them, if the weather be not made extremely cold by an east wind, shall be a little superstitious; for as it is observed by some, that there is no good horse of a bad color," so I have observed, that if it be a cloudy day, and not extreme cold, let the wind set in what corner it will, and do its worst, I heed it not." "And let me again tell you, that you keep as far from the water as you can possibly, whether you fish with a fly or worm, and fish down the stream. And when you fish with a fly, if it be possible, let no part of your line touch the water, but your fly only, and be still moving your fly upon the water." You are to note them in night as well as day fishing for a Trout; and that in the night the best Trout come out of their holes. For you are to know, that the great old Trout is both subtle and fearful, and lies close all day, and does not usually stir out of his hold, but lies in it as close in the day as the timorous hare in her form; for the chief feeding of either is seldom in the day, but usually in the night, and then the great Trouts feed very boldly."

Of Walton's remarks concerning the varieties of English trout, and his mixture of blarney and good sense on the subject of worms, flies, and the mode of dressing fish, we have nothing to say, for "our ambition does not run that way." But of our own trouts we would remark as follows:--The most important species that we have in this country, as an article of food, is the Salmon Trout, which abounds in the great western lakes, in those of the interior of New York, Lake George, and Moosehead Lake. A variety, only found near Mackinaw, in Michigan, grow to the weight of forty pounds, and afford the most pleasure in catching. You jump into a birchen canoe, paddle to where the water is fifty feet deep, bait your hook with a minnow, sink it to the bottom, when, owing to the clearness of the water, you will see the beautiful dwellers of the deep congregating directly under you. We have been so delighted with these dear creatures, that we have often spent a whole afternoon, bending over the sides of our canoe watching their various movements as we threw them food. This fish is getting to be quite an article of commerce; but their flavor is not quite equal to that of the Lake George trout. These are much smaller than those of the Great Lakes, and are seldom found weighing over ten pounds. In the early spring they are

caught by trolling, and in the summer in deep water, pieces of almost any kind of fish being good bait. In Lake Ontario, they catch the salmon trout with set lines, a mile or two from shore in deep water; the mode being to attach the lines, about a hundred feet apart, on a cord extending half a mile along the surface of the lake. The trout in the smaller lakes of New York, viz: Long Lake, Lake Pleasant, Cayuga, Canandaigua, and Skaneateles, are generally like those of Lake George, only not so sweet and rich in flavor. In Moosehead Lake, they are probably found in the greatest abundance; but as its bed is muddy, the trout are rather coarse to the taste. There, you can catch them from the shore with a simple rod and line.

But the angler's favorite is the common trout, which are very abundant throughout all the northern States of our Union. To these, are the passages we have quoted from Walton more particularly applicable. In addition to his information, we would mention, that this trout delights in small purling rivers and brooks, with a swift current and gravelly bottoms. His summer haunts are an eddy, behind a stone or log, or under a projecting bank. In the spring, you will generally find him on the shallows; and in the autumn, in the deep still pools, where he leads a quiet philosophic life. With us he spawns about the first of October, and does not recover till March. During May and June he is in his prime; and according to our experience, the best bait for him then is the common worm; but for July and August, we prefer the fly. Sometimes, however, a minnow is preferable to either. The great charm of fly-fishing is derived from the fact, that you then see the movement of your fish, and if you are not an expert hand, the chances are that you will capture but one out of the hundred that may rise to your hook. You can seldom save a trout unless you strike the very instant that he leaps. But even after this, a deal of care is required to land him in safety. If he is a half-pounder, you may pull him out directly; but if larger than that, after fairly hooking him, you should play him with your whole line, which, when well done, is a feat full of poetry. The swiftness with which a trout can dart from his hiding-place after a fly is truly astonishing; and we never see one perform this operation without feeling an indescribable thrill

quivering through our frame. As to night-fishing, one instance of our luck will tell the true story. Once, towards the close of a June day, and after a tramp among the Catskills, we found ourself at a solitary dwelling near a mill-pond on Schoharie Creek. We were to spend the night there, and asked our host whe ther there were any trout in the pond? He answered us, no; but added, that they were plenty farther up the stream. Resolving, at any rate, to try our luck with set lines, we engaged a boy to catch us a lot of minnow, with which we baited some thirty hooks, hitching our lines to the timbers of an old bridge and to the stumps of trees standing in the water. In the morning, we had caught nineteen trout, and not one of them weighed less than a pound.

