190 TtiE COMPLETE ANGLEft. 



\drich will prove a part, and but a part, of what you are to 

 provide : 



My rod and my line, my float and my lead. 



My hook and my plummet, my whetstone and knife, 



My basket, my baits, both living and dead, 

 My net, and my meat, for that is the chief : 



respective places, it may not be amiss here to mention one which many 

 authors speak of as excellent for almost all fish ; and that is the spawn of 

 Salmon, or large Trout. Barker, who seems to have been the first that 

 discovered it, recommends it to his patron in the following terms : 



" Noble Lord, I have found an experience of late, which you may 

 angle with, and take great store of this kind of fish. First, it is the best 

 bait for a Trout that I have seen in all my time ; and will take great store, 

 and not fail, if they be there. Secondly, it is a special bait for Dace or 

 Dare, good for Chub, or Bottlin, or Grayling. The bait is, the roe of a 

 Salmon or Trout. If it be a large Trout, that the spawns be any thing 



Oyou may angle for the Trout with this bait as you angle with the 

 ling ; taking a pair of scissars, and cut so much as a large hazel nut, 

 and bait your hook ; so fall to your sport, there is no doubt of pleasure. 

 If I had known it but twenty years ago, I would have gained a hundred 

 pounds only with that bait. I am bound in duty to divulge it to your 

 honour, and not to carry it to my grave with me. I do desire that men 

 of quality should have it, that de hglit in that pleasure. The greedy angler 

 will murmur at me, but for that 1 care not. 



"For the angling for the Scale-fish : They must angle either with cork 

 or quill, plumming their ground ; and with feeding with the same bait, 

 taking them [the spawns] as under, that they may spread abroad, that the 

 fish may feed, and come to your place : there is no doubt of pleasure, 

 angling with fine tackle , as single hair lines, at h-ast five or six length 

 long; a small hook, with two or three spawns. The bait will hold one 

 Week ; if you keep it on any longer, you must hang it up to dry a little : 

 when you go to your pleasure again, put the bait in a little water, it will 

 come in kind again." 



Others, to preserve Salmon spawn, sprinkle it with a little salt, and lay 

 it upon wool in a pot, one layer of wool and another of spawn. It is said 

 to be a lovely bait for the winter or spring ; especially where Salmon are 

 used to spawn ; for thither the fish gather, and there expect it. Angler's 

 Vade Mecum, 5a 



To know at any time \vhat bait fish are apt to take, open the belly 

 of the first you catch, and take out his stomach very tenderly; open it 

 with a sharp penknife, and you will discover what he then feeds on. 

 renalles, 91. 



The people who live in the fishing-towns along the banks of the Thames 

 have a method of dressing large Roach and Dace, which, as it is said, 

 renders them very pleasant and savoury food ; it is as follows : Without 

 scaling the fish, lay him on a gridiron, over a slow fire, and strew on him 

 a little flour ; when he begins to grow brown, make a slit, not more than 

 skin deep, in his back, from head to tail, and lay him on again : when he 

 is broiled enough, the skin, scales and all, will peel off, and leave the flesh, 

 which will have become very firm, perfectly clean; then open the belly, 

 and take out the inside, and use anchovy and butter for sauce. 



Having promised the reader Mr Barker's recipe for anointing boots and 

 shoes, (and having no farther occasion to make use of his authority,) it is 

 here given in his own words. 



" lake a pint of linseed oil, with half a pound of mutton suet, six or 

 eight ounces of bees' wax, and half a penny worth of rosin ; boil all this 

 in a pipkin together ; so let it cool till it be milk warm : then take a little 

 hair hrush, and lay it on your new boots ; but it is best that this stuff be 

 laid on before the'bootmaker makes the boots; then brush them once over 

 after they come from him ; as for old boots, you must lay it pn when your 

 boots be dry." 



