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MAXIMS AND HINTS

ON

ANGLING, CHESS, SHOOTING,

AND

OTHER MATTERS;

ALSO,

MISERIES OF FISHING.

With Wood-Cuts.

BY RICHARD PENN, Esq., F.R.S.


_A NEW EDITION, ENLARGED._


        LONDON:
        JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.

        MDCCCXLII.




        LONDON:
        Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES and SONS,
        Stamford Street.




CONTENTS


  Maxims and Hints for an Angler                     1
  Miseries of Fishing                               25
  Maxims and Hints for a Chess Player               55
  Maxims and Hints on Shooting and Other Matters    81




THE FOLLOWING EXTRACTS

FROM THE

Common-Place-Book

OF THE

HOUGHTON FISHING CLUB

ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED

TO HIS

BROTHER ANGLERS

BY A

MEMBER OF THE CLUB.

          LONDON,
        _March, 1833._




MAXIMS AND HINTS

FOR

AN ANGLER.

        "You see the ways the fisherman doth take
        "To catch the fish; what engines doth he make?
        "Behold! how he engageth all his wits,
        "Also his snares, lines, angles, hooks, and nets:
        "Yet fish there be, that neither hook nor line,
        "Nor snare, nor net, nor engine can make thine;
        "They must be groped for, and be tickled too,
        "Or they will not be catch'd, whate'er you do."
                                            JOHN BUNYAN




MAXIMS AND HINTS

FOR

AN ANGLER:

BY

A BUNGLER.

[Loosely thrown out, in order to provoke contradiction, and elicit truth
from the expert.]


I.

ARE there any fish in the river to which you are going?


II.

Having settled the above question in the affirmative, get some person
who knows the water to show you whereabout the fish usually lie; and
when he shows them to you, do not show yourself to them.


III.

Comparatively coarse fishing will succeed better when you are not seen
by the fish, than the finest when they see you.


IV.

Do not imagine that, because a fish does not instantly dart off on first
seeing you, he is the less aware of your presence; he almost always on
such occasions ceases to feed, and pays you the compliment of devoting
his whole attention to you, whilst he is preparing for a start whenever
the apprehended danger becomes sufficiently imminent.


V.

By wading when the sun does not shine, you may walk in the river within
eighteen or twenty yards below a fish, which would be immediately driven
away by your walking on the bank on either side, though at a greater
distance from him.


VI.

When you are fishing with the natural May-fly, it is as well to wait for
a passing cloud, as to drive away the fish by putting your fly to him in
the glare of the sunshine, when he will not take it.


VII.

If you pass your fly neatly and well three times over a trout, and he
refuses it, do not wait any longer for him: you may be sure that he has
seen the line of invitation which you have sent over the water to him,
and does not intend to come.


VIII.

If your line be nearly _taut_, as it ought to be, with little or no gut
in the water, a good fish will always hook himself, on your gently
raising the top of the rod when he has taken the fly.

[Illustration: "Whence he is to be instantly whipt out by an expert
assistant, furnished," &c.

To face page 6.]


IX.

If you are above a fish in the stream when you hook him, get below him
as soon as you can; and remember that if you pull him, but for an
instant, against the stream, he will, if a heavy fish, break his hold;
or if he should be firmly hooked, you will probably find that the united
strength of the