These, my honest scholar, are some
observations, told to you as they now come suddenly into my memory,
of which you may make some use: but for the practical part, it is that
that makes an angler: it is diligence, and observation, and practice, and
an ambition to be the best in the art, that must do it. I will tell you,
scholar, I once heard one say, " I envy not him that eats better meat than
I do; nor him that is richer, or that wears better clothes than I do: I envy
nobody but him, and him only, that catches more fish than I do ". And
such a man is like to prove an angler; and this noble emulation I wish to
you, and all young anglers.
The FIFTH day-continued
Of the Minnow, or Penk; Loach, Bull-Head, or Miller's- Thumb: and the
Stickle-bag
Chapter XVIII
Piscator and Venator
Piscator. There be also three or four other little fish that I had almost
forgot; that are all without scales; and may for excellency of meat, be
compared to any fish of greatest value and largest size. They be usually
full of eggs or spawn, all the months of summer; for they breed often,
as 'tis observed mice and many of the smaller four-footed creatures of
the earth do and as those, so these come quickly to their full growth and
perfection. And it is needful that they breed both often and numerously;
for they be, besides other accidents of ruin, both a prey and baits for
other fish.
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