CHAP. VI. THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 417 



Viat. Has young master Isaac Walton been here, 

 too? 



Pise. Yes, marry ! has he, Sir ; and that, again 

 and again too ; and in France since, and at Rome, and 

 at Venice, and I can't tell where : but I intend to ask 

 him a great many hard questions so soon as I can see 

 him, which will be, God willing, next month. Jn the 

 mean time. Sir, to come to this fine stream at the head 

 of this great pool, you must venture over these slippery, 

 cobling stones. Believe me, Sir, there you were nimr 

 ble, or else you had been down. But now you are got 

 over, look to yourself; for, on my word, if a fish rise 

 here, he is like to be such a one as will endanger your 

 tackle. How now ! 



Viat. I think you have such command here over 

 the fishes, that you can rise them by your word, as 

 they say conjurors can do spirits, and afterward make 

 them do what you bid them : for here's a Trout has 

 taken * my fly I had rather have lost a crown. What 

 luck's this ! he was a lovely fish, and turned up a side 

 like a Salmon. 



Pise. O Sir, this is a war where you sometimes 

 win, and must sometimes expect to lose. Never con- 

 cern yourself for the loss of your fly ; for, ten to one, I 

 teach you to make a better. Who's that, calls t ? 



Serv. Sir, will it please you to come to dinner ? 



Pise. We come. You hear, Sir, we are called ; 

 and now take your choice, whether you will climb 

 this steep hill before you, from the top of which you 

 will go directly into the house; or, back again, over 

 these stepping-stones, and, about, by the bridge. 



Viat. Nay : sure, the nearest way is best ; at least 

 my stomach tells me so ; and I am now so well ac- 

 quainted with your rocks, that I fear them not. 



Pise. Come then, follow me. And so soon as we 

 have dined, we will down again to the little house: 

 where I will begin, at the place I left off, about fly-fish- 



Taken, in the worst sense, viz. broke away with it. 



f The dialogue is here so natural, and the incidents in this morning's 

 expedition so strongly marked, that the reader may almost imagine he 

 sees and hears all that is here related. 



