Eels did, by nature's instinct, get
out of the water into a stack of hay in a meadow upon dry ground; and
there bedded themselves: but yet, at last, a frost killed them. And our
Camden relates, that, in Lancashire, fishes were digged out of the earth
with spades, where no water was near to the place. I shall say little
more of the Eel, but that, as it is observed he is impatient of cold, so
it hath been observed, that, in warm weather, an Eel has been known to
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, the green or greenish Eel, with which the river of
Thames abounds, and those are called Grigs; and a blackish Eel, whose
head is more flat and bigger than ordinary Eels; and also an Eel whose
fins are reddish, and but seldom taken in this nation, and yet taken
sometimes. These several kind of Eels are, say some, diversely bred; as,
namely, out of the corruption of the earth; and some by dew, and other
ways, as I have said to you: and yet it is affirmed by some for a
certain, that the silver Eel is bred by generation, but not by spawning
as other fish do; but that her brood come alive from her, being 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 anything, for he is a greedy fish. But the Eel may
be caught, especially, with a little, a very little Lamprey, which some
call a Pride, and may, in the hot months, be found many of them in the
river Thames, and in many mud-heaps in other rivers; yea, almost as
usually as one finds worms in a dunghill.

Next note, that the Eel seldom stirs in the day, but then hides himself;
and therefore he is usually caught by night, with one of these baits of
which I have spoken; and may be then caught by laying hooks, which you
are to fasten to the bank, or twigs of a tree; or by throwing a string
across the stream, with many hooks at it, and those baited with the
aforesaid baits; and a clod, or plummet, or stone, thrown into the river
with this line, that so you may in the morning find it near to some
fixed place; and then take it up with a drag-hook, or otherwise. But
these things are, indeed, too common to be spoken of; and an hour's
fishing with any angler will teach you better, both for these and many
other common things in the practical part of angling, than a week's
discourse. I shall therefore conclude this direction for taking the Eel,
by telling you, that in a warm day in summer, I have taken many a good
Eel by Snigling, and have been much pleased with that sport.

And because you, that are but a young angler, know not what Snigling is
I will now teach it to you. You remember I told you that Eels do not
usually stir in the daytime; for then they hide themselves under some
covert; or under boards or planks about flood-gates, or weirs, or mills;
or in holes on the river banks: so that you, observing your time in a
warm day, when the water is lowest, may take a strong small hook, tied
to a strong line, or to a string about a yard long; and then into one of
these holes, or between any boards about a mill, or under any great
stone or plank, or any place where you think an Eel may hide or shelter
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 if there be an Eel within the sight of it, the Eel will
bite instantly, and as certainly gorge it; and you need not doubt to
have him if you pull him not out of the hole too quickly, but pull him
out by degrees; for he, 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.

And to commute for your patient hearing this long direction, I shall
next tell you, how to make this Eel a most excellent dish of meat.

First, wash him in water and salt; then pull off his skin below his vent
or navel, and not much further: having done that, take out his guts as
clean as you can, but wash him not: then give him three or four scotches
with a knife; and then put into his belly and those scotches, sweet
herbs, an anchovy, and a little nutmeg grated or cut very small, and
your herbs and anchovies must also be cut very small; and mixt with good
butter and salt: having done this, then pull his skin over him, all but
his head, which you are to cut off, to the end you may tie his skin
about that part where his head grew, and it must be so tied as to keep
all his moisture within his skin: and having done this, tie him with
tape or packthread to a spit, and roast him leisurely; and baste him
with water and salt till his skin breaks, and then with butter; and
having roasted him enough, let what was put into his belly, and what he
drips, be his sauce. S. F.

When I go to dress an Eel thus, I wish he were as long and as big as
that which was caught in Peterborough river, in the year 1667; which was
a yard and three quarters long. If you will not believe me, then go and
see at one of the coffee-houses in King Street in Westminster.

But now let me tell you, that though the Eel, thus drest, be not only
excellent good, but more harmless than any other way, yet it is certain
that physicians account the Eel dangerous meat; I will advise you
therefore, as Solomon says of honey, "Hast thou found it, eat no more
than is sufficient, lest thou surfeit, for it is not good to eat much
honey". And let me add this, that the uncharitable Italian bids us "give
Eels and no wine to our enemies".

And I will beg a little more of your attention, to tell you, 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 frequent both the sea and fresh rivers; as, namely,
the Lamprel, the Lamprey, and the Lamperne: as also of the mighty
Conger, taken often in Severn, about Gloucester: and might also tell in
what high esteem many of them are for the curiosity of their taste. But
these are not so proper to be talked of by me, because they make us
anglers no sport; therefore I will let them alone, as the Jews do, to
whom they are forbidden by their law.

And, scholar, there is also a FLOUNDER, a sea-fish which will wander
very far into fresh rivers, and there lose himself and dwell: and thrive
to a hand's breadth, and almost twice so long: a fish without scales,
and most excellent meat: and a fish that affords much sport to the
angler, with any small worm, but especially a little bluish worm, gotten
out of marsh-ground, or meadows, which should be well scoured. But this,
though it be most excellent meat, yet it wants scales, and is, as I told
you, therefore an abomination to the Jews.

But, scholar, there is a fish that they in Lancashire boast very much
of, called a CHAR; taken there, and I think there only, in a mere called
Winander Mere; a mere, says Camden, that is the largest in this nation,
being ten miles in length, and some say as smooth in the bottom as if it
were paved with polished marble. This fish never exceeds fifteen or
sixteen inches in length; and is spotted like a Trout: and has scarce a
bone, but on the back. But this, though I do not know whether it make
the angler sport, yet I would have you take notice of it, because it is
a rarity, and of so high esteem with persons of great note.

Nor would I have you ignorant of a rare fish called a GUINIAD; of which
I shall tell you what Camden and others speak. The river Dee, which runs
by Chester, springs in Merionethshire; and, as it runs toward Chester,
it runs through Pemble Mere, which is a large water: and it is observed,
that though the river Dee abounds with Salmon, and Pemble mere with the
Guiniad, yet there is never any Salmon caught in the mere, nor a
Guiniad in the river. And now my next observation shall be of the
Barbel.





The fourth day-continued

Of the Barbel

Chapter XIV

Piscator, Venator, Milk-woman

Piscator. The Barbel is so called, says Gesner, by reason of his barb or
wattles at his mouth, which are under his nose or chaps. He is one of
those leather-mouthed fishes that I told you of, that does very seldom
break his hold if he be once hooked: but he is so strong, that he will
often break both rod and line, if he proves to be a big one.

But the Barbel, though he be of a fine shape, and looks big, yet he is
not accounted the best fish to eat, neither for his wholesomeness nor
his taste; but the male is reputed much better than the female, whose
spawn is very hurtful, as I will presently declare to you.

