64 A BOOK ON ANGLING 



it properly. At length one of the boldest, taking hold of the 

 extreme tip of the tail as timidly as a bashful young gentleman 

 takes hold of the tip of his partner's finger when he leads her 

 to the festive quadrille, will give it a shake. Now, if you are 

 curious, watch your float ; see how it bobs down, after a 

 fashion that would make you think the perch must not only 

 have swallowed the bait, but half digested it ; whereas, in 

 fact, they cannot make up their minds about it. Is it a safe 

 investment or is it not ? Is it real old Chelsea or only a 

 modern imitation ? And then comes an aldermanic perch, 

 of nigh two pounds, a warm liveryman of the Fishmonger's 

 Company, a regular turtle-fed lord mayor elect, with his cheeks 

 blown up, his eyes staring out of his head, his fins all bristling 

 with magisterial importance. " Now then, what is this case ? 

 Ha, hum ! a worm, eh ? yes. Found hanging about the 

 streets with no ascertainable occupation, and without any 

 home, eh ? Ha ! bad case very bad ! a mysterious and 

 vagrom character, evidently. Take him away, some of you, 

 and lock him up very suspicious indeed very much so ; 

 and so his lordship having taken a half turn, and a brief survey 

 of the wretched trembling culprit, who with policeman hook 

 stuck into him, Alderman Perch looking at him angrily and 

 hungrily, and limbo gaping at him from Mr. Alderman's 

 stomach, is drawn up as useless and thrown on one side ; 

 while, with a fan of his tail, the alderman scuttles off to a 

 fresh case, and all his little people scuttle off after him, save, 

 perhaps, one unhappy little devil who won't take warning. 

 Anyone who wishes to see this portrayed, should look at poor 

 Arthur Smith's lithograph of Rolfe's picture, called " the 

 committee of taste." It is a grand bit of expression, and the 

 combination of greediness, inquisitiveness, pomposity, and 

 funk, in the picture, is perfectly delicious. But to my angling. 



There are various ways of catching perch. The first, and 

 most common, is with the live minnow, or, if minnow cannot 

 be had, any other small fish, or fry of gudgeon, dace, or roach, 

 will do ; but these should only be used when the angler has 

 no other alternative, as, although the perch is infinitely the 

 more "desirable and valuable fish, fry should not be wasted. 

 There are four ways of using a minnow, all of which will take 

 perch : viz. with a float and either one or two hooks, or a 

 paternoster with two or three, with a loose line and roving 

 minnow, or by spinning. 



With the float, the lowest hook (if two are used) should be 



