SECOND DAT.] TROUT OF THE COLNE. 29 



POIET. Pray try him. 



HAL. I am no artist at this kind of angling, but 

 Ornither I know has fished in June with the clubs 

 at Stockbridge, where this method of fishing is usual. 

 Pray let him try his fortune, though it is hardly fair 

 play; and it is rather to endeavour to recover your 

 tackle, than for the sake of the fish, that I encourage 

 him to make the essay. 



POIET. Pray make no apologies for the trial. 

 Such a fish certainly a monster for this river 

 should be caught by fair means, if possible, but caught 

 by any means. 



ORN. You lost that fish, and you overrate his size, 

 as you will see, if I have good luck. I put my live 

 flies on the hook with some regret and some disgust. 

 I will not employ another person to be my minister 

 of cruelty, as I remember a lady of fashion once did, 

 who was very fond of fishing for perch, and who 

 employed her daughter, a little girl of nine years of 

 age, to pass the hook through the body of the worm! 

 Now there is a good wind, and the fish has just taken 

 a natural fly. I shall drop the flies, if possible, 

 within a few inches of his nose. He has risen. He 

 is caught ! I must carry him down stream to avoid 

 the bed of weeds above. I now have him on fair 

 ground, and he fights with vigour. Fortunately, my 

 silkworm gut is very strong, for he is not a fish to be 