They flock together like sheep, and are at the worst in April, about
which time they spawn; but quickly grow to be in season. He is able to
live in the strongest swifts of 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 weir; where he
will nest himself amongst piles, or in hollow places; and take such hold
of moss or weeds, that be the water never so swift, it is not able to
force him from the place that he contends for. This is his constant
custom in summer, when he and most living creatures sport 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 Danube, that Rondeletius
says they may, in some places of it, and in some months of the year, be
taken, by those who dwell near to the river, with their hands, eight or
ten load at a time. He says, they begin to be good in May, and that they
cease to be so in August: but it is found to be otherwise in this
nation. But thus far we agree with him, that the spawn of a Barbel, if
it be not poison, as he says, yet that it is dangerous meat, and
especially in the month of May, which is so certain, that Gesner and
Gasius declare it had an ill effect upon them, even to the endangering
of their lives.

The fish is of a fine cast and handsome shape, with small scales, which
are placed after a most exact and curious manner, and, as I told you,
may be rather said not to be ill, than to be good meat, The Chub and he
have, I think, both lost part of their credit by ill cookery; they being
reputed the worst, or coarsest, of fresh-water fish. But the Barbel
affords an angler choice sport, being a lusty and a cunning fish; so
lusty and cunning as to endanger the breaking of the angler's line, by
running his head forcibly towards any covert, or hole, or bank, and then
striking at the line, to break it off, with his tail; as is observed by
Plutarch, in his book De 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 boldly as at any bait, and
specially if, the night or two before you fish for him, you shall bait
the places where you intend to fish for him, with big worms cut into
pieces. And note, that none did ever over-bait the place, nor fish too
early or too late for a Barbel. And the Barbel will bite also at
generals, 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. Rut, doubtless, the lob-worm well scoured,
and the gentle not too much scoured, and cheese ordered as I have
directed, are baits enough, and I think will serve in any month: though
I shall commend any angler that tries conclusions, and is industrious to
improve the art. And now my honest scholar, the long shower and my
tedious discourse are both ended together: and I shall give you but this
observation, that when you fish for a Barbel, your rod and line be both
long and of good strength; for, as I told you, you will find him a heavy
and a dogged fish to be dealt withal; yet he seldom or never breaks his
hold, if he be once strucken. And if you would know more of fishing for
the Umber or Barbel, get into favour with Dr. 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?

Venator. Which you think fit, master.

Piscator. Why, you shall take up that; for I am certain, by viewing the
line, it has a fish at it. Look you, scholar! well done! Come, now take
up the other too: well! now you may tell my brother Peter, at night,
that you have caught a leash of Trouts this day. And now let's move
towards our lodging, and drink a draught of red-cow's milk as we go; and
give pretty Maudlin and her honest mother a brace of Trouts for their
supper.

Venator. Master, I like your motion very well: and I think it is now
about milking-time; and yonder they be at it.

Piscator. God speed you, good woman! I thank you both for our songs last
night: I and my companion have had such fortune a-fishing this day, that
we resolve to give you and Maudlin a brace of Trouts for supper; and we
will now taste a draught of your red-cow's milk.

Milk-woman. Marry, and that you shall with all my heart; and I will be
still your debtor when you come this way. If you will but speak the
word, I will make you a good syllabub of new verjuice; and then you may
sit down in a haycock, and eat it; and Maudlin shall sit by and sing you
the good old song of the "Hunting in Chevy Chace," or some other good
ballad, for she hath store of them: Maudlin, my honest Maudlin, hath a
notable memory, and she thinks nothing too good for you, because you be
such honest men.

Venator. We thank you; and intend, once in a month to call upon you
again, and give you a little warning; and so, good-night Good-night,
Maudlin. And now, good master, let's lose no time: but tell me somewhat
more of fishing; and if you please, first, something of fishing for a
Gudgeon.

Piscator. I will, honest scholar.





The fourth day-continued

Of the Gudgeon, the Ruffe, and the Bleak

Chapter XV

Piscator

The GUDGEON is reputed a fish of excellent taste, and to be very
wholesome. He is of a fine shape, of a silver colour, and beautified
with black spots both on his body and tail. He breeds two or three times
in the year; and always in summer. He is commended for a fish of
excellent nourishment. The Germans call him Groundling, by reason of his
feeding on the ground; and he there feasts himself, in sharp streams and
on the gravel. He and the Barbel both feed so: and do not hunt for flies
at any time, as most other fishes do. He is an excellent fish to enter a
young angler, being easy to be taken with a small red worm, on or very
near to the ground. He is one of those leather-mouthed fish that has his
teeth in his throat, and will hardly be lost off from the hook if he be
once strucken.

They be usually scattered up and down every river in the shallows, in
the heat of summer: but in autumn, when the weeds begin to grow sour and
rot, and the weather colder, then they gather together, and get into the
deeper parts of the water; and are to be fished for there, with your
hook always touching the ground, if you fish for him with a float or
with a cork. But many will fish for the Gudgeon by hand, with a running
line upon the ground, without a cork, as a Trout is fished for: and it
is 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 rivers: he is much like the Perch for
his shape, and taken to be better than the Perch, but will not grow to
be bigger than a Gudgeon. He is an excellent fish; no fish that swims is
of a pleasanter taste. And he is also excellent to enter a young angler,
for he is a greedy biter: and they will usually lie, abundance of them
together, in one reserved place, where the water is deep and runs
quietly; and an easy angler, if he has found where they lie, may catch
forty or fifty, or sometimes twice so many, at a standing.

You must fish for him with a small red worm; and if you bait the ground
with earth, it is excellent.

There is also a BLEAK or fresh-water Sprat; a fish that is ever in
motion, and therefore called by some the river-swallow; for just as you
shall observe the swallow to be, most evenings in summer, ever in
motion, making short and quick turns when he flies to catch flies, in
the air, by which he lives; so does the Bleak at the top of the water.
Ausonius would have called him 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 we have the fortune, which
virtue has in poor people, to be neglected, yet the Bleak ought to be
much valued, though we want Allamot salt, and the skill that the
Italians have, to turn them into anchovies. This fish may be caught with
a 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.
There is no better sport than whipping for Bleaks in a boat, or on a
bank, in the swift water, in a summer's evening, with a hazel top about
five or six foot long, and a line twice the length of the rod. I have
heard Sir Henry Wotton say, that there be many that in Italy will catch
swallows so, or especially martins; this bird-angler standing on the top
of a steeple to do it, and with the 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 Heron, that did constantly
frequent one place, caught with a hook baited with a big minnow or a
small gudgeon. The line and hook must be strong: and tied to some loose
staff, so big as she cannot fly away with it: a line not exceeding two
yards.





The fourth day-continued

Is of nothing, or of nothing worth

Chapter XVI

Piscator, Venator, Peter, Coridon

Piscator. My purpose was to give you some directions concerning ROACH
and DACE, and some other inferior fish which make the angler excellent
sport; for you know there is more pleasure in hunting the hare than in
eating her: but I will 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 anything that I can then remember, I will not
keep it from you.

Well met, gentlemen; this is lucky that we meet so just together at this
very door, Come, hostess, where are you? is supper ready? Come, first
give us a 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 bouts, 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.

Peter. And Coridon and I have not had an unpleasant day: and yet I have
caught but five bouts; 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.

Piscator. Nay, I will not be worse than my word; you shall not want my
song, and I hope I shall be perfect in it.

Venator. 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.

Coridon. 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.

Piscator. Well then, here s to you, Coridon; and now for my song.

