THE COMPLETE ANGLER 93 



Hfourtb H>a| 



Pise. 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 good dish of meat or two against supper, for 

 we shall come home as hungry as hawks. Come, scholar, 

 let's be going. 



VEN. Well now, good master, as we walk towards the 

 river give me direction, according to your promise, how 

 I shall fish for a trout. 



Pise. My honest scholar, I will take this very con- 

 venient opportunity to do it. 



The trout is usually caught with a worm or a minnow, 

 which some call a penk, or with a fly, viz., either a natural 

 or an artificial fly : concerning which three I will give you 

 some observations and directions. 



And, first, for worms : of these there be very many 

 sorts : some breed only in the earth, as the earth-worm ; 

 others of or amongst plants, as the dug-worm ; and others 

 breed either out of 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 particu- 

 lar 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 



