AND WHEN YOU SHOULD. 185 



giant barbel, or chub, or carp, or perch, you must 

 play him with all the careful address and ingenuity 

 of the fly-fisher. An event of this sort will fill 

 you with excitement, charged to the brim with 

 doubt, pleasant suspense, and fear ; and if by the 

 suaviter in modo you succeed, and you cannot 

 succeed on any other tack, you may commemorate 

 your success by means of a mammoth mummy 

 in a glass case with this glorious inscription : 

 ' Barbel, weight 12 Ibs., caught with a roach 

 single hair-line, at Sunbury, July 185-, by 



' Some sceptic may doubt the truth 



of this immortalising label, but I should not, 

 knowing well what immense weights art can pull 

 up, and what immense strength it can pull down. 

 In fishing for perch your tackle should be strong, 

 for he is a bold biter, and not to be scared away 

 by a stout gut-line ; hence playing him will not 

 be very necessary. You should lift him on land 

 promptly, and not allow him to dart about under 

 water like a mad thing, else he will give the word 

 to his mates, and cause them to disperse as di- 

 versely and as rapidly as the seizure of one young- 

 pickpocket by the police causes the dispersion of 

 the surrounding shoal. 



You must exactly plumb the depth of the water, 

 in order that you may know on what part of your 

 line you are to fix the float. For barbel, tench, 

 and gudgeons, you must fish close to the bottom 



