256 NOBHS'S ART OF TROLLING. 



hand, you must then be content with the- hopfs of suc- 

 cess, by committing yourself to the hands of fortune, 

 having uotl.ing to (rust to but that which you may caH 

 fisherman's luck. If you have as well debilitated his 

 strength and tired his patience, you may probably draw 

 him out with no great reluctancy, if the weeds be not 

 tco strong and friendly to their watery element. 



Those that are more nice, havtf tnnr net ready by 

 thf m : this net is made in the fashion of a little spar- 

 row.net, with a long trail and a pole at it, to translate 

 Mr. Lucius out of his o\\n, into the airy element. 



This is a delicate way of trolling: such as use it 

 ; have their attendants to assist them ; that, as the 

 Philosopher said, omnia mca mecum Porto. They 

 will have their servitors to carry their implements and 

 tools: these are of more power on shore than in the 

 water, and have more authority to command their re 

 finuc by landj than the figh in tlit water, 



CHAP. X 



How to preserve a lliver for Tr 



way ta preserve a river is to secure it from all 

 that are hurtful and destructive to it. The- 

 ft ist and greatest, which may be called the arch-enemy, 

 is .the drag-net, which is as unmerciful as an epidemical 

 disease that sweeps all before it ; or as a greedy and 

 covetous monopolizer engrosseth all in his own posses, 

 sian, and so verifies the old pnnvrb, that all are fish 

 that come to net. Some there are that commend the 

 following of the drag, to troll immediately after it; 

 th^se love to fisK in troubled waters, for they say the 

 dragging the river stirs up the fish, and makes them the 

 more ready to catch at their prey. I cannot applaud 

 the practice, nor judge it any way reasonable, for 

 though it is a hard battle where none escapes, and the 



