THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 197 



say, " I envy not him that eats better meat than I do ; nor him 

 that is richer, or that wears better clothes than I do : I envy 

 nobody but him, and him only, that catches more fish than I do." 

 And such a man is like to prove an angler ; and this noble 

 emulation I wish to you, and all young anglers. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



OF THE MINNOW, OR PENK ; OF THE LOACH ; OF THE BULL-HEAD, 

 OR MILLER'S THUMB ; AND OF THE STICKLEBAG. 



Piscator. THERE be also three or four other little fish that I 

 had almost forgot, that are all without scales, and may, for 

 excellency of meat, be compared to any fish of greatest value 

 and largest size. They be usually full of eggs, or spawn, all 

 the months of summer ; for they breed often, as it is observed 

 mice and many of the smaller four-footed creatures of the earth 

 do; and as those, so these come quickly to their full growth and 

 perfection. And it is needful that they breed both often and 

 numerously ; for they be, besides other accidents of ruin, both 

 a prey and baits for other fish. And first I shall tell you of the 

 Minnow, or Penk. 4 



The Minnow hath, when he is in perfect season and not 

 sick, which is only presently after spawning, a kind of dappled, 

 or waved colour, like to a panther, on his sides, inclining to a 

 greenish and sky colour ; his belly being milk white ; and his 

 back almost black, or blackish. He is a sharp biter at a small 

 worm, and in hot weather makes excellent sport for young 

 anglers, or boys, or women, that love that recreation. And 

 in the spring they make of them excellent Minnow-tansies ; for 

 being washed well in salt, and their heads and tails cut off, and 

 their guts taken out, and not washed after, they prove excellent 

 for that use ; that is, being fried with yolks of eggs, the flowers 

 of cowslips and of primroses, and a little tansy ; thus used, they 

 make a dainty dish of meat. 



The Loach is, as I told you, a most dainty fish : he breeds 

 and feeds in little and clear swift brooks, or rills, and lives 

 there upon the gravel, and in the sharpest streams ; he grows 

 not to be above a finger long, and no thicker than is suitable to 



small goose or a duck-quill float: and for ground bait throw in, every now 

 and then, a bit of chewed bread. 



For Barbel, the place should be baited the night before you fish, with 

 graves, which are the sediment of melted tallow, and may be had at the 

 tallow chandler's. Use the same ground bait while you are fishing, as 

 for Roach and Dace. 



In fishing with a float for Chub, in warm weather, fish at mid- water j 

 in cool, lower ; and in cold, at the ground. 



