The Complete Angler 1653 Part 11

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

_Pisc_. Well Scholer, that I will, and I will hide nothing from you that I can remember, and may help you forward towards a perfection in this Art; and because we have so much time, and I have said so little of _Roch_ and _Dace_, I will give you some directions concerning some several kinds of baits with which they be usually taken; they will bite almost at any flies, 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-hil, in which place you shall find them in the Months of _June_; or if that be too early in the yeer, 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 gla.s.s, that will hold a quart or a pottle; but first, put into the gla.s.s, a handful or more of the moist earth out of which you gather them, and as much of the roots of the gra.s.s of the said Hillock; and then put in the flies gently, that they lose their wings, and as many as are put into the gla.s.s without bruising, will live there a month or more, and be alwaies in a readiness for you to fish with; but if you would have them keep longer, then get any great earthen pot or barrel of three or four gallons (which is better) then wash your barrel with water and honey; and having put into it a quant.i.tie of earth and gra.s.s 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 _Roch_ or _Dace_, or for a _Chub_, and your rule is to fish not less then a handful from the bottom.

I shall next tell you a winter bait for a _Roch_, a _Dace_, or _Chub_, and it is choicely good. About _All-hollantide_ (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 Magots, 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 Countries called a _Grub_, and is bred of the sp.a.w.n 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, and you may keep them 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 baite for _Breame_ or _Carp_.

And after this manner you may also keep _Gentles_ all winter, which is a good bait then, and much the better for being lively and tuffe, or you may breed and keep Gentle thus: Take a piece of beasts 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 wil fall into the barrel and scowre themselves, and be alwayes ready for use whensoever you incline to fish; and these Gentles may be thus made til after _Michaelmas_: But if you desire to keep Gentles to fish with all the yeer, then get a dead _Cat_ or a _Kite_, and let it be fly-blowne, and when the Gentles begin to be alive and to stir, then bury it and them in 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 wil last till _March_, and about that time turn to be flies.

But if you be nice to fowl your fingers (which good Anglers seldome are) then take this bait: Get a handful of well made Mault, and put it into a dish of water, and then wash and rub it betwixt your hands til you make it cleane, and as free from husks as you can; then put that water from it, and put a small quant.i.tie 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 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 flote swims.

And to take the _Roch_ and _Dace_, a good bait is the young brood of Wasps or Bees, baked or hardened in their husks in an Oven, after the bread is taken out of it, or on a fire-shovel; and so also is the thick blood of _Sheep_, being half dryed on a trencher that you may cut it into such pieces as may best fit the size of your hook, and a little salt keeps it from growing black, and makes it not the worse but better; this is taken to be a choice bait, if rightly ordered.

There be several Oiles of a strong smel 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 chimical men) as a great present; but upon enquiry, I found it did not answer the expectation of Sir _Henry_, which with the help of other circ.u.mstances, makes me have little belief in such things as many men talk of; not but that I think fishes both smell and hear (as I have exprest in my former discourse) but there is a mysterious knack, which (though it be much easier then the Philosophers-Stone, yet) is not atainable by common capacities, or else lies locked up in the braine or brest of some chimical men, that, like the _Rosi-crutions_, yet will not reveal it. But I stepped by chance into this discourse of Oiles, and fishes smelling; and though there might be more said, both of it, and of baits for _Roch_ and _Dace_, and other flote 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 Rhime out of an old Fish-book, which will be a part of what you are to provide.

_My rod, and my line, my flote and my lead, My hook, & my plummet, my whetstone & knife, My Basket, my baits, both living and dead, My net, and my meat for that is the chief; Then I must have thred & hairs great & smal, 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 your selfe: and to that purpose I will go with you either to _Charles Brandons_ (neer to the _Swan_ in _Golding-lane_); or to Mr. _Fletchers_ in the Court which did once belong to Dr. _Nowel_ the Dean of _Pauls_, that I told you was a good man, and a good Fisher; it is hard by the west end of Saint _Pauls_ Church; they be both honest men, and will fit an Angler with what tackling hee wants.

_Viat_. Then, good Master, let it be at _Charles Brandons_, for he is neerest to my dwelling, and I pray lets meet there the ninth of _May_ next about two of the Clock, and I'l want nothing that a Fisher should be furnished with.

_Pisc_. Well, and Ile not fail you, G.o.d willing, at the time and place appointed.

_Viat_. I thank you, good Master, and I will not fail you: and good Master, tell me what baits more you remember, for it wil not now be long ere we shal be at _Totenham High-Cross_, and when we come thither, I wil 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 wee have heard very good ones.

_Pisc_. Wel, Scholer, and I shal be right glad to hear them; and I wil tel 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 Frumitie 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 wil find this a choice bait, and good I think for any fish, especially for _Roch, Dace, Chub_ or _Greyling_; 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.

