288 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



flies. But with these two, the green drake and the stone-fly, I 

 do verily believe, I could, some days in my life, had I not been 

 weary of slaughter, have loaden a lusty boy; and have some- 

 times, I do honestly assure you, given over upon the mere 

 account of satiety of sport ; which will be no hard matter to 

 believe, when I likewise assure you, that with this very fly, I 

 have, in this very river that runs by us, in three or four hours, 

 taken thirty, five-and-thirty, and forty of the best Trouts in the 

 river. What shame and pity is it then, that such a river should 

 be destroyed by the basest sort of people, by those unlawful 

 ways of fire and netting in the night, and of damming, groping, 

 spearing, hanging, and hooking by day ; which are now grown 

 so common, that though we have very good laws to punish such 

 offenders, every rascal does it, for aught I see, impune.* 



To conclude, I cannot now, jn honesty, but frankly tell you, 

 that many of these flies I have named, at least so made as we 

 make them here, will peradventure do you no great service in 

 your southern rivers ; f and will not conceal from you, but that 

 I have sent flies to several friends in London, that, for aught I 

 could ever hear, never did any great feats with them ; and, 

 therefore, if you intend to profit by my instructions, you must 

 come to angle with me here in the Peak ; and so, if you please, 

 let us walk up to supper ; and to-morrow, if the day be windy, 

 as our days here commonly are, it is ten to one but we shall 

 take a good dish of fish for dinner. 



* Not at present with impunity in some parts of Derbyshire, where, I am 

 informed, an unprivileged person is not allowed to go near some of the 

 streams with so much as a walking stick in his hand J. R. 



f- The reader may rest assured, that with some or other of these flies, 

 especially with the palmers or hackles, the great dun, dark brown, early 

 (and late) bright brown, the black gnat, yellow-dun, great whirling-dun, 

 dun-cut, green and gray-drake, camlet-fly, cow-dung-fly little ant-fly, 

 badger-fly, and fern-fly, he shall catch Trout, Grayling, Chub, and Dace, 

 in any water in England or Wales ; always remembering that in a strange 

 water he first tries the plain, gold, silver, and peacock hackle. Of the truth 

 of this he need not doubt, when he is told, that in the year 1754, a gentleman, 

 who went into Wales to fish with the flies last above mentioned, made as 

 above is directed, did, in about six weeks' time, kill near a thousand brace 

 of Trout and Grayling, as appeared to him by an account in writing, 

 which he kept of each day's success. In confirmation whereof, and as a 

 proof how the rivers in Wales abound with fish, the reader will find in the 

 Appendix, No. V. a little account, kept by another person, of fish, to an 

 astonishing amount, caught by him, in a series of years, in some of the 

 Welsh rivers ; which account was sent by him to Mr Bartholomew Lowe, 

 fishing-tackle maker, in Drury Lane, 24th February, 1766, and is inserted 

 in his own words. 



