and when they think fit, from the extreme heat of summer, as also from the extremity of cold in winter. And note, that if many trees be growing about your pond, the leaves thereof falling into the water, make it nauseous to the fish, and the fish to be so to the eater of it.

It is noted, that the Tench and Eel love mud; and the Carp loves gravelly ground, and in the hot months to feed on grass. You are to cleanse your pond, if you intend either profit or pleasure, once every three or four years, (especially some ponds,) and then let it lie dry six or twelve months, both to kill the water weeds, as water lilies, candocks, reate, and bulrushes, that breed there; and also that as these die for want of water, so grass may grow in the pond's bottom, which Carps will eat greedily in all the hot months, if the pond be clean. letting your pond dry, and sowing oats in the bottom, is also good, for the fish feed the faster and being some time let dry, you may observe what kind of fish either increases or thrives best in that water; for they differ much, both in their breeding and feeding.

The

Lebault also advises, that if your ponds be not very large and roomy, that you often feed your fish by throwing into them chippings of bread, curds, grains, or the entrails of chickens, or of any fowl or beast that you kill to feed yourselves; for these afford fish a great relief. He says, that frogs and ducks do much harm, and devour both the spawn and the young fry of all fish, especially of the Carp; and I have, besides experience, many testimonies of it. But Lebault allows water-frogs to be good meat, especially in some months, if they be fat ;* but you are to note, that he is a Frenchman; and we English will hardly believe him, though we know frogs are usually eaten in his country however, he advises to destroy them and kingfishers out of your ponds. And he advises not to suffer much shooting at wild fowl; for that, he says, affrightens, and harms, and destroys the fish.

Note, that Carps and Tench thrive and breed best when no other fish is put with them into the same pond; for all other fish devour their spawn, or at least the greatest part of it. And note, that clods of grass thrown into any pond feed any Carps in summer; and, that garden earth and parsley thrown into a pond recovers and refreshes the sick fish. And note, that when you store your pond, you are to put into it two or three melters for one spawner, if you put them into a breeding pond; but if into a nurse pond or feeding pond, in which they will not breed,

*Angling for frogs is a common French sport and profitable, for frogs sell high in the market, a dish of frogs being very expensive. I never saw the edible frog in Britain, though it is said to be native. Only the hind quarters are used.-J. R.

then no care is to be taken whether there be most male or female Carps.

It is observed, that the best ponds to breed Carps are those that be stony or sandy, and are warm, and free from wind; and that are not deep, but have willow trees and grass on their sides, over which the water does sometimes flow; and note, that Carps do more usually breed in marle pits, or pits that have clean clay bottoms; or in new ponds, or ponds that lie dry a winter season, than in old ponds that be full of mud and weeds.*

It is observable, that the author has said very little of pond-fishing, which is, in truth, a dull recreation; and to which I have heard it objected, that fish in ponds are already caught. Nevertheless, I find that in the canal at St James's Park, which, though a large one, is yet a pond, it was in the reign of Charles II. the practice of ladies to angle.

Beneath, a shoal of silver fishes glides
And plays about the gilded barges' sides:
The ladies, angling in the crystal lake,
Feast on the waters with the prey they take:
At once victorious with their lines and eyes,
They make the fishes and the men their prize.

WALLER Poem on St James's Park.

As the method of ordering fish-ponds is now very well known, and there are few books of gardening but what give some directions about it, it is hoped the reader will think the following quotation from Bowlker sufficient, by way of annotation on this chapter.

"When you intend to stock a pool with Carp or Tench, make a close ethering hedge across the head of the pool, about a yard distance of the dam, and about three feet above the water, which is the best refuge for them I know of, and the only method to preserve pool fish; because if any one attempts to rob the pool, muddies the water, or disturbs it with nets, most of the fish, if not all, immediately fly between the hedge and the dam, to preserve themselves: and in all pools where there are such shelters and shades, the fish delight to swim backwards and forwards, through and round the same, rubbing and sporting themselves therewith. This hedge ought to be made chiefly of orls, and not too close, the boughs long and straggling towards the dam, by which means you may feed and fatten them as you please. The best baits for drawing them together, at first, are maggots or young wasps; the next are, bullock's brains and lob-worms, chopped together, and thrown into the pools in large quantities, about two hours before sunset, summer and winter. By thus using these ground baits once a-day, for a fortnight together, the fish will come as constantly and naturally to the place as cattle to their fodder; and to satisfy your curiosity, and to convince you herein, after you have baited the pool for some time, as directed, take about the quantity of a twopenny loaf of wheaten bread, cut it into slices, and wet it, then throw it into the pool where you had baited, and the Carp will feed upon it; after you have used the wet bread three or four mornings, then throw some dry bread in, which will lie on the top of the water, and if you watch, out of sight of the fish, you will presently see them swim to it, and suck it in. I look upon wheaten bread to be the best food for them, though barley or oaten bread is very good. If there be Tench and Perch in the same pond, they will feed upon the four former baits, and not touch the bread. Indeed there is no pool. fish so shy and nice as a Carp. When the water is disturbed, Carp will fly to the safest shelter they can, which I one day observed, when assisting a gentleman to fish his pool; for another person disturbed the wate; by throwing the casting-net, but caught never a Carp, whereupon two or three of us stripped and went into the pool, which was provided with such a sort of hedge in it as is before described, whither the Carp had fled for

