102 THE COMPLETE AtfGLEK. [ F AKT I. 



intend to catch; let your bait fall gently on the water 

 three or four inches before him, and he will infallibly take 

 the bait. And you will be as sure to catch him ; for he is 

 one of the leather-mouthed fishes, of which a hook does 

 scarcely ever lose its hold, and therefore give him play 

 enough before you offer to take him out of the water. Go 

 your way presently ; take my rod, and do as I bid you ; 

 and I will sit down and mend my tackling till you return 

 back. 



Ven. Truly, my loving master, you have offered me as fair 

 as I could wish. I'll go and observe your directions. 



Look you, master, what I have done ! that which joys my 

 heart, caught just such another chub as yours was. 



Pise. Marry ! and I am glad of it : 1 am like to have a 

 towardly scholar of you. I now see, that with advice and 

 practice, you will make an angler in a short time. Have 

 but a love to it : and I'll warrant you. 



Ven. But master ! what if I could not have found a 

 grasshopper ? 



Pise. Then I may tell you, that a black snail, 1 with his 

 belly slit, to show the white ; or a piece of soft cheese ; '' 

 will usually do as well. Nay, sometimes a worm ; or any 

 kind of fly, as the ant-fly, the flesh-fly, or wall-fly ; or the dor 

 or beetle, which you may find under cow-dung ; or a bob, 

 which you will find in the same place, and in time will be a 

 beetle, it is a short white worm, like to and bigger than a 

 gentle ; or a cod-worm ; or a case-worm ; any of these will 

 do very well to fish in such a manner. 



And after this manner you may catch a trout, in a hot 

 evening ; when as you walk by a brook, and shall see or hear 

 him leap at flies ; then if you get a grasshopper, put it on 

 your hook, with your line about two yards long ; standing 

 behind a bush or tree where his hole is, and make your bait 

 stir up and down on the top of the water ; you may, if you 



1 Browne says that chub take snail early in the morning, but seldom in 

 the heat of the day, and advises the angler to choose his baits in the order 

 that Nature puts them forth. ED. 



2 Hofland found this bait, about the size of a hazelnut, very effective 

 for both chub and barbel. With such baits it is usual to fish near the 

 bottom of deep holes, or at the foot of mills or rivers, and if with a float, it 

 should be small. The bait should be dropped in very gently. Ei>. 



