ANT-FLIES may be procured from the hills where they breed; the black are the best, and are to be found from June until September: gather them alive with both their wings, and put them in a bottle, wherein should be some of the moist earth, and the roots of the grass from the hillocks where they were taken the flies must be handled gently, lest their wings be injured, and with a clod of earth stop the bottle; those that are uninjured will live a month; if meant to be kept longer, into a barrel capable of holding three or four gallons, throw a quantity of the grass and roots, with as large a num'ber of flies as is thought proper, cover it, and they will live four Months; these in any stream or clear water are a fatal bait for Roach and Dace, fishing about four inches from the bottom.

WHEAT OF MALT, after being washed clean, boiled slowly until soft, and then the husks taken off with a pen-knife, and cut at one end for the white to appear, and at the other for a small hook to enter, is a choice bait at all seasons, casting at times a little of it into the water where the float swims. Some to a quart of unground Malt put two quarts of water, and place it in a situation over the fire where it will just simmer; in about four hours the water is generally absorbed by the Malt, when the Skin separates, and then it is fit for use; it must not be long prepared before it is used, as in a few hours it will turn sour.

SALMON'S Roe. The best time to get it is just before the fish spawn; and to preserve it is by a gentle boiling, and sprinkling it sparingly with salt, and then into a glazed earthen pot put a layer of wool at

the bottom, and then a layer of Roe, and so alternately until the pot is filled. BARKER, who was the first that discovered this bait, recommends it to his Patron in the following curious terms.

"NOBLE LORD,

"I have found an experience of late which you may angle with, and take great store of this kind of fish. First, it is the best bait for a Trout that I have seen in all my time; and will take great store, and not fail if they be there. Secondly, it is a special bait for Dace or Dare, good for Chub or Bottlin, or Grayling. The bait is the Roe of a Salmon or Trout: if it be a large Trout that the spawns be any thing great, you must angle for the Trout with this bait as you angle with the brandling, taking a pair of Scissars and cut so much as a large Hazel-nut, and bait your hook, so fall to your sport; there is no doubt of pleasure. If I had known it but twenty years ago I would have gained a hundred pounds only with that bait. I am bound in duty to divulge it to your Honour, and not to carry it to my grave with me. I do desire that men of quality should have it, that delight in that pleasure. The greedy Angler will murmur at me, but for that I care not.

"For the angling for the Scale-fish, they must angle either with cork or quill, plumbing their ground, and with feeding with the same bait, taking them asunder, that they may spread abroad, that the fish may feed and come to your place; there is no doubt of pleasure, angling with fine tackles or single hair lines, at least five or six length long, a

VOL. II.

X

small hook, with two or three spawns.

The bait will hold one week; if you keep it on any longer, you must hang it up to dry a little; when you go to your pleasure again, put the bait in a little water, it will come in kind again."

PASTES are noticed in the Table for Baits; some other modes of forming them will be here introduced, as almost every Angler has his peculiar sort, and receipts to make Paste are as numerous as medicines for the Tooth-ach. In using them for Chub, Carp, or Bream in September, and all the winter months, the bait should be as big as a hazel-nut; for Roach and Dace the size of a Pea is sufficient; but let all pastes be made with clean hands, and have a little cotton-wool well worked up with them, which will make them hang better on the hook; select a quiet place, use a quill float, a small hook, and strike at the first biting of the fish.

RED Paste may be made with a large spoonful of fine wheat flour, moistened with the white of an egg, and worked with the hands until tough, a small quantity of honey, or loaf sugar finely powdered, must be added, together with some cotton wool spread equally over the paste when pressed flat in the hand; it must be well kneaded to mix the cotton thoroughly: colour it with a little Vermilion: a small piece of fresh butter will prevent it from becoming hard, and it will keep good a Week. WHITE Paste may be composed of the same ingredients, omitting the Vermilion; and Yellow, by mixing some Turmeric with it.

SALMON Paste. Take One pound of Salmon spawn,

in September or October; boil it fifteen minutes, then beat it in a mortar, until sufficiently mixed, with an ounce of Salt, and a quarter of an ounce of Saltpetre; carefully pick out the membrane in which the spawn is contained, as it is disengaged from it: when beat to a proper consistence, put it into gallipots, and cover it over with bladders tied down close, and it will keep good for many months.

SHRIMP Paste is made precisely in the same manner as the preceding, taking care to separate the solid part from the shell, before it is put into the mortar; some mix with it a little Honey: in using this, the point of the hook should be but lightly covered. Various pastes composed of curious materials are recommended; WALTON mentions one for Carp made with the flesh of a rabbit or cat, with bean flour, sugar or honey, well pounded together; and if to be kept all the year for any other fish, virgin wax and clarified honey are to be worked in with the former before the fire, and then made into balls to be laid by for use. The oils used for alluring fish to take the bait more readily are at this period but little confided in; however, as some persons credit the Efficacy attributed to part of them, they will find a place: the Compiler, however, having never brought them to the test of Experiment, cannot warrant their practical good effect.

WALTON relates a circumstance of his fishing with OLIVER HENLEY, who usually took three or four worms from his bag, and put them into a small box, where he let them continue half an hour or more previous to his baiting his hook with them.

To the question, why he did this? his answer was, "he only picked out the best to be in readiness against his hook's wanting to be new baited:" but, continues WALTON, he has been observed, both by myself and others, to catch more fish, especially Salmons, than I or any other person that ever fished with him could do; and it was lately told me by one of his most intimate Friends, that the box in which the worms were put was anointed with a drop or two of the Oil of Ivy berries, and that by the worms remaining inclosed, they had incorporated a kind of smell, that to the fish was irresistibly attractive. WALTON acknowledges, that in his younger days he tried several Oils and Devices to induce the fish to bite, but without finding any Advantage; and yet he adds, that he has seen Men fishing with the same kind of worms and tackle, that have taken five, and sometimes ten fish to his

one.

Without presuming to assert that the authority of WALTON leans to either side of the question, or to ridicule what some Anglers have possibly a reliance upon, a variety of ancient recipes, for the Allurement of fish (perhaps first imparted as invaluable secrets,) will be recited, to be adopted or rejected, as may suit the different tempers of modern Artists. Some of these excellent receipts, it must however be remarked, are whimsical enough; such, for instance, as a Paste made of "Mulberry juice, Hedge-hog's fat, Oil of water lilies, and a few drops of oil of Penny-royal." Some invention was at least employed to select these Ingredients; many of the following are equally uncouth: but the Sceptic may