192 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



yourself;* and to that purpose I will go with you, either to 

 Mr Margrave, who dwells amongst the booksellers in St Paul's 

 Church Yard, or to Mr John Stubbs, near to the Swan in 

 Golding Lane : they be both honest men, and will fit an angler 

 with what tackling he lacks. f 



Venator. Then, good master, let it. be at , for he is 



nearest to my dwelling. And I pray let's meet there the ninth 

 of May next, about two of the clock ; and I '11 want nothing 

 that a fisher should be furnished with. 



Piscator. Well, and I'll not fail you, God willing, at the 

 time and place appointed. 



Venator. I thank you, good master, and I will not fail you. 

 And, good master, tell me what baits more you remember ; 

 for it will not now be long ere we shall be at Tottenham- High- 

 Cross ; and when we come thither I will make you some 

 requital of your pains, by repeating as choice a copy of verses 

 as any we have heard since we met together; and that is a 

 proud word, for we have heard very good ones. 



Piscator. Well, scholar, and I shall be then right glad to 

 hear them. And I will, as we walk, tell you whatsoever comes 

 in my mind, that I think may be worth your hearing. You 

 may make another choice bait thus: take a handful or two 

 of the best and biggest wheat you can get ; boil it in a little 

 milk, like as frumity is boiled ; boil it so till it be soft ; and then 

 fry it, very leisurely, with honey, and a little beaten saffron 



for four turns, and draw the end of the silk (which has all this while 

 hung down under the root of your left thumb) close, and twitch it off. 



To tie a water knot : Lay the end of one of your hairs, about five inches 

 or less, over that of the other ; and, through the loop which you would 

 make to tie them in the common way, pass the long and the short end of 

 the hairs, which will lie to the right of the loop, twice ; and, wetting the 

 knot with your tongue, draw it close, and cut off the spare hair. 



* I have heard that the tackling hath been prized at fifty pounds, in the 

 inventory of an angler. 



f In some former editions of this book, the author has, in this place, 

 mentioned " Charles Kirby " as a maker of excellent hooks ; of whom take 

 the following account : He was famous for the neatness and form of his 

 hooks ; when being introduced to Prince Rupert, whose name frequently 

 occurs in the history of King Charles the First's reign, the prince com- 

 municated to him a method of tempering them, which has been continued 

 in the family to this time ; there being a lineal descendant of the above- 

 named Charles Kirby now (1760) living in Crowther's-well Alley, near 

 Aldergate Street ; whose hooks, for their shape and temper, exceed all 

 others. * This story is the more likely to be true, as it is well known that 

 the German nobility, in the last century, were much addicted to chemistry, 

 and that to this Prince Rupert the world is indebted for the invention, 

 of scraping in mezzotinto. See a head of his scraping in Evelyn's 

 Sculptura. f 



* Sir H. Davy prefers the Limerick hooks of O'Shaughnessy to every other ; white 

 Carrol and others prefer the Kendal hooks. The London and the Birmingham hooks 

 are bad, not because they cannot there make good hooks, but because they make cheap 

 ones. J. R. 



t The invention of this art is also ascribed to Sir Christopher Wren, but it was greatly 

 improved by Prince Rupert. See Elme's Life of Sir Christopher Wren. Journal! nf t/.e 

 ftayai Society for October, 1662, &c. S. 



