The Compleat Angler by Izaak Walton (positive books to read .TXT) 📖

with a grasshopper; and the Chub he caught was a lusty one of nineteen inches long. But pray, brother Peter, who is your companion ?

Peter. Brother Piscator, my friend is an honest countryman, and his name is Coridon; and he is a downright witty companion, that met me here purposely to be pleasant and eat a Trout; and I have not yet wetted my line since we met together: but I hope to fit him with a Trout for his breakfast; for I'll be early up.

Piscator. Nay, brother, you shall not stay so long; for, look you! here is a Trout will fill six reasonable bellies.

Come, hostess, dress it presently; and get us what other meat the house will afford; and give us some of your best barley-wine, the good liquor that our honest forefathers did use to think of; the drink which preserved their health, and made them live so long, and to do so many good deeds.

Peter. On my word, this Trout is perfect in season. Come, I thank you, and here is a hearty draught to you, and to all the brothers of the angle wheresoever they be, and to my young brother's good fortune to- morrow. I will furnish him with a rod, if you will furnish him with the rest of the tackling: we will set him up, and make him a fisher. And I will tell him one thing for his encouragement, that his fortune hath made him happy to be scholar to such a master; a master that knows as much, both of the nature and breeding of fish, as any man; and can also tell him as well how to catch and cook them, from the Minnow to the Salmon, as any that I ever met withal.

Piscator. Trust me, brother Peter, I find my scholar to be so suitable to my own humour, which is to be free and pleasant and civilly merry, that my resolution is to hide nothing that I know from him. Believe me, scholar, this is my resolution; and so here's to you a hearty draught, and to all that love us and the honest art of Angling.

Venator. Trust me, good master, you shall not sow your seed in barren ground; for I hope to return you an increase answerable to your hopes: but, however, you shall find me obedient, and thankful, and serviceable to my best ability.

Piscator. 'Tis enough, honest scholar! come, let's to supper. Come, my friend Coridon, this Trout looks lovely; it was twenty-two inches when it was taken; and the belly of it looked, some part of it, as yellow as a marigold, and part of it as white as a lily; and yet, methinks, it looks better in this good sauce.

Coridon. Indeed, honest friend, it looks well, and tastes well: I thank you for it, and so doth my friend Peter, or else he is to blame.

Peter. Yes, and so I do; we all thank you: and, when we have supped, I will get my friend Coridon to sing you a song for requital.

Coridon. I will sing a song, if anybody will sing another, else, to be plain with you, I will sing none. I am none of those that sing for meat, but for company: I say,

'"Tis merry in hall, When men sing all."

Piscator. I'll promise you I'll sing a song that was lately made, at my request, by Mr. William Basse; one that hath made the choice songs of the " Hunter in his Career," and of " Tom of Bedlam," and many others of note; and this, that I will sing, is in praise of Angling.

Coridon. And then mine shall be the praise of a Countryman's life. What will the rest sing of?

Peter. I will promise you, I will sing another song in praise of Angling to-morrow night; for we will not part till then; but fish to-morrow, and sup together: and the next day every man leave fishing, and fall to his business.

Venator. Tis a match; and I will provide you a song or a catch against then, too, which shall give some addition of mirth to the company; for we will be civil and as merry as beggars.

Piscator. Tis a match, my masters. Let's e en say grace, and turn to the fire, drink the other cup to whet our whistles, and so sing away all sad thoughts. Come on, my masters, who begins? I think it is best to draw cuts, and avoid contention.

Peter. It is a match. Look, the shortest cut falls to Coridon.

Coridon. Well, then, I will begin, for I hate contention

Coridon's song.

Oh the sweet contentment The countryman doth find! Heigh trolollie lollie foe, Heigh trolollie lee. That quiet contemplation Possesseth all my mind: Then care away And wend along with me.

For Courts are full of flattery, As hath too oft been tried Heigh trolollie lollie foe, etc., The city full of wantonness, And both are full of pride: Then care away, etc.

But oh, the honest countryman Speaks truly from his heart Heigh trolollie lollie foe, etc. His pride is in his tillage, His horses, and his cart: Then care away, etc.

Our cloathing is good sheep-skins Grey russet for our wives Heigh trolollie lollie loe, etc. 'Tis warmth and not gay cloathing That doth prolong our lives: Then care away, etc.

The ploughman, tho' he labour hard, Yet on the holy-day Heigh trolollie lollie foe, etc. No emperor so merrily Does pass his time away: Then care away, etc.

To recompense our tillage, The heavens afford us showers Heigh trolollie lollie foe, etc. And for our sweet refreshment. The earth affords us bowers: Then care away, etc.