    O the gallant Fisher's life,
      It is the best of any;
    'Tis full of pleasure, void of strife,
      And 'tis beloved of many:
        Other joys
        Are but toys;
        Only this
        Lawful is;
        For our skill
        Breeds no ill,
      But content and pleasure.

    In a morning up we rise
      Ere Aurora's peeping,
    Drink a cup to wash our eyes.
      Leave the sluggard sleeping;
        Then we go
        To and fro,
        With our knacks
        At our backs
        To such streams
        As the Thames
      If we have the leisure.

    When we please to walk abroad
      For our recreation,
    In the fields is our abode,
      Full of delectation:
        Where in a brook
        With a hook
        Or a lake
        Fish we take:
        There we sit
        For a bit,
      Till we fish entangle.

    We have gentles in a horn,
      We have paste and worms too
    We can watch both night and 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 sun's excessive heat
      Make our bodies swelter,
    To an osier hedge we get
      For a friendly shelter
        Where, in a dike,
        Perch or Pike
        Roach or Dace
        We do chase Bleak or Gudgeon,
        Without grudging
      We are still contented.

    Or we sometimes pass an hour
      Under a green willow,
    That defends us from a shower,
      Making earth our pillow;
        Where we may
        Think and pray
        Before death
        Stops our breath.
        Other joys
        Are but toys,
      And to be lamented.

    Jo. Chalkhill.

Venator. Well sung, master; this day's fortune and pleasure, and the
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?

Piscator. 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 with the help
of mine own invention, who am not excellent at poetry, as my part of the
song may testify; but of that I will say no more, lest you should think
I mean, by discommending it, to beg your commendations of it. And
therefore, without replications, let's hear your catch, scholar; which I
hope will be a good one, for you are both musical and have a good fancy
to boot.

Venator. Marry, and that you shall; and as freely as I would have my
honest master tell me some more secrets of fish and fishing, as we walk
and fish towards London to-morrow. But, master, first let me tell you,
that very hour which you were absent from me, I sat down under a
willow-tree by the water-side, and considered what you had told me of
the owner of that pleasant meadow in which you 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; looking on the
hills, I could behold them spotted with woods and groves; looking down
the meadows, could see, here a boy gathering lilies and lady-smocks, and
there a girl cropping culverkeys and cowslips, all to make garlands
suitable to this present month of May: these, and many other field
flowers, so perfumed the air, that I thought that very meadow like that
field in Sicily of which Diodorus speaks, where the perfumes arising
from the place make all dogs that hunt in it to fall off, and to lose
their hottest scent I say, as I thus sat, joying in my own happy
condition, and pitying this poor rich man that owned this and many other
pleasant groves and meadows about me, I did thankfully remember what my
Saviour said, that the meek possess the earth; or rather, they enjoy
what the others possess, and enjoy not; for anglers and meek
quiet-spirited men are free from those high, those restless thoughts,
which corrode the sweets of life; and they, and they only, can say, as
the poet has happily express it,

    Hail! blest estate of lowliness;
      Happy enjoyments of such minds
    As, rich in self-contentedness,
      Can, like the reeds, in roughest winds,
    By yielding make that blow but small
    At which proud oaks and cedars fall.

There came also into my mind at that time certain verses in praise of a
mean estate and humble mind: they were written by Phineas Fletcher, an
excellent divine, and an excellent angler; and the author of excellent
Piscatory Eclogues, in which you shall see the picture of this good
man's mind: and I wish mine to be like it.

      No empty hopes, no courtly fears him fright;
      No begging wants his middle fortune bite:
    But sweet content exiles 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 tost in boisterous, seas,
      Or the vexatious world, or lost in slothful ease;
    Please 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 teas place
      His little son into his bosom creeps,
        The lively picture of his father's face.
      His humble house or poor state ne'er torment him
      Less he could like, if less his God had lent him;
    And when he dies, green turfs do for a tomb content him,

Gentlemen, these were a part of the thoughts that then possessed me. And
I there made a conversion of a piece of an old catch, and added more to
it, fitting them to be sung by us anglers. Come, Master, you can sing
well: you must sing a part of it, as it is in this paper.

    Man's life is but vain, for 'tis subject to pain,
      And sorrow, and short as a bubble;
    'Tis a hodge-podge of business, and money, and care,
      And care, and money, and trouble.

    But we'll take no care when the weather proves fair;
      Nor will we vex now though it rain;
    We'll banish all sorrow, and sing till to-morrow,
      And angle, and angle again.

Peter. I marry, Sir, this is musick indeed; this has cheer'd my heart,
and made me remember six verses in praise of musick, which I will speak
to you instantly.

    Musick! miraculous rhetorick, thou speak'st sense
    Without a tongue, excelling eloquence;
    With what ease might thy errors be excus'd,
    Wert thou as truly lov'd as th' art abus'd!
    But though dull souls neglect, and some reprove thee,
    I cannot hate thee, 'cause the Angels love thee.

Venator. And the repetition of these last verses of musick has called to
my memory what Mr. Edmund Waller, a lover of the angle, says of love and
musick.

    Whilst I listen to thy voice,
      Chloris! I feel my heart decay
        That powerful voice
      Calls my fleeting soul away:
    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 what the blessed do above
    Is, that they sing, and that they love.

Piscator. 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 dry house over our
heads.

Piscator. Well, now, good-night to everybody. Peter. And so say I.

Venator. And so say I.

Coridon. Good-night to you all; and I thank you.





The FIFTH day.

Piscator. 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 his two shillings,
so that my hostess may not have occasion to repent herself of being so
diligent, and using us so kindly.

Peter. The motion is liked by everybody, and so, hostess, here's your
money: we anglers are all 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-continued

Of Roack and Dace

Chapter XVII

Venator and Piscator

Venator. Good master, as we go now towards London, be still so courteous
as to give me more instructions; for I have several boxes in my memory,
in which I will keep them all very safe, there shall not one of them be
lost.

Piscator. Well, scholar, that I will: and I will hide nothing from you
that I can remember, and can think may help you forward towards a
perfection in this art. And because we have so much time, and I have
said so little of Roach and Dace, I will give you some directions
concerning them.

Some say the Roach is so called from rutilus, which they say signifies
red fins. He is a fish of no great reputation for his dainty taste; and
his spawn is accounted much better than any other part of him. And you
may take notice, that as the Carp is accounted the water-fox, for his
cunning; so the Roach is accounted the water-sheep, for his simplicity
or foolishness. It is noted, that the Roach and Dace recover strength,
and grow in season in a fortnight after spawning; the Barbel and Chub in
a month; the Trout in four months; and the Salmon in the like time, if
he gets into the sea, and after into fresh water.

Roaches be accounted much better in the river than in a pond, though
ponds usually breed the biggest. But there is a kind of bastard small
Roach, that breeds in ponds, with a very forked tail, and of a very
small size; which some say is bred by the Bream and right Roach; and
some ponds are stored with these beyond belief; and knowing-men, that
know their difference, call them Ruds: they differ from the true Roach,
as much as a Herring from a Pilchard. And these bastard breed of Roach
are now scattered in many rivers: but I think not in the Thames, which I
believe affords the largest and fattest in this nation, especially below
London Bridge. The Roach is a leather-mouthed fish, and has a kind of
saw-like teeth in his throat. And lastly, let me tell you, the Roach
makes an angler 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
with a little lead to the bottom, near to the piles or posts of a
bridge, or near to any posts of a weir, I mean any deep place where
Roaches lie quietly, and then pull your fly up very leisurely, and
usually a Roach will follow your bait up to the very top of the water,
and gaze on it there, and run at it, and take it, lest the fly should
fly away from him.

