THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 51 



tleman, for less relifjion will not save their souls than a befrirar's : 

 I think more will be required at the last great day. Well, you 

 know what example is able to do, and I know what the poet says 

 in the like case, which is worthy to be noted by all parents and 

 people of civility : 



Many a one 



Owes to his country his religion: 



And in another would as strongly grow. 



Had but his nurse or mother taught him so. 



This is reason put into verse, and worthy the consideration of 

 a wise man. But of this no more ; for though I love civility, 

 yet I hate severe censures : I'll to my own art, and I doubt not 

 but at yonder tree I shall catch a chub, and then we'll return to 

 an honest cleanly hostess, that I know right well ; rest ourselves 

 there, and dress it for our dinner. 



Ven. Oh, Sir, a chub is the worst fish that swims,* I hoped for 

 a trout to my dinner. 



Pisc. Trust me, Sir, there is not a likely place for a trout 

 hereabout, and we stayed so long to take our leave of your hunts- 

 men this morning, that the sun is got so high, and shines so clear, 

 that I will not undertake the catching of a trout till evening ; 

 and though a chub be by you and many others reckoned the 

 worst fish, yet you shall see I'll make it a good fish, by dress- 

 ing it. 



Ven. Why, how will you dress him ? 



Pisc. I'll tell you by and by, when I have caught him. Look 

 you here. Sir, do you see ? but you must stand very close : there 

 lie upon the top of the water in this very hole twenty chubs ; I'll 

 catch only one, and that shall be the biggest of them all : and 



* The chub of this country is the scorn and vexation of the angler, and, 

 except when large, is by no means the shy fish that Walton and other 

 English writers describe him to be ; on the" contrary, he is a bold biter, 

 more ready than welcome at any bait offered to him. Palmer Hackle (Hints 

 on Angling and Angling Excursions in France, &c., Lon., 1S46, Svo.), 

 speaking of Walton's recipe for cooking the chub, suggests as an improve- 

 ment that the chub be left out, in imitation of the Irish play bill which 

 announced that the tragedy of Hamlet would be performed, the part of 

 Hamlet omitted. Hackle also says that the chub in France has been known 

 to reach a weight of ten pounds; but this is an enormous size. — Am. Ed. 



