fcHAP. XVII. THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 307 



Next, let me tell you, I have been much pleased, To 

 walk quietly by a brook with a little stick in my hand 

 with which I might easily take these ; and consider the 

 curiosity of their composure : And if you shall ever 

 like to do so, then ndte, That your stick must be a lit- 

 tle hasel, or willow ; cleft, or have a nick at one end 

 of it, by which means, you may, with ease, take 

 many of them in that nick out of the water, before yoii 

 have any occasion to use them. These, my honest 

 scholar ! are some observations : told to you as they, 

 now, come suddenly into my memory of which you 

 may make some use. But for the practical part : it is 

 that that makes an angler : it is diligence, and observa- 

 tion, and practice, and an ambition to be the best in 

 the art, that must do it *. I will tell you, scholar ! 



* The author has now done describing the several llnds of 'fsb , except- 

 ing the few little ones that follow, ivith the methods of taking them ; but 

 has said little or nothing of FLOAT-FISHING; it may, therefore, not be 

 amiss, here to lay down some rules about it. 



Let the rod be light and stiff, and withal so smart in the spring, as to 

 Strike at the tip of the whale-bone: from fourteen to fifteen feet is a good 

 length. 



In places where you sometimes meet with Barbel, as at Shepperton and 

 Hampton, in Middlesex, the fittest line is one of six or seven hairs, at 

 top, and, so, diminishing for two yards; let the rest be strong Indian 

 grass, to within about half a yard of the hook, which may be whipped 

 to a fine grass or silk-worm gut. And this line will kill a fish of six 

 pounds weight. 



But, for mere Roach and Dace-fishing, accustom yourself to a single- 

 hair line; with which, an artist may kill a fish of a pound and a half 

 weight. 



For your float : In slow streams, a neat round goose quill is proper : 

 but for deep or rapid rivers, or in an eddy, the cork, shaped like a pear, 

 is indisputably the best ; which should not, in general, exceed the size of 

 a nutmeg ; let not the quill, which you put through it, be more than half 

 an inch above, and below, the cork; and this float, though some prefer a 

 swan's quill, has great advantage over a bare quill ; for the quill being 

 defended from the water by the cork, does not soften, and the cork enables 

 you to lead your line so heavily, as that the hook sinks almost as soon as 

 you put [it] into the water ; whereas-, when you lead but lightly, it does 

 hot go to the bottom till it is near the end of your swim. See the form of 

 the float, Plate XI. Fig. 16. And in leading your lines, be careful to ba- 

 lance them so nicely, that a very small touch will sink them ; some use 

 for this purpose lead shaped like a barley-corn ; but there is nothing bet- 

 ter to lead with than shot, which you must have, ready cleft, always with 

 you; remembering, that when you fish fine, it is better to have on your 

 line a great number of small, than a few large, shot. 



S 2 



