No empty hopes, no courtly fears him fright, His certain life, that never can deceive him, Is full of thousand sweets and rich content; Or the vexatious world, or lost in slothful ease: His bed, more safe than soft, yields quiet sleeps, His little son into his bosom creeps, The lively picture of his father's face; His humble house or poor state ne'er torment him Less he could like, if less his God had lent him, And when he dies, green turfs do for a tomb content him. Gentlemen, these were a part of the thoughts that then possessed me. And I here made a conversion of a piece of an old catch," and added more to it, fitting them to be sung by us anglers. Come, master, you can sing well: you must sing a part of it, as it is in this paper. Peter. I marry, sir, this is music indeed this has cheered my heart, and made me to remember six verses in praise of music, which I will speak to you instantly: Music! miraculous rhetoric, that speak'st sense With what ease might thy errors be excused, But though dull souls neglect, and some reprove thee, *The song here sung can in no sense of the word be termed a catch. It was probably set to music at the request of Walton, and is to be found in a book, entitled Select Ayres and Dialogues for one, two, and three Voyces; to the Theorbo-lute, and Basse Viol. By John Wilson and Charles Coleman, doctors of music, Henry Lawes, and others, fol. London, 1659. It occurs in the first edition of Walton's book, published in 1653. At the time when Walton wrote, and long before, music was so generally well understood, that a man who had any voice or ear, was always supposed to be able to sing his part in a madrigal or song, at sight. Peacham requires of his gentleman, only to be able to sing his part sure, and at the first sight; and withal, to play the same on the viol or lute."Compleat Gentleman, 100. And Philomathes, in Morley's excellent Introduction to Practical Music, in folio, London 1597, thus complains, (at the banquet of master Sophobulus,) "Supper being ended, and music books, according to custom, being brought to table, the mistress of the house presented me with a part, earnestly requesting me to sing. But when, after many excuses, I protested unfeignedly that I could not, every one began to wonder; yea, some whispered to others, demanding how I was brought up. So that, upon shame of mine ignorance, I go nowe to seek out mine olde friend master Gnorimus, to make myself his scholar." Venator. And the repetition of these last verses of music has called to my memory what Mr Edward Waller, a lover of the angle,* says of love and music: While I listen to thy voice, Chloris, I feel my life decay: Calls my fleeting soul away: Peace, Chloris, peace, or singing die, To heaven may go; For all we know Of what the blessed do above, Is, that they sing, and that they love. Piscator. Well remembered, brother Peter: these verses came seasonably, and we thank you heartily. Come, we will all join together, my host and all, and sing my scholar's catch over again; and then each man drink the other cup, and to bed; and thank God we have a dry house over our heads. Well, now good night to every body. Peter. And so say I. Venator. And so say I. Coridon. Good night to you all; and I thank you. Piscator. Good morrow, brother Peter; and the like to you, honest Coridon. Come, my hostess says there is seven shillings As the author's concern for the honour of angling induced him to `enumerate such persons of note as were lovers of that recreation, the Any one who reader will allow me to add Mr John Gay to the number. reads the first canto of his Georgic, entitled Rural Sports, and observes how beautifully and accurately he treats the subject of fly-fishing, would conclude the author a proficient: but that it was his chief amusement, I have been assured by an intimate friend of mine, who has frequently fished with him in the river Kennet, at Amesbury, in Wilts, the seat of his grace the Duke of Queensbury. The reader will excuse the following addition to this note, for the sake of a beautiful description of the materials used in fly-making, which is quoted from the above mentioned poem. To frame the little animal, provide All the gay hues that wait on female pride: Furs, pearls, and plumes, the glittering thing displays, to pay let's each man drink a pot for his morning's draught, and lay down his two shillings, that so my hostess may not have occasion to repent herself of being so diligent, and using us so kindly. Peter. The motion is liked by every body, and so, hostess, here's your money; we anglers are all beholden to you; it will not be long ere I'll see you again. And now, brother Piscator, I wish you, and my brother, your scholar, a fair day and good fortune. Come, Coridon, this is our way. CHAPTER XVII. OF ROACH AND DACE, AND HOW TO FISH FOR THEM AND OF ROACH-Cyprinus Rutilus. -LINNEUS. Venator. GOOD master, as we go now towards London, be still so courteous as to give me more instructions: for I have several boxes in my memory, in which I will keep them all very safe, there shall not one of them be lost. Piscator. Well, scholar, that I will: and I will hide nothing from you that I can remember, and can think may help you forward towards a perfection in this art. And because we have so much time, and I have said so little of Roach and Dace, I will give you some directions concerning them. Some say the Roach is so called from rutilus, which they say signifies red fins. He is a fish of no great reputation for his dainty taste; and his spawn is accounted much better than any other part of him. And you may take notice, that as the Carp is accounted the water-fox, for his cunning, so the Roach is accounted the water-sheep, for his simplicity, or foolishness. It is noted, that the Roach and Dace recover strength