A few words with regard to the streams most abounding in trout. The pleasantest of our rivers to fish in is the Hudson, where, from Glenn's Falls to its head waters, we have caught a great many trout, weighing from one to three pounds, and they are sometimes found much larger. Next to this may be ranked the upper part of the Kennebeck, next to this the Androscoggin, to this the Soco, to this the Merrimack, then the upper Connecticut, then the head waters of the Delaware, the Susquehanna, the Alleghany, the Esopus and Schoharie, of New York, which is unquestionably the greatest region in the world for trout fishing. In the smaller tributaries of all these streams, and those exquisite ones emptying into Lake George, a small variety of trout are found in great abundance. These we consider the most delicious to eat, but it does an angler more good to catch a pounder,' than it would a hundred of the little fry. The brooks and ponds of Long Island abound in a trout that weigh from one to two pounds. The Patchaug, in Connecticut, which is somewhat between a river and a brook, is also a crack' stream for the number and size of its trout. We never had better luck than there, and never spent more delightful days, than when wandering among its scenery. Running for the most part through a cultivated country, it has always seemed to us a perfect echo of those streams immortalized by Izaak Walton. Ah! how we cherish its manifold associations, not only of scenery and fishing, but of wild legends, strange characters, bright skies, poetic conceptions and soul-instructing lessons from the lips of nature. Yes,

and the secret of our attachment to all the above mentioned streams, may be found in the character of these very associations. What intense enjoyment would not old Walton have derived from their wild and superb scenery! The streams of England are mostly famous for the bloody battles and seiges which they witnessed for many centuries, and the turreted castles which they lave only tell us a strange eventful story of a race of earth-born kings. But the streams of our country, in times past, have watered a virgin wilderness, whose only human denizens were the poor but noble Indian tribes, who lived and loved and died in their peaceful valleys; and the unshorn forests, with the luxuriantly magnificent mountains, sang a perpetual hymn of praise to One, who is "greater than kings."

The next fish which we would mention is the pike, upon whose character Walton thus discourses:

Sir Francis Bacon, in his History of Life and Death, observes, the pike to be the longest lived of any fresh water fish; and yet he computes it to be not usually above forty years; and others think it to be not above ten years; and yet Gesner mentions a pike taken in Swedeland, in 1446, with a ring about his neck, declaring he was put into that pond by Frederick the Second, more than two hundred years before. But of this no more: (and well he may,) but that it is observed, that the old or very great pikes bave in them more of state than goodness-the middlesized pike being, by the choicest palates, observed to be the best meat." * * 66 All pikes that live long prove chargeable to their keepers, because their life is maintained by the death of so many other fish, even those of their own kind; which has made him by some writers to be called the tyrant of the rivers, or fresh water wolf, by reason of his bold, greedy, devouring disposition; which is so keen, that, as Gesner relates, a man going to a pond, (where it seems a pike had devoured all the fish,) to water his mule, had a pike bite his mule by the lips, to which the pike hung so fast that the mule drew him out of the water, and by that accident, the owner of the mule angled out the pike."

"The pike is also observed to be a solitary, melancholy, and a bold fish; melancholy, because he always swims or rests himself alone, and never swims in shoals; and bold, because he fears not a shadow, or to see or be seen of

any body." "His feeding is usually of fish and frogs, and sometimes a weed of his own, called pickerel weed.'

To the above, we would add the following from personal observation. The pike loves a still, shady water, in river or pond, and usually lies in the vicinity of flags, bulrushes, water-lilies or reeds, though he will sometimes shoot out into the clear stream. In the summer he is caught at the top and in the middle, but in winter at the bottom. His time of spawning is the beginning of March, and he is in season ten months or more in the year. Live fish are the best baits, though the leg of a frog is good, and in winter a piece of pork, but nothing can be better than a shiner, a little trout, or a perch.

