CHAP. V.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 263 



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 unnatural and shapeless fly. Which be- 

 ing 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 hock 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 end 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 forefinger 

 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 done. And this way of making a fly, which is cer- 

 tainly the best of all other, was taught me by a kinsman of 

 mine, one 'Captain Henry Jackson, a near neighbor, an ad- 

 mirable 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 



