264 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



thumb of your left hand, take your silk with the right, and 

 twisting it betwixt the finger and thumb of that hand, the dub- 

 bing will spin itself about the silk, which when it has done, 

 whip it about the armed hook backward, till you come to the 

 setting on of the wings. And then take the feather for the 

 wings, and divide it equally into two parts, then turn them 

 back towards the bend of the hook, the one on the one side, and 

 the other on the other of the shank ; holding them fast in that 

 posture betwixt the fore finger and thumb of your left hand ; 

 which done, warp them so down as to stand and slope towards 

 the bend of the hook ; and having warped up to the end of the 

 shank, hold the fly fast betwixt the finger and thumb of your 

 left hand, arid then take the silk betwixt the finger and thumb of 

 your right hand ; and, where the warping ends, pinch or nip it 

 with your thumb nail, against your finger, and strip away the 

 remainder of your dubbing from the silk : and then with the bare 

 silk, whip it once or twice about ; make the wings to stand in 

 due order; fasten, and cut it off. After which, with the point 

 of a needle, raise up the dubbing gently from the warp ; twitch 

 off the superfluous hairs of your dubbing ; leave the wings of an 

 equal length your fly will never else swim true and the 

 work is done. And this way of making a fly, which is certainly 

 the best of all other, was taught me by a kinsman of mine, one 

 Captain Henry Jackson, a near neighbour, an admirable fly- 

 angler, by many degrees the best fly-maker that ever I yet met 

 with.* And now that I have told you how a fly is to be made, 

 you shall presently see me make one, with which you may per- 

 ad venture take a Trout this morning, notwithstanding the 

 unlikeliness of the day ; for it is now nine of the clock, and fish 

 will begin to rise, if they will rise to-day. I will walk along by 

 you, and look on. And, after dinner, I will proceed in my 

 lecture of fly-fishing. 



Viator. I confess I long to be at the river ; and yet I could 

 sit here all day to hear you : but some of the one, and some of 

 the other, will do well ; and I have a mighty ambition to take a 

 Trout in your river Dove. 



Piscator. I warrant you shall : I would not, for more than I 

 will speak of, but you should, seeing I have so extolled my river 

 to you : nay, I will keep you here a month, but you shall have 

 one day of good sport before you go. 



Viator. You will find me, I doubt, too tractable that way ; 

 for, in good earnest, if business would give me leave, and that if 

 it were fit, I could find in my heart to stay with you for ever. 



* There needs nothing more to be said of these directions, than that 

 hundreds have, by means of them alone, become excellent fly makers. 

 For making a palmer, or hackle, see the notes on chap. vii. 



