18 BEST'S ART OF ANGLING. 



The duck her offspring to the river leads, 



And on the destined fry insatiate feeds : 



On fatal wings the pouncing bittern soars, 



And wafts her prey from the defenceless shores : 



The watchful halcyons to the reeds repair, 



And from their haunts the scaly captives hear : 



Sharp her'ns and corra'rants too their tribes oppress, 



A harassed race, peculiar in distress : 



Nor can the muse enumerate their foes, 



Such is their fate, so various are their woes. 



CHAP. IL 



The best Manner of making and chusing Rods y 

 Lilies^ Hooks, fyc. 



THE best time to provide stocks is in the win- 

 ter solstice, when the trees have shed their 

 leaves, and the sap is in their roots ; ibr after Ja- 

 nuary the sap ascends again into the trunk and 

 branches, at which time it is improper to gather 

 stocks or tops. As for the stocks, they should be 

 lower grown, and the tops the best rush ground 

 shoots that can be got ; not knotty, but propor- 

 tionable and slender, for if otherwise they will 

 never cast nor strike so well, and the line, by rea- 

 son of their unpliableAess, must be much endan- 

 gered. Now when both stock and top are gather- 

 ed in one season, and as straight as possible to be 

 got, bathe them over a gentle fire, and never use 

 them till they are well seasoned, which will be in 

 one year and four month, but longer keeping 

 them will make them better : and for preserving 

 them when made into rods, both from rotting and 

 being worm-eaten,, rub them over thrice a year 