Well, scholar, I have told you the substance of all that either observation or discourse, or a diligent survey of Dubravius and Lebault, hath told me; not that they, in their long discourses, nave not said more; but the most of the rest are so common observations, as if a man should tell a good arithmetician that twice two is four. I will therefore put an end to this discourse; and we will here sit down and rest us.

CHAPTER XXI.

DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING OF A LINE, AND FOR THE COLOURING OF BOTH ROD AND LINE.

Piscator. WELL, scholar, I have held you too long about these cadis, and smaller fish, and rivers, and fish ponds; and my spirits are almost spent, and so, I doubt, is your patience : but being we are now almost at Tottenham, where I first met you, and where we are to part, I will lose no time, but give you a little direction how to make and order your lines, and to colour the hair of which you make your lines, for that is very needful to be known of an angler; and also how to paint your rod, especially your top; for a right grown top is a choice commodity, and should be preserved from the water soaking into it, which makes it in wet weather to be heavy and fish ill favouredly, and not true; and also it rots quickly for want of painting; and I think a good top is worth preserving, or I had not taken care to keep a top above twenty years.*

safety; then fishing with our hands on both sides the hedge, that is, one on either side, we catched what quantity of Carp was wanting.". Bowlker, p. 62.

The reader may also consult a book published about the year 1712, entitled A Discourse of Fish and Fish-ponds, by a Person of Honour, who, I have been told by one who knew him, was the Honourable Roger North, author of the Life of the Lord Keeper Guildford. See vol. i. p. 202.

The author having said nothing about choosing or making rods in any part of his book, it was thought proper to insert the following directions: For fishing at the bottom, whether with a running line or float, the reed, or cane-rod is, on account of its lightness and elasticity, the best, especially if you angle for those fish which bite but tenderly, as Roach and Dace. And of these there are rods that put up, and make a walking stick. There are others in many joints, that put up together in a bag, and are therefore called bag-rods: these last are very useful to travel with, as they take but little room. Next to these is the hazel, but that is more apt to warp than the cane; these, as also excellent fly-rods, are to be had at all the fishing tackle shops in London, and therefore need no particular description, only be careful, whenever you hespeak a rod of reed, or cane, that the workman does not rasp down into the bark which grows round the joints, a fault which the makers of rods are often guilty of; the consequence whereof is, that the rod is thereby made weaker at the joints than elsewhere, and there being no bark to repel the wet, it soon rots, and, whenever you hook a large fish, certainly breaks.

But first for your line: First note, that you are to take care that your hair be round, and clear, and free from galls, or scabs,

But if you live in the country, and are forced to make your own rods, take these directions :

Between the latter end of November and Christmas, when the sap is gone down into the roots of trees, gather the straightest hazels you can find for stocks, and let them, at the greatest end, be about an inch or more in diameter; at the same time, gather shoots of a less size, for middle pieces and tops, tie them together in a bundle, and let them lie on a dry floor; at the end of fifteen or sixteen months, match them together, and to the slender ends of the tops, after cutting off about eight or ten inches, whip a fine taper piece of whalebone of that length, then cut the ends of the stock, the middle piece, and the top, with a long slant, so that they may join exactly to each other, and spread some shoemaker's wax, very thin, over the slants; bind them neatly with strong waxed thread; and, lastly, fix a strong loop of horse hair to the whalebone. Let the rod, so made, lie a week to settle before you use it. In this manner, also, you are to make a fly-rod; only observe, that the latter must be much slenderer from the end of the stock than the former.

But for the neatest fly-rod you can make, get a yellow whole deal board that is free from knots, cut off about seven feet of the best end, and saw it into some square breadths: let a joiner plane off the angles, and make it perfectly round, a little tapering, and this will serve for the stock; then piece it to a fine straight hazel, of about six feet long, and then a delicate piece of fine grained yew, planed round like an arrow, and tapering, with whalebone, as before, of about two feet in length. There is no determining precisely the length of a fly-rod, but one of fourteen feet is as long as can be well managed with one hand. To colour the stock, dip a feather in aquafortis, and with your hand chafe it into the deal, and it will be of a cinnamon colour.

