2741 THE COMPLETE AtfGLER. [PART I. 



be the- best roaeh-anglers ; l and I think the best trout- 

 anglers be in Derbyshire, for the waters there are clear to 

 an extremity. 



site the church-yard ; and in that cemetery Ties an angler, upon whose 

 grave-stone is an inscription, now nearly effaced, consisting of these homely 

 lines-: 



In memory of Mr. Thomas Tombs, goldsmith, of London, who departed 

 this life Aug. 12th, 1758, agecE 53 years. 



Each brother Bob ! that, sportive, passes- here, 

 Pause at this stone ; and drop the silent tear, 

 For him who loved your harmless sport ; 

 Who to this Pitch * did oft resort ; 

 Who in free converse oft would please, 

 With native humour, mirth and ease ; 

 His actions form'd upon so just a plan, 

 He lived a worthy, died an honest, man. 



Before I dismiss the subject of Thames fishing, I will let the reader 

 know, that formerly the fishermen inhabiting the villages on the banks of 

 the Thames, were used to enclose certain parts of the river with what they 

 called "stops," but which were in effect wears or kidels, by stakes driven 

 into the bed thereof ; and to these they tied weels, creating thereby a 

 current which drove the fish into those traps. This practice, though it 

 may sound oddly to say so, is against Magna Charta, and is expressly pro- 

 hibited by the 23rd chapter of that statute. In the year 1757, the Lord 

 Mayor, Dickenson, sent the Water-Bailiff up the Thames in a barge well- 

 manned and furnished with proper implements, who destroyed all those 

 inclosures on this side of Staines, by pulling up the stakes, and setting 

 them adrift. H. [The nefarious practices of which Sir John Hawkins com- 

 plaints have, of late years, been prevented by the establishment of the 

 'Thames Angling Society,' which, under the sanction of the Lord Mayor, 

 ex qfficio Conservator, preserves the river from Isleworth to Staines. From 

 Staines to the Maidenhead Weir it is preserved by the Thames Boat Club. 

 These societies are maintained by the subscription of one guinea annually. 

 ED.] 



1 There are no roach-anglers equal to the Londoners for taking this fish, 

 who may be seen in punts near Richmond-bridge and other parts of the 

 Thames. The season for roach fishing in that river begins about the 

 middle of August, and continues throughout the winter, but it is best in 

 October, when immense numbers are taken. So eager are some persons 

 for the sport, that no weather, however cold, seems to deter them from 

 following it. I have heard of a gentleman who Avould get up as soon as it 

 was light, and fish all day till it was dark, when the wet was freezing on 

 his line ! ED. 



* A particular spot, called a Pitch, from the act of pitching or fastening a boat 

 there. 