I have seen this done at Windsor and Henley Bridge, and great store of
Roach taken; and sometimes, a Dace or Chub. And in August you may fish
for them with a paste made only of the crumbs of bread, which should be
of pure fine manchet; and that paste must be so tempered betwixt your
hands till it be both soft and tough too: a very little water, and time,
and labour, and clean hands, will make it a most excellent paste. But
when you fish with it, you must have a small hook, a quick eye, and a
nimble hand, or the bait is lost, and the fish too; if one may lose that
which he never had. With this paste you may, as I said, take both the
Roach and the Dace or Dare; for they be much of a kind, in manner of
feeding, cunning, goodness, and usually in size. And therefore take this
general direction, for some other baits which may concern you to take
notice of: they will bite almost at any fly, but especially at
ant-flies; concerning which take this direction, for it is very good.

Take the blackish ant-fly out of the mole-hill or ant-hill, in which
place you shall find them in the 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
readiness for you to fish with: but if you would have them keep longer,
then get any great earthen pot, or barrel of three or four gallons,
which is better, then wash your barrel with water and honey; and having
put into it a quantity of earth and grass roots, then put in your flies,
and cover it, and they will live a quarter of a year. These, in any
stream and clear water, are a deadly bait for Roach or Dace, or for a
Chub: and your rule is to fish not less than a handful from the bottom.

I shall next tell you a winter-bait for a Roach, a Dace, or Chub; and it
is choicely good. About All-hallantide, and so till frost comes, when
you see men ploughing up heath ground, or sandy ground, or greenswards,
then follow the plough, and you shall find a white worm, as big as two
maggots, and it hath a red head: you may observe in what ground most
are, for there the crows will be very watchful and follow the plough
very close: it is all soft, and full of whitish guts; a worm that is, in
Norfolk and some other counties, called a grub; and is bred of the spawn
or eggs of a beetle, which she leaves in holes that she digs in the
ground under cow or horse dung, and there rests all winter, and in March
or April comes to be first a red and then a black beetle. Gather a
thousand or two of these, and put them, with a peck or two of their own
earth, into some tub or firkin, and cover and keep them so warm that the
frost or cold air, or winds, kill them not: these you may keep all
winter, and kill fish with them at any time; and if you put some of them
into a little earth and honey, a day before you use them, you will find
them an excellent bait for Bream, Carp, or indeed for almost any fish.

And after this manner you may also keep gentles all winter; which are a
good bait then, and much the better for being lively and tough. Or you
may breed and keep gentles thus: take a piece of beast's liver, and,
with a cross stick, hang it in some corner, over a pot or barrel half
full of dry clay; and as the gentles grow big, they will fall into the
barrel and scour themselves, and be always ready for use whensoever you
incline to fish; and these gentles may be thus created till after
Michaelmas. But if you desire to keep gentles to fish with all the year,
then get a dead cat, or a kite, and let it be flyblown; and when the
gentles begin to be alive and to stir, then bury it and them in soft
moist earth, but as free from frost as you can; and these you may dig up
at any time when you intend to use them: these will last till March, and
about that time turn to be flies.

But if you be nice to foul your fingers, which good anglers seldom are,
then take this bait: get a handful of well-made malt, and put it into a
dish of water; and then wash and rub it 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 marr'd and then cut off
that sprouted end, I mean a little of it, that the white may appear; and
so pull off the husk on the cloven side, as I directed you; and then
cutting off a very little of the other end, that so your hook may enter;
and if your hook be small and good, you will find this to be a very
choice bait, either for winter or summer, you sometimes casting a little
of it into the place where your float swims.

And to take the Roach and Dace, a good bait is the young brood of wasps
or bees, if you dip their heads in blood; 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 into
such pieces as may best fit the size of your hook; and a little salt
keeps it from growing black, and makes it not the worse, but better:
this is taken to be a choice bait, if rightly ordered.

There be several oils of a strong smell that I have been told of, and to
be excellent to tempt fish to bite, of which I could say much. But I
remember I once carried a small bottle from Sir George Hastings to Sir
Henry Wotton, they were both chemical men, as a great present: it was
sent, and receiv'd, and us'd, with great confidence; and yet, upon
inquiry, I found it did not answer the expectation of Sir Henry; which,
with the help of this and other circumstances, makes me have little
belief in such things as many men talk of. Not but that I think that
fishes both smell and hear, as I have express in my former discourse:
but there is a mysterious knack, which though it be much easier than the
philosopher's stone, yet is not attainable by common capacities, or else
lies locked up in the brain or breast of some chemical man, that, like
the Rosicrucians, will not yet reveal it. But let me nevertheless tell
you, that camphire, 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 whetstone and knife,
    My basket, my baits, both living and dead,
      My net, and my meat, for that is the chief:
    Then I must have thread, and hairs green and small,
    With mine angling purse: and so you have all.

But you must have all these tackling, and twice so many more, with
which, if you mean to be a fisher, you must store yourself; and to that
purpose I will go with you, either to Mr. Margrave, who dwells amongst
the book-sellers in St. Paul's Church-yard, or to Mr. John Stubs, near
to the Swan in Goldinglane: they be both honest men, and will fit an
angler with what tackling he lacks.

Venator. 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.

Piscator. Well, and I'll not fail you, God willing, at the time and
place appointed.

Venator. I thank you, good master, and I will not fail you. And, good
master, tell me what BAITS more you remember; for it will not now be
long ere we shall be at Tottenham-High-Cross; and when we come thither I
will make you some requital of your pains, by repeating as choice a copy
of Verses as any we have heard since we met together; and that is a
proud word, for we have heard very good ones.

Piscator Well, scholar, and I shall be then right glad to hear them. And
I will, as we walk, tell you whatsoever comes in my mind, that I think
may be worth your hearing. You may make another choice bait thus: take a
handful or two of the best and biggest wheat you can get; boil it in a
little milk, like as frumity is boiled; boil it so till it be soft; and
then fry it, very leisurely, with honey, and a little beaten saffron
dissolved in milk; and you will find this a choice bait, and good, I
think, for any fish, especially for Roach, Dace, Chub, or Grayling: I
know not but that it may be as good for a river Carp, and especially if
the ground be a little baited with it.

And you may also note, that the SPAWN of most fish is a very tempting
bait, being a little hardened on a warm tile and cut into fit pieces.
Nay, mulberries, and those black-berries which grow upon briars, be good
baits for Chubs or Carps: with these many have been taken in ponds, and
in some rivers where such trees have grown near the water, and the fruit
customarily drops 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, in several little brooks that relate to bigger rivers; as
namely, one cadis called a piper, whose husk, or case, is a piece of
reed about an inch long, or longer, and as big about as the compass of a
two-pence. These worms being kept three or four days in a woollen bag,
with sand at the bottom of it, and the bag wet once a day, will in three
or four days turn to be yellow; and these be a choice bait for the Chub
or Chavender, or indeed for any great fish, for it is a large bait.