You are also to know, that there be divers kinds of _Cadis_, or _Case-worms_ that are to bee 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 compa.s.s 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 dayes turne 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 _c.o.c.k-spur_, being in fashion like the spur of a _c.o.c.k_, sharp at one end, and the case or house in which this dwels is made of smal _husks_ and _gravel_, and _slime_, most curiously made of these, even so as to be wondred at, but not made by man (no more then the nest of a bird is): this is a choice bait for any flote fish, it is much less then the _Piper Cadis_, and to be so ordered; and these may be so preserved ten, fifteen, or twentie dayes.

There is also another _Cadis_ called by some a _Straw-worm_, and by some a _Russe-coate_, 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 condens'd slime, that they stick up about her husk or case, not unlike the _bristles_ of a _Hedg-hog_; these three _Cadis_ are commonly taken in the beginning of Summer, and are good indeed to take any kind of fish with flote or otherwise, I might tell you of many more, which, as these doe early, so those have their time of turning to be flies later in Summer; but I might lose my selfe, 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 bee _Cadis_, and then as they be flies, is an Art, and an Art that every one that professes Angling is not capable of.

But let mee tell you, I have been much pleased to walk quietly by a Brook with a little stick in my hand, with which I might easily take these, and consider the curiosity of their composure; and if you shall ever like to do so, then note, that your stick must be cleft, or have a nick at one end of it, by which meanes you may with ease take many of them out of the water, before you have any occasion to use them. These, my honest Scholer, 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 that must do it.

CHAP. XIII.

_Pisc_. Well, Scholar, I have held you too long about these _Cadis_, and my spirits are almost spent, and so I doubt is your patience; but being we are now within sight of _Totenham_, where I first met you, and where wee are to part, I will give you a little direction how 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 Commoditie, and should be preserved from the water soking into it, which makes it in wet weather to be heavy, and fish ill favouredly, and also to rot quickly.

Take a pint of strong Ale, half a pound of soot, and a like quant.i.ty of the juice of Walnut-tree leaves, and an equal quant.i.tie of Allome, put these together into a pot, or 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 lye; it wil turn your hair to be a kind of water, or gla.s.s colour, or greenish, and the longer you let it lye, the deeper coloured it will bee; you might be taught to make many other colours, but it is to little purpose; for doubtlesse the water or gla.s.s coloured haire is the most choice and most useful for an _Angler_.

But if you desire to colour haire green, then doe it thus: Take a quart of smal Ale, halfe a pound of Allome, then put these into a pan or pipkin, and your haire into it with them, then put it upon a fire and let it boile 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 handful of Mary-golds, and cover it with a tile or what you think fit, and set it again on the fire, where it is to boil softly for half an hour, about which time the sc.u.m will turn yellow, then put into it half a pound of Copporis beaten smal, and with it the hair that you intend to colour, then let the hair be boiled softly till half the liquor be wasted, & then let it cool three or four hours with your hair in it; and you are to observe, that the more Copporis you put into it, the greener it will be, but doubtless the pale green is best; but if you desire yellow hair (which is only good when the weeds rot) then put in the more _Mary-golds_, and abate most of the Copporis, or leave it out, and take a little Verdigreece in stead of it.

This for colouring your hair. And as for painting your rod, which must be in Oyl, you must first make a size with glue and water, boiled together until the glue be dissolved, and the size of a lie colour; then strike your size upon the wood with a bristle brush or pensil, whilst it is hot: that being quite dry, take white lead, and a little red lead, and a little cole black, so much as all together will make an ash colour, grind these all together with Linseed oyle, let it be thick, and lay it thin upon the wood with a brush or pensil, this do for the ground of any colour to lie upon wood.

_For a Green_.

Take Pink and Verdigreece, and grind them together in Linseed oyl, as thick 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 wel, and be sure your first colour be thoroughly dry, before you lay on a second.

Well, Scholer, you now see _Totenham_, and I am weary, and therefore glad that we are so near it; but if I were to walk many more days with you, I could stil be telling you more and more of the mysterious Art of Angling; but I wil hope for another opportunitie, and then I wil acquaint you with many more, both necessary and true observations concerning fish and fishing: but now no more, lets turn into yonder Arbour, for it is a cleane and cool place.

_Viat_. 'Tis a faire motion, and I will requite a part of your courtesies with a bottle of _Sack_, and _Milk_, and _Oranges_ and _Sugar_, which all put together, make a drink too good for anybody, but us Anglers: and so Master, here is a full gla.s.s to you of that liquor, and when you have pledged me, I wil repeat the Verses which I promised you, it is a Copy printed amongst Sir _Henry Wottons_ Verses, and doubtless made either by him, or by a lover of Angling: Come Master, now drink a gla.s.s to me, and then I will pledge you, and fall to my repet.i.tion; it is a discription of such Country recreations as I have enjoyed since I had the happiness to fall into your company.

