CHAP. vii. THE FOURTH DAY. 105 



their hand; which is to be observed better by seeing one of 

 them, than by a large demonstration of words. 



And now I shall tell you that which may be called a secret : 

 I have been a-fishing with old Oliver Henley, now with God, a 

 noted fisher both for trout and salmon, and have observed that - - 

 he would usually take three or four worms out of his bag, and ^\-^. 

 put them into a little box in his pocket, where he would usually 

 let them continue half-an-hour or more before he would bait ^c 

 his hook with them. I have asked him his reason, and he has 

 replied: " He did but pick the best out to be in readiness 

 against he baited his hook the next time;" but he has been 

 observed, both by others and myself, to catch more fish than I 

 or any other body that has ever gone a-fishing with him could 

 do, and especially salmons ; and I have been told lately by one 

 of his most intimate and secret friends, that the box in which .<A 

 he put those worms was anointed with a drop, or two or three, A 

 of the oil of ivy-berries, made by expression or infusion ; and /\~0 

 told, that by the worms remaining in that box an hour, or a like ^^ 

 time, they had incorporated a kind of smell that was irresistibly Q^ 

 attractive, enough to force any fish within the smell of them to - 

 bite. This I heard not long since from a friend, but have 

 not tried it; yet I grant it probable, and refer my reader to Sir 

 Francis Bacon's Natural History^ where he proves fishes may 

 hear, and doubtless can more probably smell ; and I am certain 

 Gesner says the otter can smell in the water, and I know not 

 but that fish may do so too ; it is left for a lover of angling, or 

 any that desires to improve that art, to try this conclusion. 



I shall also impart two other experiments (but not tried by 

 myself), which I will deliver in the same words that they were 

 given me, by an excellent .angler, and a very friend, in writing: 

 he told me the latter was too good to be told but in a. learned 

 language, lest it should be made common. 



"Take the stinking oil drawn out of the polybody of the 

 oak by a retort, mixed with turpentine and hive-honey, and 

 anoint your bait therewith, and it will doubtless draw the fish 

 to it." 



The other is this : " Vulnera hederce grandissimce inflicta 



