CHAP. v. THE SECOND DAY. 209 



end of the feather close by the arming, and then whip the silk 

 fast and firm about the hook and towght, until you come to the 

 bend of the hook, but not further, as you do at London, and so 

 make a very unhandsome, and, in plain English, a very un- 

 natural and shapeless fly ; which being done, cut away the end 

 of your towght, and fasten it, and then take your dubbing, which 

 is to make the body of your fly, as much as you think convenient, 

 and holding it lightly with your hook betwixt the finger and 

 thumb of your left hand, take your silk with the right, and 

 twisting it betwixt the finger and thumb of that hand, the 

 dubbing will spin itself about the silk, which when it has done, 

 whip it about the armed hook backward, till you come to the 

 setting on of the wings, and then take the feather for the wings, 

 and divide it equally into two parts, and turn them back towards 

 the bend of the hook, the one on the one side and the other on 

 the other of the shank, holding them fast in that posture betwixt 

 the fore-finger and thumb of your left hand ; which done, warp 

 them so down as to stand and slope towards the bend of the 

 hook ; and having warped up to the end of the shank, hold the 

 fly fast betwixt the finger and thumb of your left hand, and 

 then take the silk betwixt the finger and thumb of your right 

 hand, and where the warping ends, pinch or nip it with your 

 thumb-nail against your finger, and strip away the remainder of 

 your dubbing from the silk, and then with the bare silk whip it 

 once or twice about, make the wings to stand in due order, fasten, 

 and cut it off; after which, with the point of a needle, raise up 

 the dubbing gently from the warp, twitch off the superfluous 

 hairs of your dubbing; leave the wings of an equal length, your 

 fly will never else swim true, and the work is clone. And this 

 way of making a fly, which is certainly the best of all other, was 

 taught me by a kinsman of mine, one Captain Henry Jackson, 

 a near neighbour, an admirable fly-angler, by many degrees the 

 best fly-maker that ever I yet met with. And now that I have 

 told you how a fly is to be made, you shall presently see me 

 make one, with which you may peradventure take a trout this 

 morning, notwithstanding the unlikeliness of the day; for. it is 

 now nine of the clock, and fish will begin to rise, if they will rise 



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