and grow in season in a fortnight after spawning; the Barbel and Chub in a month; the Trout in four months; and the Salmon in the like time, if he gets into the sea, and after into fresh water. Roaches be accounted much better in the river than in a pond, though ponds usually breed the biggest. But there is a kind of bastard small Roach, that breeds in ponds, with a very forked tail, and of a very small size, which some say is bred by the Bream and right Roach; and some ponds are stored with these beyond belief; and knowing men, that know their difference, call them Ruds:* they differ from the true Roach as much as a Herring from a Pilchard. And these bastard breed of Roach are now scattered in many rivers; but I think not in the Thames, which, I believe, affords the largest and fattest in this nation, especially below London bridge. † The Roach is The Rud (Barbus orfus) is quite a different species from either the Roach or the Bream. It is found in the northern and midland counties, and affords good sport to the angler.-J. R. + I know not what Roaches are caught below bridge; but above, I am sure they are very large; for, on the 15th of September, 1754, at Hampton, I caught one that was fourteen inches and an eighth from eye to fork, and in weight wanted but an ounce of two pounds. The season for fishing for Roach in the Thames begins about the latter end of August, and continues much longer than it is either pleasant or safe to fish. It requires some skill to hit the time of taking them exactly; for all the summer long they live on the weed, which they do not forsake, for the deeps, till it becomes putrid, and that is sooner or later, according as the season is wet or dry; for you are to know, that much rain hastens the rotting of the weed. I say it requires some skill to hit the time; for the fishermen who live in all the towns along the river, from Chiswick to Staines, are, about this time, nightly upon the watch, as soon as the fish come out, to sweep them away with the drag-net; and our poor patient angler is left, baiting the ground and adjusting his tackle, to catch those very fish which, perhaps, the night before had been carried to Billingsgate. The Thames, as well above as below London bridge, was formerly much resorted to by London anglers; and, which is strange to think on, considering the unpleasantness of the station, they were used to fish near the starlings of the bridge. This will account for the many fishing tackle shops that were formerly in Crooked Lane, which leads to the bridge. In the memory of a person not long since living, a waterman that plied at Essex stairs, his name John Reeves, got a comfortable living by attending anglers with his boat: his method was, to watch when the shoals of Roach came down from the country, and when he had found them, to go round to his customers and give them notice. Sometimes they settled opposite the Temple; at others, at Blackfriars or Queenhithe; but most frequently about the Chalk hills, near London bridge. His hire was two shillings a tide. A certain number of persons, who were accustomed thus to employ him, raised a sum sufficient to buy him a waterman's coat and silver badge, the impress whereof was, Himself, with an Angler, in his boat, and he had annually a new coat, to the time of his death, which might be about the year 1730. Shepperton and Hampton are the places chiefly resorted to by the Londoners, who angle there in boats: at each there is a large deep, to which Roach are attracted by constant baiting. That at Hampton is opposite a leather-mouthed fish, and has a kind of saw-like teeth in his throat. And lastly, let me tell you, the Roach makes an angler excellent sport, especially the great Roaches about London, where I think there be the best Roach anglers. And I think the best Trout anglers be in Derbyshire; for the waters there are clear to an extremity. Next, let me tell you, you shall fish for this Roach in winter, with paste or gentles: in April, with worms or cadis; in the very hot months, with little white snails; or with flies under water, for he seldom takes them at the top, though the Dace will. In many of the hot months, Roaches may also be caught thus take a May-fly, or ant-fly, sink him with a little lead to the bottom, near the piles or posts of a bridge, or near to any posts of a weir- I mean any deep place where Roaches lie quietly and then pull your fly up very leisurely, and usually a Roach will follow your bait to the very top of the water, and gaze on it there, and run at it, and take it, lest the fly should fly away from him. I have seen this done at Windsor and Henley bridge, and great store of Roach taken; and sometimes a Dace or Chub. And in August, you may fish for them with a paste made only of the crumbs of bread, which should be of pure fine manchet: and that paste must be so tempered betwixt your hands, till it be both soft and tough too: a very little water, and time, and labour, and clean hands, will make it a most excellent paste. But when you fish with it, you must have a small hook, a quick the churchyard; and in that cemetery lies an angler, upon whose gravestone is an inscription, now nearly effaced, consisting of these homely lines: In memory of Mr Thomas Tombs, goldsmith, of London, Each brother Bob, that sportive passes here, Who to this pitch* did oft resort, 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 weirs or kidels, by stakes driven into the bed thereof; and to these they tied wheels, 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 prohibited by the 23d 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 enclosures on this side Staines, by pulling up the stakes and setting them adrift. * A particular spot, called a Pitch, from the act of pitching or fastening the boat there. |