THE COiMPLETE ANGLER. 73 



rocks below the little foot-bridge you see there, and try your for- 

 tune. Take heed of slipping into the water as you follow me 

 under this rock : so, now you are over, and now throw in.* 



ViAT. This is a tine stream indeed. There's one ! I have 

 him. 



Pisc. And a precious catch you have of him ; pull him out ! 

 I see you have a tender hand : this is a diminutive gentleman ; 

 e'en throw him in again, and let him grow till he be more worthy 

 your anger. 



ViAT. Pardon me. Sir ; all's fish that comes to the hook with 

 me now. Another ! 



Pisc. And of the same standing. 



ViAT. I see I shall have good sport now ; another ! and a 

 grayling. Why you have fish here at will. 



Pisc. Come, come, cross the bridge, and go down the other 

 side lower, where you will find finer streams, and better sport, I 

 hope, than this. Look you, Sir, here's a fine stream now ; you 

 have length enough, stand a little further off, let me entreat you, 

 and do but fish this stream like an artist, and perad venture a 

 good fish may fall to your share. How now ! what ! is all 

 gone ? 



ViAT. No, 1 but touched him ; but that was a fish worth 

 taking. 



Pisc. Why now, let me tell you, you lost that fish by your own 

 fault, and through your own eagerness and haste ; for you are 

 never to offer to strike a good fish, if he do not strike himself, till 

 first you see him turn his head after he has taken your fly, and 

 then you can never strain your tackle in the striking, if you 

 strike with any manner of mode ration, f Come, throw in once 



* Mr. Bagster, who visited the spot in the summer of 1814, for the pur- 

 pose of identifying the scenery, and who went step by steji over the ground 

 which is the scene of the dialogue, says, that " the undeviating accuracy 

 of the delineation is very striking ; but at this spot an alteration was made 

 a few years since by cutting away part of the rock and removing the 

 bridge, the site of which is still marked by fragments of stone." 



t Every candid fly-fisher will confe.ss, that in nine cases out of ten, the 

 trout hooks himself; and in rough, sometimes in smooth though dark 

 water, the first notice you have of his spring is his weight on the line. 

 Many a fish is lost by vain attempts at striking, which compel you to bring 



PART II. 4 