There is also a lesser cadis-worm, called a Cockspur, being in fashion
like the spur of a cock, sharp at one end: and the case, or house, in
which this dwells, is made of small husks, and gravel, and slime, most
curiously made of these, even so as to be wondered at, but not to be
made by man, no more than a king-fisher's nest can, which is made of
little fishes' bones, and have such a geometrical interweaving and
connection as the like is not to be done by the art of man. This kind of
cadis is a choice bait for any float-fish; it is much less than the
piper-cadis, and to be so ordered: and these may be so preserved, ten,
fifteen, or twenty days, or it may be longer.

There is also another cadis, called by some a Straw-worm, and by some a
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 hedge-hog. 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 they do early, so those have their time also of turning
to be flies in later 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 professes to be
an angler has not leisure to search after, and, if he had, is not
capable of learning.

I'll tell you, scholar; several countries have several kinds of cadises,
that indeed differ as much as dogs do; that is to say, as much as a very
cur and a greyhound do. These be usually bred in the very little rills,
or ditches, that run into bigger rivers; and I think a more proper bait
for those very rivers than any other. I know not how, 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 yellow cadis: pull off his
head, and with it pull out his black gut; put the body, as little
bruised as is possible, on a very little hook, armed on with a red hair,
which will 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 presently venture his life for it, it is
not to be doubted, if you be not espied; and that the bait first touch
the water before the line. And this will do best in the deepest 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 should
ever like to do so, then note, that your stick must be a little hazel,
or willow, cleft, or have a nick at one end of it, by which means you
may, with ease, take many of them in that nick out of the water, before
you have any occasion to use them. These, my honest scholar, are some
observations, told to you as they now come suddenly into my memory, of
which you may make some use: but for the practical part, it is that that
makes an angler: it is diligence, and observation, and practice, and an
ambition to be the best in the art, that must do it. 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.




The FIFTH day-continued

Of the Minnow, or Penk; Loach, Bull-Head, or Miller's-Thumb: and the
Stickle-bag

Chapter XVIII

Piscator and Venator

Piscator. There be also three or four other little fish that I had
almost forgot; that are all without scales; and may for excellency of
meat, be compared to any fish of greatest value and largest size. They
be usually full of eggs or spawn, all the months 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 perfection. And it is needful that they breed both often
and numerously; for they be, besides other accidents of ruin, both a
prey and baits for other fish. And first I shall tell you of the Minnow
or Penk.

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 panther, on its sides, inclining to a greenish or sky-colour; his
belly being milk white; and his back almost black or blackish. He is a
sharp biter at a small worm, and in hot weather makes excellent sport
for young anglers, or boys, or women that love that recreation. And in
the spring they make of them excellent Minnow-tansies; for being washed
well in salt, and their heads and tails cut off, and their guts taken
out, and not washed after, they prove excellent for that use; that is,
being fried with yolk of eggs, the flowers of cowslips and of primroses,
and a little tansy; thus used they make a dainty dish of meat.

The LOACH is, as I told you, a most dainty fish: he breeds and feeds in
little and clear swift brooks or rills, and lives there upon the gravel,
and in the sharpest streams: he grows not to be above a finger long, and
no thicker than is suitable to that length. The Loach is not unlike the
shape of the Eel: he has a beard or wattles like a barbel. He has two
fins at his sides, four at his belly, and one at his tail; he is dappled
with many black or brown spots; his mouth is barbel-like under his nose.
This fish is usually full of eggs or spawn; and is by Gesner, and other
learned physicians, commended for great nourishment, and to be very
grateful both to the palate and stomach of sick persons. He is to be
fished for with a very small worm, at the bottom; for he very seldom, or
never, rises above the gravel, on which I told you he usually gets his
living.

The MILLER'S-THUMB, or BULL-HEAD, is a fish of no pleasing shape. He is
by Gesner compared to the Sea-toad-fish, for 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 you, spawn several
months in the summer. And in the winter, the Minnow, and Loach, and
Bull-head dwell in the mud, as the Eel doth; or we know not where, no
more than we know where the cuckoo and swallow, and other half-year
birds, which first appear to us in April, spend their six cold, winter,
melancholy months. This BULL-HEAD does usually dwell, and hide himself,
in holes, or amongst stones in clear water; and in very hot days will
lie a long time very still, and sun himself, and will be easy to be seen
upon any flat stone, or any gravel; at which time he will suffer an
angler to put a hook, baited with a small worm, very near unto his very
mouth: and he never refuses to bite, nor indeed to be caught with the
worst of anglers. Matthiolus commends him much more for his taste and
nourishment, than for his shape or beauty.

There is also a little fish called a STICKLEBAG, a fish 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 wind-mill, will make him turn
more quick than any Penk or Minnow can. For note, that the nimble
turning of that, or the Minnow is the perfection of Minnow-fishing. To
which end, if you put your hook into his mouth, and out at his tail; and
then, having first tied him with white thread a little above his tail,
and placed him after such a manner on your hook as he is like to turn
then sew up his mouth to your line, and he is like to turn quick, and
tempt any Trout: but if he 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 Loach that I told you of will do the like: no bait is more tempting,
provided the Loach be not too big.

And now, scholar, with the help of this fine morning, and your patient
attention, I have said all that my present memory will afford me,
concerning most of the several fish that are usually fished for in fresh
waters.

Venator. But, master, you have by your former civility made me hope that
you will make good your promise, and say something of the several rivers
that be of most note in this nation; and also of fish-ponds, and the
ordering of them: and do it I pray, good master; for I love any
discourse of rivers, and fish and fishing; the time spent in such
discourse passes away very pleasantly.




The FIFTH day-continued

Of Rivers, and some Observations of Fish

Chapter XIX

Piscator

WELL, scholar, since the ways and weather do both favour us, and that we
yet see not Tottenham-Cross, you shall see my willingness to satisfy
your desire. And, first, for the rivers of this nation: there be, as you
may note out of Dr. 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 somewhat beyond Thame in Buckinghamshire, and the
latter near Cirencester in Gloucestershire, meet together about
Dorchester in Oxfordshire; the issue of which happy conjunction is
Thamisis, or Thames; hence it flieth betwixt Berks, Buckinghamshire,
Middlesex, Surrey, Kent and Essex: and so weddeth itself 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, &c.

    We saw so many woods and princely bowers,
    Sweet fields, brave palaces, and stately towers;
    So many gardens drest 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 Montgomeryshire; and his end seven miles from
Bristol; washing, in the mean space, the walls of Shrewsbury, Worcester,
and Gloucester, and divers other places and palaces of note.

3. TRENT, so called from thirty kind of fishes that are found in it, or
for that it receiveth thirty lesser rivers; who having his fountain in
Staffordshire, and gliding through the counties of Nottingham, Lincoln,
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 rather the
mouth or aestuarium of divers rivers here confluent and meeting
together, namely, your Derwent, and especially of Ouse and Trent; and,
as the Danow, having received into its channel the river Dravus, Savus,
Tibiscus, and divers others, changeth his name into this of Humberabus,
as the old geographers call it.

