THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 119 



I 



anglers to be patient, and forbear swearing, lest they be heard, 

 and catch no fish. 



And so I shall proceed next to tell you, it is certain, that cer- 

 tain fields near Leominster, a town in Herefordshire, are observed 

 to make the sheep that graze upon them more fat than the next, 

 and also to bear finer wool ; that is to say, that that year in which 

 they feed in such a particular pasture, they shall yield finer 

 wool than they did that year before they came to feed in it, and 

 coarser again if they shall return to their former pasture ; and 

 again return to a finer wool, being fed in the fine-wool ground. 

 Which I tell you that you may the better believe that I am cer- 

 tain, if I catch a trout in one meadow he shall be white and faint, 

 and very like to be lousy ; and as certainly, if I catch a trout in 

 the next meadow, he shall be strong, and red, and lusty, and 

 much better meat. Trust me. Scholar, I have caught many a 

 trout in a particular meadow, that the very shape and the ena- 

 melled color of him hath been such, as hath joyed me to look on 

 him : and I have then with much pleasure concluded with Solo- 

 mon, " Everything is beautiful in his season." 



I should by promise speak next of the salmon ; but I will by 

 your favor say a little of the umber or grayling ; which is so like 

 a trout for his shape and feeding, that I desire I may exercise 

 your patience with a short discourse of him, and then the next 

 shall be of the salmon. 