Pike are a fish which call forth a deal of patience, and must be humored, for they will sometimes scorn the handsomest bait, out of mere obstinacy, as it were; but the surest time to succeed with them is when the sky is cloudy, and there is a southerly breeze. In point of flavor, a jack, or small pike, is, to our taste, equal to a trout. We have fished for them in every way, (excepting with a mule) and our favorite mode is with a hand line. For example, we take a line some seventy feet long, and after anchoring on the ground, and baiting our hook with a small fish, we throw out, and pull in; and when a pike takes hold, we let him have the bait (while he goes to the bottom to swallow it) for about a minute, when, so soon as he "makes off," we begin to pull him in, landing him in our boat in such a manner as would have delighted even father Walton himself. Though the pike is often found in running streams, their favorite haunts are in lakes and mill-ponds. The largest we have ever seen were taken in the St. Joseph and Raisin rivers of Michigan, and Lake Champlain. They grow to be some forty pounds in weight, but the largest we have ever caught ourself, weighed eight pounds and a half, and the home of his nativity was the mouth of the Wenooska, in Vermont. A large pike is also found in Winnepisiokee, as we have been told while travelling in that vicinity of New Hampshire. The smaller lakes and ponds of Connecticut abound in pike of moderate size, which vary from one to five pounds in weight. Gardner's Lake, and Preston Lake, near Norwich, have been our favorite waters for this kind of fishing. Their shores are surrounded with pleasant wood-crowned hills, teeming with par

tridge and woodcock, and the Sabbath stillness which reigns about them is seldom broken, but by the dipping oar, or the laugh of a light-hearted fisherman. Ah! do we not cherish the memory of the happy days we have spent upon those beautiful lakes! May they,for a thousand years, have nothing to do but mirror the glories of Heaven, and be ever visited by those only who are anglers, and who never look upon Nature without a prayer of thanksgiving to her God!

As with the trout, there is a mode of catching the pike at night-not with the hook, however, but with the spear, by torchlight. For what reason, we know not, but it is customary for this fish, during the autumn, to spend the dark hours lying as near the shore as possible, as if for the very purpose of tempting the dexterity of those that love him. Although somewhat out of the pale of the regular angler's sporting, torch-light fishing is exceedingly interesting and poetical. How could it be otherwise, when we consider the picturesque effect of a boat and lighted torch, gliding along the wild shores of a lake on a still, dark night, with one figure noiselessly plying an oar, and the animated attitude of another relieved against the fire-light, and looking into the water, like Orpheus looking into hell! And there, too, the thousand inhabitants of the liquid element, that we see and fancy animated with a human sympathy-the eel, the dace, the roach, the perch, thé sucker, the sheep's head, the sunfish, the trout, the rock bass, the catfish, the mullet, the pickerel, and sometimes the sturgeon, (particularly at the west) as well as the pike! What a pleasure to behold these various creatures, leading

"A cold, sweet, silver life, wrapped in

round waves,

Quickened with touches of transporting fear,"

as Leigh Hunt has so exquisitely written. We must affirm that we dearly love this kind of fishing, but, at the same time, must acknowledge that it is not quite so humane as the more legitimate mode. To spear the black bass and trout, as they do in Lake George, is outrageous, because those fish can be speared only when they are spawning; but it is not so with the pike, which spawns in the spring, and is speared only in the autumn. But sufficient excuse for spearing him, we fancy, may be found in the fact that the pike is the tyrant of all fresh water fish. Upon

that we will let the matter rest, and pass on to the next fish we have to mention, and of which Walton has thus written:

"The perch is a very good, and a very bold biting fish. He is one of the fishes of prey, that, like the pike and trout, carries his teeth in his mouth, which is very large, and he dare venture to kill and devour several other kinds of fish. He has a hooked, or hog back, which is armed with sharp and stiff bristles, and all his skin armed, or covered over with thick, dry, hard scales, and hath, which few other fish have, two fins on his back. He is so bold that he will invade one of his own kind, and you may, therefore, easily believe him to be a bold biter."***"The perch is of great esteem in Italy, saith Aldrovandus, and especially the least, are esteemed a dainty dish. And Gesner prefers the perch and pike above the trout, or any fresh water fish. He says, the Germans have this proverb: More wholesome than a perch of the Rhine.' "The perch grows slowly, yet it will grow, as I have been credibly informed, to be almost two feet long; for an honest informer told me such an one was not long since taken by Sir Abraham Williams, a gentleman of worth, and a brother of the angle, who yet lives, and I wish he may. This was a deep bodied fish, and, doubtless, durst have devoured a pike of half his own length. To affright the pike, and save himself, the perch will set up his fins, much like as a turkey-cock will sometimes set up his tail." "And he hath been observed

by some, not usually to bite till the mulberry tree buds; that is to say, till extreme frosts be past in the spring; for, when the mulberry tree blossoms, many gardeners observe their forward fruit to be past the danger of frosts; and some have made the like observation of the perch's biting. But bite the perch will, and that very boldly. And, as one has wittily observed, if there be twenty, or forty in a hole, they may be, at one standing, all catched, one after ananother; they being, as he says, like the wicked of this world, not afraid, though their fellows and companions perish in their sight. They love to accompany one another, and march together in troops."

