CHAP. XVII. THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 199 



heath ground, or sandy ground, or greenswards, then fol- 

 low the plough, and you shall find a white worm as big as 

 two maggots, and it hath a red head : you may observe in 

 what ground most are, for there the crows will be very 

 watchful and follow the plough very close : it is all soft, 

 and full of whitish guts ; a worm that is, in Norfolk and 

 some other counties, called a grub ; and is bred of the 

 spawn or eggs of a beetle, which she leaves in holes that 

 she digs in the ground under cow or horse-dung, and there 

 rests all winter, and in March or April comes to be first a" 

 red, and then a black beetle. Gfather a thousand or two 

 of these, and put them, with a peck or two of their own 

 earth, into some tub or firkin, and cover and keep them 

 so warm that the frost or cold air, or winds, kill them not: 

 these you may keep all winter, and kill fish with them at 

 any time ; and if you put some of them into a little earth 

 and honey, a day before you use them, you will find them 

 an excellent bait for Bream, Carp, or indeed for almost 

 any fish. 



And after this manner you may also keep gentles all 

 winter ; which are a good bait then, and much the better 

 for being lively and tough. Or you may breed and keep 

 gentles thus : take a piece of beast's liver, and with a 

 cross stick, hang it in some corner, over a pot or barrel 

 half full of dry clay ; and as the gentles grow big they 

 will fall into the barrel and scour themselves, and be 

 always ready for use whensoever you incline to fish; and 

 these gentles may be thus created till after Michaelmas. 

 But if you desire to keep gentles to fish with all the year, 

 then get a dead cat, or a kite, and let it be fly-blown ; and 

 when the gentles begin to be alive and to stir, then bury 

 it and them in soft moist earth, but as free from frost as 

 you can ; and these you may dig up at any time when you 

 intend to use them : these will last till March, and about 

 ihat time turn to be flies. 



