The hook is to be held fast betwixt the fore finger and thumb of the left hand, with the back of the shank upwards, and the point towards the finger's end: then take a strong small silk, of the colour of the fly intended to be made; wax it well with wax of the same colour, (to which end, always have wax of all colours ready,) and draw it betwixt the finger and thumb, to the head of the shank, whip it twice or thrice about the bare hook, which is done, both to prevent slipping, and also that the shank of the hook may not cut the hairs of the towght, which it might otherwise do: take the line and draw it likewise betwixt the finger and thumb, holding the hook so fast as only to suffer it to pass by, until the knot of the towght is almost to the middle of the shank of the hook, on the inside of it; then whip the silk twice or thrice about both hook and line, as hard as the strength of the silk will permit: this being done, strip the feather for the wings proportionable to the bigness of the fly, placing that side downwards which grew uppermost before, upon the back of the hook, leaving so much only as to serve for the length of the wing of the point of the plume, lying reversed from the end of the shank upwards; then whip the silk twice or thrice about the root-end of the feather, hook, and towght: this effected, clip off the root-end of the feather close by the arming, and then whip the silk fast and firm about the hook and towght, to the bend of the hook, but not further, (as is done in London; and so a very unhandsome, and, in plain English, a very unnatural and shapeless fly, is made :) cut away the end of the towght, and fasten it, and then take the dubbing, which is to make the body of the fly, as much as is thought convenient, and holding it lightly with the hook betwixt the finger and thumb of the left hand, take the silk with the right, and twisting it betwixt the finger and thumb of that hand, the dubbing will spin itself about the silk, which, when it has done, whip it about the armed hook backward, to the setting on of the wings, and then take the feather for the wings, and divide it equally into two parts, and turn them back towards the bend of the hook, one on each side of the shank, holding them fast in that posture betwixt the fore-finger and thumb of the left hand; which done, warp them so down as to stand and slope towards the bend of the hook; and, having warped up to the end of the shank, hold the fly fast betwixt the finger and

thumb of the left hand, and then take the silk betwixt the finger and thumb of the right, and, where the warping ends, nip it with the thumb nail against the finger, and strip away the remainder of the dubbing from the silk, and then with the bare silk whip it once or twice about; make the wings to stand in due order, fasten, and cut it off; after which, with the point of a needle, gently raise up the dubbing from the warp; twist off the superfluous hairs of the dubbing, (leaving the wings an equal length, or the fly will never swim true,) and the Work is finished.

For the construction of the plain Hackle or Palmer, (which are synonymous terms,) the following rules are given.

Hold the hook in a horizontal position, with the shank downwards, and the bent of it between the fore-finger and thumb of the left hand, and having a fine bristle and other materials, lying ready, take half a yard of fine red marking silk, well waxed, and with the right hand, give it four or five turns about the shank of the hook, inclining the turns to the right hand; when near the end of the shank, turn it into such a loop as is hereafter directed to be made for fastening off, and draw it tight, leaving the ends of the silk to hang down at each end of the hook. Having singed the end of the bristle*, lay the same along on the inside of the shank of the hook, as low as the bend, and whip four or five times round; then singeing the other end of the bristle to a fit length, turn it over to the back of the shank, and, pinching it into a proper form, whip down and festen off, as before directed, which will bring both ends of the silk into the bend. After waxing the silk again, take three or four strands of an Ostrich feather, and holding them and the bend of the hook as at first directed, the feathers to the left hand, and the roots in the bend of the hook, with the end of the silk newly waxed, whip them two or three times round, and fasten off; then turning the feathers to the right, and twisting them and the silk with the fore-finger and thumb, wind them round the shank of the hook, still supplying the short strands with new ones, as they fail, till come to

• The same should be done by the flame of a Candle to the Hair to which any hook is whipped, to prevent its drawing.

the end, and then fasten off. This done, clip off the ends of the feathers, and trim the body of the Palmer small at the extremities, and full in the middle, and wax both ends of the silk, which are now divided, and lie at either end of the hook.

Then take a strong bold hackle, with fibres about half an inch long, straighten the stem very carefully, and holding the small end between the fore-finger and thumb of the left hand, with those of the right stroke the fibres the contrary way to that which they naturally lie; and taking the hook, and holding it as before, lay the point of the hackle into the bend of the hook with the hollow, which is the palest side, upwards, and whip it very fast to its place: in doing whereof, be careful not to tie in many of the fibres; or if you should chance to do so, pick them out with the point of a very large needle.

When the hackle is thus made fast, the utmost care and nicety is necessary in winding it on; for if this is failed in, the fly is spoiled, and it must all be begun again: to prevent which, keeping the hollow or pale side to the left hand, and, as much as possible, the side of the stem down on the dubbing, wind the hackle twice round, and holding fast what is so wound, pick out the loose fibres, which may have been taken in, and make another turn: then lay hold of the hackle with the third and fourth fingers of the left hand, with which it may be extended while the loose fibres, as before, are disengaged.

In this manner proceed till within an eighth of an inch of the end of the shank, where will be found an end of silk hanging, and the fibres at the great end of the hackle somewhat discomposed; clip these off close to the stem, and, with the end of the middle finger, press the stem close to the hook, while, with the fore-finger of the right hand, turn the silk into a loop, which when twice put over the end of the shank of the hoop, loop and all, the work is safe.

Then wax that end of the silk now used, and turn it over as before, until it has taken up nearly all that remained of the hook, observing to lay the turns neatly side by side; and lastly, clip off the ends of the silk: thus will a bait be made that will catch Trout of the largest size, in any water in England.

And lest the method of fastening off, which occurs so often in this

kind of work, should not appear sufficiently intelligible, the reader will see it represented in the Engraving.

The foregoing directions mention the Materials and the Mode of using them in making flies; but the Reader may yet be at a loss both with respect to their form and size; therefore in the Engraving is given the five which may be considered as radical flies; and they are, the palmer, the greendrake, the dun-cut, the hawthorn-fly, and the ant-fly. The first two are each a species by itsclf; the third is a horned fly; the fourth has hackle under his wings; and the fifth, as most flies of the Ant kind have, has a large bottle tail; and to one or other of these figures, it is imagined, all flies are reducible.

In adjusting their different sizes, it must be owned there is great difficulty: all that can be said is, that the Palmer and Greendrake exhibit the usual size; the Dun-cut may serve as a specimen for most flies that are not directed to be made large; and when Directions are given to make the fly small, the Reader is to consider the Hawthorn-fly as an Example. Gnats cannot be made too small.

Some, in making a fly, work it upon, and fasten it immediately to the hook-link, whether it be of gut, grass, or hair; others whip on the shank of the hook a stiff hog's bristle, bent into a loop; the latter, except for small flies, seems the more eligible way, and has this advantage, that it enables the flies to be kept in excellent order; to do which, string them, each species separately, through the loops, upon a fine piece of cat-gut, of about seven inches long; and string also thereon, through a large pin-hole, a very small ticket of parchment, with the name of the fly wrote on it; tie the cat-gut into a ring, and lay them in round flat boxes, with paper between each ring, and in using, by having a neat loop at the lower end of the hook-link, they may be put on and taken off with ease and expedition; in the other way, the Angler has a great length of hooklink, which when even a few flies are put together is sure to entangle, and occasion trouble and loss of time: as to the Objection that has been started against the loop, that the fish discern it, and therefore refuse the fly, depend upon its having no Foundation.

In forming the Palmer-fly, suit the colour of the silk to the hackle dubbed with; a dun hackle requires yellow silk; a black hackle, sky blue; a brown or red hackle, red silk; and in constructing other