back; it has a forked tail, the color of its wings: it is to be fished with from eleven o'clock in the forenoon, till three in the afternoon. The wings are made from a feather out of the wings of a starling; the body is made with a spaniel's fur, mixed with a little yellow, and a fine red hackle over the body. The hook, No. 8.

The Little Pale Blue.

Comes on about the same time as the Whirling Blue, and continues on till about the latter end of September as it swims down the water, its wings stand upright on its back; it has a forked tail, and the color of its wings: it is a neat, curious, little fly, and what the graylings are very fond of: it is to be fished with from about ten o'clock in the morning, till three in the afternoon, and generally affords the angler great diversion. The wings are made from a feather off the sea-swallow: the body is made of the lightest blue fur you can. get, mixed with a very little yellow mohair, with a fine pale blue hackle wrapt over the body. The book, No. 8.

The Willow Fly.

Comes on about the beginning of September, and continues on till the latter end of October: it is a four-winged fly, and generally flutters upon the surface of the water: it is to be fished with in cold stormy days, being then most plentiful on the water; but in warm gloomy days make use of the Pale-blue. The wings are made of a blue grizzled cock's hackle, and the body of the blue part of squirrel's fur, mixed with a little yellow mohair. The hook, No. 7.

The three last-mentioned flies conclude the season for fly-fishing. From the middle of May till August, you will find great variety of flies and gnats upon the water every day, so that you must observe it as a general rule to fish with the first fly that comes on in the morning; that fly being the first which is on the water in the day that is first mentioned in every month, and then you will see the other flies and gnats, coming down every day in regular succession, every succeeding day till August. The great number of flies and insects that are on the water, all the hot summer months, and the great variety of food that the fishes have, both at top and bottom, makes them very nice, and more difficult to be taken, than in the spring or in the autumn: the great number of flies and insects which are on the water all the summer months, totally disappear about the middle of August, so that your diversion is as certain with the three autumnal flies, viz. the Little Whirling Blue, the Pale Blue, and the Willow-fly, as with the three spring flies, which are the Red-fly, the Blue Dun, and the Brown. In these two seasons of the year, if the weather is favorable, and water in order, you will find your sport more certain and regular than in the hotter months. This last list of flies may be deemed the standard of artificial fly-fishing; they are the ingenious Bowlker's of Ludlow in Shropshire. For their excellency they are not to be equalled. They will kill fish in any county of England and Wales, and are, what L call, the angler's treasure. Their names are universally known: As for the flies called Lochaber's, Golden Sooty's, &c. &c. which are to be met with in a late publication, they are not sufficiently known to be of general use.

Not

Not only these flies that are most useful, in the recreation of angling, but miriads more come under the angler's observation, when in pursuit of his pastime, which will not only fill his mind with wonder and admiration, at the incomprehensible works of Nature, but likewise make him praise that Almighty Power, from whom both himself and them derive their being.

There is so beautiful a passage a-propos to this subject, in Mr. Thomson's Summer, that I think the insertion of some part of it, must prove acceptable to the informed and pious mind:

Nor shall the muse disdain

To let the little lively summer-race
Live in her lay, and flutter thro' her song:
Not mean, tho' simple, to the sun ally'd,
From him they draw their animating fire.

Wak'd by his warmer ray, the reptile young
Come wing'd abroad, by the light air upborne,
Lighter and full of soul. From ev'ry chink
And secret corner, where they slept away
Their wintry storms, or rising from their tombs
To higher life, by miriads forth at once
Swarming they pour, of all the varied hues
Their beauty-beaming parent can disclose.
Ten thousand forms, ten thousand different tribes,
People the blaze. To sunny waters some
By fatal instinct fly, where on the pool

They sportive wheel; or falling down the stream,
Are snatch'd immediate by the quick-ey'd Trout
Or darting Salmon. Thro' the green-wood glade
Some love to stray, there lodg'd, amus'd, and fed,
In the fresh leaf: luxurious, others make
The meads their choice, and visit ev'ry flow'r

And

And ev'ry latent herb, for the sweet task
To propagate their kinds, and where to wrap,
In what soft beds, their young, yet undisclos'd,
Employs their tender care: some to the house,
The fold, and dairy, hungry bend their flight,
Sip round the pail, or taste the curdling cheese:
Oft, inadvertent from the milky stream
They meet their fate, or welt'ring in the bowl,
With pow'rless wings around them wrap'd, expire.

Resounds the living surface of the ground;
Nor undelightful is the ceaseless hum

To him who muses through the woods at noon, Or drowsy shepherd as he lies reclin'd,

With half-shut eyes beneath the floating shade Of willows grey, close crowding o'er the brook.

Gradual from these what num'rous kinds descend Evading e'en the microscopic eye!

Full nature swarms with life, one wond'rous mass
Of animals, or atoms organiz'd,

Waiting the vital breath, when parent heav'n
Shall bid his spirit blow.

Let no presuming impious railer tax
Creative wisdom, as if aught was form'd
In vain, or not for admirable ends:
Shall little haughty ignorance pronounce
His works unwise, of which the smallest part
Exceeds the narrow vision of her mind?

CHAP.

CHAP. V.

The best Rules for Artificial Fly fishing.

IT

T is the best fishing in a river somewhat disturbed with rain, or in a cloudy day, when the waters are moved with a gentle breeze: the south and west winds are the best: and if the wind blows high, yet not so but that you may conveniently guide your tackle, the fishes will rise in the still deeps; but if there is little wind stirring, the best angling is in swift streams.

In casting your line do it always before you, and in such a manner that the fly may fall first on the water, and as little of your line with it as possible, but if the wind is high, you will then be forced to drown a good part of it, that you may keep the fly on the water; and endeavour, as much as you can, to have the wind at your back, and the sun in your face; but the winding of the river will frequently render that impracticable.

When you throw your line, wave the rod in a small circumference round your head, and never make a return of it before it has had its full scope, for if you do the fly will snap off.

Although when you angle the day is cloudy and windy, and the water thick, you must keep the fly in continual motion, otherwise the fishes will discern the deceit.

"Upon the curling surface let it glide,

"With natʼral motion from your hand supply'd,

Against