THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 97 



of the Brandling, begins to swell, then he is sick ; and if he be 

 not well looked to, is near dying. And for moss, you are to 

 note, that there be divers kinds of it, which I could name to 

 you, but I will only tell you that that which is likest a buck's 

 horn is the best, except it be soft white moss, which grows on 

 some heaths, and is hard to be found. And note, that in a very 

 dry time, when you are put to an extremity for worms, walnut 

 tree leaves squeezed into water, or salt in water, to make it 

 bitter or salt, and then that water poured on the ground where 

 you shall see worms are used to rise in the night, will make 

 them to appear above ground presently.* And you may take 

 notice, some say that camphor put into your bag with your 

 moss and worms gives them a strong and so tempting a smell, 

 that the fish fare the worse and you the better for it. 



And now, I shall shew you how to bait your hook with a 

 worm, so as shall prevent you from much trouble, and the loss 

 of many a hook too, when you fish for a Trout with a running 

 line ; f that is to say, when you fish for him by hand at the 

 ground. I will direct vou in this as plainly as I can, that you 

 may not mistake. 



Suppose it be a big Lob- worm : put your hook into him some- 

 what above the middle, and out again a little below the middle; 

 having so done, draw your worm above the arming of your hook , 

 but note, that at the entering of your hook, it must not be at 



* This practice was one of the common sports of school-boys at the time 

 Erasmus wrote his Colloquies. In that entitled Venatio, or Hunting, a 

 company of them go abroad into the fields, and one named Laurence pro- 

 poses fishing ; but haying no worms, Bartholus objects the want of them, 

 till Laurence tells him how he may get some. The dialogue is very 

 natural and descriptive, and being but snort, is here given. " Lawrence. 

 I should like to go a-fishing ; I have a neat hook. Bartholut. But where 

 will you get baits ? Laurence. There are earth-worms everywhere to be 

 had. Bartholus. So there are, if they would but creep out of the ground 

 to you. Laivrence. I will make a great many thousands jump out presently. 

 Bartholus. How ? by witchcraft ? Lawrence. You shall see the art. Fill 

 this bucket with water : break these green shells of walnuts to pieces, 

 and put them into it ; wet the ground with the water. Now, mind a 

 little. Do you see them coming out ? Vartliolus. I see a miracle ; I believe 

 the armed men started out of the earth after this manner, from the 

 serpent's teeth that were sown." 



The above exclamation is an allusion to the fable in the second book of 

 Ovid's Metamorphoses ; where Cadmus, by scattering the serpent's teeth 

 on the ground, caused armed men to spring out of it. 



f- The running line, so called because it runs along the ground, is made 

 of strong silk, wnich you may buy at the fishing-tackle shops : but I prefer 

 hair, as being less apt to tangle, and is thus ntted up : About ten inches 

 from the end, fasten a small cleft shot, then make a hole through a pistol 

 or musket bullet, according to the swiftness of the stream you fish in ; and 

 put the line through it, and draw the bullet down to the snot : to the end 

 of your line fasten an Indian grass, or silkworm-gut, with a large hook. 

 Or you may, instead of a bullet, fix four large shot, at the distance of 

 eight inches from the hook. The running line is used for Trout, Grayling, 

 and Salmon-smelts; and is proper only for streams and rapid waters. 

 See part ii. chap. xi. 



G 



