128 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [PART r. 



I shall also impart two other experiments, but not tried by 

 myself, which I will deliver in the same words that they were 

 given me by an excellent angler and a very friend, in writing : he 

 told me the latter was too good to be told, but in a learned lan- 

 guage, lest it should be made common. 



" Take the stinking oil drawn out of polypody of the oak by a 

 retort, mixed with turpentine and hive-honey, and anoint your 

 bait therewith, and it will doubtless draw the fish to it." The 

 other is this : " Vulnera hederas grandissimas inflicta sudant 

 balsamum oleo gelato, albicantique persimile, odoris vero longe 

 suavissimi." " ; Tis supremely sweet to any fish, and yet assa- 

 fcetida may do the like." * 



But in these I have no great faith ; yet grant it probable ; 

 and have had from some chymical men, namely, from Sir George 

 Hastings and others, an affirmation of them to be very advan- 

 tageous. But no more of these; especially not in this place.f 



I might here, before I take my leave of the Salmon, tell you 

 that there is more than one sort of them, as, namely, a Tecon, and 



* At the end of the Secrets of Angling, by J. D., is the following recipe of " R. R.," 

 who possibly may be the " R. Roe " mentioned in the Preface to Walton : 



Wouldst thou catch fish ? 



Then here's thy wish, 



Take this receipt, 



To anoint thy bait. 



Thou that desirest to fish with line and hook, 

 Be it in pool, in river, or in brook, 

 To bliss thy bait, and make the fish to bite, 

 Lo ! here's a means, if thou canst hit it right : 

 Take gum of life, well beat and laid to soak 



In oil well drawn from that which kills the oak. [ Ivy. 



Fish where thou wilt, thou shalt have sport thy fill ; 

 When twenty fail, thou shalt be sure to kill. 



Probatum. 

 It's perfect and good 

 If well understood, 

 Else not to be told 

 For silver or gold. R. R. 



The following recipe for catching pikes occurs in an old MS. on vellum, written about 

 the year 1550, and now in the possession of Dr Bliss : 



A CRAFT TO TAK PVKS, ETC- 



Tak asafetida of the fattest an ownce, Stanch gryme di quarter of an ownce, Gume 

 arabek lik myche, Blak berys iij or iiij small broken, The yolk of an egge rostit harde 

 like myche, Then take iij or iiij dropis of olium benedictum, To temper thies togedre 

 lik past, And rubbe and anonyte the end of the lyne that the hooke ys hopon. 



t The following extract of a letter which appeared in one of the London papers, aist 

 Tune 1788, should operate as a general caution against using, in the composition of 

 baits, any ingredient prejudicial to the human constitution : " Newcastle, June 16. 

 Last week, in Lancashire, two young men having caught a larce quantity of Trout by 

 mixing the water in a small brook with lime, ate heartily of the Trout at dinner the r.ext 

 day : they were seized, at midnight, with violent pains in the intestines ; and though 

 medical assistance was immediately procured, they expired before noon in the greatest 

 agonies." H. 



