FISHING 45 



with such eminent persons as Dr. Nux and 

 Lady Vomica Squills, and the Bishop of Soda 

 and Mint. 



The best way of procuring ordinary horse- 

 hair is for the angler, accompanied by a trusty 

 friend, with their hats drawn well over their 

 eyes, to hang about the threshold of some big 

 brewery shortly after dawn. As the first 

 waggon-load of casks issues from the gates, 

 the fisherman should step nimbly forward and 

 make a remark of a grossly offensive character 

 to the leading drayman, dwelling perhaps on 

 the latter' s extraordinary resemblance to an 

 organ-grinder's monkey, on his dubious paren- 

 tage and obviously intemperate habits. Being 

 a naturally passionate man, the driver will 

 probably leap down from his perch without 

 further ado, and offer to knock his traducer's 

 head off. While the poor fellow is thus pleas- 

 antly engaged, and his attention has been 

 temporarily diverted from his duties, the angler's 

 accomplice should creep up behind the leading 

 horse, wrench a handful of hair from that 

 reluctant creature's tail, and escape at top 

 speed into the offing, with his booty tightly 

 clasped to his bosom. Later on in the day, 

 when the angler has eventually calmed the 

 indignant drayman by explaining to him that 

 he mistook him for his brother, the two accom- 