_Quivering fears, heart tearing cares, Anxious sighes, untimely tears, Fly, fly to Courts, Fly to fond wordlings sports, Where strain'd Sardonick smiles are glosing stil And grief is forc'd to laugh against her will.

Where mirths but Mummery, And sorrows only real be.

Fly from our Country pastimes, fly, Sad troops of humane misery, Come serene looks, Clear as the Christal Brooks, Or the pure azur'd heaven that smiles to see The rich attendance on our poverty; Peace and a secure mind Which all men seek, we only find.

Abused Mortals did you know Where joy, hearts ease, and comforts grow, You'd scorn proud Towers, And seek them in these Bowers, Where winds sometimes our woods perhaps may shake, But bl.u.s.tering care could never tempest make, No murmurs ere 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 b.u.t.ting 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 Unles it be The fond credulitie Of silly fish, which, worldling like, still look Upon the bait, but never on the hook; Nor envy, 'nless among The birds, for price 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 morne Congeals upon each little spire of gra.s.se, Which careless Shepherds beat down as they pa.s.se, And Gold ne're here appears Save what the yellow_ Ceres _bears.

Blest silent Groves, oh may you be For ever mirths blest nursery, May pure contents For ever pitch their tents Upon these downs, these Meads, these rocks, these mountains, And peace stil slumber by these purling fountains Which we may every year find when we come a fishing here_.

_Pisc_. Trust me, Scholer, I thank you heartily for these Verses, they be choicely good, and doubtless made by a lover of Angling: Come, now drink a gla.s.s to me, and I wil requite you with a very good Copy of Verses; it is a farewel to the vanities of the world, and some say written by D'r. D, but let them bee writ by whom they will, he that writ them had a brave soul, and must needs be possest with happy thoughts at the time of their composure.

_Farwel ye guilded follies, pleasing troubles, Farwel ye honour'd rags, ye glorious bubbles; Fame's but a hollow eccho, gold pure clay, Honour the darling but of one short day.

Beauty (th'eyes idol) but a damask'd skin, State but a golden prison, to live in And torture free-born minds; imbroider'd trains Meerly but Pageants, for proud swelling vains, And blood ally'd to greatness is alone Inherited, not purchas'd, nor our own.

Fame, honor, beauty, state, train, blood & birth, Are but the fading blossomes of the earth.

I would be great, but that the Sun doth still, Level his rayes 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 a.s.s 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 gra.s.s Still trampled on by each unworthy a.s.se: Rich, hated; wise, suspected; scorn'd, if poor; Great, fear'd; fair, tempted; high, stil envi'd more I have wish'd all, but now I wish for neither, Great, high, rich, wise, nor fair, poor I'l be rather.

Would the world now adopt me for her heir, Would beauties Queen ent.i.tle me the Fair, Fame speak me fortunes Minion, could I vie Angels w'th India, w'th a speaking eye Command bare heads, bow'd knees, strike Justice dumb As wel as blind and lame, or give a tongue To stones, by Epitaphs, be call'd great Master, In the loose Rhimes of every Poetaster Could I be more then any man that lives, Great, fair, rich, wise in all Superlatives; Yet I more freely would these gifts resign, Then ever fortune would have made them mine And hold one minute of this holy leasure, Beyond the riches of this empty pleasure.

Welcom pure thoughts, welcome ye silent groves, These guests, these Courts, my soul most dearly loves, Now the wing'd people of the Skie shall sing My chereful Anthems to the gladsome Spring; A Pray'r book now shall be my looking gla.s.se, In which I will adore sweet vertues face.

Here dwell no hateful locks, no Pallace cares, No broken vows dwell here, nor pale fac'd fears, Then here I'l sit and sigh my hot loves folly, And learn t'affect an holy melancholy.

And if contentment be a stranger, then I'l nere look for it, but in heaven again_.

_Viat_. Wel Master, these be Verses that be worthy to keep a room in every mans memory. I thank you for them, and I thank you for your many instructions, which I will not forget; your company and discourse have been so pleasant, that I may truly say, I have only lived, since I enjoyed you and them, and turned Angler. I am sorry to part with you here, here in this place where I first met you, but it must be so: I shall long for the ninth of _May_, for then we are to meet at _Charls Brandons_. This intermitted time wil seem to me (as it does to men in sorrow,) to pa.s.s slowly, but I wil hasten it as fast as I can by my wishes, and in the mean time _the blessing of Saint_ Peters _Master be with mine_.

_Pisc_. And the like be upon my honest Scholer. And upon all that hate contentions, and love _quietnesse_, and _vertue_, and _Angling_.

FINIS.