io8 THE TROUT 



mometer before starting, we could make certain of the 

 amount of sport we might expect ! Mercifully, how- 

 ever, this is not the case ; for very often a day which 

 was seemingly as unpromising as could possibly be, 

 has in the end proved one of the best of the 

 season. - 



The c Treatyse on Fysshynge ' to which allusion 

 has before been made, says : ' Ye schall angle as y 

 seyde befor in darke lowryng wedur when the wynde 

 blowethe softely and yn somer seasen when hyt ys 

 brennyng hote.' Thus Dame Juliana. Isaac Walton 

 remarks on this subject that ' You are to take notice 

 that of the winds the south wind is said to be the best. 

 One observes, that 



when the wind is south 



It blows your bait into a fish's mouth. 



Next to that, the west wind is believed to be the 

 best ; and having told you that the east wind is the 

 worst, I need not tell you which wind is the best in 

 the third degree : and yet (as Solomon observes) that 

 "he that considers the winds shall never sow;" so he 

 that busies his head too much about them, if the 

 weather be not made extreme cold by an east wind, 

 shall be a little superstitious ; for, as it is observed by 

 some that "there is no good horse of a bad colour;" 

 so I have observed, that if it be a cloudy day, and not 



