SCKAP. 185 



of shop-made spiders as " liker bottle brushes than 

 speeders." His rod (not by choice, but necessity, for 

 he was always poor, and had to live by his angling) 

 was of unpeeled hazel : it was of two pieces, and 

 when tied up it was well balanced and bent with 

 every cast down to the hand. His mode of casting 

 was a firm throw from the elbow ; and he could 

 throw a very long light line, and make the hooks 

 fall on the very spot he wished. He did not like very 

 tine gut, but when he had a choice he always picked 

 the roundest strands. His gut, however, unless 

 some one had presented him with it, was generally 

 coarse; because he had to purchase it in penny- 

 worth's in country shops, where little choice could be 

 had. We met him on the Leader one April day, 

 and we never saw a coarser casting-line than he was 

 using. The strands had been knotted down and 

 down until we are certain the longest did not exceed 

 six inches ; and with that line, which was of a milky- 

 white colour (for he almost never stained the gut he 

 purchased), he had captured upwards of eight dozen 

 trouts that day. A peculiarity of his angling was 

 that he seldom caught very small trouts : this we 

 noticed many a time when angling alongside of him. 

 He was often in very poor circumstances during the 

 winter season, especially of late years, as he was not 



