CHAP. V.] THE FOUBTH DAT. 151 



fection, as none can well teach him. And if he hit to make 

 his fly right, and have the luck to hit, also, where there is 

 store of trouts, a dark day, and a right wind ; he will catch 

 such store of them, as will encourage him to grow more and 

 more in love with the art of fly-making. 1 



Ten. But; my loving master ! if any wind will not serve, 

 then I wish I were in Lapland, to buy a good wind of one of the 

 honest witches, that sell so many winds there, and so cheap. 



Pise. Marry, scholar ! but I would not be there, nor indeed 

 from under this tree ; for look how it begins to rain ! and by 

 the clouds, if I mistake not, we shall presently have a smoking 

 shower ; and therefore sit close ; this sycamore tree will 

 shelter us. And I will tell you, as they shall come into my 

 mind, more observations of fly-fishing for a trout. 



But, first, for the wind : You are to take notice, that of 

 the winds the south wind is said to be the best. One 

 observes, that 



-when the wind is south, 



It blows your bait into a fish's mouth. 



Next to that, the west wind is believed to be the best : 2 

 and having told you that the east wind is the worst, I need 

 not tell you which wind is the best in the third degree- 

 And yet, as Solomon observes, that " he that considers the 

 wind shall never sow ;" so he that busies his head too much 

 about them, if the weather be not made extreme cold by an 

 east wind, shall be a little superstitious : for as it is observed 

 by some, that " there is no good horse of a bad colour ;" so 

 I have observed, that if it be a cloudy day, and not extreme 

 cold, let the wind sit in what corner it will, and do its worst, 

 I heed it not. And yet take this for a rule, that I would 

 willingly fish standing on the lee-shore. And you are to 



which are stiff, and not apt to imbibe the water, as the fine furs, and most 

 other kinds of dubbing do ; and remember, also, that marten's fur is the 

 best yellow you can use. H. 



1 Walton was no adept at fly-fishing, and therefore his directions should 

 not be followed implicitly. This branch is more efficiently treated on by 

 Cotton. Perhaps no better advice can be given to the fly- fisher than that he 

 use the flies common to the locality. ED. 



2 If an angler were to dip a thermometer in the river in which he was 

 about to cast his fly, he might save himself much trouble if the tempera- 

 ture was found to be below 55 or 60 degrees. ED. 



