FROM TREATISE TO COMPLEAT ANGLER. 41 



Lawson. Beyond the fact that he was certainly 

 a north countryman, probably a Yorkshire man, 

 and wrote on agriculture and gardening, noth- 

 ing is known of Lawson. But he has a marked 

 place in the history of fly fishing; his notes to 

 Dennys are so entirely original and written in 

 so attractive and individual a style that it is 

 exasperating that he did not write more, or 

 that more is not known about him, more especi- 

 ally as his New Orchard and Garden shows that 

 he possessed a real eye for nature and could 

 write rather charming English. However, we 

 must be grateful for what we have. He recom- 

 mends a pliant rod, not top-heavy, which is a 

 great fault, and is very particular about his 

 hooks, which he made himself from Spanish 

 and Milan needles, though by that time hooks 

 could be bought and had no longer to be home- 

 made : The best forme for ready striking and 

 sure holding and strength, is a strait and 

 somewhat long shank and strait nibed, with 

 a little compasse, not round in any wise, for 

 it neither strikes surly nor readily but is weak 

 as having to great a compas.' He gives an 

 admirable figure of three hooks to illustrate 

 his views. When Dennys expends a stanza in 

 explaining what wind is best Lawson adds this 

 laconic note : 'I finde no difference of windes 

 except too colde or too hot, which is not the 

 wind but the season.' Altogether a most sensible 

 man; every note of his is vigorous and terse. 

 His fame as a fly fisher rests on a long note to 