4. MEDWAY, a Kentish river, famous for harbouring the royal navy.

5. TWEED, the north-east bound of England; on whose northern banks is
seated the strong and impregnable town of Berwick.

6. TYNE, famous for Newcastle, and her inexhaustible coal-pits. These,
and the rest of principal note, are thus comprehended in one of Mr.
Drayton's Sonnets:

    Our floods' queen, Thames, for ships and swans is crown'd
      And stately Severn for her shore is 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 wonders of her Ouse can tell;
    The Peak, her Dove, whose banks so fertile be,
      And Kent will say her Medway doth excel:

    Cotswold commends her Isis to the Tame:
      Our northern borders boast of Tweed's fair flood;
    Our Western parts extol their Willy's fame,
      And the old Lea brags of the Danish blood.

These observations are out of learned Dr. Heylin, and my old deceased
friend, Michael Drayton; and because you say you love such discourses as
these, of rivers, and fish, and fishing, I love you the better, and love
the more to impart them to you. Nevertheless, scholar, if I should begin
but to name the several sorts of strange fish that are usually taken in
many of those rivers that run into the sea, I might beget wonder in you,
or unbelief, or both: and yet I will venture to tell you a real truth
concerning one lately dissected by Dr. Wharton, a man of great learning
and experience, and of equal freedom to communicate it; one that loves
me and my art; one to whom I have been beholden for many of the choicest
observations that I have imparted to you. This good man, that dares do
anything rather than tell an untruth, did, I say, tell me he had lately
dissected one strange fish, and he thus described it to me:

"This fish was almost a yard broad, and twice that length; his mouth
wide enough to receive, or take into it, the head of a man; his stomach,
seven or eight inches broad. He is of a slow motion; and usually lies or
lurks close in the mud; and has a 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 the river
leaves on the banks when it falls back into its natural channel, such
strange fish and beasts are also bred, that no man can give a name to;
as Grotius in his Sopham, and others, have observed.

But whither am I strayed in this discourse. I will end it by telling
you, that at the mouth of some of these rivers of ours, Herrings are so
plentiful, as namely, near to Yarmouth in Norfolk, and in the west
country Pilchers so very plentiful, as you will wonder to read what our
learned Camden relates of them in his Britannia.

Well, scholar, I will stop here, and tell you what by reading and
conference I have observed concerning fish-ponds.




The FIFTH day-continued

Of Fish-Ponds

Chapter XX

Piscator

DOCTOR LEBAULT, the learned Frenchman, in his large discourse of Maison
Rustique, gives this direction for making of fish-ponds. I shall refer
you to him, to read it at large: but I think I shall contract it, and
yet make it as useful.

He adviseth, that when you have drained the ground, and made the earth
firm where the head of the pond must be, that you must then, in that
place, drive in two or three rows of oak or elm piles, which should be
scorched in the fire, or half-burnt, before they be driven into the
earth; for being thus used, it preserves them much longer from rotting.
And having done so, lay faggots or bavins of smaller wood betwixt them:
and then, earth betwixt and above them: and then, having first very well
rammed them and the earth, use another pile in like manner as the first
were: and note, that the second pile is to be of or about the height
that you intend to make your sluice or floodgate, or the vent that you
intend shall convey the overflowings of your pond in any flood that
shall endanger the breaking of your pond-dam.

Then he advises, that you plant willows or owlers, about it, or both:
and then cast in bavins, in some places not far from the side, and in
the most sandy places, for fish both to spawn upon, and to defend them
and the young fry from the many fish, and also from vermin, that lie at
watch to destroy them, especially the spawn of the Carp and Tench, when
'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, hollow banks, or shelves, or roots
of trees, to keep them from danger, and, when they think fit, from the
extreme heat of summer; as also from the extremity of cold in winter.
And note, that if many trees be growing about your pond, the leaves
thereof falling into the water, make it nauseous to the fish, and the
fish to be so to the eater of it.

'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
pond, if you intend either profit or pleasure, once every three or four
years, especially some ponds, and then let it dry six or twelve months,
both to kill the water-weeds, as water-lilies, candocks, reate, and
bulrushes, that breed there; and also that as these die for want of
water, so grass may grow in the pond's bottom, which Carps will eat
greedily in all the hot months, if the pond be clean. The letting your
pond dry and sowing oats in the bottom is also good, for the fish feed
the faster; and being sometimes let dry, you may observe what kind of
fish either increases or thrives best in that water; for they differ
much, both in their breeding and feeding.

Lebault also advises, that if your ponds be not very large and roomy,
that you often feed your fish, by throwing into them chippings of bread,
curds, grains, or the entrails of chickens or of any fowl or beast that
you kill to feed yourselves; for these afford fish a great relief. He
says, that frogs and ducks do much harm, and devour both the spawn and
the young fry of all fish, especially of the Carp; and I have, besides
experience, many testimonies of it. But Lebault allows water-frogs to be
good meat, especially in some months, if they be fat: but you are to
note, that he is a Frenchman; and we English will hardly believe him,
though we know frogs are usually eaten in his country: however he
advises to destroy them and king-fishers out of your ponds. And he
advises not to suffer much shooting at wild fowl; for that, he says,
affrightens, and harms, and destroys the fish.

Note, that Carps and Tench thrive and breed best when no other fish is
put with them into the same pond; for all other fish devour their spawn,
or at least the greatest part of it. And note, that clods of grass
thrown into any pond feed any Carps in summer; and that garden-earth and
parsley thrown 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 diligent survey of Dubravius and Lebault
hath told me: not that they, in their long discourses, have not said
more; but the most of the rest are so common observations, as if a man
should tell a good arithmetician that twice two is four. I will
therefore put an end to this discourse; and we will here sit down and
rest us.





The FIFTH day-continued

Chapter XXI

Piscator and Venator

Piscator. Well, Scholar, I have held you too long about these cadis, and
smaller fish, and rivers, and fish-ponds; and my spirits are almost
spent, and so I doubt is your patience; but being we are now almost at
Tottenham where I first met you, and where we are to part, I will lose
no time, but give you a little direction how to make and order your
lines, and to colour the hair of which you make your lines, for that is
very needful to be known of an angler; and also how to paint your rod,
especially your top; for a right-grown top is a choice commodity, and
should be preserved from the water soaking into it, which makes it in
wet weather to be heavy and fish ill-favouredly, and not true; and also
it rots quickly for want of painting: and I think a good top is worth
preserving, or I had not taken care to keep a top 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 unevenness. You shall seldom find a black hair but it
is round, but many white are flat and uneven; therefore, if you get a
lock of right, round, clear, glass-colour hair, make much of it.

And for making your line, observe this rule: first, let your hair be
clean washed ere you go about to twist it; and then choose not only the
clearest hair for it, but hairs that be of an equal bigness, for such do
usually stretch all together, and break all together, which hairs of an
unequal bigness never do, but break singly, and so deceive the angler
that trusts to them.

When you have twisted your links, lay them in water for a quarter of an
hour at least, and then twist them over again before you tie them into a
line: for those that do not so shall usually find their line to have a
hair or two shrink, and be shorter than the rest, at the first fishing
with it, which is so much of the strength of the line lost for want of
first watering it, and then re-twisting it; and this is most visible in
a seven-hair line, one of those which hath always a black hair in the
middle.

