second dat.] TROUT OF THE COLNE. 29 



POIET. — Pray try him. 



HAL. — I am no artist at this kind of angling, but 

 Ornither I know has fished in June with the clubs 

 at Stockbridge, where this method of fishing is usual. 

 Pray let him try Ins fortune, though it is hardly fair 

 play; and it is rather to endeavour to recover your 

 tackle, than for the sake of the fish, that I encourage 

 him to make the essay. 



POIET. — Pray make no apologies for the trial. 

 Such a fish — certainly a monster for tins river — 

 should be caught by fair means, if possible, but caught 

 by any means. 



ORN. — You lost that fish, and you overrate Ins size, 

 as you will see, if I have good luck. I put my live 

 flies on the hook with some regret and some disgust. 

 I will not employ another person to be my minister 

 of cruelty, as I remember a lady of fashion once did, 

 who was very fond of fishing for perch, and who 

 employed her daughter, a little girl of nine years of 

 age, to pass the hook through the body of the worm ! 

 Now there is a good wind, and the fish has just taken 

 a natural fly. I shall drop the flies, if possible, 

 within a few inches of his nose. He has risen. He 

 is caught ! I must carry him down stream to avoid 

 the bed of weeds above. I now have him on fair 

 ground, and he fights with vigour. Fortunately, my 

 silkworm gut is very strong, for he is not a fish to be 



