CHAP. XVII. THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 205 



they be both honest men, and will fit an angler with what 

 tackling he lacks. 1 



Yen. 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'll 

 want nothing that a fisher should be furnished with. 



Pise. Well, and I'll not fail you, God willing, at th 

 time and place appointed. 



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

 yon. 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. 



For whipping on a hook take the following directions ; Place the hook 

 betwixt the fore-finger and thumb of your left hand, and with your right give 

 the waxed silk three or four turns round the shank of the hook; then lay the 

 end of the hair on the inside of the shank, and with your right band whip down ; 

 when you are within about four turns of the bent of the hook, take the shank 

 between the fore-finger and thumb of the left-hand, and place the silk close 

 by it, holding them both tight, and leaving the end to hang down; then draw 

 the other part of the silk into a large loop ; and, with your right-hand turning 

 backwards, continue the whipping 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 mater-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. 



(1) In some former editions of this book, the author has, in this place, men- 

 tioned Charles Kirby as a maker of excellent hooks; of whom take the follow- 

 ing 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 communicated 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 Crow- 

 ther's-well-alley, near Aldersgate-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 in- 

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

 Sculpt ur a. 