But before you attempt this sort of work, you must be able to bind neatly, and fasten off.

When the season is over, and you have done with your rods, take them to pieces, and bind the joints to a straight pole, and let them continue to bound till the season returns for using them again. See more directions about the fly-rod, part ii. chap. v.

Rods for Barbel, Carp, and other large fish, should be of hazel, and proportionably stronger than those for Roach and Dace. And note, that for fly-fishing the bamboo cane is excellent. Screws to rods are not only heavy, and apt to be out of repair, but they are absolutely unnecessary; and the common way of inserting one joint in another is sufficiently secure, if the work be true.

Our forefathers were wont to pursue even their amusements with great formality. An angler of the last age must have his fishing-coat, which, if not black, was at least of a very dark colour; a black velvet cap, like those which jockeys now wear, only larger; and a rod with a stock as long as a halbert: and thus equipped, would he stalk forth with the eyes of a whole neighbourhood upon him.

But in these latter days, bag-rods have been invented, which the angler may easily conceal, and do not proclaim to all the world where he is going. Those for float-fishing are now become common; but this invention has lately been extended to rods for fly-fishing; and here follows a description of such a neat, portable, and useful one, as no angler that has once tried it will ever be without:

Let the joints be four in number, and made of hiccory, or some such very tough wood, and two feet four inches in length, the largest joint not exceeding half an inch in thickness. The top must be bamboo shaved. And for the stock, let it be of ash, full in the grasp, of an equal length with the other joints; and with a strong ferrule at the smaller end, made to receive the large joint, which must be well shouldered and fitted to it with the utmost exactness.

This rod will go into a bag, and lie very well concealed in a pocket in the lining of your coat, on the left side, made straight, on purpose to receive it.

or frets for a well chosen, even, clear, round hair, of a kind of glass colour, will prove as strong as three uneven scabby hairs that are ill chosen, and full of galls or unevenness. You shall seldom find a black hair but it is round, but many white are flat and uneven; therefore, if you get a lock of right, round, clear, glass colour hair, make much of it.

And for making your line, observe this rule: First, let your hair be clean washed ere you go about to twist it; and then choose not only the clearest hair for it, but hairs that be of an equal bigness, for such do usually stretch all together, and break all together, which hairs of an unequal bigness never do, but break singly, and so deceive the angler that trusts to them.

When you have twisted your links, lay them in water for a quarter of an hour at least, and then twist them over again before you tie them into a line for those that do not so shall usually find their line to have a hair or two shrink, and be shorter than the rest at the first fishing with it, which is so much of the strength of the line lost for want of first watering it and then retwisting it; and this is most visible in a sevenhair line, one of those which hath always a black hair in the middle.*

Your line, whether it be a running line or for float-fishing, had best be of hair; unless you fish for Barbel, and then it must be of strong silk. And the latter, (the line for float-fishing,) must be proportioned to the general size of the fish you expect-always remembering that the single hair is to be preferred for Roach or Dace fishing. But the fly line is to be very strong; and, for the greater facility in throwing, should be eighteen or twenty hairs at the top, and so diminishing insensibly to the hook. There are lines now to be had at the fishing-tackle shops that have no joints, but wove in one piece.

But notwithstanding this and other improvements, perhaps some may still choose to make their own lines. In which case, if they prefer those twisted with the fingers, they need only observe the rules given by the author for that purpose. But, for greater neatness and expedition, I would recommend an engine lately invented, which is now to be had at almost any fishing tackle shop in London: it consists of a large horizontal wheel and three very small ones, enclosed in a brass box about a quarter of an inch thick, and two inches in diameter; the axis of each of the small wheels is continued through the under side of the box, and is formed into a hook; by means of a strong screw it may be fixed in any post or partition, and is set in motion by a small winch in the centre of the box.

To twist links with this engine, take as many hairs as you intend each shall consist of, and, dividing them into three parts, tie each parcel to a bit of fine twine, about six inches long, doubled, and put through the aforesaid hooks; then take a piece of lead, of conical figure, two inches high, and two in diameter at the base, with a hook at the apex, or point; tie your three parcels of hair into one knot, and to this, by the hook, hang the weight.

Lastly, take a quart, or larger, bottle cork, and cut into the sides, at equal distances, three grooves; and placing it so as to receive each division of hair, begin to twist: you will find the link begin to twist with great evenness at the lead; as it grows tighter, shift the cork a little upwards; and when the whole is sufficiently twisted, take out the cork, and tie the link into a knot, and so proceed till you have twisted links sufficient for your line, observing to lessen the number of hairs in each link in such proportion as that the line may be taper.