1 88 Barbel and Roach. 



powdered [i.e., salted] Beef is a most 

 excellent bait to catch an eel." In Chapter 

 XIII. the lamprey, flounder, char, guiniad, 

 :etc., are briefly referred to. The barbel, 

 as it deserves, has a chapter to itself, for 

 it " affords an Angler choice sport, being 

 a lusty and a cunning fish : so lusty and 

 cunning as to endanger the breaking of 

 the Angler's line, by running his head 

 forcibly towards any covert, or hole or 

 bank : and then striking at the line to 

 break it off with his tail (as is observed by 

 Plutarch, in his book De industria anima- 

 .//;#), and also so cunning to nibble and 

 suck off your worm close to the hook and 

 yet avoid the letting the hook come into 

 his mouth." It would be difficult to find 

 fault with Walton's directions for fishing 

 for barbel, or for roach, dace, and other 

 .and smaller fry, which complete the prac- 

 tical portion of his " Discourse " with 

 Venator. I remember, when I first read 

 them many years ago, being greatly struck 

 with one of his methods of taking roach, 

 and have often found it to be not only a 

 .deadly but also a very interesting one : 



" In many of the hot months, Roaches 

 may also be caught thus : Take a May- 

 flie, or Ant-flie, sink him with a little lead 

 to the bottom, near to the Piles or Posts 

 -of a Bridg, or near to any Posts of a 