The cuckow and the nightingale Full merrily do sing, Heigh trolollie lollie foe, etc. And with their pleasant roundelays Bid welcome to the spring: Then care away, etc.

This is not half the happiness The countryman enjoys Heigh trolollie lollie foe, etc., Though others think they have as much, Yet he that says so lies: Then come away, Turn countrymen with me.

Jo. Chalkhill.,

Piscator. Well sung, Coridon, this song was sung with mettle; and it was choicely fitted to the occasion: I shall love you for it as long as I know you. I would you were a brother of the angle; for a companion that is cheerful, and free from swearing and scurrilous discourse, is worth gold. I love such mirth as does not make friends ashamed to look upon one another next morning; nor men, that cannot well bear it, to repent the money they spend when they be warmed with drink. And take this for a rule: you may pick out such times and such companies, that you make yourselves merrier for a little than a great deal of money; for "'Tis the company and not the charge that makes the feast "; and such a companion you prove: I thank you for it

But I will not compliment you out of the debt that I owe you, and therefore I will begin my song, and wish it may be so well liked.

The Angler's song.

As inward love breeds outward talk The hound some praise, and some the hawk Some, better pleas'd with private sport Use tennis, some a mistress court: But these delights I neither wish Nor envy, while I freely fish.

Who hunts, doth oft in danger ride; Who hawks, lures oft both far and wide Who uses games shall often prove A loser, but who falls in love, Is fetter'd in fond Cupid's snare: My angle breeds me no such care.

Of recreation there is none So free as fishing is alone; All other pastimes do no less Than mind and body both possess: My hand alone my work can do, So I can fish and study too.

I care not, I, to fish in seas, Fresh rivers best my mind do please, Whose sweet calm course I contemplate, And seek in life to imitate: In civil bounds I fain would keep, And for my past offences weep.

And when the timorous Trout I wait To take, and he devours my bait, How poor a thing, sometimes I find, Will captivate a greedy mind: And when none bite, I praise the wise Whom vain allurements ne'er surprise.

But yet, though while I fish, I fast, I make good fortune my repast; And "hereunto my friend invite, In whom I more than that delight: Who is more welcome to my dish Than to my angle was my fish.

As well content no prize to take, As use of taken prize to make: For so our Lord was pleased, when He fishers made fishers of men; Where, which is in no other game, A man may fish and praise his name.

The first men that our Saviour dear Did choose to wait upon him here, Blest fishers were, and fish the last Food was that he on earth did taste: I therefore strive to follow those Whom he to follow him hath chose.

W. B.

Coridon. Well sung, brother, you have paid your debt in good coin. We anglers are all beholden to the good man that made this song: come, hostess, give us more ale, and let's drink to him. And now let's every one go to bed, that we may rise early: but first let's pay our reckoning, for I will have nothing to hinder me in the morning; for my purpose is to prevent the sun-rising.

Peter. A match. Come, Coridon, you are to be my bed-fellow. I know, brother, you and your scholar will lie together. But where shall we meet to-morrow night? for my friend Coridon and I will go up the water towards Ware.

Piscator. And my scholar and I will go down towards Waltham.

Coridon. Then let's meet here, for here are fresh sheets that smell of lavender; and I am sure we cannot expect better meat, or better usage in any place.

Peter. 'Tis a match. Good-night to everybody.

Piscator. And so say I.

Venator. And so say I.


The fourth day

Piscator. Good-morrow, good hostess, I see my brother Peter is still in bed. Come, give my scholar and me a morning drink, and a bit of meat to breakfast: and be sure to get a dish of meat or two against supper, for we shall come home as hungry as hawks. Come, scholar, let's be going.

Venator. Well now, good master, as we walk towards the river, give me direction, according to your promise, how I shall fish for a Trout.

Piscator. My honest scholar, I will take this very convenient opportunity to do it.

The Trout is usually caught with a worm, or a minnow, which some call a peek, or with a fly, viz. either a natural or an artificial fly: concerning which three, I will give you some observations and directions.

And, first, for worms. Of these there be very many sorts: some breed only in the earth, as the earth-worm; others of, or amongst plants, as the dug-worm; and others breed either out of excrements, or in the bodies of living creatures, as in the horns of sheep or deer; or some of dead flesh, as the maggot or gentle, and others.

Now these be most of them particularly good for particular fishes. But for the Trout, the dew-worm, which some also call the lob-worm, and the brandling, are the chief; and especially the first for a great Trout, and the latter for a less. There be also of lob-worms,