CHAP, v.] THE SECOND DA Y. 245 



side downwards which grew uppermost before upon the back 

 of the hook, leaving so much only as to serve for the length of 

 the wing of the point of the plume lying reversed from the end 

 of the shank upwards : then whip your silk twice or thrice about 

 the root-end of the feather, hook, and towght ; which being done, 

 clip off the root-end of the feather close by the arming, and then 

 whip the silk fast and firm about the hook and towght, until you 

 come to the bend of the hook, but not further, as you do at 

 London, and so make a very unhandsome, and, in plain English, 

 a very unnatural and shapeless fly. Which being done, cut away 

 the end of your towght, and fasten it. And then take your 

 dubbing which is to make the body of your fly, as much as you 

 think convenient, and holding it lightly, with your hook, betwixt 

 the finger and thumb of your left hand, take your silk with the 

 right, and twisting it betwixt the finger and thumb of that 

 hand, the dubbing will spin itself about the silk, which when it 

 has done, whip it about the armed hook backward, till you come 

 to the setting-on of the wings. And then take the feather for 

 the wings, and divide it equally into two parts ; and turn them 

 back towards the bend of the hook, the one on the one side, and 

 the other on the other of the shank ; holding them fast in 

 that posture betwixt the forefinger and thumb of your left hand : 

 which done, warp them so down as to stand and slope towards 

 the bend of the hook ; and having warped up to the end of the 

 shank, hold the fly fast betwixt the finger and thumb of your 

 left hand, and then take the silk betwixt the finger and thumb of 

 your right hand ; and where the warping ends pinch or nip it 

 with your thumb nail against your finger, and strip away the 

 remainder of your dubbing from the silk : and then with the bare 

 silk whip it once or twice about ; make the wings to stand in due 

 order ; fasten, and cut it off. After which, with the point of a 

 needle, raise up the dubbing gently from the warp ; twitch off the 

 superfluous hairs of your dubbing ; leave the wings of an equal 

 length, your fly will never else swim true ; and the work is done. 

 And this way of making a fly, which is certainly the best of all 

 other, was taught me by a kinsman of mine, one Captain Henry 

 Jackson, a near neighbour, an admirable fly-angler ; by many 

 degrees the best fly-maker that ever I yet met with. And now 

 that I have told you how a fly is to be made, you shall presently 

 see me make one, with which you may peradventure take a Trout 

 this morning, notwithstanding the unlikeliness of the day ; for it 

 is now nine of the clock, and fish will begin to rise, if they will 



