CHAP. XVI.] THE FO UR TH DA Y. 1 73 



and tied to some loose staff, so big as she cannot fly away with it : 

 a line not exceeding two yards.* 



PiSCATOR. My purpose was to give you some directions con- 

 cerning Roach and Dace, and some other inferior fish which 

 Chap. XVI. Is make the angler excellent sport; for you know there 

 of nothing, or of is more pleasure in hunting the hare than in eating 

 ing wort j^g^ _ j^^^ J ^. jj £-gj.^g3^^^ g^j jjjjg tijjje^ to say any more, 



because you see yonder come our brother Peter and honest Cori- 

 don. But I will promise you, that as you and I fish and walk 

 to-morrow towards London, if I have now forgotten anything 

 that I can then remember, I will not keep it from you. 



Well met, gentlemen ; this is lucky that we meet so just 

 together at this very door. Come, hostess, where are you ? is 

 supper ready ? Come, first give us drink ; and be as quick as 

 you can, for I believe we are all very hungry. Well, brother 

 Peter and Coridon, to you both ! Come, drink : and then tell me 

 what luck of fish : we two have caught but ten trouts, of which 

 my scholar caught three. Look ! here's eight ; and a brace we 

 gave away. We have had a most pleasant day for fishing and 

 talking, and are returned home both weary and hungry j and now 

 meat and rest will be pleasant. 



Peter. And Coridon and I have not had an unpleasant dg.y : 

 and yet I have caught but five trouts ; for, indeed, we went to a 

 good honest alehouse, and there we played at shovel-board* 

 half the day ; all the time that it rained we were there, and as 

 .merry as they that fished. And I am glad we are now with a 



VARIATION. 



6 After giving the instructions for Bleak-fishing, Piscator, in the Jirsi edition, pro- 

 ceeds : " I might now tell you how to catch Roach and Dace, and some other fish of 

 little note, that I have not yet spoke of ; but you see we are almost at our lodging, and, 

 indeed, if we were not, I would omit to give you any directions concerning them, or how 

 to fish for them, not but that they be both good fish, being in season, and especially to some 

 palates, and they also make the angler good sport ; and you know the hunter says there 

 is more sport in hunting the hare than in eating of her : but I will forbear to give any 

 directions concerning them, because you may go a few days and take the pleasure of the 

 fresh air, and bear any common angler company, that fishes for them, and by that means 

 learn more than any direction I can give you in words can make you capable of; and I 

 will therefore end my discourse, for yonder comes," &c., as in the text. 



* Nares in his Glossary explains Shovel-hoard to be " a common trivial game, which 

 consisted in pushing or shaking pieces of money on a board to reach certain marks.'* 

 Shovel-board play is graphically described in a poem entitled Mettsa Ltibrica, written 

 both in Latin and English by Thomas Master. The English poem is largely cited in 

 Bliss's edition of Wood's Athense, vol. iii. p. 84. The Table had lines or divisions marked 

 with figures according to the value of which the player counted his game. It is minutely 

 described by Strutt, in his Sports and Pastimes, p. 267, as still in use in pothouses, and 

 played with a smooth halfpenny. The game was also called Shovil-groat, Shove-board, 

 and ShufBe-board, and was at one time a very general amusement among all classes. In 

 the Privy Purse Expenses of Henry VIII. it is stated that his Majesty lost various sums 

 at " Shovill-abourd," pp. 188, 189, 195, 209. 