And for dyeing of your hairs, do it thus: take a pint of strong ale,
half a pound of soot, and a little quantity of the juice of walnut-tree
leaves, and an equal quantity of alum: put these together 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 purpose; for
doubtless the water-colour or glass-coloured hair is the most choice and
most useful for an angler, but let it not be too green.

But if you desire to colour hair greener, then do it thus: take a quart
of small ale, half a pound of alum; then put these into a pan or pipkin,
and your hair into it with them; then put it upon a fire, and let it
boil softly for half an hour; and then take out your hair, and let it
dry; and having so done, then take a pottle of water, and put into it
two handfuls of marigolds, and cover it with a tile or what you think
fit, and set it again on the fire, where it is to boil again softly for
half an hour, about which time the scum will turn yellow; 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 more marigolds; and abate most of the copperas, or leave it quite
out, and take a little verdigris instead of it.

This for colouring your hair.

And as for painting your Rod, which must be in oil, you must first make
a size with glue and water, boiled together until the glue be dissolved,
and the size of a lye-colour: then strike your size upon the wood with a
bristle, or a brush or pencil, whilst it is hot: that being quite dry,
take white-lead, and a little red-lead, and a little coal-black, so much
as altogether will make an ash-colour: grind these altogether with
linseed-oil; let it be thick, and lay it thin upon the wood with a brush
or pencil: this do for the ground of any colour to lie upon wood.

For a green, take pink and verdigris, 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, mention to you some of
the thoughts and joys that have possessed my soul since we two met
together. And these thoughts shall be told you, that you also may join
with me in thankfulness to the Giver of every good and perfect gift, for
our happiness. And that our present happiness may appear to be the
greater, and we the more thankful for it, I 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
or broken limbs; some have been blasted, others thunder-strucken: and we
have been freed from these, and all those many other miseries that
threaten human nature; let us therefore rejoice and be thankful. Nay,
which is a far greater mercy, we are free from the insupportable burthen
of an accusing tormenting conscience; a misery that none can bear: and
therefore let us praise Him for His preventing grace, and say, Every
misery that I miss is a new mercy. Nay, let me tell you, 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 drunk, 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 money, that he may still
get more and more money; he is still drudging on, and says, that Solomon
says "The diligent hand maketh rich"; and it is true indeed: but he
considers not that it is not in the power of riches to make a man happy;
for it was wisely said, by a man of great observation, "that there be as
many miseries beyond riches as on this side of them ". And yet God
deliver us from pinching poverty; and grant, that having a competency,
we may be content and thankful. Let not us repine, or so much as think
the gifts of God unequally dealt, if we see another abound with riches;
when, as God knows, the cares that are the keys that keep those riches
hang often so heavily at the rich man's girdle, that they clog him with
weary days and restless nights, even when others sleep quietly. We see
but the outside of the rich man's happiness: few consider him to be like
the silk-worm, that, when she seems to play, is, at the very same time,
spinning her own bowels, and consuming herself; and this many rich men
do, loading themselves with corroding cares, to keep what they have,
probably, unconscionably got. Let us, therefore, be thankful for health
and a competence; and above all, for a quiet conscience.

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 nutcrackers, 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 themselves to get what they have no need of. Can any man charge
God, that He hath not given him enough to make his life happy? No,
doubtless; for nature is content with a little. And yet you shall hardly
meet with a man that complains not of some want; though he, indeed,
wants nothing but his will; it may be, nothing but his will of his poor
neighbour, for not worshipping, or not flattering him: and thus, when we
might be happy and quiet, we create trouble to ourselves. I have heard
of a man that was angry with himself because he was no taller; and of a
woman that broke her looking-glass because it would not shew her face to
be as young and handsome as her next neighbour's was. And I knew another
to whom God had given health and plenty; but a wife that nature had made
peevish, and her husband's riches had made purse-proud; and must,
because she was rich, and for no other virtue, sit in the highest pew in
the church; which being denied her, she engaged her husband into a
contention for it, and at last into a law-suit with a dogged neighbour
who was as rich as he, and had a wife as peevish and purse-proud as the
other: and this law-suit begot higher oppositions, and actionable words,
and more vexations and lawsuits; 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 vext and chid, and chid and vext, till she also chid and
vext herself into her grave: and so the wealth of these poor rich people
was curst into a punishment, because they wanted meek and thankful
hearts; for those only can make us happy. I knew a man that had health
and riches; and several houses, all beautiful, and ready furnished; and
would often trouble himself and family to be removing from one house to
another: and being asked by a friend why he removed so often from one
house to another, replied, "It was to find content in some one of them".
But his friend, knowing his temper, told him, "If he would find content
in any of his houses, he must leave himself behind him; for content will
never dwell but in a meek and quiet soul". And this may appear, if we
read and consider what our Saviour says in St. Matthew's Gospel; for He
there says"Blessed be the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed be the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed be the
poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And, "Blessed be the
meek, for they shall possess the earth." Not that the meek shall not
also obtain mercy, and see God, and be comforted, and at last come to
the kingdom of heaven: but in the meantime, he, and he only, possesses
the earth, as he goes towards that kingdom of heaven, by being humble
and cheerful, and content with what his good God had allotted him. He
has no turbulent, repining, vexatious thoughts that he deserves better;
nor is vext when he see others possess 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, and though the prophet David
was guilty of murder and adultery, and many other of the most deadly
sins, yet he was said to be a man after God's own heart, because he
abounded more with thankfulness that any other that is mentioned in holy
scripture, as may appear in his book of Psalms; where there is such a
commixture, of his confessing of his sins and unworthiness, and such
thankfulness for God's pardon and mercies, as did make him to be
accounted, even by God himself, to be a man after his own heart: and let
us, in that, labour to be as like him as we can; let not the blessings
we receive daily from God make us not to value, or not praise Him,
because they be common; let us not forget to praise Him for the innocent
mirth and pleasure we have met with since we met together. What would a
blind man give to see the pleasant rivers, and meadows, and flowers, and
fountains, that we have met with since we met together? I have been
told, that if a man that was born blind could obtain to have his sight
for but only one hour during his whole life, and should, at the first
opening of his eyes, fix his sight upon the sun when it was in its full
glory, either at the rising or setting of it, he would be so transported
and amazed, and so admire the glory of it, 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 the most of them, because
they be so common, most men forget to pay their praises: but let not us;
because it is a sacrifice so pleasing to Him that made that sun and us,
and still protects us, and gives us flowers, and showers, and stomachs,
and meat, and content, and leisure to go a-fishing.

