96 THE COMPLETE ANGLER, 



other fish, which have not their teeth in their 

 throats but in their mouths, which you shall ob- 

 serve to be very full of bones, and the skin very 

 thin, and little of it. I say of these fish the hook 

 never takes so sure hold, but you often lose your 

 fish unless he have gorged it. 



Ven. I thank you, good master, for this observa- 

 tion. But now what shall be done with my chub, 

 or cheven, that I have caught? 



Pise. Marry, sir, it shall be given away to some 

 poor body, for I '11 warrant you I '11 give you a trout 

 for your supper ; and it is a good beginning of your 

 art to offer your first-fruits to the poor, who will 

 both thank you and God for it, which I see by 

 your silence you seem to consent to. And for 

 your willingness to part with it so charitably, I will 

 also teach more concerning chub-fishing. You are 

 to note that in March and April he is usually 

 taken with worms. In May, June, and July he 

 will bite at any fly, or at cherries, or at beetles 

 with their legs and wings cut off, or at any kind of 

 snail, or at a black bee that breeds in clay walls. 

 And he never refuses a grasshopper on the top of 

 a swift stream, nor at the bottom the young hum- 

 ble-bee that breeds in long grass, and is ordinarily 

 found by the mower of it. In August and in the 

 cooler months, a yellow paste, made of the strong- 

 est cheese, and pounded in a mortar, with a little 

 butter and saffron, so much of it as being beaten 

 small will turn it to a lemon color. And some 

 make a paste for the winter months at which time 