The perch spawns in March, and does not recover till the middle of June. Early in the morning, or late in the afternoon, on a cloudy, windy day, are the best times to angle for him. Excepting for the largest size, for which you should have a minnow, the best bait for him, in our country, is the common worm. He delights in clear rivers or lakes with pebbly bottoms, though sometimes found on a sandy, or clayey soil; he loves a mode

rately deep water, and frequents holes at the mouth of small streams, or the hollows under banks. As an article of food, he is exceedingly rich, and there are times when we prefer him either to a trout or pike. His chief draw back is in the number of his bones, which are numerous, and very hard and sharp, wherein he differs materially from the others mentioned. There is hardly a river or lake, in our country, where they may not be found, and, in many places, they are the most numerous of the finny tribes. Those of Lake George are invariably the smallest, but the best flavored we have ever seen ; in many of the smaller lakes of Massachusetts and Connecticut, however, they are occasionally caught weighing two or three pounds. He is too simple-hearted a fish to be greatly valued by the scientific angler, but a good one to " break in" a novice in the gentle art.

The

The Salmon, which is a favorite among English anglers, is seldom fished for with a hook in this country. But that he can be so captured here, we know, from personal experience, and the waters of the Kennebeck might testify to it. The only first-rate fresh water fish that Walton knew not, but which we have in abundance, are two species of bass, viz: the Black Bass, and the White Bass. former is found in Lake George, Champlain, and the Great Lakes; and the latter we have never heard of but in Lake Erie. They are in their prime in the summer; bait, and for the other, a piece of red and for the one, you use a minnow as flannel-but for both a trolling line. Of the famous darlings of the ocean we would, but cannot, now discourse; but they may depend upon our devoted friendship. As to the more common fry of rivers, lakes and ocean, we verily hope that the ghosts of those that are not, on our account, will not rise up and accuse us of ingratitude. The tribes of the water, are like the human dwellers of the earth; and for the whole we have a general regard and love, but for a few, a strong and undying attachment. And with this polite flourish, we would return to father Walton and his Complete Angler.

A chief attraction of this book, as before intimated, is derived from the poetry which it contains. A great proportion of it is quoted from Watton, Waller, Fletcher, Donne, Drayton and Herbert, and a few specimens are by Walton himself. His best poem is entitled The Angler's Song, and runneth as follows:

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.

Such was Walton's manner of " lisping in numbers." One brief passage more will conclude our quotations; it is what we should call a very beautiful specimen of poetic prose. Piscator, with his companion, have been drawn by a shower to the shelter of a honeysuckle hedge, where the former breaks out with the following:-"Look! under that broad beech-tree I sat down when I was last this way a-fishing; and the birds in the adjoining grove seemed to have a friendly contention with an echo, whose dead voice seemed to live in a hollow tree, near to the brow of that primrose hill. There I sat viewing the silver streams glide silently towards their centre, the tempestuous sea; yet sometimes opposed by rugged roots and pebble stones, which broke their waves, and turned them into foam. And sometimes I beguiled time by viewing the harmless lambs; some leaping securely in the cool shade, whilst others sported themselves in the cheerful sun; and saw others craving comfort from the swollen udders of their bleating dams. As 1 thus sat, these and other sights had so fully possessed my soul with content, that I thought, as the poet hath expressed it—

I was for that time, lifted above earth; And possess'd joys not promised in my birth.'

"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 1 fish I fast,
I make good fortune my repast;
And there unto 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,
Blessed 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."

As I left this place, and entered into the next field, a second pleasure entertained me;-'twas a handsome milkmaid, that had not yet attained so much age and wisdom as to load her mind with any fears of many things that will never be, as too many men too often do; but she cast away all care, and sung like a nightingale: the voice was good, and the ditty fitted for it; it was that smooth song made by Kit Marlowe, now at least fifty years ago. And the milkmaid's mother sung an answer to it, which was made by Sir Walter Raleigh in his younger days. They were old-fashioned poetry, but choicely good; I think much better than the strong lines that are now in fashion in this critical age."

Now, that we have looked through the complete Angler, what are the impressions left upon our minds respecting the character of its author? Though familiar with every thing translated into English, he was not what we call a scholar, as his many classical allusions might lead one to suppose; but, that he was a deep thinker and a clear writer, there can be no doubt. He was an industrious and frugal tradesman, as well as an industrious collector of historical facts, connected with men or systems, which had enlisted his feelings. He was