ioo THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [PART i. 



seriously approve of that saying of yours, " that you had rather 

 be a civil, well-governed, well-grounded, temperate, poor angler, 

 than a drunken lord : " but I hope there is none such. However, 

 I am certain of this, that I have been at many very costly dinners 

 that have not afforded me half the content that this has done ; for 

 which I thank God and you. 



And now, good master, proceed to your promised direction 

 for making and ordering my artificial fly. 



PlSCATOR. My honest scholar, I will do it ; for it is a debt due 

 unto you by my promise. And because you shall not think your- 

 self more engaged to me than indeed you really are, I will freely 

 give you such directions as were lately given to me by an ingenious 

 brother of the angle, an honest man, and a most excellent fly- 

 fisher. 9 



You are to note, that there are twelve kinds of artificial-made 

 Flies, to angle with upon the top of the water. Note, by the way, 

 that the fittest season of using these is in a blustering windy day, 

 when the waters are so troubled that the natural fly cannot be 

 seen, or rest upon them. The first is the dun-fly, in March : the 

 body is made of dun wool ; the wings, of the partridge's feathers. 

 The second is another dun-fly : the body of black wool ; and the 

 wings made of the black drake's feathers, and of the feathers 

 under his tail. The third is the stone-fly, in April : the body is 

 made of black wool ; made yellow under the wings and under the 

 tail, and so made with wings of the drake. The fourth is the 

 ruddy-fly, in the beginning of May : the body made of red wool, 

 wrapt about with black silk ; and the feathers are the wings of 

 the drake ; with the feathers of a red capon also, which hang 

 dangling on his sides next to the tail. The fifth is the yellow or 

 greenish fly, in May likewise : the body made of yellow wool ; 

 and the wings made of the red cock's hackle or tail. The sixth 

 is the black-fly, in May also : the body made of black wool, and 

 lapt about with the herle of a peacock's tail ; the wings are made 

 of the wings of a brown capon, with his blue feathers in his head. 

 The seventh is the sad yellow-fly, in June : the body is made of 



VARIATION. 



9 And because you shall not think yourself more engaged to me than indeed you really 

 are, therefore I will tell you freely, I find Mr Thomas Barker, a gentleman that has 

 spent much time and money in Angling deal so judiciously and freely in a little book 

 of his of Angling with a fly for a Trout, that I will give you his very directions without 

 much variation. ist edit. Then follow Barker's instructions, differing little from them 

 as printed in a subsequent part of the text. The "excellent fly-fisher" to whom Walton 

 alludes, was Leonard Mascall, from whose " Booke of Fishing with Hooke and Line, 

 &c., 410, Lond. 1600," the ensuing list of flies is copied verbatim. 