Well, Scholar, I have almost tired myself, and, I fear, more than almost
tired you. But I now see Tottenham High-Cross; and our short walk
thither shall put a period to my too long discourse; in which my meaning
was, and is, to plant that in your mind with which I labour to possess
my own soul; that is, a meek and thankful heart. And to that end I have
shewed you, that riches without them, do not make any man happy. But let
me tell you, that riches with them remove many fears and cares. And
therefore my advice is, that you endeavour to be honestly rich, or
contentedly poor: but be sure that your riches be justly got, or you
spoil all. For it is well said by Caussin, "He that loses his
conscience has nothing left that is worth keeping". Therefore be sure
you look to that. And, in the next place, look to your health: and if
you have it, praise God, and value it next to a good conscience; for
health is the second blessing that we mortals are capable of; a blessing
that money cannot buy; and 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 competence, enjoy it with a meek, cheerful, thankful heart. I
will tell you, Scholar, I have heard a grave Divine say, that God has
two dwellings; one in heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful
heart; which Almighty God grant to me, and to my honest Scholar. And so
you are welcome to Tottenham High-Cross.

Venator. Well, Master, I thank you for all your good directions; but for
none more than this last, of thankfulness, which I hope I shall never
forget. And pray let's now rest ourselves in this sweet shady arbour,
which nature herself has woven with her own fine fingers; 'tis such a
contexture of woodbines, sweetbriar, jasmine, and myrtle; and so
interwoven, as will secure us both from the sun's violent heat, and from
the approaching shower. And being set down, I will requite a part of
your courtesies with a bottle of sack, milk, oranges, and sugar, which,
all put together, make a drink like nectar; indeed, too good for any but
us Anglers, And so, Master, here is a full glass to you of that liquor:
and when you have pledged me, I will repeat the Verses which I promised
you: it is a Copy printed among some of Sir Henry Wotton's, and
doubtless made either by him, or by a lover of angling. Come, Master,
now drink a glass to me, and then I will pledge you, and fall to my
repetition; it is a description of such country recreations as I have
enjoyed since I had the happiness to fall into your company.

    Quivering fears, heart-tearing cares,
    Anxious sighs, untimely tears,
        Fly, fly to courts,
        Fly to fond worldlings' sports,
    Where strain'd sardonic smiles are glosing still,
    And Grief is forc'd to laugh against her will:
        Where mirth's but mummery,
        And sorrows only real be.

    Fly from our country pastimes, fly,
    Sad troops of human misery.
        Come, serene looks,
        Clear as the crystal brooks,
    Or the pure azur'd heaven that smiles to see
    The rich attendance of our poverty:
        Peace and a secure mind,
        Which all men seek, we only find.

    Abused mortals I did you know
    Where joy, heart's-ease, and comforts grow,
        You'd scorn proud towers,
        And seek them in these bowers;
    Where winds, sometimes, our woods perhaps may shake,
    But blust'ring care could never tempest make,
        Nor murmurs e'er come nigh us,
        Saving of fountains that glide by us.

    Here's no fantastick mask, nor dance,
    But of our kids that frisk and prance;
        Nor wars are seen
        Unless upon the green
    Two harmless lambs are butting one the other,
    Which done, both bleating run, each to his mother
        And wounds are never found,
        Save what the plough-share gives the ground.

    Here are no false entrapping baits,
    To hasten too, too hasty Fates,
        Unless it be
        The fond credulity
    Of silly fish, which worldling like, still look
    Upon the bait, but never on the hook;
        Nor envy, unless among
        The birds, for prize of their sweet song.

    Go, let the diving negro seek
    For gems, hid in some forlorn creek:
        We all pearls scorn,
        Save what the dewy 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 ye be,
    For ever, mirth's best nursery!
        May pure contents
        For ever pitch their tents
    Upon these downs, these meads, these rocks, these mountains.
    And peace still slumber by these purling fountains:
        Which we may, every year,
        Meet when we come a-fishing here.

Piscator. Trust me, Scholar, I thank you heartily for these Verses: they
be choicely good, and doubtless made by a lover of angling. Come, now,
drink a glass 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 possess with happy thoughts at the time of their composure.

    Farewell, ye gilded follies, pleasing troubles;
    Farewell, ye honour'd rags, ye glorious bubbles;
    Fame's but a hollow echo, Gold, pure clay;
    Honour the darling but of one short day;
    Beauty, th' eye's idol, but a damask'd skin;
    State, but a golden prison, to live in
    And torture free-born minds; embroider'd Trains,
    Merely but pageants for proud swelling veins;
    And Blood allied to greatness is alone
    Inherited, not 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:
    I would be high, but see the proudest oak
    Most subject to the rending thunder-stroke:
    I would be rich, but see men, too unkind
    Dig in the bowels of the richest mind:
    I would be wise, but that I often see
    The fox suspected, whilst the ass goes free:
    I would be fair, but see the fair and proud,
    Like the bright sun, oft setting in a cloud:
    I would be poor, but know the humble grass
    Still trampled on by each unworthy ass:
    Rich, hated wise, suspected, scorn'd if poor;
    Great, fear'd, fair, tempted, high, still envy'd more.
      I have wish'd all, but now I wish for neither.
      Great, high, rich, wise, nor fair: poor I'll be rather.

    Would the World now adopt me for her heir;
    Would beauty's Queen entitle me the fair;
    Fame speak me fortune's minion, could I "vie
    Angels" with India with a speaking eye
    Command bare heads, bow'd knees, strike justice dumb,
    As well as blind and lame, or give a tongue
    To stones by epitaphs, be call'd "great master"
    In the loose rhymes of every poetaster?
    Could I be more than any man that lives,
    Great, fair, rich wise, all in superlatives;
    Yet I more freely would these gifts resign
    Than ever fortune would have made them mine.
      And hold one minute of this holy leisure
      Beyond the riches of this empty pleasure.

    Welcome, pure thoughts; welcome, ye silent groves;
    These guests, these courts, my soul most dearly loves.
    Now the wing'd people of the sky shall sing
    My cheerful anthems to the gladsome spring:
    A pray'r-book, now, shall be my looking-glass,
    In which I will adore sweet virtue's face.
    Here dwell no hateful looks, no palace cares,
    No broken vows dwell here, nor pale-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.

Venator. Well, Master, these verses be worthy to keep a room in every
man's memory. I thank you for them; and I thank you for your many
instructions, which, God willing, I will not forget. And as St. Austin,
in his Confessions, commemorates the kindness of his friend Verecundus,
for lending him and his companion a country house, because there they
rested and enjoyed themselves, free from the troubles of the world, so,
having had the like advantage, both by your conversation and the art you
have taught me, I ought ever to do the like; for, indeed, your company
and discourse have been so useful and pleasant, that, I may truly say, I
have only lived since I enjoyed them and turned angler, and not before.
Nevertheless, here I must part with you; here in this now sad place,
where I was so happy as first to meet you: but I shall long for the
ninth of May; for then I hope again to enjoy your beloved company, at
the appointed time and place. And now I wish for some somniferous
potion, that might force me to sleep away the intermitted time, which
will pass away with me as tediously as it does with men in sorrow;
nevertheless I will make it as short as I can, by my hopes and wishes:
and, my good Master, I will not forget the doctrine which you told me
Socrates taught his scholars, that they should not think to be 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 bodies 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 Almighty
God, I will walk the meadows, by some gliding stream, and there
contemplate the lilies that take no care, and those very many other
various little living creatures that are not only created, but fed, man
knows not how, by the goodness of the God of Nature, and therefore trust
in him. This is my purpose; and so, let everything that hath breath
praise the Lord: and let the blessing of St. Peter's Master be with
mine.

Piscator. 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."